It's the weekend after Christmas, so I'm kind of catching up and relearning skills like Making It To Frank* On A Routine Basis and Not Having Panic Attacks About Phantom Due Dates. One of the things I have on my catch up list is posting something about various friends' and wish-they-were-my-friends' blogs. This way, you can read my FRIENDS' blogs and hopefully transfer ideas about content to ME so you'll be reading one of these and thinking "boy, look at all this awesome hilarity that Josie posted for my benefit!" And then I'll feel better about the blogger Tourettes that I suffer from.
Here Comes the Boogey-Mom
My friend Erin started this blog after her long-dormant writing bug came back with a vengeance. She's just starting out, but there have already been stories about Boston Terriers (and other dogs), her adorable children and the challenges of parenting, Johnny Cash, monsters, and witches. That seems like a pretty good deal for a fledgling effort, PLUS Erin is a great writer and knows the difference between they're, there and their, so already I'm gonna say you're ahead of about 95% of the Internet. Based on my knowledge of Erin, I am going to guess that other topics will eventually include fashion, bats, literature, and art, along with more about the kids and Gosh the Boston Terrier.
On Cardamom and Cast Iron
This is Celia's blog, and look, I can't really offer you a lot of blogs written by wizards, but I think that Celia is a pretty good substitute. Celia posts about her family and their travels (as a Navy family, they have lots of those), and about her cooking. This is where the wizarding comes in. Celia is always talking to me about how she's whipping some kind of of magical concoction, oh and by the way it's vegan or vegetarian or gluten free and oh PS, she started with some kind of insane French recipe that was like 97% animal products and gluten, but she makes it healthy and delicious. Look, I don't know how she does it, so I assumed magic about seven years ago, and that's been working out really well for me so far. The pictures alone are worth a click, and the recipes are always great.
Scrittore Creativo
The Lucy has a blog! She started it in the middle of her MFA and then discovered that blogging consistently during a grad program while also trying to avoid neglecting home and hearth is actually really hard, but now that she is DONE WITH HER MFA HOORAY, she has rebooted the blog. She does really excellent movie reviews, amongst other things, which is great for me since apparently I really like reading movie reviews but never ever going to movies. Yes, it is weird, and no, I cannot explain it. In any case, Lucy also posts about entertainment in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area as well. I can vouch for Lucy's great taste, so this is a great guide.
The Bloggess
I discovered The Bloggess when I read a story about a Christmas miracle that happened on her blog. ...No, really. She was offering 20 $30 gift certificates to people who didn't have money for the holidays, and when they quickly got snapped up, people suddenly started offering to donate as well. $42,000 later, she had coordinated Christmas for hundreds of donors and giftees. How cool is that? I liked her style and kept reading older posts, and man, she is funny. You will laugh your ass off. It's just as valid a workout program as those idiotic balance ball shoes1
*I always think that everyone knows this, yet I always have someone pop up all "ARE YOU CHEATING ON RICH WHAT IS GOING ON" and I have to explain that my marriage is not in fact falling apart. Frank is my trainer, and he is awesome and everyone should go to him because he has some kind of voodoo magic that makes you love him even though he is kind of maybe evil. Also he has a tire you get to hit with a sledgehammer. It is like adult recess except with Frank and Diane supervising and no map tag.
Showing posts with label The Lucy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Lucy. Show all posts
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Saturday, October 30, 2010
A Vast Fashionable Conspiracy
This Thursday, Project Runway crowned it's eighth winner for the show, second on Lifetime. The Lucy and I, sadly, did not critique the entire season because as it turns out, grad school programs take up a lot of your time (and bee tee dubs: congratulations to the lovely and amazing The Lucy on her newly minted MFA in Creative Writing!), but both of us were Team Mondo more or less from go. Gretchen Jones' collection was picked at the winner, and the world went apeshit.
First and foremost, here are the collections, courtesy of NY Mag.
Mondo Guerra
Gretchen Jones
Andy South
I was surprised throughout the judging process. I freely admit that I assumed that Mondo would win because he was such a complete competitor: a talented fabricator with a strong fashion point of view tempered by an openness to evolution in design. When I saw the three collections, I assumed it would be between Andy and Mondo. Andy's was not as various a collection as one would have hoped, but it presented a clear statement and was masterfully constructed. He made excellent use of texture in his fabrics and despite minimal color, the collection was never boring. Gretchen's was...more Gretchen. All season, she's been making the kind of stuff you'd expect on a resident of Taos, New Mexico who talks about crystals a lot and lives in an adobe house, but vacations in Aspen and drives a Land Rover, all in baby-poo colors. It was very cohesive and Gretchen is a great clothesmaker, but it was a snooze. AND it featured some kind of weird granny panties repeatedly, in the guise of pants. Mondo's collection was a blast. He used the over the top imagery of the Day of the Dead and old Mexican circuses but somehow wove it into a sophisticated, fun collection awash in his wonderful prints. It was spectacular and distinctive.
Then Gretchen won.
Project Runway, at its current level, features designers who are talented. This is an important thing to remember, because a lot of invective has been hurled at Gretchen that takes the form of accusations of incompetence. This isn't the case. She is a talented dressmaker, she is a talented designer, and she has original ideas. I personally would not let 95% of her stuff come anywhere near my body, but that's different from a lack of talent. No one is going to win Project Runway without a base level of talent, and Gretchen absolutely has it.
However, there is a larger question of What The Point Is. The stated goal of Project Runway has always been "finding the next great fashion designer." For the past several seasons, I think that the selections have been appropriate, even if they didn't go on to dominate the fashion world (which, incidentally, I don't think is possible or positive in fashion, so I actually count this as a good thing, even if I wish some of them would have made more of a splash in runway fashion). But this year, Gretchen won because she was "on trend" and basically because she was mass marketable, and that poses a real problem for Project Runway. I agree that Gretchen's collection was marketable...Nina Garcia and Michael Kors weren't wrong about that, as many people have been whining. The problem is, it looked like a goddamn Chico's. But there already is a Chico's, and frankly I'm not sure that Gretchen improves on the genre. If they wanted a unique, new voice, Mondo was the clear choice, as demonstrated not only in his final collection but throughout the show.
