Fashion Forward

March of the Stilettos

2009-08-21T00:09:33Z

What made TwinSoup's Stiletto Crawl different from its fellow pub crawls?

"No men!"

"It's prettier."

"I don't think I have seen a single pair of flip-flops."

Last Wednesday three Sacramento hot-spots got hit with 75 well-heeled ladies courtesy of the Stiletto Crawl.

The traditional beer-and-batter-drenched pub crawls were disbanded--participants sipped champagne and white wine as they were chauffeured by Luxury Limousines from destination to destination.

TwinSoup.com is a local lifestyle guide with daily tips about fashion, events, hot-spots and culture in Sacramento.

Sarah Campbell, who co-founded TwinSoup with sister Rachel, said the initial idea for the event was born when TwinSoup was approached by Madam Butterfly and Hot Italian to do a girl's night out. The siblings put together the Stiletto Crawl concept and began to put the word out on the website and other social networking sites such as Twitter. A week before the event, the $45 pre-sale tickets sold out.

"I felt terrible, because girls were e-mailing me saying 'My girlfriend is dying to come!' But we just didn't have anymore room," Campbell said. "Anything over this [75 participants] would be chaos."

The night began at the boutique Madam Butterfly. Crawlers arrived at 6:30 for a private shopping event where all merchandise was 15 percent off and the champagne was freely flowing.

The first 25 to purchase Stiletto Crawl tickets also received their "swag bags," large gold totes laden with goodies like flip flops, sunglasses, and spa certificates.

Approximately 75 pairs of stilettos then did the only real crawling for the night as they piled into limos. The glamorous pack arrived at Hot Italian a little after 8 p.m. and took over the outdoor patio and a few large inside tables to eat, sip and socialize. After they were done dining the group trickled out of the restaurant to be shuttled to their final destination: MiX, where DJ Gabe Xavier was spinning top 40, pop and dance at the 16th and L location.

Many of the women said they embarked on the Stiletto Crawl to have a night on the town or spend time with their friends. A few just needed a break from their significant others.

"Anything to get away from my boyfriend," joked Sacramento resident Cat Haro. "I love the Giants, but not that much."

"I don't think we do them [girl's nights out] often enough. It's an excuse to all get together with a bunch of friends we would have gotten together with anyway, had anybody actually planned something," said East Sacramento resident Rachel Pitts. "We all work hard, and we're all ready to have a glass of freaking champagne."

Crawler Jamee Sims said that the $45 ticket was a bargain for an extravagant night.

"It is relatively inexpensive for what you get," Sims said. "Champagne at Madam Butterfly, drinks in the limo, and no cover at MiX."

According to Sarah Campbell, events like the Stiletto Crawl expose chic local spots to the hottest current consumer: a woman.

"It's important for local business. Women are responsible for like 80 percent of the economy right now," Campbell said. "Businesses are after our demographic, because a woman will get what she wants, when she wants it."

Campbell said that the event aimed to pamper and celebrate its participants with personalized touches like champagne and limousine transportation. She even made a mix CD for the ride.

"I made a special CD for tonight. All the girls were like 'What music is this?' It's my CD! I wanted to take care of every little detail. It's those types of things women appreciate," Campbell said.

Whether crawlers came for shopping, drinks, or the opportunity to get dolled up on a Wednesday night, the evening was about women with similar interests and passions having a chance to connect in a relaxed and enjoyable setting.

"A lot of these women here are professionals in areas like PR and marketing. Right now they could be having stimulating, great conversations about business and life. It's awesome," Campbell said. "You bring the boys in and you get a whole different feel. But when it's just the girls it's suddenly a great bunch of friends."

The next Stiletto Crawl is scheduled for October in Roseville. Visit TwinSoup's website for more info.

Fresh Dispenser fashion show at Harlow's

2009-08-19T03:58:01Z

This Thursday attendees will get a preview of back-to-school looks during Fresh Dispenser, a fashion show event whose proceeds will go to Invisible Children, a non-profit organization devoted to ending institutions of cruelty and subjugation in Uganda.

The idea for the event was birthed about eight months ago by local event-planning group First Dirt, said Tim Morales, one of the group's founders and event coordinators. The group wanted to promote the business of local clothing stores that they know and love, Morales said.

