Other Top and Other Bottom

"I don't call it plus-sized, I call it plus-sexy."

Can we just say, that from a former copy editor's perspective that drives Tom completely nuts? It makes no sense. If she had said "I don't call it plus-sized, I call it SEXY-sized," THAT makes perfect sense. And a cute little tagline. "Plus-sexy?" That doesn't mean anything.

It is the bane of copy editors and former copy editors to go through life having these thoughts. Pity them.

Having said that, we do love the gal and look forward to high entertainment coming from her direction all season. Consider what she's like merely buying fabric:

"Designers..."

"WAAAAUGH!!! OHMIGO--!
WHAT'MIGONNADO???!!!!!
RUNNINGOUTOFTIMEDOITMYSELF!!!!!
OUTOFMYWAYTIM!!!!!I'LLRIPITWITHMYTEETH!!!!!!"

"As I was saying, Designers, you have 15 more minutes."

As for her dress...

Model: Kalyn Hemphill

There are aspects of it we like, but we can't argue with the judges putting her in the bottom. Back when we were pre-judging her, we said it looked like she had issues with the kinds of fabrics she uses and we're sorry to say it looks like we were right. They're bright and vibrant fabrics, but they don't look expensive at all. Does it look to you like she had 200 bucks to spend in a high end fabric store?

In her defense, color- and pattern-wise, they're bold choices for the red carpet. We just think she could have found fabrics that provided the same effects AND looked high-end.

Also in her defense, we have to say that while we couldn't argue with her low scores, there's definitely something there, from a design perspective. Good enough to make us (and the judges apparently) want to keep her in to see what she does. That treatment at the front looks to us like a good (or at least interesting) idea gone wrong.

It seems that she cycled through too many ideas in the process. Check out the back there. It's completely different from the final dress.

And the front looks less blousson than it did walking down the runway.

It looks like she had a crisis of nerve (which was practically an epidemic in that workroom) and overthought her garment.

We will say that the back was as beautiful as she claimed. It was the one thing she got completely right.

Girl just needs to find her center and take a few deep breaths next time. If she panics during a basic red carpet challenge, what's she gonna be like when they ask her to go dumpster diving for materials?


Kittens, we have a dilemma here. We are, as you know, total bitches. But we feel a little funny making fun of someone in recovery.

Oh, the hell with it. He chose to air it on national television, didn't he? Every 10 minutes or so, right? He announced it to his roommates within THE FIRST TWO MINUTES OF MEETING THEM.

"Hi, I'm a recovering meth addict. Oh, and my name's Johnny. Nice to meth you. I mean meet you."

Anyone who's ever had a friend go through 12-step can tell you that for quite a while after their recovery, there is literally almost nothing else they're capable of talking about. You want to be all supportive and yay and you can do it, but on the inside you're all "Ohmigod, can we talk about ANYTHING else for a while?"

Such was the case with Johnny here. Some commenters called it out as a Sebelia-esque ploy for attention, but we don't think so. We think he's still in the throes of obsessing over his downfall and we kinda wonder if a reality television competition was a good idea for someone in his state.

Then again, he's got Tim Gunn and his magical hugs there, so maybe he'll do alright in the end.

Model: Emarie Wiltz

He certainly did alright with this competition although to be honest, we can't see why.


The dress had a couple things going for it, but to our eyes, it had just as many things wrong with it as right.

Here's what he got right: the back.

Very sexy and provocative and well-fitted.

But the front? Kittens, we don't get it. It's very basic draping and it looks like it's held in place by a couple stitches. The effect is not particularly flattering or fabulous.

Further, we're not all that crazy about the fabric and the trim. Red and black are difficult to do without going into whore territory and he's right on the cusp there.

In fact, in a weird way, he had exactly the same issues Qrystal Qristal Qristyl did: fabric choices that looked a little cheap and tacky, overthinking his garment, and a back that looked great but a front that looked unflattering and messy. So why was she in the bottom and he in the top?

Gosh, you don't think they were going for a "storyline," do you? Perish the thought.

Extended Judging Videos:





[Photos: Mike Yarish/myLifetime.com - Videos: myLifetime.com - Screencaps: Projectrungay.blogspot.com]


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Reinventing Hosiery with Dirty Diana

So, Dirty Diana Eng dropped us a line the other day:

"Hi Tom and Lorenzo,

Starting today I will be writing a DIY Fashion column for Craft magazine that shows how to follow runway trends on the cheap by making them yourself. My first article, DIY Fashion: Reinventing Hosiery, looks at styling hosiery for the summer drawing inspiration from Prada, Burberry, Gossip Girl, etc.. All of my DIY fashions easy and quick so that anyone can make them with any level of sewing skills. After all, so much of fashion relies on stylists.

Diana"



We just love this sort of thing and we love that Diana's doing it. Too often, DIY crafts get a bad rap for being, well... a little tacky and a little precious. And let's face it, it's not exactly unearned. We love the idea of someone trying to inject a little fabulous into it and Diana's just the girl to do that.

You can check out her column here.

