Barrera International – Autumn/Winter 2014 Collection Preview

I need to tell you what I’ve been working on.

Guess who will be representing First Class Fashionista this Thursday? (Because you’ll never guess, here, on *my* blog…)

Alright, it’s me! ^0^ I will be at the Barrera International Autumn/Winter 2014 Collection Preview down in the Santa Fe Art Districts, dolled up and ready to cover the event for everyone who has an interest in fashion, especially locally.

Photo credits: Designer Juan Jimenez, Erroll Perkins- Beauty Director, Ted Medina- Hair Lead Stylist , Photo Credit-Kevin Alexander , Model-Oumou D

This Thursday will be an amazing fashion event not to be missed; we here in Denver should feel privileged to host this show.

Join fashionistas, fashion industry professionals, and other fashion-enthusiasts in a night previewing the Autumn/Winter 2014 collection of Juan Jimenez. Jimenez, only 22 (youth in vogue!) , is the designer at the helm of Berrera International. He recently graduated from Johnson & Whales and has interned at Tom Ford. I don’t normally do quote-for-quote from websites, but I love this:

“Every piece in the collection has been cut, assembled, stitched and sewn by hand to achieve perfection. From luxurious evening gowns to simple staple pieces, be sure to find a wide selection of items to covet. The beauty of this and every Barrera collection will be the availability to customize every look and make each piece unique.”
-Barrera International.

Berrera International throws out the power words “luxury, character & exclusivity”. What woman doesn’t want to be described in those terms?!

Those attending will be privy to the first glance at his Asia-meets-French-Couture collection, as well as formally introducing the designer’s Menswear collection and the newest pieces in the Barrera International’s Ready to Wear and Couture concepts.

So. My local people all need to be there. Seriously.

It’s going to be down in the Santa Fe Art District, specifically the Space Gallery (765 Santa Fe Dr, Denver, CO 80204), and doors are at 9 PM. Unless you go for broke and get a VIP ticket. They *are* a little costly, but you get a lot for your money.  Plus, who doesn’t want to feel like a red-carpet celeb for a night? (PS. I will be there getting mingly with the VIPs; black tie, camera, iPad recording software. I’m techno-chic.)

Doors are at 8 PM for  and hour of VIP reception. With that, you get includes a Latin/Asian fusion menu and specialty themed cocktails, private parking, and front row seating.

Black tie attire is mandatory. (But really, how often do you get to wear black tie? I’m excited!)

General Admission is $25; VIP is $100 for 2 guests.

A portion of the proceeds will benefit SafeHouse Denver, serving victims of domestic violence and their children since 1977.

If you’re still unsure, I suggest you watch this video, taken last year by the First Class Fashionista team (now I’m on the team! Yay!), to get a feel for what’s gonna go down in D-town.

For ticket information [you will 😉 ] visit http://barrerainternational.eventbrite.com or email info@barrerainternational.com.

See you there! -xxo

A Taste of the Pacific

Well, I know it’s been a while, but I haven’t found much to inspire me lately.

After attending First Fridays:
(as always, you can click for bigger semi-decent photos)

But I couldn’t find a whole lot to do during the weekdays! (It’s one of the sad signs that summer is winding down here in Colorado. ;( )

However, whilst wandering around downtown in search of something interesting, I ended up fairly close to one of my favorite spots. So instead of moping about the excess of free exercise I got meandering atound, I decided to share one of my favorite places in downtown Denver with you.

Sakura Square

Nestled in between 19th Street and Larimer Street, Sakura Square is a bitty little taste of Asia displaced among the skyscrapers and business buildings. Primarily, it serves as a small shopping center and entrance to the Tamai Tower apartments that loom over it, but there’s little points of interest for everyone.

A small Japanese garden rests in the center, which I always find a calming retreat from the bustling route of 16th street which I generally travel to get here. In this beautiful and simple garden are the busts of Ralph L. Carr, Minoru Yasui, and Yoshitaka Tamai. Each has a nameplate and a bit of history if you are interested in that, and it’s an enjoyable read just to get a taste of Japanese-American history in Colorado. I find Ralph L. Carr’s bust to be of particular interest; he was the only elected official in the US to issue a public apology to the Japanese Americans for their internment during and after WWII. (The *only* elected official to do this! What a fantastic guy. I always thought that was amazing, especially having seen the desolate site of Colorado’s Camp Amache/Granada War Relocation Center for myself.)

