At 8pm this past Saturday, over two-hundred people could be seen accumulating outside of Gallery5, waiting in anticipation of the immediately s
At 8pm this past Saturday, over two-hundred people could be seen accumulating outside of Gallery5, waiting in anticipation of the immediately sold-out Model Citizen runway event coordinated by Rumors. Seriously, if you got there after 9 pm, you missed out. While the mass of people outside grew, I watched the final run-through of the rehearsal, helping with each obstacle that presented itself, as the stylists from Ceco Studio completed each look.
As the last model literally pushed her way down the catwalk through the dance party of bodies onstage, and the ending measures of Health’s Die Slow triggered a choreographed yet completely authentic rage session, it hit me. Right in the nick of time, it had all finally come together and it was bad-ass. I can only imagine how thrilled event planners Casey Longyear and Tiara Murphy must have felt, considering I had only lent a hand here and there to their monumental efforts, and I, personally, was stoked.
These girl didn’t just put on a fashion show. They stayed late nights, zombie-eyed over cans of pbr, planning out every step that their thirty models took. They scoured the city for sweet shit, gathering talented film-makers, local musicians, artists, and designers for their two-day fash bash. Several local fashion boutiques, that typically don’t “do” fashion shows, lent their clothing to these girls to showcase in a five-segment runway show, which took the audience down the dirty streets, back through time, and into the middle of the party. Most importantly, they managed to convey something completely real. I think you know you’re in Richmond when the model at the end of the runway is slugging a bottle of Jack Daniels. (Don’t worry it was just watered-down Coke).
– Lindsey French
