IT'S CHRISTIAN, BITCH

So there was no new Project Runway last night and thus I have nothing to report about the episode. AND I'm having Christian withdrawals. No worries; I've found an interview with him here. In the piece, he talks about coming out in his hometown of Annapolis, MD, and also what it was like working for Alexander McQueen and Vivienne Westwood while he was in college in London.

He discusses his idea for a reality show called "Project Britney" where he becomes her stylist and makes her over. When asked what he would do if Brit ended up shaving her head again, he responds, "Don't worry if she does I'll get some fierce Tyra Banks wig for her." He also says that he'd like to have a threeway with Posh and Becks.

Favorite Christianism from the interview: "I'm dating everyone right now. Kidding, no I'm just having fun. There's too many beautiful people out there that love me, I can't just throw them all away."

YOU LOOK SMASHING, LUV

London's Fashion Week kicks off On February 10. Designers will be showcasing their Autumn/Winter 2008 collections. Here's a blurb about it from the official London Fashion Week website. . .

London Fashion Week is a creative hub with new stars emerging every season.

Each season, designers unveil their collections to a professional audience of press and buyers who pay visit to the capital from the UK and cities across the globe. These talents are housed at the specially constructed tents at the Natural History Museum and at inspiring venues across London.

FINALLY, THE RED CARPET

The SAGS were the first full-blown awards show since the writer's strike began. The stars came out and took that ever-anticipated stroll down the red carpet while fashion insiders and fashion fans like me took notice. Of course there were some fashion disasters, but mostly everyone looked stunning. Lots of metallics and strapless gown action going on so there was no room to SAG. Here are my picks for best and worst.

WORST DRESSED:


Sandra Oh

Sandra Oh looks more "Oh no" than "oh yeah" in this weird pink and black getup. I can't quite figure out what's going on here, but it looks completely out of balance and just wrong. Big bows anywhere on your body are just asking for trouble.

Angelina Jolie

Seems like everyone loved this dress on Angie except me. I think it's awful. It looks like a moo moo.

Jenna Fischer

I adore Jenna Fischer but I think that this gown is just plain wrong for her. Something about the way it fits her makes her look dumpy and a dumpy girl she's not. The straps look like they may strangler her and the bodice is too tight, making the rest of the dress seem puckered and ill-fitting.

BEST DRESSED:

Dana Delaney

If you're going to go pink and black than do it the Dana Delaney way (sorry, Sandra). The wrap gives just enough oomph to this stunning little black dress.

Christina Applegate

Christina Applegate was stunning in this silver gown by Elie Saab. She's come a long way from Kelly Bundy.

Rebecca Romijn

Rebecca Romijn was gorgeous in this black and white Roberto Cavalli dress. I love the overlay and the way it fall below the hemline.

Glenn Close

Ms. Close is a knock-out in this sliver gown. The black detail on the bodice is a nice touch. She proves that age has nothing to do with how fabulous you look in a dress.

Kate Beckinsale

Hands-down my favorite look of the evening. I love this color on her and it's not too yellow; just enough buttercup to exude cheer and confidence. The tiered skirt is whimsical and the brooch on her waist is a nice detail. Also, the way the gown fits her is extraordinary.

AU REVOIR, VALENTINO

Haute Couture Week kicked off in Paris last week where Dior, Armani, and Christian LaCroix revealed their latest collections. The star of the runway, however, was Valentino, who showed his 90th and last ever collection at the Rodin Museum Wednesday evening.

His final show marked the end of a forty-five-year career as a fashion icon who dressed some of the world's most fashionable women. His retirement is being heralded as the end of an era in fashion when design has been inspired by the muse and not the moolah. . "Business is ruining fashion," he said at the show. "There is little creativity and too much business." Amen, brothah.

LINK OF THE WEEK: Breaking News! Cosmo's Beauty Secrets Revealed and in Danger of Throwing off the Global PH Balance of Power.

A CRACK IN THE ICE

Ice queen, Victorya was "awffed" last night on Project Runway for making a really boring and unattractive jean dress (it looked like she sewed a prairie jean skirt to a jean jacket. I could have done that!).

The challenge was to take Levi's jeans and jackets and make something innovative that captures the Levi's spirit. All the designers created fantastic garments except Jillian and Victorya who were both inspired by last week's challenge. Consequently both were in the bottom two this week for their bad versions of last week's almost-winning coat.

Ricki finally won a challenge for his cute, accessible jean dress. And he cried. Naturally. Turns out a lot of people were bitter about the win, especially the gang over at Project Rungay (very interesting note that they have from Tim about the "stunning" comment he made to Ricki during the episode). I didn't think the dress was awful. Kind of cute and flirty, but clearly not the winner. Rami's dress was very impressive and so was Christian's take on the challenge, which resulted in a cutting-edge, biker outfit where the legs were made from sleeves and the sleeves were made from legs.