In the square, there’s also a Buddhist temple, a restaurant (Yoko’s), and a book store (and dental places, for some reason…).  Aside from that, Sakura Square also hosts the Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival in June, with traditional food and dances! It’s wonderful!

Personally, I can never pass by Sakura Square and not go buy myself a little treat!

Here is the Pacific Mercantile Company, an Asian grocery store located at the base of Sakura Square. They have things here I haven’t been able to find locally anywhere else, especially at such low prices. (And when I went this time, the huge blocks of curry mix were even on sale! ヽ(*▽*)ノ )  They’re only open until 6, so if you have work that day, you might have to book it, but it’s totally worth at least stopping by and giving this place a look-see.

They have cards, drinks, food, and cooking and dining supplies, along with a few beauty products and assorted miscellaneous stuff. (Try a Ramune, you have to push a marble into the bottle just to drink it! Or a Calpico drink. Or a delicious kiwi or mango-flavored mochi cake! ^w^ YUM!)

However! If you can’t make it out to my lovely Sakura Square yourself, I am pleased to announce…

SERAH en VOGUE[ish]’s VERY FIRST GIVEAWAY!

Alright, to enter, just use the widget at the bottom. To enter, you simply have to leave a comment on this blog post. (It does have to be *relevant*! Or it won’t count. 😛) Why not leave your favorite place? Favorite Asian treat? Something you like about the blog?

EDIT – **NOW ALL YOU HAVE TO DO TO WIN IS LEAVE A COMMENT!**

You will be entered to win the Sakura Square Prize Pack!

(aka, I bought a bunch of small things any self-loving fashionista shouldn’t be without!)

(click for larger images!)

This prize pack includes:

1. An *adorable* eraser shaped like sushi. Sushi is so trendy, erasers are such a staple for designers, no?

2. A set of eyebrow tweezers- featuring an adorable manga-style print girl! Reminding you that beauty is maintenance.

3. Chopsticks featuring a schoolgirl motif. I couldn’t resist; sailor suit and all, her long socks make up the length of these fun chopsticks, which can be used as an eating utensil or to pull up your hair! (but please only do one…)

4. What fashionista isn’t a dragon inside?! These year of the dragon tags feature the Chinese zodiac figure along with writings on their attributes and dates. Who cares if you weren’t born year of the dragon- celebrate a strong year anyway!

The Ferocious Alebrije & the History Colorado Center

Sorry it’s been a while.
Originally I had intended to post Sunday or Monday and make a weekly habit of it, but that didn’t work out. (I need to get more comfortable posting from my iPad. But it’s weird. Does anyone else have trouble adjusting to on-screen keyboards?)

Anyway! To make up for it, here’s the first of two posts.

As previously mentioned, Denver is hosting the Biennial of the Americas, which is still ongoing. The public events are mostly winding down (and most of them were shoved into a span of a few weeks anyway; that’s how Denver parties hard!), but evidence of the increased art presence can be seen all throughout the Denver area.

Possibly one of my favorites has to be this big ol’ guy.

It’s partially because he’s whimsical, and partially because the butterfly instillation on the 16th Street Mall disappointed me. (We can make the ‘beauty is fleeting’ and ‘nothing is permanent’ cliche’s to make it less upsetting, but mostly, the butterflies escaped and left us with an empty net. Denver got dumped by butterflies.)

So! Instead we have this coyote-drago hybrid cheerfully waving one clearly clawed hand at young and old alike outside the History Colorado Center. Despite a lot of digging, I couldn’t find who made this lovely creature, and the History Colorado website basically makes me feel like I should be visiting somewhere that isn’t made of concrete and office buildings.

