Poor Francis got to sit through last night's episode of Project Runway with me hurumphing and snorting with derision the entire episode. Being the polite person she is, she put up with it well. Alan knows better and usually flees to the basement or goes to bed instead of watching Project Runway with me.

( spoiler ranting... )

I'll watch the finale, never fail, because I'm a sucker, but I'm certainly not excited for it like I was for Leanne and Korto's last season so long ago. So now I look forward to Season 7 of PR (said to already be in the can) with a bit of trepidation. It can't be worse than this season, could it? But if I start watching, I know I won't be able to stop... Sigh. I'll jump off that bridge when I come to it.

  Tom and Lorenzo (TLo) of Project Rungay  fame have a completely addictive blog if you like fashion, Project Runway, Mad Men, Glee, and a few other Bravo or style shows. They also highlight some neat spreads in fashion magazines, and this one from London based Dazed & Confused Nov. 2009 is breathtaking.
http://projectrungay.blogspot.com/2009/10/dazed-confused.html

The stylist took contemporary fashions right from the runways of McQueen, D&G, Galliano, Westwood, and Watanabe and merged them together with a 16th and 17th century aesthetic, some nice backgrounds and interesting props and out popped wow.

gorgeous!

It should surprise no one here that I love DVF's design for the Barbie 50th Anniversary Runway Show.
It's a wrap dress, and it's pink.
*swoon!*

I confess I also liked the design by Tracy Reese and Betsey Johnson's was too cute!

I saw some post on the Manolo Big blog about the Spring 2009 Christian Dior Couture collection, and John Galliano's inspiration taken from 17th Cent. Flemish Art.

Then Style Spy did a very wonderful post, detailing some of the dresses, called Girl With Big Honkin' Skirt which was an interesting look at the clothes and techniques.

Okay, so I had to look up the entire collection on Style.com as there are some truly inspired pieces in it.

First of all those skirts are insane. Neat folds and ruffles and pleats that are giving an impressive level of body to the gown. Some of the hats would make the Victorian ladies at the Ascot races swoon. Some of the necklines and bodice silhouettes are very reminiscent of the 17th cent. as are the collars that mimic partlets. There are print details that recall Delftware tiles and the gorgeous still life paintings of the era. I mean, I could easily see some of these detail shots fitting in quite well to the pages of Historical Fashion in Detail.



I'm not an insane fashionista. I'm wearing Naturalizer flats instead of Jimmy Choo heels. But these dresses are definitely works of art, even if a bit over the top. But what I would give for an occasion to wear such a gown. Although I probably wouldn't hire Kelly Wearstler's hair stylist for the affair.

Gold! The Fug Girls have captured the glory that was Kelly Wearstler's turban. It makes me smile at the absurdity of it all.

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I spent the weekend mostly curled up at home. I slept in past noon on both days.

Saturday was some knitting, some suspense movies on tv, cleaning the toilets and sinks, and then being kidnapped for dinner at Ceviche by Theo, Mike and Cosette. The Aji de Galliano was perfect comfort food for the cold, and I did get to peek at the painting projects of great coolness, but they returned me home to crash. I do now have a decent start on a second set of stockings.

Sunday was knitting, watching tear-jerkers (August Rush and The Jane Austen Book Club), and drawing out my next embroidery project. I've started a bit on a little 4x6" panel for my Mother-in-Law in thanks for her hospitality and support during our many visits up to MA for the Plimoth jacket project. Again, I'm taking from Isobel's Arabella pattern, highlighting the pink carnation, and other elements surrounding it. I need more green silk though, as there are more leaves than I anticipated.

First of all Kelly Wearstler is obviously insane. Green and white turban, green pumps with black ankle socks with a purple ruffle mini-dress. The dress is kinda cool, but the rest is mad. I swear, seeing what the heck she's going to wear or do to her hair each week is the highlight of Top Design, which is sad for the designers.

And hooray for Leanne's win over Project Runway Season 5. I wasn't a fan from the beginning, but she has totally grown on me, and I love the playful easy nature of her clothes. I also adore Korto as creating designs that could size up to fit and flatter real women. I did appreciate Kenley's bold color choices, but hate most of her silhouettes. 

Yay, tv and escapism!

Today was fine at work, but I did get distracted and stay a little late. I meant to swing by a place on my way home that has a sign in the window about replacing watch batteries, but some douche was in the way so I couldn't make the turn without endangering those around me. Ah well, I drive by the place everyday, perhaps tomorrow. Then I was going to run by Target to look at frames and some other stuff, but then remembered that I left the pictures needing frames are at home and I haven't taken any notes on the sizes of frames needed. So I decide to just head directly home and do those errands later. Retail opportunity averted.

Got to sit in on a cool work presentation on using Web 2.0 technologies for distance education. Most of the stuff I was familiar with, but not the application to formal education, since we just do this social networking thing on tha El-jay and Flicka. I think it is about time I checked out del.icio.us or ma.gnolia.com or something for my bookmarks since I access from work and home. Also, as annoying as wikipedia can be, (but useful if you are Nia and looking up info on scorpions or something), I wonder if a SCA-LJ-wiki would be of any use or not? I was also reminded that I need to go back and add tags to older entries here before I started really using them. I've also been meaning to cross-post my memorable DLand entries here, since I do use my back entries as reminders of what has come and when what happened.

So, tonight is the finale of the season of Project Runway. I agree with Belphoebe that Sweet P was a diamond in the rough and I am sad she didn't make it to the finals. I also wish I could have seen the rest of Chris March's crazy human hair trimmed line. Of the final three, I liked Jillian's knitwear, but hated her crazy hats and found them distracting. I loved Rami's line, especially his gown of vintage lace and the brown silk basket-weave bodice ball gown. Christian was crazy and over the top, and I loved his hats, but found the black on black on black to be too much of a light-sink. The textures showed better on the runway and under the big lights than they do in photographs online, but I can't help but wonder how those jackets would pop over another neutral or non-saturated colors. The Fug Girls made a cool post on the finale and odds with links to the collections if you care. And the winner is: crazy Christian and his ruffles and fierce looks.

Hmm... need to get back in the sewing room and being creative and productive...