Day 3 (All photos by Billy Bennight)
The Metropolitan Fashion Week Closing Gala and Fashion Awards had some famous and topically interesting personalities in attendance, including Miss Universe, Alicia Machado, Antonio Jaramillo, Nadia Mejia, Athena Crosby, Nitzia Chama, Marie Schlay, Ava Capra, Jomari Goyso, Alejandro Gastelum, designer Paul Jaramillo and actress Loretta Swit, best known for her work on M*A*S*H. Alicia Machado caused a stir due to her mention during the presidential debates. Loretta Swit looked smashing in her red dress designed by Paul Jaramillo, who accompanied her for the evening.
Once the the carpet had finished, it came time for the designer’s runway exhibitions, including Costume Designer Ricardo Soltero, International Fashion Designer Erick Bendaña, Men’s Styles by Metropolitan Fashion Lab, International Fashion Designer OTT, Costume Designer Inoe Vargas, Swimwear by Adicora Swimwear & LASC, Couture Hat designer, Arturo Rios and Costume Designer Shokra. The fashion walk highlights of note were works by Erick Bendan, who provided some stunning looks with his Aztec-inspired creations, as did Ricardo Soltero with his Futuristic/Rococo/Victorian/Tribal-driven fashion portrayals. Ricardo’s looks were epic, stylish, and regally cumbersome in action, but extraordinarily inspiring by their very nature and design.
Photo essay after the break
After some of the fashion walks, Eduardo hosted the awards announcements. Awards were given to Cirque Du Soleil Las Vegas for Metropolitan Fashion Excellence Award, Dulce Candy for Fashion Blogger of the Year, Micaela Erlanger for Celebrity Stylist of the Year, RuPaul’s Drag Race for Fashion Program of the Year, Thierry Mugler for Costume Designer of the Year – Live Performance for Zoomanity, Tony Acosta Jr. of Costume Designer of the Year – Motion Pictures for Captain America: Civil War and Designer Lou Eyrich Costume Designer of the Year – Television for American Horror Story: Hotel.
Once the awards presentation had passed the looks lightened up with men’s suits, and men and women’s swimwear. The runway moved fast as model after model jaunted, flipped and flirted in the skin-revealing summer designs. After this runway show was the official closing where everyone let down their hair and kibitzed with the warm glow of cocktails and chummy chit-chat in the picturesque New York block of Warner Brothers Studios after a very successful evening of fashion.
