MACY’S PASSPORT PRESENTS GLAMORAMA 2011

my press pass & program

Hey loves! Last Friday, I was invited to cover the Macy's Glamorama 2011 ARTrageous Fashion show at the lovely Orpheum Theatre in Downtown. The event was a fundraiser for AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA) and Project Angel Food. The Opherum Theater is an amazing venue and perfect for a fashion show like this. Here's a little quick wrap up of the night.

what I wore: Lep print mini dress w/"Sankarani" earrings by Peace Images

red carpet

beautiful tribute to AIDS activist Liz Taylor by Sharon Stone

Far East Movement performing "Like a G6"

The GLAMORAMA Fashion show, showcased Armani Jeans, Bar III, Calvin Klein, Karl Lagerfeld for Impulse, Papi, Tommy Hilfiger, Tracy Reese and my favorite, the FIERCE Rachel Rachel Roy label! Not only did the Rachel Rachel Roy label feature some amazing fall looks, the video projection in the background with modern dancers doing their thing was AMAZING!

Rachel Rachel Roy

Rachel Rachel Roy

Rachel Rachel Roy

And of course, it wouldn't be a party without the PAPI line of underwear for men (and their hot models)

PAPI

The show closed with performance by Cee Lo Green. He performed his top hits and had the crowd standing and dancing in their seats! The finale brought the models and dancers up on stage for one last hurrah. GLAMORAMA was a success by raising money for HIV/AIDS and of course a fashionable good time!

Finale

This Friday, Macy's GLAMORAMA will be in San Francisco and will feature recording artist Bruno Mars! You can get your tickets HERE

*I attended GLAMORAMA courtesy of Macy's Passaport. I thank them for their invitation to cover this amazing event*

Femme Fashion Project Spotlight - Vanessa Leigh Lewis, Owner and Designer of SweetLeigh {ReVintage, ReVitalize, ReFashion}

As most of you know, I've been asked to style "Femme Fashion" for Queerture (Closing fashion show for the Queer Studies Conference at UCLA in October). Getting together models, dressers, assistants, clothing, fundraising $ et al is NOT an easy feat. I rely heavily on the amazing helping hand of people in my community of brilliant artists & activists to help me get my vision from inside my head, to the catwalk.

I'll be taking some time to spotlight here on my blog some of the amazing people helping me bring my vision to life!

Second up in my Femme Fashion Project Spotlight series is the super talented Vanessa Leigh of SweetLeigh , she is the official milliner of my portion of Queerture.

Vanessa Leigh Lewis, Owner and Designer of SweetLeigh {ReVintage, ReVitalize, ReFashion}, a small business that makes original designed accessories and custom clothing from post-consumer gently worn clothing, vintage materials and dead stock fabrics. All items are handmade with love.

CX: Tell me a little bit about yourself:

VLL: I am a girly girl, when I was younger I had a very androgynous, punk aesthetic. Now days I love it all, but am at heart, a girly girl. I love the creative process and have always taken a creative approach to work. It is pretty cool that my work life now is completely based around creativity. LOVE it! Grin.

CX: When did you start your business?

VLL: I had a government day job of 4+ years at the time with good benefits but was miserable and petrified to make a change. I created my Etsy shop in July of 2010, I started attending patternmaking classes in the evenings of September 2010. I lost my job in March of 2011, which was really a blessing in disguise. It did not take me long to see it as a gift from the universe. As such and I decided it was time to give it a go and work on SweetLeigh for real!

CX: Tell us a little bit about your shop?

VLL: SweetLeigh, my Etsy shop online, is an ongoing exercise in my love of experimentation. Right now it features mainly my accessories. I love millinery. I make hats, fascinators, shoe clips, earrings and neckwear. I am excited about exploring more of my favorite things. For instance I will be posting costume items at the end of September in preparation for Halloween, my favorite holiday! If you go to my website it talks more about my process for creating custom pieces including clothing.

CX: What inspires you?


VLL: I am inspired by literally everything, housewares, artwork, film, vintage images, and of course fashion designers. Really, I am inspired by the world around me and easily the people in it. Many items I make are directly sparked by the women of film, music, art and design that I love. Most recently I was inspired by Frida Kahlo for some of my shop items and my next inspired focus will be around Bjork and Grace Jones.

CX: When did you start sewing? How did you learn?

