At the Fashionistas event the other night at the Trinity River Audubon Center, the buzz wasn't about the clothes on the runway. It was about the blond in the audience rocking a sparkly tube-dress and motorcycle mukluks. Is this a look now? Sequined mini cocktail frock with ugly strapped footwear?
Attention-getter, yes. Fashion, ummm...no.
The girl is "Miss Ashley," aka Ashley Kelly, one of the stars of The A-List Dallas, a reality show premiering at 10 p.m., Monday, October 10, on cable's Logo channel. From the online preview, the series looks like every other reality soap on Bravo and Logo. With a lot of B-roll footage of Fort Worth to make it look more Texas-y.
Ashley is the lone girl among five of the Lone Star State's "A-List" gay men, according to Logo. A photographer/model/cheerleading-coach before being cast on the show, Ashley, 25, is from Belton. The storyline Logo's promoting is that Ashley broke away from her conservative family and now is the honey-hag to a hive of hot young gay men.
At the Fashionistas thing, she was followed by a camera crew, who'll probably make the evening look like Best Little Whorehouse on Project Runway. They were a pushy bunch, barreling through the un-air-conditioned Audubon Center like they were filming D-Day.
Miss Ashley didn't do much during the runway show. Just sat there rocking her baggy boots and cheap sequins, forcing smiles from beneath heavy makeup. She looks older than 25 in that rode-hard-put-away-wet kinda way. She has big hair.
Some of us also looked at the fashions, which were designed by Elizabeth Anyaa. It was a black, white and gray collection inspired by natural elements. Not sure if Swiss cheese is considered a natural element, but many of the outfits featured droopy aprons full of holes. We did like the kimono dresses and fuzzy coats.
