Project Fashion Runway Show

'The Fashion Show' premiered last night.
In case you haven't heard, the creators of Project Runway are moving the show from Bravo to the Lifetime network. So Bravo came up with 'The Fashion Show' to replace PR.
It's basically the same, hosted by Isaac Mizrahi and Kelly Rowland. Challenges are slightly different and the runway show has a large crowd watching.
First there is a mini challenge, which this week was to create a little black dress out of a t-shirt in an hour. The 3 top designers became team leaders in the main challenge. Each team had to choose a 'Must Have Item'. What I liked about this challenge was that instead of each team creating one look for the runway, each member on the team created their own look around the Must Have Item. I liked this because you could see the individuality of each designer and how they worked around the common item.
The items from the 3 teams were a tube skirt, a bolero and grey satin harem pants. What? aren't tube skirts and harem pants 'Must Have' items in your wardrobe?
The runway show was in front of the judges and a crowd of 'Fashion Experts'. During the elimintation, the bottom two were told all the snippy things that the 'Fashion Experts' said about their 'terrible' creations. It was pretty harsh. Instead of Heidi's - 'You're Out' the booting phrase is 'We're not buying your design'
The winning design above was by James-Paul from the bolero team. It was my favorite too. Bravo's online photos suck as usual and I think this dress is hard to capture in a photo anyway. The draping was really good. I could have done without the boots.

OK, so Merlin is the big drama queen designer in this show. He claims 'The world is ruled by bitches' and wears odd clothing. Isaac Mizrahi was surprisingly subdued in the episode. Even he was surprised by some of the things that Merlin said. Isaac and Kelly seemed to get along really well. They talked smack about the designs in the hallway after checking them out in the workroom, the way Tim usually does.
No Mood fabrics! I love when the designers go to Mood to buy their fabrics. But in this series, they just walk down the hall to a room full of fabrics. I guess that means they have no budget for their creations?
Of course I miss Tim very much. He is such a great part of PR. I even missed Nina and Michael as judges. Didn't miss Heidi one bit though!
I'll be watching again next week. I won't be posting about it every week though. I just wanted people who maybe didn't know what was going on to know about the show. I haven't seen much promotions for it myself.
The real Project Runway will air on Lifetime in July.

Project Runway - Leanne wins

I guess that we could have predicted this weeks ago right? Although, at the last second I thought Korto could have pulled off the win. She had some beautiful pieces. In case you missed it, Korto did win the Viewer's Choice $10K prize, good for her.
What happened to a reunion show? Why didn't we get to see everyone rag on Kenley, and hear Stella say 'Leathuh' and Blayne some stupid 'liscious' thing? And see Christian present Korto with a giant 10K check? This season was really pretty weak. Did they do a bad job with the show because it's trying to jump networks? What's the show going to be like if it does move to Lifetime? I hope that it stays on Bravo and I hope the show-makers step back up to the job next season.
The talent really paled compared to the talented designers of last season. There was great talent here, Leanne and Korto showed that. But I still wonder how some designers even made it onto the show - Blayne, Joe, Suede? and the fact that Joe and Suede still got to show collections at fashion week because of the shows stupid timing with airin episodes and fashion week, still ticks me off. They didn't win the right to have that kind of exposure. I mean, good for them, but it's not fair to the real final 3.

I didn't blog much about this season here, because I was doing vintage related Project Runway posts for the Vintage Bulletin - http://vintagebulletin.blogspot.com/search/label/Project%20Runway
There just wasn't enough to talk about in each episode to keep from repeating myself in both blogs. I even lost inspiration a few weeks in the Bulletin blog.

I'm not giving up on the show though, hopefully next season will pick up!
How great were the past few Wednesdays though with Pushing Daisies on at 8:00 and then PR on at 9:00? Great night for tv watching.

