I love Diane von Furstenburg. I’m getting myself in the mood for Project Runway and sewing!
P.S. Rachel Zoe has the perfect example of what I call “reality TV voice.”
Tag: fashion
Hump Day Happy–Early Edition
I was sitting on the front porch Tuesday afternoon after I dropped all the rose petals into the flower bed. I was thinking about John Lennon and Riley and their eternal connection in my heart while I sang to the dogs. The dogs LOVE it when I do this; in their excitement, they run to distant corners of The Compound, probably hoping I’ll sing even more loudly so the world can share in the thrill of it all.
I wasn’t singing a John Lennon or even a Beatles song, but one of my favorite Neil Young songs, “Birds.” I was sad, and it occurred to me how one of Riley’s gifts was that no matter how crazy awful our lives were (and 1980 delivered a ton of crazy awful), he could always make me laugh. As I sang, I remembered Riley telling me a story about a day he was sitting on his front porch, singing and playing his guitar. He was working on a song of his called “I Saw the Light” about the rotten luck of his alter ego, the Mysterious Vagabond Poet. Each time the MVP thought his life was taking a turn for the better, another awful thing would happen. And as Riley sang, he suddenly realized that across the street, his neighbors were sitting on their front porch and laughing their butts off. That’s when he knew he’d accomplished what he wanted to with the lyrics: He’d taken all the crazy awful and made it funny. He came to my house a couple of days later to make sure the song would get the same reaction from me. Remembering how I laughed back then gave me a much welcomed lift.
LJ Runway Monday: Final Collection at last
Were you starting to wonder if I’d ever really post this? Admit it. You thought I took all the cash and prizes for being the only person to actually do all the challenges of Project Runway’s sixth season and hightailed it to Barbados. Well, that’s JUST CRAZY. I’ve received no cash. No prizes. And I don’t fly if I don’t have to.
But I have been sewing. The theme of my final collection is “Leather and Lace.” You’re thinking I’ve done a bunch of Stevie Nicks stage costumes, aren’t you? Again, CRAZY. I actually designed for her singing partner on that song, Don Henley. Nothing but jeans, black shirts, and Wayfarers.
Kidding.
My “Leather and Lace” is meant to showcase two things about women: Though we sometimes seem as delicate as lace, we have the supple strength of leather. From Flapper to Unflappable, Femme Fatale to Futurista, Dainty to Diva, Playful to Elegant–fashion is but a means we have of expressing ourselves. We are tough, we are feminine, and we have lots of shoes.
Do I have the designs and photos to prove it? Please click here and see.
LJRunway Monday: Final Collection, Part 1
Tonight, Runway Monday has put together a runway show at an undisclosed location to feature this season’s final collection by Becks. You’ve been checking out her looks for the past few months. Now she’s accepted the final season-six challenge of Lifetime’s Project Runway to create thirteen looks in a cohesive collection.
I’m your pre-show host, Heidi Gunn. It looks like we’ll have a full house tonight.
And a post full of photos behind this cut. Click here if you want to see more.
All we need is fashion
This photo made me oddly happy when I saw it:
Picture from Yoko Ono’s web site
John Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono; George Harrison’s widow Olivia Harrison; Stella McCartney, daughter of Beatle Paul McCartney and the late Linda Eastman McCartney; and Barbara Bach Starkey, the wife of Ringo Starr
Last night in New York, the three Beatle wives presented designer Stella McCartney an award as one of Glamour magazine’s Women of the Year 2009 for her fashion label and her commitment to animal rights.
LJ Runway Monday: The Art of Fashion (PR 6:12)
On the most recent episode of Lifetime’s Project Runway, the designers were taken to the Getty Center in Los Angeles. They were given a tour of the J. Paul Getty Museum as well as the center’s grounds. The designers were then asked to create a look inspired by any part of the center, including paintings, sculpture, and furniture from the museum’s collections, architectural features of the building, or the center’s breathtaking views.
As much as I wanted to jet to Los Angeles and go to the Getty Museum (which opened since my last trip to California, or Jim would have taken me there), I could only look at its collections online. I’d almost decided to work from one of my favorite paintings by Raphael when I saw this wonderful mid-1720s pastel from Italian artist Rosalba Carriera.
