Alas, the photos of on this site are protected, so I can't post one (not the best marketing strategy, hello!) but day-um, is this dress for sale at Blue Velvet Vintage not one of the best dang balloon dresses you've ever seen?
I'm not going to write about PR Episode 11 in any detail because I didn't like it. It was too full of gimmicks -- returning auf'd designers, black-and-white only palette, instructions to use every scrap of material instructions -- and the resulting garments were awful. As the series progresses you can see the fatigue setting in, and I don't expect the garments produced in next week's episode to be any better. But most of all, whatever is produced on the shows is old news because New York runway shows for the final four designers has already taken place, and those are the garments that count.
You can see the four collections at NY Magazine Online. From the photos, I liked the viewer-selected evil Jeffrey Sebelia's collection best. Then I saw about 60 seconds of video on the Style Channel's fashion week coverage, and I thought Michael Knight's collection looked best, even though I thought the same stuff looked terribly hoochie-mama in the still photographs. I'm sure the judges, who get to see the collections close-up and personal, will see something entirely different from what the rest of PR world sees (gawd knows they have all season) and
pluck a winner out of the air. What evah.
designs have "Rachel Zoe" written all over them, and I can so see Nicole, Lindsay, Mary Kate, Nicki blah blah blah wearing them. In fact, I would LOVE to see the aforementioned persons wearing Uli -- well, maybe not, there'd be a lot less material for the Fug Girls.
In the late 1950s, the French called it the trapeze, in the 1960s the Americans called it the tent, your Mom may have called it a muu-muu, whatever, it's baaaaaaaaack. The billowy dress, fitted at the shoulder and straight down and out from there.
This dress the dream of every pregnant woman and perfect for hot summer days and nights. It's also totally without sex appeal, unless it's worn really short, which is how it was originally worn, with tights or panties, not a thong, otherwise the wearer can kiss her dignity good-bye at the first gust of wind.
There are always lots of vintage trapeze/tent dress patterns on e-bay. The Simplicity pattern pictured here is from Macojero's Sewing Patterns and she's got more, featuring tents that are little more than A-frames to tents full enough to hold the Ringling Bros. circus. I think older and larger women who want to test drive a tent dress should probably stick to a more tailored versions, to avoid those "when's the baby due," questions. And we don't want anyone to look like she's wearing a tent dress because she has no alternative. Otherwise I think we should all loosen our waistbands and enjoy!
Thank the Gods of Fashion, designers have finally gotten over the plunging-v-neck, empire waist, totally unwearable by me, silhouette they've featured for the last few seasons. And seeking to stimulate business as all fashion designers do, they've dropped the waistline from right under the armpits to right at the hips so that fashionistas everywhere will scurry to the stores for the latest thing.
and in particular, a 20s American ex-pat in Paris freak ("A Moveable Feast," YES! "Babylon Revisited," YES! "Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle," YES!) so I love any garment with a hint of flapper. And considering that most vintage garments from the 20s are too fragile or too rare to really wear (I can imagine myself now, dropping spaghetti sauce on the front of a 1920s silk frock, and subsequently dropping dead in shock) a modern reproduction is a great alternative.
department stores. Her collection this spring was full of 20s-influenced styles.
without making the wearer look like a doofus, because after all, that's how tunics were meant to be worn. They'd look equally good worn over leggings (I hate footless leggings, but I know when I've lost the fashion battle), and as shown, they make nifty little dresses. I would wear mine longer, having worn it short the first time around, but I think this is actually a style that could be recycled in spite of the admonition that if you're old enough to wear a style the first time around, you should wear it on its revival. Tunics have been worn for thousands of years, after all.
There are often vintage tunic patterns for sale, some of which look darn similar to the dresses shown here. There are contemporary patterns for kurtas available too. So it's fairly easy for you sewists to get a current look at a fraction of the price of a designer dress, and that's always a good thing, isn't it?
