On the heels of New York Fashion Week, the Madison Avenue B.I.D. kicked off its Step Up for Fashion event with al fresco modeling in front of three dozen stores this month.

Held on Sept. 20, the second annual event isn’t meant to just rev up fall shopping, but it also benefits the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s Scholarship Fund. Forty models, who were individually stationed outside of LoveShackFancy, Todd Snyder, Carolina Herrera, Etro and Wolford among other retailers, helped to attract attention. The CFDA’s president and chief executive officer Steven Kolb and the Madison Avenue B.I.D.’s president Matthew Bauer were on hand to take it all in, as were former CFDA Scholarship Fund winners.

Passersby could also strike a pose on the red carpeted step-and-repeat that was set up at East 77th Street and Madison Avenue, thanks to the fashion photographer Andrew Werner. Madison Avenue Spy fashion blogger Lila Deliah, and @ladiesofmadisonave’s Joshua Kamel were also in the mix. The event anchored “Welcome Back Saturday,” which celebrates the return of fall fashion and highlights the fashion and accessories stores between East 63rd and East 83rd Streets.

Free and open to all, the participating stores sponsored a Step Up for Fashion outdoor “platform style show,” with a model posing in front of their respective stores at 1, 2 and 3 p.m. There were also in-store styling events and the participating retailers donated 10 percent of their sales to bolster the fund. The final tally has not yet been made, but organizers hoped to exceed last year’s mark of more than $30,000, Bauer said.

The Italian fashion brand Peserico, the French fragrance company Parfums De Marly, Veronica De Piante, Generation Love, LoveShackFancy, Onia, Malia Mills and Todd Snyder were newcomers to Step Up for Fashion this year. Some of the other participants were L’Agence, Vince, N.Peal, Nardos, Mackage, Lafayette 148 and Zadig & Voltaire.

Kolb said, “Madison Avenue stands at the heart of both American and global fashion and luxury and we are proud to see many young and legacy CFDA brands represented on this world-famous avenue. We’re deeply thankful to the Madison Avenue B.I.D. for supporting CFDA Scholarships and helping us advance our mission to nurture the next generation of American fashion talent.”

Recalling how “Welcome Back Saturday” started as a post-pandemic event, Bauer said this year’s edition was a “welcoming and warm environment.” Having the models outside the stores brought the fashion outdoors and created a physical connection to the businesses, he said. Having previous scholarship winners attend was also “heartwarming,” since “they are the designers of tomorrow,” Bauer said. Shoppers could also indulge in some ice cream and lemonade on what was a summery afternoon in September.

Bauer is anticipating the opening of another Madison Avenue tenant that will help to bring more shoppers and diners to the neighborhood. On Nov. 8, Sotheby’s will debut its new world headquarters in what once was the original home of the Whitney Museum of American Art, starting in 1966. More recently, the Breuer building served as locations for The Frick Collection and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In June 2023, the auction house acquired the prized location, which will also house galleries that will be free and open to the public. Herzog & de Meuron is leading the design process for renovations at the Modernist landmark. Sotheby’s inaugural exhibition there will be for its auctions of Modern and Contemporary Art. Madison Avenue shoppers might be interested in the follow-up show in early December that will play up “Luxury Week.” Sotheby’s new hub will also include a restaurant from Roman and Williams, whose portfolio includes La Mercerie.