The Manehattan Fashion Fair (Open/See OOC)

[Zealot]

The annual Manehattan Fashion and Couture Fair opened its doors once again to industry professionals, admirers, critics and anyone else who particularly wanted to turn up. Indeed, anyone who was a follower of fashion at least. The Manehattan Fair was one of the major fashion events on the industry calender, where designers and companies sought to show off their latest trends and styles to the media in the hopes of getting Equestrian wide recognition. Fame and fortune wasn't the thing on everyone's minds though. No, it was the fashions. Here from far and wide, all sorts of designs and patterns could be found. From Saddle Arabia, to Manehattan itself. Such a colourful array of stalls and designs, it would be quite easy to become lost without one's handy map and calender of events. 

 

Rarity, was one such pony who had endeavoured to come to the fair. Not only to peddle her own goods, but also to see what the rest of the fashion world had been up to while she had been working on her own designs. Indeed, the event was going to be quite thrilling, and Rarity was quite excited. She certainly wanted to explore and lose herself in the fashion. But still, she had a job to do first. 

 

So thus, the fashionista was there, given a good spot in the Canterlot area of the fair. She manned her stall, talking to the passers by and selling a few of her designs to opportunistic seekers of her dresses. She always liked seeing a pony get a dress that was just right for them after all. Granted, she didn't have the facilities of the boutique with her, but she made do just the same. 

 

The white unicorn had just finished dealing with a curious customer, sighing and taking a short break, sitting down on a chair just behind her stall. A short breather, yes. Some water would be nice too, she would have to see if she couldn't ask for some from... someone.

[MidnightMask]

Midnight Mask had often snuck up on other ponies and startled them completely by accident. Despite her height, she moved with a quiet grace and accidental stealth that caused her to arrive without notice before someone inevitably turned around and jumped in surprise. Usually, this was a nuisance, but Midnight Mask really would’ve liked to have been just a little more invisible this day.

The hustle and bustle of the fashion fair, ponies coming and going, a dizzying variety of stalls filled with all manner of clothing were disorienting, but the sheer style many of the ponies there showed not only in their clothing, but in their accessories, their manner of moving, their knowledge of fabrics and designers-

Midnight Mask, with her spiked hair and saddlebags, stood there among the chaos feeling that deep down, she didn’t really belong there.

But it didn’t matter! It was the off season and she had to find new markets for her masks! She had to think of the haunted house, of next Nightmare Night! She had to succeed!

She just had to get to a stall and talk to somepony first. That should be easy. Just… pretend they’re all vamponies.

Midnight Mask looked for the most vampony like pony she could find, settling on the white unicorn at her stall. Vamponies were pale, so it took less pretend work to get her into the right mood. The tall purple pony walked over quietly until she loomed in front of the stand.

“Good evening. I vant, er, want to uh, talk about your dresses, they are… really beautiful. I was curious, have you ever done any masquerade ball costumes, or that kind of thing?” Midnight Mask asked as she scanned Rarity’s various designs.

[Lyipheoryia]

Abstract corners and bold edges, vertical and horizontal jumps that play on your mind, endless spheres and optical illusions: such was the stall of Duchess le Chandelier.  The high-class fashion designer knew the techniques of marketing and business, hesitating none too much to mark the best spot for customers in the fair as quickly as the planning had begun.  The stall was large and open, attracting plenty ponies already to place their order on her latest scheme "I'Autumn".  The pale orange, brown, and dark green contrasted against the bold highlights of the stall and the colourful décor of the fair.  The small handbags, the fine dresses, each item one of its kind.  They weren't for sale, merely examples for potential customers to see and admire-for ordering through her, of course. 

 

The Fair was something she had worked very hard for.  Sure, her name was already well-known in its own department, but she wanted more.  She wanted to make a lasting impact past her fifteen minutes of fame.  She wanted to make a change somewhere-someplace: and Manehattan had just the fix for it.  The Manehattan Fashion Fair Extraordinaire included several fashion competitions, with the mane one being the Designerfest.  The Designerfest featured works from all over Equestria-judged purely on design and fashion.  The grand prize was bountiful, filled with custom dresses, mentorship programs, money awards, and several other knick-knack items.  As co-host of the event, Duchess had spared no expense in making this "The. Best. Fair." of her dreams.  It sparkled with colour and beauty from all views, and it was clearly of great help that the other host was none other than the infamous Rarity.  Rarity: the Bearer of the Element of Generosity, the most fabulous of fashionistas, the Queen of High Class Designs...how ever in Equestria had Duchess convinced Rarity to co-host the event?  She didn't quite know, either.

 

The Duchess herself was of fashion, her make stylishly tied back in a loose braid that draped over her shoulder.  Her signature layered blue dress was styled stunningly upon her, and her horseshoes were decorated with silver.  She looked around, scanning for ponies and others.  The Opening Ceremonies were to start soon, with the cliché ribbon-cutting and Equestrian anthem.  She smiled at herself, and at her fair.  Yes-her fair.   

