Nordstrom Del Amo Opening Gala Recap

I attended the Nordstrom Del Amo Opening Gala last week with a friend, Michelle Auturo, who coincidentally happens to be a hot, young, clothing designer.

The Nordstrom team pulled out all the stops for this amazing event. There were over 1,500 fashion-forward guests in attendance – what a crush! – along with Honorary Co-Chairs Nancy O’Dell and Zendaya; Gala Co-Chairs Nick Arquette from Walk With Sally and Melanie and Jeffrey Maclean from Peninsula Committee of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

From the moment my Uber driver turned into the parking lot, I knew it was going to be a spectacular evening.

The building facade was aglow with alternating LED lighting and featured a DJ platform above the main entry. She was spinning tunes in silhouette….very Bond.

The almost 140,000 square feet space has two floors with well-illuminated, unimpeded views of each level and escalators in the center of the space.

Guests enjoyed the latest music mixed by DJs Lola Lagunsta and Val Fleury as well as fall fashion presentations.

There was an abundance of food and beverage stations located throughout, in addition to tray passed bites. I must find out who did the catering because the food displays were magnificent and everything tasted scrumptious!

Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres in hand, Michelle and I strolled the entire ground floor – cosmetics, accessories, men’s, jewelry and shoe departments – before heading up the escalator to salivate over the merchandise in the women’s and children’s departments.

I walked by what I thought was a typical mannequin display a couple of times before realizing they were live models. I spent a few minutes trying to make them blink, smile or move but they didn’t fall for it…. very Beefeater. Michelle and I took a cue from other attendees, stood among the models and struck a pose.

As we made another lap of the store, we stopped to chat with Torrance Mayor Pat Furey; Nordstrom Store Manager Cheri Botiz; Nordstom Fashion PR guru John Bailey; Gala Co-Chair Nick Arquette and at least a hundred people wanting to know where Michelle bought her dress. FYI – Michelle designed and made the dress herself. If you’d like to see more of her creations, visit her Instagram page at https://instagram.com/michymatch/.

The best part of this incredible evening? The Gala raised over $150,000 for local charity organizations, Walk With Sally and Peninsula Committee of Children’s Hospital. Woohoo!

Nordstrom and the entire Del Amo Fashion Center officially opened their doors on Friday, October 9.

It’s going to be a fabulous holiday shopping season!

For additional information, visit the websites at http://shop.nordstrom.com/st/nordstrom-del-amo-fashion-center andhttp://www.simon.com/mall/del-amo-fashion-center.