Duane Street Hotel Checks Downtown into Fashion Week with Innovative Bloggers Lounge

September 7th, 2012

As industry bloggers from around the country hit the tarmacs of New York’s airports for Fashion Week, they were able to stave off jet lag by relaxing and mingling from the innovative Blogger’s Lounge at downtown’s Duane Street Hotel.

The chic boutique hotel at 130 Duane Street kicked off a week of hosting key fashion bloggers Thursday, providing a respite and a base of operations for writers from as far away as Dallas and San Francisco to file their up-to-the-minute news reports.

The lounge is the result of collaboration between the hotel and Bloggers Night Out, an event company created by members of the bloggers community.

Bloggers (left to right) Jennifer Logue, James Andrew and Jai Marshall read over the event list for Fashion Week. Photo by Ryan Shanley

The hard-working bloggers were treated to free Wi-Fi, complimentary goodie bags, Perrier, the opportunity of a free makeup touch-up at the neighboring Pas de Deux Salon, and snacks provided by Chef Jehangir Mehta, from the hotel’s renowned Mehtaphor restaurant.

Just as critical for the bloggers was the opportunity to mingle among themselves about upcoming shows, trading tips and insider information. They also had the chance to network with top up-and-coming designers, Ariel Lilly and Christina Coniglio of Rae Francis.

“This is an atmosphere to make bloggers comfortable and get information,” said Nicolas Daeppen, general manager of the Duane Street Hotel, who noted that the lounge is an attempt to for the hotel to provide a meaningful mecca for the event in the Downtown community. “New York Fashion Week is the perfect time to demonstrate our support of artists in the world of fashion.”

The bloggers lounge will be open to writers and the general public through September 13 and be open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. A live television stream of the various shows will be offered to bloggers unable to attend individual events, to report on in real time. There are also daily afternoon presentations from designers like Lilly and Coniglio who discussed their summer and fall collections—even holding a social media contest where winners received items of clothing.

“[The lounge] really has become a platform for the bloggers,” said Erin Branche, one of the managers for the Independent Collection, a group of hotels in New York state, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Florida, to which the Duane Street Hotel belongs. “We have a number of designers coming in to do Q&As with the bloggers and discuss the trends for fall 2012.”

Hotel officials expect Lounge traffic to average between 20 and 30 bloggers each day, saying that it provides a value-added alternative to the ad-hoc austerity of the city’s coffee shops and Starbucks.

“I think it’s great being here instead of a Starbucks,” said Susset Cabrera, a blogger for Miami Beats and Sazon, who flew into New York Thursday morning and went to the bloggers lounge to ease her way into Fashion Week. “You get to be here with other bloggers and network. It’s a great way to expand your network.”

—Chris Haire

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