Ottawa Fashion Week

Anyone who spent much time with me in the past couple weeks knows about the excitement- bordering on obsession- that I had with Fashion Week. First of all, the fact that Ottawa has such an event in the first place is exciting and shows how far the city has come in the fashion world, even just over the past few years. Not to mention the fact that it was held at the National Gallery-- hello glitz and glam! The Gallery itself is an architectural masterpiece and the catwalk looked amazing surrounded by windows on all sides showing the Ottawa river and parliament in the distance. This seasons show was especially exciting because my fabulously talented boss, Alison Hughes, was chosen as head stylist for the event-- what an honour!! She is amazing at everything she does and has a great eye for styling, so naturally I knew the end result of the show couldn't fail to impress!
The show started a week earlier for me this year because Ali asked me to help out at the model fitting the weekend before. Picture a hundred models, designers and clothes all piled into the LOFT hair salon downtown-- it was craziness! Fittings for each of the shows were going on simultaneously. The volunteers were amazing at making sure each of the models was in the right place at the right time! I spent most of the morning with a camera taking head shots of the models and then photographing models in the outfits we had chosen for them. I also helped fit models, which basically involves going through the runway outfits and choosing which ones go on which models, making sure they fit and look good. Before the end of the day I helped manage the male model casting call--- hello hot male models! All in all the day was so much fun and as an added bonus I got a sneak peak at all the clothes before they hit the runway!
After the fitting, Friday couldn't come fast enough as I was even more excited for all of the fashion shows. Since HUSH sponsored Fashion week this year, the HUSH girls were all given VIP seats, along with awesome swag bags that night!! We had front row seats for the shows that night and oooeh and awwed at gorgeous jewellery pieces by Micalla, and the awesome animal-inspired hair for the Goldenfish swimwear show. It was so much fun getting dressed up and as an added bonus Ali gave us a sneak peak of backstage.

Me and Jared-- Front Row! woo!

For me, the absolute best part of the night came right at the end. Leading up to Fashion week I was most excited about Adrian Wu showing his line. For those who don't know, Adrian Wu is a 20 year old genius designer from Toronto who is wonderfully talented and is on the verge of making it super big! Anyways, as we were chatting with Ali backstage, Adrian Wu, in a fabulous knitted floor length Camel-coloured dress, walked up. I seriously need to work on my tact. In situations like these you always hope that you will act cool and collected just as if you were meeting anyone else. Unfortunately, this is me we are talking about, I turn red at the drop of a hat. This instance was no exception, and the calm cool exterior I so desperately wanted, I failed at considerably. I was so surprised/shocked/excited to see him that the first thing I said (picture this in a 'he is dreamy' kind of tone) was "Oh! Adrian Wu". I'm really hoping he didn't hear that part, although I dont think its physically possible to stand 3 feet away from someone and not hear them exclaim your name! Anyways, Ali introduced us, I turned bright red and giggled uncontrollably (Remembering this is both making me very happy and horribly embarrassed all at the same time), we shook hands and I walked on air for the rest of the night!!
Now, if this were my Work Bestie's blog, I would tell you all about how amazing Saturday was because I got to hang out with Jessica Biffi and Adrian Wu all day by helping with their fittings. Sadly for me, that was Thea's day and not mine. Jared and I did go to a couple shows that night though and luckily I had my camera! Jana Hanzel's designs were flawless and were right in step with the 'ladylike ultra feminine' trend that is popular right now. My favourite part of her show were the gorgeous hats that I wish I was brave enough to wear in the spring time. (I'm really tall and feel like hats, especially big statement hats, just make me look like the Statue of Liberty!)




Judy Designs line was edgy and raw. The part of me that is obsessed with studs and motorcycle boots loved every minute of it!


Right before Judy Designs show, Adrian Wu and Jessica Biffi showed up at the end of the runway. Spurred on by Jared I went and asked to have my picture taken with Adrian! Seriously that man makes my heart beat soo fast-- I'll let you decide whether I'm talking about Jared or Adrian! ;)



All in all Ottawa Fashion Week was everything I hoped for and more! I had so much fun dressing up and checking out other peoples outfits! I think I could have gone by myself and entertained myself people watching the whole time! Whoever says that Ottawa Fashion doesn't exist seriously needs to rethink their stance.. we are a growing force and after the success of this years Fashion Week putting us on the map, it can only keep getting bigger and better!