NYFW Charity Auction: Rebecca Taylor Dress for Empire Hotel & Fashion Week Packages

Pictured: Designer Rebecca Taylor with models in her newly designed Empire Hotel Dress

I’m a big fan of designer Rebecca Taylor.  The New Zealand native always show classic styles and an amazing color palette.  I had an invite for her show at last year’s Fashion Week, but the tent was so packed at Bryant Park that they couldn’t let anymore attendees into the show due to a potential “fire hazard.” That’s how popular this designer is.  So, you may know Rebecca Taylor’s chic designs, but what you may not know is that she has joined forces with the Empire Hotel (next to New Yorks’ Lincoln Center) to design a special dress for their Fashion Week “ambassadors” and auction off a package to her NYFW show along with a stay at the Empire. Best of all, the bidding is starting at a low $250.00US and does not seem to be moving into the auction stratosphere.  That’s means there is a chance for a savvy fashionista to nab a hotel package, a Rebecca Taylor Fashion Week show package (Sept. 2011) or a beautiful dress for way below market value.  Check out the auctions at www.charitybuzz.com/HotelEmpire 

Pictured: Rebbeca Taylor’s sketch for her “Empire Dress.”

The dress Ms. Taylor has designed for the Empire Hotel looks like an 1890’s confection with a 21st century twist, and that is completely intentional, since The Empire Hotel  opened in the mid 1890’s.   The ‘Empire Femme Fatale’ dress is inspired by the hotel’s chic interior with hues of black and gold. The strapless bodice features a luxurious nude silk with jet black lace overlay.  The back of the silhouette is adorned with a cross grain rhinestone detail and exposed zipper which is perfect for a fashionable evening out.

“I am excited to collaborate with the Empire Hotel on this unique project!” said Rebecca Taylor. “My design for the dress was inspired by the hotel’s interior design, modern, chic and sexy all wrapped in one.”  The bidding is open until Feb. 24th, so keep your eye of this one.  The dress is valued at $750.00 US, but bidding starts at $250.00. Best of all, all the dress auction and the other Empire Hotel auctions benefit a very worthy charity,  the New York Foundling charity. For over 140 years, The Foundling’s extensive network of community based services provides havens for children, whose safety is at risk, loving foster and group facilities to protect children and support for families to strengthen them. 

I am watching these auctions and contemplating my own bidding strategy.  With more snow predicted on the East Coast during NYFW, I’m starting to think about attending the fall shows, more than the Spring shows that start next week.  I predict a long line of fashionistas riding out the Fashion Week cold at the Empire Hotel Bar.