Thursday evening was a night to remember. I attended the first ever #AbovetheRunway fashion show with a girlfriend of mine and I had complete and total access to the behind the scenes. Created by both City Dreamz Entertainment and A-Quest , a DC socialite and owner of Nights of DC, #AbovetheRunway was an extremely elegant event. The runway included several of DMV’s finest in up and coming urban fashion and intermissions were filled with fresh musical talents the District had to offer.

Below is a detailed account. Enjoy!

I originally set out to interview designers but because everyone was ‘caught up in the moment’ of the event I became so intrigued by my observations on how everything came together. I arrived around 5 PM and saw the coordinator, A-Quest, delegating and directing everyone as the models, the make-up artists, and designers poured in. He kept his cool the entire time and everyone cooperated pretty efficiently.

The event took place at the LOOK Lounge on K Street NW and it began roughly around 8:30 PM. The venue was beautiful and the set up made you feel like you were at an upscale runway show. The lounge had actually just finished up a rally for Hillary Clinton, right before the fashion show, and I could clearly see that the establishment attracts various groups of people – an excellent choice on behalf of the coordinator. Several photographers were present and there was, of course, a red carpet at the main entrance for attendees to take pictures with friends and everyone had access to the designers before and after the show.  Upon entering the lounge to your left was a fully stocked bar and to the right were vendors from the designers with merchandise to purchase – strategically placed for people to look at before the show and to buy after seeing on the models. I found myself around the vendor table entirely too much the items were all amazing and I am all about supporting urban entrepreneurs. I finally ran over to my seats that my friend was holding for us and the show began both hosts A-Quest and Ashley McManus delivered an excellent production.

The show included the following designers: PrissyTreasures, HommeDior, HonestyGray, Undergroundmarketclthco, LostCredit, Raw_Ro – all of whom are searchable via instagram. The designs were not merely simple shirts and matching pants but sophisticated outfits including headpieces, accessories, and original footwear. The colors were vibrant but also reflective of the current winter season – very appropriate. I highly recommend that you check them out!

As mentioned before the show included several performers. I appreciated the fact that it was a variation of the musical genres both R&B and Rap and it was good to see the female rapper, QueenKyi, kill it! All of the performers had quality stage presence and the crowd was thoroughly entertained. (Their names and mixtapes along with links will be released in another post.)

Below are pictures with the hashtag #abovetherunway . . .

Make up and hair of all the models were on point!

One of my favorite pieces from the @honestygray collection. Her line was my absolute favorite.

Fierce model rocks it in this amazing two piece.

Host A-Quest and rapper QueenKyi share a moment.

An amazing head-piece from designer Rebel Motive.

All in all this event gets an A! I expressed to A-Quest how surprised I was to see this event come together and run so smoothly for it being a first time production. It is truly amazing to see what young African-Americans can do when there is a united effort. I am proud to say that #SDBUP was present and that we had the opportunity to cover #AbovetheRunway.

Ladies and Gentlemen, if you are looking for fresh, original, and mind-blowing pieces to wear for sophisticated events contact and reach out to any of these designers mentioned above – support entrepreneurs!

[Not all photos in post are mine for more pictures please look at: http://statigr.am/tag/abovetherunway]

Connect with A-Quest

Twitter: @DATDUDE_AQUEST or @NightsOfDC| IG: DATDUDE_AQUEST

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