TFS: T Lo Interviews Reco

You said you were very proud of your modest beginnings. How so?
Half my childhood I spent in the housing projects in Chattanooga and when you think about the projects you think about all the bad things that happen, but it wasn’t too bad, I guess. I did witness guns, violence, prostitution, drug deals and all that stuff. I think it made me who I am today, which I think is a strong person. After I moved out of the housing project, I moved to the suburbs, and of course, things were more expensive and all that. And there was two of us, me and my brother, and my mother, I guess that’s when she sort of went on hiatus with the drug thing for a couple of years, and I was picked up by my aunt, who basically raised me to be the wonderful, great, talented, and boisterous individual I am today.

When did you first experience fashion?
My whole fashion experience started when I was about eight years old living in the projects. I was watching Oprah and this guy was showing these fabulous dresses and all I remember is that he had orange skin and this dome-shaped, helmet hairdo sprayed to death, and it turned out it was Valentino.

When I was twenty-one, my first boyfriend gave me a sewing-machine because he was a designer as well. I just started playing around making dresses. I started getting orders here and there, and I thought I could really make money. I changed my major from architecture/engineer to fashion design. Ten years later, I’m on The Fashion Show.

On the first episode when you said you used to design for stripper we cheered. We thought it was such a bold move from you to admit that, and why not?
[Laughs] Well, with the power of editing. It was not only strippers. The strippers came about when I was an intern at a costume shop in Baltimore. When things got slower, a lot of strippers came in to shop for g-string swimsuits and they were sold all year long, so my mentor at the time said to me that that was guaranteed money, that it’s not about glitz and glamour, at the end of the day, it was about making money and that’s actually still stuck in my head.

This whole lovely industry that we call fashion, how we like to be glamorous…you can’t be glamorous and broke. When I got back to college I started making g-strings and swimsuits and I would go to the strip clubs at night at 2 or 3 in the morning, just a young boy, they would let me in and I would sell these costumes. Ten years ago, making about 150-200 dollars a night, that was actually good. It helped me pay the rest of my way through school. That was it.

You were the most popular designer on the show and based on your performance most people expected you to be in the finals. Did you feel disappointed that that was taken away from you at the last minute?
I was disappointed for about 30-45 minutes, but when I look at it, I got everything that I needed to get out of the show. I’ve learned and I’ve grown as an individual, I was adored by all of America and I had a platform to showcase my work and catch the hearts of all of America. So I was like, my time is over, I may not win $125,000, but to me, that has more longevity than the money prize.

Judging by the comments on our blog and other sites, many viewers felt a little disappointed with your collection. They saw you do so many intricate things on the show but they didn’t see much of that in your collection. Do you stand behind your collection? Do you sort of understand where they’re coming from?
I understand their concern, but I stand behind my collection 110%. I told Fern and Isaac…you know, what I did on the show it didn’t win. I always questioned that, so when it came down to my final collection I wanted to show a variety of work. What I’ll be known for, when they come to my store, there’s something for everyone in all price ranges. I’ll have something intricate such as the coat from the beginning, something avant-garde like the feather dress, something simple such as the ostrich skinny pants. One thing I can say for sure is that fashion is about trying something new and that’s what I was trying to do, something new, something different, I showed a whole rainbow of stuff.

OK, the finale dress, what happened?
Well,…[Laughs]

Tell us the truth.
OK, we didn’t get our models until we got there. We had to make things a certain size, and lo and behold, the last model I fitted was the model that could wear the dress. The dress was made out of silk organza, very delicate and detailed. She was able to walk up and down the runway the first go-around fine, but for the finale the dressers picked her and the dress up and all the blades snapped. When we put her back on stage, something was getting caught under there and she couldn’t walk. It was just something that happened. There was nothing I could do to prevent it. It showed on the runway great, it was just a mishap. It was a beautiful dress. Was it practical? No. Everybody knows that what’s shown on the runway and what’s in store is always the watered-down, modified version.

Did the judges say anything about what happened on the runway?
No, Glenda Bailey just said that the dress was like the bridal suite, the honeymoon or something like that…but in my defense, it’s OK when Christian Dior does it, but when I do it, it’s a problem. The judges kept saying that they wanted more out of me and I was the only designer that took a chance in creating something like the feather dress that still got bashed.

Speaking of the feather dress, people were comparing it to that other dress from that other show.
Well. I never heard the comparison. It was what it was. I can’t sit here and say “Oh, I wasn’t copying anybody” this and that, because I wasn’t. Every piece that came down that runway was strictly from my heart. That’s not even my style doing a knock-off, anyway.

You had very strong words in your exit interview about the other designers. What didn’t you like about Anna’s collection?
I wouldn’t say I didn’t like Anna’s collection, but as a designer, Isaac told us that you’re only as good as your next fashion show. All my research I’ve done over the whole ten years, every time you come to the runway you want to bring something new and exciting. I just felt that she took the safe route out. Everything that she did was from previous episodes. I took a chance, I did something new and did a couple of cornucopia stuff.

If had been too intricate, too over-the-top the judges would’ve said that I did too much, so I cut down a little and they said they expected more, so it’s like a double-edge sword, you’re going home regardless. To me Anna’s was more merchandising, it wasn’t fashion design. In that case, I should’ve just done everything I did on the show in a different color. That was my take on the whole Anna situation.

You also said that Daniella was more talented than James-Paul but her “character was horrible.” Really?
Definitely. I just feel that her attitude…well, let’s just compare me and Daniella. We’re both very egotistical and arrogant, but it’s a fine line when there’s joking involved that everybody in America saw. You know, 90% of the time I was joking, because my voice changes, my whole facial expression changes, but this is a person just being evil and vindictive trying to get people kicked off the show. Daniella is an extremely talented individual and I hope she grows and realizes that no matter how great you are in whatever, but if you have this horrible attitude nobody is going to buy your clothes. That’s a piece of advice I would give Daniella.

There was a lot of talk about you not knowing Halston and much fashion history. Do you feel that not knowing about fashion prevented you from doing better on the show?
No, to be honest, Halston was a designer that just never captured my design interest because of what he did. Not taking anything from him, he was a great designer for his era, for what he did, but it never caught my attention, I was more into Chanel, Dior, Gucci, even Mugler.

I remember the judges saying that I should work for another designer to learn more and so on, but once again, I think it’s a double-edge sword. If you noticed, I was the only designer in the top four that never worked for a huge design company. One thing I can say about my stuff, my pieces, my knowledge…you will never say that I was influenced by so and so designer. It always came from my heart. I’ve been in the industry for ten years and making money and never had one single job. I make decent money, don’t take me wrong, it’s not the best but I can’t complain.

Tell us about your line “House of Chapple.”
What I tried to convey on the show was that I wanted simple, beautiful clothing that’s timeless and that will last forever. Even Isaac gave me credit for making simple, sexy pieces that would make a woman feel extremely sexy, beautiful, and glamorous all at the same time. So that’s basically my whole design aesthetic.

You’re also working on a men’s line, right?
On my website, which will be up soon, and it’s called Reco Chapple Signature…all the suits I worn on the show, the final episode and the reunion show, those are part of my collection of suits.

There’s also a book coming up, we hear.
Yes, it’s actually two books. One is called “How to Make Money in the Fashion Biz,” a ghetto fabulous way of making your fashion business work for you whatever city you’re in. When I first started I was in Nashville, Tennesse. I was around a bunch of college queens, so I did a lot of pageant gowns, stripper clothes and I made it work for me, and when I moved to Atlanta, home of all the rappers and stuff, I’m making it work for me, that’s some of the stuff that I cover in the book. The second one is a coffee-table book called “Becoming Legendary – The All-American Dream” and it’s basically paying homage to all my ten years in the business up until now.

When is your site going to be up, Reco?
My site will be up on the 23rd. There will be a lot of novelty items. I’m also working on a fall collection, which will be coming soon. Things people can order, not a crazy price, especially for the fans who don’t have 200, 300 dollars to pay for an item of clothing. At least they can purchase something and have a piece of my work.

Thank you so much for answering our questions, Reco.
Thank YOU.


[Photos: BravoTV.com/Getty Images]


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TFS: Bye-bye

Oh, honeys. There was screaming at the TV last night Chez T Lo.

Why were we screaming? Because the judging last night was so unbelievably stupid that we're actually embarrassed for all of them. Not Kelly so much. For once her inability to say anything more than "I'd buy that" served her well.

But let's get one thing straight. Despite the enormous amounts of bullshit falling out of their mouths last night...

... they definitely sent the right person home. In fact, they surprised us with their choice because it really looked to us like they were sending Anna home. And, as Tom said to Lorenzo, "I swear to god, if they don't send Reco home, I am going to go BALLISTIC on the blog tomorrow."

We realize, from reading the comments section, that many of you don't agree. Don't think we're haters. We would have loved to see Reco wow the judges, but we saw that collection in person and up close and it really wasn't all that hot-looking. And even if it was a decent collection, in our minds...

...this was an automatic "Bye-bye." This is part of why we were getting so angry last night. The editing REALLY played this down. Trust us when we say, the dress literally fell apart on the runway and the girl couldn't walk a step. This went on for at least a full 2 minutes and you could feel the discomfort in the crowd. It was all anyone was talking about after the show was over and the lights went up. And the judges? Why, they DIDN'T MENTION IT AT ALL.

Sorry to compare this to PR, but it's inevitable: Nina and Michael would have had his head for that and there would have been absolutely no question that he be auf'd.

We miss saying "auf."

Now, maybe having his dress fall apart on the runway was the reason they sent him home. The problem is, we just don't know. The judging was so awful and the commentary so pointless, that we have absolutely NO IDEA why he was sent home. We agree with the outcome, but they never bothered to mention how they came to their decision.