Project Runway - Day into Night

I have to admit that I wasn't very inspired by this week's challenge. Brook Shields was the special guest and judge. The challenge was to design an out fit for her to wear on her show 'Lipstick Jungle' I've never seen it, but I've heard that it is some sort of Sex in the City clone (which I didn't watch either, sluts and expensive shoes, no thanks)
The outfit had to be suitable for her character to where in the office and then out for a night on the town. And she said that her character had a taste for the 'bohemian style' oh jeez, don't say that to this crowd of designers.
The designers worked in teams. My favorite team was Jerrell and Stella who seemed like they would be very opposite, but actually got along quite well.
The results were very mixed from Blayne's dumbassed Bermuda shorts, to Kelli's very tacky 1980s Merry-Go-Round inspired bustier set with leopard trim.
The winner was Keith from the Mormon Hood and Kendel, who did the chiffon petal skirt with floral top above. I thought the waist was too high, but otherwise very nice.
I also liked Korto's design, above right. She was stuck with Joe Scmoe. The boho blouse was very orange, but I liked the style. You removed the top to reveal a fitted strapless dress with an open back.
Kelli and Blayne were in the bottom two, and I can't believe that Kelli was out and Blayne was in. Yes, Kelli's outfit this week was bad. But I thought for sure Kelli would be in the final 3 or 4, whatever. Blayne hasn't shown that he is much of a designer. In fact none of the men have shown any outstanding design talent.

Maybe I need to watch the show again to appreciate it more. It was just ho-hum.

Project Runway - Olympic Challenge

This week's challenge was to create an outfit that could be worn to the Olympic Opening Ceremonies. I don't think many of the designers have seen the opening show, but from what I remember, most of the athletes are in athletic-like clothing, representing their country. This group got the red, white and blue correct, but I think some of them thought it was a cocktail party or something.
Korto won with the outfit to the left. I think the pants were linen? the vest was leathuh. Linen is a bad wrinkley choice. As a regular outfit, it would be nice, but I think it fell short of being an Olympic outfit and I don't think it would be flattering on most atheltic bodies. But I like Korto, so I'm glad that she has a win.


My favorite was probably Kelli, because of the obvious vintage influence. But I don't think it was suitable for the Opening Ceremonies either. I think it's a little too cuties, and there should be a little bit of formality to the outift. I think Terri should have won, because her outfit was sporty and fun, with enough of a slightly formal look and also a comfort look for the athletes to wear. I wish she didn't have that scarf thingy though. The formal jacket looked good with the sporty top and pants. I like Terri's, she seems cool, her designs are good, and I also like her hair. Is that weird? Whenever I see her, I think, Great Hair. Full and wavy/curly.



Jerrell made the outfit below on the left. What Olympics is he designing for? There was alot going on it that outfit and the hat too. Subtract the leggings and it would have been a really cute outfit for regular wear, but not for this challenge.
Next on the right below is Joe's outfit. You know, the straight guy, with 2 children to prove it? Now Joe was going on saying there was too much drama because there were 'Too many Queens' Please Joe, you were the biggest Queen on the show last night complaining and making a big fuss because someone used your sewing machine. Girl.
His outfit was sporty and fun, although the skorts were weird with the longer panel in the front. I think he should have dumped the skorts and used the jacket - which was really nice with the mixed red and blue zipper that he made - with something else, pants maybe.



Daniel, below left - said his dress was inspired by the 1940s. I don't get it. I don't see it. I see a shiny purple cocktail dress. Sometimes he looks cute and sometimes he looks kinda elf-like. He always looks like he's on the verge of a panic attack. He was in the bottom two this week.
Jennifer did the other outfit below. I think that it is cute, but not at all Olympic-like. The judges thought it was another 'matronly' outfit, so Jennifer was out.




I thought I was going to be disappointed in the challenge this week because I thought it was going to be like the skating outfit that they did in Season Two. But the idea of an Olympic Opening Ceremonies uniform was a good one, the designers just didn't get the 'uniform' part. Now how would the USA look with a bunch of athletic Gals marching throught the stadium in Jerrell's outfit? Ralph Lauren is designing the Olympic Uniforms.
Oh, I almost forgot! Stella designed her uniform in leathuh! I guess you probably could have thought of that yourself. She said it was to appeal to the bikers who like the Olympics.
I'm sorry to say that there is not much to talk about besides the clothing this season. I like that the focus is on the clothing, but I guess I also like a little drama in the work room.

