By VIVY YUSOF
alltherage@thestar.com.my

Guests are happy mingling and the host is glowing radiantly. The models are walking flawless on the runway, with the music playing smoothly in the background.

That’s what I always hope for when hosting a fashion show.

Online shopping website FashionValet.net (FV) turned one last month and as managing director, I was in charge of hosting an event to celebrate our happy day with beloved guests.

Happy? Yes! Excited? Definitely! Nervous? A million times, yes!

We invited about 200 guests yet somehow, over 300 people confirmed their attendance. With that many fashion designers, media and VIPs coming, I had to make sure that the event was something special.

FV’s birthday do was right after the Miss Universe Malaysia 2011 finals, so I thought it would be amazing to have the newly crowned Miss Universe Malaysia to walk the runway for the first time at our event. This really was a dream of mine and it came true!

Not only did the charming Kimberly Leggett lead the runway, four other Miss Universe Malaysia finalists turned up too, as well as some pretty good-looking male models.

Miss Universe Malaysia Kimberly Leggett

I also wanted something fun and cheeky for our first year anniversary celebrations so I decided to call on the help of radio deejays Phat Fabes and Ben. This popular duo makes morning traffic jams bearable with their endless wit and jokes on the radio, so I asked them to be the emcees for the party.

Everything else just fell into place after that. Invitations were given out, the seating chart was finalised, the menu was chosen, the looks for fashion show were confirmed and goodie bags were all packed. We were ready to party!

Until, that is, the day of the event.

Sometimes, no matter how well you plan something, there are always circumstances that you cannot control. For instance, other people’s punctuality or the weather.

Worse, for amateur event planners like ourselves, there were many things that we overlooked.

Firstly, the tent was not big enough, so we had to get another one on really short notice.

Secondly, our guestlist kept changing on the day itself! We had to change the seating plan several times, right down to the minute before the event started.

There were also not enough goodie bags for everyone since more people turned up than we expected.

On top of all that, it rained. Heavily. The silver lining was that it rained ealier on in the day so by the time our party was about to begin, it had subsided.

However, water seeped through the backstage tent and some of the clothes and shoes got wet. We practically had to blow dry all the clothes before the models put them on!

Lastly, we were so busy planning for the event that everyone at FV did not have much time to think about what to wear. The hosts must always look picture-perfect at their own functions – that’s a rule I always advocate.

Unfortunately, I had not even washed my hair and had to put on my make-up in the public restroom at the venue. Luckily, no one noticed, or if they did, they did not say anything to my face.

Thankfully, though, the event itself went smoothly. Guests were happy and I started relaxing towards the second half of the show.

As I watched the guests, I proudly saw what FV had created.

There were talented local fashion designers standing in one corner exchanging their knowledge and experience. There were people from the media taking pictures and interviewing some of our customers. At the buffet table, I saw my friends and family stuffing their purses with food. A smile crept on my face and I realised the efforts were all worth it.

I looked at my colleagues, and thought, “Wow, we all look terrible!” but there were also feelings of gratitude and love towards them. To plan something this important with the people who are as passionate as you, now that’s a dream.
I am so lucky to be surrounded by a wonderful group of people whose idea of fun is staying at the office until 2am.

Happy first birthday, FashionValet.net! Who knows what the future brings for you, but I pray it be a good one with a growing customer base, lots more success and events.

Just to share some things I learned from planning this event: The moral of this story here is hire a professional event planner and always have handsome male models walk the runway.

q Vivy is the managing director of FashionValet.net.