Two nights on Formosa Avenue, one throne, and the weekend I
started calling The Venus Games.
By Anthony Perlas · Nightlife Report · Sun Oct 18, 2026,
PT
Darlings, I’ll start at the end, because that’s where the gasp
is.
At 10:19 PM PT on Saturday, I locked the board.
Ava Kortman, first. Emily Sophie Christine, second. Kyla Dodds,
third. And the team title, the one I care about most, went to
Deborah Beaumont Designs as our Best Overall
Modeling Team.
Twenty-four hours earlier the board looked different. Somebody slid,
somebody arrived late and loud, and somebody never let go of the crown.
Here’s how two nights at the Bureau’s LA Fashion Week at The Lot
Studios, 1041 N Formosa Ave, West Hollywood, turned into what I
now call The Venus Games.
Why “The Venus Games”
Let me clear something up first. This was never one model against
another. It’s a game of light. Venus is the brightest thing in the
evening sky, and on a runway the question is the same: who
carries the light down the floor? That’s presence,
professionalism, poise and camera. That’s the whole test. We score the
walk and the presentation, never anyone’s body, and we show our maths.
Nobody here is a rival. Everybody’s a contender.
The backstory: the pit
If you’ve never stood in a media pit, here’s the room. A strip of
floor at the foot of the runway, a riser, and a dozen of us who all want
the same centre-line frame. People plant monopods like flags and drape
jackets over the rail like “reserved” signs at brunch.
I’ve lived the less glamorous side of it. I’ve had a spot I held for
an hour get quietly crowded, and I’ve been talked over when I asked a
simple question about the running order. I’m not naming anyone, and I’m
not interested in a feud. I’m telling you because it’s the “before” in
this story. I walked into Friday wanting one thing: to get the
frames, tell the story straight, and let the work answer for me the next
morning.
Day One: The Opening (Fri
Oct 16, 6 PM)
The Opening bill read like a dare: Deborah Beaumont, Krown
Kink, Sewreffic, Saint Fortuna, Susan Kim, Dimez and X-X
Co.
I went live from the pit at 6:31 PM PT and stayed on
for about 38 minutes. The audio is mostly crowd, and the auto-transcript
mangles half the designer names. But some of my own words came through.
Early on: “They had a really strong opening in this show.” A
little later: “I love how they’re having a photo shoot.” Then,
a beat after that: “Oh, they’re blocking it.” That’s the pit in
three sentences.
Then came the line I’d stand behind on any night: “This is my
favorite designer.” For the record, the transcript doesn’t make
clear which house I meant at that moment, so that one stays
unconfirmed.
Here’s what is on the record from Friday:
- Ava Kortman (@avakortman) walked for Krown
Kink, the label from designer Casey Lee
Parker. She’s the one I couldn’t look away from: presence,
poise, and a total command of the camera. - Emily Sophie Christine (@emilysophiechristine)
walked for Sewreffic. My camera kept finding her: four
of my Day 1 selects are hers, in the P1000704 to
P1000713 run. - Deborah Beaumont Designs put out the deepest lineup
from first look to last. It wasn’t one star; it was a
team. - Saint Fortuna got my “house to watch” note (frame
P1000719).
Overnight board after Day One: Ava on top and Emily
as runner-up. The team title went to Deborah Beaumont, with a design
citation for Sewreffic.
The wall
Here’s the wall every photographer hits by Friday midnight. You’ve
got hundreds of frames, a hot take and an audience that wants a winner
now. Rushing it is tempting. It’s tempting to crown on vibes,
name the model in a frame you can’t actually confirm, or quietly make
the story more dramatic than the facts.
I didn’t. Captions I couldn’t confirm said “photo
pending.” A model I couldn’t tie to a house got
[TBA]. That made Friday’s post a little less juicy. It
also made it true.
The epiphany
Somewhere between Friday’s upload and Saturday’s call time, it
clicked. I’d already written it down for myself, so here it is plainly:
approval is information, not identity. A runway gives a
designer a verdict in about nine seconds, and a feed gives a
photographer one the next morning. Neither tells you what the work is
worth.
So I stopped trying to win the pit and started running my own
scoreboard: a published rubric, a points ladder (16 / 12 / 10 for the
podium), and a rule that “unconfirmed” stays in the copy until it isn’t.
The pit can be territorial. My board doesn’t have to be.
Day Two: The Finale (Sat Oct
17)
Saturday ran three shows at The Lot: 2:30 PM, 5:30 PM, and
the sold-out 8:30 PM Finale. My Day 2 card runs from
P1000800 (outside, before the Finale, 8:05
PM by my camera) to P1001133 (9:53
PM).
Small confession from the desk: my camera’s clock hasn’t been checked
against real time, and I remember the Finale starting earlier than the
frames say. So trust the order completely and treat the minutes
as approximate. The order is in the backdrops, and backdrops
don’t lie.
The Finale, in order:
- Cloud & Mist opened with its children’s line.
It was sweet and family-first. Kids are never scored or ranked here,
full stop. (Frames P1000808 to P1000823, “…MIST”
backdrop.) - Doug Chinery (Naked Sewist) was all maker’s-hands
construction. (P1000831 to P1000868, about 9:20 PM by my
camera.) - Justin Zachary brought ostrich-feather
details: not wings, and pure movement under the lights.
