Full Figured Fashion Week Day 1
Posted: 
June 29, 2009 at 8:52 pm
This past Friday and Saturday I had the opportunity to attend 2 events for Full Figured Fashion Week. The press event was the main event that I attended, and I wasn’t pleased at all. Before I even go in on this event let me give my readers a little background.
The purpose of a press event is to meet the Models and Designers. Regardless if it’s a Fashion Show, or A Fashion Week, Anorexic or Full Figured… a press event is suppose to showcase the Designers and their Fashions. The press comes and meets with the Designers and Models for interview and to take pictures. Overall, we are there to get a sense of the collection.
Upon my arrival, it was made clear that I was not to be given a Press Badge because I was a “Blogger”.
Last time I checked the voice of the “Blogger” is what helped Obama get put in office. Most “Bloggers” that I know, write for major publications. “Bloggers” get sponsored by major companies for Advertising. “Bloggers” are the reason Newspaper and Magazine Sales are down. “Bloggers” have a voice that can reach more people at a faster rate.
I’ve never been so offended. Kitty Bradshaw.com and staff has received press credentials for higher caliber events then this and treated with more respect. I am not saying roll out the red carpet and kiss my ass… What I would have liked to see happen is when I requested press access, the powers that be (the ones who were concerned about Bloggers having a press badge) checked my site for credibility. They could of also requested stats to find out my monthly traffic rate to my site. Had they of taken those steps that would of known that I am the Upper Echelon of Bloggers.
Lastly, separating myself from the disaster at the door… the event was all wrong. Every press event I have ever attended was presented in a well lit Venue. The models are groomed and briefed on how to work a room. The designers featured in the show are always in attendance… *sighs* Why am I wasting key strokes on this….
Moral of the story, don’t piss off the press….
On a more positive note, thank you to Johara of LuvinMyCurves.com and Marie Denee of The Curvy Fashionista for being a more professional and courteous aspect to this event.
I will do another post on the Full Figured Fashion Week Shopping Event.
Hmmm….it is unfortunate that you felt personally offended about the mix up at the door. But since I was the one who said that the bloggers weren’t supposed to get badges….I felt the need to respond.
Of COURSE I checked out your site when you applied…That is PRECISELY WHY YOU GOT access to the event. The reason you weren’t supposed to get a badge had absolutely NOTHING to do with you being a blogger. (if you must know there was a mix-up in communication and we needed to curtail the dispensing of badges until it could be straightened out). The bloggers didn’t NEED badges, all you had to do was say who you were and you were admitted. Did it NOT happen that way for you? Since you are giving kudos to Johara & Marie…perhaps you should have asked them about the badge issue BEFORE you chose to take it so very personally…)
I could see you writing a funky blog if you were NOT admitted but that wasn’t the case at all….you overheard something and took offense without REALLY knowing the intent behind the statement. Did you have any problems with admission to any of the other events? Or did you just really want/need to have the press badge that much?
As for not liking the way or the venue where the event was held…you are entitled to your opinion…I don’t have to agree or even like your opinion but I will respect it and ask that you do the same for me.
Moral of the story…”Don’t piss off the press?” lol…are you serious here??
I worked for 20 years in the publishing industry myself…Isn’t “the press” supposed to find out the facts BEFORE you write the story?
The next time you choose to take something so personally and be offended…it might be better to actually find out if the perceived slight even had anything to do with you….
To write a nasty blog because you felt slighted will not help us get further along as a community and a unified power. At the end of the day that IS what it’s all about.
We thank you for your attendance and hope that you will continue to support & celebrate “unity in the plus community”, whether you decide to continue to support us or not.
Wow, you just showed your hand right there…
In your 20 years in the publishing industry did you not learn to step to the side and not be in ear shot of the attendees/press-bloggers when going over instructions with the staff?! I have been working Fashion Events for a very long time and within the first 3 days I learned to watch what I say and who I say it around…especially at a press function. You didn’t even have the gumption to whisper. Your whole demeanor at the door was negative and/or unprofessional… please believe I am as not as petty to whine about a Press Badge, I receive them all the time.
My main gripe with you was your negative look on your face and your negative tone…that is why I am so offended. I have never been treated that way by an event organizer. The look on the dudes face at the table checking identification was that of someone put into an awkward situation by your comment. That confirmed what I already knew, and I was not out of place to feel the way that I did. In addition, I was not the only one offended by your comment, you were so busy putting on an air, you didn’t realize other people besides myself heard you. I take it even more personal because apparently you thought I was the only one listening. To be completely honest I didn’t expect a badge upon arrival.
I didn’t go into specific detail in my original post because the positive Full Figured Shopping Event out weighed the negative Press Event. However, since you identified with this post I will put it all out there. The same negative tone that you presented in your response is the same one you presented at the door…
Lastly, Johara and Mariee had nothing to do with your behavior; so in their defense, I want to make it clear to anyone else reading this that they presented themselves to be true professionals…. not to be confused with anyone else who organized this event.
Lol….@ “the negative look on my face and the negative tone??” Huh??? What on EARTH are you talking about lady? You don’t know me, you clearly don’t know what was on my mind and negativity is not what I use to greet anyone.
I don’t put on airs and I certainly would not have had to put on one for you. I don’t even know you. I didn’t know you were listening and quite frankly it doesn’t matter to me. I don’t know you well enough nor do I even care enough about you to try to deliberately insult you. It’s not that serious for me.
