Thursday, February 10, 2000

The Season


Palm Beach has its Season for parties, but Silicon Alley's Season is year-round. And parties were in full swing on Thursday night, February 10th, with a total of eight parties this night. For instance, Fashiontv.com had their bash at Float, Pogo.com at Cocacabana and the Village Voice's little soiree at Les Deux Lapins.

The Knot.com enticed seasoned party-ers with a pre-Valentine's party featuring lust, passion and pleasure on the most appropriate holiday for them. Oh my! Sweetly sticky aphrodisiacs and love advice were poured out to lovelorn, lost and looking. Oh how Ohm, the club, oozed the potential for sex with portions of oysters being passed and massages and reflexology to ease any remaining tensions… Some guests, from companies like Oxygen, Women's Wear Daily, iVillage, AOL and Giftcertificates.com came to stop by the Love Fortune or tarot card reading stations.

Wedding gown designers including Susan Lazar and celebrity wedding planners like The Knot.com Advisory Board member Preston Bailey and Marcy Blum, who also helped plan this party and wrote "Weddings for Dummies" checked out the millions of dollars worth of birthstones brought in from Mondera.com to ooolge and learn of their meaning. But the "big news" was that they are launching a new wedding gown magazine on Sadie Hawkins Day (February 29th). This newsstand issue will not be supported by advertising, however, and after taking a look at some market research, The Knot realized that women would buy these magazines for the pictures of the wedding dresses but not know any other information about it. With over 100 designers showing their dresses, women will now be able to see a wide variety of dresses and know the price before going into the store. This catalog-like magazine will be published annually and distributed in stores where dresses are featured.

…And what about About.com? Just a week short of the Chinese New Year (02/05/00) and a month after the Julian Calendar New Year (01/01/00), About.com threw a big party to celebrate their New Year (02/10/00). While the line outside was long, and they were employing a strict guest list at the door, it was not crowded inside. VP of Biz Dev? Creative Director? CEO of a startup? Sorry. This party was just for Ad Sales. And About was so strict with this, not even their own seasoned Biz Dev-ers could gain entrance.


Hmmm. Whereas last week the West 18th popular loft space was in black for the Draper Fisher Jurvetson party, this night it was decorated in red, which might be for the embarrassed faces some About.com-ers feel for denying access to many supporters, or maybe it's for the festive Chinese New Year…