Fashion, Music, and a Cute Boutique

"You know I try hard, I really try hard, Still you're letting go"

~Tranquilize, Finish Ticket

Hello!

Now that I finally have some time, I've decided to start updating this more frequently and fill in what I've been up to lately! I'll post again later today with more updates, but this post is about a couple weekends ago when I went to Chicago Fashion and Music Fest!

I was having a bad week, and my friends Adrian and Andrew invited me to go with them to the Festival to see our friend Erika modeling for a teen designer! I had never seen her model before, nor had I ever been to a fashion show, so I was really excited! We met up with Erika and her friend Ryleigh, who was also a model, and we headed downtown on Saturday, August 29. It had been raining on and off all day, so the day fashion show was cancelled. We were already downtown, so we thought we might as well just take advantage of a day in the city! We visited Eataly (an Italian market) and California Pizza Kitchen, then we heard the night fashion show was still on, so we headed to the venue. An entire street was blocked off for the event, and we got in for free because we were with the models. While they were getting hair and makeup done, Adrian, Andrew, Erika's mom, and I wandered around the street. There were two stages, one for fashion and one for music, and lots of vendors and shops in-between. We wandered into this cute little boutique on the street and spent a while killing time in there.

On our way out of the store, it started to rain heavily again, so we waited it out under the awning in front of the store. While we were chilling there, we found a flyer for the event hanging up and we checked out what bands were going to be playing. I figured they were just gonna be crappy local bands or something, but I was very surprised to see two bands I love listed on there! Arkells was supposed to perform later that day, and one of my all-time favorite bands, The Mowgli's, were to perform at 8:30 that night! I immediately began freaking out! We would get to see them for free that night after the fashion show! It was completely unexpected and I couldn't wait! While we were waiting, we also saw a band called Finish Ticket, who was actually pretty good too! 

The night show was really cool! We got to see Erika and Ryleigh modeling for several different designers! My favorite was a collection by a designer named Christopher Carrillo having something to do with Privilege and lies or something like that. 

Then after the show, Adrian, Andrew, and I headed over to the music stage, and The Mowgli's were setting up! The best part was that there was barely anyone there in the audience. Typically at concerts there are people crammed in and overcrowded, right? Well here we got right up to the stage and there were people spread out casually watching! They performed despite the fact that it was lightly raining, and it was really really fun! They're amazing live, and incredibly nice! One of the band members gave his rain jacket to a random girl in the audience too! Everyone was just watching and dancing and having a really good time. I loved it so much!

The Mowgli's! We got so close!

The next day, we went down to the festival again for day 2! The weather was nicer (a bit too hot though), and we got to see the day show and the night show! The entire time I was hungry and waiting around a lot, and it didn't help that an Italian restaurant behind us smelled like garlic bread the whole time...

sittin around on day 2...

After the day show, Adrian, Andrew, and I went to one of the restaurants on the street because we were starving. Then we wandered a bit more because we had a few hours to kill. We ended up getting to see Arkells too (while we were chilling out sitting on a curb, I suddenly heard the song Book Club by Arkells, and freaked out because I didn't think they were going to perform today)! We went over there and chilled there. They were also very good live!

We then got to see the night show, which was the biggest one! Erika and Ryleigh got to walk a lot, and I was really proud of them!

So overall this weekend was really cool and refreshing. It was great to see my talented friends at work and to see some amazing live music! I'll never forget this!

With love,

Olivia