This all feeds directly into a conspiracy theory that The Lucy touched off a while back, which has now grown exponentially in my mind as evidence mounts. The idea is that Lifetime wants Project Runway shoehorned into its specific formula, the same one that brought the world all those classic Lifetime movies and various sexist-stereotypes-dressed-as-empowerment offerings. The first season that aired on Lifetime had been filmed before the switch from Bravo had been finalized, and thus had retained much of its original feel. This is the first season completely filmed under Lifetime's auspices, and it shows. The switch to the Bunim/Murray editing crew brought the jumpy feel of the house's other shows to Project Runway, which made this year's runway shows wildly irritating; the constant cuts and weird camera angles made it all but impossible to actually see the clothes completely. I also feel that Tim Gunn has been edited into a "safer" and more stereotypical picture of a gay man - a fey gay stereotype operating mostly on quips and light on seriousness, rather than the spectacularly knowledgeable, intelligent and unique human being that people have responded so well to from day one. This is not to say that some of the latter doesn't shine through - you can't take the awesome out of Tim Gunn - but I have noticed a specific and dramatic shift, and I find that deeply upsetting.
Perhaps the most worrying aspect of this is how Gretchen's win fits into the gradual Lifetimization of Project Runway. The discussion of the collections focused for the first time mostly on mass marketability, rather than creativity and big fashion. This fits right into the trend towards removing everything gutsy and challenging about Project Runway. Rather than watching the way aspirational fashion is created, we are now watching how shit you can buy at the mall gets produced. I fail to see either the benefit or the appeal of such a show. It's not that Gretchen is untalented, as I have said before - it's that she's not making fashion and she's not bringing anything new to the table. I am concerned about the future of Project Runway, and I think it would be a great loss for it to decay into cancellation.
First and foremost, here are the collections, courtesy of NY Mag.
Mondo Guerra
Gretchen Jones
Andy South
I was surprised throughout the judging process. I freely admit that I assumed that Mondo would win because he was such a complete competitor: a talented fabricator with a strong fashion point of view tempered by an openness to evolution in design. When I saw the three collections, I assumed it would be between Andy and Mondo. Andy's was not as various a collection as one would have hoped, but it presented a clear statement and was masterfully constructed. He made excellent use of texture in his fabrics and despite minimal color, the collection was never boring. Gretchen's was...more Gretchen. All season, she's been making the kind of stuff you'd expect on a resident of Taos, New Mexico who talks about crystals a lot and lives in an adobe house, but vacations in Aspen and drives a Land Rover, all in baby-poo colors. It was very cohesive and Gretchen is a great clothesmaker, but it was a snooze. AND it featured some kind of weird granny panties repeatedly, in the guise of pants. Mondo's collection was a blast. He used the over the top imagery of the Day of the Dead and old Mexican circuses but somehow wove it into a sophisticated, fun collection awash in his wonderful prints. It was spectacular and distinctive.
Then Gretchen won.
Project Runway, at its current level, features designers who are talented. This is an important thing to remember, because a lot of invective has been hurled at Gretchen that takes the form of accusations of incompetence. This isn't the case. She is a talented dressmaker, she is a talented designer, and she has original ideas. I personally would not let 95% of her stuff come anywhere near my body, but that's different from a lack of talent. No one is going to win Project Runway without a base level of talent, and Gretchen absolutely has it.
However, there is a larger question of What The Point Is. The stated goal of Project Runway has always been "finding the next great fashion designer." For the past several seasons, I think that the selections have been appropriate, even if they didn't go on to dominate the fashion world (which, incidentally, I don't think is possible or positive in fashion, so I actually count this as a good thing, even if I wish some of them would have made more of a splash in runway fashion). But this year, Gretchen won because she was "on trend" and basically because she was mass marketable, and that poses a real problem for Project Runway. I agree that Gretchen's collection was marketable...Nina Garcia and Michael Kors weren't wrong about that, as many people have been whining. The problem is, it looked like a goddamn Chico's. But there already is a Chico's, and frankly I'm not sure that Gretchen improves on the genre. If they wanted a unique, new voice, Mondo was the clear choice, as demonstrated not only in his final collection but throughout the show.
This all feeds directly into a conspiracy theory that The Lucy touched off a while back, which has now grown exponentially in my mind as evidence mounts. The idea is that Lifetime wants Project Runway shoehorned into its specific formula, the same one that brought the world all those classic Lifetime movies and various sexist-stereotypes-dressed-as-empowerment offerings. The first season that aired on Lifetime had been filmed before the switch from Bravo had been finalized, and thus had retained much of its original feel. This is the first season completely filmed under Lifetime's auspices, and it shows. The switch to the Bunim/Murray editing crew brought the jumpy feel of the house's other shows to Project Runway, which made this year's runway shows wildly irritating; the constant cuts and weird camera angles made it all but impossible to actually see the clothes completely. I also feel that Tim Gunn has been edited into a "safer" and more stereotypical picture of a gay man - a fey gay stereotype operating mostly on quips and light on seriousness, rather than the spectacularly knowledgeable, intelligent and unique human being that people have responded so well to from day one. This is not to say that some of the latter doesn't shine through - you can't take the awesome out of Tim Gunn - but I have noticed a specific and dramatic shift, and I find that deeply upsetting.
Perhaps the most worrying aspect of this is how Gretchen's win fits into the gradual Lifetimization of Project Runway. The discussion of the collections focused for the first time mostly on mass marketability, rather than creativity and big fashion. This fits right into the trend towards removing everything gutsy and challenging about Project Runway. Rather than watching the way aspirational fashion is created, we are now watching how shit you can buy at the mall gets produced. I fail to see either the benefit or the appeal of such a show. It's not that Gretchen is untalented, as I have said before - it's that she's not making fashion and she's not bringing anything new to the table. I am concerned about the future of Project Runway, and I think it would be a great loss for it to decay into cancellation.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Make Your Own Hair Phone to Contact Lady Gaga in Emergencies
Rich got me Lady Gaga tickets for graduation, and once I changed my pants and called The Lucy to reserve her presence for Fourth of July weekend, the inevitable thought came up..."holy shit, what do I WEAR?"
With the guaranteed heat of the weekend in mind, I figured the best way to go would be with exciting makeup and hair and a pretty basic outfit. I thought "man, it would be totally fucking awesome to make a hair phone like Gaga wore in the Telephone video," and fixed my mind on that. Here's how I did it.
YOU NEED:
1 phone
1 roll of packing tape
old-school Elmers glue
Xacto knife (or similar)
two or three of those clip on ponytails they sell at CVS or a wig
thread the color of the hair
PROCEED:
1. Put on Lady Gaga YouTube channel or CD/playlist.
2. Start with your phone. I used our old emergency phone downstairs because I liked the shape. I also found that older phones were more ergonomically shaped, which helps with later head-positioning; the mouthpiece is angled up slightly. Check it out - cool, right?
