PR: Cranky Judges!

"Look! Look at how ugly it is!"

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Ninapalooza

Hardest working woman in the fashion biz.

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PR on the RC

That's "Project Runway on the Red Carpet," for those of you not up on our hep cat lingo.

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In or Out: Nina Garcia

Oh dear.

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Nina Garcia, Fashion Director of FABULOUS

Look out, bitches! She's HAD IT!

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Miss Garcia if you're nasty.

Nina's got something to say, so sit quietly and listen.

Movieline has a fabulous interview with La Nina and she dishes about the new season. Some NinaBites:

When was the first occasion in your life you honed your critical skills and enjoyed being opinionated?
I’ve always been opinionated, unfortunately, to my mother’s disappointment. But I never thought all that opinion would do me any good until this show. I’ve always spoken my mind. There’s no reason not to!

You’ve said that this season will be “fashion insider-y.” Can you elaborate on that? Will it be different from seasons past?
I think some of the judges that have come to be on the show this season are maybe not as well-known to everyone, but are very important and successful designers in themselves. It’s great that we got them. It’s great that they wanted to be part of the show; that’s the whole “fashion insider” thing. And they’re not all from New York; a lot of them are international designers. They’re not names not known to everyone, but they’re very influential at the moment.

You’ve expressed relief that the show is back in New York. Can the show ever leave it’s headquarters again? Where would it go next?
I don’t think it should leave New York, to be honest with you. I think we could do little trips, short trips, but I don’t think it should leave New York. New York is the capital of fashion, and it’s where the show belongs. I wouldn’t move it out of New York.

Much more at the link, kittens. Check it out.

[Photos: Getty Images]


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We Saw PR7 Episode 1!

And you didn't! Neener neener!

Even better, for once we got the whole screener, straight through to the elimination. Obviously, you want to hear all about it but obviously, we can only give you snippets.

Commence snippets:

- Start spreading the news, bitches. NEW YORK IS BACK! It felt like coming home and we don't even live there. Shots of the skyline, The Atlas Apartments, Parsons - it's all back and it's very fucking welcome. Never leave, PR. We're begging you. Also...

-THE DUCHESS AND LA NINA IN THE HIZZOUSE! GOD, you have no idea how wonderful it was to hear real criticism again. Constructive, on point, and coming from a place of real knowledge rather than "I would TOTALLY wear that!" Which reminds us, Nicole Ritchie wasn't that bad.

- It's no skin off our nose, but man, women must hate Heidi because somehow she manages to look more gorgeous and sexier when she's pregnant.

- You'd really have to be a PR scholar to notice, but there are some very slight stylistic changes to the show and they're ones that we really welcome. It feels a little more raw, a little more cinéma vérité. There's a slight change in how the winner and loser are announced. Nothing major, just that it's done in a way that it catches you slightly off-guard. Even though we had both the winner and the loser pegged ahead of time, we still went "Oh!" when Heidi announced them. Also, there's a new bit of product placement on the show, but it's really, really cool and it adds something a little new and modern to the design process.

- We really love the designers so far. All of them, believe it or not. It feels a bit like Season 1 in that they're all loaded with personality and don't seem to care that there are cameras on them. Plus, there's some major talent on display and unlike the last season, each designer has a very distinct point of view.

- A new World Record for PR was set. Not only did someone burst into tears in the first THIRTY SECONDS of the show, but this someone also managed to cry TWO MORE TIMES over the next hour.

- Bunim/Murray: please, please, please show us more of that scorching hot makeup artist that we saw for only a few seconds. Now there's a phrase you don't hear every day: "scorching hot makeup artist."

-We've seen this challenge before but they added a twist this time and it was staged in a really cute way. We don't want to give anything away, but trust us, Tim looked adorable.

And finally, just to leave you salivating for more, some choice quotes:

"I don't really care for Miss America."

"We're like fat people at an open buffet in Vegas."

"Ping, Ping, Pong."

"I'm sweating like a Baptist preacher!"

"She looks like a Hershey's chocolate bar."

"In a lounge in Las Vegas in 1972, that would have looked glamorous."

And finally, the one that's bound to pique your interest:

"I said 'in.' Before I change my mind, Auf Wiedersehen. Leave the runway!"

[Photos: myLifetime.com]


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Guest Judge for Season 7 Premiere

We're going to act like this is superexciting!!!!!!!

