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LJ Runway Monday: The Finale, Part 2 (PR 7:14)

On the most recent episode of Lifetime’s Project Runway, the remaining three designers showed their final collections at Bryant Park, and the winner was chosen by the judges. Tonight’s the night I promised to share my final collection for this season, but…I’m not presenting a runway collection.

To explain, I have to go back a few months and share a letter I received from my model muse, Summer. You know, the strawberry blonde who’s vexed me by being too busy to model any of my designs this season.

Dear Becks [Summer writes],

Almost two years ago, I was invited to a fun party at the Manhattan apartment of another Mattel Top Model, Figaro. You may not remember her. She modeled for Mark G. Harris. I’m kidding! No one forgets Figaro.

Figaro can be a little sketchy when she introduces people, so I wasn’t surprised when she shoved me toward a stranger and gave me only his first name–Walt. What did surprise me was the way Walt and I clicked from the start. I definitely wasn’t looking for a relationship. While trying to fit in or finish college classes among all the bookings I was getting, I didn’t have a lot of time for a boyfriend. But after we talked and flirted all night at Figaro’s party, I gave Walt my phone number, and every time I was in the city, we managed to get together.

Figaro knows the most diverse set of people, from princes to paupers, and I got the idea that since Walt is a freelance wildlife photographer, not a fashion photographer, that he didn’t make a lot of money. It didn’t matter to me. I thought he was funny, interesting, handsome, and sexy. I deliberately chose places to meet that would be casual (and cheap!), and I hoped that Figaro or one of their mutual friends wouldn’t tell him the kind of money a top model pulls in.

Imagine my surprise when I found out that “Walt” is Mason Walters Cabot IV. Even if a IV behind three last names isn’t daunting enough, who hasn’t heard of the New England tycoon Mason Walters Cabot III? Figaro actually knows Walt because Barbie–who’s also modeled for you–frequently dates Walt’s father (Walt’s mother died several years ago). Although Walt’s an only child, over time, I’ve met his extended family and his father, and they’re all more likely to be found in shorts and Topsiders on the deck of a boat–okay, a yacht–than flaunting an affluent lifestyle. They’re what my dad calls “just plain folk.” I adore them all and enjoyed being welcomed into their family.

Still, I’m glad Walt knows I fell in love with him when I thought he was an impoverished photographer. In fact, I’m so in love with him, when he asked me to marry him, I really wanted to say yes. But I explained to him that several of my fellow models and I made a promise about not getting married. We work with so many gay people in the industry, and have many gay and lesbian friends, and it seems wrong to get married when our friends and colleagues don’t have the right to make that same civil commitment and get the same legal protections.

Walt was disappointed, but he understood why this mattered to me. He not only respected my decision, he agreed with me. I graduated, and we started looking for a place to live together. This didn’t exactly thrill my parents, and believe it or not, they were the ones who came up with a solution. Why not get married in Iowa, a state that extends the right to marry without regard to the gender of the two adults involved?

It made perfect sense! We found out we didn’t have to be residents of Iowa to marry there. As anyone knows, weddings are costly–especially weddings between super models and sons of tycoons with family and friends who come from all over the country. We could thank Iowa for being fair and forward thinking by contributing our wedding dollars to the state’s economy!

So the wedding is on, and that means I need you! I know you have a friend in Iowa who can help us find the perfect spot for our wedding, which we want to have outside. And during the next Runway Monday season, you can help me feed misinformation about my whereabouts and social life to the press, so we don’t end up with a bunch of tabloids and paparazzi turning our wedding into a circus. And finally, there’s no one who I’d rather design my wedding dress and the dresses of my bridal party than you–since Runway Monday-winning designers Timothy J. Lambert and Mark G. Harris seem to have retired. Kidding again!

I promise not to turn into a bridezilla on you, but I do have some requests. No pastels, especially pink or peach. I like more autumnal colors. I’d prefer silks and maybe taffeta. I guess tulle is acceptable, but no lace. And no matchy-matchy dresses on my attendants. Here are a few specifics of what I want.

See the rest of Summer’s ideas for wedding attire and photos of my designs behind this cut.

LJ Runway Monday: The Finale, Part 1 (PR 7:13)

After Tim Gunn visited the designers in their homes to check progress on their final collections, four contestants were auf’d to three on the most recent episode of Lifetime’s Project Runway.

No home visit from Tim Gunn for me; you’ll have to take my word for it that I need to finish only three more designs to complete my final collection. If you’re a betting bunch, you should be putting money on Summer’s unavailability due to her being stranded somewhere in Europe thanks to volcano ash grounding flights.

ETA 2022: A linked video showing my looks for the entire season was deleted by the host site.

Or was this season just some kind of Dallas/Bob Newhart/St. Elsewhere fantasy? After all, I am a fiction writer.

Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?

