Fashion-Show Friday!
As I mentioned on Monday, my fashionable friend and bartender maestro Anna asked me to model in a sports luxe fashion show held at Fleet Feet in West Hartford Center. The event took place last night as part of West Hartford’s Fashion Night Out; stores throughout the center offered deals, their own fashion shows, and beverages.
But ours were provided by Barcelona…so that’s a win.
Not only did the models rock trendy sports apparel, we also paired each outfit with eye-wear provided by SIGHT.
I brought Kat backstage to try on some shades with me!
I was super nervous all day, especially since my first look included my recently purchased sneaker wedges…which I’d never walked in before. The nerve-soothing began the moment I walked into the basement of Fleet Feet, where Anna poured me some bubbly.
My favorite part of getting ready was the fishtail braid I got to rock with both of my looks! I am in love with braids because I suck at doing them myself. Whenever I go to the hairdresser I don’t ask for a blow-out at the end…I ask for a braid.
Freshly done braid…I slept on it last night and though it’s a bit of a rat’s nest today, I’m still rockin’ it.
I continued to sip on the Barcelona-provided vino while getting braided and made up!
The above photo may confuse you…those are arm sleeves! My first look was more luxe than sport because I paired leggings and a top with shades, funky arm sleeves, and my sneaker wedges.
Hooray thumbholes!
Anna and I posing with the beverage table, before I got my hair braided!
We did a run-through just as the audience slowly filed in. The lady in charge was Bridgette, an amazingly talented and gorgeous woman who I hope to spend more time with very soon. She is West Hartford Magazine‘s style editor, but ran this fashion show as part of her other job doing marketing for SIGHT. She did an INCREDIBLE job organizing everything and making sure we started on time.
Listening to Bridgette’s run-through instructions (thanks CT Bloggers for the pic!)
The lights went down and the DJ started playing some amazing pulsing beats that helped further calm my nerves – and get me moving! We were instructed to just own the “runway” and be fun and show our personalities, so that’s what I tried to do. The song that played during my first look was a good remix of Bruno Mars “Treasure”. I found it surprisingly a breeze to walk in the sneaker wedges – they just LOOK intimidating! Kinda cool actually.
Thanks CT bloggers for getting this shot of me looking badass! 😉
I didn’t know my other go-to Barcelona bartender Dan would also be a model! We had fun goofing off backstage. He totally stole the show during his walks, complete with golf swings.
Please, no paparazzi!
I also met another blogger-model Rachel, and she wore arm sleeves too – imagine that. All the props to her for waking up this morning to run 18 miles. I was going to do a weights workout in my basement, but decided this morning when I woke up feeling dead to the world that it would be a spontaneous rest day.
Arm sleeve blogger power!
My second outfit was both more sporty and more me because it involved a running skirt! Plus an adorable mint Nike cap and some really fun “nerd” glasses. Wendy and Greg of Connecticut Bloggers were nice enough to come out and support me and they got a great video of me going crazy on the runway/dance floor during this walk!
Zombie model?
GREAT group shot, thanks CT bloggers!
The best part of the evening was my mom semi-surprising me by coming to watch! She gets nervous driving in the rain at night, especially to areas she isn’t very familiar with. After I found out the show started at 8:30PM instead of 8, I texted her to let her know she didn’t have to come out. But I really wanted her to, and she still ended up coming. But she didn’t tell me she was…until I got a text from her saying “I can’t believe I made it but I’m here! I’m in the parking garage!” During my first look walk, I stopped by her seat and gave her a kiss on the cheek 🙂
Thank you Mom!
After the show, my energy was riding high and I hit Barcelona for the after-party (which included $5 sangrias). But I pulled a Caitlin and ordered something a bit more special…
Dessert wine flight!
…along with two tapas, the baby kale salad and a fantastic rainbow trout (can’t get it out of my head since last week’s round at Max’s Oyster Bar). Fellow grandma Kat and her friend Rachel had already arrived and saved me a seat at the bar, and they shared some tapas with me, including beef empanada and some Manchego! Kat is another person I’m very grateful for. Even though she had laundry and a write-up waiting for her at home, she still came to the show and out after with me to celebrate!
Yes, Kat is wearing cats!
After finishing clean-up, Bridgette, Anna, the rest of the crew, and more models also came out. I also spent time chatting with Greg and Wendy, because of course they stuck around for the after party. Unfortunately they weren’t super impressed by their cheese plate, but I assured them that if they come back to Barcelona and order tapas, they’ll see why I love it so!
The lovely Bridgette and I.
This morning I woke up with a lot of negative thoughts bouncing around in my head. How much did I drink? How much did I eat? I was so tired. Why did I decide to stay out later and not set my alarm for a pre-work sweat session? Shouldn’t I be sweating more to burn off yesterday? How can I possibly be allowed to enjoy myself when I go away to Boston this weekend?
But then I looked at these pictures. I watched the videos Greg and Wendy took. I reflected on how lucky I am to have such a great support system who would come out on a weeknight, in the rain, to watch me model – oh yeah, and how fortunate I am to have been asked to model in the first place. I don’t regret going to the after party. I don’t regret anything from yesterday! I just have to move forward today and remind myself that I deserved to go out and celebrate, and that it’s okay not to sweat today. There’s always tomorrow.
Have you ever been to a fashion show, even a little one like this?
Do you follow the NY Fashion Week activities?
