... The Tulips and Pansies Headress Affair 2011

Last Thursday was the 10th annual Tulips and Pansies Headdress Affair benefiting Village Care. Betsey collaborated with In Bloom New York to create a Marie Antoinette inspired look with a punk rock twist. Participating in this event is by far one of my favorite things that Betsey does each year. Last year we attended the event and ended the night dancing on the runway with Patricia Fields at the after party. How could this year get better then that? Well... this year I was in the show!

Me all decked out on the Runway!

At about four o'clock Petra, our PR extraordinaire's devoted assistant and I walked over to Gotham Hall where the affair would take place that evening. We arrived and met the headdress designers Roshy and Parker from In Bloom NYC. Their headdress creation was gorgeous! Peonies and baby's breath with wispy neon feathers, how much more fabulous could something be? Roshy and Parker were anxious to try the headdress on me to make sure that I could carry the weight and balance it by holding the stick attached to the base. After some teeter totter I had it down and felt confident that I would not drop it on the runway.

After figuring out how to balance a floral arrangement on my head, walk the runway, hold my dress out from under my heels, act like a punk rock Marie Antoinette all while chewing gum (just kidding), I sat down in make-up. The make-up team from Illamasqua white powdered my face, added a rosy circle cheek, a touch of mascara and a heart shape lip. I looked like a porcelain doll or a hybrid clown/geisha, but it worked perfectly with the whole look.

Next task was to accessorize! Petra and I lugged two huge bags of Betsey accessories from the showroom to the event so that Roshy and Parker could have their pick. I put on the dress they chose from Betsey's Spring 2011 runway show Le Tour de Betsey which they based the design of the headdress around. This dress is amazing because Betsey puffy paint/air brushed it herself! Betsey slinging paint all over the showroom to create this dress was quite the spectacle and pee-your-pants hilarious! From chaos, Betsey makes the most amazing things. To the one of a kind gown, Roshy and Parker pinned a cluster of neon plastic flowers. They added a black lace necklace and gold sequin boots. The final touch and my favorite accessory was a pair of hand cuffs, which they attached to the stick that I held to balance my headdress! Using the handcuffs was pretty clever and tied the whole outfit together.

When the show began, I finally got to see every headdress creation in full glory. Each collaboration was a success! 

When it was my turn to parade out on the runway, MC for the night James Aguiar, who was decked out from head to toe in a suit made of googly eyes, provided witty commentary. "Marie Antoinette isn't she like 12?" quipped Aguiar as I vogued at the end of the runway.

  

Roshy and Parker were waiting back stage with big smiles on their faces! They thought my embodiment of punk rocker Marie was fantastic! We did a toast and cheered. All the models did a finale walk to show off the amazing creations once more.

Did I mention it was a contest as well? Unfortunately, I have to report that we did not win a prize. Don't be sad though, doing the show was an amazing experience and everyone was happy to contribute to Village Care. I took off the headdress and transformed from punk rock Marie Antoinette back into Stef because luckily there was an after Party!!! I love a good after party don't you? At the party I met up with Katelyn (PR extraordinaire), Petra (Katelyn's DA) and Ashley (Mistress of print design), all devoted Betsey employees, who had come to cheer me on. Katelyn texted Betsey pictures from the show and she loved them! We ended the night with some bubbly and dancing to the mixing of DJ Lady Bunny.

L-R Petra, Stef, Katelyn, Ashley

A couple of days after the show I received the most beautiful bouquet of peonies from Roshy and Parker as a thank you for modeling. It was such a pleasure to work with In Bloom NYC to support Village Care. Check out their blog about the event and how they created the amazing headdress.

Till next time!

Stef