If you think you can do better, Levis is hosting a competition like last night's on their website. Apparently they've already sold out of Ricki's dress, which went for $168.

Last night's favorite Christianism: "Goooodddd, I could just die from all this barfness."

J. CREW'S LI'L SIS COMES OUT

I just read about J.Crew's flirty, younger sister, Madewell, in Allure. AND I'm pretty intrigued. Apparently the store has been a big secret for a while among celebs like Winona, Reese, and Uma.

But the store has since come out of the closet, so to speak, with stores in Dallas, Vegas, L.A., Austin, even Natick, MA, and Short Hills, NJ. BUT not an established NYC store...yet. Right now there's a temporary store in Soho at 532 Broadway, and one set to open permanently at 486 Broadway.

For chicks like me that live outside of any of these cities, we'll just have to browse the website for now, and maybe one day we'll be able to actually see just what they have to offer besides a "spring preview."

SPRING FEVER AND STOMACHACHE

The style report is in for this spring and it ain't pretty. At least not to my eyes. Big for the upcoming warm season? According to the runways and style.com : tribal prints (looks like Cocopelli vomited on some of these fabrics), florals (big, ugly watercolor florals, not cute mod daisy florals), hippie wear (pleeeeeaaaase no more boho scraps!), and neons (The 80s won't die!!).

BUT there is hope. There are two trends they list that I can live with:

1) The sheer fabrics that will adorn many clothes this spring. I love any kind of tulle or chiffon as long as it's hanging off the hem of a skirt or dress (like the gorgeous BCBG Max Azria frock to the right) and not sewn between seems on a garment (can you say 80s trashtastic?)

AND

2) Masculine designs with a feminine twist. Not that I'll be wearing suits any time soon, but I like the narrow lines. Looking at the runway, however, there are a lot of baggy outfits as well as chic, slim ones in the mix.





AND it looks like those gawd-awful MC Hammer pants (wide through the hips and thighs, tight around the ankles) are still big. In fact, it appears that skinny pants as well as big wide-legged pants will be in again. I don't think many people can wear wide-legged anything unless they're 5 foot 9 inches tall. Otherwise the pants wear you. I'm 5' 6'' and tried on a pair of wide-legged jeans only to discover that I looked like I had been swallowed by a giant denim triangle.

ON LIKE A LAMB
OUT LIKE A LION

I've been obsessed with Gwen Stefanie's L by L.A.M.B perfume since it emerged on the shelves of beauty counters everywhere. Something about the bottle's earthy tones and the weight of the bottle in my hand when I pick it up really appeals to my senses. And that's not even mentioning the scent, which I have a hard time describing. It's sweet and warm at the same time like a musky pear tart with a hint of lilly dashed on top of it.

Because I'm too cheap to cough up the $50 for it, I take the opportunity to douse myself in it everytime I pass it in a store. Having said all of that, I noticed the other day that unlike a lot of fragrances, this one really sticks to me. I sprayed it on early in the afternoon after a trip to ULTA and realized I was still smelling it around eight p.m. The problem being that it no longer exuded that initial freshness that I like so much and now just smelled heavy.

If you want a sample, you can head over to the fragrance's website and request one. The only problem is you have to enter a bunch of info that will probably be picked up by a gazillion marketing companies who will spam you with junk mail from now until eternity.

MORE MODEL MAHEM

Since the latest cycle of America's Next Top Model has ended, I've been getting my model-show fix with Bravo's Make Me a Supermodel. The interesting thing about this show is boys are in the running as well as girls, and like American Idol, America can vote to keep one of the bottom three contestants in the running each week.

So far, I love Holly - a girl who came into the competition with a very blunt bob and is now sporting a gorgeous Mia Farrow-esque pixie cut. Initially, she was heavily criticized by New York Model Managment Agency Director and show judge, Cory Bautista, for having a bob, but then in last night's episode, uber casting agent and co-judge, Jennifer Starr, admitted she loved Holly's bob from the beginning because it set her apart. As I've always believed: BOBS RULE!!

I'm also routing for underdog, Katy. She was in the bottom three last week for her supposed jiggly thighs and "curvy" figure. After the models got makeovers in this week's episode, the judges felt that Katy wasn't making the most of her new status as a firey redhead. Consequently, she's in the bottom three again this week. I'm pretty confident she'll be back next week as America seems to love her and Dom, one of the male models up for elimination, acts like a complete douche. Despite his angular features, he's annoying as fuck, blaming wooden necklaces for a bad catwalk and eating while his buddies scream in pain as they get their asses waxed.

Speaking of the boys, I'm a big fan of Casey. He reminds me of Kurt Cobain with a a sloping nose and delicate features. He also looks very Russian. I am, however, surprised that they kept his hair long after the makeovers. It suits him, but I think he might look even more handsome with less hair because it would put the emphasis on his gorgeous face.

