52 Live Fashion Stories. Week 7: Mimi G Style Fashion Conference

Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess named Mimi.  Mimi ruled with grace and kindness over her fashion, style and sewing kingdom, aptly named Mimi G Style.  She loved her kingdom dearly and worked tirelessly from dawn til dusk to make it more beautiful each day.  And each year all came from far and near to see the beautiful things Mimi made with love.  For three days and three nights they ate, drank and made merry.  And shopped for fabric.  And of course, they all lived happily ever after.  Because this was Mimi’s dream come true, after all.

And what a dream this has been! I'm still on a high from this past weekend because for Week 7 of my 52 Live Fashion Stories I got to illustrate at the Mimi G Style three-day Fashion, Sewing & Style Conference at the luxurious JW Marriott at LA Live in downtown Los Angeles. This was the 6th (and final) annual conference, and I am so happy I had the chance to be a part of it.

The first day of the conference was registration and fashion show day. I was filled with so much anticipation and excitement.  As the whole set up came together, I was happy to meet the many amazing volunteers, sponsors and guest instructors. Debbie Kreiling from Simplicity Patterns was there, Babylock, Spoonflower, Norris Danta Ford (duh! Mimi's knight in shining armor), Anita Morris, Rosy Pena, Candice Ayala, Brittany Jones and many more.

As people started to arrive for registration, the excitement grew. All the women attending the conference received their pink gift bag and a string of colorful Hawaiian leis. They were all very excited, and they looked happy and festive!

After finishing registration, the runway was all set up, the lights were on, and the fashion show was ready to begin!

The show was amazing! The music, the lights, the high energy! And the beautiful models were none other than the ladies attending the conference. They modeled their own fabulous creations based on Mimi G Style sewing patterns, and let me tell you, they did a lot of hard work, and they all looked incredible!

To see so many beautiful and creative ladies in outfits they had sewn themselves was inspiring.  They all worked that catwalk so confidently.  And everybody cheered them on, what a loving and supportive Mimi G Style community!

During the fashion show I sketched faster than I had ever sketched before :-)  This really gave me a good taste for the lightning-fast, action-packed vibe at fashion shows. It was such an exciting (read: nerve-racking) experience for me!  And I can't wait to do it again!!

Day two of the conference was jam-packed with sewing classes throughout the day.  Gifted instructors Maddie Flanigan and Mary Alice Duff, among others, taught classes like bra making and pattern adjustments. In the evening everyone went to our awesome local LA shop The Fabric Store on La Brea for an evening of more celebration, champagne and cupcakes, and of course, fabric shopping!! The store was packed, women from the conference kept filling the store in waves, and the awesome employees were cutting fabric at supersonic speed.  (Yes, that's me and The Rock, aka my new bf, at the JW Marriott)

The last day of the conference started off with charter buses running back-and-forth between the hotel and the fabulous Michael Levine fabric store in LA's famous Fashion District.  More fabric shopping! Is there such a thing as too much fabric shopping? I think not ;-)

As the ladies started to come back to the hotel, I was all set up to paint their watercolor portraits on the spot.  One of them was Gia @themahoganybox who was wearing a fab turquoise head wrap of her own design - check out her shop here!

One very happy customer :-)  Gia's reaction completely made my day!! <3

And the ladies kept coming!

I was very honored to paint these beautiful ladies and to experience their excitement at having their portraits painted. What an amazing and special day!  I was blown away by the warm responses and the incredible support and I received from all of them. Oh my goodness, thank you so much, ladies!  You have completely made my day on Sunday! It was a pleasure to meet you all!

The whole conference experience was a blast, and to be in the presence of so many creative, kind and positive people was incredibly fulfilling.  Quite a dream, and I had an amazing time! Thank you, Mimi, for inviting me to be part of your special event! Now let’s all of us (and our fabric stashes) live happily ever after …

xo
Cristina