Project Runway returns for its seventh season in New York with guest judge Nicole Richie joining Heidi Klum, Michael Kors and Nina Garcia, premiering January 14th at 10 pm ET/PT on Lifetime Television. The first episode is called "Back to New York."

Like every other pointless celebrity, she's got a line of clothing and jewelry, which we suppose we could look up for you and provide examples, but why bother? It's not like she has anything to do with it outside of her name.

Now, some will be quite annoyed by this as they were by Lindsay Lohan's guest appearance. For us, it's a big shrug of the shoulders. We're not naive. We realize that a reality show in its seventh season needs a little star power in order to get attention. And, similar to what we said about Lohan last year, like it or not, Nicole Ritchie has been a "person of interest" to the fashion community for several years now. Not because she's a fashionista herself so much but because she pays people to make her look like one and either through luck, taste, or common sense, has managed to find people that make her look (for the most part) fashionable.

We said "for the most part," didn't we?

We didn't mind people like Debra Messing or Parker Posey or Sarah Jessica Parker back in the day because those women actually have demonstrated some personal style that wasn't merely bought and paid for, but more importantly, they were accomplished women with impressive resumes. Even Lohan has managed to have more of a career than Nicole, one of the worst examples of "famous for nothing" outside her former friend Paris.

We guess we'd put it this way: We understand why a show like PR needs guest stars, but this isn't a guest "star," so much as it's a guest "famous person." Granted, we wouldn't want the show to suffer the embarassment of Miss "I'm too good to breathe the same air as you and there's not a chance in hell I'll ever wear that dress" Nicole Kidman's giant head appearing on a video screen to talk to the designers from space the future a Scientology-proof bunker an undisclosed location, but couldn't they find someone with a little more on her resume besides "My Daddy has a Grammy!" scrawled in crayon?

Could they possibly look more pissed off? Much as we'd love to do a NinaCap here, it's kind of tough to do one sans context. You guys do it.


[Photos: myLifetime.com]


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T Lo Interviews Nina Garcia

You heard us!

That's right, ladies. We've been sitting on this one for awhile, waiting for the Dec/Jan issue of Metrosource to come out so we could reveal all. Metrosource has a more-scaled down version of this interview but we could have talked on the phone with Nina for hours, so what you see here is mostly the supplemental stuff, only for T Lo minion eyes. We think of all our favorite things to happen with this blog, near the top would be what happened when the press person who arranged this interview said "Nina, you're on the line with Tom and Lorenzo from Project Rungay," and she said:

Project Rungay? I LOVE you guys!

You have no idea how happy that makes us!
No, really! I love you guys! I read you guys!

Well, right now, you’re the number one reason to watch the show, at least for us. We love you and we love what you do. We’re huge fans.
Thank you!

You’re somewhat unique among fashion editors because you’re Latin American. Most of them tend to be American or European. Do you think that’s an important part of your success?
It’s very important. People always ask me that, especially South American or Latin American people – or any nationality – they ask me how I dealt with that being in the states. I've always been proud of my heritage and that’s what made me really different and what’s given me my strength; the fact that I was a little different. I didn’t take being from Latin America as an obstacle, I saw it as a bonus, as an addition, because it gave me a different perspective on how to view fashion.

It also helped that Latin American women place a lot of importance on femininity and looking their best, right?
It did. It absolutely did. Traditionally, Latin American women spend a lot of time getting beautiful and spend a lot of time getting dressed so that is partof the heritage. And to be honest there’s a lot of Latin Americans or people from a Latin American background in America at the moment.

For instance, Brazil. Love Brazil. Loved going down there with the crew from Running in Heels. I wish we’d had the crew there the whole time. Just imagine how much fun you can have in Rio! It’s crazy and it’s incredible what’s happening in terms of fashion down there because they’ve got very talented designers and very good accessories are coming out of Brazil. Forget that they have the most beautiful models coming out of Brazil, but I find that the fashion is really honest.

How are things at Marie Claire? All settled in?
It’s fantastic. They’re a great group of girls and they love to have fun. Joanna is very funny. She has a great sense of humor but at the same time she’s extremely smart.

Give us the fashion editor's summary of the Spring '10 shows.
It’s back to the romantic, it’s back to femininity, the colors are very pale, there’s a lot of lace and lot of transparency, so it’s back to a new kind of femininity. We’re leaving behind all this toughness and angry shoes and leather and it’s a much softer season for the spring.

