I DO live in a big city!

Last night, I saw what it must feel like to live in New York City and be Carrie Bradshaw (if she was a real person): I went to a fashion show. I'd never been to anything like that before. Believe it or not, Oklahoma was never high up on the list for high-fashion events -- shocking, I know.

A coworker of mine has a friend who's an event planner, and this friend has planned a few weddings, but is wanting to get into them even more. Leave it to me to pass up the opportunity to help him out with that. The planner friend was supposed to be at the show that night, and he'd asked my coworker to invite me so we could meet.

My coworker and I ventured downtown to the shiny new W hotel, where the show was to take place. The W is one of those fancy places I always figured I'd hear about but would never go to. It seemed like it would either be a place where really cool people would go, or a place where people would go to look really cool.

When my coworker and I walked into the hotel, I was really impressed. It felt very Sex and the City. We went from the lobby into this big, open bar on the first floor of the hotel. There were blue lights everywhere -- even between the tiles on the floors. It was really a neat-looking place.
The fashion show was on the 16th floor by the pool. When we got to that area, we each grabbed a free mojito (Free! Seriously -- they invite you to the fashion show, and then they give you free drinks! I could get used to that!) and headed over to meet my coworker's friend. We chatted a while and admired the view of downtown to the east and a gorgeous sunset over ugly highway and industrial buildings to the west as we waited for the show to start.

I had expected to feel broke and ugly at an event like that. In college, I was used to going places that were full of people who looked like they stepped out of a magazine. It took me forever to get used to going to bars in Dallas and seeing an actual variety of people out. I'm used to it now, so when I go back to Norman, part of me feels broke and ugly surrounded by all the supermodel girls in designer jeans.

The fashion show, though, had all kinds of people at it. There were people there who looked around my age to people who looked like they were in their 60s.

The woman who was in charge of some portion of the show -- my coworker told me, but I can't remember what exactly she was there doing -- was some former model who is at "every event" in Dallas. She was really tall, and she looked like a less plastic, red-headed version of Janice Dickinson.

I was one of maybe three girls at the show wearing jeans instead of a little summer dress, but I wasn't worried about it (they were my sexy skinny jeans, so they weren't just any jeans). I was just soaking in the great view, the mojitos and the cool feeling that I was actually doing something very city-like.

The show started a little after 8. I don't know the designer or the name of the collection, but it did have a color theme. At least one garment in each look was gray.

There were less than 100 people at this fashion show, and I was able to stand with my coworker, his planner friend and another guy right off the edge of the runway. The models were stunning. I can't imagine strutting out like that at such an intimate-sized show and being able to keep a straight face, walk without stumbling, keep my face from turning bright red or keep from walking way too fast.

The collection was for fall or winter, judging by the weight and coverage of several of the outfits. It was a fashion show, though, which meant that one girl did have to walk out in a shamelessly sheer top with no bra. I can't begin to imagine what kind of guts that took.

The collection had everything from dresses that looked normal in front but with crazy backs to gorgeous coats and even a few nice twists on the little black dress. It was really neat to see. I wanted to take pictures, but the only people who were doing that were professional photographers. I decided it either wasn't allowed, was "frowned upon" or would make me look like the small-town girl I felt like in such an environment.

After the show was over, the models mingled with the guests for a few minutes so we could get a closer look at the outfits. By that point, I couldn't keep my camera in my purse any longer, whether it would make me look like some gawky "Wow! A real fashion show?!" girl or not. Unfortunately, I didn't realize how quickly all the models would be leaving. I got some great downtown shots, though, along with a picture of the back of one of the dresses from the collection.

Not long after the show was over, this girl showed up who I had to take a picture of (I'm sure you understand why after looking at these pictures).

She was posing all over the place, and she managed to forget several times that she was wearing a dress that was shorter than boy-cut panties. I had to document the length of this dress (or lack of) because I knew you wouldn't believe me if I just told you it was the shortest dress I've ever seen. This girl managed to show everyone much more than the model who'd walked out in the sheer shirt just minutes before. She seemed to enjoy the attention.

There really were all types at the fashion show.