"We've [First Dirt has] been involved in planning events for local underground hip-hop for the past four years." Morales said. "We wanted to do something different, like get involved with the local boutiques. It was a way to try to get more business into boutiques that we respect, make sure they stay around, promote the culture of art, music and fashion in downtown as well as incorporate a fundraiser."

Invisible Children's movement began in the spring of 2003 when three young men from Southern California traveled to Africa with the intent on making an adventure film. The material that Laren Poole, Jason Russel and Bobby Bailey returned with, however, became Invisible Children: Rough Cut, a film that uncovers the unfortunate truths of northern Uganda's night commuters and child soldiers.

According to Invisible Children's website, the film has been seen by millions of people since its release in 2005. The non-profit Invisible Children, Inc. was created in order to answer the viewers' overwhelming responses of "How can I help?"

Morales said Invisible Children's message is an important one but does not always get adequate exposure. He said that First Dirt found the organization particularly promising in that the website is continually evolving, creating new programs like Bracelet Campaign, Schools for Schools, and Visible Child Scholarship Program. The fact that their progress was so visible, Morales said, made Invisible Children the prime candidate for a charity beneficiary.

"I'm pretty skeptical in supporting fundraisers and charity because I don't necessarily know where the money is going," he said. "But I have seen a progression in their website and the different programs they have added to their cause. I feel like I have seen people's money being put to good use. It would have bothered me if i didn't see any type of progression in their site, but it looks like it's an evolving thing. It's not stagnant at all."

The fashion show will feature looks from Sacramento boutiques United State, Artifacts, Kingdom, Gatolla and San Jose boutique Reprezent. Models will walk down a 4-by-16-foot catwalk brought in specifically for the event. There will be no vending, Morales said, so the clothing shown will not be readily available. However, all pieces that will premier on Thursday can be purchased at the stores that house them.

"Our main goal is to show the new stuff for fall back-to-school, to expose the fundraiser and to inform people that these fashions are here," Morales said. "We have access to them. You don't have to go online."

Reggae hip-hop artist Ras Matthew will start the festivities will a 30-minute set before the fashion spectacle and also close out the night after the show.

Morales said that events like Fresh Dispenser haven't always gotten the attention and exposure they deserve in Sacramento. That is why he and his team members at First Dirt believed so strongly in making it happen.

"It's bittersweet," he said. "When the larger population doesn't support us, it forces people like us to put our noses to the grindstone and actually make it happen. It brings something out in you that you might not have known was there. And if you do that, other people latch on, and it starts to become more of the norm."

Fresh Dispenser aims to expose underground fashion and artistic culture as well as an important cause to a population that may not have seen it otherwise. Morales believes the event will be an eye-opening experience for those in attendance.

"I have never been to anything like this," he said. "I think it's going to be something new for Sacramento, said Morales. "It's going to be so many different faces, types and genres that people normally end up categorizing for each other. I think being around one another will be a new experience for those involved."

WHAT: Fresh Dispenser Fashion Show Fundraiser
WHERE: 2708 J St.
WHO: 21 and up
WHEN: Aug. 20, 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.
HOW MUCH: $15 at the door

For more info visit the Harlow's website, or call (916) 320-9467.

All images courtesy of First Dirt

Sac Salons Battle at Hair Wars

2009-08-08T04:54:02Z

The second installment of the six week, 12 salon hair competition "Hair Wars" took place last Thursday with runway performances from Allure and Canvas Salon. Each week two Sacramento salons go head-to-head, showcasing their best in avant-garde hair styling.

The runway, constructed specifically for the event, stood in the middle of the Park Ultra Lounge's outdoor patio. Approximately 200 people piled on top of benches and stood on chairs to get a glimpse of the action.

Allure was one of the finalists in last year's Hair Wars. Owner Missy O'Daniel said the competition offers her stylists an outlet by which they can show not only their patrons, but also the community as a whole, what they are capable of.

"What we do in Sacramento on a day-to-day basis is making people beautiful, creating wearable hair," O'Daniel said. "Here [at Hair Wars] we are free to be very creative. The sky's the limit for what we can do."

