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Living My Best Life Tour: Chicago Fashion Week 2021 + BTW, I Have A New Pageant Title


It's been a while! Throughout my relentless grind to meet my goals for 2021, I haven't had the time to blog on my OG website, Fashion Thunderclap. However, I have a few very cool things to share with my beloved readers here that prompted me to MAKE TIME and publish a long-overdue article here. The main thing I want to discuss today is how AMAZING my experience was at Chicago Fashion Week 2021 presented by Fashion Bar! I was so happy to be invited as a media guest for the 5th year in a row! My love and gratitude goes out to the organization and its Founder, the esteemed Tony Long for always extending the invitation and producing some of the best fashion shows around! As you can see in the photos, I have on a new sash. I was crowned Miss USA Universe Tourism 2021 in January and have pledged to do as I did in my reign as Miss World America Nation and make a difference, big or small, in all seven continents of the world, especially supporting those in line with my platform of advocating for more creative arts and vocational training programs for the underprivileged and underserved communities of the world!
                                
And after a long stretch of quarantine, a red carpet photo opp was just the fun I needed. Alongside my longtime friend, Marshae of Styled Poetic, we were back like we never left! Cay and Shay had a magnificent experience at CFW like were back in 2017 and 2018 when we were jet-setting the country seated front row at fashion weeks all over from LA to Chicago to NYC to Paris (those experiences are all blogged here as well)! As many of you saw from my Snapchat reel two weeks ago (uploaded at the end of the article), the whole event was marvelous.
The mission statement behind Fashion Bar, the producers of Chicago Fashion week is listed as "FashionBar Chicago seeks to build Chicago into the fashion capital of the Midwest by advancing emerging and established talent in order to elevate the Chicago fashion industry to a national platform and bridging Los Angeles to New York City."
                                   
The show that we had the pleasure of attending was the Evening & Identity Show with emphasis on a safe COVID19 experience. According to the website, "The first designer, MegManski, a resident of southern Illinois and Philippines native, will be showcasing her 1st ever runway show. MegManksi is excited to show her designs and contribution to fashion with a beautiful evening wear collection closing with bridal gowns to showcase her versatility in formal elegance. This show will highlight our overarching theme of 2021 Chicago Fashion Week of “living your truth.” You will experience unique and individualistic designs from designers who incorporate this mindset of staying true to your identity throughout their collections."

Which Designers Presented:
Jenn Paswinski - Jive Betty
Sara Habibi Node for Luminous Bridal
Ganitizia Vargas 
Dmyia Williams
FashionBar UpCycle 
St. Panteleon
Sasha Walton of House of Solana
Lonnie P. Designs 
Swap & Strut 
AJ King 
MegManski 
WGM by Wilmer Galeano

            

From the beautifully executed designs to the sassy struts on the CFW runway, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! The images in this article and the footage in the video that we captured are some of our favorite looks. However, we loved our entire experience! Not only were the garments aesthetically pleasing, but they were also crafted with love and passion which was evident in the way the designers displayed such pride and heartfelt appreciation when the cheering audience gave standing ovations upon the conclusion of the shows. "Grand finale" is indeed an understatement for the magical moments that occurred at this year's Chicago Fashion Week! I look forward to next time! This one was a fantastic one for the books, an amazing stop on my Living My Best Life Tour!


Professional Photos By Fashion Bar, Ian Nelson, Beth Shandles, Kymon Kyndred and Alex Callejo




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