Austin Fashion Week Award Winners

Last night was the Austin Fashion Week Awards Show. I was happy to be feeling well enough to attend. I opted to skip the red carpet, though. It was 105º (holy cow!) and I was already sweating like crazy in the car ride over. I am so glad I wore cotton jersey knit!
I made sure to get a snapshot on the red carpet after the awards show, though. I did end up wearing the ModCloth dress y'all picked out for me, and I felt a little like pregnant Angelina Jolie in it!
When I first got the dress, I was 90% sure I was going to return it. I ordered a size large, but it was incredibly unflattering on me. The top was way too tight and the bottom showed every roll and the shape of my belly button. I freaked out and said as much on Twitter, but ModCloth was so sweet. They tweeted me about their great rush exchange policy where you can have them ship out a replacement item before your return even hits the road. Cool, huh? (Excellent customer service, y'all!)

Anyway, I didn't really find any other options for comfortable, affordable evening wear, but luckily after adding a slip and forgoing the brassier entirely, I was able to shoehorn myself into the ModCloth dress. That just goes to show you how the right undergarments can make all the difference! However, I can't wait to see what it looks like on my non-pregnant body next summer!

I never know how pregnant I look until I see my self-style photos! WHOA! Big lady!

I got a new animal ring. Isn't he cute?

I donned some pretty ridonculous, thick fake eyelashes. Nothing makes you feel as glamorous as fake eyelashes!

date: 21 August 2010
occasion: Austin Fashion Week awards show
dress: ModCloth
sandals: thrifted, Savers
bag: vintage, won in a drawing on Grace's Birdcage
earrings and turtle ring: Target
peach cocktail ring: Charlotte Ruse
bracelets: Ten Thousand Villages

I want to thank Kristen Chen at Wyatt Brand for giving me an all-access media pass to the kick-off event and awards show. I sincerely appreciate that Adored Austin is seen as a legit style and Austin fashion happenings blog. Again, I had a nice seat, and I was able to grab some footage from the runway portion of the awards show. Watch to see fashion by Boudoir Queen, René Geneva, Celestino, Chloe Dao (Project Runway season two winner), Line & Dot, and Betsey Johnson:
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/14347591 w=500&h=375]

[music by Zayra and Speak, who performed live]

Tidbits from the video:

• The first model is well known milliner Laurel St. Romain wearing (what I think is) one of her own designs.
• The second model is Kathleen Carmichael, who is one of my favorite models in Austin. She just did the latest lookbook for BuyDefinition.
• The second designer, René Geneva, won critics' choice award for best designer at last year's Austin Fashion Week awards.
• Zayra, who performed during the first half of the runway presentation, was on the reality tv show Rockstar: Supernova.
• Speaking of reality tv shows, the stunning girl who does the finale dresses for Celestino and Betsey Johnson is America's Next Top Model (cycle 14) winner Krista White.
• The band Speak, who performed live during the second half of the fashion presentation, just jumped to near the top of the list of my favorite Austin bands. I just bought their EP Hear Here and it's super!

Honestly, I'm still synthesizing a lot of my thoughts about Austin Fashion Week as a whole, so expect a fully fleshed out (more serious journalistic) piece on it within the week. I had a nice time at the events, and I appreciate all the hard work and talent that went into it. A ton of Golden Boots were given out, and I've listed all of the winners and linked all of their webpages after the jump:

Here's an explanation (from FashionWeekAustin.com) of how the winners were chosen:
People’s Choice Awards:
Are voted on by the general public via FashionWeekAustin.com. Only official Austin Fashion Week participants* are eligible to win People’s Choice Awards. Aggregate scores are tallied at the end of voting (Friday, August 20) and the winner is determined based on the total number of votes. Each participant may be voted on only one time by a specific computer or smart phone. A query is run on the results to toss out any votes that break this rule. One vote per computer per participant. All People’s Choice awards are given out at the physical Austin Fashion Awards Show on August 21.

Critics’ Choice Awards:
A panel of 40 local Austinites that are incredibly well-connected to the fashion community were asked to vote on a myriad of categories. ALL fashion-related businesses and individuals are eligible to receive Critics’ Choice Awards (it is not closed to only official Austin Fashion Week participants). The aggregate number of votes for each business or individual in each category is tallied and the winners are determined. Larger Critics’ Choice awards are given at the physical Austin Fashion Awards Show on August 21. More “technical” awards were announced online on August 18, 2010.

