MERCI DUPRE CLOTHIERS COLLECTION FASHION SHOW

I had not been to an LA Fashion Week event, which I’ve always adored, since before the pandemic. But this invitation was so compelling that my friend Diane and I just had to attend. And we had tons of fun.

The Merci Dupre Fashion Show was held at the uber-classy Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Beverly Hills, so it was a pleasure from the second we walked in the door.

On the way there, we tried to figure-out, (from the name of this new company,) what the fashions would be, with us each having a very different image in our heads. While I pictured very French designs, all angular and crazy, Diane pictured that they would be of the hip-hop variety.

But we were both wrong—the gist was sustainable, refurbished, and environmentally-protected fashions, made with textiles that provide protection from environmental toxins, (such as radiation, heavy metals, viruses, bacteria, parasites, and fungus,) by adding nanotech skin coatings to the apparel. We were told at the beginning of the show that the collection was created by a variety of designers, and it showed in the range of styles. There was everything from ripped jeans to billowy ball gowns to semi-naked lingerie styles.

The entire three-part event was fun.  irst up was the cocktail hour as we all arrived at the Waldorf’s Ballroom area. One of the most interesting parts of that portion of the evening was getting to watch the lead make-up artist, Mark Harvey, work his magic on the models’ faces. Mark is beautiful himself, so I would trust him with my visage anytime. He was also offering his wonderful little kits, (which include a toner, serum, and primer, along with a bronzing duo,) for purchase, so that the guests can achieve that flawless look at home.

After tons of mingling time, we moved into the Ballroom for the main event. One of the perks of being a front row denizen at Fashion Week events is that we receive little goodie bags at our seats; I thought that perhaps that lovely practice had been discontinued in the past year or two. But here they were again, so we were happy from the get-go.

Diane pointed-out something that we both appreciated—there was a lot of diversity in the assemblage, especially in the audience, but also in the show.

Half the fun was checking-out the attendees, so I was thrilled to see that just about every audience member was dressed appropriately, one way or another. The invitation had suggested the attire for the evening to be “creative chic,” so it was open to interpretation. There was everything from classy pants suits with sensible flats to LBDs with funky boots to fancy gowns with sparkly stilettos heels. (Okay, one man with no fashion sense wore a tee shirt and jeans and sneakers, and unfortunately he was in the line of most of my photos! Sorry about that.)

The presentation began with a trio of speeches from first Celia Evans Polhemus, who is a rep of the company that ran the event, followed by the publisher of show sponsor Elysian Magazine, Karen Floyd, and ending with remarks from Mercy Dupre founder, Christina Rahm, whose Ivy League education was concentrated in science, which explains why she’s a champion of the materials used on the fashions in this show.

Karen’s words were especially heartfelt; she had just come back from Ukraine, so she spoke about peace in the world, and you could tell that her feelings on the subject were raw.

Later, during the wrap-up speeches by the same women, we discovered that some of the models were not, in fact, models, per se, but rather soccer players! I should have guessed that of one of them because she had muscular thighs that I can only dream of rocking myself.

On an auxiliary note, I adored the music that accompanied the strutting. I’ve been to a lot of fashion shows in my life, (including modeling in them beginning at the age of thirteen in New York City,) so believe me when I tell you that that was the perfect music. It had a perfect beat for strutting, and aided the proceedings without overpowering them.  I always admire auxiliary touches like that.

When the show was over, some people stayed upstairs to mingle and enjoy more cocktails, while the rest of us gathered downstairs on the patio of Espelette, the hotel’s restaurant, for the official after-party, where we enjoyed discussing what we had just seen.

All in all, it was a lovely evening. I thank the Merci Dupre team for enticing me to return to LA Fashion Week. It was good to be back.