Instead, they went to great lengths to praise each designer and criticize each designer in equal measure. Why? We have no idea. Maybe it was just to keep some tension and to keep the already bored audience interested in the outcome. But in their struggle to dole out exactly equal amounts of criticism, they wound up making themselves look incredibly stupid. We're still trying to figure out what the hell Glenda was talking about when she made that book analogy to Anna.

Alright, let's take a look.

We thought this made a great opening and it was probably our favorite of his looks. We're just not all that crazy about the sparkly on the collar.

This was a decent department store look. Nothing earth-shattering, but wearable and salable.

We're confused as to why the judges fell all over themselves praising this. It's fine; it's just as basic as basic gets.

We really liked the top on this one. It has a very interesting shape, with the corset sort of forming those sleeves. The skirt, however, ruined the look. Tacky, tacky, tacky.

This was okay. Way too similar to look #2, but over-ruched this time.

Again, just okay. Nothing you can't find in a million department stores. The skirt's too short for that top, though.

This was just plain tacky and ugly. That inverted V looks like he hot-glued it to the outfit. More importantly, when your model is making adjustments to the garment ON THE RUNWAY, then the garment is a fail.

Seriously, Reco? A '90s prom dress? Because that's all that this is: a dress we've seen countless times before in a style that's about a decade old.

Laura Bennett had the perfect criticism for this dress. She said that if he'd cut it in half and made a mini-dress out of it, it would be cute. As it is, it's just a shapeless column of muppetry.

We have one word to describe this dress: obnoxious. This wasn't a bridal gown; it was a drag queen dress. Exuberant to the point of being ridiculous-looking and more importantly, non-functional. And is that supposed to be a glittery swan beak on her right boob? TACKY.

He's a decent designer, just not a great one, judging by this collection. There are, as they say, "taste issues" with some of his work and when there aren't taste issues, we're left with basic-to-the-point-of-boring clothes.

Don't get us wrong, we have criticisms of the other collections as well, but to us, this was clearly the designer that needed to go home last night.

Reco's show:



[Photos: BravoTV.com/Getty Images/WireImage - Screencaps: Projectrungay.blogspot.com - Video: BravoTV.com]


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The Fashion Show Previews

This is it, ladies!

Which of these bitches is the Top Bitch?

Y'know...it's kind of surprising that Bravo doesn't have a Top Bitch show. We'd try out.


Anyway...

Isaac and Kelly drop a bombshell!

Ruh-Roh! Reco's got problems!


Can you see us in the crowd? No? Good.


And the judges tell us stuff we already know.

[Photo/Videos: BravoTV.com]


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TFS: Wrapup

Hey, remember this show?

Y'know, Johnny was a bitch for calling this dress ugly in front of the judges, but was he wrong?

Because, it IS ugly.

And tacky.

Over-ruched up top and see-through on the bottom. Sometimes Reco just can't get away from the stripper wear.

When this first came out on the runway, we didn't think it was that bad.

Plain, maybe; a little boring, but not bad.

But we shouldn't have trusted the gaslit Bravo lighting, because once it got hauled out in front of the judges, we could see how bad it was.

Just a very weird combination of fabrics that wound up looking, in Glenda's words, "tortured."

Can't say we disagree. That velvet was absolutely the wrong choice of fabric for what he was trying to do.

Y'know, we thought this dress should have won and we still think that, but we have to admit...

...seeing it in "the light of day," so to speak, it's only an okay dress.

Better than the rest in our opinion, but certainly not anything we haven't seen before.

The back was interesting; she went with the butt cups again, and the bow is a nice touch, even if it's a little too big and floppy.

But it's a fairly basic dress with just a couple twists to it. As we said, the best of the lot, but it's still not all that interesting.


[Photos: BravoTV.com - Screencaps: Projectrungay.blogspot.com]


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TFS: Two Highly Technical Critiques

Alright, bitches, it's gorgeous out and we don't want to spend all day talking about dresses! Hit it!

Coulda beena contenda.

This was not only gorgeous, it was by far, the best thing Reco's done all season. Loved the piped ruffle...

... and the way the piping continued into the pants. Very streamlined and modern.

This top, on the other hand, was sheer ass. No defending that. It was probably what gave the win away to Anna.

But still, good job Reco. We would have loved to have seen Bravo completely fuck it up manufacture it.

Lorenzo thinks he may have had a winning concept that got lost in the poor execution. Tom thinks the poor execution was just a distraction from the overall bad design.

Sure, there are some interesting ideas here...

But it's hard to look at floppy sleeves ...

...and a floppy ass and see it as anything but a bad idea.

The boy makes a perfectly good conceptual designer but he really flails about when he has to make an actual wearable garment. Look at the way he agonized over his poor model's "hump back."

We sympathize, because just LOOK at how her horribly deformed carcass is ruining the elegant lines of this dress.

In short, we don't care how conceptual it is; it's a poo dress.

[Photos: BravoTV.com - Screencaps: Projectrungay.blogspot.com]


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