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Weary Fashion Designers and Perky Celebrities Come Out for Anna Wintour’s Big Fashion Show

A slew of designers, weary from putting the finishing touches on the spring 2011 collections they’ll unveil to the world in just days, tore themselves away from their studios to watch their fall 2010 looks walk in Anna Wintour’s Vogue-organized Fashion’s Night Out fashion show at Lincoln Center last night. Thakoon Panichgul said the show was a “nice break” from work but planned to return to the office when it ended. Proenza Schouler designers Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough were “both pretty cranky” thanks to the lack of sleep, Hernandez told us. “We were both falling asleep in the car on the way over here,” McCollough added.

And the designers weren’t the only ones who were tired. Karlie Kloss told us the models’ call time was 8 a.m. yesterday morning, perhaps so that Vogue could shoot each individual look in a studio for Vogue.com before it walked. “Getting 170 girls downstairs was quite an achievement,” Wintour told The Cut. “One or two of them overslept” — she smiled — “but most of them are here. They look great.” Wintour was thankful for her team of editors, who sacrificed vacation time to put the 171 looks together. “It’s been a huge undertaking, and not too many of them had a summer off, so I’m sure they’re just going to be thrilled when it’s all over, and I’m sure it will be a huge success because of all their efforts.” She insisted that while the clothes in the show looked pretty fantastical, they were for real people who might go into stores and buy them. “All the editors at Vogue worked together on it, and obviously it reflects very much what we think about the season, but we were trying very much to make this fashion for everybody,” she explained. “The whole point of Fashion’s Night Out is very democratic; we wanted to bring fashion to the woman in the street. A lot of the clothes are incredibly wearable and accessible. You may not find all the hair and makeup quite so understandable, but we wanted it also to be a lot of fun.”

Donna Karan was happy that last night’s show included fall clothing. “I think right now, the most important thing is celebrating something that I believed in for so many years: to show the customer in-season,” she said, but wished it still wasn’t so hot outside. “I think a few more days would have been a little bit more helpful.”

Leighton Meester told us the Fashion’s Night Out show was merely the first show she’ll attend this season, along with Derek Lam, Proenza Schouler, and “couple of other little events.” Vogue invited her to last night’s show. “I got a very pretty invitation — it came by messenger. I was, like, yay!” Seth Meyers was there for different reasons. “I’m into conference centers. And I just like to see as many different events in sort of a conference hall as possible,” he told us. Did Wintour invite him? “You know, like with all things with Anna and I, I should probably let it drop, unless I’m sort of high at a cocktail party.”

Earlier: Slideshow: The Eighteen Most Stylish People at Fashion’s Night Out: The Show
Video: Paying Citizens and Karlie Kloss React to Fashion’s Night Out: The Show
Slideshow: Fashion’s Night Out: The Show

Weary Fashion Designers and Perky Celebrities Come Out for Anna Wintour’s Big Fashion Show