Is there any trend that you don’t ever want to see on a man or women again?
Yeah, those mullet haircuts. I even see them on children!

How do you choose what to wear for Project Runway? You always look impeccable and you have fantastic accessories.
You know, it’s what’s in my wardrobe at the time. I try to not wear so much black, which is really hard because a lot of my wardrobe is black so I really have to struggle with not wearing too much black, but when I do I always try to have an accessory that compensates all the blackness. Because they don’t want us to wear black or white, or black and white together, which is 80% of my wardrobe.

Do you still get excited with each new season and group of designers?
Yeah. You know, the process of creativity and the creation of a garment is what fascinates me about fashion. And that is ever-evolving, especially in a show like Project Runway. To see that process happen year after year is always exciting for me. That’s what I love to do; I love to see new designers. That’s what I do at my job and that’s what PR is about. So I love that.

You're the judge that viewers respect; the tough one. Do you think you get more flexible or more strict with each season?
I think a little more strict because I have seen it all and heard all the excuses by now. “I didn’t have time,” “My dog ate the fabric,” whatever. You know, “Tim Gunn told me I shouldn’t do this,” I’ve heard the excuses. So, I think a little stricter.

Ever regret anything you said?
Sometimes I regret being a little too caustic, because I don’t want to discourage anybody about being a designer. I remember when we had a moment with Santino, I don’t even know if this was filmed or not. You know, Santino and I had a LOT of altercations, near the end towards the last challenge, he said something to the effect that “Maybe this isn’t the profession for me,” and I was devastated that he would say that. The last thing I want to do is discourage anybody from their dreams. I don’t want to be so tough that people would say, “Well I don’t want to get into this industry,” period. The end.

Without naming any names (because we know you won’t name any names) were there any contestants that you thought shouldn’t be in this industry?
(Laughs) Yes. Oh, yes.

What is your favorite PR moment?
The cornhusk dress! I mean, Mr. Yves Saint Laurent himself! Austin Scarlett was just brilliant, the way he looked, the way he spoke and that cornhusk dress was a fantastic, memorable moment.

Do people stop you in public and say mean things to you?
In the beginning, yes. Now, no. Now people are very nice but the first season I remember going to a party in New York and there was a man seated at a table with me – it was a sit-down dinner – and he said, “You’re that mean judge on that show,” and I was appalled.

Is there any particular designer that’s up and coming on your radar right now?
There are so many. Erdem, Giles Deacon, Christopher Kane. I mean, we all know about the Rodarte girls, but if your readers don’t they should check them out. They’re incredibly talented.

What are the must-have items this season?
It’s all about the over-the-knee boots. It’s a great season to buy a jacket. If you don’t have one, buy one. There are a ton of great ones out there.

Do you have a favorite designer?
It varies from season to season. I can’t say, because it changes and that’s what’s so fantastic.

Are we going to see a lot of you for Season 7?
Yes, we’re all there all the time. Thank God, we’re back in New York!

How did you feel about the show being out in L.A. Does it change the tone of the show?
I’ll tell you what was hard about it. Being in L.A. was wonderful. I love L.A., and I thought it was a brilliant idea to take the show out to L.A. because there’s so much going on in fashion and the red carpet, for instance. However, neither Michael or myself were able to be there for the whole time. And what happened is when I come back, I’ve missed a bunch of challenges and I can’t follow the trajectory of the designer. It’s harder for me to know what they have done in the past so I’m judging them on what I’m seeing that moment. I have no history because I haven’t been there. Even if I ask my fellow judges what happened it’s not the same as when you see it yourself. It was hard.

What's the difference between L.A. and New York, fashion-wise?
L.A. is more about the red carpet, and it’s a more laid back style. But it’s a very influential and important style. Going back to the Rodarte girls, they have production out in L.A and they’re incredibly visionary designers. We can’t overlook that there are very talented designers coming out of L.A.

Thank you so much Nina.
Thank you! I’m so happy to hear the actual voices of Tom and Lorenzo!


[Photos: Getty Images/WireImage]


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The ONE Burning Question from Last Night's Show

What was Nina wearing?


Along with the several hundred comments that filled our inbox this morning, all bemoaning how boring last night's show was, we received a couple dozen asking us about Nina's striking top. Well, you can't say we don't deliver the goods:

Requiem Spring 2009 Collection
Model: Samira Bento

This may have been one of the best things she ever wore on the show. We love it and we think she looked great in it. And in pure fashion editor style, she put her own twist on it, pairing it with pants, which we thought was a great idea.