(P1000878 to about P1000979, about 9:27 to 9:36 PM.) - Eternal Been kept the tempo tight. (P1000988 to
P1001031, about 9:38 to 9:43 PM.) - Krissy King Swim closed with the wings.
(P1001040 to P1001133, about 9:45 to 9:54 PM, with “KRISSY KING” on
the backdrop and “Dance with Seahorses” on the art.) Whether that’s
a collection title is unconfirmed. Krissy King has long
been billed as a bikini and angel-wing designer, and on Saturday the
wings were the show. Disclosure: she’s also a Bureau co-founder
and producer.
Siragusa was on the Finale bill, but I don’t have a
frame that pins its slot, so its place in the order is
unconfirmed.
Five houses passed through my camera in roughly 43 minutes. The
changeovers were tighter and the pit was calmer: fewer elbows, more
nods. Day 1 had flashes. Day 2 had flow.
The conflict: the board moves
This is where the column gets its gossip, and it’s all on the record.
Kyla Dodds (@kyla.doddsss) came in late and
loud and took third on my board. Her public book
includes a New York Fashion Week runway in 2023 (Tabloid
Nation). Her house at Bureau is Krissy King. Her 10 points are no longer held.
Emily Sophie Christine holds second, and Kyla Dodds lands at third. My camera still found her four times on Day 1, and those
Sewreffic frames stay in the story.
And Ava Kortman? Nothing on Saturday’s slate took
the crown off her.
The
achievement: the final board (locked Sat Oct 17, 10:19 PM PT)
| Place | Model | House | Placement points | Trophy tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ava Kortman | Krown Kink | 16 (+2 Model of the Event) | Throne (Legendary / Gold) |
| 2 | Emily Sophie Christine | Sewreffic | 12 (+2 Sewreffic design citation) | Strong (Rare / Blue) |
| 3 | Kyla Dodds | Krissy King | 10 | Noted (Uncommon / Green) |
- Best Overall Modeling Team: Deborah
Beaumont Designs. - Design citation: Sewreffic. Champion’s
house: Krown Kink. House to watch: Saint
Fortuna. - Ava Kortman is our Model of the Event and
Nightlife Report Model of the Year 2026.
These are editorial picks by me as head judge. The Bureau announced
no winners.
The transformation
On Friday I walked in wanting the frame. I walked out on Saturday
knowing what I’d made, whatever the pit said. The photographers worth
standing next to slide six inches over so you can get the shot too, and
that’s who I’m trying to be, especially for whoever is newest in the
row.
The Venus Games aren’t about who’s prettiest. They’re about who
carries the light. This weekend, three women carried it all the way down
Formosa, and one house carried it as a team. I just had the best seat in
the room to watch it.
Captions (photojournalism
style)
- Emily Sophie Christine walks for Sewreffic during
“The Opening,” Bureau Los Angeles Fashion Week, The Lot Studios, West
Hollywood, Fri Oct 16, 2026. Frame P1000711. Photo: Anthony Perlas /
Nightlife Report - Saint Fortuna on the runway, “The Opening,” Fri Oct
16, 2026. Frame P1000719. Model unconfirmed. Photo: Anthony Perlas /
Nightlife Report - Ava Kortman in Krown Kink by Casey Lee Parker, “The
Opening,” Fri Oct 16, 2026. Photo pending: no frame in our set is
confirmed to show her yet. Photo: Anthony Perlas / Nightlife
Report - Outside The Lot Studios before the Finale, Sat Oct
17, 2026, 8:05 PM by camera clock. Frame P1000800. Photo: Anthony
Perlas / Nightlife Report - Doug Chinery (Naked Sewist) shows in “The Finale,”
Sat Oct 17, 2026. Frames P1000831 to P1000868 (select TBA). Model
unconfirmed. Photo: Anthony Perlas / Nightlife Report - Ostrich-feather detail at Justin Zachary, “The
Finale,” Sat Oct 17, 2026. Frame P1000911. Model unconfirmed. Photo:
Anthony Perlas / Nightlife Report - Eternal Been, “The Finale,” Sat Oct 17, 2026.
Frame P1001004. Model unconfirmed. Photo: Anthony Perlas / Nightlife
Report - Krissy King Swim closes the Finale with winged
looks, Sat Oct 17, 2026. Frame P1001068. Model unconfirmed.
Photo: Anthony Perlas / Nightlife Report - Last frame of the night, Krissy King Swim, Sat Oct
17, 2026, 9:53 PM by camera clock. Frame P1001133. Photo: Anthony
Perlas / Nightlife Report - Kyla Dodds on the runway, Bureau Los Angeles
Fashion Week, Oct 2026. House Krissy King. Photo pending: frame [TBA].
Photo: Anthony Perlas / Nightlife Report
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Editorial scoring: these are Nightlife Report picks by head judge
Anthony Perlas under our Runway Points format. They aren’t official
results. Camera-clock times are approximate (the offset is unverified).
“Unconfirmed” means exactly that.
Disclosure: Nightlife Report is a SEROPTICS desk. OTTE Models (LA talent booking) and OPELVME (AI automations) are related
network sites. They had no say in these picks. Krissy King is also a
Bureau co-founder and producer.
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