A teaser:

"I've always loved wearing unique hosiery. Until just last year, this meant that I was forever chastised by my fellow designers who said "bare-legged is better" and that "hosiery is for grannies and pin-up girls."

But check it out — now hosiery is in! Everywhere I turn, I see colorful hosiery paired with boots, pumps, and peep toes. Hosiery is not just pantyhose: it's tights, stockings, leggings, knee socks, ankle socks, trouser socks, leg warmers, peds — all of the neat leg accessories that are perfect for a girl like me who loves to wear skirts. Sometimes I wear them with shorts too."

Go on, crafty bitches! Check it out!


[Photos: Craftzine.com]


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Dirty Diana

Diana Eng, the squeaky, geeky girl from Season 2 of Project Runway, has a new book out called Fashion Geek. She was sweet enough to send us a couple copies and we have to say, it's a cute little how-to book that teaches the reader how to incorporate technology into fashion, with fun projects like the hoodie with the headphones built into it or the petal purse that lights up. It's the perfect book for the DIY hipster nerd.

Hi Diana, let's start with the obvious question. What have you been doing since Project Runway?
I co-founded an art/electronic group called NYC Resistor and I’m working on starting up my website which is going to be fashionnews.com and it’s going to sell accessories and printable fashions that you can print out and assemble yourself.

You also contributed to Craft Magazine, right?
Yes, I also contributed to Craft Magazine and I worked for Victoria’s Secret in the R&D department for a little while.

Oh, that’s awesome. Tell us about the Victoria's Secret stuff.
We created the new technologies for the bras because a lot of the bras have patents in the technology behind them. You really don’t think they do, but they actually have several patents behind a lot of the technology in the bras. I can’t really mention the projects I was involved with, but it was a lot of fun incorporating technology with the latest fashions.

You don’t really think about it, but there is a lot of technology involved in the structure of it.
Yes, it is so much more complicated than it seems. Sportswear has a lot of technology in it and bras are actually so much more complicated than sportswear. Normal clothing might have ten components, but bras have at least thirty components in them.

Thirty components? Wow! We had no idea.
Well, you probably haven’t worn a bra ever. [Laughs] You don’t have much to support. Breasts can weigh between five and twenty pounds. That’s a lot to support there.

What was your motivation to combine technology and fashion?
I really think that technology is the future of fashion. We use it all the time now. For example, you wear your headphones, and why can’t they be accessories? You wear them all the time, they’re kind of ugly, you might as well make them accessories and incorporate them; it could be a hat, which is on the cover of my book; it could be a hoodie, or it could just be part of the clothing that you wear or you could have them as earrings.

We’ve seen some designers like Issey Miyake using technology in fashion.
Right, in the other end of the spectrum there’s the fact that we have all this new technology but we’ve kind of been treating fashion in the same way for a while. There’s a digital locket in my book that holds digital photos in it. You can have hundreds of photos in your locket and display them all as opposed to the traditional locket, probably a family heirloom from your grandmother.

Take advantage of what you can do with technology if you’re going to make a locket or something.

Do you think people are more open to wearable technology?
I think it’s getting better. A lot of the things in the book you can’t mass produce because technology is not quite there yet. It’s not machine washable with all the electronic components. With the book, you are able to make all these different designs that can’t be mass produced yet and you can make it yourself.

What are your sources of inspiration when you design something combined with technology?
I really think about the actual function of the garment and the actual function of the technology. When I combine both, I want to bring the best out of both. I want them to be better. For example, the hoodie with the headphones, you can listen to music in the hoodie, so you don’t have to worry about carrying your headphones because it’s actually part of the hoodie. Also the light-up shoes. The whole bottom is lit up. I was thinking of the cars that have underlighting. I thought it would be neat to have that for your shoes. You walk around with the lighting. There’s a little bit of tongue and cheek there. In terms of style, I am inspired by Japanese pop culture.

Do you think there’s a fine line between gimmicky and actual designs when it comes to incorporating technology in fashion?
Yes, there is. The audience for this book is younger people, so a lot of the designs are geared towards them, like the light-up shoes. I try to appeal to young people because I think most of them don’t realize that technology and electronics can be used in a fun way. I’m trying to kick in their interest at a young age. A lot of the projects in my book are geared to the teen groups.

So, let’s talk about your book. It’s called “Fashion Geek”.
The book has thirteen different projects in it. It has the instructions on how to make all the different projects and it also has a section in the beginning that teaches basic sewing techniques and basic soldering and electronic techniques. It talks a lot about the use of conductive thread. It can basically replace wires which are very thick and uncomfortable to wear and the conductive thread is actually machine washable and it’s something you can use as embroidery, for example.

How do you see the future of wearable technology?
I guess it’s going to depend on how quickly technology can be adapted because a lot of the things aren’t machine washable yet. It’s slowly getting there. They now have screen-printable conductive ink and that’s actually almost as deep as screen printing a t-shirt, so that’s going to be really neat.