Canvas Salon took to the runway first at around 10:30 p.m. The show was focused around a modern Egyptian theme, with Canvas' design team drawing inspiration from Cleopatra.

"She was so ahead of her time," said Opaline's Closet's Joni Jacobs, who designed the garments worn by Canvas' models. "[We drew inspiration from] the woman she was, her elegance, the drapery, her obsession with Isis and eye make-up."

The ladies were decked in everything from a calf-length gold-brocade sleeveless dress to a silky black pantsuit. Accessories were omnipresent; gold bangles and arm bands adorned limbs and metallic chain belts cinched waists. The masculine side wore expertly draped fabrics and gold body paint, and contributed considerably to the shows theatrical side. Two gold-painted men in little but a glorified sheet carried the first model on their shoulders before setting her down to walk. Models flirted and teased the stone-faced "slave boys" as they stood waving palm fronds at the runway's end.

The clothes and theatrics provided impeccable backdrops for the star of the show: the hair.

Hugely intricate up-dos, with braids twisted and snaking around complicated buns. Many of the models had heavy, straight-across bangs framing their kohl-lined eyes. The hair hues were on the dark side of the color spectrum, ranging from deep, purplish reds to chocolate auburn.

Cherry Dooran Johnson, co-owner of Canvas Salon, said that it was the salon's first year participating in Hair Wars. Despite the salon's last minute decision to enter, the show was a success for all those involved, said Johnson. She and Jacobs attribute the night's achievements to the talent and closeness of her team.

"We have an amazing team, young and creative," Johnson said. "Tonight they got to explore the artistic side of doing—the other side that's not behind a chair."

"We are a very spontaneous group," Jacobs said. "Everybody is extremely easy to work with, great attitudes— a lot of times that is a difficult thing to achieve with a group of young women. We are all friends."

Allure was the second and final salon to take the stage that night. An Asian aesthetic was the conceptual force behind the looks. Models padded down the runway in cropped kimonos that exposed punky, patterned tights and thick-strapped stiletto platforms. O'Daniel said in the six-week preparation for the show she hand gone to San Fransisco to purchase the original robe-like costumes. Then she and her team took to altering all the garments to transform the traditional look into a modernized one of their own.

Once again the hair stole the show as models rocked asymmetrical bangs with rounded, shiny stacked buns. Faux, brightly colored hair pieces in blues and platinum blond, feathers, and even tiny paper umbrellas added height and depth to cascading ponytails and teased-out up-swept hair.

The show reached its climax when a model with an ornate feather head piece walked down the runway as the head of a re-vamped Chinese dragon. As she finished her walk, the "legs" of the dragon, two young men in all black, exploded from underneath and began sparring, jumping on and off the stage in shows of athleticism and refined knowledge of martial arts. The finale featured all 10 girls lined up on the runway, fanning out posing with their paper umbrellas and lanterns, inciting the crowd.

Both shows offered women and men imaginative possibilities for hair. Viewers were able witness the wildest daydreams of the salons and perhaps incorporate elements of the fantasy hair to refresh the monotony of day-to-day wearable hair. O'Daniel explained how the process of inspiration, however, is a mutual one.

"For people that know us, know we do beautiful hair," she said. "This is a different side on what we are able to do. We do it more for us, to inspire ourselves."

Check out next week's Hair Wars when Luxe Salon & Spa faces off against Hoss Lee academy Thursday at the Park Ultra Lounge.

August [Aug.] 13: Hoss Lee Academy and Luxe Salon & Spa
August 20: Willo Salon & Spa and The California Academy
August 27: Deeda Salon and Magic Salon
September [Sept.] 3: Joseph Anthony Salon & Spa and Bia Salon

Launching Sac Style

2009-07-27T06:19:48Z

One of the true gems of Launch, a Vchle Magazine event that took place Saturday, was the innovative stylings of both the fashion designers and those in attendance.

The event, dedicated to Sacramento's fashion and design talent, explored the question: What is Sac style?

"Who knows?" Mel Eligon, store manager of Cuffs, asked. "Style has everything to do with the individual, and there are a plethora of individualities here. This sounds generic, but the D.I.Y. thing, seeking out unique pieces, is really big. In big cities like L.A. and San Francisco, certain things are put in your face for what is fashionable. But because we are a small town, it's easy for us to make an extra effort to look different."

