19 May 2009

New York (Manhattan, to be exact) is one of those extremely densely-populated cities where we pass by hundreds of strangers each day…on the street, on the subway, while sitting in a park.  These high-traffic areas also happen to be places where you will find six-foot long ads for The Fashion Show.  I probably pass by five of these each day during my 10-minute commute to my studio.  They are hard to avoid.  Any time I find myself standing within five feet of an ad, I hear my name being called (”Angel?”)  somewhere behind me.  It is indeed weird (even a bit freaky) to be experiencing this.  

If anyone is interested in reading what happens after two weeks of appearing on a reality TV show, here are some experiences I’ve had in the last couple of days…

1)   A trendy girl approached on her way to the L train, claimed that she never watches reality TV (I know, it’s a guilty pleasure), said she went to school with Daniella, and said she hoped that we beat her in the competition. My photographer friend Amber just happened to be with me, so she took a picture of the funny moment. 

2)   A middle-aged man passed by me as I was exiting the West 4th St. subway stop and said, “Angel?” like we were long lost friends.  It was a quick encounter with a long impact.  My friend Ce Ce thought he looked like a homeless guy on crack and is still freaked out about it.  Bravo reality TV fans come in all shapes and sizes, it seems.  

3)  Five seconds later, a wholesome tall guy with wire-rim glasses and a long pony-tail said, “Angel?” in the same manner as the man above.  However, this guy really was an acquaintance…a former high school classmate from Indiana that was in New York for the weekend.  We never spoke in high school, and I only recognized him by name.  Apparently, we had exchanged tweets last week on Twitter when he was in Indiana.  How he happened to be walking behind me a week later in NY’s subway station is beyond me.  I know what you’re thinking….

4)  I passed by Blue Ribbon on my way home on evening.  One girl looked out the window, saw me, nudged her friend, then both sets of eyes were staring out at me.  I felt like a fish in a fishbowl as I was lugging my heavy groceries back to my apartment. 

5)  Four classy women standing together with champagne glasses smiled at me during a small private reception at the Cartier mansion. Did I know them?  Was a chunk of the arctic char hors d’oeuvre stuck on my face?  It turned out that they were all editors at Harper’s Bazaar, the media partner for The Fashion Show. One of them was the Publisher Valerie Salembier, another was Senior Fashion Editor Michelle Robinson. I also met Glenda Bailey and Laura Brown there. They had been following the episodes, of course. Yay for the fashionistas!

As you can see, the people who watch The Fashion Show are varied in gender, age, lifestyle, and region. It is weird to meet these viewers in real life.  I hope I don’t say something in any of the episodes that is really offensive.  The worst thing would be getting tomatoes thrown at me on my way to work!