China Fashion Week Part 1

Scary pretty.

Darlings, let's all cleanse the fashion palate now that Project Runway is done for another season. We can think of no better amuse bouche than this, a look at the beauty on display during Spring 2011 China Fashion Week, presented in Beijing. We just love these looks, every last one of them; some for being thought-provoking, some for being weird, and almost all for being just beautiful, full stop.































[Photo Credit: getty]

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Labels: China Fashion Week, Fashion

In or Out: Christina Ricci in Marchesa

Tapping her way into American's hearts.

Christina Ricci attends the Casting Society of America's 26th annual Artios Awards
at American Airlines Theatre in New York City in Marchesa.



Marchesa Fall 2010 Collection
Model: Svieta Nemkova

So Lo turns to T and says "Let's do Christina Ricci for the next IN or OUT; you're gonna hate it." This piqued T's curiosity, so he asked Lo to show him the pics. Lo said, "I know you're not gonna like it, but I think she looks fabulous. She should have ditched the tights." "Hmmph. Shows what you know. I think she looks fabulous too. AND the tights make it work. So there, bitch." Then we had a pillowfight.

No, seriously. We think she looks kind of adorable here. Granted, that skirt has some odd proportions to it and we'd love to see what it looks like from the side, but with the tuxedo jacket and the tights, she just looks like a fabulous little tap-dancing nymph. This might not be a look for everyone, but it's definitely a look for Christina Ricci. IN.


[Photo Credit: wireimage, style.com]

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Labels: Christina Ricci, Fashion, In or Out, Red Carpet

Boardwalk Empire S1E7: Home

"That's horrible."
"Life can be that way."

We can't in good conscience pat the writers on the back too much this week because they took the subtext of this episode and made it the actual title of the episode. Tsk. Here endeth the criticism of the writing for this episode.

The subject this week couldn't be simpler but it also couldn't be more complicated: home; what that means to different people; how they go about making homes for themselves under bad circumstances or coming from shitty beginnings; and how the lack of one can slowly destroy a person from the inside out, or in one character's case, from the outside in.

Nucky gets thrust quite unwillingly into his own past when his father suffers a fall and his brother, ever the favored son (he became a cop like dear old dad) offers to take him in. Nucky surveys the filthy landscape and decides it''s time to haul away the garbage and "Let some decent family make a home of this shitpile." He thinks he can salvage something from his bad memories; exorcise his monster of a father out of the building so it can be what it was supposed to be but never was for him: a home.

Meanwhile, Margaret is settling in happily on Concubine Row. We have to admit, that's one aspect of the story we have a bit of trouble swallowing. We get that Margaret is steel-spined and far more than she seems (in the Peggy Olson manner) but sometimes we think she's a bit too self-assured and smooth. Like we said, she's winging it; we get that. But we're talking about a radical life change in the time frame of less than 6 months or so. She was a lower class (let's face it: poor) immigrant wife to an abusive husband. Now she's living in a gorgeously appointed townhouse, a widow, and the mistress of a corrupt politician. And she seems none the worse for wear. We like her character a lot but we're starting to think her non-reaction to the kind of life changes that would send most people reeling is a little inhuman.

Anyway, she's chatting with her new neighbor, who's been doing this concubine thing for a while and has the opinions to prove it. She asks Margaret what she wants from Nucky. "I don't want to lose all of this," she says. Everything she's done, she's done to provide her children a home and better yet, a life unburdened by poverty and the lack of choices that come with it. ""Look at those curls!" says the neighbor to Margaret's daughter. "Why, you'll have no trouble getting a man at all." And Margaret looks pained. This is about making sure her children, and especially her daughter, won't have to live the life or make the choices she did.

Then again, that's the funny thing about Margaret. She acts pained about all this, but then she moves so smoothly and gracefully through it, as if she were born to it. There's no doubt she likes the nicer clothes and jewelry, the restaurants, the well-appointed house. She can even laugh when the neighbor asks her "Then what's that big bed for?" It's like she knows she's supposed to be morally conflicted about all this so she goes through the motions of feeling that way. But really, she loves it, not only for the material aspects, but because it requires her to constantly think about what to do next. Again, she's no mastermind and we don't doubt that a big part of her wishes her life isn't what it is, but she's enjoying both the game and the prizes.

