For a pre-birthday gift to myself, I attended the lecture of Project Runway alum and FIDM Instructor, Nick Verreos. I was so excited because I love him. He was definitely one of my favorites that season. First off, can I just say that I am a total goof. I have no pictures because I totally left my memory card in my laptop. So when I went to turn my camera on, I got the lovely message that there wasn't a memory card found. I was so annoyed with myself. I usually check before I leave the house. Oh, well.

His lecture was fabulous. He was so funny and very candid. He talked about his wonderful, supportive family and his time growing up in Venezuela as his father was a diplomat. His mother, who Verreos credits as his first muse, definitely knew that her son had a star over his head. She made sure that he had sketchbooks galore. He said that he could never remember a time when he didn't have one. He talked about how he would draw ALL THE TIME! That is the mark of a designer. Verreos recalled all of his memories of his mother getting dressed for all of the black tie events that she attended with his father. He also talked about his sister being his fashion guinea pig as she so happily sported all of his designs everywhere that she went. He later shared with the captive audience his journey to Project Runway, Season 2. After much encouragement from the FIDM family, he went to the open call with one dress and his sketchbook. The one and only Tim Gunn was so impressed by Verreos' sketches, that he was chosen on the spot.

He was so gracious to share with us the video of the FIDM 2009 Senior Class collections. The senior collection fashion show at FIDM is accurately called "Debut." Love that. Not only were the designers extremely talented, but I had to give big props to the videographers and video designers who pulled that amazing footage together. It was so inspiring to see the excitement in their faces as well as the confidence that clearly stated to all that they were on their way to make their marks in the fashion world.

Of course, he had a Q & A session that was not as long as I would have wished. He promised some juicy dirt on the behind the scenes of Project Runway but time didn't allow during the lecture. But he did answer a few questions about what is good style, what is not fashionable and what did he think about the idea of what constitute "black tie." I totally agreed with his assessment that you should NOT wear trends from head to toe, find your own style and figure out how to incorporate a trend into your look, and that black tie no longer means what it should, which is the classic look, tuxedos and gowns. As the evening was coming to a close before we moved on to the reception, a fabulous thing happened to me. He was talking about how fashionable some of the folks in the audience were and then he said "for example...."
and then... HE POINTED TO ME!!!!!!!!!! Can you say that I was floored? He said to me that I was fierce and that "Diva, you are working it." Wow! A hats off to me from a fashion guru. That just made my pre-birthday celebration more than perfect. All in all, it was a great evening. If you ever have the chance to see him speak, don't miss out.