I am actually a big Summer Olympics fan, I like the gymnastic (mostly womens) love the indoor and outdoor women's volleyball - (Misty Mays & Kerri Walsh - those gals rock!) some diving and running. I even briefly got into watching the Greco-Roman wrestling when the Russian World Champion lost to the American 2 Olympics ago. I look forward to watching them this year.

Project Runway - Nightlife Photos

Idea man #1 - "OK, we need to think of a new challenge for the designers" Idea man #2 - "I know, let's send them out with cameras to take photos of stuff, and then have them make an outfit - get this - inspired by the photo!"
Idea Man #3 - "No we did that already in season 2. Remember, graffiti, gutter water, a flower, traffic signs, Paris Hilton & her boyfriend in Greece . . . "
Idea man #2 - "oh, yeah"
Idea man #4 - "hey, I know, how about we have them take photos AT NIGHT?"
Idea man #1 - "Brilliant, good thinking"
Idea man #3 - "Groundbreaking, very innovative idea"
Idea Man #2 - "Why didn't I think of that?"

So this week's challenge sent the designers out at night, in glamorous rain ponchos in one of those city tour buses. It took them to locations in NYC, where they had to take photos that capture the feel of NYC nightlife. Then they had to create an outfit for a night out on the town inspired by one of the photos.

Kinda-Vintage gal Kenley won with the above dress, which was inspired by a colorful ceramic tile. While it's not something that I would wear, there was something striking about it. The tropical-like print was inspired by the tile, although the colors looked very different to me. I am amazed that she managed to wrestle the layers of different colored tulle into a shape that was even/equal with the fabric side of the skirt.

Below are my favorite three, in no order.
1st was a dress by Leanne who made a great comeback from last week's tragic overdone dress. The skirt was really pieced amazingly (of course Bravo's photos are too dark to see any detail) The top was simple but sweet and flirty. Her inspiration was a spiral metal planter.

Next was from Kelli. I think that I like it, I guess I can't commit for sure, because the photo isn't good and of course the runway show is so fast that you can't get a close look at the clothing. It looks very interesting and I'd like to see what is going on there. Her inspiration was a black and silver fire hydrant.

Lastly was a one piece pantsuit by Korto. It looks very chic and comfortable, but we got no details or insight while she was making the outfit. I think it was a halter with an open back. I don't know what her inspiration was.



Below -
Terri's dress over pants was inspired by graffiti and stickers. The dress was backless. Everone loved it. I think it looks a little frumpy from the front, alot of print fabric. But I liked it. Michael Kors remarked that he loved dresses over pants. I remember him telling Kara Saun that he was tired of seeing dresses over pants, way back in Season one. I guess they are back in now.
Jennifer was in the bottom two with her blue satin dress, inspired by a clock. Daniel remarked that it looked like some out of style vintage dress that no one wanted to wear. It wasn't horrible, but something was off on it. Maybe if she had more time to add some more of the clock details on the white bands.




Emily Strange was out this week, with her ruffled dress that was inspired by moving street lights. Blayne's ruffled extravaganza was similar to Emily's dress, but somehow he wasn't in the bottom 3.
Keith from the Salt Lake Hood made a dress inspired by a wet magazine on the ground. He covered his shapeless dress with squares of different print fabric. Oompa Kors remarked that it looked like shreaded toilet paper. I thought Keith was being set up to be the ne out. Because we learned about his background, and heard several times how great of a designer he was. Seemed like the classic Project Runwat set-up for an auffing. But I was wrong.



Sandra Bernhard was the guest judge. I like her, I like her sense of humor. But, why was she the judge? She's not known for having a great sense of style. As far as I know she's not a big fashion fan. Maybe she's just a fan of the show. I think they could have gotten someone more relatable with fashion to be a judge.


Three episodes in, and I'm not sure how to judge this current group. Some of them have some way-out design ideas, maybe because they are a younger crowd. There aren't any real standout personalities in the group either - good or bad. Blayne is a little pesky knat. How cringe-ingly embarrassing was it when he was getting Tim to say 'Holla at cha boy'? (shudder) Please Tim, do not say that again. Stick to what you know. We love your high brow phrases, you don't need to add any street lingo to your vocabulary.
I like Stella, I think she's cool, but other people seem to be bothered by her. Oh, by the way, she got to work with her beloved leathuh this week. Her inspiration was a studded leathuh harness on a horse. I like all of the girls actually. Suede was overworking the 3rd person talk again. We hardly see any of Joe - the token straight guy, and Jerell. But then again, we did learn that Jerell sleeps in a mud mask.


