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February 2010: Fashion Week |
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Written by Koy
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Monday, 01 February 2010 |
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The Skinny on RhyDin Fashion Week
Fashion Week in RhyDin began as many vapored RP events begin – as a convenient way for me to explain where Koy was IC while my OOC life took over. Koy started designing clothes back in 1998 but IRL my professional life didn’t intersect with the fashion world until 2008. I was working on a project that involved spending a lot of time thinking about New York Fashion Week and so I had the very unoriginal idea that “hey, Koy could be doing this too!”
I followed a lot of the basic structure of Fashion Week and transplanted it to RhyDin. Since New Haven as a district is mostly thought of as the wealthier part of the city and where Koy’s boutique is based it made sense to me that it was the perfect setting for fictional fashionistas to flock. Instead of Bryant Park I made up Mercer Park as the spot for the fashion tents. If you look at New York Fashion Week’s calendar from one year to the next it’s mostly the same designers showing their new collections in the same venues so I replicated that with the concept that there are certain established fashion houses that make up the “official” runway shows each year. However I did take some liberties. I imagine that each house sponsors some up and coming designers to showcase on their runways. Also technically speaking a February Fashion Week should be showing looks for next fall but that schedule always seemed whacky to me so in RhyDin Fashion Week the designers are promoting their spring looks instead.
Some of the official houses include: Millie & Mallie, Highlife Haberdashery, the Remmington Collection, Neese Designs, and Kitchy Kando. Millie & Mallie is a chain of upscale department stores owned by Koy’s business partner, Daven Mallie. Koy’s label, The Heavenly Boutique, does a lingerie and swimwear show for Millie & Mallie every year at Fashion Week. Highlife Haberdashery is a menswear store headed by another NPC named Gerard Smith. I made Gerard up initially so Koy, who doesn’t do menswear because I don’t really have the head for making up men’s clothing, could make a recommendation for characters when they asked her about where they could buy men’s clothing. Remmington is headed by Vicki Remmington who sometimes serves as a designer nemesis for Koy. Neese is headed by Nicole Neese and Kitchy Kando is headed by Leigh Mayazuki. They both don’t have much else of a back story other than being other designers on Benson Boulevard but if anyone wants to start having their characters wear the Neese or Kitchy Kando labels, feel free!
The first year I put up the playable about Fashion Week I got some great responses. I put “official” in quotes earlier because while there is a set schedule for the Mercer Park showings, tons of fashion related events can and do take place outside of the New Haven tents. Lydia and Erin’s clothing store The Stitch put on their own show and had an after party at The Great Helm on RoH. A bunch of characters played into going to the shows and would talk about the various articles of clothing they purchased along the way. Some other made-up events scheduled to take place outside of Mercer Park included a Make-Up Artist Expo, a Designer Duds clothing drive and the “How to Dress Like a Man: A Crash Course in Menswear Fashions” seminar.
When February 2009 rolled around I decided to tack up another small playable that again took on a life of its own. Thanks to Locke D’Vestavio’s player Gerard Smith and the Highlife Haberdashery got more time in the limelight when Locke made his design debut as one of Gerard’s young fashion interns. RhyDin Wear Daily gave his collection a lukewarm review (as excerpted here http://rdi.dragonsmark.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12497) leaving him with something to prove in 2010. Eless also got into the act as she used Fashion Week to make a splash in New Haven society and introduce her new perfumerie.
This year marks the first time I’m going to try and hold a live event tied to Fashion Week 2010. It’s really all the fault of Darien Fenner’s player. Darien had approached Koy IC about doing some sort of charity lingerie show and the more we talked about it the more it seemed like the perfect way to start Fashion Week. Koy recently helped start the Benson Boulevard Initiative, a group of companies either based or selling their goods on New Haven's Benson Boulevard. In my head Benson Boulevard is more than just the address for Koy’s boutique. It’s a shopping strip comparable to Rodeo Drive, the Miracle Mile and the Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich all wrapped up into one. Koy’s recent experiences being the wife of RhyDin’s Governor has made her take more of an interest in philanthropic endeavors with the Benson Boulevard Initiative being the direct result.
In a perfect storm of IC events it seemed completely logical for The RhyDin Post and the Benson Boulevard Initiative to come together to throw a Fashion Week 2010 Charity Kickoff Event. Planned for this coming Sunday, February 7th at 9 PM EST, the setting for the event will be Juliane Smith’s new art gallery in New Haven, The Hope Creative. If everything pans out according to plan there will be a lingerie show featuring several known faces (including Joey Damarco, Eleanor Greene and Wyheree) wearing new pieces from Koy’s Chrysalis Collection and will tie into the Initiative’s butterfly logo. Fingers crossed Locke D’Vestavio and Sinjin Fai may in fact co-host and Mason will cater the event.
Besides the runway show there will be pieces on display by Juliane’s artists as well as various products donated by local businesses on sale including a special item from Eless. All proceeds will go to the Benson Boulevard Initiative’s funding for the Sanyumato Relief Fund and the Jewell Ravenlock Center for Community Partnership of RhyDin (JRC). For those who might not remember, Sanyumato is the name given to the storm that struck in November during the Governor’s Ball.
My hope for the event is that people have fun coming up with different things for their characters to do at a party that doesn’t happen every day in RhyDin. I’ll also apologize in advance about the date – I was so busy looking for a Sunday in February that didn’t conflict with the Tour de RhyDin that I completely spaced on February 7th being Superbowl Sunday. Hopefully though some people will still be around that night!
Fashion Week 2010 will run from Monday, February 8th through Saturday, February 13th after the kickoff event. I’ll put up a playable with a highlights schedule for the week of certain shows but if there’s any type of event your character might hold outside of Mercer Park please let me know and I’ll add it to the schedule! It’s pretty much open season on however people want to play into it (or not at all). Everything else will be vapored but I will put up a thread in the Daughters of Decadence folder on the RDI side if people want to post anything about the week’s events. If there are any questions people are free to PM me or email me at
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Party on, RhyDin!
-- Koyliak VanDuran
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Last Updated ( Monday, 01 February 2010 )
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