The question is ‘is it going to be gimmicky or not?’ Kanye West wears all these el-wire things all the time and el-wire is basically electronic luminescent wire and it glows. Is that going to be accepted as fashion or is it going to be gimmicky? It could easily go both ways. It depends on how well it’s done. Like the light-up shoes, for example. It can be really fashionable if you’re like a hipster and you’re going to a party with the Heatherette crowd. And if you’re talking high fashion and couture, probably not for them, but it could be adapted to them if it’s done differently.

***********
We have one copy of Fashion Geek for the first nerdy girl or boy who can answer this question: What was the name of the bitchy model from S2 who gave poor Diana such a hard time about wearing her lingerie designs? Email us now, bitches!

WE HAVE A WINNER!


[Photos: fashionnerd.com]

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Ciao, Ladies!

Sometimes those judges can be a bunch of drama queens.

Don't get us wrong. For the most part, we agreed with their assessment that this was too severe, too retro (neither of which was helped by the styling) and just not the Banana Republic look. Add to that, some issues of poor execution and a stupid window display and we can't really dispute the outcome.

Although we did kind of like the blouse.

We just think the judges overreacted a bit to this one, as if it was some horrid crime against fashion. This is a fairly classic look that goes in and out of style constantly, with practically the only change being the hemline. We didn't get or agree with the Duchess's crack that this looked like a stewardess. Keep your eyes peeled. We can practically guarantee that at some point in the next 5 years, Michael Kors will send something that looks remarkably like this down the runway.

We'll miss Diana. We know she gets on the nerves of some people, but we always thought she was adorable and we thought she produced surprisingly interesting designs. Marla, well she never produced anything that we could find a way to compliment, but it's to her credit that she knew all through this challenge that the design wasn't working, even if she didn't really demonstrate enough self-confidence to actually speak up about it.


[Screencaps: projectrungay.blogspot.com]


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Three We Liked

We've got a lot of catching up to do, Poodles!

Hot. Hot to death. Daniel's been pretty underwhelming up till now, but this was his breakout dress. Love the bustline and the straps.

And we love the way he used the print, layering it to get exactly the effect he wanted. Never let the fabric do all the work, poodles. Work it.

Hmmm. That hem doesn't look so hot.

It's probably a little tighter than it needs to be because it's giving Rebecca a little tummy bump and we seriously doubt she has one. In a way, none of that really matters because Daniel certainly passed the "wing it" test with flying colors this week. He basically pulled this dress out of his ass at the last minute. We've seen other designers in the same predicament but they never produced a dress as hot as this one.

Okay, yes. It is a little Stevie Nicks. But in a good way.

We love the bodice and the alternating strips of fabric she used for it. Not super-crazy about the Batman neck line or the extraneous...stuff she's got going on up there. The belt's cute and the buckle sets it off just enough without being distracting.

If she could have just edited the skirt a little bit, this would have been a much hotter dress. Diana's got an eye for the flowy, kinetic fabrics but there's just way too much of it here. Yes, it flowed beautifully but she looked like she was shoplifting a basketball.

Hmmm. We like it but we don't love it.

It's pretty, but it's also pretty standard. It's a beautiful color and we like the beads at the shoulders, but this could have seriously used something to bump it up a notch. And a fishtail hem just isn't enough in this case. There's also something a little off with the fit. Things look a little puckery and it's not hugging her curves the way it should.

Granted, it's definitely a "walking away" dress and the back is more interesting than the front. It would have looked great on Nicky Hilton and that's saying something 'cuz girl's a skank.

Edited to add: The dress Nick had made for Nicky Hilton on this challenge was worn by Brenda Strong of Desperate Housewives for the SAG Awards. Here's Nick's post about it.

[Screencaps: projectrungay.blogspot.com]


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Dirty Diana

Like so much of what Diana does, this definitely had something going on even if the end product is a little bit of a head-scratcher.

There was something about the concept that we responded to. It was definitely different and it had the potential to be interesting and sexy, but unfortunately, it fell short.

The combination of tight, skimpy, somewhat fetishistic underwear coupled with light, flowy fabrics was a good starting point, conceptually. In fact, it was probably the best starting point out of any of the teams.

We love those sleeves, but those thongs are poorly designed and don't do the one thing a thong is supposed to do: make your ass look better.

This piece was the true clunker. But then again, so is the model.

Oh, just stop. You suck.

It's hard to judge this outfit because we don't really know what they had to do to please the model, but it doesn't appear to fit with the rest of the collection at all.

Okay, then! Good luck on that Burger King job, bitch.

Surprisingly, she's much prettier off the runway. Her sourness whenever she has to actually, you know, model clothes, makes her look less attractive than she is.

SHE'S. A. MODEL. Who gives a shit what she likes and doesn't like? Either she wears the clothes provided for her or she goes home, end of story.

God bless her, our little Asian mouse isn't as mousy as she appears:

"I feel like you can't just be that picky if you're a model because your job is to achieve different looks and if you don't want to do that, you should probably get a different job."

Amen, sister! Too bad you didn't say that to her face, though.


[Screencaps: projectrungay.blogspot.com]


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