Check out my Project Runway-Vintage related post on the Vintage Bulletin blog

Project Runway - 'Green' challenge

So this week's challenge was to create a 'Green' Cocktail dress. Green meaning they had to use organic fabric that's good for the environment and stuff. Kinda boring. So to make it more challenging, the models got to buy the fabric (Mood Fabrics has a limited section of organic fabrics, some were surprisingly shiny, but I didn't see any prints) and the designers had to work with whatever the models got.
The winning dress (left) was made by Suede. I wonder what the tulle was made of that made it organic?


Suede cut strips of fabric and then Suede wrapped and stitched the strips of fabric that Suede cut, to create the dress that Suede invisioned.
Suede really needs to stop talking about Suede as if Suede was not Suede himself.
'Suede' doesn't really suit him anyway. He doesn't look like a Suede. Not like Leather Tuscadero. Now her name suited her, and that sister of hers, Pinky.
Back on track . . . Carol didn't really like Suede's dress.




Project Runway's own leather queen Stella, wished that she was working with leather instead of satin. In fact, she wished that every challenge had them working with leather. And when she caught Blayne making fun of her leather-love, she gave him a 12 years old spanking. She created this one shoulder dress with laces on the sleeve and the sides. hhmmm. Shiny.

Keith - what 'hood' is he supposed to be from with the bandana tied around his head? He made the coffin lampshade dress to the right. ehhh.





The judges made a fuss over Kendel's dress on the left here. It wasn't a favorite of mine though. The collar reminded me of Daniel's Orchid Blouse from Season 2. This model actually has breasteses, and they looked smooshed in this dress. Plus the dark belt made her seem shortwaisted. It would have looked more sleek without the belt.
Korto created this inside-out looking dress with tailfins, that the judges ripped apart. Korto ended up in tears. But It seems like the judges really like her, and there were dresses worse than hers, so she was safe.



My favorite three - Blayne, darn I liked it. I think it's more of a Club dress than Cocktail, but I thought it was cute. Made of a hot pink jersey. And I didn't hear any silly catch phrases with this dress, so that made it easier to like.

Daniel made a black satin dress with pockets. He made the model walk down the runway with her hands in the pocket, which I think threw off the look of the dress. It looks much cuter here. I mean, I like pockets in a dress, but I don't walk around with my hands in them all day. I've got things to do with my hands. I'm not sure what is going on at the back of the skirt though - I need to watch the show again.

Lastly I liked the look of Jennfier's peach and grey dress too. Simple and cute. Not really cocktail-y. But I liked it.




The bottom two were Leanne and Wesley. Leannne's dress would have been ok without the pockets and without all the loops of fabric on the back. Maybe a longer length. Leanne sells her garments on Etsy. Check her out here - http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5249055

Wesley had too many details in too small of a space with fabric that shows flaws too easily. Bye-bye to Wesley and his shorts and nerd-boy geekyness.



Phrase of the days was 'Remnant Nonsense' uttered by Jerrell while he was worrying about what type of fabric his model was out buying for the challege.
Laugh of the night was provided by Heidi talking about Suede's dress - "If I were ten years younger, I would wear it too." What does she mean? She always wears short, strapless, shiny tacky clothing.

Senator Padme Amidala from Naboo was the guest judge.

