Monday, May 16, 2011

Fashion Consciousness

https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=ef6b852402&view=att&th=12ff52a3b11f752e&attid=0.6&disp=inline&zw

On Friday night,  I went to a Columbus Academy for Art and Design (CCAD) fundraiser that included a fashion show and drinks.  It was set up in two tents, one tent that housed the actual fashion show, and another tent that was for VIP's.  A "general admission" ticket was $125 and a VIP ticket was $350.  If you purchased a VIP ticket, then you were seated around the runway, and I think maybe you received unlimited champagne or something, and if you were General Admission, you got two drink tickets and had to stand.  There was a cocktail reception afterward with a "white couch" VIP area.  Generals paid for their tickets, and VIP's sat on the couches and drank free ones.  Hor d'oeuvres were also provided. 

There were a few people in the front row and throughout the party, that were wearing sunglasses.  This is inside the tent with very dim lighting.  I think this originally was started during New York Fashion Week, and say Milan fashion shows, because the celebrities found the flashbulbs from the international media, to be too blinding to enjoy the fashion show.  It also probably hid their bloodshot eyes and dialated pupils.  I mean, let's be real.

Anyway, I found the people with sunglasses on, to be profoundly hilarious, as this was a SCHOOL fashion show in COLUMBUS, OHIO.  Everytime I see a young girl making an ass out of herself, I think of my three daughters and what their future might hold, and I cringe.  I also make a mental note to sit them down and tell them to never, under any circumstances, should they wear sunglasses indoors, even if they are intensely marvelous, which all three of them are destined to be.  This will be during my "always wear underwear" talk, that will no doubt culminate into my "keep your knees together and your mind on Jesus" speech.

Anyway, I have been to two fashion shows in my entire life, and the other one was the "Project Runway" fashion show in Chicago.  We got the hook up from my best friend, Alissa's, sister-in-law, "Jen" who worked in Macys' promotions department at the time.  I was pregnant with my final child, Eva, and this experience is forever a part of my memory of Eva's pregnancy.

I was HUGE pregnant, not far along, mind you, just HUGE, and I put on my best maternity dress I had to borrow from someone else, and high heeled boots and did my best to "act like I've been there before," as Brad likes to say.  Jen (my girl crush) hooked us up with front row seats, and backstage passes to meet some of the designers, and none other than Tim Gunn.

Upon meeting the illustrious Tim Gunn, Alissa gushed and fell all over herself, and asked all these questions about each season, like he was her best gay friend.  He then looked at my very pregnant body and said, "Looks like you've been busy."  LOVE IT.  He then introduced us to one of the designers as "two ladies from Iowa."  All of the midwestern states may as well be Iowa, in his mind, and rightly so, because he is FABULOUS.

So, we sit down and there is all of this media from Chicago, and then the impossible happened.  The fashion editor from the Chicago Tribune, looked over at me and fervently waved as if I was a very big deal.  She obviously was mistaking me for someone else, probably Heidi Klum, and after looking behind me to see who she was really waving at and discovering it was ME, I did my best "I am better than you blow off wave" as to keep up appearances.  Alissa leaned in, because it was getting packed in there and it was difficult to hear, and says in my ear, "We'll have a good laugh about that one later."

I don't know if any of you are fans of  Project Runway, but it is a reality show in which budding  designers are given specific challenges, in which they have to complete an outfit or "look" in a very short period of time.  Some of the winning looks were on display at the event, and let me tell you up close they were a hot mess.  Being a fan of the show, it was so fun to see some of the contestants and their work we had devoted a significant amount of our lives to, (this not only includes watching the show, but discussing it at length over the phone) "in the flesh," as they say.

My favorite reality show right now is on the DIY Network and it is called "Family Under Construction".  It is about a family who buys a crack house in Minneapolis and fixes it up.  It holds my attention because the Dad is in the film business or something (and he posseses that jen a se quois that people like him always have) and the Mom is really pretty, but relatively normal, and so are the kids.  She is also fabulous and always wears these off the shoulder shirts, which fascinate me, as well.  Check it out and let me know if it is as addictive to you, as it is to me.

Pic above is of the CCAD fashion show.  Sooooo great.  Hey Mills, you might want to cover up a bit.

No comments:

Post a Comment