Sacramentans turned out in full force; models, musicians and event-goers combined for spectacular people-watching at Del Paso Boulevard's Greens Hotel. The online design magazine's festival began at 6 p.m. and lasted until 2 a.m.

Vendors lined hallways and decorated corners with display tables and racks of clothing offering anything from reworked vintage pieces to original designs. The hotel's courtyard gave access to unique browsing opportunities as the vendors were set up in individual rooms. Attendees milled from one room to the next viewing creative displays like jewelry on dressers and stacked T-shirts on beds.

Elignon voiced her appreciation for Launch's successful formula of combining vending with showcasing aspects of a fashion show.

"Sometimes when there is a show, the actual products can be easily overlooked, " Elignon said, "but here it's been integrated really well."

Jennifer Slater, an Artifacts model and Midtown resident, echoed Elignon's assessment that not having a definitive fashion reputation allows for greater freedom with individual style as well as business.

"We are so diverse with our style, it can't be pinpointed by one stereotype," Slater said. "Sac Style is a blend of different styles thrown together. And everything is local still, like Artifacts is starting its own Cut and Sew line. Here, even retail is D.I.Y."

Artist and Sacramento resident Jeff Musser said that the community's size was the ultimate factor in its style reputation, or lack thereof.

"I would say Sacramento style is evolving. It's not that we don't have talented artists and designers, we don't have the support mechanism that San Francisco, Chicago, L.A. or Miami does for their artists, " Musser said. "It's not that the money isn't here either, we just don't have the numbers; we don't even have 500,000 people. There is only so much that a designer, musician or artist can accomplish in Sacramento. You hit a ceiling and then you either branch out or you stay in that ceiling."

The aesthetic climax of the evening was the 10 p.m. fashion show, which presented the work of Sacramento-based designers Altered Betty's, Artifacts, Velvet Leaf, Rejects and Van Der Neer. The clothing featured was mostly couture.

Altered Betty's show opened with a model doing belly dance-inspired movements down the runway. The models wore reworked vintage pieces and reflected the label's unique modernity in instances such as dreadlocks and cowboy boots with a patterned, asymmetrically hemmed dress or a jungle print fitted mini-dress with strong-shouldered short sleeves exposing tattooed arms.

Artifacts featured both men's and women's clothing; the males wore urban-inspired street wear while the female models worked vintage-inspired casual pieces like high-waisted floral print shorts and cotton jumpers. Reject featured spidery yarn fingerless gloves in bright red and neon fabric shoestring neck pieces to complement revamped vintage pieces.

Velvet Leaf's collection borrowed inspiration from '60 silhouettes from cape-like sheaths to fitted quarter-sleeve cocktail dresses. Details such as black or cream oversize fabric bows and a gem-encrusted neckline added surprising twists to classic forms.

The final designer, Nicole Kniss for Van Der Neer, gave attendees a theatrical presentation. With Alice in Wonderland clips playing on giant backdrop screens, the line inspired by "the creepiness of children's clothes" displayed jumpers and mini dresses in pastels, with ruffle detail and nude tights. The hair and makeup upped the drama factor; models worked teased pin-curl updos and extended eyelashes framing contoured cheeckbones.

Kniss, who began her design career doing hair for fashion shows, commented on the progression of Sacramento fashion.

"When I started doing hair four or five years ago, it seemed like people were just getting excited about something other than music," Kniss said. "Now, I think these kinds of shows are going to take over the world."

She also credited Sacramento's fashion scene with having a strong sense of unity.

"Its a huge community, and we all want to help out. I mean, what Velvet Leaf is doing [fashion-wise] is really cool," reflected Kniss. "Competition can be really done up; but here, everybody just wants to make everybody famous."

Vchle's Michael Hargis, the main coordinator of Launch, acknowledged the tight-knit nature of the Sacramento fashion community is a large part of the night's success.

"The relationship aspect is more important than anything else. When you love for somebody and care for somebody and you want to see the best for them, you want to showcase what they are," Hargis said. "After trying to network and build community and building something stronger than us as individuals, we wanted to work with people in the fashion world... You root for the girls, you root for the fashion."