Hoboken Glams Up For Fashion Week

While the world's most innovative designers are sending their creations to the catwalks in Bryant Park for New York Fashion Week, here in Hoboken, the W Hotel is showing off styles of its own.

On Wednesday night, the W threw a small event at its Living Room bar to celebrate the release of its new jewelry line, Global Glam, to be sold at The W Store. The event also partnered with New York City based cosmetic company Purple Lab to give out free makeovers from their new line of cosmetics.

The collection of baubles—only the second that W Hotel has ventured—is based on their property locations in Hollywood, Barcelona and downtown New York City, and created by top-notch designers, such as Suzanna Dai, Dannijo and Kendra Scott.

"It's very fashion-forward and ahead of the curve," said Adriana Saber, manager of the W Store.

The New York collection is mostly silver and inspired by animal prints, while the Barcelona collection makes heavy use of crystals and the Hollywood-inspired collection would be at home on vintage starlets of the silver screen. The line ranges from $75 to $550.

At other W Stores, most of the sales come from tourists staying at the hotel, but Saber said that Hoboken is different.

"We have more locals here that come in," she said. "We have a window set up on River Street which gives us a lot of exposure."

At the Purple Lab table, everyone was welcome to a free makeover courtesy of professional makeup artists Golda Adelman, featuring the cosmetic brand's new line of double duty products.

Purple Lab—who had partnered with W Hotel for the record breaking speeddating event "Find Your Luvah"—were hawking new items with trendy names, such as the "Huge Lips, Skinny Hips" gloss, "Cheek Implants" blush and "Silk Sheets" concealer.

"It's a product line for the busy woman," said Purple Lab PR Director Sharon Hirsch.

"I just did a makeover on a guy, and he said he was planning to buy the Silk Sheets concealer, because he loved the way it smells, and that it kept his forehead oil-free," laughed Adelman.

With Fashion Week happening concurrently across the river, the W Hotel also set up flat screen televisions broadcasting a feed of the runway collections from Bryant Park. With a DJ thumping dance music in the back, and the Living Room bar's martini specials, it was as close as one could get to the glamour of Fashion Week without dealing with the crowds.

David Fernandez, 35, of Rockaway, used to work behind-the-scenes on the production team for Fashion Week, and while he said he enjoyed having an event in Jersey, those who are serious about fashion need to be at Bryant Park.

"It's the benefit of showing (at Bryant Park), you get that benefit of exposure," Fernandez said. "If you're across the river, it's not going to happen."

Still, partygoers enjoyed having a luxury event right in their own backyards.

"It's great to have NYC Fashion Week brought to Hoboken," said Jennifer Kim, 25, of Jersey City. "Hoboken is such an up-and-coming city, and fashion is really becoming part of the scene here."