One Day You’re In and the Next Day You’re Out…

One day you’re in and the next day you’re out…

To borrow a line from Heidi Klum on Project Runway…

First let me say that I’ve had a fantastic two weeks, so fantastic and so busy that I haven’t had five minutes to look through the couple thousand photos my lovely photographer husband took, and cull them down into a meaningful blog post.  That will all come in due time…

I’m sitting in Bakersfield airport, contemplating a night in Denver, since violent thunderstorms have wreaked havoc in the northeast. And you know how that affects air travel…

Those who have followed my facebook posts this week, know about my smashing success at the fashion show at Convergence in Long Beach Wednesday night about a week and a half ago.  But there is more to the story and it is a good one, and I have pictures which I didn’t have on my cell phone when I posted on facebook.

Actually the photos I have are my own entry photos, since one cannot actually take images during the fashion show and later in the exhibit.  It is an HGA rule and frustrating as it is, they are doing that to protect the artists from conference attendees photographing their work without their permission.  So, though I saw many cell phones lifted during the actual show, I followed the rules.

I’d like to think I am good at following rules, and that I read the fine print carefully, but sometimes things just slip through the cracks…

Anyway, if you’ve been following my posts for awhile, you may remember last spring that I was stunned to find out that all three garments I entered into the fashion show for Convergence Long Beach 2012 were accepted.  I didn’t think anyone ever got all three entries accepted.

The jurors were the Fashion Design and Textile Design Department Chairs at FIDM (Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising) in Los Angeles.  Pretty impressive credentials.  All the more reason for me to be stunned.

Anyway, I shipped and insured all three garments along with companion garments to be worn during the runway show.

I brought my lovely husband to the fashion show, this would be the first time he has ever attended anything like this with me, other than gallery openings.

I was really really stunned when my third garment, the silver metallic suit called Floodlights didn’t walk the runway.  My first reaction was that it had somehow gotten damaged.  I’ve seen that happen.

When the jurors came out to announce all the winners of the exhibits for HGA, including the fashion show, I was only half listening, since names of artists and pieces don’t really mean anything if you haven’t seen the exhibits yet.  When it came to the fashion show winners, I was still brooding over my missing third piece and I nearly flew out of my seat when the second place winner was announced, LA Attitude by Daryl Lancaster.  I momentarily forgot my frustration of not having my third piece walk…

Later at the Fiber Trust Reception where I did get to view the other exhibits, I couldn’t find anyone to tell me what happened to my third piece, the committee was busy behind the scenes getting ready to install the show, and I was surrounded by well wishers congratulating me on my second place win for my coat Wildfires, and I had to explain that it wasn’t the coat, it was the dress, since the digital labels on the runway that went with garments were out of order and criss crossed.  No one realized it was my dress that had won.

Anyway, towards the end of the evening, I found one of the jurors and went up and introduced myself.  I wanted to thank her for her vote of confidence in giving me second place for the dress, and her response couldn’t have been more gracious and encouraging.  She also pulled over the second juror, and we had a fantastic discussion about my work in general, they loved the coat as well, and the garment I was wearing to the fashion show, the teal tencel jacket with the felted collar (photo below), and they couldn’t have been more positive about my construction skills and technical ability.  I felt like I was standing in front of a panel of judges on Project Runway.  I was told that the dress had won second place because they felt it was fresh and youthful.  Nearing 60 myself, I was thrilled to have those words associated with one of my garments.

I still had no idea why my third piece hadn’t walked the runway, so I asked.  Point blank.  And the juror told me point blank.

Apparently there is a hidden caveat I hadn’t read in the fashion show prospectus, I’m not sure if it is a new thing, I never remember seeing it nor do I ever remember a piece not walking the runway because of it.

“The juror will independently screen all images and make the preliminary selection of all work in the exhibition. Entries will be evaluated on concept, design, technique, craftsmanship and creative exploration, along with understanding of the body and body movement, runway presence, and overall suitability of the technique and/or materials.”

See, I thought that once you received that acceptance letter, it meant that you were in.  I didn’t understand that pieces were only provisionally accepted until they were tried on the models and walked down the runway.

So the juror told me point blank, that the silver suit with the handwoven trim looked matronly on the models, (many of whom were plus sizes) and that the piece appeared flat on the runway under the strong lights.  So they pulled it.

And so, I feel like I have been in a couple of episodes of Project Runway, standing before Nina and Michael, having them tell me that one week, my dress is youthful and prize winning and the next week, my suit is matronly and flat.  You know what is really terrific here?  I got feedback, very valuable feedback.  When a piece is accepted or rejected in a show, you never never really know why.  And I couldn’t be more grateful for the honesty of the judges and the time they spent with me after the show.  The suit could have been flat out rejected and I could have saved the expensive shipping and insurance both to California and back, but I would never have received such valuable feedback.  I have a better understanding of the contestants on Project Runway that make the cut but aren’t in the top or bottom three, so never really get that valuable feedback.

My suit did hang in the exhibit, and I was grateful to the committee for allowing it to hang, and I will cherish my second place award (the handwoven ribbon is really lovely), and I will really listen to the feedback I received from both judges, knowing this was a rare experience.

Stay tuned for Daryl and Kevin’s California adventure…  It was a blast…