Fashion diva I am not but I sure had fun trying

You know that game you've played at work for an icebreaker, two truths and a lie. Well, I've got one for you..."I've been a runway model.  I've climbed Mt. Hood.  I played the saxophone."

Do you know me well?  If so, the lie is..."I played the saxophone."  I actually played the piano and the trumpet and believe it or not I got an "A" in choir.  You wouldn't know it now, I scare myself in the shower when I sing.

Yesterday, I was a runway model.  OKAY, that may be overstating it a bit but I modeled for Spokane's 3rd annual Be Comfortable in Your Genes fashion show benefiting the Inland Northwest Coalition on Eating Disorders.

I had no idea how tough it was to model.  It appears so easy when you watch it on TV.

My 8 hour day began at noon.  There were 38 of us.  We were not trained...whatsoever.  It was quite obvious.  Had someone walked by the banquet room we were in, they would have wondered it we were learning how to walk.  We giggled.  Joked.  Laughed at ourselves and laughed at each other.

When our leader, Brittany, said, "I need 15 of you for hair and make up," I jumped up.  Actually, there were three of us that stood out from the crowd.  You see, we like our Dansko's, our jeans, our t-shirts.  But, today...we were products of Banana Republic, White House/Black Market and Chico's.  We had to wear two of their outfits (prior fittings proved successful - one of us was at our store for over an hour). 

We jetted up the stairs to the Paul Mitchell Design Team.  Lexie was assigned to me.  Bless her heart.  She loved doing hair but makeup was not her forte.  However, their instructors were there and she learned quite quickly, that she too had to do my makeup.  Two hours later (I won't take it personally), we were downstairs practicing the walk, the pose, the choreographed routine.  We ran through it over and over.  I actually, dreamt about it last night. 

Finally, the music got loud.  The energy became nervous.  The time had come.  Fourteen women in each dressing room.  The small group of male models were close enough to hear us and yelled from their room, "are we having fun, yet?" Clothes strewn everywhere. Some of us had flat shoes.  Some, like me, had 5 inch heels.  My friend Laurel had zip up numbers.  Whoo hoo, very hot.  And, Renee, she looked so conservative but the black sandals and red toes took it to the middle of liberal.

The 300 people in the crowd were ready to see the fashions of 2011.  So, we all took a deep breath. We had to remember who was where and in front of and who and who was behind us.  We were to have fun.  Slap high fives.  Do the bump. Work it like Zoolander.  Oh yeah, work it. 

Well, we did.  Guests got into it.  Great music.  Fun models.  We were sassy.

Our third runway responsibility, change into our jeans and white t-shirts.  No shoes.  We grabbed powerful signs and walked out on stage.  Tears were seen in the crowd.  Not tears of joy but tears of sadness.  You see...

• It is estimated that 8 million Americans have an eating disorder – seven million women and one million men
• One in 200 American women suffers from anorexia
• Two in 100 American women suffers from bulimia
• 9 year old girls are dieting
• An estimated 10 – 15% of people with anorexia or bulimia are males 

Yes, this was a cause we were modeling for.  

A cause that when we went to the microphone to introduce ourselves to the crowd meant, "I am 40 years old and I am comfortable in my genes because when my mom and dad made me, they made a limited edition and I am proud to be me."

Thank you, Erin,  for your powerful story and your courage to share.

I met some wonderful people.  I learned about a wonderful cause and I enjoyed my time so much, I would love to be invited back next year. 

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