My RVA Fashion Week 2014: Part 11 Show #4 Finale Show

Saturday May 3^rd, 2014 at 9:00 p.m.

This was the longest day of fashion week, but it didn’t really feel like it to me.  I arrived at The National at 10:15 a.m.  We were in the upstairs area and it was AWESOME (TV with Fashion Police on, chairs, diff rooms, hot tub room…basically lots of room to hang out).

Hair and make-up was very gradual, with people trickling in throughout the morning and there being no real rush to get everyone done right away.  But I went first for hair because Melanie (Dunn) was doing it first to show the other hair stylists what she had in mind.  It was two French braid pig tails that met down near the base of my head/neck and formed a bun.  Very nice.

But then…the make-up theme was “ice queens”.  I didn’t know this until I saw girls coming out with white all around the eyes and green or orange lipstick.  No mascara; no conventional prettiness; no real sense haha.  But I get it- themes keep things interesting.  My only beef is I went into make-up wearing my own shirt that I’d be wearing all day.  It was a deep blue.  However, none of my outfits were blue.  They were grey/green and black with a copper bag, and I showed the artists pics of my outfits so they could see exactly what I meant.  Yet still, they chose to make my lips sky blue.  It looked so weird with my outfits.  I wish they had chosen almost any other color. It wasn’t good weird. It was just WEIRD.

Then for the majority of the day, we had a lot of down time.  We got to park in the parking deck across from The National for free, so since my car was close I went to McDonald’s – don’t know why.  Fast food when I’m about to be in a fashion show? Sure, makes total sense (sarcasm). 

We all just sat around, chillin’, talkin’, laughin’.  It was pretty good times.  And the food selection was MUCH better that day since almost all the models from the week were there.

Run-throughs were done for each store/designer one-by-one.  Then one big run-through and flood practice.  We had to rearrange what some people were wearing, including me, due to the order of the show.  So I had to give up my Fab’rik dress in order to wear outfits from both GlassBoat and South Moon Under.

Some of the girls and I walked around the corner to a hotel bar to get some pre-show drinks, and that was really fun.  We got to see the bike race that was in town, as well as get rid of some of our nerves and just chat it up.  We also had a bottle of champagne back at The National J But then, it was SHOW TIME! (And I swear we weren’t drunk lol No one fell!)

Then the show went pretty seamlessly (at least as far as I know).  We all just walked out, did our thang, KILLED it IMO, did our quick changes, and went out and did it again.  There were performances from a drum group, a blond female singing duo, and (apparently) a local celebrity who basically does a Stomp type show by making music (beats) with just his body.  

(Photo courtesy of JC Vera Photography)     (Photo courtesy of Roger Walk Photography)

One of the performance groups warming up before the show

Then me and everyone around me rapped “Fancy” by Iggy Azalea (it was the song used for the final walk) as we got in line for the flood. 

(Photo courtesy of Roger Walk Photography)

(Photo courtesy of Roger Walk Photography)

Then it was time to give credit where credit is due, and each member of the RVA Fashion Week board of directors, as well as their assistants/helpers, got to come out on stage and get their recognition, appreciation, and round of applause.  Then we were done!  It was time to say “bye” to everyone, exchange the “let’s keep in touch”s, and head out to get that damn blue lipstick off my face lol J 

 Stef'anie Thompson
(Photo courtesy of Roger Walk Photography)

Melanie Dunn (my favorite)
(Photo courtesy of Roger Walk Photography)

Courtney Coco Culbreath
(Photo courtesy of JC Vera Photography)

Erin Brennan
(Photo courtesy of JC Vera Photography)

Jimmy Budd
(Photo courtesy of Roger Walk Photography)

There was the Trunk Showcase the next day, which I stopped by.  But that’s mostly a shopping event and I really didn’t stay long so I don’t have much to say about it.  Sorry lol.  It was cool? :D Yeah!

This was definitely a great experience and I want to thank those who selected me as a model for giving me the opportunity.  The directors did a great job, basically starting from scratch and building a fashion week that was creative and beautiful and successful (and sometimes even fun! Haha).  I’m not sure if I’ll do it again next year, mostly bc of my age and full-time job, but I’m glad I did it this year.  I learned so much and met so many great people! Thank you thank you thank you to the organizers, stylists, artists, models, designers, and everyone who came out to support me.  

Much love <3 <3 <3  Keep lookin’ good bitches ;)