Hey y’all! Hopefully you’ve read part one, now for a recap of my evening with Ashley Graham! I will try to give you a full play by-play but I’m not sure my words will really do the evening justice.
After a long day of promotion, press and bloggers were invited to a media dinner with Ashley Graham at Toca restaurant inside the beautiful Ritz Carlton Hotel. I was a total fan girl and arrived early, obviously! I was greeted by a rep from Addition Elle and Ashley. #SheWon! Ashley was lovely, offered to take my jacket, as if, and we proceeded to grab a glass of wine. Ashley was warm and welcoming and the evening slowly turned into what felt like an intimate dinner with friends, only a lot of us didn’t know each other and our host was a supermodel, who, by the way, greeted each of her guests at they arrived.
Ashley thanking everyone for attending and their support of her new line.
As we sat down to dinner, everyone got to know each other and chat. Ashley did the rounds and even took a few pictures while appetizers were served. Total class act. Once everyone was seated, Ashley thanked all of us for coming and a request to open a little gift from our host!
It’s a cup case for your bras to prevent damage while travelling. Brilliant!
As dinner started we chatted about everything! We met Ashley’s husband, she told us about growing up, her neighborhood, her family and SHE asked US tons of questions. She doesn’t like the term, Plus Size, Fatkini or Plus Size Model. She eats burgers, she does Bar and yoga and appreciates a good sale! Models, they’re just like us! Had I not known better, I really would have thought everyone had known each other for years. As a member of the media we all know these types of events can be a drag, the “host” is being paid and this is part of the gig. “Hosts” usually leave early, Ashley was present and stayed present the entire time. What made this different was how personal the dinner was. Everything about it felt real. There was a certain comfort and familiarity about the whole thing. By desert we were all being really open and when Ashley asked me what size bra I wore I just blurted it out! Doesn’t seem like a big deal, but for me, I don’t talk about those things with anyone who hasn’t known me for at least 5 years! And with that, I put on my big girl panties and asked for a picture.
Me and Ashley Graham. This is actually pre posing lesson!
Yes! You read that right, I got a lesson in posing! I’ll show you that pic in a sec. We tried to take a picture a few times and then we took this one which I immediately hated! “Eww, my belly!” came flying out of my mouth and without missing a beat, this supermodel told me not to be crazy and if it really bothered me to follow her trick! Are you ready for it? Here it is – Hips back, chin out and down. It actually works!
Hips back, chin out and down.
In the end, I actually like the first picture more, it’s brighter and I don’t look like a crazy stalker. I also met blogger Karyn Johnson. She was one of my first twitter followers when I started this blog! She was super nice.
Me and fashion blogger Karyn Johnson a.k.a. Killer Kurves
I guess I need to give some closing thoughts on this night. It really was wonderful. Ashley totally lived up to what I imagined she would be like. She’s that girl every guy would die to be with, total smoke show. She’s also the girl who you would want as the BFF you go to Europe with. As I was leaving she wished me well and told me she was happy she met ME! I nearly died and that’s when I went into full level 5 fan girl and spilled that I had been a fan of hers forever and was so excited she not only lived up to, but blew away, every expectation I had of her.
CLOTHING CREDITS: My top: Addition Elle, Pencil Skirt: Voluptuous, Shoes: Torrid Ashley’s Dress: Vivienne Westwood (on sale – also VW apparently carries dresses in up to a size 3X)
Thanks to my new friend Diana from Dare Magazine for taking my picture with Ms. Graham
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