Project Runway - Supermarket Challenge

The first challenge of the new season took the designers back to the supermarket where the first challenge of the first season took place. Tim mentioned that this brought them 'Full Circle' which struck me as a strange comment. Don't you usually say that at the END of something? We've come Full Circle to the END or is that to a new beginning? Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but it seemed odd. One good thing was bringing in the lovely and delightful Austin Scarlet, winner of the Supermarket challenge from Season 1, to introduce the challenge and to be a guest judge. Seeing Austin float across the street was a joy. I still adore him.
At first I thought repeating this challenge was a bad idea, have they run out of ideas for challenges? But it still turned out to be fairly challenging. This crowd of new designers all knew the original challenge, but most of them went for the unispiring and easy idea of using tablecloths. Tim gave them a verbal spanking for not being more innovative.
Kelli won with the dress above. The skirt was made from vacuum cleaner bags that were dyed and bleached to create the print. The top was made of coffee filters with strips of tacks on the waist and the spiral spine from a notebook was used to make the closure on the back of the dress. The skirt, the tacks and the back closure were really cool. I wasn't a fan of the round top though for some reason. Kelli is cute and seems pretty cool. She used to sell the clothing that she made on ebay until she was chosen to go on PR.
Kenley also seems pretty cool and she has kind of a vintage look. Stella is a cool rocker chick from Queens, and she kinda reminds me of oldschool Cher. She used garbage bags to create a dress. I guess she forgot the negative reaction to the garbage bag dress in the original challenge. Plus the bags she bought turned out to be those really cheap thin ones that tear when you lift them. She might have done better with the really thick and shiny ones. I felt bad for her, and was glad that she wasn't the one to go.

Shayne is my current pick for most annoying, which isn't really a horribley bad thing for a reality show. He is an admitted tanning addict and apparently likes the knit hats too. I'm not sure what it is that he made here. But he thought it was fabulous. It certainly was not 'Girliscious' which was what he was calling it (and saying over and over again) even writing it on the model's leg for the runway show. Tone down the attitude and the catch phrases Shayne, you are no Christian!

This crowd of designers is mostly younger. Out of 16, only 6 are in their 30s or older. I'm guessing from the looks of this crowd that we're going to get alot of attitude this year. Awesome! last year's crowd, while very talented, were kind of tame. I like the drama and attitude, as long as it doesn't distract from the creativity.


Designer profiles on Bravo - http://www.bravotv.com/Project_Runway/season/5/bios/index.php

My Project Runway post on the Vintage Bulletin blog

The return of Project Runway - yay?

Project Runway returns this Wednesday night! So of course I will probably be forcing you to read my take on the episodes every Thursday. In case you haven't heard, this will be the last season that the show will air on Bravo, next it will be moving to the Lifetime channel. ehhhhhhhh. Guest judges the Golden Girls, Fran Fine, Kelly Martin, Melissa Gilbert and other movie of the week actresses are thrilled, but I'm not. Hopefully they won't kill it over there.

Anyway, it's kind of obvious that Bravo isn't thrilled about the move either, and who could blame them. I just wonder what they are going to give us this season. Usually they are whoring the new season hardcore, but so far we've only seen commercials with scenes from previous seasons. They didn't put photos or bios of the new designers up on their website until yesterday. But they also posted a list of all of the guest judges and challenges on the site too. Usually spoilers don't bother me. Harry Potter, Doctor Who, Heroes, geek that I am, I LOOK for spoilers about them. But I like being surprised about the challenges and judges on Project Runway. Why did Bravo do that?
I'm excited for the new season despite the controversy. The designers look like an odd bunch, I can't wait to see what happens this season!

You're a tickety-tack super tranny hot mess from Transylvannia - Look at those tranny panties!

I copy-catted this from Julie @ Damn Good Vintage , who grabbed it from those fabulous RunGay Guys . The clip is just so funny, all must see it! (I swear the Project Runway posts will stop eventually)

Project Runway - Yeah Christian! (It's over, now what?)

Yeah Christian! I'm glad that he won and I hope that we see more of him than we do of previous Project Runway winners. Tonight's final runway was the best of the 4 seasons. Every outfit that came down the runway from each designer was interesting - whether you liked it or not - I wanted a closer look at each item. I had to get out of bed and sit on the floor right in front of the tv to get a closer look as each collection came down the runway. Christian received the most applause, at least 5 of his outfits received applause as they came down the runway and they had guest judge fembot Victoria Posh wiggling in her seat and whispering in Michael Kor's ear. The outfits were just striking and I really like the look of the 3rd outfit above, very dramatic, outrageous, over the top, only wearable by someone like Posh, but fabulous.


