An afternoon at the fashion show...

Okay, first of all, let me just clear up how the Storys, whose idea of haute couture is "new Gap" (as opposed to vintage Gap which is our everyday wear) got to go to a fashion show. Our friends Gisele and Flavio's daughter was a model for Fashion Weekend Kids (as was their niece) and they got us tickets for yesterday's events at one of the fancy malls in Sao Paulo. We were in the company of high society, let me tell you. (And yes, we did act like we knew how to hang with high society, so there were no social gaffes, at least none that we know of.)
Gisele, the mother of the model, and me, the hanger-on

Our first order of business was to watch the fashion show, which was set-up with a catwalk and lights and loud rock music and looked just like what you see on tv. Bia and Mirella were gorgeous in their outfits - so natural and beautiful and fun. There were other girls, however, who are either professional models or who have watched too much Project Runway. These pre-adolescent girls were strutting their stuff like nobody's business. Also included in the fashion show were a famous reporter for Globo television and a rock singer from a famous Brazilian band. Of course, we are clueless and didn't know who these people were. In fact, I thought the rock star must have had to go out onstage holding this young boy because the boy was his son and wouldn't walk otherwise. (You know, like a ringbearer in a wedding who hasn't understood the concept of "I'll buy you the biggest toy in the toystore if you will just walk down this aisle with the pillow".)
Some models who didn't make it into the show, but should have!

The second order of business was to enjoy the different booths that the sponsors had all set up. When you entered the fashion show, you got a bunch of arm bands that were labeled with the names of different sponsors, and you gave up one band for every booth you visited.

Mac's first booth was a cupcake-decorating station. Needless to say, the finished product didn't make it to the car and Jimmy and I didn't get so much as a crumb!
Betty Crocker in the making!










Our second booth was sponsored by a florist where Mac got to wrap up a potted plant in pretty paper and stick a pinwheel in the side of it (it is spring here now and so it was a very spring-oriented booth).

Before we got to the next booths, Mac played on the playground they'd brought into the tents and Jimmy ate a lot of little hamburgers. They had a row of food people set up - all free for us socialites! - with hot dogs, hamburgers, pizzas, soft drinks, cotton candy, etc. All kid-oriented since it was a kid fashion show and the place was filled with children (even though there was some 6'4" kids taking advantage).

Next we went to the Kopenhagen booth. Kopenhagen is a really excellent line of chocolate here and, for some reason, we had to twist Mac's arm to wait in the line here. I don't think he realized what he'd get to do and eventually take home. Once he saw the bar of chocolate that was the length of a Hershey bar and probably twice as thick, he was in. So he painted the bar with white chocolate and then stuck on various other pieces of chocolate and they wrapped that up in a nice box AND then also gave him a package of 12 little chocolate bars plus a tube of these other chocolate things. Needless to say, we were all happy campers.

The Chef of Chocolate









Creating the Masterpiece








Next we went off to the Crocs (the shoes) booth. There wasn't much going on in their booth - a little coloring and facepainting - and the line was really long, but Gisele said it was worth it because of the drawing they have. So we waited in the line and Mac got his turn to draw for a prize. The prizes were Crocs keychains, those pins you stick in Crocs (what are those called??), and a pair of Crocs themselves. Well, wouldn't you know that Mr. Mac inherited his father's lucky horseshoe and he won a pair of Crocs!!! He chose brown ones. Who chooses brown Crocs? But as they were a giveaway, I decided not to argue about better color choices. This is very un-"high society" thinking, but if I'd known he was going to win a pair of these plastic shoes in September, I definitely would've saved the money I spent on a pair of them in July while we were home.

After the Crocs win, Mac made a windsock, we skipped the Glamour Glitz (or some such name) because it was a girl thing, and we went home with Mac's windfall.

So now, my dahlings, I must rest like all the other socialites in the city are doing on this Sunday afternoon. Ta-ta!