What happens when you mix haute couture and a Met Gala inspired Halloween party? You get the Style of Scare!
On October 30, I had the opportunity to check out the soft opening of Moon Boutique held at Sage in uptown Charlotte. I along with about 80 other guests ventured out in the rainy weather to get a first look at one of the most anticipated new high fashion retailers to come to Charlotte.
The attire: Met Gala chic with three distinct categories to choose from as inspiration: Fairytales Meets Superheroes, Fashion Icons: 1960-2000, and Royals vs Gods. After countless days racking my brain about outfits, I opted to channel my inner ethereal being and dressed as “Tragic Eros”-- the heartbroken Cupid. It was a hit, and there were so many fashion moments that night, more on that later. Outfits aside, the real highlight of the night was learning more about Moon Boutique and meeting its creators, Chaise and Radiah.
(l-r): Chaise and myself, Radiah, Chaise & Radiah with Chaise's mother Ronda)
Launched August 21, 2019, Moon Boutique is Chaise and Radiah's brainchild and the style duo has been keeping close tabs on the Charlotte fashion scene for quite some time. While bigger cities like NYC and LA have a more established fashion scene, Charlotte is quickly gaining its own unique presence among its contemporaries. Moon Boutique has positioned itself to be a major contributor to that growing footprint, as they’ve already become ingrained in the Charlotte fashion scene, catching the eye of major players in the industry. Joél Baang of fashion brand Ecru, tattoo artist/personality and owner of Pretty-N-Ink tattoo studio Dutchess Lattimore, and Nyoni Sioh founder of bespoke menswear brand Nyoni Couture are just a few local influencers who showed their support.
Another friend of the brand: celebrity stylist Ty Hunter (best known for his work with Beyoncé) who brought fun and charismatic energy that lasted well into the night as he greeted and mingled with guests.
When I asked Kyle Murray, social media strategist and an organizer of the event, about what his expectations of Moon Boutique, he replied: “I’m excited about fashion, personal style, and people being individuals”! He believes that although one ultimately gets dressed to please themselves, it helps when you have people around you that appreciate and support that vision. “If we had a more fashion-forward city that would make me want to get dressed more".
As co-founder, Radiah shares Kyle’s sentiment. She admits though it’s been a slow crawl to get to this point, she has noticed a paradigm shift in the energy surrounding fashion in Charlotte. “The city is growing so fast. All of the changes, excitement, and energy...it’s like the moon itself! That’s how the name “Moon” was birthed; we wanted to bring that energy to the fashion world and to Charlotte and make it unique for everybody”.
Charlotte is a city where there aren’t many young, black-owned high fashion retailers, but there are a lot of young, black and fashionable people. Moon Boutique seeks to fill that void. “We go out. We have fashion, and we have style too,” Radiah says. “It’s time we show that. The time is now.”
The Look:
Like I mentioned earlier, this event was Met Gala inspired which meant I really had to come correct with my costume. For my Tragic Eros look, I had to get more creative with my costume from last year, as I didn’t have time to do something completely new like I wanted. I knew I had to do something to take my look to the next level and what better way than to serve some serious face time? I can’t thank my MUA Quadasia of Kozy Girl Beauty for the truly ethereal look she gave me that night. It was dramatic, dark, seductive and beautiful all at once. I felt amazing wearing it, and I couldn’t have asked for a better first-time makeup experience.
One thing I really appreciated was the guidelines that made it a requirement to dress specifically to one of the themes because there’s nothing I hate more is when people DON’T participate in a themed event. Thankfully that wasn’t an issue because everybody came in their most creative costumes, ready to slay! Check some of the looks in the gallery below:
Comments