Rami's collection was really nice too and for a brief second I thought he had a chance of winning when the judges said they were finally seeing the Rami that they wanted to see. The judges pointed out Rami's trouble with colors and I have to agree, some of the colors were odd. The gowns above were my favorites. The first had a satin basketweave on the side of the bodice that turned into an amazing drape down the side. The gold dress had a nice Old Hollwood look to it. The 3rd dress was made from 1930s lace and it had a gold shimmer as it came down the runway, the bottom had a very striking movement as it came down the runway. I can imagine Rami's gowns being worn on red carpet's in the near future.


Meow, kitty sees you! Doesn't that look like cat eyes on the bust of that first dress? I still really liked Jillian's collection too. I thought Jillian's pieces were more wearable for the semi-average gal. The riding helmets that some of the models wore were distracting, but the clothing was very nice and I see Jillian doing well with her own line too. The judges complaint was that the collection was too mixed, but I thought she was just showing her range.

At the beginning of this season, I kept feeling that something was missing from the show. Looking back at the season now, I think it was one of the best. It was focused more on the fashion than on the personalities, which is a good thing. In the past, the show had alot of focus on fighting, backstabbing and wacko people. If it weren't for Christian & Chris, this would have been a dull lot of designers, they added fun. Elisa had a wacky personality, but it was a sweet, likeable personality and I was interested in her designs. Unlike Vincent who was a true annoying wacko who was drug along in the competition for drama. Christian's early confidence seemed like arrogance, but it grew on you and it wasn't offensive or as biting as Santino was in his early episodes. Christian really grew on me, much earlier than Santino finally did.
I think the challenges were great this year too, faves being the Hershey challenge, the Wrestling babes, the NJ Prom Girls, the Weight Loss gals, the Avant Garde challenge and the Art challenge. During promos at the beginning of the season, Heidi and Tim both said this was the most talented group of designers, and at the end, I have to agree. They really turned out some amazing pieces this year. But now it's all over. I can't wait for the next season!


Some great dishy reading -
Tim gives a great interview about the show and dishes a little about Victorya -
http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2008/03/project-runways.html
Wonder why she was so grumpy at the reunion show? She thought the time limits on the challenges were faked for tv and was mad through the duration of her stay on the show because they didn't have more time to work on their clothing. Show accused the producers of giving more money to some of the designers to spend at Mood Fabric, and actually has Tim count out the money in all the envelopes in front of her. Plus I still don't get her attitude about Jack leaving, she thinks it was a set-up.
Victorya responds to Tim's comments over at Blogging Project Runway -
http://bloggingprojectrunway.blogspot.com/2008/03/victorya-responds.html
She basically disses and dismisses his qualifications to be a mentor for the designers. Can you say Bitter? How about Sore Loser?

LOTS of great stuff from the RunGay Guys - http://projectrungay.blogspot.com/
First check out all of their great photos from the Project Runway finale party and read the great dish. Also watch Jillian's 2 exit interviews, meow! She get's a little catty and questions whether Pos was a fair judge or not. I have to agree. I think someone with a wider range of an opinion/knowledge of fashion should have been a judge. Her comments about a lady in an orange dress and shoes being the judge is funny.
PLUS Jillain won the 'It's Sew Not Over Challenge' on Bravo's website (Yeah! I voted for her) so she gets the 10K prize.

The Walk-off and the Tickle Torture

Project Runway - Chris & SweetP

So last night was the semi-season finale of Project Runway where Rami and Chris got to show their 3 strongest pieces for the judges, to decide who should go to fashion week. Rami won, deservingly so, because I do think his clothes are more marketable than Chris. But I think they should have sent both to the finals because I think Chris has some very interesting ideas in fashion. But it's not that bad really, because Chris as well as SweetP both did get to show their collections at Fashion Week. That's because in 4 seasons, the producers still haven't figured out how to line up the shows with Fashion Week so that the final 3 won't be spoiled in the Fashion Week press before the actual show airs on TV. Hopefully the exposure that SweetP & Chris receive at Fashion Week will help out both of their futures. We find out the winner of Project Runway next week.

Here are 3 of the outfits from SweetP's runway collection at Fashion Week. These were my faves of the 12 presented. The 2nd one being my favorite of all because I like the colors and the print and it's a cute little dress, which is what I think SweetP is really good at. I hope she does well on her own and I'd like to see more of her designs.


