Last Saturday evening I had the amazing pleasure of being part of an awesome event for the Lions Lighthouse Foundation! The Lighthouse Foundation provides eyeglasses & hearing aides for those who are under-insured or have no insurance. I like to think that they provide the gift of 'sight & sound'! 


Night of Spectacles is an annual fashion event for the Lions Lighthouse Foundation, and attending is some of the most fashion-forward people in Atlanta! 


The event is actually an eco-friendly & philanthropy project all in one, eyeglasses that are no longer useful are turned into the most beautiful dresses, jewelry & accessories and then auctioned off. The process for each designer is a heavily creative one & every dress at the event was gorgeous! From broken lenses to contorted pieces bendable only by heat, the designer's for this event did not hold back one creative morsel! 


Which brings me to the dress I designed for Dr. Goldstein!  


The meeting of Dr. Gayle Goldstein, my model, was sheer serendipity.  She is not only gorgeous on the outside, but extremely kind and beautiful on the inside!  What a blessing! 


My dress consisted of over 140 lenses that I hand-painted with nail polish & hand-blinged with swarovski crystals. Gail and I decided on the 1940's style dress after an awkward start to the first design! In the beginning I went with a peach Chanel-ish short jacket with a black lace short skirt. Keep in mind I designed this before meeting Gayle! 
I had photos that were e-mailed to me, but had no idea about her dynamic personality & that killer body she works out for everyday! 


Design #1!




So Gayle and I decided to meet at one of Authentic Beauty's Champagne & Shadow events & upon meeting (I had the above outfit in the car!) I told her that I would have to design something else (Only 3.5 weeks until the gala)! However, there was no way this outfit would have suited her! 


So back to the drawing board I go, and with only one fitting left! 


By the way, the hat was designed by Bonen Bonnets, and was actually the inspiration for the hand-painted lenses for the dress!


Design #2!

Gayle with her handsome husband, Eric!

Working the runway!

Swing!

The gala was a 'spectacular' success, and all the models & designers were amazing & gracious!


I can not wait until next year's event!


Links to Love!


lionslighthouse.org


nightofspectacles.org


bonenbonnets.com 


reinspirationsto­re.­com