Peer Choice Awards:
Official participants in Austin Fashion Week are asked to cast one vote each for a business or individual in their category. For instance, a participating photographer may vote for one other photographer (not themselves) as “Best Austin Photographer.” All businesses and individuals are eligible to win Peer Choice Awards (not just official Austin Fashion Week participants). Peer Choice Awards will be announced on this website on August 18, 2010.

*NOTE: To become an "official Austin Fashion Week participant", nominees were asked to pay a nominal fee.

The 2010 Austin Fashion Week winners are...

BEST DESIGNER (CRITICS’ CHOICE): Dean Fredrick
BEST DESIGNER (PEOPLE’S CHOICE): Tracy Tenpenny Design
BEST DESIGNER (PEER CHOICE): Megan Summerville

BEST MASH UP TEAM (CRITICS’ CHOICE): Maison de Noir
BEST MASH UP TEAM (PEOPLE’S CHOICE): Knotty Youth

BEST RETAIL STORE (CRITICS’ CHOICE): By George
BEST RETAIL STORE (PEOPLE’S & PEERS CHOICE): Touch of Sass

BEST SALON (CRITICS’ & PEER CHOICE): Jose Luis Salon
BEST SALON (PEOPLE’S CHOICE): Roar Salon

BEST PHOTOGRAPHER (CRITICS’ CHOICE): Cory Ryan
BEST PHOTOGRAPHER (PEOPLE’S CHOICE): Andrew Chan
BEST PHOTOGRAPHER (PEER CHOICE): Tania Quintanilla

BEST HAIR STYLIST (CRITICS’ CHOICE): Giacomo Forbes (Bella Salon)
BEST HAIR STYLIST (PEOPLE’S CHOICE): Martha Lynn Barnes (Luxe Apothetique)
BEST HAIR STYLIST (PEER CHOICE): Jose Buitron (Jose Luis Salon)

BEST MAKEUP ARTIST (CRITICS’ CHOICE): Rochelle Rae
BEST MAKEUP ARTIST (PEOPLE’S CHOICE): Zoraima Peleaz
BEST MAKEUP ARTIST (PEER CHOICE): Maris Malone Calderon

BEST FEMALE MODEL (CRITICS’ CHOICE): Brittany Powell
BEST FEMALE MODEL (PEOPLE’S & PEER CHOICE): Jessa Peters

BEST MALE MODEL (CRITICS’ CHOICE): Kennedy Lemi
BEST MALE MODEL (PEOPLE’S CHOICE): Christian Ramirez

Technical awards (chosen by the critics' panel):
DESIGNERS:
BEST JEWELRY DESIGNER: Dean Fredrick
BEST WOMEN’S CLOTHING DESIGNER: Linda Asaf
BEST HANDBAGS & ACCESSORIES DESIGNER: *annemarie*
BEST BRIDAL DESIGNER: CIARLABride
BEST CHILDREN’S DESIGNER: Momiko Organics
BEST INTIMATE APPAREL OR SWIMWEAR DESIGNER: Megan Summerville
BEST HOME ACCESSORIES DESIGNER: Deborah Main

RETAIL STORES:
BEST WOMEN’S CLOTHING: By George
BEST MEN’S CLOTHING: Stag
BEST VINTAGE CLOTHING: Feathers
BEST ACCESSORIES & HANDBAGS: Touch of Sass
BEST JEWELRY: Eliza Page
BEST KIDS OR BABY STORE: Wee
BEST HOME DECOR: Prototype (Prototype Home Decor closed July 10th)
MOST “AUSTIN” RETAIL STORE: Parts & Labour

SALONS & SPAS:
BEST SPA: Milk + Honey
MOST “AUSTIN” SALON: Birds Barbershop

PHOTOGRAPHERS:
BEST PRODUCT PHOTOGRAPHER: Cory Ryan
BEST EDITING / POST-PRODUCTION (PHOTOSHOP): Chad Harlan

HAIR STYLISTS:
BEST WOMEN’S CUT: Martha Lynn Barnes (Luxe Apothetique)
BEST MEN’S CUT: Eric Massey (owner, Wet)
BEST COLORIST: Rory McNeill (owner, Roar Salon)

MAKEUP ARTISTS:
BEST THEATRICAL MAKEUP: Pilar Davila