Wednesday, August 17, 2005

True to Form

Austin was charming and adorable on The Battle of the Network Reality Stars. I tuned in late and only got a glimpse of Wendy Pepper.

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Project Runway News!

I lifted this from the "Entertainment Weekly" website!

''Project Runway'' losers become real winners -- We look at recent successes by alums of the Bravo reality show by Lisa Costantini
Those first-season Project Runway alums are continuing the grand reality-show tradition of losers becoming real-life winners (see Clay Aiken and Trista Rehn). While champ Jay McCarroll will star in his own Bravo documentary, Project Jay, early next year, runner-up Kara Saun styled TLC's T-Boz and Chilli for their reality series R U the Girl and Amanda Bynes for What I Like About You. As for fellow losers Kevin Johnn (who'll continue dressing Heidi Klum for Runway's season 2) and fan favorite Austin Scarlett, they'll both unveil their new collections in September during NYC's Fashion Week. And what about childish, scheming Wendy Pepper? She just opened her own clothing store, and she's creating a ready-to-wear collection aimed at ''mature'' women. Now that's designing against type.

Saturday, August 13, 2005

I Loved "The Cut" last night!

Wow - what a great episode! The contestants were challenged to create an "iconic advertising campaign" photograph. Actually, in retrospect that sounds a little vague. Some interpreted it to mean an iconic image of New York. Some thought they were supposed to be selling Tommy Hilfiger clothes, and some apparently believed they were creating images of their own iconic selves!

Elizabeth's image of the beautiful model in a ballgown created from American flags (that were not cut and never touched the floor) was my hands-down favorite. The model was posed in Grand Central Station. So - there are all sorts of iconic interpretations here.... patriotism, fashion, waiting, going, "terminating..." whatever - it was a great photo!

Wes definitely lost some points here. He always seemed like a genuinely nice guy - now he seems sort of over-the-top...that's putting it mildly. He was disappointed that he couldn't find any "multi-colored jockstraps." His image is of a handsome blond baseball player. Wes posed him with hot dogs and squirting mustard.... ummmm... no comment here.... but good taste won out and the final image was a cute picture of the model's face blowing a bubble.

Deanna really cracked me up in this episode. First she demanded that her cabbie cut all of the other cabs off to assure that she would arrive at the photographer's agent's office first. This way, she would have first choice of the photographers. When Liz (naturally curious) asked how she managed to arrive first - Deanna was pretty pleased with herself. ALL of the photographers were professionals and ALL were way above the talent caliber of this group - believe me...

She intended to present an image of a "Young, Driven American" - just like her! So at the modeling agency she booked a model that reminded her of Angelina Jolie... Hmmm, Deanna - Angelina - sure I can see the resemblance...

Now Deanna is "ready to do what I do best which is dress people and style them for the shoot...." That is a direct quote - I recorded the episode and fast forwarded to this point and played it three times just to be sure I didn't misquote her. Imagine this quote followed by a scene of Deanna running through a corridor dressed in the following outfit:

Let's start at the bottom - black knee-high boots, Hot pink stockings - could be fishnet, hard to tell - a black mini-skirt, A red blouse with short puffed sleeves, suspenders and a man's necktie.... and this isn't even the weird part yet. Deanna has some sort of ruffly cuffs around her wrists. These are not attached to a sleeves - just worn around her wrists like cuffs or bracelets. These are long enough to extend beyond the edges of the sleeves of her coat. The back of the coat looks like it might have been one of the coats that the team re-worked in a previous challenge. There is some sort of applique on the back that appears to be falling off. She is wearing her customary unflattering make-up which manages to make her face look sort of mean and angry while not concealing any of her complexion flaws. Her hair is just indescribable.

This is the woman who claims that what she does best is dress and style people. This is her career.

Anyway, then Deanna headed to Betsey Johnson to choose the wardrobe for her shoot. Hmmmm.... Tommy Hilfiger - Betsey Johnson, Tommy Hilfiger - Betsey Johnson - sure Deanna, we can see the relevance.

Of course Deanna's photo looked just like A Paris Hilton shopping shot. Instead of a little dog, she used a cat. The model was dressed in pink ruffles and held about a dozen shopping bags. Actually they didn't look like shopping bags - more like gift bags and they were all the same. This is how Deanna sees the "Young, Driven American." More like "Spoiled Rich Girl Who Never Worked a Day in Her Life." Now that's an American Icon.

Okay - more later!

Monday, August 01, 2005

More Pepper Please

Wendy Pepper is going to be a contestant on the new Bravo series Battle of the Network Reality Stars. It premieres on Wednesday night August 17th. Can't wait.