[Images: Projectrungay.blogspot.com/Style.com]


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Good news, bitches!

We'll keep this one brief.

Lifetime just confirmed to us that, and we quote: "Nina and Michael will be in all episodes of season 7."

HUZZAH, SAY WE!


[Photos: Getty Images]


What say you?

Missing Persons Report: Nina and the Duchess

This is the topic that will not die.

All anyone wants to talk about is our missing bitches. Since Nina re-opened the wounds in her latest L.A. Times interview:

Several fans of the show have missed seeing you and Michael Kors in the judges’ chairs these last few weeks.
The reality is that both Michael and myself have other jobs besides “Project Runway” and he probably had to work on his following collection and I had to go to the collection. When it was in L.A. and in that time period that we filmed, it was very difficult to be there the entire time. He has another job, he’s a designer and work on his collection, and I had to fly to Paris to see the fashion shows for the fall. It was impossible to be there for an entire month.

We figured it was time to give the controversy its own post where everyone can vent. Here's a little something to get you started:

If Project Runway moved to L.A. so that Heidi can be closer to her family, losing Nina and Michael in the process, what would you as a fan rather have? An L.A.-based show with rare appearances from Nina and Michael or a NY-based show without Heidi? It's your very own Sophie's Choice, kittens. If you had to pull the trigger and make a decision, who does the show need more: Heidi or Nina and Michael?

Discuss. And be prepared to show your work.

Source: 'Project Runway': Nina Garcia doesn't want to hear your excuses [LATimes]

[Photos: Getty Images]

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Bitchell

A little controversy for the weekend? Why, we don't mind if we do!

"The first thing that America is going to know about me is that I sent a naked lady down the runway."

And the next thing America is going to know about you is that you can't sew.

Yes, kittens, this will be the post where we step in a pile of shit by defending the new most-hated designer. We don't get it. We read all the comments from people proclaiming their hatred of this mostly inoffensive, somewhat personable guy and our mouths drop open in disbelief. It's almost as if people have waited so long for Project Runway to return that they're slightly overreacting to its arrival.

From a personality point of view, what has he done that's offended people so much? Yeah, he tried to blame his shitty design of last week on the fact that his model wasn't the size he thought she was and then switched models, causing the girl who worked the hell out of his caftan to go home. Not exactly covering himself in glory, we admit. But it's also not exactly the bitchiest or nastiest thing we've ever seen on the show. Not even close to it, in fact.

Plus, as far as we can tell, the other designers adore him. He seems to be laughing and giggling his way through the workroom and no one seems to mind. In fact, they all seem to enjoy his company. He called Ra'mon's dress a bowling bag and instead of getting annoyed, they both giggled over it. If he was as bad as a lot of the viewers seem to think, wouldn't we be hearing that from the other designers?

Yeah, the models don't like him. Part of that is because he's a "model jumper," a term they coined that we love, and part of that is because they think he's going to be auf'd any minute and don't want to be the girl on the runway in the shitty outfit. They have reasons not to want to be his model, but they don't add up to reasons for the vitriol we've been seeing from viewers. By the way, he's not the only designer to model jump, which reinforces our point that they hate him because they fear working for him is going to get them auf'd.

Maybe some of the anger is motivated by the feeling that both of his outfits so far should've sent him home. Thing is...

Model: Kalyn Hemphill

We don't think he should have gone home for this outfit. Especially in light of Malvin's chicken costume. That's why he's still here. He sent out two HIGHLY problematic looks that easily could have gotten him auf'd but lucked out because in both instances someone else sent something worse down the runway. Why that pisses some people off, we don't know. That's always been the way of Project Runway.

To go even further into Controversy Land, we think this was a pretty decent outfit, from a style perspective.

HORRIBLE execution, absolutely. No argument from us. And as we said, on another day he could have and should have easily gone home for it. Especially since it's the second badly executed look in a row from him.

But if you squint your eyes and tilt your head and pretend that everything fits perfectly and was sewn perfectly, it DOES have a certain "L.A. celebrity mom" style to it, which, not coincidentally is exactly for whom the outfit was designed. It's probably a bit too youthful for Rebecca Romijn, but she admitted that she could see some of her girlfriends wearing it.

