celebrity girls

Scarlett Johanssen, at the premiere of what looks like a pretty bad movie (The Other Boleyn Girl), looking like Rami got his hands on her fabric and DRAPED! DRAPED! DRAPED! with passion. because Rami told us, repeatedly, that he is passionate about draping.
Somehow, this silvery dress looks Scarlett look - erm - bulky around the middle. draping is not always such a good idea.

Natalie Portman costars with old Scarlett in this appalling-looking film, but showed up wearing a dress I liked a lot better. Still drapey - maybe Rami is on to something? I dunno....The weird twisty part on the skirt of natalie's dress is weird, but otherwise I think she looks FANTASTIC. I really, really, really love the color of this dress, and wish I had some clothes in that shade of burgundy-red. She also looks ever so much more elegant and glam than Scarlett, who looks like she's had a little too much to drink, and sat all rumply slouchy in the back of a limo for a couple of hours. But Natalie looks like she just came out of Venus's clamshell or something. Draped, of course, a la Rami, in this gorgeous red dress.


Then - Christina Ricci, who I have always liked, shows up somewhere looking like.....someone else. I hate this resurgence of bangs - they don't look cute on a lot of people (Heidi Klum, i am looking at YOU). Christina's face looks too think and too angular, and she looks too tanned and highlighted. brown-and-gold is allright, for what it is, but she always had such a great dark dark hair and pale skin look that suited her well. Here she looks like any other semi-tarty undergrad who can afford the tanning beds and highlights. I don't know if it's the bangs or what, but Christina's face is soooooo pointy! i liked her better with a fuller face. maybe she's had work done? who knows. i liked her better a few years back, though. Here - not so cute. I also don't like her dress, which reminds me weirdly of Kara Janx's "NYC inspiration" crosswalk dress from Project Runway 2. Kara Janx was called on the carpet for that dress too, by the way.

ticky-tacky trash

oh, Project Runway - wtf? (and ricky: really, dude, W.T.F.?????)

ANY episode, of anything, that features a shopping trip to SPANDEX HOUSE, is not going to be good. no no no. isn't tim gunn's heart shrivelling up with these heinous, tacky challenges? ugly used denim from a filthy warehouse, now "diva" female "wrestlers" in spandex and sequins? REALLY?

are they ever going to get a challenge to make something pretty?

Ricky's time was long overdue. wasn't sorry to see him auf'd. Sweet P struggled, as usual, but managed to be better than Ricky (not so hard, aktualy).

Rami - jesus, Rami! - "draped a little shorts and top" - enough with the drapes! ARGH. and the barbie-pink was yucky. the draping and ruffling was too frou-frou.

Jillian's Bratz-doll costume was boring. I could see why it worked - sporty spice, i mean diva! - but i thought it was just a little plain. short shorts and a top? and she was sewing to the verylast second, as always? I was shocked when ninagarcia said it was her favorite. this confirms my belief that ninagarcia's taste is formed around her personal feelings toward a given designer.

Christian and Chris - again - were the story here. Since they are the only two designers left with anything resembling a personality, we got lots of them. Tacky wrestling gear is right up chris's draggy, costumey
alley, and he thrived. So Chris's Diva and he share a love of leopard-print (Chris darling, I'm hoping that is your lucky shirt, and that's why you ALWAYS WEAR IT). The Diva posed and meowed on the drawing table, and Chris just laughed and ran with it. It was a roomful of camp! This hoodie? i LOVE it. LOVE IT. I love the belled sleeves, i love the dark green sequined lining. I even love the green-leopard print velour fabric. if this was a regular-length hoodie, I would wear it, and I hate animal prints AND sequins. so bravo/a to Chris for creating a killer garment. The strappy bondage top was also ferocious (and how cute is christian's diva name? ferosha coutura!). That gartery thing is edgy - i kind of expect a knife to be tucked in there. It's totally glam and fab without being gaudy or too slutty - it's edgy enough to not look cheap and tacky. I was surprised the judges picked Chris for the win; Christian's was just as impressive. both their costumes were win-worthy; really, i wouldn't be surprised if the judges just flipped a coin for the win.


Christian brought the fierce, as always. when he said "chaps" I almost squealed - how perfect! It's amazing to me that Christian, who really does have a refined sense of high fashion, can also totally get the ticky-tacky aesthetic of WWE diva wrestling. As Professor Gunn notes in his blog, Christian's look is very high fashion even while embracing the - ahem - wrestling-glam aesthetic (read: slutty). Those chaps really are FIERCE, and Christian's delight with his own work was charming. Professor Gunn also writes that he "swooned" over this. And I can see why. I also loved that Christian chose the utterly sexy, but somehow still vaguely "classy," move of covering her up with nothing but a lace top. Having her boobs hang out was too easy and - evidently - too commonplace in the WWE ring (since the girls were falling out when they first met the designers). But nothing but lace is still totally hot and fierce, and Christian is the bomb. Notice though, that darling Princess Puffysleeves has STILL managed to create a short jacket and tight/skinny leggings. I love the way the chaps are ruffled, though, and not just flapping loose cowboy-style. It's feminine and functional and this chick looks FEERS!

these gimmicky challenges have really gotten old, though. Heidi says: "In fashion, you're either in or you're out" - but THIS is not fashion. Nothing from Spandex House is fashion. The designers came up with some good things - C&C Feers Factory in particular - but this is not fashion. Being able to make an ugly-ass tacky costume for WWE diva wrestlers does not qualify anyone to show at Bryant Park. It doesn't make anyone a Top Designer, either. and though it does demonstrate things like versatility, creativity, ability to work under pressure and strange constraints, it also doesn't really tell us much about what these kids can do with Real Fashion.