Fashion

Femme Fair: The Future is Female

April 14, 2017

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I’m so excited to tell you all about Femme Fair, a San Francisco event celebrating and empowering women in honor of Women’s History Month! Along with local food vendors and artisans, 10 local bloggers came together to mingle and sell their closets. Complete with an amazing DJ and Instagram-worthy backdrops, we gave our attendees a party to remember. And to top it all off, we also donated a portion of the ticket sale proceeds to Planned Parenthood, a cause we all passionately support.

But how did this event come about? Truth be told, it was originally intended it only to be a “little blogger garage sale!” In fall/winter of 2016, Stacey and I were texting back and forth in our usual group chat, talking about how we had so much clothes that we wanted to try to sell. Mel chimed in saying she also had things she wanted to unload, and it soon became a matter of choosing a date and finding a venue, since none of us actually had a garage in San Francisco. We ended up finding the venue first, thanks to some of my former bosses, and when we realized we had so much space to work with, we saw the potential for this blogger sale to be more. We had an opportunity to create something great, something that would benefit a charity we all believed in, and we hit the ground running.

And so began our nightly tradition of spending hours texting and talking on Google Hangout. Burning the midnight oil, we worked through our to-do list, searching for sponsors who would be willing to take a chance on three bloggers with big dreams, designing the event flyer, searching for other bloggers to sell their clothes, and so much more.

Not only were the days leading up to the event a blur, but so was the actual event itself! It was like Mel, Stacey and I had planned a 130-person wedding in just 2 months. It didn’t actually hit us that we were seeing all our work come to life until we escaped into a tiny little room midway through the event for about 10 minutes. We sat down on the floor (we were too tired to be bothered with chairs) and took in a huge breath. I remember us repeating, “oh my god” a lot. We couldn’t believe the day was finally here, and that people were having a good time. We had hoped everyone would enjoy themselves, of course, but reality was so much better than anything we had imagined! Someone told us that the line to get in at 1pm was about 50 people long and was wrapped around the block. We also heard that we had walk-in’s who wanted to attend after seeing the line, so they bought tickets right then and there. I’m still completely blown away.

The vibe at Femme Fair was nothing short of amazing. Everyone was smiling and laughing, and it was wonderful meeting our local followers (there’s nothing like getting to put a face to a name!) and the new faces in the Bay Area blogging community. Many women who came in the earlier hours were budding bloggers looking to network, and it was humbling to know that our event helped facilitate new connections.

As I reflect back, the phrase, “it takes a village,” keeps coming to mind. Femme Fair would not have been what it was without the help of so many people. To start, we are absolutely thankful for all the sponsors who graciously donated their time/products/services. If I counted correctly, we had about 50 total sponsors, which is, in retrospect, something incredibly astounding for an event that had never been done before. I have listed them all at the bottom of this post because they all deserve a huge shout-out.

We also had so many volunteers that day, as well. When Mel, Stacey and I realized we were still short in manpower, we put out a call for help on Facebook. Friends and family members came from all over to lend a hand, and we are so grateful for them! The day absolutely would not have been a success if it weren’t for them.

On a personal level, I have to thank my lifesavers:

My friend Vicki, who manned the flash tattoo station and then stuck around all day just to make sure I ate whenever I had a free second to stand still.
My other friend, Gigi, who actually changed her whole week around just to fly to SF and help. She created my entire booth display, made countless trips up and down the 3 flights of stairs to help with setup and tear-down, AND helped take everyone’s pics at our photo booth.
Papa Luxe, who drove back and forth between my apartment and the venue 5+ times so that we could get all of my stuff over… and then helped me carry it all up those damn stairs. He also held a sense of humor through it all, trying to give me heart attacks pretending that he forgot to bring things and whatnot. LOL
Mama Luxe, who flew in the night before Femme Fair from a business trip and came straight to the venue to help me set up. She then stayed at my booth ALL DAY to ring people up while I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off.
Bliss Tulle and Feminist Apparel for outfitting me; I had no time to shop!

Lastly, we would like to thank all of you for supporting Femme Fair. To everyone who attended or left a comment on any of our Instagram posts, please know our event would have been nothing without you. And because of all of your feedback and kind words, Stacey, Mel and I have already decided we are definitely going to have another Femme Fair event in the future… so stay tuned, because this is only the beginning!

If you want to know more about future Femme Fair events, be sure to follow us on Instagram. Want to be part of the next Femme Fair or see us in your city? Please email us at femmefair@gmail.com.

Okay, wow, I wrote a novel. If you made it this far, you are awesome. I hope you enjoy all the photos!