A random statement

I am a Buddhist and an atheist (or possibly a pantheist). I believe in the big bang as the original creative force and that things and people and places and ideas have divine aspects but that things evolve along both mundane and mystical paths. My relationship with God was soured by being raised among Southern Baptists, who distrusted joy and feared and hated difference. I was sure different! For me the thought of an old white guy in the sky who built, owns, and controls everything is odious, especially when, in my understanding, humans created God.

Valentino's Pret-a-Porter line for Fall 2011

It's been a while since I posted anything on fashion. This is the new fall ready-to-wear line from house of Valentino. I like the subdued reds and the simple but very feminine lines. I have a goal of being able to wear stuff that is more like this by Fall '11. We shall see!

Project Runway meta

I have not had time to blog about each successive episode of PR. I think episode 9 or 10 was just on, and the last ep I blogged was 4. I can go back and do them all, but is it worth it? maybe it is, I haven't decided. The main issue is time, but I also haven't been happy with how the drama has gotten in the way of the design part of the show. there have been a couple of weeks where I have liked very few of the looks lately, and I feel like that shouldn't be the case, especially this late in the game. If I can find the time, though, maybe I will go back and blog some of the episodes from my DVR.

Project Runway Season 8, Ep 3

°They start the episode with Gretchen's bigheadedness.
°Then, the very truncated "Models of the Runway" ep, illustrating why the show was so unnecessary.
°Challenge is to use materials from a party supplies store.
°A. J. is under pressure to produce, because of his audition garment, and apparently much of his output is in this genre.
°Casanova is complaining that he doesn't know what to use as material.
°Peach uses -- surprise! -- pink.
°Casanova killed a plush puppy (actually, two plush puppies)!!! OH, NO!!!
°Andy is braiding pieces of black & silver ribbon. This looks like a lot of work.
°Michael C. doesn't say what he's thinking to people's faces, only to the camera later. Do not trust him!
°Gretchen needs to take a dose of STFU. Seriously.
°Kristen made Tim say "Wooly balls!" He turns a lovely shade of bright red.
°Lots of glue guns! Right before the runway, it seemed like every designer had a glue gun in their hands.
°Kudos to April and Peach for helping Andy finish his dress. It is really beautiful.
°A. J.'s dress is kind of a disaster.
°Gretchen made something nice. Damn her.
°Someone described Kristen's dress as a jellyfish. How apt.
°Sarah! Sorry about that dress. It is so sad!
°Valerie's dress is a knockout. The black & white napkins give a nice volume, and the lines are so cool.
°They had the designers in the middle of the pack in the green room talking about the high & low end designers that were still out on the runway. They seemed to have a really good idea who was on top and who was in trouble. Nailed it, in fact, in my opinion.
°A. J. is so stressed. He's really seeming high strung.
°At least Gretchen didn't win.
°Casanova survives yet again.
°And then at the end, there's a michegoss involving ambulances. There are 3, but we only see 1 person in trouble. I think Ivy inhaled too many glue fumes.

Project Runway Season 8 Ep 2

°So, I find myself hoping that Jason and Casanova go home, in that order. That should come as no surprise.
°Mondo is cute, but shy. I hope he finds some friends on the show.
°Jason’s “8 for infinity” idea seems really dumb. I have no idea how he can make that flattering and beautiful.
°Peach has picked a print on white again. At least she realizes immediately that she’s got a problem.
°I feel like Casanova is asking other people to do his design work for him. I find it annoying, but I can also see another side of it. He’s trying to be social and to reach out. I just think it’s not the most appropriate way to go about it. Am I wrong?
°Tim walks in, and it’s obvious that everyone’s stressing…
°I like Tim giving Mondo props.
°Jason has concerned Tim again. I’m with Tim on this one.
°In the background I’m noticing Michael’s dress, and I love the fabric he’s chosen!
°They really are ratcheting up the tension on this season. At times it’s more palatable than in any of the seasons’s I’ve watched before.
°Gretchen is helping Casanova. Why does this annoy me so much? “Hips buddies” makes me laugh, though.
°Peach is really struggling. I like Peach a lot, but I’m really not clear what’s going to happen with her. It’s early to say, and I think there’s some kind of breakthrough coming, but what will it be? I love that she’s mad good & fast at sewing. But even she is unhappy with what she’s made this week.
°OK, so Mondo also gets some help from Valerie, so maybe I have to ease up on Casanova. Mondo wasn’t asking about his garment, though, only accessories.
°The photo shoot does show the dresses in a different light.
°Jason’s dress is a complete disaster. Safety pins. Swear to God! And he wants the judges to go easy on him. Bye, bye, Jason. Please!
°On the runway, Jason’s dress looks even worse, and he totally doesn’t even realize it.
°Michael D.’s dress is too short! Sad!
°Casanova’s dress is OK.
°Not sure how I feel about Kristen’s outfit. All the hems are so weird. I just can’t sort it out for myself.
°Mondo’s outfit is pretty awesome.
°Casanova survives for another week.
°Michael Kors says you could wear a tank top under Gretchen’s thing. I’m picturing that, and it’s totally blowing my mind! Nothing I would have thought of. That’s something simple. I have lots to learn…

Coco Chanel

The more I look at the work of Coco Chanel, the more awestruck I become. I have posted about Paul Poiret here. I love the pictures of his work that I've seen. Coco Chanel is the designer who rendered him, and every designer that came before, obsolete. And, though she revolutionized fashion in the post World War One era, and there are many designers who have come along and also revolutionized fashion, no one has rendered Chanel obsolete.