You can see the rest of SweetP's Collection Here

Next are my favorite of Chris's designs from Fashion Week. His collection was surprising, it was dark and goth-like with lots of black, dark blue and dark red. What looked like monkey fur when I first saw it turned out to be human hair, strips of hair extensions that people normally put in their hair. Now at first, I was kind of grossed out, because somehow human hair seems dirtier than monkey fur to me (yeah, weird I know. Of course it's been cleaned) but after thinking about it being used in people's weaves and wigs and in Victorian Hair Art, and reading other's opinions, the hair doesn't seem as strange to me now. But I still don't see why he didn't use synthetic hair, wouldn't that hold up better?
The outfit at the top of this post was one that he showed the judges last night. Not only was it trimmed with the hair extensions, the skirt was made with rows and rows of safety pins. Chris said it took 8 hours to make each row. The effect was amazing and I have to say, that shiny hair looked really amazing coming down the runway. The judges thought his pieces were too dramatic and over the top. But what about Christian? That boy is way over the top and that's what they love about him. Also, Christian had to try on several of Chris' pieces last night which was kinda funny. And Tim called Christian 'Sweetheart', which was so sweet, and he blew Chris a kiss when Chris got the boot at the end. I Love Tim. I know, you do too.


You can see the rest of Chris' Collection Here

My choice for the big winner? Well, it's easy to say that it's going to be either Christian or Jillian. It depends on what the judges are looking for. For more marketable clothing they will go with Jillian, for innovation and personality they'll go with Christian. Christian def has a bright future in fashion and Project Runway would be foolish not to latch onto him on his way up.

Project Runway - You vote 'It's Sew Not Over'

Project Runway is having a special online competition involving 12 of the designers from this season. The 12 designers each made 3 garments which can be seen online at the Bravo website. Watch each designer's runway show and then you can vote on who you think the winner should be! The designer receiving the most votes online will win $10,000.
You can watch the whole 16 minute show above, or go to Bravo's webpage and watch each individually and then vote -
http://www.bravotv.com/Project_Runway/season/4/sew_not_over/vote/index.php



I haven't chosen a favorite yet, but here is my take on the outfits -

Carmen - inspired by Japanese warriors, weird I thought. But once you get past the mask and the sword on the 1st model, the outfits are actually very interesting and very Carmen looking. All of the pieces worn together are a bit much, but on their own with something else they would be very nice.

Chris - the 2nd dress is very Laura Bennett, I like the shoulder drape on the 3rd dress, it's my favo from this group. But a lady can only take small steps in these narrow dresses! I'm kind of disappointed.

Marion - inspired by Hitchcock, kinda High Fashion Goth, kinda Avant Garde. Maybe even a little 1920s influence too. Interesting.

Christian - lots of wild chiffon prints. Man that last model is scrawny legged! I think the mix of prints is a bit much. The 2nd dress reminds of the readywear outfit from the Avant Garde challenge, except it's a print. I like the 1st dress and I like the jacket in the 3rd look, but I'd prefer both without the print stockings.

Elisa the Puppeteer - I want to say something about her outfits being kooky (her commentary is the classic Elisa-kooky that we all love) but the dresses are actually pretty good. The 1st not so much, but the other two gowns are very interesting, they look really comfortable and they are draped nicely.

Jack - the print of the first dress is great, but the lay of the dress and the black accessories ruin it. I like the jacket on the 2nd look, the 3rd dress would have been better without the print trim and without the black boots and gloves.

Jillian - Very cute first dress, LOVE the 2nd dress, the high waisted pants in the 3rd look would have been much better on someone with hips and a waist rather than the stick figure of a model. I think I know now who I'll be voting for.

Kevin - he's straight, he's from Jersey, His looks were good, but nothing really different or innovative. The 2st dress is a cute plaid and I like the opposing pattern down the sides of the dress. I'd like the 2nd look if it wasn't leather, that is pretty cute.

Kit - Cute stuff, I like the sweater with the buttons up the sleeves, the eyelash dress is very sweet and I like the cape from the 3rd look over the plaid skirt. I could probably wear Kit's stuff.