Unplug said phone and take the handset off the hanger. Take short pieces of packing tape and wrap them around the handset STICKY SIDE OUT. I cannot overemphasize the importance of the sticky side out part. I found it helped to rip the pieces of tape lengthwise to get it worked into smaller areas of the phone. As a slightly obsessive person, I appreciate the need to get this "perfect" but you really should keep in mind that this will not show, and you can fold over points and such of the tape.
3. Wrap the phone again, this time with the non-sticky side out. You should be taping in the opposite direction from the first round of tape. For instance, if you wrapped counter-clockwise on the handle your first time around, go clockwise this time. Give the whole thing a good squeeze to even out any bumps. You'll wind up with this.
4. Now is the somewhat delicate part: use your Xacto knife to cut along the taped phone so you can pull the phone out of its new tape shell. The tape will probably hitch up on you if you go too fast, so take your time and use lots of short, even cuts. It may not matter all that much about where you cut, but I went from the cord along the top spine of the phone, then made a second cut along the side of the listening end of the phone. Then, pull your phone out of the tape husk. Here's what it looks like. (Yes, I was watching RuPaul's Drag Race and a.) if you're not, your life is not as good as it could be, and b.) I feel like Ru would approve of this project.)
5. Carefully tape over the cut so your phone holds together. You'll now have a solid and pretty structurally strong tape phone. Feel free to pretend you're calling people.
6. This next part is not hard, but it is annoying and it's another danger zone for the perfectionists amongst us. THIS IS EXTREMELY MESSY. Take your hair bits and cut them off of their clips or wigs. Pour a ton of glue onto a plate. You are now going to drag the hair through the glue, then slop the hair onto the phone. After the first bunch of hair, take your thread and tie it around the phone. As you add hair, you should wrap the thread around it, working in the opposite direction of the hair (just like with the tape above). This will not be perfect! It will LOOK perfect in the end. I also did not worry about covering the flat surfaces of the phone - the parts you speak and listen to - because they would be along my head. The hair kind of curled under them anyway, so it had enough coverage to work. Let the whole thing dry.
To attach it to my head, my friend Juls whipped up a bunch of victory rolls on my head, sprayed the bejesus out of my hair, then pinned the phone on by the hair covering it, now stiff with glue. It didn't budge all night and would have stayed through to the next morning if needed. It looked badass!
One thing I might change would be to do another covering of tape, sticky side out again to help grab the hair (which I would then "seal" with glue to be safe). Enjoy, Little Monsters!!
With the guaranteed heat of the weekend in mind, I figured the best way to go would be with exciting makeup and hair and a pretty basic outfit. I thought "man, it would be totally fucking awesome to make a hair phone like Gaga wore in the Telephone video," and fixed my mind on that. Here's how I did it.
YOU NEED:
1 phone
1 roll of packing tape
old-school Elmers glue
Xacto knife (or similar)
two or three of those clip on ponytails they sell at CVS or a wig
thread the color of the hair
PROCEED:
1. Put on Lady Gaga YouTube channel or CD/playlist.
2. Start with your phone. I used our old emergency phone downstairs because I liked the shape. I also found that older phones were more ergonomically shaped, which helps with later head-positioning; the mouthpiece is angled up slightly. Check it out - cool, right?
Unplug said phone and take the handset off the hanger. Take short pieces of packing tape and wrap them around the handset STICKY SIDE OUT. I cannot overemphasize the importance of the sticky side out part. I found it helped to rip the pieces of tape lengthwise to get it worked into smaller areas of the phone. As a slightly obsessive person, I appreciate the need to get this "perfect" but you really should keep in mind that this will not show, and you can fold over points and such of the tape. 3. Wrap the phone again, this time with the non-sticky side out. You should be taping in the opposite direction from the first round of tape. For instance, if you wrapped counter-clockwise on the handle your first time around, go clockwise this time. Give the whole thing a good squeeze to even out any bumps. You'll wind up with this.
4. Now is the somewhat delicate part: use your Xacto knife to cut along the taped phone so you can pull the phone out of its new tape shell. The tape will probably hitch up on you if you go too fast, so take your time and use lots of short, even cuts. It may not matter all that much about where you cut, but I went from the cord along the top spine of the phone, then made a second cut along the side of the listening end of the phone. Then, pull your phone out of the tape husk. Here's what it looks like. (Yes, I was watching RuPaul's Drag Race and a.) if you're not, your life is not as good as it could be, and b.) I feel like Ru would approve of this project.)
5. Carefully tape over the cut so your phone holds together. You'll now have a solid and pretty structurally strong tape phone. Feel free to pretend you're calling people.
6. This next part is not hard, but it is annoying and it's another danger zone for the perfectionists amongst us. THIS IS EXTREMELY MESSY. Take your hair bits and cut them off of their clips or wigs. Pour a ton of glue onto a plate. You are now going to drag the hair through the glue, then slop the hair onto the phone. After the first bunch of hair, take your thread and tie it around the phone. As you add hair, you should wrap the thread around it, working in the opposite direction of the hair (just like with the tape above). This will not be perfect! It will LOOK perfect in the end. I also did not worry about covering the flat surfaces of the phone - the parts you speak and listen to - because they would be along my head. The hair kind of curled under them anyway, so it had enough coverage to work. Let the whole thing dry. 
To attach it to my head, my friend Juls whipped up a bunch of victory rolls on my head, sprayed the bejesus out of my hair, then pinned the phone on by the hair covering it, now stiff with glue. It didn't budge all night and would have stayed through to the next morning if needed. It looked badass!One thing I might change would be to do another covering of tape, sticky side out again to help grab the hair (which I would then "seal" with glue to be safe). Enjoy, Little Monsters!!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Project Runway: Run for Cover
This week's challenge asked the designers to come up with a look for Heidi Klum to wear on the cover of Marie Claire. Some Anonymous Internet Person commented that they were surprised that it had taken so long for PR to get to this kind of challenge, and I have to agree...you have Heidi, you have Ninagarcia...shouldn't this have come to pass before?? In any case, it was a fun challenge with real stakes, which always amps up the intensity.
Anthony was the winner with this cute little number in a pretty, icy blue. He hit just the right color, with enough visual interest for a cool cover that doesn't overwhelm the model. I still want to smack him a lot of the time, but the outfit is terrific! I like the funky bracelet too.
