Tuesday, October 30, 2007

FASHION FIGHTS POVERTY - 2007

































Last Friday October 26, I attended a fashion show put on by Fashion Fights Poverty at the Carnegie Library in Washington, D.C. FFP, in its third year, is "one of the largest fashion fundraisers in Washington, DC," and it showcases national and international designers who design and manufacture clothing by ethical means and practices. Anyway, I had never heard of Fashion Fights Poverty, but one of my good friends Lily, featured in one of the above pics, modeled in the show, so I decided to grab a ticket and hit the event. TALK ABOUT FABULOUS. The venue was exquisite, the media was snapping pics, the red carpet was out, the champagne and vodka (Belvedere Vodka was a sponser) were FLOWIN', and the DJ was pumpin' Jay-Z. Now that's a friday night.

The pre-show started around 6 pm and the pouring rain did not keep attendees away. I had gone solo, and while I was sipping a cosmo, lounging in a chair and enjoying the ambiance, a random woman named Michelle came up to me, asked me if I was by myself too? I said yes and she said "Cool. We can hang out together." HAAA! And we did. For a couple of hours, we mingled in the Edward Marc chocolate suite (I had to sample a little Grand Marnier in a milk chocolate shot glass), "looked" at the silent auction items, and window shopped at some of the various trendy vendors' tables. For those who wanted to really spend some money, they could also pay to mingle in the VIP Suite. One complaint - I actually did not want to mingle in the VIP suite. I was happy to be a commoner with a $100 Pret-A-Porter ticket. But then I got a lot of different stories from the staff members about whether or not the $100 included a seat. First yes. Then maybe. Then no. WHAAAAAA? $100 and I'm standing? Hell to the naw! Not for 2 hours. I wanted to know who was in charge, and the staff didn't even know that! Don't get me wrong, every person I spoke with was sweet as apple pie, but sadly misinformed. So I ended up springing for the additional $80 to upgrade to the VIP Haute Couture ticket. Needless to say, TravelDiva was not pleased.

BUT, the party must go on. Because now that I had spent $180, I was going to have a D*MN good time--so Michelle and I headed to the VIP suite to relax for a little bit before the show. After about 30 minutes or so, it was time to be seated and get ready for the show. Much to my chagrin, it turned out I didn't need to buy the VIP ticket to get a seat or the VIP swag bag. Only the first 3 rows were reserved, the rest was on a first come first served basis. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I was so bitter, I had to take a moment and pray because otherwise I would have been sitting through the whole show pissed because I'd wasted $80. It took me a minute, but I pulled myself together. It helped ease my pain that I was near the front, and I swear I saw the Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell on the first row (Now this is totally unconfirmed. I just noticed a really handsome straight guy on the front row. Then on Sunday I was watching the Skins/Patriots game for wager reasons and I saw their quarterback and I thought, didn't I see his fine behind at the fashion show? Given his team's 52 to 7 loss though, maybe he should have been home praying instead of at the fashion show). But I digress.

The show itself--Off da hook! Straight out of ANTM land! It was hosted by Will Thomas (Fox news anchor) and fashion guru Jaci Reid (rockin' a free-flowing Roberto Cavalli gown). There were a number of designers featured including Basia Frossard, Belabumbum, ChaChaboy, Eliptica, Elizabeth Muir, Kimberly Kouture, and Liliana Castellanos. The fashions showcased were fierce from the sexy lingerie and cute maternity wear of Belabumbum to ChaChaboy's swimwear for the heteroquestionable male to the sassy designs of Elizabeth Muir. My favorite designs of the night, however, came from Liliana Castellanos. AAAAAGH! Her colors were simple, some variation of red, black, white and/or gray. But each outfit was chic, creative and most importantly WEARABLE! I mean, her designs were the type to make you want to buy them, wear them and then strut down the street like you're on a catwalk! Bravo Liliana!

After the show, the after party was held at Lotus Lounge. The party was packed, the DJ was hit or miss, but I hung out as long as I could to try to get my VIP value. LOL. All in all, it was a fantastic event and I will definitely be in attendance next year!














See professional runway photographs of FFP at http://www.dmillerphotography.com/FFP/.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fabulous!!!! great write up LOL!!!

Grown Woman said...

sounds like a blast! I'm going to go next year!