Tim Gunn (my Hero)

It's a crazy world when my favorite reality show host is turned into a 2-D action super hero. Actually, it feels like an extension of Modelinia's Spiked Heel episodes (supermodels as superheros- starring the one and only Heidi Klum). I love you Tim Gunn, but this is getting too weird. If you're interested in what the comic is going to be about, check out the New York Times article.

Finally!! Leanne's Collection on Bluefly

Since season 4 of Project Runway, all winning designers get to create a collection to sell on Bluefly. I'm actually really enthusiastic this time because I adore Leanne and her 'pleating' skills. The long awaited collection was finally revealed yesterday. I must say, I think it will actually sell!! I remember some of Christian Siriano's stuff heavily discounted during final sales, like 70%+, which is highly unusual for Bluefly so I suspect it didn't sell very well. Leanne's collection is more wearable and generally well priced. The price point is actually lower than the apparel on her website. The only thing that bothers me is that Bluefly states the retail price at $210.00 and then discounts it 20% to $168.00, when really the retail price is $168.00 and there was no discount. I hate when businesses initially mark up an item only to pretend discount it immediately. Anyway, annoyance at Bluefly aside, I think this is a great start for Leanne. Go Leanimal!

Project Runwayless Runway Show

Even though Project Runway has yet to appear on Lifetime, they have started shooting and even did a runway show with the top 3 designers showing for Fall 2009 NY Fashion Week. Unfortunately because of the delayed airing, the designers were anonymous and did not appear on stage. How horrible to not be allowed to put your name on your work and get the recognition you deserve! They probably weren't allowed to invite their families to see their work on the international fashion stage that is Bryant Park. Thankfully NY Mag has kindly covered the show. While the clothes great, the result of the PR fiasco is disappointing. Bravo, Weinstein Co., and Lifetime, stop acting like schoolyard children and settle things already!

Contestant 1 is going for the Alexander Wang 'cool girl' look with lots of chunky knits and leather, but occasionally shows off a polished side. There were definitely stumbles along the way and I don't mean models tripping here and there. The eveningwear felt weaker than the sportswear in that dresses were awkwardly draped.





Contestant 2 had the kind of girly-glamorous style that I personally aspire to dress. I found the silky dresses in rich jewel tone to be effortlessly chic. Most of the collection is really lovely and flattering on the female body. The style similar to brands like Rebecca Taylor, Milly, and Cynthia Steffe. However, the critic in me wants to rip apart looks 2 and 4 because they look cheap and groan at the awkward 'is that a shirt or a dress?' length of some the outfits.





Contestant 3 has a similar style to contestant 1 but does it better. He/she mixed things up with different fabrics and textures, but carries the criss cross pattern throughout the collection. The workmenship is impeccible, especially the work done to the leather pants in picture 3 below.







My prediction for the winner is contestant 3 because the collection really displays the person's ability to manipulate fabric. My personal favorite is still contestant 2's collection.

Breakout Designers Shine for NY Fall 09 Fashion Week

There's definitely a different atmosphere this year at New York Fashion Week. Everyone's grumbling over the recession and how designers are scaling back their shows and parties. While the big designers are trying to combat shrinking wallets by going for classics and cutting costs, the unknown designers are pulling all the stops to make their collection stand out in a difficult time for the fashion industry. Not to say the major designers didn't have a great showing, but for me, the smaller designers were the ones that really shined.

For example, Frank Tell's collection blew me away. I'm going to let the collection speak for itself.






With its fairly muted palette of black and white, the collection really focused on details and structure. The clothes manage to be both sweet/flirty and hard/edgy. As a personal preference, I love that juxtaposition. The knitwear is fantastic as well.




Another collection I really enjoyed was that of ChoCheng's. Named one of the top five Chinese designers to watch, the Hong Kong based designer has produced a collection of tailored blazers and coats. Although the collection is not on the cutting edge of fashion, it does have jackets that any girl would be happy to own. I am particularly eyeing the sky-blue winter coat which would make any winter outfit look fantastic. I did feel that the evening gowns were a much weaker showing. The last gown billowed out like it was made for maternity wear.










I am a recent fan of Bensoni so I was ecstatic that NY Mag covered their Fall 2009 show. Their clothes have a quirky lady-like sophistication, similar to that of soon-to-be-closing Mayle, that I adore. I admit there are both hits and misses but the odd pairing of different patterns and texture is what makes this clothing line fun and lovable. Nothing is super matchy-matchy.






Finally, I have to show love to the winner of Project Runway 5, Leanne Marshall. She staged a 9-looks presentation, with only 3 weeks preparation! She showcased more structural draping rather than just ruffles and pleats this time. The long column gowns are drop dead gorgeous. I also loved the grey coat and actually wish she made more winter coats in the collection. Leanne really set a high standard at the Project Runway finale that she doesn't quite meet this time around but that's reasonable considering she did the entire thing in three weeks.

Lost But Not Forgotten… Jillian Lewis

Second runner up and one of my favorite designers from Season 4 Project Runway, Jillian Lewis proves that she has a place in fashion. After quitting her job with Ralph Lauren, she produced her own line for Fall 08 and Spring 09. The line centers around her signature ruffle trench, elegant knits, and figure-flattering dresses. The judges had constantly mentioned her ability to dress women and that holds true when you see her clothes. The only question is, where do you buy her clothes?

I would love to get my hands on one of these jackets. I remember the avant garde challenge and being wow by the over-the-top punk trench with a train of ruffles and plaid lining.

Jillian also worked on several design projects. She did the costume design for A Two Part Affair and created sketches for GenArt.

