Project Runway: Meet the Designers!

Judges: Tim Gunn -Heidi Klum - Michael Kors - Nina Garcia

 As we all know Project Runway Season 10 started last Thursday, July 19th 2012. For their 10th season they wanted to start with a bang so the 16 designers had to design and create two looks. The twist was that the runway show was in Times Square in front of thousands of people. Season 10 of PR consists of 16 designers, 8 women and 8 men. PR consists of three judges Heidi Klum, Michael Kors and Nina Garcia and Tim Gunn is their mentor. They also have specials guests and for the season 10 premiere actress Lauren Graham was their special guest. Lauren claims to be a huge PR fan and has watched all the seasons. Last years winner is Anja, who was also voted fan favorite on the Project Runway website.

Heidi Klum looked stunning in her green and see-through down the side Thomas Wylde dress with Charlotte Olympia heels

The Designers: Alicia - Dmitry - Nathan - Fabio - Buffi - Christopher - Kooan - Andrea - Melissa - Lantie - Beatrice - Ven - Sonjia - Gunnar - Elena

The designer were asked to create a look before they came. When they arrived they had a day to create a second look (a companion look). The bottom three consisted of: Kooan, Lantie and Beatrice. The top three consisted of: Christopher, Melissa and Ven. Christopher was also voted fan favorite on the Project Runway website

The Alright designers:

Fabio Costa

 Fabio is 29 and he is from Brooklyn, New York. His style is edgy and rebelious. I think his market is for celebs like Agyness Deyn and Ashlee Simpson.

I really loved Fabio's original look, even though it's all black everything it has design and I find it interesting. I would want to wear it! I also liked his styling. He didn't over do it, he kept it simple with a black bracelet and black ankle booties. I'm not very fond of his companion look. I don't like the shirt and the glasses don't belong with that outfit.

Sonjia Williams

Sonjia is 27 and she is from Boston, Massachusetts. Her style is more rebellious. Her design are possibly for celebs like Gwen Stefani.
I'm glad that Sonjia had a second chance to fix her look, because I don't like her original look. I like the leather jacket and I like the leopard pants but the yellow part of the pants looks like she's wearing a boxer under it and that. It doesn't belong there. I love her second look. I love that she mixed three kinds of fabric and somehow they go together. The black and white print has a touch of neon green in it and the leather vest made the look edgy instead of girly. I was also impressed by her styling and I think that the ankle booties were the right way to go.

Raul Osorio

Raul Osorio is 27 and he's from Minneapolis, Minnesota. His style is classic and romantic. His maket is defintely for celebs like Rachel Bilson.

I love both of Raul's looks equally. I even thought that he should've been in the top three instead of Melissa. I think his point of view is great and the clothes are well made especially the pantsuit. His styling is also good, I have no complains.

Nathan Paul

Nathan is 33 and he's from Manhatten, New York. His style is sublte sexy. I can really see celebs like Gwyneth Paltrow, Lea Michele and Diane Kruger wearing his clothes.
 I would like to see more versatility from Nathan because those fabrics are practically the same. You can truly see that he knows a woman's body really well. The snit and the V-neck accentuate her body so well. I also love his use of color.

Gunner Deathrage

Gunner is 22 and he's from Louisville, Kentucky. His style is more chic. I think Zoe Saldana would look wonderful in his clothing!

I love both of his looks equally! I think he styled the companion look better than the original look. I don't like the white cardigan or jacket from the original look, it doesn't really belong there. What I really liked is that these looks don't have a lot in common, but they can be in the same collection.

Dmitry Sholovhok

Dmitry is 33 and he's from New York City. He has a more glamorous style. I can totally see Katy Cassidy in these dresses especially the second one.

I see no flaws in his companion look, but I like his original more. In his original look I would change a couple of things for the red carpet like the pouf-y shoulders that aren't flattering in any way. I really like the glitter and glam part in combination with the lace. I also liked his companion look. It's not too simple, it's not too sexy even though she has a part of her belly, her legs and one shoulder open. I was impressed by both of his looks!

Buffy Jashanmal

Buffy is 32 and she's from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. I don't know what her style is, I see three different kind of people wearing these two outfits. For the second look I think of Ashlee Tisdale, Selena Gomez and Miranda Crosgrove.

I'm not very fond of either of the looks. They don't look expensive and well made. I didn't even think of good dressed celebs when I thought about what market she designs for. In the original look I see two people: barbie (the blouse) and a glam rock celeb (the liquid pants). The companion look isn't bad, but it has nothing special and nothing new compared to the rest of the designers.

Elena Slyvniak

Elena is 28 and she's from San Francisco, California. Her is is more futuristic. When I see her work I think of Kat Graham.

I love Elena's work. Both looks were well executed and you can immediately recognize her work. I'm not sure if more people will like her designs but you have to give her points for her style. I can't pick which look I like more, they're both eye catching. I'm really looking forward to seeing more of her.

Alicia Hardesty

Alicia is 27 and she's from Brandenburg, Kentucky. Her style is more vintage and boyish. I can really see Shanea Grimes wearing her clothes and rocking it.
 I like her original look more but the pants from the companion look is my favorite piece. The original look is styled better. With that said I think she needs to step up her game, because I think she has a lot of potential. I've seen her portfolio and it's not like anything I've ever seen.

Andrea Katz

Andrea is 58 and she's from Manhatten, New York.

I kind of liked both of her looks because I like the color combination black and white, it's classic and everlasting. However she has to be very clever to pull it off through the whole season. You can see what she wanted to create but I think that she didn't execute these looks very well especially the second look.

Bottom 3:

Lantie Foster

Lantie is 47 (yes she lied on live television) and she's from New York City. I don't know her style yet, it's hard to pick one with both of these dresses. I honestly don't see anyone wearing these clothes.

This is an example of one of the designers where I didn't like either of the dresses. Out of both of the looks the original look is better than the companion look, but it's still not good. The original look is way too busy. The fabric is busy and with the snakeskin it's way too loud! The companion look is indescribably awful. I didn't even like her styling.

Kooan Kosuke

Kooan is 30 and he's from Himeji, Japan.
Kooan seems a bit lost to me. The looks aren't synchronizing with each other, they aren't flattering on the models either. It all seems too clown-like.

Melissa Fleis

Melissa is 31 and she's from San Francisco, California. Her style is more athletic and she definitely goes for comfort.
 Neither of the looks are really eye catching, they look boring. For someone so young I expected more from her. Her original look is better than her companion look.
Mellisa went home last week. I think that they sent her home because her clothes aren't runway clothes and you can't be on Project RUNWAY if you're making clothes for people who sit on their couch eating comfort food.

And saving the best for last.....Top 3:

Beatrice Guapo

Beatrice is 28 and she's from Marina Del Rey, California. Beatrice' style is more rock inspired. Celebrities like Angelina Jolie, Kate Hudson and Kate Moss wear A LOT of black so I'm guessing that she designs for customers like them.

I liked both looks but the original look is better than the companion look. It's so simple yet beautiful and stylish and every woman wants to look like that. the leather jacket gives it an edgy look and I think it's stunning. Beatrice definitely knows how make a smashing black dress, but she should step out of her comfort zone at least three or four times this season just show versatility.

Ven Budhu

Ven is 28 and he's from Kew Gardens, New York. When I see Ven's looks I think: female empowerment. And a lot of celebrities like Leighton Meester, Blake Lively, Alexa Chung, Sharon Stone and Emma Stone are into suits.

Ven's clothes are really sophisticated and well made. I really liked the color combination and the pink flower is stunning in that outfit. His companion look wasn't better than his original look, but you could see that they could be in the same collection and that is good.

Christopher Palu

Chritopher is 24 and he's from Massapequa, New York.

Christopher is young and best of all: he designs young. Chris' future clients will be Keira Knightley and Rosie Huntington Whitely.

