Project Runway Australia 3.2: Put the Needle on It

This post is unforgivably tardy but in my defence, the episode in question was unforgivably snoozy. The designers were charged with the task of creating a dress for this woman's fashion line.

Ok, why not.

What we saw of Project D, the label run by Dannii Minogue and Tabitha Somerset Webb, was a collection of aggressively inoffensive evening gowns, which would no doubt appeal to a lot of women everywhere. The designers kinda had their work cut out for them but happily (for asshole viewers like myself) there were a few crash and burns.

Case in point:

Timothy's ensemble was a strange and heinous mix of bad late 80s/ early 90s glamour (the hair and the gold cuffs and the ruff? Pull back dude, pull back). And that red belongs in hell.

Nerrida's dress on the other hand was safe, sweet and a little dull:

But I can't get over the awesomeness of the hairstyling. It's a look that I associate with the 1940s for no particular reason - though maybe it's a bit Edwardian too? Luscious.

[Edit] Validation?:

Anna, my favourite contestant so far, didn't disappoint. Or at least she didn't disappoint me - no one else, including Anna herself, seems to rate the designer's work too highly.

There's something a little off (perhaps the tight skirt should have been connected to to the overlay), but I adore the sheer volume created by the tulle.

It was Craig who won the week's challenge with his stunning jersey (!) gown with lace back-insert:

The 1930s are my one of my favourite eras fashion-wise, so I have a soft spot for designs that focus on the back as an erogenous zone. Craig's dress is designed so beautifully and sits so well that it seems unbelievable that it was made in 8 hours.

I was quite worried that Dylan's very beige (in essence, not colour) grecian dress would be the judges' pick:

But the judges chose well.

Rest easy Dannii and friends, your decision is approved by me, a random blogger.

trompe l'oeil, trompe le monde

Murder, Kali Arulpragasam's latest collection for her label Superfertile, is not the UK jewelery designer's best work. The concept is pretty neat, however, spiky gem-covered discs intended to resemble gunshot wounds and gouged skin:

The idea works best in the images above, with the pieces heavily layered. When styled more sparingly, however, the jewelery does not recognisably connect with the mutilation concept:

Personally I think she should have stuck with shades of dark red, as the pinks and oranges look a little fruity.

Arulpragasam is not the first designer to inject a little gore into her wares - check out Elsa Schiaparelli's 1938 Tears Dress:

The print was designed by Salvador Dali. Yum.

through the hourglass

No way. No flipping way. Guess what this stuff is -

Sand, magnified sand! Magnified 250 times, to be exact, courtesy of, 'artist, inventor, and scientist' Dr Gary Greenberg . Now someone put this shit on a T-shirt.

of nostalgia and peak

Do companies ever do reissues of specific styles? Here is Nine West's Tenant bootie:

I bought a pair of these babies about three years ago, and I've pretty much loved them to death. They're among the most comfortable and well-proportioned heels I've ever owned, and if I could go back in time I would have bought three pairs. Woe is me.

Project Runway Australia 3.1: Hue are you?

First, a note to Arena. As someone who watched the first episode of this series illegally online (and has no inclination to do any differently for the remainder of the season), I am not really in a position to be making demands. Nevertheless it would be very nice if you could include pictures of all the final garments on your website - perhaps instead of the many, many photos you've chosen to display of this season's token kooky contestant, Rachael. [EDIT: Got em off facey. I'm practically Sanda Bullock in The Net]

Anyway, how about dem designers?

The first challenge involved each contestant being allocated a different coloured fabric with which to work. I like the conceit but some designers lucked out so badly it seemed silly. I mean, there are at least twelve nice colours in the world, right?

It seemed for a while as if Timothy 'I haven't sewn in 25 years' Godbold was going to be the guy to beat, but his dress turned out... kinda tacky?

One particularly misguided feature of the dress really threw me off:

Why is there a bow on her butthole?

And while I can see why Johnny won with his heliotrope creation, the dress did bring to mind the deliciously awful phrase popularised by Nina Garcia (of US Project Runway), 'questionable taste levels'.