I'm reading up on fashion history right now, and Chanel's work stands out. Her designs freed women, literally. The fashion and the rules regarding dress at the time, especially women of means, were restrictive and regimented, including a requirement to wear corsets for much of each day. Chanel's designs must have been in direct response to this. She drew long, slightly curved and sinuous lines, where prior to her, and for many decades previously, clothes were designed around an exaggerated s-curve that was idealized and not a naturally occurring female shape.

Towards the end of the video included here, there are modern runway and red carpet shots of her clothes. They seem very modern to me, and also very classic. Her color palette, at least for the designs shown here, seems very subdued, but I love all these clothes. I'll try, at some point, to do a better job of talking about why her fashion and her approach move me so much.

Project Runway Season 8, Ep 1

I have resolved to take some time with each episode this season and make some comments.

°The first line that comes across to me as something I resonate with is when Kristin Simms says "Embrace the crooked zipper!" I hope that's the spirit of this season.
°Peach is interesting. She seems to be the queen of the absurd one-liners. I'm expecting her to keep me entertained.
°I think the whole "You're not on the show yet" thing is disingenuous, because, um, yes they are. They just don't have a bed at Atlas yet. I do kind of get it though, it ratchets up the tension right from the start.
°Casanova was told the item would be incorporated into a design. He wasn't the only one who didn't hear that, though.
°I do like the more detailed sessions with Tim.
°Right from the time of Tim's kibbutz with Casanova, I feel like he's in trouble.
°When Tim looks away from Jason's backwards kimono, his expression is priceless.
°I'm liking Mondo's design, and Peach's is pleasing me, too. I don't know what it is with me and prints, but I am almost always drawn to them.
°Two of the weakest designers have brought up the idea of the mohawk: McKell & Jason. It's an idea, obviously, that is not going to catch on. I'm relieved.
°I actually like McKell's dress.
°Gretchen's LBD is pretty darn OK!
°Michael Drummond's dress really works for me. I think I'm going to like him in general. He is definitely not afraid of color!
°Casanova is a train wreck. How many times can I say it?
°Jason's just as bad.
°Gretchen is the winner, but I thought other designs were as good.
°I'm not liking Ivy arguing with the judges. Ivy is a little grating in general.
°McKell's accessorizing is an interesting mistake. The bag she pairs with the dress matches better with her outfit than with the model's.
°Another interesting connection I'm making is Peach's pants which she handed over to be redesigned and the fabric she used in her dress. Very similar, and something to watch for in future. The judges liked Peach's dress, but didn't like the pants.
°I am kind of sorry to see McKell go.

Paul Poiret

Another touchstone designer; his was the big name in fashion before Coco Chanel. He was the king of the industry in the years before WWI, and never got his mojo back after the war, in fact died in poverty in 1940. I love these designs, though! I love all the bright, dramatic colors, the embroidery, and the asymmetrical necklines, which I'm sure were really out there for the time. I had wanted to see lampshade dresses, which I've heard about but couldn't imagine, and the last few garments shown are, indeed, lampshade dresses. They are really cool and unique. So many of these designs have would have been thought of at the time as having an "oriental" flair.



Sorry for this being in French. I don't speak it either.

Avsh Alom Gur's Spring / Summer '09 designs (London)

I thought it would be cool to juxtapose this against the New Look video down a few posts from here. Avsh Alom Gur is another designer I've learned about from the Linda Grant book I'm reading. She talked about him in her chapter on sexiness. Warning -- a couple of these looks may be mildly NSFW.



I'm kind of getting the chair thing -- it serves as both a pure design element and a reflection of an attitude about clothes in general. I love the stripeyness and the contrasting ogee element. Some fun looks, and now I'm going to be looking everywhere to see if I see those chairs...

Dior New Look

This is new territory for me. I've been watching Project Runway for the last few seasons, and really enjoying it. I know, really, nothing about fashion. I'm currently reading two books -- Fashion for Dummies by Jill Martin, which is, from my naive but not insensible point of view, good basic advice on how to dress, and The Thoughtful Dresser by Linda Grant, which is reflections on the meaning of clothes and fashion, and which I am finding really insightful (to be fair, most writing on fashion is going to seem insightful to me). Linda Grant is a British novelist a few years older than me, but close enough in age that I can catch a lot of her cultural references and know exactly what she's talking about. I'm just starting the second chapter, and having read a reference to Dior's 1947 "New Look", I went to see what was available at youtube that might show me some of the couture that revolutionized fashion in the postwar era.

One of the things that is really striking to me is the seemingly impossible waists -- some of those models must be corseted to within and inch of their lives! But they are beautiful dresses, I love the third one, the white(?), textured, sparkly fabric, the wide flowing skirt. It seems like such a happy garment, meant for celebration. I also like the dramatic suit you see fifth. and, actually, pretty much all of what this vid shows. These designs were shown first when my mother was, by my estimation, a freshman in High School, and I know that she loved these sorts of looks.

I can't discuss them intelligently, sorry, but I do find them to be beautiful.

CONTINUED: A couple of things should be mentioned: First, I miscounted the garments in the video, and I find, especially considering what I'm also going to add here, that this makes things confusing. The second look that I really wanted to mention because I thought it was beautiful and dramatic was the sixth one, not the fifth. The fifth look (the checked suit) was the outfit I saw that most looked to me like it made use of a rather severe corset. My girlfriend tells me that there were no corsets used in the New Look, so I'm not sure how they achieved that very restricted wasp waist.