 

She began a quick attendance, momentarily closing her stall and going to each stall.  She rubbed her bare ears for a moment, then snapped her magical hearing piece back on.  Everything came to life through sound, and she began her way to Rarity's stall.

 

"Hello-Ms. Rarity.  I'm glad to see you are here; would you mind helping me with the attendance?  Closing ceremonies are to start in two hours,"

 

As she spoke, she noticed not the young mare standing by the stall.  "Sorry, Miss.  Could I help you with anything?"

[PrinceoftheNight]

"Alright, so I will just stay here and guard your little stand in case of anything, right?" Darkness asked Golden with a small grin as she instructed him what to do. He had come here as the ex super model, and owner of a jewelry shop in Canterlot, assistant and guard, fulfilling a favor he owed her. Aparently, he only needed to make guard until one of her workers could come and take over his place so he could either go home or look around.

 

"Yes, that is all I need." Golden replied with a small smile to Darkness. "It won't be that long, I promise. In the mean time, there are some ponies I need to greet first." Golden said smiling before she turned around and started walking to the rest of the event. Her stand was not that big, but it was quite fancy and attractive, and soon, various ponies started going, either to greet her or see the jewels that were in the stand, giving Darkness quite the nightmare.

 

She giggled at what was happening to him and walked off once he started to get the hang on it. After a few minutes of walking, and dealing with stallions that wanted to 'accompany'  her, she noticed that some ponies where gathering around in a stand. The one of carousel boutique, and of curse, Miss Rarity. She had heard bout here, and decided to go and meet her, since she was quite interested in her designs. Something from her past she still loved.

 

Once she walked over, she saw Rarity, another mare she didn't knew and Miss. Chandelier. A face she knew. She smiled and walked over to them. "Good day." She said smiling to them. "And good day, Candles." She said smiling to her as her horn glowed and took a bottle of water from a nearby stand that gave away free bottles of water to the ponies that were in charge or working on the stands to drink some for herself.

[MidnightMask]

When Midnight Mask realized she was being addressed, she turned to the Duchess, her orange eyes staring just a moment, then darted back to Rarity, then to her, then to a poster, then back to them, the pieces clicking into place. Rarity? Attendance? Ceremony? Did she just approach the organizers of the entire faire!?!

The pressure of dealing with fashion ponies was difficult enough, but she hadn’t intended on talking to anyone really important.

“I uh, I just, was uh…I make mm, mmm, masks.” She managed at last, cringing internally, struggling to recover. “For fashion! Possibly. I was wanting to expand my market, so I’ve been trying to make more avant-garde pieces, uh, you know. For, uh, designers, and, stuff. Not that any of you would need someone else to design or build one for you, really.”

Midnight Mask looked at her saddle bag. Maybe she should show them her work? Or was that too pushy? She erred on the side of seeing being believing and gripped a mask with her teeth, putting it on to show. "See?"
 

It was a delicate mask, the supporting strings entwined to resemble vines and stems, hanging about the face. Around the eyes, the stems ‘blossom’ into a series of soft blue and yellow flowers, but the eyes pieces themselves are set into a pair of pink butterfly wings, the ‘eye spots’ of the wings matching to the wearer’s eyes.

"I call this one Springtime Blooming. By wearing some pink eyeshadow, the user's eyes can disappear into the mask when you blink, creating an illusion where the butterfly seems to cover the face entirely." Midnight Mask explained.

 

[SteelEagle]

There comes a certain comfort with the idea of a lie when you know it is for the benefit of others besides yourself, even if you also knew that it did in fact help you too. Valen's entire modeling career had been easier to accept under the pretense that while he did see some benefit to it, he was helping designers design, customers desire, and photographers find something new to do with their idle selves. The fact he enjoyed it lots and got to experience such wonderful creativity didn't hurt matters any at all. But there was also something so subservient about the whole process that it shook him the wrong way to a degree, and he felt the need to express himself in a way that made him more than a pretty filly face. And as the Manehattan Fashion Fair approached, he was sure he had decided upon the perfect venue and style to do so.

He had a stand, made in part by his good cousin Applejack. It was bold but not too big, well made and had compartments and drawers sized just right for clothes he could display up front behind the glass that he could easily grab, and a nice display rack on the sides to show off some other designs. That was the easy part however, though one would do well to not have Applejack hear that. He had spent much of his time creating clothing! Getting help for designs wasn't too tough. He knew enough designers and almost none of them aimed at the age ranges Valen- as Gilded- was going for. That and he had read enough about fashion and been modeling long enough to know what was good and what wasn't! Maybe he didn't have the talent of others or even the knowledge, but he knew how these clothes felt which was more than a lot could say.

The designs were of simple quality, but of good patterns, fun color combinations, and easy wearibility. There was an air of regality to them, but muted behind the stark confines of his skill and the friendliness of the designs that was his main goal. He had a few dresses, some nice skirts, blouses, and other odds and ends. Instead of going as Valen Orange- who knew Valen? Who cared about him in the fashion world?- He had went as his filly modeling alter ego, the supermodel Gilded Lilly. She was famous. She could bring in the customers. And he frankly liked playing as her, especially in the world of fashion!

