Good morning, starshine! You know someone with a hippie soul like mine would note that on this date in 1967, the musical Hair premiered off-Broadway and was the dawning of the age of endless ear-worms.
Button Sunday
Tag: entertainment
LJ Runway Monday: A Look in the Line (PR 8:11)
Barbie: Wow, we look great in our vintage clothes.
Summer: Right?
Barbie: I’m wearing Mattel, circa 1962. What about you?
Summer: I’m wearing Lynne’s Mom, date unknown.
Barbie: I’m not sure I’ve heard of that label.
Summer: That shows you how exclusive it is. Speaking of labels, on the most recent episode of Lifetime’s Project Runway, the designers were asked to create a look for a special client’s label.
Barbie: Or as some former LJ Runway Monday designer calls it from the safety of Becks’ living room, “working in Heidi’s sweat shop.”
Summer: That’s even more applicable for this challenge, because the designers were asked to create a look to be included in Heidi Klum’s activewear line. Then they heard the challenge twist: They actually had to create three looks. The designs had to fit in with Heidi’s overall collection and use some of the fabric that’s part of her existing line.
Barbie: The winning designer’s looks will be sold as part of Heidi’s line on amazon.com. Unpaid labor!
Summer: Where’s Norma Rae when you need her?
Barbie: Making Boniva commercials. Heidi isn’t with us, because she’ll be on the runway with the other models I picked for this challenge, Neysa and Rocky. Let’s see how Becks dressed them.
LJ Runway Monday: There’s a Pattern Here (PR 8:10)
Heidi: On the most recent episode of Lifetime’s Project Runway, the designers were sent to the workroom to get their next challenge. First, they were surprised to see that photos of themselves growing up had been loaded onto their HP computers.
Barbie: Then they were told they’d be repeating a challenge from a previous season: They had to create an original fabric look using HP/Intel technology. (Becks’ response to that previous season’s challenge can be seen here if you’re interested.)
Summer: To either inspire or distract them, the show brought in their mothers (or in Christopher’s case, his partner) for a day away from the work room.
Barbie: We couldn’t bring in relatives for Becks, but we do know the stories behind some of her photos.
Heidi: For example, the photo below was one of her mother’s least favorites (Becks got sick later that night and was admitted to the hospital), but we think that even with illness looming, she’s fashion forward, wearing Ugg boots long before Kate Hudson and Sarah Jessica Parker were born popularized them.
Barbie: Here, Becks shows an early interest in dolls and the color pink, obviously already a candidate for Mattel and me!
Summer: In this one, Becks (far left), having been given a big box of clothes from her grandmother, chooses always-fashionable black. Note the sheer fabric used over the bodice and for the sleeves.
Heidi: Purple! Oddly, Becks has this same hairstyle today.
Barbie: Uh-oh. The hippie season. Long stringy hair, dark circles under the eyes, bellbottoms, and smock tops.
Summer: Instead of doing a close-up of those big fuzzy black house shoes–or subjecting you to the shoulder pad years–how ’bout a couple of little black dresses–and one lady in red?
Heidi: Classy! Can Becks measure up to Mattel this week?
Button Sunday
Love her or hate her, after thirty-four years, today we say goodbye to “Cathy” from Cathy Guisewite’s comic strip.
It’s become fashionable to mock “Cathy,” but hers was the first female-centered comic strip as women began their shift to the workplace during the women’s movement. She wasn’t a super hero, or an orphaned child, or a kindly old busybody who solved problems, just an Every Girl facing the same problems and challenges that her many readers grappled with.
Goodbye, Cathy–and congratulations–I hear you and Irving are expecting a girl!
LJ Runway Monday: Race to the Finish (PR 8:9)
Heidi: On the most recent episode of Lifetime’s Project Runway, the designers were asked to create a high fashion look and a ready-to-wear companion to appear in a L’Oréal Paris ad.
Barbie: The designers could make choices from themes based on L’Oréal’s new eyeshadow palettes: bright, matte, metallic, crystal, and velvet.
Summer: After Tim Gunn warned the designers that velvet would be the most challenging, of course I picked it for Becks.
Barbie: And I picked Noelle to wear velvet, because she’s definitely a high-fashion model. Then I chose Cari to model Becks’ daytime look.
Heidi: Speaking of looks, earlier in the week, I ordered more glam looks for Barbie, Summer, and me from Becks. This is what she delivered.
Barbie: I’m happy!
Summer: Me, too.
Heidi: It could have been shorter. Now let’s see if Becks can make L’Oréal happy.
Still no title
It’s a little sad when not being able to come up with a subject/title keeps me from posting, but indeed, I have been staring at my monitor for about five minutes with a vacant expression. Much the same way a lot of people watch television.
It’s weird seeing people talk about Survivor online when I’m not watching it for the first time in six years. (I was late to the show. Got hooked during the first All Stars, saw available past seasons on DVD, and have watched it since.) Although I’m sure Mark Burnett doesn’t miss me, Lynne’s dogs might, as we’re no longer having Survivor nights. Sorry, Dogs of Green Acres. I miss you, too.
While sewing or cooking or preparing dog veggie cubes or other domestic-type things, I’ve been checking out The Compound DVDs, watching movies I haven’t seen in a while–or ever. Since I can’t seem to figure out how to work our remotes to the TV/DVR/DVD player, the ease of watching on my computer is a real treat. I also re-watched all six seasons of Sex and the City. Because I only saw it once before, it was most enjoyable.
