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9/11 Anniversary Bumps Date of Fashion's Night Out

By DNAinfo Staff on November 30, 2010 6:46am  | Updated on November 30, 2010 7:45am

By Gabriela Resto-Montero

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

SOHO — A high-profile SoHo fashion event held annually on Sept. 10 will be bumped up by two days next year amid concerns that the area's police precinct will already be overextended on the tenth anniversary of 9/11, city officials confirmed.

For the past two years, Fashion's Night Out, a joint venture between the city and Vogue magazine, has lured shoppers into SoHo stores by hosting after-hours parties where the public can mingle with fashionistas and celebrities. Stars ranging from "Gossip Girls'" Leighton Meester and Blake Lively to designers Diane von Furstenberg and Donna Karan attended the event.

But this year, the NYPD's 1st Precinct raised concerns about being able to simultaneously manage security for both next year's 9/11 anniversary and the star-studded shopping extravaganza, according to Andrew Brent, a spokesman with the mayor's office.

"There were multiple events last year and that was something that was raised by the precinct," Brent said. "It was likely a staffing issue that became moot when they moved it."

Those in the community agreed that the events needed to be staggered.

Fashion's Night Out has become a major fashion event requiring greater oversight and crowd control, according to Susan Needles, a long-time community resident and member of the SoHo Partnership.

"What happens with these events in SoHo is that the residential community is totally subsumed to the business and retail enterprises," Needles said.

Caroline Ramos, a manager at G-Star Raw at 270 Lafayette St., said that with many of the participating stores serving free alcohol, the event has turned into a booze-fest.

"[This year] it was a stampede of women and they were trick or treating for alcohol," Ramos said.

Margarita Gonzalez, the manager of Armani Exchange at Broadway and Prince Street, which participates in Fashion's Night Out, said the 2010 incarnation "was like a block party." And she's already looking forward to the crowds that she hopes will turn out in 2011.

"From the success we had this year, we're definitely going to make it bigger next year."