I felt that an uncharacteristically not-annoying Alex Perry was right in suggesting that Johnny hold back on the arm detail, though it seems the young designer chose to ignore this sage advice.

My favourite design came from the rather unassuming Anna.

It is very reminiscent of two dresses by Abigail Lorick (Eleanor Waldorf's ghost designer) worn in the first season of Gossip Girl:

And while the tailoring of Lorrick's creations is very appealing, I like that Anna's belt is wider and attached to the garment itself. Further, while partially-concealed belts have been doing the rounds for a while now, I don't recall having seen one placed on the back before. Very chic.

Charlotte Blau

In February of 2010 I came across this photo in the State Library of Victoria picture archives:

Little information was supplied save for the subject's name and occupation - she is Charlotte Blau, an Australian fashion designer. There was much about the image I found interesting (not least the gown Blau is shown working on) and my inability to find further information on Blau was a puzzling disappointment.

Imagine my delight then, when yesterday I received an email from Blau's grandson, who has been kind enough to share some additional information about his grandmother.

Before World War Two Blau studied architecture at the famed Bauhaus school in Germany. From the 1950s to the end of the 60s Blau created garments for her label, Charlotte Fifth Avenue Gowns. Apparently she was the first Australian designer to display in all windows at Saks in New York (neat!). Winning the Wool industry gown of the year award five times, Blau's work was photographed by Helmut Newton, Athol Smith, Bruno Bernini.

Blau's life seems so fascinating, I can't wait to learn more!

edit: It seems like some of the photos in the Powerhouse Museum collection might feature Blau's work, but I'll be darned if I can figure out their captioning system:

the blue hour

I am quite fascinated by the outfit Kate Moss wore on the day before her wedding:

I have had no great love for the work Moss has produced during her stints as a designer, but I must admit she remains one of the most brilliantly intuitive dressers around. I'd love to know the make of the boots - the flat bow first made me think Louis Vuitton, but since having a second look at Stella McCartney's (splendid) Resort 2012, I wonder if they are her creations:

In a strong Resort season, McCartney's collection was one of the best and the squat, lucite-heeled shoes are out of this world. Let's go mid-heels, it's time for a come back.

Now

Horrible confession: I watch Mel Gibson's Apocalypto at least twice a year . Strangest guilty pleasure ever. I know it's an abominably silly movie, but there's something about the faces that I find very appealing. The urban Mayan civilisation scenes also include some crazy good colours and costumes:

past times

The National Library of Australia photo archives are such a neat little source for historical faaaarshion inspiration. And it's educational too- I didn't think 1930s gowns were ever terribly voluminous before seeing this photo:

Portrait of Madge Elliot, September 16 1935

There are quite a few rather poignant portraits of Aboriginal women from various parts of Australia, and I've noticed that for some reason they are often dressed in fairly funky repeat-printed garments:

Yuendumu, Northern Territory, 1958

Methodist Mission Station in Welpa, Queensland, 1957

Portrait of Nancy, Central Australia, 1946

Methodist Mission Station in Welpa, Queensland, 1957

I find the clothes quite appealing thought I suspect these weren't fashionable garments - perhaps missions gave them out?

p.s. How much does the woman in the last photo look like Grace Zabriskie?

toasty

My dad recently leant me his credit card so that I could buy a replacement for our old, kaput toaster. However after ascertaining that this toaster does not exist -

- I kinda lost interest in the set task. The episode has served to reinforce the fact that I should never, never never be given a credit card, though I like to think of myself as living in the tradition of Jack (of Beanstalk fame).

Behold my magic beans:

These matches are disappointing me!

Everyone shut up. Now, can we figure out how I can get my hands on these Alexander McQueen shoes:

The white is so beautiful and austere.

milk-fed

I recently became the proud owner of this sweet-as-pie swimsuit, The Dollar by local label Black Milk:

I actually hadn't heard of the label, designed by James Lillis, until Tavi of Style Rookie posted a picture of herself wearing Black Milk's sacrelicious Cathedral leggings:

Pretty dope, eh?