One of my favorite characters on SATC is Harry Goldenblatt, played by Evan Handler. He’s probably the only character other than Steve who I never wanted to shake at some point. Wait–there’s also Smith. But I digress.
I didn’t realize that in addition to being an actor, Handler is a writer, a journalist, and a cancer survivor. And today he wrote an article that I really enjoyed on the Huffington Post site about how we need to grow up politically.
Now I like Harry and the person who played him.
In other entertainment news, RIP to Eddie Fisher. I think the Debbie Reynolds/Eddie Fisher/Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton drama might have been the beginning of the public’s obsession and construction of celebrity culture as we know it today.
LJ Runway Monday: A Rough Day on the Runway (PR 8:8)
Heidi: On the most recent episode of Lifetime’s Project Runway, the designers were asked to create an American sportswear look inspired by Jackie Kennedy.
Barbie: The show’s designers seemed to be very confused by what those directions meant, so I knew I had to pick the right model to keep Becks on track. Someone with a bit of a Jackie look, but current.
Summer: Fortunately, Mattel always comes through, this time with Barbie Basics 1.5, Model No. 13.
Heidi: She’s lucky thirteen!
Barbie: Also known as Morgan.
Heidi: Speaking of lucky, this bubbly dress makes me feel like I’m at the Mermaid Lounge in Vegas.
Barbie: I feel like I’m in a bubblegum dress!
Summer: I feel pretty.
Heidi: Does Becks make Morgan feel pretty? Let’s check it out.
LJ Runway Monday: What’s Mine Is Yours (PR 8:7)
Heidi: On the most recent episode of Lifetime’s Project Runway, the designers were split into teams of two. The twist: Each designer had to cut, sew, fit, and style his or her partner’s design.
Summer: The challenge was to create a resort look. Since Becks doesn’t have any competitors to partner with, I described a look I’d like in resort wear. It was up to her to pick the fabrics and sew it to my specifications.
Barbie: Fortunately, this was another challenge in which I could pick the perfect model: one of Mattel’s “On Location” Model Muses from 2007, the stunning Barcelona.
Heidi: You know what else is stunning? That I finally get to wear the shortest dress of the three of us.
Tim Gunn: Why do I suddenly feel as if you’re so fine, there’s no telling where the money went?
Barbie: Might as well face it: You’re addicted to us.
Summer: We’re simply irresistible.
Heidi: But is Becks? Let’s take a look.
Miscellaneous Art
It was just announced that Bravo’s Work of Art will have a second season. I’m looking forward to it and hope that some of what I perceived as flaws in the first season will have vanished.
Meanwhile, portions of final collections (including mine) are appearing on the Work of Art blog that Lindsey created and I participated in. The completed collections are due in a couple of weeks, but I know mine won’t be ready by then, because it’s part of another semi-secret project I’m working on that won’t be finished for probably a month beyond that. When it’s done, I plan to try to find a gallery that will show it. Of course I’ll talk about all that here when it’s more appropriate.
One of Work of Art’s producers is Sarah Jessica Parker’s company Pretty Matches. Sort of on that topic, I recently started watching DVDs of Sex and the City from the first season. I noticed a coffee table book on my favorite artist in SJP’s character Carrie Bradshaw’s apartment:
Over the Labor Day weekend, I also watched a favorite old movie, Trading Places with Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, and Jamie Lee Curtis. Curtis plays Ophelia, and when we go inside her apartment, I spotted a Rothko poster hanging on the wall. I like watching movies and shows on my computer because I see little things I never noticed before.
LJ Runway Monday: You Can Totally Wear That Again (PR 8:6)
Heidi: On the most recent episode of–okay, wait a minute. I know we’re supposed to talk about Project Runway and introduce whatever Becks has created this week, but I have to ask: What the HELL are we wearing? She’s dressed me before in a peachy-orangey color combo and I warned her then never to do it again. And this–what IS this look?
Summer: I don’t know what you’re complaining about. At least you don’t look like a governess.
Barbie: Has anyone seen my shawl? I fear I’ve mislaid it and may catch a chill.
Heidi: Zip it, Barbie. We’re not in a Jane Austen film.
Summer: Wrong period. These dresses are the result of Becks reading Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Villette within weeks of each other.
Barbie: You left out Little Women. Who do you think I look like? Meg? Amy?
Heidi: In that frock? You look like the meadow in Twilight threw up on you. We may have to ban books from the work room if this is what happens.
Summer: Could be worse. She also read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
Barbie: Brainzzzzzz.
Heidi: Eep! I guess these dresses aren’t so bad. Speaking of bad dresses, that’s what the most recent episode of Lifetime’s Project Runway was about: Bad Bridesmaid Dresses. The designers met their new models, former bridesmaids who were wearing the fashion abominations inflicted on them by cruel brides.
Summer: Using those dresses and two yards of fabric they were allowed to buy, the designers were told to create more flattering looks for their models.
Barbie: I picked Dinah as the model for this challenge. Let’s see how Dinah’s dress looked originally.
Summer: Suddenly I’m all right with the governess drag.
Heidi: When we asked Dinah if there was any part of the dress she liked, she told us the color was okay. But she felt the dress made her look like a shapeless blob.
Barbie: She also hated the one-shoulder ruffle.
Tim Gunn: Once the dress was deconstructed, thanks to the bottom ruffle, there was more fabric than one might expect. However, as I warned the designers on the show, the goal isn’t to make clothes. It’s to make fashion. Can Becks do it?