Project Runway Ep 4

sorry this is late again :\ I've been really busy getting things ready for school.

Because it has been so long since the episode I can't really say too much about it. The one thing I will state is that just because a person likes classic, tailored things does not mean it has to be boring. I personally feel that was a down fall of a lot of people this challenge. And Nina doesn't necessarily hate patterns she just hates bold patterns. I think Nina's preference lies in the little details of the garment and so that is why I designed this for here. I would have used a deep plum color probably a silk and created this pattern by cutting strips and putting them together. I would have paired it with a trumpet skirt, and a tailored jacket that hit right at the top of the skirt and had a peplum that went a little longer in the back. During the day she could wear a tank top with the shirt.



And last but far from least the dress I made for my friend Laura as a graduation present :)





back



front! I didn't make the belt, the belt I originally planned to make was too thin and just didn't look right, so I wound up coming across this belt and I felt the leather looked really nice against the fabric of the dress.

I love your style...

I've never been a huge fan of J.C. Penney as it always seemed their clothes were more for older moms, grandmothers, and little kids. They just seemed to skip right over my age group. Over the past year though, either my tastes have gotten older, or they have totally re-vamped their store in the attempt to bring in a younger crowd. My vote is for the second as JCP has brought in new brands some which are celebrity endorsed.

Most excitedly they've collaberated with Mango to form an in-store brand called MNG. I have a friend who lives in Singapore and she always spoke of Mango , and when she showed me their stuff I fell in love. I'm a real time shopper though and I prefer to shop in store and try things on, rather then purchasing online. It's so much easier to say no to things online, lol. Mango is a trendy young professional woman's brand, that has brought a breath of fresh air and really opens the floor at JCP to a younger crowd.

Here is a link to the JCP collection, and here are some pictures from the ad campaign:







Another designer JCP teamed up with was Charlotte Ronson who has always been a personal favorite of mine. Her line for JCP also seems to bring an edge to the store with feminine touches. here is a look at her ad campaign:









Last but not least, their line called Olsenboye which was created in collab with the Olsen twins. This line was created to target Juniors, but I feel done the right way these pieces can take on a slightly older look and also we all need clothes for casual days don't we?





Moral of the day, if you haven't been to JCP lately you should check it out soon. For those of you in the Birmingham area they are currently constructing the MNG boutique!

always,

Leg's as High as the Skies

This season of PR has been like a roller coaster ride. Every week my mind changes on who I like. The only people I've continued liking are Anya, Anthony Ryan, and Laura. They seem like the only genuine people in this competition. Team challenges seem to really show everyone's true colors, and that fact seemed to ring loudly this week. Villains of the week Bryce and Victor. They just seemed to not want to work with their partners and Victor went into the challenge with a bad attitude. Instead of disrespecting Bert and saying he is going to be this way, why not recognize that Bert has a broad and vast knowledge of the industry and listen to what he has to say? Victor rushed in with his idea and never really gave Bert any say. I agree Bert made a bad fabric choice, but Victor's was not better by any means.

Far worse than Victor was Bryce, he just steam rollered over the sweetest girl in the competition. Its no wonder she messed up on the top with him breathing down her neck the whole time. Honestly though, I think her top that was a little off grain would have looked better then what he came up with. And I really think that bright turquoise around the waist would have been beautiful. He's lucky she searched for some kind of color because his all black on a tall stilts women would have looked so boring... oh wait it did :\

After all that, I feel the bottom 2 should have been Victor and Bryce, with Bryce going home not Fallene, I'm really going to miss her.

Anya and Olivier's actually turned our really nice and I felt they were a really good team working together, I was really worried their design wasn't going to turn out, but it did.

Laura and Anthony Ryan's was by far my favorite, it looked fresh from the runway and so chic! I would buy it in a heartbeat. they are my favorite personalities currently. Anthony Ryan being my absolute favorite. I love how his voice seems to have a slight southern drawl? Does anyone else here that? And he just seems like a fun person to be around.

Becky and Kimberly were a very odd match up. Becky came off as aloof to me, Kimberly seemed like she would have been open towards friendship but Becky was very stand off. This puts Becky on my not a fan list. I did like their design though and I think it worked so well because they really took their client into consideration. Although they didn't actually work together their design turned out great and didn't display their distance from each other.

As for Cecilia and Danielle, their work with chiffon was amazing, however if that had been a normal judging day I'm sure they would have been told it was matronly and been on the chopping block. Up next to all the other designs though I can see how it easily made the top 3. But that hair... my goodness..

I'm really nervous for the designers next week, Nina will not be an easy client at all.

