The Trends: Style Awards, BCBG, Duckie Brown, FNO, Project Runway

The first night of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week kicked off with the Style Awards where the who's who in fashion gathered at The Stage at Lincoln Center to recognize the industry's top fashion designers, stylists, models, hairstylists, makeup artists and more. "It's very exciting because it's one of the only shows where people at home are going to get a sneak peek at inside the world of fashion and who the new movers and shakers are," says celebrity stylist Robert Verdi. The 2012 Style Awards will air on The Style Network on Friday, September 14th at 8pm ET/PT. The New York City party circuit was also in full swing the following evening, which was the biggest Fashion's Night Out ever. More than 700 stores stayed open late, offering savvy shoppers and aspiring fashionistas face-time with big name designers like Rachel Zoe, Michael Kors, Kim Kardashian. "It's just a great way to celebrate the industry and the designers within it, the creativity and just the passion that people have for fashion and what it brings to life," says Jennifer Gosselin, Senior Vice President of Piperlime, which opened it's first-ever retail store in SoHo that night. As for the catwalk, the BCBGMAXAZRIA Spring 2013 received rave reviews. "I think this season we really wanted to bring out that femme fatale. You know, the idea of woman and her inner strength and sort of her poise and her sexuality sort of wearing on her sleeve, so that was important for us," says designer Lubov Azria. Front row sightings included Selita Ebanks, Dania Ramirez, Joanna Coles and Whitney Port. As for new menswear trends, Duckie Brown Spring 2013 was bold, edgy with a side of punk. "Dark denim, black leather, red tartan and cream--it's a tough collection. It's muscular," says designer Daniel Silver. "It's a very tight color palette. It's a very tight fabric palette. It's basically dark denim, bleached denim, which we have done it our way so it's kind of a high end denim," says designer Steven Cox. One of the most anticipated events of the week was the Project Runway fashion show where Heidi Klum and fellow judges Michael Kors and Nina Garcia, along with front row supporters Jennifer Hudson and Debra Messing, watched the eight finalists of Season 10 present their own 10-piece Spring 2013 collections at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. "It was great," said Jennifer Hudson. "There are several pieces that I'm dying for," enthused Debra Messing.