A Muse
Pastel on blue paper
From the Getty web site: Famous throughout Europe for her portraits and teste di fantasia (fanciful renderings of beautiful women in allegorical or mythological guise), Rosalba Carriera made the pastel, above, at the ducal court in Modena, Italy.
I’m always talking about my muses, and Carriera’s painting provided another one. I was inspired by the leaves in the woman’s hair, the ethereal fabric of her bodice, and the colors. I wanted to create a very feminine portrayal of nature’s beauty. Did I succeed?
LJ Runway Monday: The Best of the Best (PR 6:11)
On the most recent episode of Lifetime’s Project Runway, the contestants were asked to create a companion piece for one of their own designs rated highest by the judges. Since I’m not competing with anyone on LJ Runway Monday, I asked my LJ, FB, and Twitter friends to vote on their favorite of my designs from this season. Though it was a dead heat between three looks for a while, my Lights, Camera, Sew! design in Episode 6 finally pulled ahead (although not because one of you voted for it three times!).
If you recall, for that challenge, my model Meggie was cast in a movie in which she time travels between current-day Manhattan and the European village of a late-nineteenth century Roma family who befriends her. During her adventures, she finds true love–though only the end of the movie reveals whether he lives during this century or a previous one.
What’s one way to end a romantic comedy? A wedding, of course! Though I had planned to create a wedding dress as part of my final collection, I decided to let Meggie’s look inspire one that in this challenge will be worn by her stunt double, Kikki. Some of you may remember Kikki as the fabulous Figaro de la Fontaine’s identical twin cousin. Figaro (on the right in this photo) was the featured model last season of Mark G. Harris, a reference that’s appropriate. I was inspired by his use of color for the wedding dress in his final collection. I was also inspired by designer Timothy J. Lambert’s fashion-forward bow for one of Nikki’s designs from last season.
Figaro in MGH’s wedding gown. Nikki in TJL’s evening gown.
So… Is any of this look MINE? Oh, I think you’ll agree that it is.
I need your voting power
On tonight’s episode of Project Runway, the contestants had to design a companion piece to go with one of their winning looks. Since I’m not competing, I don’t have a challenge winner to go by. I’m putting photos of each of my designs from this season behind a cut. Please choose the number of your favorite and put it in a comment. The look that gets the most votes will be the one I use as the companion for my next design. Comments are screened, so you won’t see any else’s votes, and my LJ DOES accept anonymous comments, so you don’t have to have a LJ account.
THANKS.
Let’s get some shoes
The intro takes too much time, but once the runway show begins–
THOSE SHOES!
Some amazing couture from Alexander McQueen.
Thanks to tinyseams on flickr for pointing me to this.
LJ Runway Monday: Around the World in Two Days (PR 6:10)
On the latest episode of Lifetime’s Project Runway, the contestants met with designer Michael Kors, who told them that much of his work had been influenced by places he’d visited around the world. Each designer chose one from a group of cities and created a look inspired by that location. They were given a paragraph about their city and a couple of photos for guidance.
Rather than pick one of the choices from the show, I asked Tim to name a random city. His suggestion: Amsterdam. Located in the province of Holland, Amsterdam is the cultural and financial center of The Netherlands. Holland is a place that appeals to me for personal reasons. During World War II, my father (a U.S. soldier) was for a time behind German lines there and was taken care of and hidden by a Dutch family.
From the Wikipedia section on Amsterdam fashion:
Fashion brands like G-star, Gsus, BlueBlood, 10 feet and Warmenhoven & Venderbos, and fashion designers like Mart Visser, Viktor & Rolf, Marlies Dekkers and Frans Molenaar are based in Amsterdam. Modeling agencies Elite Models, Touche models and Tony Jones have opened branches in Amsterdam. Supermodels Yfke Sturm, Doutzen Kroes and Kim Noorda started their careers in Amsterdam. Amsterdam has its garment center in the World Fashion Center. Buildings which were formerly housing brothels in the red light district, have been converted to ateliers for young, up-and-coming fashion designers.
An Amsterdam location that caught my attention is Negen Straatjes: nine narrow streets with a large number of privately owned shops, many of which sell vintage fashion.
These are the two pictures that inspired my design this week:
a Belgian fauvist painter and sculptor who lived and died in Amsterdam:
Two Women Sewing in Front of the Window
And a trendy accessories shop in the Negen Straatjes district:
