Her dream is to go to a fashion show in Paris, and she’s headed there in about a week. Apparently the average cost of a wish is $7500, and they grant a wish almost every 40 minutes nationwide. It’s such a great and imaginative cause.
I actually won one of the silent auctions. It is a shirt, tie, and cufflink combination from SARAR. It is worth about $230, I bid twice and won at $175. Not that it matters, it’s for the charity… but still there was a bidding war between me and on other guy. Too bad, Jim, mess with bull, you get the horns!
This slideshow has the rest of the photos from the night.
I recently discovered Urbanears headphones. Ok, so I’m a little obsessed with these. I spotted them in an issue of GQ a few months ago. They come in almost any color you can imagine. I now have the start of a modestly growing collection. I think of them the same way I do my sneakers. I don’t NEED a bunch of high tops.. but it’s nice to have many different colors. The models I like, “Plattan”, are an over the ear variety. They have other styles. Who knows how far one can go with these? I think you need a little bit of attitude to strut around with them matching other stuff.
They aren’t going to compete with any audiophile’s choice in headphones I don’t think, but they do sound good enough for me. They also work with phones so you can hear the phone call on them.
The microphone doesn’t work that well though. I’m still trying to figure out if it is me.
I don’t have that many of them yet..but they are now etched into my mind. You can find them online at many different sale prices.. but if you want to try them, they are at urban outfitters.
I CAN turn left. So my friends at http://www.bitcheswhobrunch.com had their summer fundraiser a couple of weeks ago. It was my first time doing anything like that. I hammed it up a little, at the request of my friend Becca to do so. I decided to throw in a little isolation, and a little hip work into it. Nothing fancy, but it got the job done. Dancers and crowds, always a good pair. There were two different local clothing chain/stores that arranged a showing of their styles for the fashion show. Being a fundraiser, it was on a budget so there wasn’t an elevated runway in this case. It was a fun time. All of the models were friends of the bitches. The process started about a week before where we all had gone to the respective stores, in my case, Rue 14, to try on different outfits that the stores chose for us. While the outfit was not exactly something that is my personal style, it was fun to submit to someone else during this process.
Rue 14 is a great store near the U Street Cardoza Metro. Owner Jiwon Paik-Nguyen opened this location October 11, 2008. I really love just being in this store. It has a very polished and eclectic feel. Intermixed amount the clothing displays are vintage pieces of luggage, jewelry, and other accessories. I got to carry one such piece, the briefcase, on with my outfit.
On game day, we had a backroom setup as the dressing room. Mimosas and food were free flowing for us, which was probably not typical for a show. First thing I noticed as I head back to the staging area was a room full of beautiful girls. Not a bad way to start off my Saturday.
I have been to many dressing rooms over time as a dance performer. This was not nearly the madhouse that I’ve been accustomed to in those shows, with multiple acts and changes. There were about 13 looks, with an equal number of models. The nice thing about this was that each models bio was read out as we walked the floor. It gave the audience a chance to hear more about the other causes and organizations the models represented.
The women had more details to manage with hair, jewelry, and makeup. The guys either had short hair or not much hair to begin with. One the the hairstylists looked at me for about 3 seconds and just laughed, “Not really much for me to take care of here!”.
A ground eye view of our runway is here, which actually was more of an L-Shape. You can see the box at the end where we each took a turn being on our own pedestal.
It was fun to strut in front of a crowd for me as always. Shoot, I’m planning on going back and getting those jeans too. Next stop, Burberry Runway! Yeah right.
A complete slideshow is for the event is here. Photos and video taken by Jenn Watts and Gwo Yang.
Check this little girl out. Her wardrobe is probably better stocked than most adults I know. Shoot, I’d be deliriously happy if I was running around in a Burberry outfit that I’d be outgrowing in 2 months. At that age, you probably found me in Sear’s Toughskins. My fellow weekend warrior Jenn and I spotted this almost perfect “Ad” like moment while visiting the wine festival in the Plains on Saturday. We wore our Saturday wine festival best, feeling pretty dapper… and then this little girl came up. I didn’t see her parents anywhere, but they were probably just inside the building. There was some sort of function going on with some incredibly well dressed women, think Stepford Wive’s with a much bigger wallet. The little girl was probably one of theirs. The husbands didn’t look quite as put together… of course that’s normal.
It’s funny, the tartan is recognizable from a long distance. You can see in the picture how much she stands out, even though she is only a small part of the image. Out of curiosity, I looked this outfit up on Burberry’s website. I’m not sure if I found the correct pieces. I believe what we are looking at is the “Pleated Check Bib Voile Dress, $210”, and the “Cotton Classic Check Kilt, $185”. I also found this video featuring the children’s campaign. The amazing thing is that while the video is obviously staged, what Jenn and I saw with this little girl was not much different. This little girl probably has a future in modeling if she wants one.
We were just at this same location earlier in the month for the Gold Cup. It was very different. Although there were crowds for the wine tastings, and tents setup everywhere, gone were all the tailgaters. The atmosphere was completely different and very chill. We had a nice relaxing visit. Many people would buy their wine, setup chairs and towels overlooking the rolling hills, and finish the bottles at their leisure. I have been to the Plains many times over the years, but only in 2011 have I visited this area with the steeplechase. It’s growing on me.
One good piece of news.. the pizza stand was offering a “SPECIAL” price on their wood burning stoves. And here I was worrying about paying $4000 like a loser. It pays to shop.
There were many tents with vendors showing their wares. There were also some oddities that were just there for general viewing. For me, as luck would have it, an Alpha Romeo on display so I made sure to get a nice picture with it. My family had 3 Alpha Romeo’s growing up. Italian sports cars.. high on style…not so much rust proofing. It was a thrill to get into the car. I have no idea what it has to with wine. Don’t care!
Of course, there is nothing like ending a wine festival with a polo match. I know nothing about the rules of Polo, but it is apparently similar to Hockey.
I just downloaded this app the other day. I have just enough UNIQLO stuff to make a handful of “looks” and will be trying this out for fun. This is a community based app on the IPhone that reminds me a bit of the “Art of the Trench” site that Burberry developed. Basically you can construct your UNIQLO based outfits and have your own account where you store your “looks”. Others can then scan through it using their App. I think this sort of marketing is very clever. You are compelled to purchase things just because you want to increase your site presence. It’s not for everyone, I know. Still, if you download it..even if you don’t own any UNIQLO, it is fun to look what people have put together.
It doesn’t seem to have the approval process that Burberry uses for the “Art of the Trench” site. It probably makes in more accessible for broad use as a result. I wish I didn’t have to go to NYC to get this stuff!
Soooo.. you think “Where’s Waldo?” is hard? Try this. Go to this link to Burberry’s Art of the Trench. Using the mouse, you can drag the gallery left and right till it wraps all the way around. Without any search refinement, see how long it takes you to find me. I know exactly what to look for and it takes me a while. Once you find me..leave a comment on the picture and let me know how long it took you to find me 🙂 There are many asian men in the mix..don’t get confused! Those of you with large monitors might have an easier time.
So, big careless fail on my part. Towards the end of the winter in 2011, I treated myself to a nice Burberry Umbrella. It was a luxury purchase, no doubt. Some of my friends would, and many did, say.. “What, are you crazy?”. Well crazy or no… I did like it. I had a couple pictures of it from a nice walk my friend Tammy I took at that time.
Anyway, fast forward to VA Gold Cup, 2011. There were reports of rain. I packed up a cooler, my camera, and my umbrella..along with two messenger bags and head up with my friends. Well, like a complete moron, I forgot to remove it from the bus after we got back to Arlington. I called the limo company and asked them to look for a black and grey umbrella on that bus. It was about a day later. 60 minutes after I made the call, the limo company called me back, and told me they found it. The set it aside under my name. Open, 24 hours a day, they said I could get it at anytime. That was Monday morning. I waited till my first day off.. Saturday.
Well, my roommate Lauren and I made the long trek out to Reston. It took us quite a while to get there from Bethesda. I walked in, ready to walk out in triumph. I had been waiting for this moment all week. In the office, on the lunch table…there it was… marked with a sticky note saying “YANG”… some piece 0 crap umbrella that was not mine. AHHHHHHHH! I knew it at that moment. It’s gone. Done. Well, one of the staff was really helpful and tried to check the other rooms to see if it had been left with other lost items. It turns out..there were MANY items. She was going through two or three drawers full of stuff. I guess a lot of people forget things on a bus after they’ve been drinking and tailgating all day.
She could see I was disappointed. I not mad. I just felt sort of down about it. She said to me, “Well I can give you one of our corporate “Jumbo” size umbrella’s if you’d like?”.
I appreciated the gesture, and I said, “Sure, thank you.” She reached behind her desk and pulled out a brand new umbrella from their stock. Little did I know, the word “JUMBO” was emblazoned on the side. Great!
Well, to make a long story short… it I know it was all my fault. I should have been more careful. A friend suggested that I think of it as a nice surprise that someone else found at some point. I’m trying to do just that. I hope you like it, whoever you are out there.
As for me, the next time I go on a limo, maybe I’ll “forget” good old JUMBO on the bus and the umbrella fairy will replace it with with a better one 🙂
My friend Brad was visiting his home in Ohio recently. He came back with a gift that he and his mom made for me from her jewelry studio, Dancing Glass Jewelry. He knows I’m into money clips and cuff links. He designed them, and his mom made them in her studio. It is a process of taking layered glass and putting into patterns then firing it in a kiln. I’ve included a video of Brad talking about the process in this post.
Here are some photos of the ones he gave me in green.
Thanks Brad! His mom’s jewelry business is called Dancing Glass Jewelry by Debbie Mosely. I will include a link to her business in an update shortly. If you’re interested in having a piece made, just let me know on the blog and I’ll provide the contact info in the meantime.
My Adventures in Wardrobe World 