Fashion's Night Out and more: Updates from around the Web

Well, it looks like we were wrong, wrong, wrong about Fashion's Night Out's success, or lack of. WWD reports today that the Sept. 10 event was SO smashingly successful that it's going to be repeated next year — and it'll be bigger and smashing-er than ever!!! Everyone's still mum about actual sales figures for the night, with Bergdorf ceo Jim Gold pronouncing that "More importantly… Fashion’s Night Out set a fun, optimistic and energetic tone for the fall season.” Yes, we'd forgotten, retailers always measure their success by the tone. Bloomberg, Wintour, and co. are looking to outdo themselves by getting New York's sales tax repealed for the day, meaning deeper discounts for those buying items over $110. Can it work? Of course it can!!

In other updates, we made an egregious oversight in posting Tuesday's bike commuting story without linking to this handy guide to the two-wheeled commute in NYC. Let it be known that MBF does not in any way condone bike commuting without use of helmets (in the US, at least), lights, and a good contingency plan for rainy weather!

Lastly, we seriously underestimated the number of licensing deals inked for Where the Wild Things Are. In addition to the two clothing collections we mentioned, there was a skateboard series, Uggs, vinyl collector toys, and jewelry... Check out the comprehensive round-up at CoolHunting!

Photo by essgee on Flickr

It's a green recession at Condé

First, Anna Wintour was spotted walking to work. Then Grace Coddington outed herself as a subway rider. Now, as the latest result of 25% across-the-board cuts at Condé Nast, Self mag editrix Lucy Danziger is getting profiled by the NY Times — for her newfound routine of commuting by bike.

Danziger blows away all the naysayers who worry that biking is unglamorous, pedaling off in her Tory Burch outfit and arriving with still-perfect hair under her helmet — and even a still-warm morning coffee in her water bottle rack!

Unlike many bike-unfriendly Midtown office buildings, Condé even offers a snazzy bike rack in the basement, pictured above. Let's hope that's one amenity they won't be cutting!

NY Times via The Cut

David Byrne, saving the world one bike at a time.

New York has gone bike crazy this summer, and David Byrne would like at least some of the credit, please. Best known as the geek-chic Talking Heads frontman, Byrne has been doing some thinking lately about how urban life could be better. And it revolves around bicycles — you see, he's been riding one around New York for 30 years.

First, inspired by judging a citywide bike rack design competition, he paid to have 9 Keith Haring-esque bike racks installed around New York, each an original design by, well, David Byrne. Now he's organized an exhibition of bikes created by artists other than himself, opening Oct. 4 in Connecticut.

And with a memoir-cum-philosophical tome, "Bicycle Diaries," coming out next week, he's penned an article in the Wall Street Journal summing up his vision for ideal urban planning: medium-sized cities, with human-scale construction, wide boulevards, mixed-use neighborhoods, and ample public spaces. His ideas are nothing new, but as with Bono and Africa, perhaps his celebrity glow can rub off on his cause: better cities for everyone. And if that's not sustainable, what is?