Pardon me, that would be Sweet . . .

P, not Pea, although however you spell it, there are trademark problems in the dear girl's future.

It took seven episodes for Project Runway Season IV to really engage me and for my gal Sweet P to step up to the plate and deliver some fashion. This is another case, for me, of being careful what I ask for: I wanted a season where the emphasis was on fashion, not personal drama, and I got it -- and it promptly put me to sleep.

Anyhoo, Episode 7 was the prom dress challenge which, after my recent traumatic encounter with the prom dresses in Dillard's junior department, really grabbed my attention. The PR crew produced some interesting designs which, for the most part, did not expose the young models' naughty bits, although, with one exception, the dresses looked too old for 17-year-olds. (In my opinion as a stuffy old broad who would like to see 17-year-olds in pink organza.) It was also generally agreed that this dress by Ricky Lizalde was one of the least attractive to roll down the runway.

Screen cap by the divine duo at Project Rungay.

So imagine my surprise when I found this dress un Chanel's Spring 2008 Couture collection:

Is washed-out and egg-shaped the wave of the future?

Karl Lagerfeld is on record disparaging PR. PR was filmed in Summer, 2007; the Paris Couture collections were held the second week of January, 2008. I wonder if Herr Lagerfeld knows that one of PR's less successful (at least until Episode 9) designers anticipated his design?

In Episode 9 the PR designers were challenged to create, using Levi's jeans and denim jackets, "an iconic look that captures the spirit of the 501 legacy." I wasn't sure whether that meant they were to sew up an iconic look in denim, or to create a design in denim that would become iconic. Whatever; is there a design more iconic than a Chanel suit? And once again there was a Chanel/PR convergence, because Herr Lagerfeld did at least a third of Chanel's Spring 2008 ready-to-wear collection in denim. And this may be the trench coat that designers Victorya Hong and Jillian Lewis were trying to create:

Sorry Victorya, there are some things that are only justified by a pricey designer label.

Actually, doesn't this Chanel jacket look like something a PR contestant would create from scraps?

Kiera Knightly was well and truly fugged for wearing another piece from the Chanel denim collection, as well as a bizarre hairdo and terrible make-up, for the cover of W Magazine. Let that be a lesson to persons who would combine denim and iconic.

Tim Gun hates leggings.

Great minds think alike, no?

It's the Holiday Season; do you know what you'll be wearing?

Nothing like the impending Holidays to get me browsing, indeed, prowling, through my favorite vintage sites looking for something special. These three caught my eye:

Groovy!

This first one, from Nelda's Vintage ebay store, is better suited to Hypotheca than I, but I know that when I was Hypotheca's hypothetical age I would have swooned on the floor of the Purple Giraffe (or whatever) boutique if I had seen such an item of beauty. (Incidently, having lived through I 60s I can say that I never heard anyone describe anything as "groovy," ever.) It's got a bit of an Ossie Clark air about it, doesn't it? And everybody knows that Ossie Clark was the coolest designer for rockstar-girlfriends ever, wasn't he? Kate Moss, collects vintage Ossie Clark, and whatever else you can say about Kate Moss, she knows her clothes. Anyhoo, this dress is a fairly decent size (bust 34) and the starting bid is only $9.99, so you can't go far wrong, can you?

Now this, THIS! is a prom dress.

And this is just one hell of a dress

The two red dresses are from Blue Velvet Vintage which has lots of lurverly and seasonal party dresses. I wish that I had successfully completed Project Waistline so I could fit into the balloon dress, but alas, I can't, so one of you will have to buy it. Wear it in good health!

Project Runway, Episode IV -- and more stuff.

Goodness gracious me – Sweet Pea only barely survived the Gidget Curse last night to sew another day. I would mention her no longer except that in my tour of PR-related blogs (okay, Project Rungay) I’m finding a lot of Sweet Pea hate, and I don’t understand it. One commenter went ballistic because she was offended that Sweet Pea was aghast when Elisa “spit marked” the fabric Sweet Pea was holding. “Spit marked,” meaning Elisa spit at Sweet Pea. Hello? I think any person trying to avoid communicable diseases and expecting common courtesy would object an uninvited christening with strange bodily fluids as well.

I’m a fan of Sweet Pea because (1) she’s this season’s token old broad and we old broads have to stick together, and (2) she seems straightforward and self-aware. The men’s outfit she made was crap, she acknowledged that it was crap and said she was embarrassed by it. No excuses. How refreshing. However I don’t believe she has a chance in hell of making the final three – but I’ve been surprised before.

Is pink the new orange?

I found these two dresses, for sale at Aesthetically Vintage while I was making one of my period searches for shirtwaist dresses. (Click on the image for the link). The only thing these garments have in common is their color, which leads me to believe that I’m entering a “fascinated with hot pink” phase. That's straight out of an orange phase, oh deary me – but that sweet full-skirted number’s a Dusy, isn’t it?

These pictures were snagged off of a right-click protected TIAS site. Now, while I absolutely respect a person’s right to protect their images, the fact is that the dresses (patterns, fabrics, etc.) featured in blogs, including this rather obscure one, usually sell rather quickly after they’re featured. And isn’t that the point of selling online? Wider exposure to potential buyers?(Actually, the full-skirted dress sold before I had a chance to post the picture, but I'm sticking to my thesis.) Let me expose you, darlings, you won’t regret it!