There's going to be lots of coverage, of course, but I recommend the Fashion Week coverage in New York Magazine. Nice, big, clear pictures from the collections. The orange outfit at left is from Verrier, who, according to NYM, is going "back to the 40s," which in my book is not bad at all. And that's not all -- the Fug Girls are contributing to NYM's column Show & Talk. Whoo hoo! Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a funny ride!
Whew! Episode 9 was another entertaining installment of PR, even though its required "uncomfortable moment" was perhaps the most uncomfortable of the season. That moment occurred when Vinsane, whom Laura aptly dubbed "a legend in his own mind" hit on French judge Catherine Maladrino in the most spectacular demonstration of poor judgment in PR history. She not only had the power of PR life or death over him but she also looks like she could knock him into the middle of next week. Unfortunately, while she 
exercised the former course of action (by writing "no, no, no, no, no" all over his evaluation card) she refrained from the latter, thus depriving reality TV of one spectacular smackdown. The end result was satisfying, though, Vincent, at long last, was auf'd.
Kayne made an asymetrical strapless gown that looked like a very good version of Wendy Pepper's Season 1 wedding dress, right down to the corset with curvature of the spinal lacing. (The gold dress is Kayne's, the dress that looks like it's made out of bedsheets is Wendy's.) I'm surprised that I haven't seen any other comments about the similarities, but of course I haven't read every. single. PR. post. yet, and I probably won't. The fact that Kayne's dress was actually fit his model and didn't fall apart when she walked down the runway probably obscured the resemblance, too.
I liked Uli's dress the best. Sure it was another one of her signature flowing empire-waist dresses, but it was pretty, and I'm a slut for pretty.
couldn't participate in this challenge, since its focus was hand-crafting and finishing. She could have fleurchoned the ass out of some dress -- and ruffly flower-like ornaments actually seem to be a trend, as the white Armani Privé dress at left shows -- and her excess would have been completely appropriate. But then I would have had to put up with her perkiness for another week or two. Damn the fleurchons! Full speed ahead!
But look at this ruffled, tucked, bias beauty. It's for sale at Dandelion Vintage (scroll down), alas, for me, in size small. I hope some nice lady with a slender-hipped Depression era figure gives this dress a good home.
However, it's really the ads that bulk this issue of Vogue up to 754 pages, and I think the ads are more interesting than the photo features because they show what's available to peons like us. There are pages of ads from Target (Isaac, you done good this season, I am loving these shoes), Dillard's and *ugh* Wal-Mart. From these ads I've deduced, without even putting on my Sherlock hat, there there's going to be a lot of black on the racks: black dresses, black tights, black leggins, and black skinny pants. Can't say that I'm surprised by the funereal look, but it doesn't stir my orange/purple/fuchia loving soul. There are also a lot of oversize sweaters -- many with cowl necks, thank you very much Nina Garcia. This look available at Dillards is representative. for eye candy, lots of 30s-inspired chiffon evening gowns. Ahhh . . . eye candy!
Okay, Episode 8 was fun. What a relief.
Only Vinsane's garments, a plain black jersey and loose black pants, looked like something a real person would wear when traveling. And travel he did, with the rest of the designers, to Parson's in Paris. There they had the privilege of being abused by real designer Catherine Maladrino (Tim said they had to shoot the elimination six times because she said such harsh things to the bottom two). Jeffrey won for producing a great jacket, a tee-shirt adorned with a rhinestone skull, and legging-like pants that had some shiny, scary metallic objects closing the fly. Angela was auf'd, the remaining designers stay in Paris for the next challenge, and all is almost right with the world.
On the subject of clothes people would really wear, aka real clothes: way back in episode 4 designer Bonnie Dominguez was auf'd for producing, among other things, a cowl-neck tunic. "Who uses a cowl neck anymore?" asked dragon-lady judge Nina Garcia just before she lowered the boom on poor sweet Bonnie. Well, if you shop at Bergdorf-Goodman, lots of designers do. That would be designers like Temperley, Stella McCartney, TSE cashmere, Derek Lam, and eskandar. These cowl-necked items would probably make a much better traveling outfit than anything the PR gang produced this week. Whatever -- no one ever said reality TV has to be real.