Anna got the boot for this. I have no complaints, that shit is depressing. The sad little jacket...the limp details on the shirt...the snoozetastic hair? Ugh. I want to go cry alone in the rain just looking at it.
Amy made this beautiful dress despite the Marie Claire lady specifically saying they didn't like print, but...wouldn't you buy a magazine with this dress on it? The shoes are not great but I love the fabric and the little detail on the bodice. Really lovely, and I wish I could own it. Well, I say I want to, but those hemlines always look weird on me. The long corners create a quasi-arrow of leg that seems to be yelling "LOOK AT MY VAGINA" and while I can rock a lot of things, I cannot rock that.
Ben's dress was rightfully praised; I'm guessing that the judges zeroed right in on this one and Anthony's and spent most of their time trying to figure out how the hell they could pick just one. I love the color palette - especially the luscious yellow - and the cut is really beautiful. The styling is hideous, because that is the theme this season apparently, but the dress is a knockout. This is another one I would buy in a heartbeat.
Emilio continues to not really get it. This is pretty in a way (a ballerina way, specifically) but it's not enough for a magazine cover. The neckline is really wonky for me. I want to say that it's too low, but I think it might be the shape of it as well. Whatever it is, it's not working for me, and that didn't change even when they had him get rid of those little snippits on the shoulders. Also...I didn't notice this when the episode aired, but WTF is with those SHOES? It's like "ballerina, ballerina, ballerina, WOW SHORT, ballerina, PUNK."
Janeane Marie was probably thinking the shot for the cover would be waist up, and I commend her for thinking of that, but you can't just stop the interest after the expected cutoff on a photo. If she had worked in the teal at the bottom of the dress it might be more coherent but it's just kind of bland. The movement was pretty and she might have been on to something with the colors, but the end result wasn't what it could have been.
Jay Nicolas should have picked a different color. It wouldn't have won him the challenge, most likely, but it would have gotten him further up in the ranks. As Rich said, "maybe if it was a video he would have won." The movement on this was beautiful and I was glad that the editors included a side shot as it was moving down the runway...freakin' poetry in motion right there. I wonder what kind of fabric he used. Nice work from Jay.
Jesse came up with this fairly severe number...I think it might be more interesting than it seems at first glance, but first glance is what you base your magazine purchases on. This is a great dress for going out, but not quite the right genre for a Marie Claire cover. I do like the weaving/patterning on the midsection!
Jonathan put this one on deck. I'm having a really hard time getting past the 70s rollerskating shorts, but the more I look at it the more I like it. Check out the pretty twisted belt thinger going on there! To be honest, I don't know how great it would be on Heidi - I think it might wash her out - but it's a sweet, clear look.
Maya's dress was a complete snore. I think she was another one thinking of a waist up shot, or at least I HOPE she was. Unfortunately, the top isn't that interesting either. I like the structure of it, but the colors are awful. The hemline is gross too. It reminds me of those jean skirts that people used to wear where you basically cut a pair of jeans open and then sewed a panel between the legs. Not a good memory.
Mila's dress looked like it was from a challenge where you had to make a dress out of your shapewear. This is most disappointing because it would have been really cool in some better colors. Again, I still don't know that it would have made it a winner, but it would have improved the situation.
Seth Aaron at least has a client...Trinity from the Matrix. I get what he's going for here but with the small pops of color it's just very unbalanced and way too severe. It looks like it's well made but it's just not that great designwise.
Anthony was the winner with this cute little number in a pretty, icy blue. He hit just the right color, with enough visual interest for a cool cover that doesn't overwhelm the model. I still want to smack him a lot of the time, but the outfit is terrific! I like the funky bracelet too. 
Anna got the boot for this. I have no complaints, that shit is depressing. The sad little jacket...the limp details on the shirt...the snoozetastic hair? Ugh. I want to go cry alone in the rain just looking at it.
Amy made this beautiful dress despite the Marie Claire lady specifically saying they didn't like print, but...wouldn't you buy a magazine with this dress on it? The shoes are not great but I love the fabric and the little detail on the bodice. Really lovely, and I wish I could own it. Well, I say I want to, but those hemlines always look weird on me. The long corners create a quasi-arrow of leg that seems to be yelling "LOOK AT MY VAGINA" and while I can rock a lot of things, I cannot rock that.
Ben's dress was rightfully praised; I'm guessing that the judges zeroed right in on this one and Anthony's and spent most of their time trying to figure out how the hell they could pick just one. I love the color palette - especially the luscious yellow - and the cut is really beautiful. The styling is hideous, because that is the theme this season apparently, but the dress is a knockout. This is another one I would buy in a heartbeat.
Emilio continues to not really get it. This is pretty in a way (a ballerina way, specifically) but it's not enough for a magazine cover. The neckline is really wonky for me. I want to say that it's too low, but I think it might be the shape of it as well. Whatever it is, it's not working for me, and that didn't change even when they had him get rid of those little snippits on the shoulders. Also...I didn't notice this when the episode aired, but WTF is with those SHOES? It's like "ballerina, ballerina, ballerina, WOW SHORT, ballerina, PUNK." 
Janeane Marie was probably thinking the shot for the cover would be waist up, and I commend her for thinking of that, but you can't just stop the interest after the expected cutoff on a photo. If she had worked in the teal at the bottom of the dress it might be more coherent but it's just kind of bland. The movement was pretty and she might have been on to something with the colors, but the end result wasn't what it could have been. 
Jay Nicolas should have picked a different color. It wouldn't have won him the challenge, most likely, but it would have gotten him further up in the ranks. As Rich said, "maybe if it was a video he would have won." The movement on this was beautiful and I was glad that the editors included a side shot as it was moving down the runway...freakin' poetry in motion right there. I wonder what kind of fabric he used. Nice work from Jay.
Jesse came up with this fairly severe number...I think it might be more interesting than it seems at first glance, but first glance is what you base your magazine purchases on. This is a great dress for going out, but not quite the right genre for a Marie Claire cover. I do like the weaving/patterning on the midsection!
Jonathan put this one on deck. I'm having a really hard time getting past the 70s rollerskating shorts, but the more I look at it the more I like it. Check out the pretty twisted belt thinger going on there! To be honest, I don't know how great it would be on Heidi - I think it might wash her out - but it's a sweet, clear look. 