VLL: I started sewing when I was a homeless youth counselor and advocate in New York City back in 2000? In that position I worked with some of the most amazing people I have ever met. I helped the kids with craft projects while not counseling and it really sparked my love of creating again. I never “learned” how to sew, I just figured out ways to do what I wanted to do. I am definitely a DIY girl! Soon I was making gifts for friends, clothes for myself, spats and ear muff hats for my pals. Don’t think, just do. There are endless tools online and at the library to learn techniques that will help you become more efficient and create what it is you would like to make. YouTube is a little baby miracle. And of course Twitter hooks you up to all sorts of DIY diva’s who have great blogs, tips and resources to share.

CX: Tell us a little bit about what you will be creating for the Femme Fashion potion of Queerture…

VLL: I am super psyched that Laura Luna, goddess that she is, invited me to share my millinery in the Femme Fashion Couture Show. I am creating a vintage inspired hat conceptualized around a sunburst and a more abstract headpiece referencing Frida Kahlo. I am very excited to see it all come together and to be a part of the project!

CX: Wildcard question: Tell us something about you that surprises people when you tell them.

VLL: I quit smoking when I moved back to California in 2005, but I used to be able to roll a cigarette while driving. Safely!


I hope you enjoyed my short interview with Vanessa! Support a community that builds each other up and is sustainable. Check out the info below

Site: http://sweetleighsewn.com/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/sweetleighsewn

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/HelloSweetLeigh?sk=app_106171216118819

Blog: http://thesweetlark.blogspot.com/

Etsy: http://sweeetly.etsy.com/

================================================================

Help me fund Femme Fashion for Queerture. Check out my etsy store at Queering Vintage & my big cartel store Laura Luna's Boutique . 100% of the proceeds go towards costs for my portion of the show. If you can't find anything you like in my stores, you can also make a donation via paypal HERE.

Thanks for your support!

Femme Fashion at Queerture - Community Support Needed

Family, Friends & Community,



There has been a lot of talk about Queer Fashion lately, so much so that they are dedicating this year's UCLA Queer Studies Conference to exploring my favorite topic.



The conference culminates in the Queerture Fashion Show, and I'm producing a segment that's going to answer a question that may be on more than a few of your minds: What About the Femmes?



The femme portion of the fashion show is not just about putting cisgendered/female-bodied queer identified women in fancy clothes so they can do the Naomi Campbell Walk. This fashion show is about creating a space to show how femmes of all colors, shapes, genders, sexualities, and ethnicities DO US!



The fashion show is going to be 100% something you have never seen before in a queer space, but this is a community effort.



You may remember that a few months ago I asked all of you to take a brief survey to help me develop the show based on how you all experience Femme. Well, now I'm asking you to help in a different way.



As some of you know I've started an Etsy store and a big cartel boutique with great vintage and new finds to raise funds for the show. Don't love vintage? Don't worry, you can donate!

My production team and I are creating a nationwide community effort. So many amazing folks are donating their time and effort to make this happen! Everyone from:

• Photographers flying in to document what it takes to showcase Femme Fashion






• Make-Up and Hair artists donating their time to perfect each Femme look






• Community members participating as models






• And Femme activists flying in to LA just to walk the runway in this historic event!

However there are still items that need to be purchased and the fashion show is less than a month away!

We need your help to fund it all! If every Femme or Femme lover or Fashion lover I know gave $5, we would have enough money to make this show as FAB as it needs to blow the Queerture fashion show out the water. (And you know me, last time I had my hands on a queer fashion show we were on the Huffington Post and NoMoreDownLow.TV)

Support a community that supports each other! Click the paypal link above and donate. Every little bit helps <3

Let's show the world what Femme fashion is and how we do what we do!!!

With a heart full of gratitude and love for community (and fashion),

Laura Luna

p.s. I know times are tough, if you can't donate to femme fashion, would you consider posting the link to my etsy, big cartel boutiqu, or this event on your twitter/fb/blog or tumblr page?

get OUT: First Ever L.A. County Fair GAY DAY

The Fair is now even more "Family" friendly!

The L.A. County Fair, the largest county fair in America, is proud to invite the gay community and its supporters to the first ever Gay Day at the L.A. County Fair!

Here's the two main things you should know:

1. Before the fair, buy your tickets online at lacountyfair.com/2011 and during checkout, use the promo code "gayday" for $10 adult admission and $6 children's admission (kids 5 and under are free!)

