Los Angeles, California: CDG Awards Ceremony!

Awards season is here!!! The Costume Designers' Guild Awards ceremony was held on Wednesday, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Unlike years past, I took initiative to go and joined my friends in support of our colleague and friend, the renowned and respected costume designer, Julie Weiss, who was being honored with a lifetime achievement award.
The Guild Awards is a gala event that takes time out to celebrate their own, honoring its' peers for their outstanding hard work and dedication in the field of film, television, and commercials for costume design.
In preparing for the occasion I quickly knew I wanted to wear a dress that I had seen worn by Selma Hayek from a magazine tear sheet that I had been holding on to. I loved it! It was simple, clean, modern and sexy. Well,.....at least it was on her. I figured I'd give myself a weeks time to have it made, knowing that that should have been plenty. What I didn't account for, was the fact that the seamstress would be overwhelmed with other projects and not available for me, forcing me to consider "plan B". Well, I immediately knew that I WOULD BE,...."plan B". Knowing construction, I was plenty capable of building the dress, I just wasn't in the mood to do so, and knew that it had been some time since I had last sewn and for that reason, it might take me a while. I surprise even myself when I am pushed to make something happen. Determined to wear the outfit, I dug deep, pulling out old skills that I hadn't used since making my wedding dress. Yes, I draped and pattern drafted the sleeve and shoulder piece of the ensemble, before attempting to drape the dress. Feeling tight on time, knowing that I didn't want to rush the project, and still needing to make the dress, I went to "plan C",.....Nordstrom's Rack. Keeping my cool and having faith that I'd find something nice, the morning of the event, I rushed to rummage through Nordstrom's selection of discounted evening attire. It's funny, but being a professional shopper never seems challenging until you have to dress yourself. "What to do! What to do!!"


I filled my arms with literally, 30 or so dress options, and proceeded to the fitting room, hoping to find something that might work with the piece I had already made. Thankfully, Nordstrom's Rack doesn't adhere to the 6 garments-in-the-dressing-room-at-a-time rule. I entered the dressing room and started to try them on one by one. I knew immediately what I liked and what I didn't, so the process went seemingly fast. Plus, I was pressed for time. I guess there is a God,..... I found the perfect dress! It was an affordable strapless cocktail dress in a complimentary fabric and color by Laundry, and in my size. It was as if the dress was calling my name. Some things are just meant to be, I love it when that happens. I snatched up the dress, found shoes to match, hosiery and a bra and made my way to the checkout. This was "one-stop-shopping" at it's best. Now what to do with my makeup and hair!!??? Yikes!!


I went home with time to spare, gave myself an easy up "doo" and slowly and very light-handedly started to "put on my face" with the less is more philosophy.
All in all, I think I did great! Tracey was standing by to help zip me up and squeeze me into the sleeve apparatus that I'd made. In the end, though I didn't construct the original dress from the photo, I was proud of my accomplishment with building the sleeve piece and pairing of the cocktail dress. Ultimately, it was wearable and that's what mattered. By pulling it off, I actually surprised myself. You do what you have to when you must.
I met Deb and Rex at the designated meeting time and we, together, went to the event for cocktails and dinner before the actual awards ceremony . It was a few good hours had by all. Attending the evening gave me a sense of pride, feeling as though I was in good company and a part of something respected and special. Nominee or not, that left me feeling good.
The next Hollywood event is the Oscars. It's probably a good thing that I don't need to pull myself together for that,....well, at least, not yet. ;)