Your virtual backstage pass to Mobile Fashion Week

MOBILE, Alabama –  At Friday night’s Mobile Fashion Week show in the basement of Hargrove Engineers + Constructors, the audience was treated to a seamless runway show featuring the fashions of designers Ashley Gunkel and Lauren Dufilho and local boutiques Ruby Blue, Covered, Been There, Pure Barre, Plato’s Closet and Lotus. 

Bathed in soft white light, the models commanded the catwalk in a kaleidoscope of awesome attire including sexy athletic wear, flirty feathered skirts, leather shorts, lacy tops and glimmering jewel-toned gowns. 

What the show-goers didn’t see was all the commotion going on backstage. In a small space separated from the main show area with black curtains, 48 models, eight makeup artists, seven hairstylists and a small army of volunteers were working their fashionable posteriors off to make the event look absolutely effortless.

We spent the show behind the scenes to give you a virtual backstage pass into the world of hairspray, quick changes and endless touch-ups.

5:53: In a haze of hairspray, stylists work the models’ manes into styles inspired by the big, exaggerated hair ‘dos in Victoria’s Secret lingerie shows. MFW hair coordinator Krystal Turberville said things were a bit behind schedule.  ”We’re pushing it tonight,” she said. “We’re definitely pushing it.” 

6: Models wearing clear plastic caps to keep their curlers protected do practice walks on the runway in their everyday clothes. A few of them are still feeling drained from from the previous night’s show. “My hair is tired,” said model Robin Smith.

6:45: MFW founder and creative director Richard McGill Hamilton bursts backstage to warn everyone that the backstage lights will be turned off when the crowd comes down to the show area at 7 p.m.  Why? If the lights are on, the show-goers will be able to see the models changing clothes. All makeup and hair must be done by the time the lights go out, McGill Hamilton commands. 

6:50: “Everyone start getting dressed,” MFW show director Suzanne Massingill orders. “Get in your first outfit now!”  Model Zoe Sozo, 19, tries to get her earrings on.  ”I can’t find the hole!” she laments. Helpful MFW intern Ashley Rahn holds Sozo’s necklace at the ready as she waits for the model to affix her earrings. Once Sozo gets them in, Rahn puts the necklace on the model. Elsewhere, bows are being tied and zippers zipped at a feverish pace.

7: Lights out. Stylists and models turn on their cell phone flash lights to see what they’re doing, and the models slated to walk the first collection or “scene,” practice their walks to get in runway mode. 

7:07: Model role call! MFW volunteer coordinator Jessica Jackson calls out the names of the first set of models to make sure they’re all lined up and ready to go.All are present and accounted for. 

7:16: Intern Rahn, surrounded by a bevy of models wriggling into their clothes, soaks up the frenzied atmosphere.  ”This is the first time I’ve ever done this and it’s so awesome,”" she said.  ”It’s neat how it’s so chaotic and then it comes together.”

7:19: A model is missing. “Where’s Robin?” Jackson asks worriedly. “She was just here.” Robin eventually appears. “Scene 1, get ready,” Massingill shouts. Models in silky, shimmering A. Gunk Designs outfits are lined up and ready to rock the runway. 

7:20: Showtime! Massingill gives Lauren Greenlee, the first model to hit the runway, the cue to start the show. Greenlee struts out in a dress with a purple floor-length skirt. About a minute later, she returns and says her heel got caught on the skirt during her walk, but no one noticed. The rest of the ladies follow. 

7:25: The A. Gunk scene ends and models sporting styles from Ruby Blue take their turn on the runway. Back among the racks of clothes, volunteers nimbly pluck accessories from plastic bags and hand them to the models. Hair is fluffed and touched up. 

7:29: “Go! Go! Go!” one model chants as she rushes back in from the runway and races back to the racks to get into her next ensemble. Model Robin Smith squeezes into a sports bra for the Pure Barre scene that highlights her upper body assets.  ”If you’ve got it, flaunt it,” she said. “We live by that motto back here.”

7:34: The Ruby Blue scene ends and the Plato’s Closet collection hits the runway. Back by the racks, among the half-dressed horde, stylist Lindsey Rosen from Pure Barre adjusts a sequined beret with a huge bow in the front on a model’s head, and a volunteer drapes a glamorous black fur shawl from Covered boutique around model Morgan German’s shoulders.

7:43: Plato’s Closet scene ends and models in Covered boutique outfits head out on to the runway. Designer Lauren Dufilho, a Spanish Fort High School senior showing a collection for the first time, checks in with her models and watches appreciatively as volunteers makes small last minute adjustments to her creations. “I’m so excited,” she said. “I’m so lucky to have all these people helping me. I couldn’t have done this by myself. Nearby, a makeup artist applies glittery pink gloss to a model by the light of a Smartphone.

7:50: Dufilho’s flowery and fun “Fiercely Feminine” collection takes the runway, and the young designer’s fashion career is officially launched. 

7:54: “Fiercely Feminine” finishes and the last scene of the evening, from Lotus Boutique, begins its  The very last model is Mikayla Marcero, an ambassador from the nonprofit Children With Hair Loss. CWHL provides wigs for kids who don’t have har due to cancer, burns, alopecia or other ailments. Marcero, who has alopecia, wore a very sleek and natural-looking wig and a short, low-cut dress decorated with diamond designs. She stalked the catwalk like a pro. 

7:57: Lotus finishes, and a few seconds later, all the show’s models parade down the runway to loud applause and hollers. 

8: Backstage, exhausted models change back into their non-runway attire and gather their belongings. They’d been at Hargrove since 2 p.m., and were more than ready for some rest before Saturday’s finale. Massingill was very pleased by how well the evening went. “It was extremely smooth on my end, but I didn’t know what it looked like” on the runway, she said. After all, she had been backstage directing and working the whole time.  ”There wasn’t a hitch.” 

For a full Mobile Fashion Week schedule and to purchase tickets, visit http://mobfashionweek.com. 

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