When you think of runway models, you typically think of frosty, detached, starving women stomping confidently/angrily down the catwalk. But that's not what we saw at last night's Miami Beach International Fashion Week pret-a-porter (translation for the un-haute: "ready to wear") designer showcase, particularly during Rosario Vargas Tibubay's show.
As winner of Mision Moda, a Project Runway-style show in her home country of Bolivia, Tibubay was awarded the chance to show off her work during Miami Beach International Fashion Week. But she also seized the opportunity to promote her homeland, with a show-opening video that could've been provided by the Bolivia Tourist Board.
And it didn't stop there. The designer also added a folk dancer in full, sequin-covered regalia halfway through the show, and sent her models down the runway in ornate, nightmare-inducing masks. By the show's end, we've gotta admit that we weren't really watching the clothes anymore. But we were highly entertained.
Check out the freaky costumes -- oh yeah, and the fashion -- after the jump.
It all started out so normal. We wouldn't have thought twice if we saw this model walking down Lincoln Road. (Well, we might've given that giant earring a second look.)
But as the show went on, the models' attitudes got more and more fierce. (Pardon the fashion cliche.) And the jewelry got more and more enormous.
We should have known things were about to get freaky when Little Orange Riding Hood walked down the runway.
Then the lights dimmed, the music changed, and out of nowhere: This guy.
Followed by a procession of masked models with horns, synthetic hair, and deeply unsettling eyes.
The dresses themselves feel very "modern bridesmaid." But did we mention the unsettling eyes?
Tibubay's show-ending look was this sexy, see-through number. Was Mision Moda a competition for the models, too? Because this girl is intense.
Bravo, Tibubay. Bravo.
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