Thankfully, the artist was kind enough to clearly explain to us that this is an alebrije. I remember these guys from my fine art student days. Alebrijes are Mexican folk art sculptures, almost always made from copal wood and always brightly colored. There is nothing about this guy that isn’t vivid; I love the use of color. This guy is made from paper mache (which I suck at, so WOAH), and it does look made by hand. To me, that makes it look a lot more personal than a generically perfect piece of work might.

So, what do you think? Cute? Frightning? Super out-of-place in Downtown Denver? (I agree with that last one; that’s why I like it. :P)

 

As a side note, Colorado turns 137 tomorrow! Happy Birthday, Colorado!

The aforementioned History Colorado Center will be hosting a celebration with free admission and events!

If you want to check it out, it runs from 10am-4:30am with various events happening throughout the day. For a complete list of performances and events, click here (because I won’t make you navigate that website!).

Nick Cave & Denver Night – Video !

As I said, the video really does more justice to that dance than my photos did.
And, honestly, my video isn’t super fab either.
I understand if you sift through YouTube and find one of the official ones (but please remember they were invited and given special passes to wander around *inside* the event).

But if you want the real experience, here’s where you’ll be. Right? Right.
 
(psssttt! There’s no sound, really…because who wants obnoxious crowd noises… but I like to put on my favorite upbeat track du jour and enjoy!)

Nick Cave & Denver Night

If you missed last Friday’s Denver Night,part of the Biennial of the Americas festival, don’t fret too much.

The Biennial of the Americas, described officially as “an international festival of ideas, art, and culture” is ongoing until September 2nd, so there’s still time to get some culture in before it bids us adieu and mosies on outta here. (they have a lot of other fun artsy things going on, too, so be sure to check out their website).

If you’re like me and basically did a giddy dance at the chance to see Nick Cave’s legendary Soundsuits in action, I’ll try to fill you in on what you missed. If you imagine real hard, you can pretend that you, too, were sitting on the pokey grass for an hour and a half before the show and refusing to relinquish your primo seats.
So a little background may be in order. Nick Cave is an American performance artist, who dabbles in sculpture, found objects, textile work and dance. A full-scale exhibit of his work, Nick Cave: Sojourn, is currently on display at The Denver Art Museum. Including 20 of his Soundsuits, fabric-adorned creations intended to be danced in, the exhibit also features short films and some other sculptural work of his. It’s a wonderful exhibit and it’s only running until September 22nd, so you had better check it out!
That aside, as a special treat for the Biennial of the Americas, Nick Cave put on a live performance of his horse Soundsuits specially choreographed  to coincide with his current exhibit. So, here are the images and a nifty little down-n-dirty video in the best definition I could muster for you to be inspired by. Clicking the photos will give you the much-larger version to ooh & ahh at. (ignore the occasional other photographers… how rude of them to weasel into my photos! ;P )

        

The rainbow one was the favourite of my group. Its face was a little more elaborately stitched and also included shells hanging from where the ‘jaw’ area would be, along with more use of color. (and aren’t those kiddos adorable? I mean, I wanted to touch them, but didn’t muster the cahones until the little ones paved the way.)

So, they started out the performance doing this resting thing. Just some calm music meant to evoke country feelings (which, speaking as a small-town girl m’self, it worked) while they sauntered around and sat or nuzzled each other…

Then, all of a sudden they bumped up the tempo, the backs of the horses separated, and it was a crazy jungle dance party! (the video really does this more justice. But my favorite part was seeing the little horse rear’s get their solo groove on. Maybe it’s because they all reminded me of McDonald’s “Fry Kids’…)

Then the music slowed back down, the backs and the fronts of the horses were re-united and the slow parade of them began to signal the end of the performance. It was funny to see the dancers all re-arranged to create new colors of ‘horses’. Like a great big “CHANGE PARTNERS!” in the middle of the dance.

This little munchkin was afraid to touch them, but with encouragement en masse, she ended up crossing the rope and acting like a VIP. (too flippin’ cute, right?)

But eventually, the last of the horse Soundsuits walked out of the ring again and left us as the main stage lit up for another act.

But, we’ll always have the memories. (& now you can fake you were there, too, in case you weren’t. I’ll never tell. ;p)

Nick Cave: Sojourn