Prelude to Ottawa Fashion Week

Hola!
This past weekend was another blur of work and fun.  Friday and Saturday I had serving shifts at my part-time gig.  Then I essentially spent every last dime I made busting my @$$ on Saturday and Sunday nights having too much fun.  Yes, TOO MUCH.  Sigh.  The good news is that I was able to catch up with old friends, squeezed in a pedicure and pulled off a fairly last-minute mini fashion show at the Faces Magazine Awards Gala which happened Sunday night at Parliament Ultraclub.  I was nominated for Ottawa's Fav Fashion Designer (yay!), but didn't end up winning (boo!), however I can honestly say I had a really fun time, met all sorts of new people, made some great contacts and had some really positive feedback on my designs.  All things considered, I think I came out a winner.  That's what I'm going with at least. 

Here's a photo of me and my models at the event.  If more photos pop up from the runway show I will post them later.  I always wish I could watch the show myself, but I'm backstage the entire time and can only kind of tell what it might look like to the audience, so I hope I can see some pics!

I always say that the best models are the ones that are just FUN and can make the experience positive.  I really lucked out for this show, because even though it took me until about 6pm on the night of the show, I ended up with 6 really great girls who were just happy to be there on top of being absolutely stunning.  Three I have already worked with before and was super happy to have them model for me again.  The other three I tracked down with help from friends and they were fantastic too!

So, this coming weekend is Ottawa Fashion Week and I booked off the entire weekend from the restaurant just to be able to go.  The day the schedule was posted I checked out all the designers participating this season.  Some of them are familiar faces-Jana Hanzel, Rachel Sin, Yola Couture, Birds of North America and Micalla.  I'm particularly excited to see Adrian Wu again, who had an impressive Spring/Summer 2011 collection that he showed back in November.  He is himself an extremely stylish person who takes risks and owns a few pairs of fabulous heels that I would kill for!  He will be showing as the event closer on Sunday night, so I will have to wait until the bitter end to see what he has planned.

A few new-to-me designers that are showing that have caught my eye and interest are Veronica MacIsaac for her modern use of tartan prints, as well as Serendipity by Kelsey McIntyre for her cutesy 50s retro style apparel.  She also does some bridal, so I have no idea what she will end up showing.  A few others worth mentioning are Florian Jeyet and Illyria Design, although harder to know for sure from their websites what their designs will look like.  They both show on the Sunday night before Adrian Wu's collection. 

As for what I'll be wearing, that remains to be seen.  I actually started to make a skirt from a really great tartan print material that I bought back in January (which is probably why MacIsaac's line caught my eye), but I have no idea if it will be in wearable format by the time the weekend rolls around.  I could wear something of my own design, but that's always a tough choice...is that not somewhat egocentric at a fashion week where I'm not even showing?  I wore a dress of mine to Sunday's event, but that wasn't a fashion show...it was an awards show in which I was nominated FOR my designs so it made more sense than anything.  Anyway, I'm sure I'll figure it out.  No matter what, I am getting pretty excited for the weekend and can't wait to see some of my friends there-bloggers, models, designers and spectators!  Bring on the fun (but not too much-stay classy San Diego)!

xo Amber