Thursday, September 30, 2010

T LOunge

Who needs a drink? We do!



Ink48, PRESS Lounge in New York City

Darlings, why are Thursdays such a bitch of a day? We're always ready for T LOunge by noon. Let's all meet up in fabulous NYC and enjoy the skyline while we hurl insults at the television.

Hello, boys! Tonight, the PR Kids all get surprise visits from close friends and family members.

What does it mean for the challenge? Stay tuned!
Guest Judge: Rachel Roy

We're always happy to see a designer sitting in on the judging panel. A few too many starlets this season, if you ask us.

Episode 10 Preview:
OOOOOH!!!

Le scandale! Fabuleuse!


[Video Credit: myLifetime.com - Photo Credit: ink48.c0m/Barbara Nitke/myLifetime.com]

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Mad Style: Hands and Knees

Swinging Sixties, Baby!

We weren't sure we were going to include the screencaps from this scene until we noticed the sewing machine. We just know something like that is going to prompt a dozen "My mom had that!" responses.

Notice how Betty and Sally are wearing pretty much the same outfit in different colors. Betty was the warmest we've seen her all season in this scene, plus she was a little girlishly excited about the prospect of Sally seeing the Beatles. It's like she let down the Mom Guard for a second. We forget that Betty is a young woman. The similarities in their styles illustrate the point.

Betty's been presented in slightly different looks this season; befitting her age and the fact that she entered into a second marriage with a much older man, her look matured and hardened a bit. This look, on the other hand, is pure Betty Draper. This scene had the wreckage of her former marriage surface suddenly and unexpectedly and the clothes hearken back to that time.

Not much to say about the bunny uniforms but we knew we'd hear it if we didn't include them. Both the costumes and the set are period-perfect.


We really hope Toni sticks around because the show is seriously lacking in that mid-to-late '60s black girl fabulousness. The '60s were a watershed moment for fashion and the look of the African-American woman was a huge part of that as iconic women like Dionne Warwick, Diana Ross, and Diahann Carroll redefined beauty for the times.

Anyway, she looks adorable in both these looks. She obviously favors cute little dresses in highly saturated colors. Putting her in scenes with the uptight Lane and his even more uptight father, both of them wearing darks or neutrals, hammers home the point being made: color has arrived into this world. Toni would be a contrast no matter what she wore in these scenes, but making her the brightest color in the shot helps tell the story. She is, quite literally, a woman of color.


Gone are the black suits, worn to downplay her femininity in a world of men. Her relationship with Don has allowed her to be a little lighter and less armored. She gets to sport a lot of variations on her hairstyle but when they put her in such a literal Betty 'do, it serves to highlight their differences. Don confessed everything to Betty sitting on the bed in their bedroom. He does the same thing here. Yet Betty was angry and distant (which, admittedly, is entirely reasonable) while Faye was concerned and supportive.

What's interesting about this look is that it almost looks like it could have come from Megan's wardrobe with the collar and the rows of buttons and the bright color. If Megan really does become Don's next romantic interest, then there was a through-line in their looks. Betty to Faye to Megan. Almost as if Don needed Faye to get over Betty. Which is pretty much why you should avoid being the rebound.

Much earlier in our Joan Mad Style posts we pointed out that she essentially wears the same outfit over and over in different colors and fabrics. She's practical that way. This is at least the 3rd or 4th version of this look we've seen this season: tight, high-waisted dark skirt with a blouson top in a busy print that doesn't flatter her.

Joan normally wears a lot of bright or saturated colors. It's interesting to note how dark and a little depressing the color scheme is here, befitting the mood.

Check out the look she is giving that doctor. You don't refer to Joan Holloway Harris as "ruined," asshole.

This dress is very similar (although less fabulous) to the one she wore to the Clio awards, with a softly gathered scoop neckline and a busy floral print. If you were to open Joan's closet she'd have three outfits in 40 different colors and patterns. We've noted in the past that Joan tends to wear these busy florals when she's in some sort of emotional turmoil and she'd have to be in the most turmoil ever for a scene like this, where each character briefly toys with the idea of completely upending their lives.


Again, we knew we couldn't get away with NOT including a shot of that bus interior.

Joan is dressed very maturely here. It's like she's taking a page from Betty, who dealt with her potentially scandalous life change by suddenly dressing ten years older in a bid to look more respectable. Well it worked, much to Joan's chagrin. She got a cold slap that reminded her that women of her age and position weren't "supposed" to get abortions and she got a reminder that her options for having that baby she wants are rapidly dwindling. Not because 34 is so old, but 34 with a husband in a war zone suddenly makes the possibility of being a mother a bit more remote.