I just came across this 1930s vintage silk chiffon fabric on ebay, for sale by Firefly Vintage Clothing. I love it, it's just so, so, thirties, dammit! It's also very expensive -- $240 for 4 yards -- so it's not an appropriate purchase for a sewer of my basic skills. What I want is for one of you ladies with "mad skillz" to buy it and make it into a 20s or 30s style summer afternoon frock, preferably with a bertha collar or capelet so that this pansy-studded gorgeousness will flutter around you in the breeze. Then you'll have a dress to be worn, with fabulous hat, shoes and gloves, to any event where you want to knock the eye out of the competition. The wedding of an ex-beau, for instance. The new Mrs. Ex-beau will be fussing about seating and first dances with her wedding planner and you'll be standing in the shade, sipping champagne, surrounded by future beau, all of whom are admiring you in your lovely purple dress. *sigh*
I never watch award shows -- I need all my remaining braincells, thank you -- but I always pay attention to what's being worn to award shows. I used to watch the red-carpet arrivals, too, until E! eliminated any possible controversy (and therefore any possible interest) by hiring than homunculus Ryan Seacrest as its host. Anyway, on Monday I went straight to style.com and the yahoo photos to see who wore what and, as usual, I was disappointed. Lots of strapless mermaid gowns, lots of boobs (Virginia Masden, I *heart* you, but WHAT WERE YOU THINKING???), lots of women parading their borrowed fall-collection gowns in the full sun of a 102 degree August day in southern California. Lots of fug-fodder for the Go Fug Yourself gals, which is a good thing.
I was intrigued, however, by reports that Annette Benning wore a vintage Ceil Chapman dress. Ceil Chapman, who was simply a designer of better dresses working in New York from the late 1940s to the mid 1960s, has since become the most collectible name in vintage clothing. I spent an unmentionable amount of time surfing for a decent picture of Annette in her vintage treasure. Alas, the photos at left were the best I could do, and they reveal a dress that certainly isn't the best of Ceil Chapman, who became famous because of the intricate draping of her best pieces, like this one for sale now on e-bay. I have to give Annette 10 points for trying, though (and a couple of extra for keeping her bosom where it belongs).
You probably already know from the thousands of other PR posts that the Judges Did It Again in Episode 7, that is, they picked a winner that made most watchers go "wah???" The winner was Vincent, aka Vinsane, who proded an ill fitting black sheath adorned with large and unusual tan -- sweet mother of 70's tan -- lapels. The wags at Project Rungay (how do I love them? a LOT) pronounced the collar "pure Carol Brady," another wit posted a comment calling the dress "soooo Sister Batrille" (that's the Singing Nun for all you young things), but when I saw that dress, I thought "Adrian!" No, not Rocky's girlfriend, the MGM costume designer Gilbert Adrian, and not good Adrian, but still . . . 
State University. There are also line drawings of each garment, so you can see how they were put together. I lust after the yellow silk dress believed to have been worn by Mommy Dearest Joan Crawford herself. )
instead there was a very grade-school team line-up and the end result was that the prickly bad-tempered tattooed guy Jeffrey was paired with the whiny passive-aggressive plus-size Mom of his least favorite competitor, Angela. Neither Jeffrey nor Angela's Mom was shy about expressing his or her displeasure with the other. There was shouting, there were tears, there was one effin' ugly dress. In spite of the backstage drama and spectacularly poor customer relations, the judges still found Jeffrey's hot mess better than Michaels boring red tent, so that the by now thoroughly loathed Jeffrey got to stay and the beautiful Barbie Boy, Robert Best, got the boot. Farewell, fair Robert, may choirs of plastic dolls sing thee to thy rest, or at least as far as some jumping bar in West Hollywood.
The woman explained herself quite well in the opening paragraph of her autobiography, LANA. I quote "One June evening in 1937, I sat in a Hollywood theatre, waiting for a preview of They Won't Forget. I played a Southern schoolgirl, Mary Clay, who would be raped and murdered. An innocent teacher would be blamed and lynched before he came to trial. I hadn't really understood the significance of the script, but I remember what I wore - a close-fitting sweater with patent-leather belt and a well-contoured skirt." -- findadeath.com. 