Unfortunately, she takes what she later classifies as some "bad advice" and tries to prevent Nucky from opening up too much to her because the kind of men who keep girls on Concubine Row don't like it when they appear weak to anyone. To be honest, given the precarious nature of her living situation and the confusing nature of her relationship with Nucky, we didn't think it was such bad advice. We must just be a couple of old whores at heart. Then again, maybe Nucky is different from the other men. Certainly, there's an innate vulnerability to him that you don't see with any of the other male characters, not even the more obviously wounded ones like Jimmy. But Nucky has his scars too and they're not just physical. We're finally coming around a little to Buscemi's performance here because the fact of the matter is, Nucky isn't the tough guy, king of the world Tony Soprano/Don Draper type. He's a little man who does everything he does so that the neighborhood kids don't beat him so bad he winds up in the hospital or so that his father doesn't brand his rage into his skin. The fact that he does want to open up to Margaret might not be such a bad thing. Obviously he never opened up to Lucy that way. When he sits in her dining room, reciting poems to the children and asking them to call him Uncle Nucky, we see that he didn't set Margaret up to give her a home; he set her up to give him one. To be honest, we were kind of cheering the little guy on when he torched the old homestead. "Sometimes the past needs to stay in the past," said Margaret when she first tried to cut him off. Nucky needed to get rid of it and he needed to give a final fuck you to his father. Send it all up in flames, like his forgotten Beach Patrol award. This was never his home.

As for Jimmy, save for Richard, the half-faced man, he might be the most scarred and the most in need of a home out of all of them. "It's like a dull ache. Inside." Now we understand why he was so dismissive of Capone's inflated military service. Meeting Richard and seeing someone who looks on the outside how he feels on the inside, and better yet, someone who knows exactly what it was like to be Over There, satisfied something in him. He needs some form of affirmation that what he went through was monstrous and the only way he can get that is to try and help someone out who's even more fucked up than he is about the whole thing. "This is where you live?" asks Richard when he takes him home to the whorehouse. Jimmy probably isn't capable of having a family in the conventional sense, but getting his new dangerously unemotive half-faced war buddy a drink and a girl is, for him, a step in the right direction. We hadn't realized until now just how adrift he is.

Of course he's also rather frighteningly brilliant. The wheels were turning in his head the second he found out Richard was a marksman, not to mentioned obsessed with guns. Sure, he's making a home for himself and maybe for Richard too, but he also figured out a way to kill the man who sliced Pearl's face. There were plenty of other ways he could have done it, but he chose the absolute cruelest way to do it. He sat there and calmly informed him that living with the fear of Jimmy was going to be worse than actually dying and once that information sunk in, he patted him on the shoulder (a Judas kiss if ever there was one) and had someone else kill him. Ice cold.

By the way, the guy playing Richard is apparently part of the Huston family dynasty and he sure did get the acting genes. His performance was absolutely riveting. A man with no emotional connections whatsoever. "It occurred to me, the basis of fiction is that people have some sort of connection to each other, but they don't."

Yikes, we went on there for a bit, didn't we. Let's spray some bullets:

* We can't get a handle on Angela, Jimmy's common law wife. The eye-rollingly cheesey soft porn lesbian makeout scene didn't help. Although we do love the idea of getting a glimpse of 1920 Greenwich Village. "It's everything you heard it was."

* We can't keep track of the mob stuff, so tell us if we've got this right. The Philly guys are the ones who stole the money from Nucky's bag man. Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano, on behalf of the New York mob, want to get in with the Philly guys and steal 150 grand from Nucky. Did we get that right?

* Meanwhile, Chalky thinks Nucky tried to test him. We haven't had a chance to talk much about Chalky but we find his character fascinating. A black man in 1920, more than likely the child or grandchild of slaves, who has amassed so much power for himself he can essentially tell almost any white man who crosses his path to go fuck themselves.

* Lucy really is on the outs, isn't she? We thought Nucky was going to keep her on the side, but he must really be smitten with Margaret. We thought the Jekyll and Hyde scene may have been a bit too on the nose, however. Men giving into their baser natures and the duality represented by a split personality - a bit too heavy-handed when juxtaposed with Richard killing Sheridan's man.

* We must remember to make a note to remind ourselves in 30 years to have no more than one cat. Definitely have to write that one down. We always knew those little bitches were deadly.

[Picture credit: HBO TV]

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Labels: Boardwalk Empire

T Lo Interviews: Gretchen Jones

"I think what’s fun about being a designer is that it’s usually very self-indulgent."

Okay Gretchen, let’s be honest. There has never been such a negative reaction to a win. How do you feel? How are you handling it?

