Project Runway!!

I went to the Project Runway Show @ Olympus Fashion Week Friday morning!

In a nutshell, I met Gillian at a Happy Hour we hosted at work for a client. She had just started there and we got to talking about Project Runway. She mentioned that she *might* be able to get in to the Project Runway Show and said that if so, she'd take me. WOO HOO! Turns out, she did and we went! The passes turned out to be 'knowing the head security guard' (through her mom's boyfriend) and we were ushered to the front of the priority Standing Room Only line.

We then had to wait for all of the seats to be filled, then they started to let in the Standing Room folks. It was brilliant altogether -- as from our vantage point, we got to see everyone enter... including all of the designers and celebs heading in to the show.

We stood with unimpeded views to watch the collections come by from Jeffrey, Uli, Laura, and Michael. Talk about AWESOME! Heidi started the show with a quick greeting and the show just started and managed itself. Each of the designers came out, said a few words, then let their collections do the talking.

You can check out each of the collections above -- I have to admit that I was impressed by Uli's collection and disappointed in Michael's. That said, we won't know the winners either until the show airs either this week or next!

The best part of the show, however, might have been the adventures after. Gillian and I decided that we wanted to meet the designers and get as many photos as possible. The one here of Heidi Klum is the closest we could get to her as she was swarmed after by the media. However, we got to wander through the crowd and meet the other designers. I talked to crazy Vincent; Angela cheek-kissed me. I chatted most with beautiful Alison, met Connie, got a photo with Robert, chatted a bit with Kayne, was complimented on my jacket by my Season 2 favorite Nick, and spent quite a bit of time with Michael's mother -- who became best friends with Gillian.

My personal highlight came as I was just kind of hanging out, then found myself engaged in a conversation with some woman, Thom Filicia from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, and the guest judge -- a designer I didn't know. I raised the question, 'so, having seen the collections, who's your favorite to win?' The random woman said she was impressed with Uli. Thom mentioned he hadn't followed the show too closely this season, but thought that Uli also had the best full collection on the runway. The judge then said, 'well, as a judge, I can't really say.' I didn't know who she was or that she was a judge (so uneducated, Todd!), so said I didn't know she was judging; that I had come late and didn't see who the guest judge was, but was excited that it was her (again, whoever she was). At that point, she turned to talk to someone and I noticed her Project Runway note cards in her hand. I grabbed Thom and motioned down to her hands. "You distract her; I'll get the results!", I whispered. Thom and I laughed and high-fived. At that point, he reached out his hand, "Hi. I'm Thom." The guy introduced himself to me! Like I didn't know who he was. Brilliant!

I then joined Gillian again for more meet-and-greet and photos. It was a blast altogether and an adventure for the ages! Again, I'll be getting more photos to update and support this entry, but in the meantime, I'm still just giddy. And, I'm not going to lie, I'm also giddy about having met Alison Kelly. She was such a calming beauty:


So, I got to go to Fashion Week, to attend the hottest show of the event, and to mingle with celebs and top designers. Who would have thought the Eastern Oregon kid would wind up in Manhattan at Fashion Week in Bryant Park for the Spring 2007 Collection?