As September comes to a close, the global Fashion Month conversation is shifting its lens directly toward the Brick City. Founder, designer, and cultural architect Lynette Lashawn, MALS, is launching Newark Fashion Night Out (NFNO)—an unprecedented three-day weekend taking over Newark’s cultural and commercial corridors from Friday, September 25, through Sunday, September 27.
Newark Fashion Night Out threads Newark’s rich fashion, style, tailoring, and design heritage directly into a 21st century placemaking activation, and a gamble on creative workforce development. Following a massive pilot event earlier this year that saw 875 attendees in partnership with The Newark Museum of Art, NFNO is scaling citywide, projecting between 2,000 and 3,000 attendees across the three-day showcase.
The Founder & The Mission
Lynette Lashawn isn’t entering the fashion conversation—she has been shaping it for decades. Having operated backstage at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, curated looks across the pages of Vogue, Essence, and Ebony, and launched cult retail ventures like Off The Hanger, Lashawn spent over twenty years inside fashion’s global inner circle.
Now, the Newark native is bringing that high-level production machinery permanently home—giving local talent the elevated production value, industry visibility, and commercial infrastructure historically reserved for Manhattan.
“Newark has never needed permission to be fashionable; we’ve always set the tempo,” said Lashawn. “From Emily Miles’ charm schools and Wesley Tann dressing Jacqueline Kennedy, to Stephen Burrows defining American disco ready-to-wear and Douglas Says dominating runway and ballroom culture, our history is royalty. Newark Fashion Night Out threads that heritage directly to the future—putting our talent on a national stage and proving fashion is an economic engine for this city.”
Three Days of Fashion, Commerce, and Community Impact
Friday, September 25 | Industry Honors & The Runway Experience
The weekend kicks off with an official Opening Night Ceremony featuring remarks by Mayor Ras J. Baraka.
The evening will be capped by an immersive runway presentation featuring local and regional designers, followed by a high-energy Fashionable Soirée.
Saturday, September 26 | Fashion Day Out (Citywide Activations)
Day two transforms Newark’s streets, storefronts, and commercial districts into an interactive fashion hub:
The Newark Edit & Brown Girls Bar Crawl: A massive open marketplace blending independent designers, beauty founders, live music, and real-time digital e-commerce, anchored alongside an official nightlife partnership with the Brown Girls Bar Crawl.
Street Style & Window Series: The interactive Fashion Walk (powered by Gentlewoman Social and ANĒ Clothier) will wind through the district, leading into designer Marco Hall’s curated Window Series featuring light refreshments and industry conversation.
Industry Mixer & Masterclasses: Free morning and afternoon masterclasses and beauty labs, leading directly into the IN THE MIX creative industry networking mixer.
Sunday, September 27 | Last Looks: Beyond The Runway
The official closing experience moves beyond the traditional runway with an intimate “Chat & Chew” panel discussion alongside participating designers. Attendees will have the opportunity to participate in a Meet & Greet with Founder Lynette Lashawn, view curated designer presentations, and arrive in bold, expressive colors for the final visual edit.
Documenting every moment in real time, The Insiders—a curated collective of 20 premier fashion, hair, makeup, and lifestyle content creators—will broadcast Newark’s designers, street style, and local storefronts to a national audience.
 Sept. 25–27! Experience three days of runways, local designer markets, and industry honors in Newark.){kind=link}