Project Runway IV and other stuff . . .

The previews for PRIV made it look like this season was going to be a complete freakshow, the contestants being a rainbow and a half of stereotypes. Luckily, it seems that they were only acting out for promotional purposes, and I in fact like this group. My favorites so far (and I'm so sorry if this statement brings the Gidget I-like-you-therefore-you-lose curse down on their heads) are Chris, the costume designer who came off as a total Jay-wannabe in the adverts but who is relatively down-to-earth, tears at meeting Sara Jessica Parker notwithstanding; and Sweet Pea, who managed to deal firmly but tactfully with Elisa, this season's token earthchild, to produce a nice garment in the last episode. I can't say much about the talents of any designers this early in the competition.

Here's something I didn't like: there was a link on Bravo's PR website (now removed) saying something like "Get the look of Lauri from 'Real Housewives of Orange County.'" Agggghhh!!! I'm totally Bravo's bitch, but I HATE that show and the shallow, mercenary, plastic women it features. I tried watching a couple of episodes the first season but I stopped because, among other things, I couldn't tell any of the blonde housewives, of whom Lauri is one, apart. Is that a look anyone wants to emulate, really? Southern Californian conservative siliconed meretrix?

I'd totally wear this

I have another disagreement with The Fug Girls over this outfit being worn by Nicole Kidman. They think it's too old for her, and maybe it is, but I'm mumblemumble years older than Kidman and damn I could rock this outfit. The hair, though? The hair is too old for Nicole and even for me. I'll add my vote to all those who think she should go back to red.

I'm really excited about seeing her as the evil Mrs. Coulter in "The Golden Compass." Nicole plays cold evil bitches so well ("To Die For," "The Others"), and that, btw, is an undiluted complement.

Yes, The Dress, revisited

Well, the TLC series "Say Yes to the Dress" ended without us ever finding out what happened to the hapless and clueless consultant Claudia, but I did learn one thing -- I could never be a wedding dress designer because I haven't got a clue what brides want to wear. In every episode of the show, one, and sometimes two, brides bought this dress (or maybe this one; corset, pouf, what's the diff?) which I think surely qualifies as a "float in the parade" on the Tim Gun Absolute Taste scale. In other words, I don't like it, why do so many brides?

Surprisingly, the brides who have chosen this dress are of all ages and sizes. One bride was a 39-year-old interior designer who should have know better, unless her real intention was to advertise Austrian balloon shades. In the episode before last two brides, one thin and one zaftig, and their consultants were competing over the one sample which would have to do for both sizes of bride. The thin bride got the sample first and, evidently mesmerized by her reflection dressed in the creation, wore it for an hour while the zaftig bride sat, dressed only in her underwear and a skimply kimono, waiting for the sample to become available. The thin brides's consultant didn't want to ask her customer to take the gown off for fear of losing the $6,600.00 sale; there zaftig bride's consultant wanted the dress so she wouldn't lose a sale $1,600.00 over her bride's original budget. In the end both the brides got what they wanted, i.e., the same dress the girl in the next room would be wearing. Duh?

Anyhoo, even though I know that brides dress their fantasies, and not their bodies or or their budgets, this particular dress really turns me off, and I know that I'd threaten Hypotheca with disinheritance if she even tried it on. Why, I wondered, did it bother me so? And then it hit me:


I would not want to have "Like A Virgin" playing on an endless loop in my head everytime I looked at my daughter's wedding album. Particularly not if it cost me $6,600.00. Sorry, Hypotheca.

It's da bomb!

I like to think that I'm no longer susceptible to marketing, but when I saw the perfume Flowerbomb in its crystal hand grenade container I. just. had. to. have. it. The idea of packaging luxury in an explosive device is just so decadent, so elegantly subversive, that I immediately signed onto the fashion insurgency.

And if what I fear for this country come true, I can use the container as an actual weapon when when the tanks start rolling down the avenue after the Tyrant-in-Chief declares martial law. It won't explode, but it weighs enough to put a dent in someone's ambition. But I wouldn't be throwing the bottle until I used up the perfume, because I really like it.

Besides being beatifully packaged, Flowerbomb also appeals to my idea of what perfume should be: hard to find (at least in my retail-deprived corner of the world), expensive, and thoroughbred. I'm a perfume snob and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I wouldn't even sample a scent bearing the name of Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, or even Sara Jessica Parker. Yet Paris Hilton just launched her fifth, fifth, fragrance. Who is it who wants to evoke celebuskank with her scent?


Flowerbomb is by Victor & Rolf, Belgian designers showing in Paris, who bring a brand of teh crayzee to their designs that I like. Their New Look-inspired Fall 2006 collection is one of my favorites, ever. I'd happily identify with a woman wearing Victor & Rolf designs, even if it means leaving the house wearing a fencing mask for a veil. I want no association, even a psychological one, with a woman who leaves the house wearing no underwear.

When I was looking up Flowerbomb on line I came across sites with perfume reviews. Reviews, not descriptions. Perfume is so personal I don't know how it can be reviewed. I could sample a perfume and love it, you could sample the same perfume and hate it, and we'd both be right. Interesting.