Modeling in Maui: Art=Mix

I had the pleasure of modeling in a major fashion show. Maui Arts and Cultural Center hosts an Art=Mix every few months. The theme of this art mix was fashion! So the concentration of the evening was on the runway fashion shows that a friend of mine coordinated, Brittney Baked of BB Productions. The evening was held at the largest venue Maui has, where countless celebrity artists have played and major events and shows take place. The evening included an art work hall, ongoing fashion style hair and makeup along the side of the runway, a show-us-your-shoes contest for the women, and guys-in-ties contest for men, dance performances, Maui created films, and of course, 3 fashion shows.

The first show presented a male clothing line, very funky and different. Then was Kojo Couture by Koa Johnson, a local designer born and raised on Maui who studied and now teaches at Maui's Hawaii University. I was instructed that I was a hard A$$ and I know it, and to rock it. 

Funny thing is he had forgetten to bring the shirt meant for the outfit. But he liked it enough with just the black bra on so that's what I rocked :)

The next clothing line was Island Nuvo by Jennifer Jensen. She is Also a Maui based designer, but this was her first fashion show! She created many pieces with cool head pieces to go with. She wanted an organic feel to the runway walk, not the stomp it out like I'm in a motorcycle gang as the previous designer wanted. I got into it and the music backed with the runway. Jennifer told me she would love to use me again and loved my energy on the catwalk, wishing other models had done it as I did :)

There were 1,800 plus people there that evening! It's a big venue for Maui! As you can kind of see from this, the catwalk is in the center with two large screens on both sides and the backdrop for the catwalk is a humongous IMAX size screen. All of these screens had live feeds of us walking, that't why you can see me in a small version and larger version in these pictures, because I was also displayed on a screen. PRETTY professional if I do say so. This was probably the biggest venue I have ever modeled at, and I LOVED it. I wasn't even nervous just excited. All sense of stage freight has left me because of my modeling experience and teaching Zumba in front of so many people.  I even got paid for this one, I usually agree for trade. Meaning a piece of clothing, jewelry, or the photos of the show in exchange for my modeling services :)

Then a dance party ensued

Let me ask you this? Did I seem to be having a good time and in my character? Because in reality I had a series of unfortunate events that went down right before I got on that runway. On my way to Kahului (about an hour away from where I live) I needed some air in my tire, pushing back the amount of time I would get at the salon. While I was at the salon, my hair stylist smacked me in the face with a scorching hot curling iron. She basically let go of it and dropped in on my face and it swung and hit my cheek. She said "oh, oh, sorry." That's all. And then oddly she never faced me towards the mirror the rest of the time (I was in a swivel chair facing the center of the room). My cheek burned the rest of the appointment and I didn't get to see how bad it was until afterwards. I mean come on. I'm literally about to go on stage and using my FACE in modeling the clothes and she just burned it! I just couldn't get over the fact that all she said was "oh sorry," she never offered to get me ice, or apologized sincerely and that she felt so bad to burn me right before I'm about to model... I thought about giving her crap for it, or flipping out on her. But that would make me a diva model, and that's not me. Everyone makes mistakes, I just wish she was more professional, than hiding it from her client the whole time. 

Koa and his designs

Island Nuvo

So I got in my car and turned on my engine. And my tire was flat. Really? I'm already running late and need to be on the runway in an hour and I didn't have my makeup done yet! I called my trusty AAA to come change my tire. They are trusty but the island is large with only a few tow trucks that work with AAA. I sat there for 20 minutes waiting and my hair stylist came out of the salon. I swallowed my pride and asked her if she knew how to change a tire. She didn't, but she called her boyfriend to come change it for me.... There's that karma for me deciding NOT to flip out on her. She returned a favor that REALLY helped me out! Although it was already dark when the boyfriend got there so he had to change it in the dark with a small flash light and us girls holding our cell phones for more light. 

Jennifer Jensen's line

Finally I was on my way to the event. The event had already started (but not my runway show yet), so I had to park in the back of the second parking lot, it was a bit of a walk. They stuck me in makeup after one model had finished after I had put on my top gun style outfit. I couldn't bend my knees in that outfit, it wasn't meant for actually being worn in everyday life, it was made to be skin tight and shown on a runway. So I sat like barbie in the makeup chair- with both legs straight out like I had no hinges at my knees. She did my foundation, and started my eyes when I was told I need to go on shortly, so the artist needed to bust out my makeup ASAP. She finished my eyes (not to her approval though) but couldn't get to my lips or blush. In any case, the designer thought I looked great, I rocked two runway shows, and had a great time in the end. Thank god a fresh burn doesn't show right away. But the next day and week it scabbed and blistered, it looked like I got slapped across the face, it was quiet concerning for a lot of my coworkers. They couldn't believe the story. Silly hair stylist, got to work on your professional skills.

If you would like to see a video that perfectly embodies this event, check out: https://vimeo.com/69308003
 where I have a starring role with my Kojo Couture design. Or here is a close up of Kojo Couture- I come in at about 4 minutes and 45 seconds into the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uAXPXxicPxY#at=321

Photography by RJ - Kaleidoscope: Photography, Jeane McMahon Photography, Amity Mason Photography, and Valerie Wessel. Makeup by Ryan Shimabuku and hair by Fierce salon.