Girl please, as far as confirming what you already knew…you knew nothing absolutely nothing…all of what you think you know was assumptions based on what you think you read in my face and in whatever tone you believe that I took with you. Again you don’t know me and you couldn’t possibly know the details behind what was going on at the moment.
My problem with this whole situation is just as easily as you contacted me regarding obtaining press credentials…and I accommodated you. You could have stepped to me then when the said “personal slight” occurred (contrary to what you write here…I am very approachable) or emailed me with your issues and we could have quietly & politely handled and even cleared up the situation but YOU chose to take it very personally and put it in a public forum.
In your words… *sighs* Why am I wasting key strokes on this….
If you wish to go further with this…you have my contact info.
I won’t give this any more energy publicly….it totally deters from what we are trying to achieve.
Peace.
Wow Kitty. I missed this earlier. I loved your response. Kudos to you!
Wow. I don’t know anything about PR or events management, but I would think that if you’re representing an organization and you come across a bad review that you wouldn’t respond in such a declasse, unprofessional manner. Sure the organizer could respond and explain/defend her actions (if she so chooses) but you’d think the message would still possess some professional composure so that both she AND the event she is promoting don’t look worse off than the original description. As the representative, she also could’ve chosen to handle this quietly and politely, instead of posting such an aggressive public comment. It’s funny because as a reader, I didn’t realize that so much had gone on behind the scenes of the story until the organizer herself put the information out there.
As a member of the media a “blogger” isn’t truly considered press. Yes, it’s an information medium, and while it can account for a certain level of publicity on a media or press plan, it’s still quite low on the totem pole of desired paid media. It generally falls in the category of non-paid media (from a “press” perspective).
Check your stats? 75% of your readers spend less than 2 mins on your site… so even with millions of traffic, where is the engagement? (Not conjecture, fact. Alexa)
I’m sorry you had such a negative experience at that event – but from your blog clearly you were still allowed entrance. Not sure if it warranted such a visceral response to the entire event. As a community that gets little to no attention whatsoever from the mainstream media, there surely could have been a way to highlight your kerfuffle at the door while maintaining what was positive about the event (to which you only dedicated 2 lines to)… Interesting don’t ya think?
signed,
an interested advertiser… who moonlights as a designer
I am not interested in anything or anyone related to Full Figured Fashion Week.
I made the mistake of requesting a press pass… I will never make that mistake again.
Further more, while your FFF friends told you to do a search for “Don’t piss the press off” (yes, I track IPs) they should of told you to check here… http://kittybradshaw.com/the-full-figured-fashion-shopping-event/
I am not the only one who complained about this event… so are you all going to go around the net arguing with people?! Wowwww…
I have a reputation of being a professional and I know a lot of people in the industry. I don’t lose sleep being black balled from this event.
I agree with you Kitty, that was a WOW of a article, Keep ur head up ur doing a great JOB !!!
Kitty,
At this juncture, it is evident a irreplaceable amount of time/energy was invested by your “admirers” in malicious retorts and continued random acts of nothingness.
Perhaps they should engage in life enriching and purposeful endeavors such as furthering educational pursuits, seeking compensation for unsolicited, unsubstantiated, and uncredentialed internet research, volunteering and civic engagement, and producing meaningful and substantiated events… Since they apparently are within the 25% population of people that exhaust exponential energy on your site.
I applaud you for not allowing excuses, ignorance, and further illustrations of incompetence engage you. Furthermore, I am annoyed by the incomparable level of bitchassness involved.
Block the IP Addresses and if unwarranted pursuits continue they will not need to worry w/ attempts to “blackball” you or your brand. I will represent you in a matter of harrassment and stalking that will be substantiated through IP Records indicative of their futile research efforts et al.
Game Over
Clearly the woman that handled this event needs to grow up and also keep up with new media. Blogging has becoming one of the most important places for any event or Artists to be featured online. Also, this article was the point of view from one person at your event. If you are going to go around and talk back to everyone who had something to say about your event, then I am sorry to tell you, but PR is not the field for you. It dose not matter how many years you may have been in this business, clearly you haven’t learned anything.
P.S. If you cant handle the fire, don’t start one. Game over… this is for kids in JR high. Last time i checked we were all adults.
Clearly someone was offended by your words. Maybe they don’t realize that this site is supposed to be from your perspective.Blog sites have become bigger than newspapers due to the convenience. Instead of people being childish an approaching Kitty on the blog comments she should have called or emailed you but I guess by her doing it the way she did speaks volumes. If there was only a small highlight to the show then so be it no need to stretch out something that doesnt exists
As mentioned before, with magazines going by the wayside at an alarming rate, blogs are fast becoming the preferred media of choice, I would think especially for events such as this. The organizers of this swaray thought that your site was credible enough to invite you, so why try to downplay its significance once you blogged about your experience. After all that’s why we read blogs in the first place, to get reviews of events, good or bad. It seems to me that the organizers feel that they were doing you a favor by allowing you into the event, but honestly were they turning anyone away? Was this event so wildly popular that anyone that could pass the minimum basics skills test and write a five sentence paragraph was trying to get in? It seems to me that they would have wanted everyone including the editor of the Eastside High Gazette to be in there. Perhaps instead of coming to your site e-thuggin, they should log on to getsomeclass.com, or better yet use your experience as a catalyst to make the sign in process a little more organized and professional for next year…that is if there is a next year. Girl bye.
Okay, I want Nicole to be my frined. Girl are you on twitter? LOL
Seriously though, I can’t believe this “discussion” is still going on. Like you said, “GAME OVER!”