Well, I love you guys, but I don’t read any of the blogs or the press. I feel that it’s really important, as an artist, to put your work out there and then let go of it. The great thing about art is that it is subjective; we all do have opinions.

Really, what’s important to remember is that memory is short. Mondo performed very strongly at the end, but I did perform very strongly at the beginning. I was a strong competitor. For me, I knew that where I could win and how I would really show what I can do is through a full collection and a full representation of my vision, and I think that’s where I really succeeded in it.

We’re all very talented. The great thing is that all of us are going to walk away with plenty of opportunity.

You said you didn’t think you were going to make it very far.

Because I feel that there have been designers like me on the show and I wasn’t sure that I was going to be well received, I just didn’t know. I think when everybody goes on the show they’re not really sure how they’re going to be received by the judges.

I felt vulnerable and I didn’t know what was going to happen. Once I got there and started working, I kind of realized a lot about myself and my talent and capability. I think I grew as a designer and began to understand that a lot of the boundaries that I had in place were the ones that I put on myself, not on my skill sets.

You won two challenges and we have to say that we really liked the party store look. In fact, it’s one of our favorites from the whole season.

Thank you. I really love that look too. It was one of my favorites.

But we did feel that your designs fell flat a little bit after that. We didn’t see much of that stamina from the beginning in the next challenges. At some point, you even said you were tired of the challenges.

Well, I think what’s fun about being a designer is that it’s usually very self-indulgent. Those challenges are not self-indulgent, at least for me; to do things that I wouldn’t normally do. After a while, I longed to get back to the type of work I want to do and not in the context of, you know, providing an answer to a problem.

Do you agree with us when we say that your work wasn’t as strong as in the beginning?

I certainly think that I got in the safe zone after coming on so strong, I kind of needed some safe time. That is the truth. The reality of the show and the context is not about each individual challenge. It’s about making it all the way to the end and my goal was always Fashion Week. That was my dream on a lot of different levels. I think it was a matter of whether the challenge spoke to me or not. I really enjoy some of them and other ones, I didn’t. I think you could clearly see that. I’m an emotive designer and I think you can see that within my work.

Where did you learn how to style looks?

I do think style and styling are things that you really either have it or you don’t. I think that’s something that certainly developed over the years as I became more sophisticated and educated in fashion. I also think that I like to experiment with myself and be a chameleon and explore the different ways of presenting myself. I think that turns into kind of research and development, into my own designs.

The viewers had a very strong opinion of you on the show. Most thought you were a bitch and even you said, “I’m not a bitch. I just play one on TV.” So clearly, you were aware of that perspective. But then when we talk to the designers, a lot of them mention how supportive and friendly you were in the workroom. So, was that the editing?

What I think is people not differentiating between opinion of someone’s work and experience in an emotional and relatable sense. I had a great time with the people I participated in this with and I really enjoyed their company and I learned a lot through being forced to be open to people that are outside the community I have created for myself.

That’s very different from how I felt about my competitors and their aesthetics per challenge. I just answered the questions and did what I felt was right. I was honest about my opinions and I think what makes a good designer is the designer having a strong opinion about design and aesthetics.

That’s a very different thing than relatability on an emotional level and I think for some reason the context of my comments when it came to the competition, you know, you can take that context wherever you want to, but the reality is, I wasn’t saying awful things about my competitors, it was about the work.

One of the reasons why I tried to remove myself from it, it’s because I feel it’s really important to let go of our attachment, because you can’t take it personally and it can be misconstrued. It was never my intention…I know that I was true to myself; the reality of the situation really is that my goal was to get the maximum amount of exposure I possibly could.

Well, you succeeded.

Well, you talk about the antagonist far more than you talk about the really nice guy. In the end, you’re going to remember my name with much more ease than you would if I was just the sweet person on the show. Even though it kind of hurt my feelings that I became that character, I also know that in the end is going to benefit me more.

So, based on what you’re saying, is it fair to say that it was a calculated move from your part?

No, I didn’t decide to play the bitch, I really didn’t. I was kind of joking when I said that I played one on TV. I found the humor in the fact that that’s the role that I’ve been playing. I never tried to be bitchy. I felt I was very authentic and real with the people that I was there with. I walked away with friendships and I don’t think that would’ve happened if I was actually a bitch.

If you think about the amount of hours that were being filmed and the amount of time that we’re together, I wouldn’t want to be around a really bitchy person. I really enjoyed myself, got to know a lot of people on a personal level. I don’t open up to people that are mean or snotty. I think there is something to be said about the friendships that I was able to have with my competitors. We enjoyed ourselves and for some reason that get dismissed.

