Angelus Oaks Fashion Week
Riese: We’ve wanted to do a fashion show at camp every time but somehow never pull it off but this time we did, except we only kinda pulled it off? It was a good start I think, and we’ve got ideas for next time — like involving more campers! Baby steps. Initially the models were just gonna be Calendar Girls and The Talent, but Robin was like “I’m gonna be a model, you should be a model too,” and I was like, “okay but only if Brandy Howard can be my stylist.” Which is how I ended up in a bikini top, a blazer, a CUNTY hat, and shoes two sizes too small doing fierce bitchface with Julie Goldman. The upshot to this was that I couldn’t even pre-party my nerves away because walking in those shoes was the most challenging athletic feat of my life. Also I like it when girls who are better at being girls than I am do my makeup.
Sophia, Inferno Counselor: I was chilling in the smoker’s circle and Lizz was running around looking for Carmen and Carmen’s floral hat but she was napping, because yo, sometimes you need a nap, but in this moment I knew that the fashion show was going to be a big deal because who would move their hands that much and run around for a floral hat if it weren’t going to be a big deal? IT WAS A BIG DEAL YOU GUYS. I dropped off the hat at Liz’s cabin and it was a secretive interaction I knocked on the door and a hand popped out to get it and pulled it right back in. The hat wasn’t used in the show, but all the floral was amazing.
Brandy Howard, The Talent:Â It was truly an honor to be chosen as a stylist for the first annual A-Camp Fashion Show during Angelus Oaks Fashion Week. All the stars were out for the big event! The front row was a veritable who’s who of A-Camp fashionistas, and every stylist rose to the occasion.
Lizz:Â It was so cool to style models for the fashion show. My background is more in how-to style and shopping more than runway, so I was worried people might not connect with my look. What can I say, I ended up basically styling the girls in Lizz Rubin Chic. Denim and floral forever!
Lizz: It was cool to see how different the other styles were. I love that we can get a bunch of stylists together and all come up with such different queer looks.
Sophia:Â I loved the different styles presented by the stylists and how they differed; the models rocked the clothes and it was great how the stylists found outfits that their models were comfortable in while creating their own aesthetic, it was a great idea that I hope happens again!
Sophia: I especially enjoyed Carly’s which I believe was along the lines of “dapper but comfy” and a representation of the person modeling.
Carly:Â I am so happy I got to be a part of this! I love fashion and rarely get to dress anyone other than myself, so this was super fun for me. Everyone looked so amazing and had really great walks and I’m just so proud of all our models for getting up there and doing this!
Brandy: Carly, Sara, and Lizz’s teams were each very unique and extremely fashion forward.  but my team definitely brought the house down. I styled Julie Goldman and Riese and our theme was “Supermodel Heroin Cunty Club.”
Riese: I figured if anybody noticed that my feet were bleeding in these too-small shoes, they would assume it was because of intravenous drug use. And if I like, for example, were to stumble slightly when stepping onto the stage after making it all the way around the “catwalk” with stoic bitchface and reasonable balance and therefore have to be saved from wiping out by Julie Goldman (again), everyone would just be like, omg this reminds me of Gia.
Brandy: I heard some grumblings from the other stylists that I had an unfair advantage because I had two of the world’s biggest supermodels, but you guys don’t know how hard it was to work with those egos!! Seriously. Naomi Campbell has got nothing on those two. I swear, at one point Riese threw a coffee maker at my head.
Riese: We did a raffle that a camper could win and be in the Fashion Show, I think, and Torre won and obviously was the Queen of Angelus Oaks Fashion Week. The end.
Dapper Hour
Gabby:Â Don’t call Dapper Hour, ‘Dappy Hour’ unless you want to be denied entry. We are dignified queers in bow ties. Ahahahaha.
Gabby: Oh My God, like The Dapper Hour made my life. Can we just take a minute to remember how fly everyone looked? From Saskia to PJ to Carly and Robin and all the Foxfires (especially after our impromptu Dapper Fashion Consultations — also, super shout outs to Ana looking so dope in sparkly pants and a bow tie). Everyone, seriously everyone at The Dapper Hour looked amazing.
Gabby: One awesome camper gave us a lesson on how to tie a bowtie. We got ideas on where to shop, how to make your own vest and ways to be dapper and thick bodied without breaking a sweat. I felt proud and safe surrounded by queers of all shades and shapes and presentations. Dapper is not butch or femme or puerto rican or cis-gendered or rich or privileged. To me it’s this way to dust off your weary skin, and find grace and beauty in the clothes and queers that make up the world you want to inhabit.
Laneia: High Tea is such a great quiet space to sort of come down from the intensity of the day so you’re all rested for the upcoming intensity of the night.
Alex: Know Your Whiskey! Ahh it was so much fun for me to co-host this tasting and cocktail workshop with Ali. (She killed it with her amazing Sazerac cocktail, by the way!) We tasted five different whiskeys while discussing tasting notes and some background history of the companies and how the whiskey was made. This was such was a blast. By the end we were all high on the glory of the ‘water of life‘ (cause that’s what it’s called you guys, a little whiskey trivia for ya) and each other obviously.
Ali:Â If you are in a financial position to do so and you drink alcohol, I highly suggest obtaining a bottle of Thomas Handy Sazerac Rye. I am a grumpy old man, so I like rye the best. I also like drinks with a bit of spice to them, and that was the spiciest rye I’ve ever tasted. Also I got to show everyone how to make a sazerac, and y’all, I did NOT know that there were people on that mountain that didn’t know what a sazerac was/had never had one. It’s, like, the best cocktail in the history of cocktails. Also the oldest cocktail, thus the beginning of the history of cocktails (Doc, a camper with a palette for liquor history, told me the sazerac was invented in 1850). I got to spread the good word of the Sazerac.
Crystal: Somer and I fought an epic DJ battle at the Music Hangout. There kick-off time was misprinted on the schedule and so the winners that night were the two campers who showed up.