And speaking of maternity, here's Trudy Campbell, awash in it. How very Trudy that no matter how big she gets, she will always find something cute and girly to wear.

Megan's always looked good, but her outfits, while brightly colored, weren't as attention-getting as this one is. This is an absolutely fabulous little dress with some great mod graphic detailing. Maybe she wasn't deliberately dressing for attention (it doesn't seem like her) but this was the episode where Don suddenly noticed her.

But this is the super-cute outfit that finally got his attention. She's in blue, like a lot of the female characters this season when something important happens to them (e.g., Joan in the waiting room above). The plaid trim is new for her, since she never wears any sort of print. Again, it's about making her more noticable all of the sudden, both to Don and to the viewer. We don't know if she really is going to be the next Draper paramour, but they're certainly setting it up that way.


[Screencaps: projectrungay.blogspot.com - Photo Credit: amctv.com/originals/madmen]

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PR: Ripping the Collections: Ivy Higa

As the remaining designers get eliminated from Project Runway, we'll take a look each week at the auf'd designer's decoy collection.

One thing we've learned in the years writing this blog is that fashion is experiential. Depending upon how, where and when you see it, you can have wildly different impressions of it. This collection was extremely low-key on the runway, to the point of looking a little boring to us. It wasn't until we started putting the pictures together for this post that we realized just how pretty and stylish some of the looks are. It feels far more like a resort collection than the Spring collections normally shown this time of year. That's her prerogative, especially since one of her more disastrous attempts during the competition was during the resort challenge. It seems that she was sending a message.

We've long said that producing less than impressive designs on Project Runway doesn't make you a bad designer. It makes you a bad reality show contestant. We think this collection nicely illustrates that point. You may not like her; you may not even like this collection; but it's tough to deny that this work is eons ahead of what she was doing during the competition.

Let's start the show.




If we had to describe her aesthetic, we'd say it's mostly Calvin Klein minimalism with a little bit of Carolina Hererra-style femininity thrown in. This is a very simple, but chic and pretty look with a slightly ethereal quality to it. We love. We like the double brim of the hat, but we feel like the scale is a little wrong. We'd have liked a bigger hat with this look.



It's like something Katy Perry would wear if Katy Perry had taste. We're not entirely sold on the sheer panels and we think this look could have done without the bow, but overall it's well done. It's pulling a bit here and there, but the collection as a whole demonstrated some damn impressive fitting and sewing skills.




Love it, top to bottom. The hat, the cuff, the shoes - they're all perfect with this beachy-chic look. That sheer jacket is gorge, even if it is tied with a giant bow. There's just the slightest hint of yellow underneath the jacket. We like it for what it is, but it was probably meant to tie in with the upcoming yellow dress and we don't think it did the job on that front.



It's a perfectly fine look, but in a sea of minimalism, it would have been nice to see some sort of detail to give this look interest. She managed it in the previous looks but not here.




It's a cute dress, but there's something about the proportions up top that are making her look a little broad-shouldered. We like the pop of color in the middle of this pale collection, but she dropped the ball by not working it in somewhere else. She didn't need another all-yellow look like this, but there should have been some sort of callback to this sudden infusion of color out of nowhere.



We can't get behind this one. The capris make it look decidedly downscale for a NYFW runway show. And the preponderance of bows is starting to get to us. We like the top, though.



This is really cute. Again, we don't think the hat really works with it, but the outfit has a young, urban vibe that appeals.




Again, there is such a thing as being too minimal. You've got ten looks to show so you should make each one count.



We think this dress is kind of adorable, but we're not convinced it really ties in with the rest of the collection except for the color. Up till now, it's been mostly about very clean lines and here comes this very ruffled cocktail dress. Still, it's sweet.



We think this is a stunning gown. Truly. We don't like the bow sash (of course) but everything else we love; the tiers, the ruffled effect, the graduating color scheme. All very pretty and romantic-looking. The problem? It's totally out of left field, just like the cocktail dress before it. You could take those two piece and make a little mini-collection out of them but they don't really feel right paired with the previous eight pieces.

All in all, a mixed bag but we lean heavily toward the positive. Whatever shortcomings we perceived were mostly minor. In the end, she showed a chic, understated, and very pretty collection. Is it fashion-forward? No, not at all. But wearable and covetable? Absolutely. There is most definitely a customer base for these sorts of looks.