LJ Runway Monday: The Big, Top Designers (PR 7:12)

On the most recent episode of Lifetime’s Project Runway, the designers were taken to Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, where circus performers put on a show just for them. They were then asked to create a design inspired by the circus, with a warning to make their look more high-end than costume-like.

Full disclosure: I’m one of those people with mixed feelings about the circus. It’s not the clowns; clowns don’t really bother me. I just feel a little icky about training animals to perform for our amusement. I get that same icky feeling at amusement park animal shows. At least in reputable zoos and aquariums, where an attempt is made to create natural habitats, I feel a little better about the animals.

However, I can enjoy the spectacle of the ringmaster and the human performers, who are there by choice and are paid for their work, so I kept my focus on that circus feature.

It was also refreshing to get this photo from Summer. She’s back home preparing her VERY well-cared-for horses for a special occasion at which they only have to look pretty.

A new model was waiting in the wings to help me present the…greatest show in this journal entry.

Click here to see.

Make it right

It has come to my attention that some of my readers feel cheated that I never posted anything about my thirty-fifth birthday. It was a wonderful day. Along with a pile of funny and sweet cards (some with gifts of the spending kind!), texts, e-mails, calls, packages, and the like, I enjoyed a happy evening with friends.

Me, Tom, and Tim
Lynne, Lindsey, Rhonda

sitting in front of a pile o’ grilled steaks, baked potatoes, salad, and garlic bread that they all brought and cooked without my assistance. All I had to do was eat! It was DELICIOUS. Kathy S arrived later with a wonderful plug-in candle for scented candle tarts that are also delicious (smelling).

Please click here for more photos and stuff behind the cut.

LJ Runway Monday: Sew Much Pressure (PR 7:11)

On the most recent episode of Lifetime’s Project Runway, Heidi Klum told the designers that she was glad she wasn’t in their shoes. Their assignment was to create a red carpet look for a celebrity who was known to be very demanding and sometimes difficult–Heidi herself!

I’ve designed for Heidi more than I’ve designed for Summer this season, but I thought I’d give it another shot. Once again, Summer’s agent told me that my favorite model wasn’t available for booking. In the agent’s words, “Summer will be rolling with the Easter Bunny-in-Chief this weekend.” I’m not certain what that means, but I am sure she’ll look fantastic doing it.

Heidi happily agreed to model for me once again. She’s a trooper. Or else she’s just glad I didn’t decide to not finish the season. That’s not a criticism of the designer who left the show. If she didn’t feel driven to complete the season, and especially if she wasn’t certain her work was at a point to show at Bryant Park, she did the right thing. It worked out well for Anthony.

So how did this week’s challenge work out for me?

Click here to see Heidi’s red carpet look.

Whatever happened to Fay Wray?

Fay Wray died in 2004, a little more than a month before her ninety-seventh birthday. She was such a memorable and beloved Ann Darrow in 1933’s King Kong–the first actress to earn the label “scream queen”–that two days after she died, the lights of the Empire State Building were turned off for fifteen minutes in her honor.

When Kong came back to life in 1976, he dumped Ann for another beauty named Dwan.

The big ape nearly ended Jessica Lange’s career before it began, but thanks to The Postman Always Rings Twice and Frances in 1981 and 1982, it was revived. So was Kong, who’d forgotten all about Dwan and traveled back in time for Naomi Watts’s version of Ann Darrow in Peter Jackson’s 2005 remake.

My own particular favorite Ann Darrow is the one on the desk in front of me. That face, that beautiful face.

Mattel, 2002

LJ Runway Monday: Hey, That’s My Fabric (PR 7:10)

On the most recent episode of Lifetime’s Project Runway, the designers were given the opportunity to create their own fabrics. Each designer was presented with an HP All-in-One Desktop PC to use to create a textile design, then their designs were digitally printed on fabric overnight. I was dazzled by some of their creations and found myself at odds with the judges’ evaluation of who had the winning and losing designs. I believe my views were more in line with Tim Gunn’s and am starting to wonder if Nina and Michael aren’t being deliberately difficult for some nefarious reasons of their own. Stay tuned, huh?

Unfortunately, I don’t have an HP All-in-One Desktop PC at my disposal, nor do I have a budget for getting fabric digitally printed. What I do have is fabric, brushes, and lots of paints. I WISH I’d remembered to take a photo of my fabrics after I painted them and before I cut them to my patterns, but I overlooked that step. Here are the scraps, however, if that helps you visualize an early phase of my process.

As always, you can see my paintings on the One Word Art and True Colors pages.

I know it will shock you to learn that Summer was once again unavailable for this challenge. Her agent mumbled something about shooting a Volvo commercial and having a cold one, whatever that might mean.

But the world is full of gorgeous models; click here to see a new one.

LJ Runway Monday: Takin’ It to the Street (PR 7:9)

On the most recent episode of Lifetime’s Project Runway, the designers were put into teams of two to visit distinct areas of Manhattan to get inspiration for two designs: a look for day and a look for night. The areas they could select from were Chinatown, East Village, Upper East Side, and Harlem.