Winning the Marie Claire challenge was a big moment for you. Your reaction when you saw the billboard at Times Square was quite moving.

I think that was really the first step in realizing that I can attain my dreams. It takes a lot of hard work, taking risks, and challenging yourself. It really showed me that I have the potential to do that again in some regard. I’m so grateful for that and I wish I had that jumpsuit.

During Tim’s visit, you seemed to be at a pretty low point; eviction, the end of a relationship...what happened?

Basically, I went back and I had a relationship end, a lease come up, no money in the bank, my business about to go into bankruptcy, and having to create the best collection of my life. Through that month that I was creating the collection, having to end a relationship, one that is still very amicable, we remain friends, and also having to pack up the house and put everything into storage a day after they couriered away my finale collection, it was the hardest thing I’ve ever experienced.

I think I had the luxury of going a full “Phoenix rising from the ashes” experience. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but there’s also a lot of loss with a lot of gain. I learned a lot about what I can do and that I have a tough skin that you need in this industry and I that I can persevere through pretty extreme circumstances.

I was fortunate enough to have a great support system that I was able to stay focus and keep fighting for what I was hoping to achieve.

Did that affect your design process?

I think the only way that it affected my work is that it enabled me to submerse myself into it so that I could focus on making sure that I created a collection strong enough to make it to Fashion Week. In the end, what my dream really was, was to be able to present to millions of viewers, and whatever happened would happen. The best man would win. I knew that was imperative to my success after the show to make it to Fashion Week and I just kept that on the brain.

Tell us more about your inspiration for the collection.

I grew up in a town of four hundred in rural Colorado, way up high in the mountains, so, kind of in the land of cowboys and Indians. What I started realizing as I have been a designer is that that rural environment has a strong enough aesthetic that stayed with me, like my perpetual inspiration; kind of the undertone of my work. That made me start thinking about other small communities around the globe and how they throughout the times stay true to these aesthetics that ring true in their culture. That’s really what provided the inspiration to pull from, so the jewelry was kind of playing off of native-Americans, like the tribes around my area.

The hats were a nod to the cowboys that were my dad and my family friends. The texture and textiles were from Morocco and Africa, and inspired by those things, bringing them all together and relating those to a modern woman and where I’m going as a designer and how I’m progressing personally, is all a more refined, sophisticated, everyday way of wearing those things. I really like playing with the juxtaposition of all those elements.

Being a clothing sustainable designer, was it difficult to keep that in mind while designing a collection for Project Runway?

Not for the final collection, given the time frame and circumstances. All my materials, minus the silk yarn, were all end-run, so I was able to get it before it went to landfill. So basically I was recycling used goods, in a way. And then I used local artisans to do the contract work that I didn’t have skill sets for. The silk yarn was untreated silk yarn that I hand-dyed with low impact dyes. I tried to remain as true to my sustainable practices as I could.

The challenging thing when using end-run materials is that if you’re going to design a collection that is going to be sold, there’s limited amounts of those resources. It afforded me the luxury of exploring print and texture in a way I can’t normally as a sustainable designer.

The jewelry is such a strong part of the collection. Was that a deliberate choice, to give it so much focus?

One of the things that I always acknowledged about my work is that when I design clothing, I design it to be layered and accessorized and this opportunity enabled me to explore with jewelry in a manner that puts it at the forefront of the design rather than an afterthought. I had been longing to explore jewelry design for quite some time, and I think, especially when I started playing around with styling and how I wanted the essences of the collection to read, it became more and more clear to me that I wanted them to be statement pieces rather than just something incidental.

One of the major criticisms about your collection is that it doesn’t look expensive. How did you spend the money?

Well, I think that’s a difference of opinion. To me, it looks very expensive, especially when you start breaking down all the different elements that were involved. Hand knitwear is very expensive. Those pieces would be in the thousands of dollars. The hats were custom made. It was custom handcrafted jewelry. The textiles…I’m a very subtle designer and I think that’s overlooked a lot and thought of as not being good design. The reality is that what we all want to wear on a regular basis are the things that can be manipulated and adapted on a daily basis.

You said on the show and we quote you here, “This is Project Runway and there’s a level of presentation that maybe isn't totally true to your aesthetic and I’m willing to adapt to that.” What did you mean by that?

Project Runway is a show. I am a local designer that’s trying to make it and I had to learn how to embrace presentation in a manner that was a bit foreign to me. I also come from a wholesale background where when I’m selling to a wholesale buyer, they want to see the clothes. They don’t want to see all the pomp and circumstance in the presentation.

