While Anna swanned around Queens, the Olsens bartended for the sequined crowds at Bergdorf Goodman, and Alexander Wang taught crowds how to walk a runway, Sam Shipley and Jeff Halmos were tucking into some ice-cold PBRs and pedaling their personally tricked-out bikes on a course they’d charted. “We don’t have our own store, so we were trying to think of a way to make [Fashion’s Night Out] work,” said Halmos as he prepared to head uptown. We followed his and Shipley’s movements, on their own bicycles, all night. Herewith, a time line.
6:15 p.m.: Halmos’s bike gets an emergency repair.
6:30: S+H head to Pas de Deux for a quick glass of Champagne.
6.45: Shipley reveals that he and Halmos are secret athletes: “There’s a lot of them out in the fashion world. Robert Geller plays soccer every Saturday; he always invites us.”
7:25: We take off for Barneys in midtown, via First Avenue.
7:40: Sam almost killed by rogue black car as we make a wrong turn onto the Queensboro Bridge entrance ramp.
7:55: Pull up to Barneys — MOB SCENE! Francisco Costa happily offers to sign their FNO T-shirts in front of Calvin Klein.
8:00: S+H drink the only PBRs in a two-mile radius.
8:10: S+H consider getting as many designers as they can to sign their shirts but then think better of it: “At this point, it’s going to have to be Lagerfeld or bust.”
8:15: S+H talk shop with Barneys: “We’re way ahead of last year,” says Halmos. “The stores are really selling it! We’re thrilled,” says Lam Nguyen, men’s sportswear buyer at Barneys Co-op. (He also says fall markdowns won’t start until early December!)
8:20: Women in elevator to S+H: “You know, Mary Kate and Ashley are bartending on 3. We’re going.” S+H, unfazed, continue to ground floor.
8:25: Leaving Barneys. Sam: “This whole thing is a scene out of Zoolander.”
8:30: Indignant woman: “OH, MY GOD, I almost got run over by Shipley and Halmos!”
8:45: RAIN!
9:00: Stop at Billy Reid for oysters — all gone. But the boys breathe easier back in PBR territory.
9:15: Sidetracked from Fashion by Hunger. Try to get the free tacos from the Smile. MOB SCENE! Halmos buys the Cut a burger, God bless him.
9:45: Running late! S+H scheduled to be in the dunk tank in Williamsburg, but FNO is almost over and we still have to go to Odin.
10:10: RAIN! Do we bike over the bridge? Of course.
10:30: Williamsburg! We head over to see what’s left of the Block Party at Bird.
10:40: Disco is pumping, but the booze is out and the bouncers are taking away people’s I.D.’s for being outside.
10:45: S+H tuckered out, the dunk tank long gone.
10:50: Lisa Mayock of Vena Cava is tuckered, too. She just wants her tofu taco. It’s been a long night.
11:05: The Cut sleepily bikes back over the bridge. S+H dissolve into the crowd.
