“FASHIONISTA” MERLOT
We were locked in a room with the kids. Ok, it wasn’t that bad, we had WINE. (It was an emergency treasure in my purse, for “just in case”). The point is WE had wine. By WE, I mean the heavens smiled upon me for this job because my friend’s daughter (shout out) was also booked!
My daughter was walking in a fashion show and before you ask more questions, I don’t normally bring wine to modeling jobs. This is different. My kids do print work, (you know, Target, Carters, Kohl’s, Children’s Place, Benetton, etc) nothing crazy or weird. It’s laid back and frankly unexciting. On the rare occasion we do fashion shows, which is designers such as (Ralph Lauren, Oscar De La Renta, Heidi Klum, etc) using kids to walk down the runway. It happens maybe twice a year. This particular show had two shows with adults and a few kids. Bottom line: we were going to be there all day. They also omitted us moms from the cocktail hour in-between the shows, in which all the designers and models mingled with Calvin Klein, etc, except us. I mean we could smell the wine. NOW, you get why I brought a stash. We had to create our own cocktail party or we had to level the crazy backstage antics and join in with the fun.
Let’s be frank, these were 5 and 6 year olds, we are not in the height of our modeling careers. They are kids; giggling, running around and having a blast. The antics going on around them didn’t faze them. As one mother puts eyeliner on her daughter, AFTER the kid’s hair and make-up, my friend and I nearly fall off our chair. We reach for the wine. We are speechless. Which, if you’ve kept track never happens. (Let’s just say, this is not pageants people. Kids make-up in modeling is little to nothing, so this is definitely “out of the norm”).
Currently we are in between shows, one down and hours until the next. A nameless person comes in the room and chides the 6 kids present on their performance from the first show. Summation; “kids smile more”, my daughter is too busy watching Dora to care. I pretend to care. I don’t. She’s cute and awesome and 5! My friend and I pour another glass! The best part is these kids are having a party. They LOVE this, which is why we are here.
My favorite part of the evening was backstage. Another nameless person was stomping their feet and yelling into an ear piece, priceless. Just like the movies, BUT even better! Tantrums, yelling, stomping and arm flailing and NOT by a mom! Holla. That might call for champagne, a celebration that we apparently are more normal and cool than we thought! The night ends with our kids rocking it. Applause all around and a sigh of relief from us moms!
The wine we had on hand was a Lieb cellar Merlot, not pronounced Mer-LOT (as in a lot) as a nameless mother shrieked. Merlot was big in the 90s, and to be fair Merlot is still the #2 grape in terms of planting, outside of Cabernet. This wine has the typical plum profile while easy to drink and smooth, definitely worth picking the wine up or visiting the North Fork and visiting the winery!