I love the mix of couture and clowns.

Project Runway Legal Mess

While skimming NY Mag, I saw this brief article:

The legal battle among the studios and networks fighting for control over “Project Runway” .... stem from a decision by the Weinstein Company, which produces “Project Runway,” to move the show from Bravo to Lifetime. NBC Universal, the parent company of Bravo, has sued the Weinstein Company, which has sued Bravo, and Lifetime sued them all, saying that the channel had exclusive rights to the show.... A sixth season of the show remains up in the air, pending resolution of the suits.

So Project Runway's move to Lifetime didn't work out so well. NBC sued the Weinstein brothers because they want to keep PR on Bravo. I considered a lawsuit to be a logical action taken by NBC since PR is the most popular show on that network, to lose it would be a big blow. Bravo thought they had a lasting agreement with the Project Runway producers but Lifetime swiped the show for $150 mil for the next five seasons. No doubt NBC/Bravo was pissed by the deal.

Then Weinstein Co. counter sues by claiming that Bravo intentionally refused to promote Season 5 by having few and not well done ads, showing spoilers, and limiting press about the season premier date. Huh? I watched season 5 and didn't notice any of those things.

Now Lifetime is suing both NBC and Weinstein Co. claiming they have exclusive rights and NBC is wrongfully blocking the cable channel from airing future Project Runway episodes. They sued the producers for selling rights to "Project Runway" without fully disclosing the potential conflict with NBC. Sounds like people are just pointing fingers at this point.

Lifetime can't show any PR stuff until these lawsuits are settled and have pushed back the premier date to Summer '09. In the meantime, Bravo is creating an eerily similar fashion design show, but America gets to vote who's in and who's out. I hope it doesn't end up as ridiculous as 'Make Me a Supermodel.'

Project Drag Queen

O. M. G. How great was last week's episode of Project Runway? Amazing!

I must say Terri's Acid Betty gone geisha look was to die for. For me, that was the clear winner. But all in all, I thought the designers all came up with some great stuff- major improvement from the past few weeks.

I would blog more about this but why should I when you can hear it straight from the horses' mouthes.

Chris March's blog- He totally agrees that Terri was genius. And he makes hilarious snipping comments about Daniel.

Tim Gunn's blog- The fashion maven's take on each designers work. Apparently, the inside dish is that he and Terri got into a big debate about the look.

Runway Redux

It just me or was this the first real challenge of the PR5 season? The first challenge was a recycled one from PR1; the second was not superduper challenging except working with crummy fabrics (for some designers); the third challenge was alright, like designing for DKNY; the fourth was just too confusing for the designers and too many took inspiration from the opening ceremonies of the early 1900's. The latest challenge was actually working with a client, Brooke Shields, and she would wear the winning designer's dress on her show Lipstick Jungle- so there's huge prestige from that win. At the same time the outfit had to be able to transform from the office to the cocktail lounge.


I honestly liked this outfit and I loved the blue tank inside. However, it just wasn't appropriate for the challenge. Since Brooke chose his design and told Blaine not to make it too busy, I really feel that both Blaine and Brooke were at fault for this miss. Still, I liked the concept and it was really well made.

Terri certainly has an eye for pattern, because I hated it when I first saw it but then it started to grow on me. Still, this was definitely not my favorite look. For me, it's too casual for work and not enough pizzazz for evening. It was just- O.K. It'll work on Brooke Shields but not on t.v.

Keith's dress was soo pretty. I would totally wear it and it works for both day and night. Brooke chose this dress, but I don't think it fits her. Her wide shoulders and large bosom will overpower the lightness of the top. Overall, I think it's just too young for her.

Compared to Keith's, I had the opposite reaction to Korto's look. I thought this look was too old for Brooke and the color would clash with her skin tone. It does hide her broad shoulders but I think hiding trouble spots under swaths of cloth is more for older women. I actually believe this outfit would look best on Oprah Winfrey.

Jerell's dress was my favorite. It was so age appropriate, and so ready for tv. Maybe, the ordinary woman wouldn't wear this to work but this is for Lipstick Jungle. I am so impressed with Jerell's mixing of pattern and texture.


Ack, hot tranny mess. I honestly feel bad for Kelli because she had the talent to move further, but this was just bad. The construction was a bit pieced together, and the skirt hem was not good. Part of the blame falls to her partner Daniel, for making such a craptastic skirt, but she didn't get it together. It's funny, but I think she could have made it less cheap hoochie by adding more leopard print.

Thou Art Fierce

Sorry to do a Fashionista-style quote post but this was too good to pass up:

“Vanessa Williams is the queen of fierceness and Becki Newton is the princess…” ~ Christian Siriano

I love it because it’s so true, so true. If you want to know why Christian is commenting on the fierceness of the Ugly Betty crew, well that’s because he will be joining them as a guest on the show.

Hopefully, some Christian Siriano will inject some fierceness into Ugly Betty again. I really liked the first season of Ugly Betty which was so funny and endearing. My roommate introduced it to me and I was immediately hooked. I probably watched 4 hours straight of streamed video that night. Somehow this year, I’m not so tempted to watch. It’s probably because the plot got too ridiculous, a common problem for new hit dramas. Once I missed an episode, I wasn't all that interested in catching up, but now I'm completely lost. I, at least, will tune in for the Christian episode on May 1.

It seems that Christian is taking full advantage of his popularity following his Project Runway win. I just saw him on "Make Me A Supermodel" and now he's doing "Ugly Betty." He either has a really good publicity person or is naturally talented in that department too.