One of the things I find most interesting about the label is Lillis' accompanying blog, the surprisingly frank Too Many Tights. Remember in The Simpsons how Mr Burns finishes singing "See My Vest" by saying, 'I really like the vest!'? Well Lillis really likes the tights.

It's pretty incredible to be able to track the progression of the label, especially given that Lillis seems to have been largely self-taught as a designer and sewer (sorry, I can't for the life of me think of a synonym for that word). As someone who lives in fear of working with stretch fabrics, I was filled with jealous admiration while reading over Lillis' development as a designer and, I gather, the sole constructor of his garments during the early days.

If someone decides to write a history of this label, they'll have their work cut out for them. If the blog is true to real-time, then it seems that Lillis spent late-2008 and early-2009 creating the kind of metallic, often patterned leggings that are probably most readily associated with American Apparel. In fact Lillis makes reference to AA in one rather nice post in which he discusses the question of garment-pricing:

"And then you've got companies like American Apparel keeping guys like me honest. You know they're going to be doing stuff at a good price, and if independents like myself want to ask for more, we better have a damn good reason. You can't trade off your name - because no one's heard of you!"

Around about April 2009 Lillis' wares made great leaps in construction complexity, with the release of his Spiderman and Cage leggings:

And throughout the blog Lillis discusses in detail his approach to design and how he deals with the problems he encounters when trialing new fabrics and designs.

TMT posts range from being endearingly geeky to uncommonly (for the fashion world) canny. Take for example his October 2009 post, 'Let's All Be Racist!'

"Funny thing about talking about clothing manufacturing - a lot of people kinda go all racist on me.

Me: Yeah, got a lot happening at the moment. There has been a lot of interest in the Black Milk gear and I'm struggling to keep up with demand.

Person: Oh, I know what you should do - just hire and Asian for $2 an hour. Me: ... um... that's kind of racist, don't you think?

Person: No, not at all, those Asians, they'll work 16 hours for a bowl of rice.

I have had variants upon that conversation more times than I care to remember. "

After releasing The Dollar swimsuit in October of 2010 he blogged

'Now, I know what you are thinking: "Dollar leggings - you copycat! We all know Jeremy Scott did that like 2 years ago!!!" I know. However, (and don't tell Jeremy this) I think I can do them a little cooler.'

And I bet he could.

In June 2009 Lillis used a Star Wars metaphor to explain why he would no longer be personally sewing all the items he sold. While I do not doubt Lillis' dedication to creating well-made garments, I wonder if the shift to outsourcing labour has impacted on their quality output - I couldn't help but notice that the shoulder straps on my swimmers vary slightly in width.

But let's not end on a crud note. LOOK AT THESE RIGHTEOUS SWIMMERS.

buggy?

This editorial by Benjamin Kanarek from Brazillian Vogue's June 2o10 issue is keeping me warm at the moment.

It reminds me a lot of a dumb computer game that came free with my first laptop. It was about a bug who had to run away from other bugs. I think it was called bugsy or buggo, or something. Anyway, the grass and sky looked exactly the same.

The idea of not wearing colour during Winter is totally strange to me. Though I don't do too much non-virtual shopping anyway, stores filled with twenty shades of charcoal and one 'burnt orange' don't make me feel any more inclined to go into shopping centres.

The Ugly One.

I'm weirdly obsessed with this song and video:

I'm all about the lazy dancing.

I don't think Girls Aloud ever really made an impact in Australia, though for a while I thought 'Sound of the Underground' was the sickest thing I'd ever heard. Anyway, apparently Nicola Roberts was the ugly one of the group (so christened by Lily Allen, ooh hark at that!). I think she's the sickest thing I've ever seen.

All photos stolen from Red Carpet Fashion Awards.

made for talking

Current thing I want more than anything else in the whole wide world:

Metal-heeled cowboy boots a la Tybalt in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet. Remember the scraping noise they make as he stamps out the match flame? What a rockstar.

se7en

By Chris Hill, the seven deadly sins represented by Disney Princesses:

Neat, huh? I like the Art Nouveau fonts. And the concept. Also the execution.