Another person I'd like to see more of is Frankie. At first and thought he was annoying, like a buzzy, effeminate mosquito that I wanted to slap. But as I see more of him, I realize he's a funny little bugger. He's like the Christian (from Project Runway) of Make Me a Supermodel.

PARTY GIRL
Fashion icon, Kate Moss, turned 34 a couple days ago and indulged in some major partying to celebrate her big day. Depending on who you believe, she:

A)Plans to party all week;

B) drank and danced her way through the night of the 16th in order to commence the week-long blowout, racking up a five thousand quid bill in the process. Apparently this was after having a blow-out with Pete Doherty over their future (or lack thereof) together;

C) planned a 34-hour bash (one for each year of her life) to prove that she's not too old to uphold the party lifestyle she's famous for, but dropped into bed 18 hours into the challenge;

D) hung out with the Ron Wood (who apparently danced to Brown Sugar) and got up and sang with Primal Scream.

Her posse included Kelly Osborne and boyfriend Jamie Hince of The Kills (sorry, Pete). Kate was her always fashionable self wearing a black-and-gold metallic jumpsuit with a floor-length chiffon coat by Chanel. Her look was completed by a big gold star painted over one eye, making her look like a glamorous Paul Stanley. Most of the reports mention how her party-hardy lifestyle has caught up with her looks, but when I saw her on the street a couple years ago in Rome, pushing a pram in 95 degree heat, she looked ever-amazing.

TEAM FIERCE TAKES THE CAKE
TEAM PISTOL TANKS

Project Runway is undoubtedly my favorite show on television right now and for good reason. Last night's episode featured over-the-top hairstyles and outfits to match. The designers were divided up into in teams of two and challenged to make an avant-garde look inspired by their model's hairstyles.
Dreamteam Christian and Chris, who coined themselves "Team Fierce," won the challenge. Of course. Not only was their outfit intricate and immaculately constructed, but it was imaginative, pushing the boundaries and encapsulating the concept of avant-garde - something I'm sure Chris had no small part in. My only complaint was the color. Booooring. The other part of the challenge (thrown in at the last minute much to the designers' dismay) was a ready-to-wear version of their avant-garde creation. This part of Team Fierce's look was OK. Very Christian considering the shirt was all ruffles in front.
To read a much better assessment of the winning look, head over to Project Rungay.

I loved the black trench coat that Victorya and Jillian designed. Wow. But I don't particularly like either designer so I was glad to see "Team Fierce" win. (Can someone lend Victorya a personality please?)

Rami and Sweet P were a team in the most literal sense of the word. Rami was overly uptight about everything and wouldn't let Sweet P. contribute much. When he did let her take the reigns and design the ready-to-wear dress, she produced a fabulous grey frock that outshined Rami's avant-garde gown, which was gathered beautifully in the front, but a little yawn-inducing.

Kit and Ricki worked together. Surprisingly no tears from Ricki this episode despite the fact he and Kit were the losing team. I was bummed to see Kit go. She's been one of my favorite designers on the show. If I were to hire one of them to design me a new closet (I wish), it would be Kit, hands-down. Her style is very much in line with what I like. In fact, I was obsessed with the apron dresses she wore in last night's episode. Her avant-garde dress could have been amazing had she and Ricki done something different with the bottom half. The top half, of course, was a little apron thingy. So cute. The fabric was all wrong, however. No punchy color. The whole thing was too Little House on the Prairie. I hate to see Kit leave. I'll miss you, Miss Pistol. Shoot for the stars! (sorry, couldn't resist).

To read a more in-depth take on the episode, check out Blogging Project Runway.

Favorite Christianism from this week: "If I were a diva, I'd be Ferosh."

EMPTY DRESSES

Since the red carpet was rolled up this year at the Golden Globes, there were no fashion hits or misses to size-up, and sadly, no subsequent issues of US Weekly or People devoted to the evening for us to probe. Designers probably wanted to hang themselves with the extra yards of taffeta and satin they must have had hanging around, or at least they must have wanted to sob into the empty, silk bodices of the frocks they had already constructed. Gwenyth Paltrow was expected to wear a gown that Valentino had designed for her (which will be shown on January 23 in Paris when the designer retires) and a four-month-pregnant Cate Blanchett had a special mommy-to-be dress made for her by Armani.

If you're suffering from red carpet fashion withdrawal, head over to PopSugar's blog and check out the photos from The Art of Elysium 10th Anniversary Gala held in LA over the weekend. Fashion-wise, it's no GG, but at least it's for a better cause and we didn't need to listen to any fifteen-minute-long acceptance speeches.

P.S. - Is it me or does Calista Flockheart look like she's wearing a couple different colored tanks beneath her dress?

P.P.S. - What about Zach Braff's scared-as-hell expression? Did he just get an eyeful of Jared Leto's weird black get-up?