Maya's dress was a complete snore. I think she was another one thinking of a waist up shot, or at least I HOPE she was. Unfortunately, the top isn't that interesting either. I like the structure of it, but the colors are awful. The hemline is gross too. It reminds me of those jean skirts that people used to wear where you basically cut a pair of jeans open and then sewed a panel between the legs. Not a good memory.
Mila's dress looked like it was from a challenge where you had to make a dress out of your shapewear. This is most disappointing because it would have been really cool in some better colors. Again, I still don't know that it would have made it a winner, but it would have improved the situation.
Seth Aaron at least has a client...Trinity from the Matrix. I get what he's going for here but with the small pops of color it's just very unbalanced and way too severe. It looks like it's well made but it's just not that great designwise.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Project Runway: The Highs and Lows of Fashion
Do you ever think about how many things are in the world? Think about what you're wearing right now...probably pants, a shirt, maybe a dress or a skirt, some kind of underwear. These are all things we can easily identify, but just think of how many billions of permutations of "pants" there are and have been in the world. Jeans, slacks, trousers, sweatpants...boot cut, skinny, boyfriend, pleated...denim, cotton, wool, linen...beaded, tuxedo, pinstriped, plaid. It could go on forever, and that's just pants. I thought about this a lot during episode three, because my God were the selections from The Met's Costume Institute spectacular...
I want to start this post with some discussion of the pieces that were meant to inspire the designers because even though there's a tendency to dismiss fashion as frivolous, and I think many of these provide evidence to the contrary. Fashion is about making you feel something in your gut, either by looking at it or wearing it, and the way we choose to utilize those feelings can help us proclaim to the world who we are.
This is a Pauline Trigiere dress from 1966, worked in silk, wool and feathers. I'll be honest...I would not wear this, but I can appreciate the workmanship in it and the attention to detail. It's a beautiful piece of art. Wouldn't you get a distinct feeling about the person wearing this?
This is a 1938 Madeleine Vionnet evening gown and what a show stopper it is. The Costume Institute website has some interesting info on the scallopy decorations: "Though there are separate specialists for applied braid and fringe, known as the crépinières, Vionnet chose in this instance to employ an embroidery of individual graduated lengths of silk thread passed and looped through the fabric, with each thread forming two drops of fringe. The scallop arcs constitute the sole decoration of the dress." Think about embroidering every single one of those...to the proper length.
It's too bad that Rami didn't make this trip, because this gown from Madame Gres (Alix Barton) is a masterclass in his chosen medium of draped garments. It's a 1969 piece and even more beautiful up close. The designers got to look at the wine colored one shown, which I think is the most interesting because the rouching and details are so subtle.
I love Dior, as we know - I plan on doing my annual couture show review, but have been sidetracked - and this embodies so much of that love. This is called "Diorama" and was designed in 1951 by Christian Dior himself. The ribbons and beautiful fabrics are just stunning. It looks like magic.
This is another one from the House of Dior but was designed by Yves Saint Laurent in 1958. He called it "L'elephant Blanc." I love the unconventional shape and the lightness lent to it by the fabrics and embellishments.
This dress is by Claire McCardell for Townley Frocks, made somewhere between 1945 and 1955. I love the strong colors and the dramatic bodice. It's quite modern for its period, and even though it lacks a big blowzy skirt or the slithery fabrics used in cocktail dresses today, you just know that the woman walking through the door in this dress would turn heads.
Cristobal Balenciaga has always had this genius for fabric and innovative shapes, and this silk wrap from 1951 is no exception. It takes a certain kind of woman to wear it, but it says so much about the person who takes it on. It's dramatic and simple, and I love it.
In any case, you should all go to the Costume Institute AND their website, and from here it's on with the runway! The challenge this time was to create a signature look, then a pret-a-porter outfit on the cheap inspired by one of the other team's creations.
Mila's win really gave my burgeoning hope for this season a boost, because this is not what I think of as Lifetime Viewer Friendly, but it is a true piece of fashion. I thought it was very Balenciaga in its cut (though I appreciate the lack of PVC-adjacent materials...sorry, Balenciaga) and I liked the sporty styling. The jacket-cape was really gorgeous and I loved the unusual cut. Some of the first styling I've really gotten behind, too. Brava, Mila!
Ping was going to go in the next episode or two and even though I thought this was interesting, it was more of the same drapey, cluttered looking stuff we've seen from her. I truly believe that Ping is capable of making some beautiful stuff, but I do NOT think this is the competition for her, and the judges were recognizing that. I liked the lacy under-bodice and the draping, but no one is going to walk around with their dress looped around and held over their arm. There's a reason I stash my phone and wallet in my bra on a frequent basis, and that reason is a violent desire to avoid holding crap for extended periods of time. Bye bye, Ping...I liked your funky glasses and know you'll do well.
Amy produced this little piece of fabulousity, and I was really diggin' on it. The body of the dress was well made, with a nice overlay, but the real wow factor is in the shoulder treatments. I love that they hint at the idea of a ruff but don't feel antiquated. Cool, solid piece.
Anna
Anthony got called out for being kind of deb-y, and I think that's probably fair. I actually liked this and thought the bodice in particular was very nice, but the skirt was problematically lifeless. The funny thing was that it looked very energetic and fluffy when it was standing still, but when it was moving down the runway, it looked like a freaking Cylon motoring towards you! Close, but no cigar - came off too prommy.
Ben made a dress that fit really well and a kind of Members-Only-adjacent jacket that I sort of hate. Schlumpy and weird. Dress is nice, but it's a simple black dress. Not good enough for this competition.
Emilio's dress was gorgeous! I would buy this in an instant and wear the hell out of it. I love the stripe and the accents, and the cut is beautiful. What a knockout! More of this, please. (Less scary model, though. Yikes.)
Janeane Marie didn't take too much crap for this, but I mean...this is your signature look? This is Macy's, is what this is. I honestly kind of tuned it out because it was so boring. I expected her to get booted, or at least last-threed for a total lack of getting it, but apparently it was not a problem for the judges. I mean, it's fine, I don't hate it, but it's totally basic.
Jay Nicolas basically made the same dress. I have nothing else to say.
Jesse almost made the same dress as the previous two. It was pretty and I liked the quasi-keyhole neckline, but it's A BLACK DRESS. I COULD BUY THIS RIGHT NOW.
Jesus made something that would be really wearable for someone who is not me. I don't like this particular style (and the color is a total snooze) but I get it. That's kind of all I have to say about it, which isn't really good enough if Jesus wants to go further in this competition.