2. On Sunday, Sept. 18, wear a red shirt at the fair to express your solidarity with the gay community.

For more info on this event, please check out the facebook event page HERE. See you there!

get OUT: Queer Cybersex & Virtual Sexualities workshop by Marisol Salanova (UK)

**Check out the info below submitted by Marisol Salanova. This workshop sounds amazing! Sex and technologies are now merging to make things a little more interesting and I'm glad these realities (virtual or non) are being explored by the academy. -Laura Luna*

September 15th 2011, 3pm-4.30pm, Room 204, Grand Parade site, University of Brighton (Brighton, UK).
Workshop on queer cybersex and virtual sexualities

By Marisol Salanova (Independent curator, art critic and researcher in media art, specialized in gender identity, post-porn and transgender issues).

This workshop is about exploring the role of queer sexual practices in contemporary digital culture and making more visible transgendered, queer and virtual sexualities through the use of technology tools. It will be held on the BSSN 5th Annual Conference Hard Science? Sex, Science and Technology on September 15th 2011. By introducing a short history of cybersex and exploring the possibilities of virtual avatars the objective is to learn about representations of gender in the new media from the changing practices on pornography and sex relationships.

Cybersex is a virtual sex encounter in which two or more persons connected remotely via computer network send each other sexually explicit messages and images describing a sexual experience and exploring their own body. Cybersex is commonly performed in Internet chat rooms but also in online video games or other virtual environments as Second Life. Since cybersex can satisfy some sexual desires without the risk of a sexually transmitted disease (STD) or pregnancy, it is a physically safe way to experiment with sexual thoughts and emotions, also an ideal way to try any kind of sexual activity by choosing avatars with ambiguous sexual characteristics.

The great potential of cybersex make it possible for non-stereotyped representations of the body. It calls on us to reflect on what a pornographic image is, what sex work is, what gender is, and what the whole point of feminism is, according to the foundations of Post Porn movement.

It is open to all kind of participants, but researchers on the construction of sexual identity will be especially encouraged to participate.

A first version of this workshop has been developed at the Remix Cinema 2011, a Conference in the University of Oxford. It comes from a study supported by an exercise on making a Machinima scene (animation with characters from a video game) to find different possibilities of sexual roles in video games as an easy virtual space.

get OUT: Lost Lounge: A Performance by Split Britches TONIGHT at USC *FREE*

I'm so sad to be missing this tonight but my in-laws are in town and duty calls. If you can make this performance, I HIGHLY recommend it. Peggy Shaw is one of THE MOST swoon worthy performers I have ever had the chance to watch live! Peggy performed at Butch Voices LA last year and I think I left my Frank Sinatra loving heart in that auditorium that day. If you love lounge acts, you'll adore Split Britches! You can also find more info on the USC Arts & Events Calendar Page HERE & below:

Friday, September 9, 2011 : 7:30pm
University Park CampusGround Zero Performance Cafe
Free

get OUT: Queer Fiesta Night Fundraiser (LA)

Check out this event benefiting the Christina Santiago Fund.

Christina Santiago was a fierce LGBT activist who died tragically with four others when a concert stage collapsed at the Indiana State Fair in Indianapolis

For more info on the event, click on the flyer which will take you to the facebook event page.

Click HERE for more info on Amigas Latinas where Christina served as Programming Chair.

Help me fund Femme Fashion for Queerture. Check out my etsy store at Queering Vintage & my big cartel storeLaura Luna's Boutique . 100% of the proceeds go towards costs for my portion of the show.

get OUT: Fiestas Patrias LA Latino Heritage Parades LGBT Contingent 2011

Join The Los Ángeles Latino Heritage Parades'
LGBT Contingent 2011!

Join our LGBT contingent as we represent and fight homophobia with visibility. Únete and invite your loved ones, program participants and allies to represent LGBT diversity while celebrating our Latino heritage.

LGBT Latinos exist, let’s make our presence known!

Mexico’s Independence Day Parade

Saturday September 10, 2011 10:30AM
Meeting point: Corner of N. Mednik Ave. and E. Cesar Chavez
in East Los Angeles

Central American Independence Day Parade

Sunday September 18, 2011 10:30AM
Meeting Point: Corner of Pico & Vermont Ave. in Los Angeles

For more information and to RSVP please contact Gabriela Martinez at 343-860-7369 or gmartinez@lagaycenter.org

You can also get more info on their facebook event HERE

Help me fund Femme Fashion for Queerture. Check out my etsy store at Queering Vintage & my big cartel store Laura Luna's Boutique . 100% of the proceeds go towards costs for my portion of the show.