Get ready to strut your stuff!
Fashionable Brooklynites can walk the runway and show off their most fabulous outfits at the first ever People’s Ball at the Brooklyn Public Library’s Central Branch on Dec. 1. The event is designed to celebrate the individual style of people in the neighborhood, and to defy the rules of traditional fashion shows, according to one of the show’s organizers.
“Cutting-edge, fabulous style has nothing to do with exclusive high-priced galas and corporate fashion events. It belongs to the streets and to the people for whom dressing up is an act of creativity and freedom,” said Laszlo Jakab Orsos, the ball’s creator and the library’s Vice President of Arts and Culture.
The free event will feature a raised runway, constructed in the library’s central lobby, which will open once each hour for anyone willing to walk and show off their ensemble while a professional photographer snaps pictures.
“This is open to everyone,” said Orsos. “Everyone deserves this elevation.”
Makeup artists will offer free touch-ups to people before they step on the catwalk, yes, the catwalk, when they do their little dance on the catwalk. A cash bar will also provide some liquid courage to those preparing to strut in front of a crowd.
The celebration will be emceed by two local art aficionados: actress Delissa Reynolds, best known for her roles on “Luke Cage” and “Orange is the New Black;” and Isaac Fitzgerald, the founding editor of BuzzFeed Books.
Between strut sessions, local musicians and the disc jockey Rimarkable will keep thing bumping, and a choreographed dance number will also get people on their feet.
About 2,500 people have already sent an RSVP to the event, which shows that locals are eager to show off their creativity, said Orsos.
“This is a test run, but seeing the overwhelming response, we have huge interest and curiosity,” he said. “People can show how their imagination works — we’re just providing the platform.”
“The People’s Ball” at the Central Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library [10 Grand Army Plaza at Eastern Parkway in Prospect Heights, (718) 230-2100, www.bklyn
