South Bay Galleria Trendsetter Fab!
Ready Set, Project Style GO: Nick Verreos arrives at South Bay Galleria in Redondo Beach CA, to co-host Project Style 2012 Live Style Off
It's
PROJECT STYLE Live Style Off time at various Forest City Centers across Southern California--and the US--and two weeks ago I had the honor of co-hosting--along with Style Network's
"How Do I Look?" host
Jeannie Mai--
South Bay Galleria's edition of this fun and fabulous style competition.
Hosts With the Most: Project Style 2012 Spokespersons and Host Nick Verreos and Jeannie Mai As you may know, both
Jeannie Mai and I are the
Official Spokespersons of Project Style 2012 and back in March, we shot
a fun video, encouraging Trendsetters/Stylistas to put together looks, style themselves, shoot a mini video and put it up on the
Project Style website--to eventually have a chance to win the Top Trendsetter prize and a $1000 Shopping Spree from the participating malls/centers. Then, all the 15 regional winners will go on to compete NATIONALLY for the Grand Prize--a trip for two to New York City during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week next year!
Nick Verreos, Project Style 2012 South Bay Galleria Live Style Off
Now, back to
South Bay Galleria's Live Style Off...I began the event with some fun introductions, and greeting all the shoppers, guests and family members/loved ones of the finalists who were all gathered at the Center Court of South Bay Galleria. I also had to do my traditional "Runway Blessing" (so none of the finalists would have a runway malfunction while on stage)...
You Better Work: Nick Verreos begins the Project Style South Bay Galleria Live Style Off with a "Catwalk Blessing" doing a little runway walk of his own while the Finalists look on
Joining Jeannie and I to judge today was
Sean Dennison (above far right) Personal Stylist manager of Nordstrom South Bay Galleria. Sean was really great in bringing his years of expertise and insight on styling to help in deciding who would win the Final Live Style Off prize of a $1000 South Bay Galleria Shopping Spree.
The Finalists:
Left to right: Christy Chen, Jennifer Gonzalez, Tori Thompson, Brittany Donaleshen, and Chigo Ikeme--on stage, Center Court South Bay Galleria
Each of them got to do a runway walk showing their outfits that they put together:
Left to right: Christy Chen, Jennifer Gonzalez
Left to right: Chigo Ikeme, Tori Thompson, and...
Brittany Donaleshen
Nick Verreos and Jeannie Mai interviewing Project Style 2012 South Bay Galleria finalists
Interview Portion: After their catwalks, Jeannie and I had a "one-on-one" interview asking each finalist about their looks, where they went shopping, their reasoning behind each look and how much did they spend (each was given a budget of $200 to shop in the mall/center).
Then it was Decision Time. And The Winner Is...Tori Thompson!! (above, being interviewed by hosts Nick Verreos and Jeannie Mai) Tori is a budding fashionista, stylist and blogger (she has a great blog called
MyThriftyChic.com--you can click
HERE to check it out)--Her winning outfit consisted of a very Fall-appropriate sweater, grape-colored skinny jeans, a printed blouse, stacked pumps and a FAB oversized clutch with metal studs. We, the judges, felt that her look was pulled together and was perfectly styled. She also utilized the most out of the money that was given to her to shop and style herself.
Winning Style: Project Style 2012 South Bay Galleria Tori Thompson joined by judge Sean Dennison of Nordstrom, and hosts/co-judges Jeannie Mai and Nick Verreos
Not only did she win the $1000 South Bay Galleria Shopping Spree prize, she also won the Fan Vote--where we asked their friends, shoppers and attendees to text their favorite contestant to a number and the one who received the most votes won "Fan Favorite", and $500 Galleria shopping spree. So, Tori won a total of $1500! You Go Girl!
After all the Congrats--we all posed for some fun photos and then Jeannie and I had a great Meet-and-Greet with shoppers, attendees and took lots of photos and signed autographs--Here are some of those pics:
MC of Style: Nick Verreos with the Project Style 2012 South Bay Galleria Finalists and Winner
Nick Verreos and Jeannie Mai with Project Style attendee and fan--Amy Taylor--South Bay Galleria
Project Style 2012 South Bay Galleria Finalist Chigo Ikeme (and one of my biggest Twitter followers--Love her!) Photo Collage (check out those FIERCE wedge booties!!)
Style Smiles: Mandy Faura, NIKOLAKI co-designer David Paul, Nick Verreos and Rita Verreos--South Bay Galleria