Rather than follow them through Manhattan, I decided to pick from one of the areas I’ve been in that weren’t included in PR‘s selections. There are several, but settle back and I’ll tell you a story.

My first visit to Manhattan was in February of 1998. The weather was unseasonably mild–lucky me!–and during my first day and night in the city, I was accompanied by my friend James, who used to live in NYC. That made him a great tour guide and person to teach me how to do those things I’d never done before–like hail a cab, figure out the subway, who and how much to tip, etc. Timmy and Tim were both still living in the city, and between the three of them and Tim’s then-boyfriend, I enjoyed exploring Hell’s Kitchen, SoHo, Washington Square Park, Central Park, Columbus Circle, Fifth and Madison Avenues, Chelsea, the Lincoln Center, Times Square, Herald Square, Union Square, Macy’s, the Empire State Building, and all kinds of shops, restaurants, and galleries.

It was AMAZING, better than I’d ever anticipated. And it was exhausting! On the next-to-last day of my visit, I was on my own for the full day. Tim and Mr. Man had gone out of town, James was with his sister, and Timmy planned to come to my hotel that evening so we could go to dinner.

I woke up that morning and realized that I’d lost the camera that had most of my photos on it. After moping about that for a while, I was determined to take my other camera out and create my own adventure. When I’d been on top of the Empire State Building late one night with Tim and Mr. Man, they’d turned me in a circle and pointed out recognizable landmarks in each area of the city. Of course, there was nothing like looking downtown and seeing those majestic Twin Towers, and the little light in the harbor that was the Statue of Liberty. Since I hadn’t seen Lower Manhattan by daylight, and I had a huge crush on Battery Park thanks to the movies (including Desperately Seeking Susan), that’s where I decided to go.

I had to negotiate the subway all by myself, and I screwed up. But I also corrected my mistake, which gave me confidence. When I was standing in the sunlight again, there were so many things to look at that…I forgot to take more than a few photos. My senses were drunk on: the ferries on the river, the birds on the posts, Liberty in the distance (could NOT stop thinking of young Vito in Godfather II), the park, the towering skyscrapers of the Financial District, the grandness of the World Trade Center, the hotdog vendors, the old men playing checkers, the Rollerbladers and skateboarders, the families with children, the couples sitting close on benches, THOSE benches, that I’d seen so many times in movies. The people truly lived up to the concept of NYC as a melting pot–they were diverse in race, gender, age, language, attire, income–I stayed there for hours watching them, eating one of those hotdogs, and writing down my thoughts and impressions (some of which would later become poems).

Twelve years later, I still remember that as one of the best days of my life–and I’ve had way more good days than bad, so that’s a tribute to the architecture, people, beauty, and vibe of New York. To capture that in fashion, I wanted to share a few photos–not mine–that helped inspire this week’s designs.

When I envisioned my daytime look, I thought of a young woman grabbing her sketchbook on a spring morning and going to Battery Park. A light drizzle or mist off the Hudson wouldn’t daunt her. She’d just put on rainboots and other proper attire, load up her backpack with her art supplies and a bottle of water, and be out the door. I thought Summer was the ideal model for this daytime look. However, security photos show her being blindfolded and dollnapped in the dead of night by mysterious, unnamed ninjas with intact ankle ligaments.

Please click here to see who’s modeling the look instead.

LJ Runway Monday: The Elements of Fashion (PR 7:8)

On the most recent episode of Lifetime’s Project Runway, the designers were asked to create a look inspired by one of the four natural elements. They drew at random and received either earth, air, fire, or water. Tim held cards for me to pick from with the elements written on them. I was a little wary of which one I’d get. I have nothing against blondes, but I’ve designed for four in a row, and I was ready for a change.

Once again, my redheaded muse was unavailable. She landed an acting gig in a period movie allegedly starring Julia Roberts. (I’m not saying a word about Mary Reilly.) As always, I wish her the best. I don’t know if she can act, but she’ll look fantastic. SUMMER, not Julia Roberts.

I was happy when I drew the element of fire. I knew a model with fiery hair who’d be perfect for the design I envisioned. Maybe my idea is somewhat literal, but I was disappointed in the PR designers’ fabric palettes. I wanted something bolder.

Did I get what I wanted? Please click here to see.

Hump Day Happy

Ken is a shoe whore. There are more, but they’re on dolls. Apparently, shoes make him happy. If you’d like something to be happy about, please comment with a page number between 1 and 611, and another number between 1 and 25, and I’ll find something in the happiness book for you. It’s not quite the same thrill as a new pair of shoes, but it could be just what you need to prompt a happy memory, give you an idea for a story, poem, or blog entry, or just make you scratch your head in wonder at the foolishness of it all. I say we can never have too much happiness and foolishness.