Red Carpet Ready

Kerry Washington at the 2011 Emmy Awards Photo:  International Business Times

Starting a series on the road to the red carpet!  I'll be live at the Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 23, 2012 www.emmys.com

Designer gowns, tuxes, celebrities...Hollywood produces more red carpet events than anywhere in the world.  Next up: the Emmys!  Thankfully I've become more fashion savvy since moving to LA.

Hired by Backstage magazine to cover a film premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theater, the assignment didn't include a stylist. Thus, I committed the cardinal sin: wearing flats on the red carpet.

"How could you?" a friend actually said to me.  Well, as an investigative reporter I'd spent more time behind crime tape than velvet ropes.  Try perching in Christian Louboutins at an all-night hostage standoff.

Soon after going to work at The Hollywood Reporter, my boss told me I'd be attending the BAFTA Awards (British version of the Oscars) - that night.

I felt like Cinderella.  I'd be rubbing elbows with guests like Denzel Washington and Julia Roberts and I didn't have a gown.  My former TV stations had taken care of everything when we needed formal attire so there'd been no need to buy a gown that could only be worn once on-air.

Enter fairy godmother (they do exist!). A co-worker must have heard me sniffling in my cubicle. "Stand up," she ordered, visually taking in my measurements.  "Come with me."

My fairy godmother drove me to her Hollywood Hills home where a lady-in-waiting (ok, her daughter) met us.  An aspiring stylist, she'd seen to every detail from gowns to makeup to glass slippers (ok, high heels).

The ballroom, a sea of silk and diamonds, was just like the fairytale.  At the end of the enchanted evening, my chariot (ok, taxi) was waiting.  

I didn't think of it before but one detail was missing.  Where was Prince Charming?

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Check out part 2 of my road to the red carpet here.

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