Thursday, May 23, 2013

My 1st Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekender 2012

Well I hate myself for not having shared with you my first ever Viva, now I'm posting it a year later a few months after my second time attending! What a weekend and I'm barely talking about it now!!
Well since I practically ended up creating a photographic diary of that adventure let me now share with you a few photos from all of the craziness that is Viva! From dancing and drinking all night, to buying up vintage, meeting and making new friends and spotting out cute boys!

Well I left with all my girlfriends (do any of you remember my vintage posse 'Ghetto Vintage Bitches' that I mentioned once?) who live in the San Fernando Valley and on our way there my friends car died in Pomona! We were stranded in Pomona, tried to get the car fixed it didn't work so we were towed all the back and it took four Mexicans five minutes to fix the car in no time!! 
Yay for brown power!!


The following day once we arrived in vegas the girls and I attended Rocking Ronnies Pre VLV Party!
Which was of course tons of fun! Here we are with our friend Gary from California.


Here is some of the crowd at the party


Some great live entertainment

Smell the Nostalgia! 
Strolling around the house checking out Ronnie's cool Americana and Rock N' Roll collection

Oohh vintage Western Wear!

Yay! My first famous blogger hero meeting! 
I got a chance to meet the lovely and awesome Dollie of the great blog The Rockabilly Socialite

Fun pic with Dollie and her hubby Zack
It's cool to know I can now call them friends & acquaintances 

Day 1 Thursday
Here we are with The Orleans Alligators (or are they crocodiles?) ready to hit the vendors


 Day 1 Thursday Night
Here I am with the girls and our friend Richard (he's part of our Ghetto Vintage posse too) Apparently I didn't get the red memo, but the girls said "It's like you're our pimp and we're your hoes" okay haha! I wore a faux gold lurex halter (designed and made by me) and my vintage embroidered and pleated slacks that I bought for $1!


Yay another blogger meeting!
Here I am with the lovely and awesome Gloria of the blog That Vintage Broad. This was our first time meeting after we both follow one another's blogs. She always has the coolest hair and great makeup, Fierce! It's cool that now she too is a friend of mine!


Day 1 Thursday Late Night
Here I am with my good friend Ernie (he too is also part of the ghetto vintage posse) in my late night outfit (not that exciting I know, but it was my 1st viva) repro Rayon Hawaiian blouse and high waisted jeans.


That's my friend Christina being attacked on the dance floor by our friend Benny. 
You see what happens Viva makes people crazy!



Day 2 Friday
Day two of viva and here I am for VLV Bowling with two of my very lovely friends Mother and Daughter, Rena & Justine. They're always the sweetest and always have some pretty fab clothes. Justine is in fact writing and currently filming a documentary about women in the vintage scene and culture. I'm wearing a shirt of my own design from my menswear look I did for my school fashion show back in 2011 ( I still have to share that with you) and some black capris. Pretty casual for bowling.


That's our friend Jeff Beaugard. Known for his witty and memorable remarks, awesome vintage and is one hell of a dancer. Here he is bopping away in the bowling alley.

Day 2 Friday Night
Can somebody say Patio Party? Here we are in our Patio/Squaw dresses we planned it out that night, but we unexpectedly coordinated in color (we tend to do that). My squaw dress isn't as nice as the ones with the shimmery ric rac and it's too short for me you can see my slip! Major style faux pas, that was the first and last time I wore that dress.

Yee haw! We're all ready for a barnyard ball! Western Night with our friend Rhinestone Tom (in the green suit) and his friend and apparently some photo bombers in back. Tom always has the craziest, cool blinged out and embroidered suits. If you thought men didn't care about fashion and style, you're wrong he spends a pretty penny on his suits and he always look fab, us ladies love him!

Day 3 Saturday
Here I am at the world famous Viva Car Show! I didn't take pics with any cars really, it was way too  hot  and I'm not that great of a pinup haha Anywho I'm  wearing a black and white repro ensemble with some gingham capris that give the illusion of camel toe (sadly) haha

Here I am with the girls. My friend Julie always as the coolest stuff like that awesome hand painted mexican skirt and sequined ric rac top!


At the car show I was approached by Punk Outlaw to be interviewed on Latinos in the Rockabilly Scene. I received some flak on youtube for not calling myself "Rockabilly" but like I explain in my interview and you can see from my blog I'm a lover of many things. Please excuse me for saying "A love for the passion" hahaha I was too enthralled with my conversation. Thank you again to Robert of Punk Outlaw for hosting this great little interview! 
I was also featured on their website! Here's the Article!
PUNK OUTLAW: LATINOS IN ROCKABILLY
Lastly I was also featured on the website Remezcla Musica for a relating article,
ROCKABILLY & LATINOS: A REMIXING CASE


Later that evening we attended the Burlesque showcase, which was pretty cool and my first time ever seeing a burlesque performance! My personal favorite was Medianoche, lovely and quintessential, classic, burly Q!



Day 3 Saturday Night
Saturday Night at Viva! Here I am with my always dapper and handsome friend Andre. I didn't expect to see him! You can usually spot him at Viva working the Allyn Scura Eyewear booth in fab 20's & 30's garb. As for me I'm wearing the first dress I ever designed and guess what? It's the same dress I wore to my high school prom! I wore it to viva because number one, I didn't have anything fabulous to wear. Number two nobody  at viva knew me in high school so no one ever saw it! haha I ended up purchasing that vintage rhinestone brooch that night and pined it to my dress to prevent a wardrobe malfunction. My dress was  to big due to weight loss and I had to keep it from slipping.


Here I am with the girls again and our awesome friend Ana. I'm loving my friend Corina's green hawaiian dress and my friend Julie looks like a diamond dreamboat!


The crowd dancing in the ballroom that night

Day 3 Saturday Late Night
Here I am with my very lovely and talented friend, fellow East Angeleno Artist John Carlos De Luna. He always looks very dapper and has done some amazing artwork! Be sure to check out his blog Barrio Dandy. As for me I went for a 40's daytime look, makes it easier for dancing. I wore my 1940's cherry earrings and cherry hairclip a gift from Vicky Tafoya.

Day 4 Sunday
It's VLV Pool Party time!! I gotta say my favorite viva outfit I wore that year had to be my vintage play/swim suit! I bought it a Valerie's Boulevard in Whittier and paired it with repro accessories to look  1940's pool party ready. Check out my friends awesome hawaiian prints and those accessories!

Yay another famous blogger encounter! 
Well Youtuber I should say, the lovely Ashley of Lisa Freemont Street. She brings you all those really cool and really helpful vintage and retro inspired hair and makeup tutorials!

Check out the lovely ladies in the swimsuit contest, the cute petite redhead is my friend, hair & makeup artist, pinup, burlesque dancer and former 2011 Miss Uptown Whittier Sirena Siren!

Day 4 Sunday Night
The last night of Viva, how bittersweet here's a pic of me and the girls yet again. I'm wearing my off the shoulder silver lurex blouse and black velvet skirt with lucite mules all of which I got at the thrift shop!

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Well that's it the very end of Viva 2012 and I talked about it a whole year and two months later! Talk about procrastination! I shared what I could or should I say was decent enough haha Now to share with you my Viva 2013 adventure which was much more fabulous and fun the second year, yet it was also filled with a little heartache as well (but that has no place here so I'll shut up). Thank you again Vegas and Viva for introducing me to  one of the best things to look forward to every year!

(All photos by Victoria Inez Rivera)