Jonathan should have left the feather off of this. It just clutters up the bodice, and I THINK there's some really nice detailing edging the bodice. The babydoll silhouette doesn't usually do much for me, but the movement on this was awesome. Not terrible, but it could have been much better and didn't capitalize on the opportunity. Better luck next time!
Maya's dress was cool as hell...I loved the crazy ridge things and thought they looked like mushrooms or some kind of coral. The texture was fabulous and I think the choice to make the rest of the dress a column of well-cut black made the most of the beautiful detail.
Seth Aaron maintained the lacy feel of the inspiration, but still managed to make an independent, pretty dress that I would totally wear. It's not revolutionary or anything, but it fit the challenge and came out really well.
I want to start this post with some discussion of the pieces that were meant to inspire the designers because even though there's a tendency to dismiss fashion as frivolous, and I think many of these provide evidence to the contrary. Fashion is about making you feel something in your gut, either by looking at it or wearing it, and the way we choose to utilize those feelings can help us proclaim to the world who we are.
This is a Pauline Trigiere dress from 1966, worked in silk, wool and feathers. I'll be honest...I would not wear this, but I can appreciate the workmanship in it and the attention to detail. It's a beautiful piece of art. Wouldn't you get a distinct feeling about the person wearing this?
This is a 1938 Madeleine Vionnet evening gown and what a show stopper it is. The Costume Institute website has some interesting info on the scallopy decorations: "Though there are separate specialists for applied braid and fringe, known as the crépinières, Vionnet chose in this instance to employ an embroidery of individual graduated lengths of silk thread passed and looped through the fabric, with each thread forming two drops of fringe. The scallop arcs constitute the sole decoration of the dress." Think about embroidering every single one of those...to the proper length.
It's too bad that Rami didn't make this trip, because this gown from Madame Gres (Alix Barton) is a masterclass in his chosen medium of draped garments. It's a 1969 piece and even more beautiful up close. The designers got to look at the wine colored one shown, which I think is the most interesting because the rouching and details are so subtle.
I love Dior, as we know - I plan on doing my annual couture show review, but have been sidetracked - and this embodies so much of that love. This is called "Diorama" and was designed in 1951 by Christian Dior himself. The ribbons and beautiful fabrics are just stunning. It looks like magic.
This is another one from the House of Dior but was designed by Yves Saint Laurent in 1958. He called it "L'elephant Blanc." I love the unconventional shape and the lightness lent to it by the fabrics and embellishments.
This dress is by Claire McCardell for Townley Frocks, made somewhere between 1945 and 1955. I love the strong colors and the dramatic bodice. It's quite modern for its period, and even though it lacks a big blowzy skirt or the slithery fabrics used in cocktail dresses today, you just know that the woman walking through the door in this dress would turn heads.
Cristobal Balenciaga has always had this genius for fabric and innovative shapes, and this silk wrap from 1951 is no exception. It takes a certain kind of woman to wear it, but it says so much about the person who takes it on. It's dramatic and simple, and I love it.In any case, you should all go to the Costume Institute AND their website, and from here it's on with the runway! The challenge this time was to create a signature look, then a pret-a-porter outfit on the cheap inspired by one of the other team's creations.
Mila's win really gave my burgeoning hope for this season a boost, because this is not what I think of as Lifetime Viewer Friendly, but it is a true piece of fashion. I thought it was very Balenciaga in its cut (though I appreciate the lack of PVC-adjacent materials...sorry, Balenciaga) and I liked the sporty styling. The jacket-cape was really gorgeous and I loved the unusual cut. Some of the first styling I've really gotten behind, too. Brava, Mila!
Ping was going to go in the next episode or two and even though I thought this was interesting, it was more of the same drapey, cluttered looking stuff we've seen from her. I truly believe that Ping is capable of making some beautiful stuff, but I do NOT think this is the competition for her, and the judges were recognizing that. I liked the lacy under-bodice and the draping, but no one is going to walk around with their dress looped around and held over their arm. There's a reason I stash my phone and wallet in my bra on a frequent basis, and that reason is a violent desire to avoid holding crap for extended periods of time. Bye bye, Ping...I liked your funky glasses and know you'll do well.
Amy produced this little piece of fabulousity, and I was really diggin' on it. The body of the dress was well made, with a nice overlay, but the real wow factor is in the shoulder treatments. I love that they hint at the idea of a ruff but don't feel antiquated. Cool, solid piece.
Anna
Anthony got called out for being kind of deb-y, and I think that's probably fair. I actually liked this and thought the bodice in particular was very nice, but the skirt was problematically lifeless. The funny thing was that it looked very energetic and fluffy when it was standing still, but when it was moving down the runway, it looked like a freaking Cylon motoring towards you! Close, but no cigar - came off too prommy.
Ben made a dress that fit really well and a kind of Members-Only-adjacent jacket that I sort of hate. Schlumpy and weird. Dress is nice, but it's a simple black dress. Not good enough for this competition.
Emilio's dress was gorgeous! I would buy this in an instant and wear the hell out of it. I love the stripe and the accents, and the cut is beautiful. What a knockout! More of this, please. (Less scary model, though. Yikes.)
Janeane Marie didn't take too much crap for this, but I mean...this is your signature look? This is Macy's, is what this is. I honestly kind of tuned it out because it was so boring. I expected her to get booted, or at least last-threed for a total lack of getting it, but apparently it was not a problem for the judges. I mean, it's fine, I don't hate it, but it's totally basic.
Jay Nicolas basically made the same dress. I have nothing else to say.
Jesse almost made the same dress as the previous two. It was pretty and I liked the quasi-keyhole neckline, but it's A BLACK DRESS. I COULD BUY THIS RIGHT NOW.
Jesus made something that would be really wearable for someone who is not me. I don't like this particular style (and the color is a total snooze) but I get it. That's kind of all I have to say about it, which isn't really good enough if Jesus wants to go further in this competition.
Jonathan should have left the feather off of this. It just clutters up the bodice, and I THINK there's some really nice detailing edging the bodice. The babydoll silhouette doesn't usually do much for me, but the movement on this was awesome. Not terrible, but it could have been much better and didn't capitalize on the opportunity. Better luck next time!
Maya's dress was cool as hell...I loved the crazy ridge things and thought they looked like mushrooms or some kind of coral. The texture was fabulous and I think the choice to make the rest of the dress a column of well-cut black made the most of the beautiful detail. 
