NorthPark Center was home of everything fashion on Thursday. (Courtesy of Flicker)

More than 40 models strutted across a fashion runway at NorthPark Center Thursday, as onlookers from every angle “oohed and aahed” at the glamorous presentation of Fall’s latest trends. Live music and DJs amped the fashion-fanatic crowd, and the flashing lights of photographers captured dozens of perfectly posed pictures from a standing-room-only audience.

This was Fashion’s Night Out, a celebration of fashion and fun that takes place in major cities across the world. Around Dallas and its suburbs, shopping centers and boutiques held fashion shows and sales, while restaurants and bars held after parties.

More than 75 stores participated at NorthPark Center, where three runway shows took place in the NorthCourt. Elsewhere in the mall, stores held sales, and offered promotions, style advice and makeovers. Some, like Barney’s New York, even served patrons champagne.

Fashion’s Night Out (FNO) was created in 2009 by Vogue editor Anna Wintour as a way to celebrate fashion during a time of recession. The goal, according to the event’s Facebook page, was to give back to the consumer by providing exciting retail support that would trigger sales.

This is the third year Dallas has hosted FNO events. Other cities celebrating FNO in Texas included Houston and Austin. Cities around the world, including New York, London, Paris and Milan also took part in hosting FNO events.

Local radio personality and one of NorthPark Center’s FNO’s hosts, Victoria Snee, said the event is a wonderful time to celebrate fashion and to see Fall fashion trends.

“I think having fashion shows gets everyone’s energy levels up and is an exciting way to make everyone want to go out and shop,” she said.

Models JR Sterling and Trey Tucker, Dallas natives who work for The Campbell Agency, worked their wears on the runway. They both said it was important that NorthPark Center was a hub for the big night.

“It’s important because you get people that normally do not get to attend these kind of things,” said Tucker. “People get a better taste for what’s coming up and what’s coming out, and it makes it fun because it is a public space as opposed to a private event.”

Sterling, who has modeled across the country, believed that NorthPark Center was the place to be.

“Having FNO at a mall obviously makes sense,” said Sterling. “It draws a crowd and this is done nationwide to get people excited to spend money, so what better place than a mall?”

Sterling believes that the fashion industry in Dallas is exploding. “I love the direction Dallas is going. I think Dallas will be able to compete with L.A. and New York in no time,” said Sterling. “In fact, Dallas is already one of the most trendiest cities, so it’s really only a matter of time.”

Karley Osborn, a journalist covering the events at NorthPark for a local fashion publication, said Dallas is still developing as a fashion capital. The city has a great market, but it cannot yet compete with a fashion giant like New York.

“But on nights like tonight, we’re one step closer,” she said.http://www.dallassouthnews.org/2012/09/09/dallas-struts-its-stuff-at-fashions-night-out/

(Courtesy of Flicker)