The Collective

Tonight was the final show of Bellevue Fashion Week, The Collective. Dawn was unable to attend so my co-worker Katelyn came with me. The Collective is a show consisting of collections of clothing from several of the Bellevue Square merchants. Participating merchants were: Aerosoles, Aritzia, Banana Republic, Cache, David Lawrence, gilt, GUESS?, JZ Rose, Louie Permelia, Macy's, MARQSMEN, Mercer, Oilily, Road, Sephora, Shoefly, and Voletta Couture.

We arrived at 6pm where we were greeted by Cheryl Engstrom of Engstrom PR, she has been such a huge help to us since we started with getting us into the Bellevue shows. Thank you Cheryl! We were then escorted to the runway before the guests so we could pick out our seats. I picked the right side front of the runway - no photographer heads in my shots this time! (YAY!)

After getting situated, we headed back out to join the rest of the fashion guests and had a few Hermosa Sunset cocktails and appetizers from Z’Tejas Southwestern Grill. At 7pm guests were let into the runway area, it was a mad rush for seats where gift bags were waiting for them. The show was opened up with a large check being presented to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Bellevue from 100% of ticket sales from the evening.

The runway segments were easy to follow with their cute titles, each one worked with the clothing perfectly (i.e. Updated School Girl). I labeled them in the photo album so you could see where they begin and the collection associated with it.

After the show we said our goodbyes and then headed to the main room for dessert - we were given some of the best coconut cream pie dessert with fresh fruit EVER... ohhhh... just thinking about it my mouth is watering.

To wrap it all up in a nice little bow, Bellevue Fashion Week gets better and better every year. It is always very organized and well planned out. Plus, the swag bags are always a plus. You don't hear anyone complaining about the great gifts and discounts they get for the week. If anything you could start your Christmas shopping that same week, the discounts they are-a-plenty! See you next year for BFW!!

P.S. Do any of you loyal readers recognize the male model in the first picture? It's adorable Jesse Taylor, my male model mini crush... (no worries, the hubby knows... and I think Jesse may as well... HAHA!).

Posh Party & VIP Shopping

Tonight Dawn and I headed over to the Eastside for the BFW Posh Party and VIP Shopping event. We arrived around 6pm and were treated to the signature cocktail which was a grilled pineapple with cracked pepper martini. It was very tasty but the cracked pepper kept reappearing in my mouth every so often (not a fun visual, aye?)

Anyways, I snapped some photos of guests and we meandered around snacking on chicken, steak, bacon wrapped dates, chicken salad sandwiches and a caprese type salad on baguette with melted cheese (my favorite!).

We were let into the runway area around 7pm where it was a mad rush to seats. We sat toward the end of the runway with an aisle seat so I could get some pictures of the runway. I ended up having to move around a bit as we had a photographer perched in our aisle (you can see his head, hand or camera in alot of my shots). Sadly I'm still not used to the new camera and my battery died towards the end of the show (Rocker Chic was the segment I missed). Sorry. :(

Terri Morgan, of TCM Models, introduced the show and shared with us her top 10 picks for Fall. I'm sure Dawn will list those when she does her write-up on the clothing. Apparently black is back... I didn't get the memo it ever went away. But, just so you know, IT'S BACK! I am in love with all the purple - I have to find something now in that deep beautiful shade I keep seeing...

After the show we headed over to the mall and wandered around soaking up as many of the discounts that we could. I got the hubby some free boxers from Road Apparel, bought a Christmas gift for my sister-in-law and got myself some socks and a yoga mat from Lucy.

It was another great show... We have a few more so stay tuned!!

Check out the pictures!