We suspect that this is part of why he keeps skating by. As bad as his outfits are, you can still see a certain sense of style there. In fact, it's probably a little early to be making this prediction, but he strikes us as more of a stylist than a designer. He can put a look together. He just can't design one from scratch and he definitely can't execute one.

But fear not, Mitchell-haters. He obviously used up all his chances. No matter what anyone else does or how bad any of the other entries are, the next time Mitchell screws up, he's outta there. Nina has HAD IT with him:

"She's going to lunch with her girlfriends, they'll be going shopping, living her day-to-day activities."

"Is she showing up to lunch drunk? Is that it? She's an alcoholic? Or was she hit by a car on the way? I don't understand."

"She's hip and ...um...stylish..."

"And blind? Help Nina out here. Did she pull this out of her hamper? Is she depressed somehow? Did the father of her child leave her? Who IS this woman?"

"She looks messy, No?"

"She looks like SHIT. You are PISSING me off here, kid."

"Sorry. I'm Sorry Ni- Miss Garcia. Sorry. Please don't hurt me."

"I LOVE it when Nina get's pissed off! Don't you? It's so FUN!"

Honestly, we can't do it justice. Watch the extended judging to see just how pissed Nina got:




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


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Project Runway's Most Dramatic Moments, S4/5

Poodles, before we look to the future of Season 6, one last, loving look back.

You might be looking at the title of this post and asking "S4/5? What's THAT all about?" Well, it's about the fact that unfortunately, Seasons 4 and 5, while they had their moments, were, in our opinion, deadly DULL. There was a ton of talent to be had, but the personalities were somewhat lacking. We tend to think this is because the participants had become all too aware of the cameras and most of them were too self-aware to really let it all hang out. As such, there were very few dramatic moments on par with previous seasons. In fact, there was only one per season.

1) MRSA-GATE

In the midst of a "real woman" challenge that left our comments section in flaming ruins for the week (nothing like utilizing a bunch of real women who've lost weight to push the emotional buttons of the viewers), Jack Mackenroth, that Chelsea Muscle Mary who had already endeared himself to the viewers, found himself in the midst of a health crisis.

To be more specific, he had a MRSA infection and this, coupled with the fact that he had a compromised immune system because he's HIV positive, caused a bit of a concern both on his part and on the part of the producers.

As Jack struggled with the decision as to whether he should stay or go, his fellow designers, to their credit, showed great concern and affection for him. There was one, however, that got a mighty strange edit out of it:

Victorya, who for some reason, looked almost pissed off about the whole thing (granted, she always looks like that). It turns out (although you never saw this on the episode), she was FURIOUS with the producers for not offering to shut down production until Jack could get medical attention and get back on his feet. That's certainly admirable, but highly impractical. It would have been nice to give Jack the chance, but at that point they had no idea how long it would take for him to recover, and each day that the production delayed would have cost the producers tens of thousands of dollars. It's harsh, but that's the reality of it.

In what was probably the most tearful scene in the history of the show, Jack said goodbye to his fellow designers. It wasn't the kind of delicious drama that results from egos clashing, but it was the only time the show actually made us cry.

In the end, Jack made the decision to put his health and well-being before his ambition and opted to leave the show and seek medical attention. As we recall, he was fully recovered within a week, but unfortunately, the show had moved on by that point and replaced him with the recently auf'd Chris March. We still think Jack should have tried out for the next season but he appears to have moved on since then.

2)KENLEY-GATE

There were so many reasons to dislike the cat-thrower from Season 5 and so many scenes that could have gone here, but nothing sums it up like the moment it all came to a head with the judges in the final pre-Bryant Park episode, "Nature Calls."

There is, in our humble opinion, a much funnier version of the following exchange here, but for the record, this is what was actually said:

"I wanted to stay away from pretty."

"The petals, they don't look very elegant either."

"I wasn't going for elegance, Heidi."


"You get very defensive, Kenley."

"It is a little bit annoying the attitude, no?"


"Like right now, what you're doing right now."

"What??"



This all came after an entire season of Kenley acting badly on the runway, from getting overly defensive with the judges to laughing openly at her fellow designers. At this point, both the judges and the remaining designers had had it with her. We guess it's to the judges' credit that they were able to ignore the obvious disrespect and wave her on through to the finals, but we strongly suspect there was at least a little input on the part of the producers, who did everything they could to push and edit this unpolished girl to the forefront to play the part of the villain. She wasn't really villainous; she was just immature and obnoxious.


[Screencaps: Projectrungay.blogspot.com]


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