On Thursday night, September 6th, I managed to ignore all other obligations and head to the Woodlands Mall in order to witness their Fashion’s Night Out. This event is now nationwide and little ol’ Montgomery County now qualifies. So without further ado, let’s recap. Since I have no ‘vested interest’ (read: not paid by any store or agency) to candy coat things, I won’t. What you read here will be one visitor’s very honest experience.
Advertising: There was not enough advertising for this event. Period. I went to the Woodland’s Mall website and was promptly told to “like us on Facebook” to get more info. I was unable to find any information on the Mall website at all: for instance – which stores would be participating. Hmph. After the event, I went to another store/clothing venue at the mall to ask why they didn’t participate (which was disappointing as their clothing is quite cute), the sales clerk asked, “There was a fashion show in the mall? Where?” Even the stores that were participating did not have fliers on the doors, windows or throughout the stores stating there was a fashion event at all. The little bi-fold flier did not list all of the participants either (Dillard’s?) and not one food place (I think I might be a tiny bit irritated not to be listed if I was giving away plenty of tasty treats).
The Event: was from 6pm-10pm with the actual ‘runway’ show to start at 7:30. Okay – I planned to stay until about 8:30. The first 100 guests to be seated in the Center Court area would be treated to a ‘swag bag’. I can tell you that everyone standing in line was quite anxious to find out what was in that little bag. This is not New York, so I imagined that the bag would be filled with mostly ‘coupons’, ‘$10 off with purchase of $50’, free pencil or pen, map of the Mall (you get the picture). I do not know when the line started, but I stood in line at 5:35 and made it safely into the roped seating area at the runway. The front row was ‘reserved’ and apparently the entire left side of the runway was ‘reserved’. The swag bag included lots of ‘sample’ things you get free at the participating stores (you know – like an Avon single use magic wrinkle cream), a very real lipstick, eye cream, nice micro-sample perfume, the coupons, the dollars off, no pen or map of the Mall. That was okay – I wasn’t expecting much anyway.
What was done very right: The Food! A very patient and thoughtful staff served all manner of fabulous food bites. The stuffed mushrooms with crab meat were incredible. They passed out sweet potato wontons, sweet-n-sour chicken with nuts (my least favorite), shish-kabobs (not brought out until very late and I was not offered any), etc. There were dessert tables for you to pick up a sorbet, cookie or an amazing red velvet brownie (the clear Winner!); Brio Tuscan Grille had a pasta table with a cheesy tomato ziti (yum) and a chicken salad on bruschetta (also yum). Water and non-alcoholic pretty drinks were offered as well. There probably needed to be one or two more staff to hand out the goodies, but it was fairly tight quarters after everyone was seated and then half of the audience needed to get up and run around (perhaps that was only on my little aisle and there were really only two female offenders – don’t you want to tell some folks to just Sit Down!)
The DJ: Very happy that they had a decent one. He had a nice upbeat selection that was appropriate and certainly loud enough. However, at about 6:45 it seemed he suddenly developed ADHD and couldn’t finish what he started. All of the songs were the first verse and chorus, or just a chorus, and then on to the next song. That was disappointing. Give us more than 30 seconds of a song: we weren’t in the middle of a commercial break, we had time.
The Runway Show: Finally. (Waiting 1 1/2 hours from the time you sit until you start can be a teensy bit maddening). The models were from the sponsoring modeling/acting agency. It seemed apparent that some of the models were very new and some were more seasoned. That’s okay – everyone has to start somewhere. What was disappointing was the obvious absence of a ‘dresser’ backstage (someone to make sure that you are zipped, buttoned and completely ready to step out from behind the wall). One gal walked the runway with her very nice pink dress unzipped about 6 inches. More than one paraded past with a price tag flapping in the breeze. Some unthinking person removed all paper filler from the large bags that the models carried so their handbags were droopy and deflated (it made you look at the obviously empty bag and wonder why it looked pitiful, when you should have been admiring the outfit or the bag itself). More than one model tripped either on a rough spot underfoot or because they could not walk in their shoes (a few wore some ghastly, black, ugly-heeled things that could not have been made for real people). There was also no one to tell the models when to ‘go’ or ‘wait’. A few of them nearly ran over each other. We had plenty of time to view this show, and yet they were rushing out. You could not truly see the outfits, as they did not stop at the beginning of the runway; they only stopped for a split second at the end of the runway in front of the photographer (which was not my position). Some of the stores wisely had the models carry a bag from the participating retailer while they displayed the clothing. Since there was not an announcer during the show, how on earth were you supposed to know which clothing was from which store? I saw one or two things I really liked, but couldn’t tell you where I would go to purchase the item as I had no clue what store sent it down the runway. There were not enough participants. Just saying. You have an entire mall. Surely you could have somehow managed to entice more stores to put together at least four outfits for this event. Upside: the majority of the outfits were cute and the models were attractive with nicely done makeup. I did have to laugh when the first male model appeared and the majority of the female audience whooped and whistled.
Roundup: The whole show was done by 7:45, so there was time to visit the stores (if you knew which one to go to). Also, one clerk told me that the jewelry picked from their store might be unavailable as they only had ‘one’ of some items. We’ll use the Hmph again. You could get a free make-over at one table (the two gals who couldn’t sit down took advantage of this - and it was an improvement to be sure!)
All in all: A very nice event. It has great possibilities for next year. They need better product name placement everywhere.
Bottom line: Did I buy anything? Yes. A really nice bracelet (and some bowls that were not displayed on the runway). However, I Definitely will drive to the cookie place and Brio’s to eat!
God bless you richly. I know that He has blessed me.
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