Photo: Rememory Photography
Well, the second edition of the San Antonio Fashion Awards is now in the books, and I hope you all had fun coming along for the ride via social media yesterday! If you missed it, or you’re still dying for more details, have no fear! You’re going to see how everything came together from start to finish for a glamorous and unforgettable evening today on the blog.
This year really snuck up on me, but ended up quite possibly being even more fun than last year. My dress came down to the wire, but Gautier Dresses (now with locations in La Cantera AND North Star Mall!) once again came through for a sophisticated cocktail dress with a Balmain vibe. I knew I had to kick it up a notch in the formality department, though, so I called upon costume designer Staci Rizner to create a custom skirt and take it to the next level. You may remember Staci designed my veil from last year, and she once again saved the day! We went through version one the day before the Awards, and she came back with a perfect execution of our vision the day of! It’s always a glorious thing to be able to tell an artist your scattered thoughts and have them turn it into exactly what you were picturing!
We entrusted our faces this year to the incomparable Oliva Villa of Liv Beautified. She came out to my house and Tori of ThesTORIbook.com and Ellie of SequinsAndSuspenders.com joined us for a full afternoon of beautification. For my particular look, since my dress was SO bling I really wanted to keep my eye relatively neutral, but with a bold winged eyeliner. Olivia added a touch of gold glitter to the wings for a little something extra. She then chose a deep burgundy red for my lip, which I never in a million years would have picked for myself, but it actually worked! Leave it to the experts to surprise you on what you like on your own face. Olivia is just the sweetest, and we all had so much fun sipping on sangria and chatting while each lady had their turn.
After makeup was complete we rushed over to Blo Blow Dry Bar at Dominion Ridge where we each had our own hairstylist ready to perform miracles with our tresses. I had called earlier in the week to let the girls at Blo know I was hoping to do ringer waves in a sort of Great Gatsby, Old Holloywood look, so they set me up with Lucy, who is apparently their resident retro queen! She painstakingly arranged one curl after another until we arrived at the Betty Boop look you see above. Then she very carefully combed and teased until we came to this look. I had never had my hair in this style before, so I wasn’t sure if I would like it on my face shape, with my hair color, etc. But I absolutely fell in love and even like it with my turtleneck sweater for an Audrey Hepburn feel. Lucy was a trooper from beginning to end, making sure we got the look just right and spraying hairspray after me as I walked out the door! If you ever need a fab updo on a night out or just GREAT hair day for no reason in particular, Blo is the best to get in, get out, and not feel like you’re cheating on your hairstylist!
Photo: Joe Turner Photography
Photo: Rememory Photography
Photo: Fabian Villa and Steven Casanova
We arrived at the Tobin with just about an hour left for the red carpet, and it couldn’t have timed out better. The final look was so much fun to wear, and turned out better than I could have imagined. It was so wonderful seeing all the nominees, past winners, and fashion community out and about for a night of glitz and glitter. I feel like everyone really stepped their game up this year when it came to style selections – even the men! And while I didn’t win my category, I was so so thrilled that my best friend Tori walked away with the award for the second year in a row. She 100% deserves all the recognition in the world, so I felt nothing but joy to hear her name announced.
Thank you, thank you, to those who nominated and voted for me this year for the San Antonio Fashion Awards. It was a wonderful excuse to get all dolled up, and of course Burgundy and the Style Lush TV team put on an superb event to honor our fashion community as always! Who’s ready for next year?!
XO,
A
P.S. I received complimentary services in exchange for this post. Don’t worry though, all opinions are my own!
