Project Hallway

So, I got back from Los Angeles, land of the crazy drivers, on Monday night after a fun, whirlwind of a trip for the California Community College Fashion Symposium Fashion Show. So, no, I didn’t win anything, but it was a great, eye-opening, and humbling experience to go to the show. After a small snaffoo with tickets which I handled just fine had a total meldown over, sadly only I got to go, as I could only get one ticket, and my Mom slept in at the hotel.

After walking 12 blocks in flats by 8am, I put on my brass toe McQueens along with my Houndstooth skirt, ready for another meltdown to take on the day. By some miracle of God, at the very last minute I found a second ticket for my classmate Alison, who was just de-boarding a plane in Burbank and getting in a cab to come over to the show.

The keynote speaker was excellent, and I got to talk to the PMG Dressform folks in the vendor area. Being in the Fashion District, after chatting with Alison for a while, we decided to do some quick fabric shopping between the morning events and the afternoon fashion show. Fabric round-up with be posted shortly.

After yet another snaffoo/miscommunication, I think the event staff felt badly for Alison and I, and we were given two seats in the third row of the faculty area, right behind the judging panel. Yeah, hooray. A great place to watch.

I learned a lot from watching the show. The looks that got the most attention had a lot (A LOT) of drama going on. And Wow. I have to say, I was amazed by some of the student work. Perfectly tailored jewel encrusted bodices, hoop skirts, flowing sleeves and trains …

That being said, I am very, very proud of my little sequin dress. It got more attention that I expected, and the sequins were glowing on the stage. I could literally hear the audience react with “oooooooooooh,” when she turned around and the dress was backless. The model looked like she actually really enjoyed wearing the dress, and holy cow, it looked amazing on her.

I didn’t take pictures of everything, because I actually wanted to watch the show, too. Here are some of the looks which I loved, or maybe hated, either way, some of the notable ones in my book.

Seeing all of this makes me want to work even harder. I really enjoyed talking to some of the other students and hearing about their various programs. Los Angeles is really a center for fashion design, where as the San Francisco area, as it is now clearly apparent, is not, but of course, the fabric stores in the Fashion District alone already dictate that. Some of the other community colleges have very robust departments, which, I have to admit, I am a little jealous of. Though, I know from past experience an education is what you make of it, so with that in mind, I bough a new dress-form when I was down there, to be arriving in a day or so. I can’t wait.

I’d love to enter some more things next year. Alison and I had a good long talk about this, and pushing ourselves further. Even better than having a dress on the runway? (Oh, this sounds so freaking corny, so sorry) Making a new friend. Though, having people approach me after the show telling me how much they loved my dress and saying, “It is one of the only things I’d actually wear,” feels pretty good, too.

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Just found this video about the symposium. A great little review, and my dress is at 3:05!

At this point, in my book this is even cooler than being on Wired.com again yesterday! Gosh, it’s been quite a while since that happened … almost a year, come to think of it …

And so, with that I leave you for the day.