A NIGHT OF FASHION, FRIENDS, AND FUN
I have a great friend and mentor who has always talked to me about the importance of networking and how shaking hands with the right people and growing your network can help your business invaluably. Thanks to her originally pushing me to start a blog, paired with this nugget of networking knowledge has helped me grow quickly in the short time that I've been blogging, and from what I've observed it can be as easy as just saying yes to an invitation to a local event, even if it is short notice and you have nothing to wear (haha!). As you may have read in my last post, this week has been full of full fashion related events and opportunities to network and hand out some business cards. I've been reaching out to more and more local bloggers and people working in the industry locally here in Portland, who have turned me on to some great opportunities, one of which I was lucky enough to attend last night!
Earlier this week I ran into my friend Kristina at a different event, she creates for the blog Visual Treasure Hunt, amongst a myriad of other things she does (girl is the ultimate boss babe!). Kristina told me about the Portland Fashion and Style Awards that were only a few short days away, and urged me to go with her and a few other bloggers. Of course the first thing that went through my mind was, would I have enough time to find an amazing outfit?! But of course I was like DUH, I NEED TO BE AT THIS EVENT.
Cut to last night, of course everyone was dressed up in their Portland best, which may be a little different (or a lot different) from many other larger city's award shows, but Portland for sure has one of the most interesting and creative fashion scenes in the country (aside from NY, in my opinion of course). Luckily I found this cute velvet dress the previous day, I envisioned it with a white bootie and that was as far as I had gotten but as I was getting ready I threw on my signature, leather moto jacket (who else has a lucky item of clothing?!) and a metallic statement clutch and just went with it.
There was a red carpet with a step and repeat
so lots of photo ops of which you'll see on my Instagram (obviously we shot the look seperately for this post) we also were interviewed for a magazine which I can't remember the name of now but I will post the interview when I find it! Kristina knew more people that I did so she introduced me to some really cool and interesting designers and creators who I hope to see more of at future events!
The show was so fun! Hosted by local drag queen, and nonprofit volunteer, Poison Waters, who made an otherwise long and boring awards show hilarious and entertaining to watch. A few of the categories that were recognized included: best fashion publication, best fashion wardrobe stylist, best female and male model, there were awards for salons, local boutiques, photographers, fashion designers, amongst many others. You can imagine the length of the show.
Overall I had an amazing time, and my outfit turned out better than I could have planned even if I had more that 3 days to do it! I can't wait to go back next year!
As always, thanks for reading!
xo