What I think I learned more than anything is that I do need to stay true to my talent with styling and my intuitive ideas with that. I just need to embrace going bigger. That’s a little out of my comfort zone, but I’ve learned that getting out of your comfort zone is where you really grow as a designer and I think I grew a lot throughout this whole season.

Did you enjoy the experience?

I did. I feel that there are certainly risks involved in the experience. It’s very foreign to the day-to-day grind for anyone, let alone designers. In the end, I think it made me a better designer and it reminded me where my strengths and my weaknesses are. It showed me who I really am and I’m very grateful for all of that and I have nothing to do with the elements of television, just with my goals personally and professionally that I hope to take with me in my next steps.

Good luck to you, Gretchen, and thank you for answering all our questions so candidly.

Thank you, guys. Thank you for really helping project Project Runway into the masses in the way that you have. I think you guys are vital to its success and I appreciate your involvement.

[Photo Credit: Barbara Nitke, myLifetime.com]

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Labels: Gretchen Jones, Project Runway, Project Runway Season 8, Project Runway Season 8 Episode 14, Project Runway T Lo Interviews, T Lo Interviews

Cover Girl: Emma Watson for Vogue UK

Dewy.

Vogue UK December 2010 Issue
Cover Girl: Emma Watson
Photographed by Mario Testino

We've been sitting here for a while trying to come up with something to say other than "SHE SHOOR IS PRIDDY!" But she is, isn't she? Pretty, we mean. We hope this doesn't sound nasty but we wouldn't have predicted way back when she was first thrust into the public eye that she'd grow up so well. And seemingly without much of an awkward period in the middle.

We're almost over the pixie cut but we can't deny she looks fantastic with one. And it's a great way to announce to the world "I'm not Hermione." One thing: believe it or not, we're not up on makeup trends. Is that '60s mod brushed eyebrow thing coming back or is she just styled that way for the cover because it looks so good with her hair? We always thought that was one of the odder makeup fads. There are points to be made on both sides of the thick brow vs. thin brow debate, but we never hear anyone call for the return of the brushed brow and spider lashes of the Carnaby Street crowd.

Anyway, here is the pretty dress she's wearing:

Valentino Fall 2010 Couture
Model: Freja Beha Erichsen (IMG)

Discuss.

And here is something we read about her today in the Daily Telegraph:

"She was 17 or 18 when her father sat her down for the “money conversation”. Until then she had been living on an allowance of just £50 a week. “By the third or fourth film, the money was starting to get serious,” she said. “I had no idea. I felt sick, very emotional.”

"She has barely touched her estimated £20 million fortune, for which she was named Hollywood’s highest paid female in Vanity Fair earlier this year. She chose instead to live in student digs while studying at Brown University in Rhode Island."

... and we can't tell if it's charming or a rather brilliant bit of P.R. As you know, darlings, we do tend toward the cynical side of things.

Discuss.

[Photo Credit: news.sky.com, style.com]


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Labels: Cover Girl, Emma Watson, Fashion, Magazine Cover/Editorial, Vogue

In or Out: Kristin Chenoweth in BCBGMAXAZRIA

Sex a peel.

Kristin Chenoweth attends the opening night of "The Scottsboro Boys"
on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre in New York City in BCBGMAXAZRIA.

Oh, Kristin, honey.

Because she's so tiny (most reports have her at under 5 feet), she never seems to be able to find a dress that shows off her figure. She tends to favor the strapless mini-dress and as we've said many times before, that tends to look little more than a very expensive towel. Especially on a very small gal. The one thing this look has going for it is the fit. This is one of the most flattering little dresses we've ever seen her wear. Clearly she has a tiny waist, but a lot of her past choices hid that fact.

The problem here -- honestly, do we have to say it? Okay, then. She looks like a shiny, wrinkled banana. That's not an easy color for anyone to pull off, but if anyone asked us (which, frustratingly, they never do), we'd advise any blue-eyed blonde to steer clear of bright yellows. Then there's the fact that it's such a wrinkled mess. Then there's the fact that it's screaming for a skinny little belt.

Kristin, you are OUT, but we hope you've learned something here. To sum up: Stick with this cut, stay away from this color, wear a belt, and stand up in the limo on the way to the event in order to prevent wrinklage. It's one of the few perqs to being such a wee little gal.

[Photo Credit: wireimage]

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Labels: Fashion, In or Out, Kristin Chenoweth, Red Carpet