Rami - Not a Grecian look in the lot! 1st look had a cute blouse, I don't think I like the puff of the skirt below the fitted hip - that's not a flattering look for the average woman. I love that lavender coat from the 2nd look. The Lavender babydoll dress would have been better without the ruffles on the arms and neck, unless you are 10 years old. I mean it'a babydoll, do you really need additional ruffles?

Steve - 1st dress, kind of plain and I hate those flat, no-boob bodices. The 2 other dresses were very nice party dresses, kind of 1950s looking and I really liked the lace shoulder treatment on the 3rd dress.

Ricky - Are you kidding with those hats? He had the 3 models wearing his hats. I couldn't stop looking at those hats! They were very distracting. Once I trained myself to ingore the hats I saw that the 1st dress was really sweet, I love the bottom. The 2nd dress, kinda trashy, but cute somehow. The 3rd dress was a cool looking red fabric, but it looked like it need to be pulled up or have something more structure on the bust or something at the neckline instead of the sheer nude.

'I've met some fierce bitches up in my life' - Christian highlights

Rock Rocks-it again!

You know that I love the doggies, and every year I watch Westminster's Dog Show. I have so many favorites, but you know that it's all about the Bulldog - hey-hey-hey! Cherokee Legend Rock represented the Bulldogs at Westminster for the 2nd year in a row. He came in 2nd place in the Non-Sporting Group (behind a frou-frou poodle ((rasberry))
If you check out their website, you can see videos of the individual breed judging which is a great way to see a bunch of your favorite breed. The bulldogs are so fun to watch, they have such great attitudes when they walk - http://video.westminsterkennelclub.org/player/?id=216270

Blogging Project Runway has photos up of the 5 designer's shows last week at Fashion Week. Yes, of course I looked. I like spoilers and this doesn't spoil anything, because we don't know the final 3 yet. I'm going to hold off on my opinions until the show really airs and I can see the outfits moving. Sometimes they look so different on the move than in still photos. I have to say that I was surprised at Chris' collection, kind of Goth for him. I didn't like the monkey-looking fur he was using to trim some of the pieces though. I'll also say, boy does Christian love ruffles!

http://bloggingprojectrunway.blogspot.com/2008/02/final-collection-polls.html

More Altered Art & Project Runway

This week I finished up the last book in the Altered Art Round robin project. This book's theme was Fairy Tales, and I chose 'Damsels & Witches'

The two page spread -



Closer view of 'Damsels' and then 'Witches'



I printed off some John Waterhouse paintings, perfect damsels, and I found some creepy Witchy images online too. I used gold tulle, flowers and paint on the damsels page and some vintage black tulle and lace on the witches page. The vintage writings came from some poetry pages that were in with Jessie Laurent Harper's things when I bought the hats and dresses from her estate 3 years ago. The piece I used for the Damsels said 'come back to me sweetheart' and the one for the witches said 'walk with me in the darkness' - which I thought were perfect for the pages.

OK, I'll do a brief Project Runway recap. Designing costumes for Lady Wrestlers. How fun to see Tim Gunn standing up there with those gals! Chris won, how could he lose with his drag queen costume background? Ricky was finally out, and there were no tears, which was a surprise. So now we are down to 5 designers. Today is the Project Runway show at Fashion Week. I was reading a live blog feed from the show and all 5 are showing today. So at least 1, maybe 2 are decoys.
My early prediction was that the final 3 would be Rami, Christian and Jillian. But I think Rami has lost his lustre with the judges, so he may not make it to the final 3. My favorites picks would be Chris, Jillian and SweetP. But I know that Christian is definately going to be in there, because the judges love him. SweetP had several great dsigns, but she also choked in a few competitions too, so I don't know how the judges will look at that.
Rami still has a chance though, going by my 'investment theory'. Rami already has an established name in Hollywood. The judges - and I don't mean Heidi and the gals - I mean the REAL judges, the ones who sign over the $100,000 check - are looking for someone to invest successfully in. Look at Chloe and Jeff, both had businesses and knew what it took to run those businesses.
Ahhhh, I don't know who'll win. I can't wait until next week's episode!