Seth Aaron maintained the lacy feel of the inspiration, but still managed to make an independent, pretty dress that I would totally wear. It's not revolutionary or anything, but it fit the challenge and came out really well.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Project Runway: Back to New York
Okay, here's the situation. Lifetime makes it an enormous pain in the ass to get photos off their site. I used to be able to copy photos directly from Bravo and paste them into emails to The Lucy, which provided the fun commentary you used to enjoy on this blog. As it is now, I need to screencap the photo, edit it in Paint because I am ghetto (you cannot change this, please do not give me the Learn Photoshop Already Lecture), upload them into the Blogger site, publish the post, copy the pictures into an email, and then unpost the post. Needless to say, by the time I finish that, I have gotten wildly distracted or apathetic. SO! First of all, I will simply be commenting on my own here and The Lucy can swing by and comment accordingly, at which point I can edit the post. Secondly, if anyone has figured out a better way, please let me know.
Hooray! Project Runway is back and seems to suck MUCH less than last season did! Good job, Lifetime et al., keep it up. The challenge is simple: Make an outfit that represents you as a designer. There was also a dumb "scramble to get your fabrics" in Central Park, but that wound up being mostly inconsequential.
Emilio was the winner of the challenge, and I have to say it was a good choice. This isn't overwrought or even that fancy, but the amount of work he put into it and the creativity behind it was phenomenal. I love the fabrics he used and the patterning he created really takes advantage of them. I also really enjoyed the swingy movement in the skirt. Good shootin' from the judges!
Christiane got the boot, and I guess if something was going to go, this would be it. Most problematic was the way the ruffly wraparound thing ended mid-butt - it just looked really awkward and disrupted the flow of the dress. I didn't think any of the dresses this week were really horrid (one was certainly weird, more on that later) so I'm not too amped up about this aufing. It wasn't great by any stretch, but it wasn't eyeball-searingly bad, either. I actually kind of liked the fabric combos.
Amy's dress had a very sweet skirt, and I liked the use of the harlequinny, floaty fabric. The top was a little problematic. The one breast is covered with a very, very pale blue fabric, but the lack of contrast pretty much just limits you to a double-take and isn't as interesting as it could be. I get the visible boning in the rest of the bodice, but I don't really like it. It's just too much translucence for me. All in all, a pretty average outing, interesting enough for me to want to see more.
Ben's dress didn't make a hell of a lot of an impression on me. I think the fabric was a problem and the finishing was kind of sub-par, but I get the idea. Not a bad idea but the execution was a bit of a snooze.
Anthony is extremely annoying and I have a feeling I will have trouble coping with his existence this season, but I did like this dress. One of the judges took issue with the loopy thing on her hip but I think it's kind of cool. I wish the judges would get off the whole "women want to look slim and have a very standard shape" thing they do, because some of the most interesting fashion tinkers with traditional silhouettes and turns them on their head. I realize that people want classic or fairly bland silhouettes from RTW options, but this is supposedly runway fashion. I liked the fabric too; you'd usually see these kinds of springy flowers on a lighter background but the forest green really makes a beautiful contrast. The top was just okay, and I don't like the shoes or the model's styling.
I am actually pretty sure that Anna's dress is very cute, but the fabric choice is terrible. I can't even see that well what's going on. It's sweet, but I suspect that there is some really lovely detailing I'm not being allowed to see. I wish she had used a black model or different fabric so there was better contrast between the model's skin and the fabric.
Jonathan's dress was very intriguing. I liked the detailing and the swishy skirt. I have mixed feelings about the belt, but they're mixed-to-positive so I think I'll stop worrying about it. It would have been nice to see this in another color; although the black is striking, it might have been more interesting in a strong purple or something similar.
Jesus definitely suffered from some fabric issues. I liked the look of this...when it was standing very very still. Unfortunately the fabric made it look extremely stiff, which took away from the whole thing. I know there was the whole But Should It Have Stayed Short drama with this and I think that was justified, but NOT because of the seam at knee level, which I could hardly see, but because the extended length added that stiff feeling to the
Jesse blew it on the top, if you ask me. I think it was an okay idea but it made the whole top look really schlumpy and gross. The fabrics were really lush and everything but man, that top was a hot mess. It was a cool idea but I think it needs some kind of structural help. If it managed to kind of float up and hold a firm line at the shoulder it would have been a really fascinating, sexy design, and instead it's frumpy. Too bad, hopefully he will continue to be interesting and execute better.
Jay Nicolas' dress prompted me to yell "oh my god, the tumors RETURN" at the TV. At the time, I was thinking of that Season 1 challenge to create a dress on the theme of envy (that produced some REALLY glorious things that I forgot about until just this moment) and someone did this weird dress with little tumors of fabric on it that was kind of Comme des Garcons-y. However, now that I am looking at it anew and the shock has worn off a bit, it's definitely more Angelaesque. I kind of get what he was going for, but between the visual static of the fabric and the unfortunate locations of the rosettes, it's just not that great. The fit appears to be lovely, but that's about it.
Janeane Marie definitely went kind of...Angelina Jolie resortwear here. I don't like it but I get it in theory. It's a look that makes sense and I can imagine a customer for it, but I wish she would have gone a little nutsier (or followed through with her initial idea) since she had carte blanche. I love the shoes but the problem is that they're more fun than the entire rest of the outfit.
Seth Aaron's straps were kind of a problem - they added a very weird shifting boomp to the torso when viewed head on. That being said, I liked them every way BUT head on, and they made sense in the context of the very cute dress. I liked the airiness of it and the teeny touches of red at the back. It's funny to look at the dress from the ankles up...the dress is actually almost picnic-in-the-park-ready without the edgy shoes! That really gives you an appreciation for the versatility of the dress.
Ping is kind of a nut but I love her...................okay she's a LOT a nut but I love her. I actually was intrigued by this look, even as I hated the weird way it hitched up in the back. In the front it's kind of like an extreme Chico's type look. I'm pretty sure my aunt who' a shaman would wear this, you know? I liked the colors and the movement, and after I read that one interview with Tim Gunn where he pointed out that Ping specializes in knitwear, it made a lot of sense - think of how lovely this would be in knits. I'm certainly interested in seeing more.
Pamela's dress was very sweet and 50sish, and I love the color. It's not a frippy, frilly pink, and I like that on a dress that's SO aggressively feminine. That being said, it's not really setting my world on fire and again I wish the designer would have gone totally nuts on this since they had such free rein.
