Heard of Project Runway? Well if you don’t have cable then you might not know what I’m talking about. It’s a reality tv series on Lifetime (previously on Bravo) where fashion designers compete for a slot to showcase a collection of their design at the New York fashion week. For those of you who are fans of the show, you might remember Andy South from last season; he was one of the final three designers to make it to fashion week.
Okay, what about Andy and why am I talking about Project Runway? Well just a couple months ago I was asked to participate as a model for the “Fashion for the Arts” fashion show featuring the collection “South” by Andy South. The fashion show featured on April 1st at the Pravda Studio that benefited the Lao Heritage Foundation, which is a non-profit organization that aims to preserve and promote Lao culture in areas such as art, music and dance.
At first I didn’t know Andy is Lao. It’s hard to tell if someone is Lao, since Laos has many ethnic groups, but the best way to know is by their long last name. Well Andy’s last name is “South” which didn’t appear to be a Lao name, but it’s actually shortened from Southiphong. Not only was he a talented designer but how many Lao people do we see on tv (beside Kahn and Connie on “King of the Hill”)? So I was rooting for him. Little did I know that several months down the road I would be meeting him and wearing some of his designs!
I was super duper nervous the week coming up to the day of the show, as I’ve never done any modeling before and this was totally something that was out of my comfort zone. Let me say that this is the first time in my life as an Asian girl that I actually felt short and not to mention, fat! The other girls are also volunteers as well, but they looked like they were professional models or at least like they’ve done it before! But it was for a good cause and a once in a lifetime experience and I’m so glad I did it. It was such a great experience and I had an awesome time. Andy is cool and super talented! I also love the fact that he didn’t forget his roots and is giving back to his community. Just for that I’ll move him up to the super cool status!
Oh almost forgot! Charles also volunteered as one of the photographers. There were so many cameras out that day, I felt like a star for like a second! Check out the photos of the events below he took and see some of Andy’s great work from his Fall/Winter 2011 collection. Can you point me out? =) If you want to see the full version, we posted them all on our facebook page.
Charles and I consider ourselves lucky to have had a chance to participate in this event . Thank you so much LHF!
