Ottawa Fashion Week

Ottawa Fashion Week 2010, has come and gone. I was really excited to go, because I've never been to a fashion show before.  The idea of going seemed so glamorous.  Saturday was the only day I could go, so I got tickets for Morgan and myself.  It was going to be a girls night.  

Before Morgan came over I raided my closet to put together an outfit.

Of course none of these outfits made the cut.  By the last outfit of my black skinny jeans and purple tank, I was ready to burst.  That feeling of having nothing to wear was too overwhelming.  Morgan was due to come over to my place in a few hours, so I hit up the closest mall to pick up some new items.  It's not always the best idea to shop when you feel like you have nothing, because there's that tendency of buying too much.  But I tried to keep a clear head on what I wanted and not purchase everything in sight. 

I got a pair of essential - thick cotton - black leggings, a super cozy blue/grey sweater, a deep purple sweater, an adorable ivory rose headband and a dark grey bennie.  Done.  My style for the fashion show was going to be far from glamorous.  Just fresh & casual.  

When Morgan came over my tension just faded and we got down to the business of dolling up.  She is super talented at styling and I was very appreciative that she helped me out with my hair & false lashes.

The fashion show was amazing! I wish that we could have gone to all of the nights.  Both Morgan and I promised each other that next time we will prepare ahead of time to make sure our schedules are free for the whole week. 

The line-up Saturday night included: LABEL, Flood and Robicheau, Andrew Majtenyi, Jana Hanzel, Judy Design and Rachel Sin. It was so hard to pick out which designer was my favorite because they were all so good and different from each other. 

Flood and Robicheau had amazing bright colours and playful designs. The collection was fun!  Next summer my "got-to-have" is a bright jumper from F&R collection. 

Judy Design had a great rocker feel to her clothes, they were urban and wearable!  The music selection was great.  The opening song was Marilyn Manson, and poor Morgan got a punch in the arm from me due to my excitement (sorry Mo, but when Chris isn't around, I tend to punch the nearest person when I get too excited).  Each outfit was awesome, eager to see more, I was sad when her lineup was over. 

Jana Hanzel threw in a nice twist of having a violin musician playing at the beginning of her line-up.  The outfits to follow were classy and beautiful.  I wanted so many of them to add into my "work-appropriate" collection.  I loved the enlarged bows and flowers the models wore in their hair. 

Rachel Sin *sigh* xo is all that can describe her.  Je adore! I envied all the ladies who walked around the gallery wearing her dresses.

One of the big highlights of that night for me was meeting the beautiful ML, from Twenty York Street. She's a super talented Ottawa fashion blogger.  She's also really nice! If you haven't checked her out yet, do it!!!  She has great taste and is down-to-earth. It was too bad that we didn't have much time to chat but she was super busy with meeting & greeting others.   

I think this photograph is the best representation of how awkward I felt in front of the OFW poster. ML had her friends pointing cameras at us then Mo with my camera...  Too many cameras!  Which one to smile awkwardly at?!?!  My anxiety confession to ML relieved some of my nervousness because she was so friendly.  We laughed, I sighed.. after 2 minutes of photo-taking I had enough. 

after OFW self pics

 

 

My biggest regret was not taking a picture of Morgan.  She looked so pretty!!!  She always looks beautiful, but she was especially dolled up for OFW.  I continuously peer pressure her to start up a blog.  Mo would be so good at it!  She is so talented, that I know that she would be tons of followers and people adoring her style.

My second biggest regret of the night: leaving my camera in my purse for the majority of the time.  But thank goodness for fellow Ottawa Bloggers!  Including Twenty York Street, there are two other beautiful bloggers in town that I follow and enjoy reading.

Methodical Melrose has written a great review of Ottawa Fashion Week.  What I like about Melrose's is that she has great style.  Her clothes are what I would love to have in my closet. Then there's Pop Champagne, who has reviewed each day: One, Two and Three of OFW.  She also has an interview with the very talented designer, Adrain Wu.  Champagne is funny and full of fun celebrity gossip, local events and fashion.   It's everything that defines Pop. I like reading her "Around Ottawa" section, the events she follows are  interesting.  So check out all the wonderful links above to see the beautiful fashion trends and read the talented bloggers.