New York Adventures

I just got back from a refreshing vacation (solo!) in New York. I took an informal tour of all the chocolate boutiques of Manhattan with the lovely Kharissia. Plus, since my travel adventures must include all things gustatory, you can guess that I also ate many delicious pastries, pastas, salads, risottos, sushis, pizzas, and Chinese soups. I also enjoyed finding great discounts on all the sale racks in Soho.

An exotic highlight of the trip included helping my friend Amy prepare for a ready-to-wear fashion show as part of the New York fashion season in Bryant Park. Not only did I pick up some very useful sewing tips (this season's line included some fabulous jackets, six of which I pinned and pressed into submission), but I got to rub elbows (quite literally because the room was too small) with some fashionista fancy-pantses.

The three days of mad sewing was an adventure in itself, but the actual runway show was an incredible thrill--lasted only about 15 minutes, but what an exciting 15 minutes! Imagine tall, elfin models teetering on stick-like legs with bored expressions, hair frizzed to there, and glowing eye makeup. All around them buzzed the team of black-clad makeup artists, hair stylists, concept designers, producers, dressers, seamstresses, and shoe-putter-oners (my job). While lacing up the $2500 Manolo Blahnik boots (a task that took 20 minutes each), I had take furtive breaths at strategic moments in order to avoid inhaling a cloud of hairspray or bronzing powder. My proudest moment involved the last-minute stitching of a zipper so that it wouldn't spring open and reveal the model's bony butt as she pranced down the catwalk. I even got to yell "Dust!" so that the make-up artist would quickly smudge the pale stitching with brown powder so it wouldn't stand out on the dark skirt. Days of little sleep and backbreaking labor payed off, as I earned a mention in the show's program--please refer to me as Accessory Coordinator from now on.

PS. I do not understand how you can fit the normal allotment of human guts into the narrow body of a runway model--it's a biophysical paradox that I suspect involves some sort of hidden mini-dimension.

Chocolate F(r)iends

Molly Takes Manhattan

Runaway Runway