Mila's jacket was an aesthetic problem for me because it kept flapping open as the model walked. The look itself was nice and I think I would like it a lot when it's standing still, but the jacket thing was SO distracting! I really enjoyed her mix of patterns here, too. Cute separates, pretty average.
Maya should have gotten more props for this. I really like the pop of detail with the ebullient ruffle up there, and the actual dress is flattering and pretty. The color pallette isn't all that thrilling, but I thought the execution would have warranted more praise. I'm definitely keeping an eye on Maya.
Hooray! Project Runway is back and seems to suck MUCH less than last season did! Good job, Lifetime et al., keep it up. The challenge is simple: Make an outfit that represents you as a designer. There was also a dumb "scramble to get your fabrics" in Central Park, but that wound up being mostly inconsequential.
Emilio was the winner of the challenge, and I have to say it was a good choice. This isn't overwrought or even that fancy, but the amount of work he put into it and the creativity behind it was phenomenal. I love the fabrics he used and the patterning he created really takes advantage of them. I also really enjoyed the swingy movement in the skirt. Good shootin' from the judges!
Christiane got the boot, and I guess if something was going to go, this would be it. Most problematic was the way the ruffly wraparound thing ended mid-butt - it just looked really awkward and disrupted the flow of the dress. I didn't think any of the dresses this week were really horrid (one was certainly weird, more on that later) so I'm not too amped up about this aufing. It wasn't great by any stretch, but it wasn't eyeball-searingly bad, either. I actually kind of liked the fabric combos.
Amy's dress had a very sweet skirt, and I liked the use of the harlequinny, floaty fabric. The top was a little problematic. The one breast is covered with a very, very pale blue fabric, but the lack of contrast pretty much just limits you to a double-take and isn't as interesting as it could be. I get the visible boning in the rest of the bodice, but I don't really like it. It's just too much translucence for me. All in all, a pretty average outing, interesting enough for me to want to see more.
Ben's dress didn't make a hell of a lot of an impression on me. I think the fabric was a problem and the finishing was kind of sub-par, but I get the idea. Not a bad idea but the execution was a bit of a snooze.
Anthony is extremely annoying and I have a feeling I will have trouble coping with his existence this season, but I did like this dress. One of the judges took issue with the loopy thing on her hip but I think it's kind of cool. I wish the judges would get off the whole "women want to look slim and have a very standard shape" thing they do, because some of the most interesting fashion tinkers with traditional silhouettes and turns them on their head. I realize that people want classic or fairly bland silhouettes from RTW options, but this is supposedly runway fashion. I liked the fabric too; you'd usually see these kinds of springy flowers on a lighter background but the forest green really makes a beautiful contrast. The top was just okay, and I don't like the shoes or the model's styling.
I am actually pretty sure that Anna's dress is very cute, but the fabric choice is terrible. I can't even see that well what's going on. It's sweet, but I suspect that there is some really lovely detailing I'm not being allowed to see. I wish she had used a black model or different fabric so there was better contrast between the model's skin and the fabric.
Jonathan's dress was very intriguing. I liked the detailing and the swishy skirt. I have mixed feelings about the belt, but they're mixed-to-positive so I think I'll stop worrying about it. It would have been nice to see this in another color; although the black is striking, it might have been more interesting in a strong purple or something similar.
Jesus definitely suffered from some fabric issues. I liked the look of this...when it was standing very very still. Unfortunately the fabric made it look extremely stiff, which took away from the whole thing. I know there was the whole But Should It Have Stayed Short drama with this and I think that was justified, but NOT because of the seam at knee level, which I could hardly see, but because the extended length added that stiff feeling to the
Jesse blew it on the top, if you ask me. I think it was an okay idea but it made the whole top look really schlumpy and gross. The fabrics were really lush and everything but man, that top was a hot mess. It was a cool idea but I think it needs some kind of structural help. If it managed to kind of float up and hold a firm line at the shoulder it would have been a really fascinating, sexy design, and instead it's frumpy. Too bad, hopefully he will continue to be interesting and execute better.
Jay Nicolas' dress prompted me to yell "oh my god, the tumors RETURN" at the TV. At the time, I was thinking of that Season 1 challenge to create a dress on the theme of envy (that produced some REALLY glorious things that I forgot about until just this moment) and someone did this weird dress with little tumors of fabric on it that was kind of Comme des Garcons-y. However, now that I am looking at it anew and the shock has worn off a bit, it's definitely more Angelaesque. I kind of get what he was going for, but between the visual static of the fabric and the unfortunate locations of the rosettes, it's just not that great. The fit appears to be lovely, but that's about it.
Janeane Marie definitely went kind of...Angelina Jolie resortwear here. I don't like it but I get it in theory. It's a look that makes sense and I can imagine a customer for it, but I wish she would have gone a little nutsier (or followed through with her initial idea) since she had carte blanche. I love the shoes but the problem is that they're more fun than the entire rest of the outfit.
Seth Aaron's straps were kind of a problem - they added a very weird shifting boomp to the torso when viewed head on. That being said, I liked them every way BUT head on, and they made sense in the context of the very cute dress. I liked the airiness of it and the teeny touches of red at the back. It's funny to look at the dress from the ankles up...the dress is actually almost picnic-in-the-park-ready without the edgy shoes! That really gives you an appreciation for the versatility of the dress.
Ping is kind of a nut but I love her...................okay she's a LOT a nut but I love her. I actually was intrigued by this look, even as I hated the weird way it hitched up in the back. In the front it's kind of like an extreme Chico's type look. I'm pretty sure my aunt who' a shaman would wear this, you know? I liked the colors and the movement, and after I read that one interview with Tim Gunn where he pointed out that Ping specializes in knitwear, it made a lot of sense - think of how lovely this would be in knits. I'm certainly interested in seeing more.
Pamela's dress was very sweet and 50sish, and I love the color. It's not a frippy, frilly pink, and I like that on a dress that's SO aggressively feminine. That being said, it's not really setting my world on fire and again I wish the designer would have gone totally nuts on this since they had such free rein.
Mila's jacket was an aesthetic problem for me because it kept flapping open as the model walked. The look itself was nice and I think I would like it a lot when it's standing still, but the jacket thing was SO distracting! I really enjoyed her mix of patterns here, too. Cute separates, pretty average.
Maya should have gotten more props for this. I really like the pop of detail with the ebullient ruffle up there, and the actual dress is flattering and pretty. The color pallette isn't all that thrilling, but I thought the execution would have warranted more praise. I'm definitely keeping an eye on Maya.
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