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Hampden Clothing's runway show at Charleston Fashion Week!
But the crowds really packed in tight to get a good look at the Hampden Clothing runway show, which included delicately mix and matched trendy pieces with designer eyewear. Each outfit was like something great that you'd see a model wearing in a magazine, but decide that you'd never figure to put those two things together without a stylist. (It's like seeing those people with the cutest outfit, only to find out they got it in a bargain bin at a consignment store/why didn't I think of that? thing.)
The Hampden models had a lot of attitude, much like the ones from Tuesday's Biton show, which really enraptured the audience. At the end of the runway, the models posed in really cool ways; one put her pink clutch up in front of her face as if shielding herself from the photographers; another put both hands on her head in an I-have-a-migraine-chic kind of way; while another held both arms out as if asking the shutterbugs what they were looking at. It was very avant garde, Vogue magazine. The crowd — myself included — loved it! And you could tell the models were having a good time, too, as they frequently flashed their gleaming smiles mid-strut.
At one point during the Hampden show, everyone was crowded up so close that I started to get claustrophobic, so I stepped back into the VIP lounge area to ask people what they thought. Right away, I found two smiling Torch waitresses, Erin Quinn and Lindsey Middleton, who told me they loved Hampden's show. "I like the whole glasses thing," said Middleton. "It's like they're sexy and fashionable, but still business professional. And every other model is rocking the glasses; I love that."
When Stacy Smallwood, owner of Hampden, walked out to wave to the crowd at the conclusion of the show, I was hoping the former prima ballerina (we're talking the Sugar Plum Fairy, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and more) would give a graceful curtsey to acknowledge her screaming fans. There was no curtsey and no man walking out on the runway to give her flowers, but the smile on Smallwood's face let the eager crowd know how much she appreciated the applause.