The Eye on Fashion 2016 event was three nights of fashion fun!
The opening event was held at this adorable boutique in Tampa called the Elizabeth Carson-Racker Design Boutique. It was a trunk show for the designer Marco Hall from the New York/New Jersey area. Lacey B Smith, who is the CEO and Executive Producer of The Fashion Movement, says that they “wanted a small and intimate gathering for the first event” so a small boutique worked really well.
When you walk in, there were clothing on mannequins, clothes hanging on racks, and clothes on shelves, all featuring custom clothes made by Elizabeth or “Liz” as many call her. Liz studied at the Savannah Collage of Art and Design where she received her bachelors in fine arts from the Department of Fashion.
All the excitement happened when Marco Hall unveiled two of his designs on live models who walked throughout the boutique showing of his designs. Marco has a very unique and vibrant style of designing that is reminiscent of ‘80’s glam club wear. There were peaked shoulders and buckets of sequins which worked well with his aesthetic.
The second event was called The Men’s Collection which featured a collection of boutiques and menswear designers. This event was held at the Spain restaurant in Tampa.
The final and main event was the fashion stylist’s competition, which was held at this ritzy venue called The Vault in downtown Tampa. The room was packed with important fashion members of the Tampa Bay community, press, and fashion lovers alike. The room buzzed with chatter and excitement as they awaited the start of the event. By the entrance of the room, there were six models that were modeling looks produced by the six stylists who were in the competition.
The six stylists were:
Mya (Volume Styling) – Tampa, FL
Saniyyah Bilal (Curio Styling) – Philadelphia, PA
Faheemah Safa – New York
Sherri Wright – St. Petersburg, FL
Stephon Kelly, Tuscaloosa, AL
Monique Cotton – Chicago, IL
Before the show started, one of the contestants from the fifth season of the voice performed two of his originals songs after serenading all the mother’s in the audience for Mother’s Day.
Part one was were the stylists had models walk the runway wearing styling they had put together previously. The last model to come out was called the “wildcard”. At that time, some of the audience members who were picked beforehand to put on accessories like hats, earrings, and necklaces stood up from their seats. The stylist had around three minutes to look at all the people standing in the audience, take from them the accessories they think would work best with the outfit, and accessorize the model with them. For this round, the stylists were judged on everything in the look “from head to toe” as the host said. The host was the first ever winner of this competition, so she knows what she is talking about.
Part two of the competition was where the stylists were given a bag with clothes shoes accessories and makeup and they were required to style the model on the spot right in front of you. The models walk out wearing just undergarments, so literally every other detail of the outfit is decided by the stylist. They also had a time limit to complete this look so, as you can imagine, the pressure was on. Everyone at this point was out of their chairs gathering around to watch how these stylists operated. After a few minutes of chaos, they were told to back away for judging. Each of the models walked the runway in their newly styled looks for the judges for a score.
A certified public accountant was hired to do the tallying of the scores and, just like Santa, he checked it twice. Everyone was waiting on pins and needles to hear the scores. It was announced that fashion stylist Stephon from Alabama won! Lacey told the audience that last year at this competition, Stephon “flopped”. Stephon was talking to Lacey afterwards and said, “Lacey, I must redeem myself”. Now he has. Stephon came back and won the entire thing! After he won he told the audience, “there is always a second chance in life” and that “if at first you don’t succeed honey, try again!”.
This whole three-day event was very well put-together and truly unforgettable. Thank you to Lacey B Smith and The Fashion Movement for letting us be a part of something so great. We hope to be back next year!
HCXOXO
Her Campus at USFSP