Hotels That Want You To Look Good During New York Fashion Week

Fashion Week 2014 roars into town September 3 through 11, and if week is a misnomer, fashion isn’t. Hotels by definition are big league Fashion Week participants – the well-dressed hoards have to stay somewhere. But promoting good looks for guests – and drop-ins – tops the FW agenda at several hotels.

The glamour starts in the Hotel Belleclaire lobby.

I love the idea behind Triumph Hotels’ #PolishPopUp. You can breeze into any of the group’s four participating hotels and come out with new color on your nails, gratis, courtesy of the ‘curists at CitiMani. Polish is by Pretty Please Polish, specialists in custom colors. They’ve cooked up a signature hue for each Triumph Hotel – The Belle-Claire of the Ball (a lush raspberry), Chandler Cabernet (rich burgundy), Don’t Be So Iro-quois (light pink), you get the idea. You can also choose chic rank-and-file colors like Hot Pink, Creamy Peach and Hunter Green.

Reservations aren’t needed, but you have to pick the right hotel on the right day. Here’s the schedule: Hotel Belleclaire on the Upper West Side, Thursday, September 4: 10 am – 2 pm; The Cosmopolitan Hotel in Tribeca, Friday, September 5: 10 am – 2 pm; The Washington Jefferson Hotel in Midtown West Monday, September 8: 10 am – 2 pm and The Gershwin Hotel in NoMad, Tuesday, September 9: 10 am – 2 pm. If you’re not wearing stilettos, it’s an easy walk to the Belleclaire and Washington Jefferson from the Lincoln Center fashion tents.

It’s an even shorter walk from the Mandarin Oriental New York to the tents (Lincoln Center hosts the shows through 2016). For guests – or others – who want to be fresh-faced for the shows, the Mandarin spa offers pre-show prep in the form of the 50-minute Micro Flash Lift Facial ($245 weekdays, $260 weekends). Using a non-invasive micro current, the treatment boosts collagen levels and increases cell renewal. The result: brighter, smoother skin (translation: you look younger). Results are instant. Alas, they don’t last. But the treatment should get you through the shows. Bonus: you get to chill in the spa’s sybaritic living room.