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In the second week of April, I threw a trunk show in the studio of fur and leather designer Carole McClellan. Carole first became famous for designing and sewing the outfits for Ann Wilson during Heart's Barracuda Tour in 1978. The original pieces are still on display at the EMP in Seattle Center. As a stylist, I'm happy to have a renowned artisan and designer like Carole as a resource for clients who want custom pieces made or vintage furs recycled. Thanks to Carole and her generosity, when a group of us decided to take a little trip to Park City, Utah for The Sundance Film Festival, we had some fabulous and functional furs to wear. At Sundance you will find stylish people in abundance, and if you like that sort of thing it's quite fun.

I had plenty of reasons to say YES when my friend and fellow fundraiser Jiawen Shi invited me to join her and a group of her best friends (Pictured above: Owner of Seattle's Volterra restaurant Michelle Quisenberry wearing Carole McClellan fur, NYC business woman Jennifer Cohn Beugelmans, socialite and It's A Small World organizer Alicia Dahill of Portland, and San Fransisco's Denise Tran founder of the newly opened Bun Mee). Our friend Aron Michael Thompson produced a movie that would be showing there Off Hours, which was written and directed by Seattle's Megan Griffiths and styled by Seattle stylist Rebecca Luke. In attendance would be our good friend and SIFF Board member Michelle Quisenberry, as well as another great party buddy and nonprofit supporter Joanne Glant, mixologist Kathy Casey, and photographers Cassie and Jessie Redstone. To top it off, event coordinator and social connector JJ McKay (who is known for organizing some of the best destination parties from NYC to LA) was there to host an event for Eddie Bauer. So of course I said, "YES".

PR and event organizer JJ MCKay in Park City, Utah during the Sundance Film Festival wearing a custom Carole McClellan fur.

We spent a pretty fair amount of time figuring out what we should wear in the cold of Park City, but Carole McClellan was more than accommodating when she offered to loan furs to me, Michelle, JJ McKay and Jiawen for the occasion, making preparation much easier. Carole's designs are as socially conscious as they are gorgeous because she uses vintage furs and food-grade furs, making her one of the most unique designers around. For those who like to go vintage shopping or have inherited pieces that are in good condition, the designer will pull from her latest collection of styles to come up with a modern piece. Issues around the humane treatment of animals are put to rest and dated garments are utilized rather than left to rot or thrown away. McClellan stays on top of the most important trends in fashion by looking at Fendi, Christian Dior, Chanel, and often obscure and avant garde designers. She is a true bellwether of fashion in Seattle.

Photographers Jesse and Cassie Redstone, with Michelle Quisenberry and Mixologist Kathy Casey

I arrived at the Salt Lake City airport two hours before Jiawen and the other ladies, so I hunkered down with my coffee and magazines only to find that the pleasant British gentleman sitting next to me also had to wait two hours for his contact, and was amiable enough to strike up a conversation. It turned out that he is one of the big players for the BBC's documentary film production team. His job is to find good ideas that will become entertaining documentaries and get them funded and produced. He was at Sundance for the premier of five of his documentaries. To pass the time, we played around with ideas involving the Pacific Northwest. He expressed how incredibly dull we are in Seattle/Vancouver as if to challenge me to come up with something remotely interesting. I told him about my idea to make a mocumentary of a fashion stylist who goes crazy as she tries to help Seattleites rationalize why it's okay to be stylish. He laughed out loud, and called it a "great" idea. I'm thinking that maybe I should get serious and produce this one.

Oh, wait...I tried that once, and it offended the videographer, who was concerend about the social politics of the overall message.

Once our group connected, we were off to The Canyons to stay at the Westgate Resort. I met Jiawen's friends—beautiful, stylish, and intelligent women. Of course, Jiawen hangs out with great people. I was flattered to be among them. The first night we made our way to The High West Distillery, which served some of the best vodka and whiskey that I've ever had. The boozy drinks and yummy appetizers made it a perfect, leisurely environment for everyone to get to know each other. After we ate, we made our way to the The Snoop Dogg concert. In writing this, I debated about revealing that we got into a $200 per person ticketed show and scored the $2000 VIP lounge for free, and then somehow ended up on stage with Snoop Dogg, Lil' Jon, and Warren G, and then afterward got invited to go back stage and smoke weed with Snoop. (I declined, but it was offered, and that was AWESOME.) But the truth is, after getting fed up with waiting in line in the cold, one very ballsy chick among us pretty much just walked in the door and instantly made the right connections. We didn't even pay for our drinks. Already I could have returned to Seattle feeling quite happy, but there were still two more nights at Sundance and the first one was a good indication of things to come.

The following day we enjoyed lunch at Robert Redford's Zoom Roadhouse Grill and took in an art exhibit of photography of '70s chess genius Bobby Fischer at Thomas Kearns McCarthy Gallery. We joined some friends for dinner and barhopped later that evening. A couple of the girls made their way to the infamous Bing party where they got chummy with Ryan Seacrest.

We were thrilled that we managed to get in to see The Off Hours; we love to support our local talent. The movie portrays working class people living in the Pacific Northwest who find themselves in an emotionally tedious, dead-end experience of their own making. The protagonist eventually decides to break free by leaving the small town and venturing into the unknown, perhaps a more hope-filled Seattle. It was fun to see our people on stage for the QA and afterward getting to have their moment in the Sundance sun. Later that evening we enjoyed a fabulous dinner and promotional party for mixologist Kathy Casey. The night got even better when we managed to Forrest Gump our way into The Roots concert and the 50 Cent afterparty (that's what happens when a well-known NBA player gets a crush on Jen: we get into cool parties, I'm keeping this chick around).

Sarah Elizabeth Caples with Jiawen Shi sporting Carole McClellan restyled vintage fur

We managed to keep ourselves going until 5:00 am every night—or should I say morning?—and take in everything that time would allow. Thanks to designer Carole McClellan, we managed to stay plenty warm in the frigid temperatures, which was good because the festival is a non-stop party in the streets of Park City. I will certainly be attending again next year. Congrats to our local talent for making it into the festival as well!