And what a world it was. The Fair was busy, and he could even see several ponies he knew. Chief among them was Miss Rarity, but that would be for later. For now Valen was content to man his table, “Gilded Galore” and see what came of his very first fashion fair.

[Zealot]

Oh dear, and here Rarity was hoping for a quick break. No matter, she jumped up as a pony approached her stall and started asking about her dresses. Yep, back to business. The purple pony spoke with a bit of an accent which Rarity couldn't place and was asking something about a masquerade dress.

 

"Hello there," Rarity cheered to the pony after she'd taken a brief moment to get her brain back in gear once again. "A dress for a masquerade ball you say? Well, I have done one such design before. Larger dresses to cover one's form. The cutie mark especially. After all, the point is to conceal oneself," she remarked with a smile. "Perhaps you were interested in a design of mine..." she trailed off as the duchess approached. "Oh? Not at all dear," she replied with a smile. "Let me get a pony to man my stall and I will verily assist."

 

She glanced around, wondering where her helper pony was and caught sight of the famous model, Gilded Lily. How Rarity hadn't noticed the mare's stall was beyond her. Perhaps she was simply busy. Judging from the fact that yet another pony was descending on her stall, that was probably likely. She looked up at the newcomer with a grin. "Good day miss. Sorry, can I help you? I think I'm a little swamped at the moment," she apologises with a chuckle.

[Lyipheoryia]

((I apologize for the late reply.  I didn't know what posting order we were following.  Anywho-here's my postie~))

She glared at Beryl, instantly recognizing the mare form their previous encounter at another fashion fair.  She grimaced as the model used her real name.  She glared at her, "DUCHESS LE CHANDELIER is pleased to see you as well, Miss Beryl,"

She glared even harder, willing the mare to ignore her secret and to just carry on and talk to some other pony.  She took a step from Beryl, and sighed.  It's okay, I knew that she sighed up ahead of time for a stall.  She's an infamous jewelry designer, remember?

 

Turning to Midnight, she smiled a kindly smile and commented, "That's a lovely idea indeed.  Say~how much are you willing to part with the mask for?"  

[MidnightMask]

"Hello there," Rarity cheered to the pony after she'd taken a brief moment to get her brain back in gear once again. "A dress for a masquerade ball you say? Well, I have done one such design before. Larger dresses to cover one's form. The cutie mark especially. After all, the point is to conceal oneself," she remarked with a smile. "Perhaps you were interested in a design of mine..." she trailed off as the duchess approached.

“I do have some interest-" Midnight started when she spotted a pale blue dress that almost jumped off the shelf at her, pupils dilating. She had to remind herself she was here to make bits, not spend them, but it would look so good with her windigo mask.

 

Turning to Midnight, she smiled a kindly smile and commented, "That's a lovely idea indeed.  Say~how much are you willing to part with the mask for?"  

Oh sweet Celestia, had she already made a sale? Wait, what was she supposed to charge for this? Time, bits, effort, quality, the words raced through her mind to come up with what seemed a reasonable price. She didn’t want to offend with an overcharge, or an undercharge for that matter, and it was still a fashion pony. Trying to quell her nerves, she’d just pretend she was some sort of terrifying changeling in disguise- that was much less disturbing.

“Uh. It took me quite a while and a lot of materials… is 20 bits reasonable?” she asked. With her other masks, she had a better sense of not only what she could charge, but was able to make them much faster and charge less. Scary or disturbing? Easy for her. Fashionable? Much more thought and time went in.

Seeing other ponies arriving by the moment, Midnight Mask was glad she’d picked her moment to say hello. She was sure that a few minutes later, she’d have been lost in a sea of other ponies without fail.

[SteelEagle]

You could define success any number of ways, but today he figured that financial success wasn't going to be one of them. Valen had worked quite hard at getting everything to work, but he could only guess that perhaps his stylings and target demographic was a bit too narrow. Oh well. You live and you learn. It was a fun experience anyway. Even just seeing the other booths was a learning experience because of how amazing some of them were, from business and a more aesthetic angle as well. Next year he would take what he was learning from this year's faire and try to apply it, hopefully to see more business. But until such a time came, he would content himself with what little interest there was for his booth. Or at least that was the gameplan.

 

Until he saw Rarity, and how overbooked she looked. She was famous and her designs sublime, so of course she would be busy. But it looked like a friendly hoof may be in need. And- well, Valen had a booth, but it wasn't active, now was it? It couldn't hurt to go over there and help Miss Rarity out a little. And who knows, maybe more enriching experiences could be had after that little bit of help was offered. Valen tossed on another fresh coat of mental armor and girded himself as Gilded Lilly, excited enough just to be here to make it an easy task to accomplish. Valen locked down the change drawer and then trotted on over to Rarity's stall, making sure to keep her back hooves ever so slightly exaggerated in punctuation as he made his way over.

“Ah, Mademoiselle Rarity, I see you are most busy, oui? May I be of any assistance?” Valen asked, Gilded's eyes shining bright with prospects.