As for my look, when I thought about stilt walkers this image of aphrodite rising from the sea popped in my head and became my inspiration. I wanted the top to look like waves crashing around her and my goal with the pants would be to make them look as if they were a dress, so a sort of palazzo style. And here it is:

How Unconventional!

I'm sorry for the belated post this week. It just so happens that the unconventional challenge was during an unconventional week for me. Last week was finals week, and one of my finals really wore me down. I pulled off A's in both of those classes, so I'm pretty stoked! Now onto PR!

This week on Project runway it was my favorite challenge! The unconventional challenge! This year the designers had to use resources from a pet supply store. I have to admit I was really creeped out when Bert looked at Tim Gunn and asked if the pets were off-limits :o I'm gonna hope he was just joking about that, haha. I can't really remember much of the happenings on the show right now so I can't give a full summary of my thoughts, but I will do my best.

Anthony Ryan - I think his dress was fabulous and definitely feel he should have been the winner. The neckline of his dress made me think of the Alexander McQueen dress pictured below. What I really liked about him is that he really challenged himself from the beginning to think outside of the box. His dress I agree was a little to short, but at least it fit his model perfectly.



Anya - She really just keeps surprising me. I have no clue how she keeps pulling all her outfits off, but each time she produces something really trendy and different. I remember 2 hours before the runway I believe all she had was the crossing ropes on her mannequin nothing else. I think the only thing I would have changed about her outfit is making her top just a little bit longer.

Becky - I was really surprised that Becky's dress didn't make it into the top 3, I felt hers turned out really great and would wear it given the chance.

Bert - I think he would have gone home this week without his immunity and I agree with the comment that his model looked like a hooker.

Bryce - I don't know how he is still here, but come on! If you are one PR I'm sure you have been watching PR and the judges were right, we see this dress every year. Every year this dress is on the bottom, and I also agree with whichever contestant it was that said it looked like a bunch of wee wee pads and it would serve its purpose if there were any dogs around.

Cecilia - I liked her design this week, but I still don't think I'm going to be a huge fan of her in the end.

Danielle - her design really shocked me this week. She seems like such a conservative person and then she sent this outfit down the runway, I felt her outfit could be a part of a fashion show and was very trendy. I'm really surprised her outfit didn't make the top either.

Fallene - I actually liked her outfit, but I have taken note that if I'm ever on PR don't put Orange and brown together. The judges hate that color palette. I felt bad for her because Tim praised the outfit and never said anything to her about it.

Josh - I think if this outfit had walked the runway during another challenge he would have been safe, but this is the unconventional challenge and at least the other 2 in the bottom tried to use different materials to create their pieces.

Other Josh- I loved his outfit, I didn't like him adding the mirror. I'm hoping this isn't a sign that in the future he might have a problem with editting down. I loved the pattern he made with the rocks and how the rocks reflected the light so well. He also created a very different silhouette and risky one at that. If he'd done any proportion just a little off it could have turned into a disaster.

Julie - I have high hopes for her, but I felt she deserved to be in the bottom this week. the dress was just all wrong, ill proportioned and despite the weaving it looks like she'd wrapped a dogfood bag around herself.

Kimberly - I liked her design as well, I wish we would have heard more from her during the show.

Laura- I think she is another one of my favorites on the show, and I loved her idea with the dog collars, and also how when it didn't work out she didn't beat herself over it she just said oh well and moved on to plan B. I think she really has a great attitude and some great ideas to go along with it.

Olivier- I did not like his outfit at all. I felt the top was ill-fitted, the colors didn't go well together and could have been a little boring, the eyebrows were overkill, and for an unconventional challenge I would like to see the winner as someone who only used unconventional materials. all in all didn't like his work this challenge, but I do like him as a person. I really wish the judges would listen more to Heidi it seems like nina always gets her way.

Viktor - While I did like Viktors design and can't believe his dress was wee wee pads, I feel that I could walk into any fad store and by this dress on the racks, I think that's why he didn't make the top, his design wasn't out of the box enough.

Now for my design, I can't guarantee that this would have been my design if I were on the show, but I've been so excited this past week about football season that when I sat down to design my thoughts kept coming back to Alabama. Therefore here is my design...

I would have bought plants and rocks in red white and black colors. Plan A would be to do the top in a crimson fern, the belt in a really shiny black rock, and the bottom dress I would create a houndstooth pattern hopefully with the rocks if that didn't work out I'd attempt to do it with the plants.




I know this is already a long post, but on the thoughts of unconventional I read this link today and its wedding dressed made completely out of balloons. I thought it was really interesting and that you guys and girls would enjoy it :D

http://shine.yahoo.com/event/summertimefun/awesome-crazy-wedding-gowns-made-of-balloons-2519854/#photoViewer=1