Lana Turner was the Lindsay Lohan of her day. She was discovered and put into the studio system at age 15, she became an immediate sensation because of her impressive, if sweater-covered, rack, and she was wildly popular among men in their early 20s (although Lana's admirers were flying bombers over Germany instead of getting bombed in their parents' basements). Lana preferred partying to acting. At age 19, she eloped with Artie Shaw, one of the 20th Centuries most notorious serial husbands, just to piss off her boss, MGM's Louis B. Mayer. She was hospitalized for "exhaustion" (in Lana's case, aka a botched back-street abortion). And this was just the beginning of her career!
The challenge this week was to modernize the look of a fashion icon. The icons (or in this case, "icons") in question were Jacqueline Kennedy, Audrey Hepburn, Katherine Hepburn, Pam Grier, Diana Ross, Marilyn Monroe, Twiggy and Cher. I had some philosophical problems with this challenge. For example, the designers were warned not to design anything retro. Well, poo, I says to myself, what's wrong with retro -- especially when some of the icons' signature looks, like Jackie Kennedy's neat structured suits and Twiggy's babydoll dresses and shifts, are all over the runways this season? Audrey-like little black dresses never go out of style. Another problem was that at least two of the designers had no clue who their icons were and what they wore. Bradley, incredibly, knew nothing about Cher, and Allison knew knew nothing about Farrah Fawcett, although I wouldn't call either of those women fashion icons. If this challenge had been described as modernizing the look of a gay icon I think some of the designers would have been more successful. (What? No Elizabeth Taylor?)
I love unusual -- okay, loud -- color combinations, like red and pink, red and purple, red, pink and purple. My yard is full of pots planted with purple easter-egg alyssum, tomato-red geraniums and orange african daisies, all surrounded by red and coral mini rose bushes and purple butterfly bushes. So when I saw the dress at left, a balloon dress, no less, in a red and pinky-purple floral print, I had yet another "ooooooh, pretty" moment. I confess, I live for those.
This dress is for sale at antiquedress.com, which has quite a collection of balloon, bubble, and tulip dresses for sale at the moment. At the other end of the silhouette spectrum, it also has this wiggle dress, with *swoon* a modified petal bodice, in a super fantastic orange/magenta/turquoise print. Oh, I lust for that fabric! I (The dress itself, alas, is too expensive and too small for me.) The hot-pink gown with the fabulous Watteau train also caught my eye. I'm firmly convinced that the world would be a better place if more women wore dresses with Watteau trains (and voted for progressive Democrats).
Antiquedress.com does a fabulous job of displaying the dresses on sale. The photos, which are many and large, look like they were taken by a professional photographer, or at least in a studio environment with professional equipment. They, and the web-site maintenance, must cost the webmistress a mint and it appears that she prices her items accordingly, which is not to say that the garments aren't spectacular themselves. No matter; I'm just browsing, and the browsing is good.
Vogue has made it official: The Bubble is a Fall Trend. Indeed, bubble skirts can be found from Nieman-Marcus to Walmart. I've been intrigued by relative novelty of these drapey items, so I've tried on a few -- and rapidly removed them. All I could do was stare, and not in a good way, when a middle-aged woman waltzed into My Favorite Muffin at 10:00 a.m. wearing a shiney silver bubble rendered in some crinkley material (I think it was this one, in fact). So bubbles may be a current trend, but as far as I'm concerned, they don't quite work.
However, I still like the idea of bubbles, balloons, and their kinder, gentler sister, the tulip skirt, in theory and in vintage. Look at these beautiful examples from the past; the pattern from Fuzzy Lizzy Vintage (click on photo for link), the cinnamon tulip dress formerly for sale by emmapeelpants (can you stand it?) on ebay. Here's another gorgeous example, once again, already sold, that'll give you an idea of what a dress made from this pattern might look like. 
