FROM SUPER BOWL TO FASHION WEEK

FROM SUPER BOWL TO FASHION WEEK

By:  Hope Wilkos, Writer/Blogger

Photos:  George Whylie

Videographer:  Maxine Nolan

Photos Courtesy of  Getty Images, www.nfl.com, NYTimes

 

The first week of February is off to a very busy start as enthusiastic New England Patriots and New York Giants fans cheered for their favorite team in the Indianapolis stands and comfortably from their couches at home.  Both teams put up a pretty good fight to the finish but inevitably, the New York Giants clinched the victory, 21 to 17.  Confetti flew and the celebration began.

Although there are many sports fans out there that found themselves glued to the game, others decided to tune in for the commercials.  Originality certainly made you chuckle as Volkswagen presented the dieting dog and Bud Light presented the Rescue the beer dog.

Audi capitalized on the success of the modern-day vampire with their Audi: Vampire Party commercial.

We saw our share of celebrity stars with the emotional commercial done by Clint Eastwood for Chrysler: Halftime in America and a star performance from the judges of ‘The Voice’ ending with an adorable Betty White.  Howard Stern was even part of the action.  From beautiful cars to gorgeous models, we saw it all.

Of course my favorite has always been the E-trade baby commercials and Dad played a role in this new one.

This also served as the platform to introduce new movies with interest-grabbing previews.

The highly anticipated Half-Time Show brought us a more subdued but still ‘having the moves’ Madonna.  Going from a Cleopatra image in costume to a rah, rah cheerleader to a priestess in ‘Like a Prayer’, Madonna gave us a couple of her forever hits mixed in with a single called  “Give Me All Your Lovin” off of her new album.

Joined by the controversial M.I.A., LMFAO, Nicki Minaj and ending with Cee Lo Green, Madonna gave us the entertainment that we were looking for.

The show came to an end as the field darkened and the video screens spelled out “World Peace” as the ending message.  With the publicity of the show, an announcement was made the next day that Madonna is preparing to embark on a concert tour that will take her to over 50 cities in 5 continents and will extend into 2013.

And then it was back home for the New York Giants and they were eagerly greeted with a full-blown parade and a key to the city given to them by the honorable Mayor Michael Bloomberg.  Large monitors were set up on the streets surrounding City Hall so that the crowds could watch from every location.

Fans were smiling, office workers watched from the windows of office skyscrapers and shredded paper replicating confetti was thrown onto Broadway.  Floats and bagpipe bands were all part of the celebration.  Die-hard fans were glad they had come out with the weather being very cooperative.  It was a ‘Welcome Home Winners’ event like none other.

To end the festivities for the New York Giants but to begin the festivities for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, Giants’ Super Bowl Champion, Victor Cruz, cut the ribbon at Lincoln Center to officially open the week.  He was joined by Stephanie Winston-Wolkoff, Director of Fashion at Lincoln Center, Peter Levy, SVP and Managing Director at IMG Fashion, Sports Illustrated Model, Kate Upton, Mercedes-Benz Presents Designer winner, Naeem Khan, and Lisa Holladay, Manager of Brand Experience Marketing for Mercedes-Benz USA.

Cruz was honored to be a part of the opening of Fashion Week and expressed gratitude for his fans and all the support that they have given him.  Cruz even plans to attend some of the designer fashion shows over the next week.

Now sports fans can put away their team jerseys for another year and bring out their voguish vests for Mercedes-Benz Fall/Winter 2012 Fashion Week.