Chris is my favorite designer from season 10. He seems to have the brightest future out of all the designers. Someone who starts this strong must have more tricks up his sleeve. His original look is better than his companion look. It looks sexy, expensive and the detail work is amazing. I also liked his LBD and because it was so simple he styled it a bit more than his original look and that was a good idea.

If you want to know more about Project Runway Season 10 or about the designers visit this website:
PR Designers

I'm really exited for this PR season because I haven't seen this many designers who differ so much from designing abilities. It has the potential to be one of the best PR seasons. Overall it was a good season premiere but what really bothered me while watching the models on the runway is that 4 or more designers had their models wear the same shoes for both looks. When it's a collection with 8 or 12 looks and two models are wearing the same shoes, it's not a problem because it won't be so noticeable, but when you have two looks with the same shoes I'm wondering if you know anything about styling. Some designers even had the same color of both shoes. What I am also sad about is that even though we have a lot of different designers there is no Mondo in this season. It looked like no one is even thinking about mixing prints. Well we can't all be a print of Genius like Mondo. I'm hoping that Raul, Fabio and Christopher will be the last three and that Christopher wins. Tune in this Thursday the 26th of July 2012 and let us know which designers you think will win it all.

Much Love,

Model Monday: Model or Supermodel?

The word supermodel was first used in the 1960s and it was used for Twiggy. At that time Twiggy had several covers of Vogue magazine to her name. She was also featured in several editorials for several high-fashion magazines. Till this day she is known as the most talented and respected supermodel of her time. She has even inspired actresses like Keira Knightley and Carey Mulligan, who have done editorials in honor of Twiggy. Even her pixie haircut is so everlasting that this generation is copying it. Celebrities like Ashlee Simpson, Emma Watson, Carey Mulligan and Keira Knightley have cut Twiggy-like pixie's.

Twiggy

Twiggy

Carey Mulligan as Twiggy

Keira Knightley as Twiggy

A supermodel is more than just a modeling contract or a few photo shoots. It takes years and lots of hard work to actually get the supermodel name tag. Lately I feel like the world is misusing the word supermodel and I'm not the only one! Especially the media is throwing the word supermodel around like it means nothing anymore.
Coco Rocha recently tweeted:

 Apparently you just need one cover under your belt to call yourself one RT “@TheLSD: word 'supermodel' is being used very loosely these days.”

It happens a lot lately that when a model is in the business for a year, he/she gets called a supermodel. This is confusing, because now we don't have a word that separates the real supermodels from the "supermodels". Plus it's not fair to the real supermodels of the generation before us if we call all models with one important modeling contract supermodels.

Coco Rocha on the cover of Harper's Bazaar Russia

In theory you are allowed to call a model a supermodel when:

- he/she is well known internationally

- he/she does high-fashion

- he/she has an outstanding portfolio that features work with leading fashion designers

- he/she has multi-million dollar contracts with internationally based agencies

- he/she must have been on and in high-fashion magazines such as Vogue and Harper's Bazaar

- he/she must have walked the runway for multiple well-known designers

Coco Rocha for YSL

Coco Rocha for Balenciaga

Under these circumstances the real supermodels are: Naomi Campbell, Claudia Shiffer, Cindy Crawford, Kate Moss, Chanel Iman, Coco Rocha and Agyness Deyn.

Coco Rocha is the perfect example of an amazing and respected supermodel of this era. She has been on the cover of countless well known magazines. In 2007 she was on the cover of 8 Vogue magazines for Italy, Japan, Korea and the U.S. (2 for Italy, 2 for Japan, 3 for Korea and 1 for the U.S). She has been on the cover of American, Mexican, Korean, Italian, Japanese and Brazilian Vogue, Flare, Fashion, Numero, W, i-D and Harper's Bazaar. Coco has also been the face of Versace, Balenciaga, D&G, Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, Lanvin, Gap, Tommy Hilfiger, Yves Saint Laurent, Calvin Klein, Zac Posen, Diesel and many more. To put the cherry on top: Vogue Paris has declared her one of the Top 30 models of 2000s. If this doesn't scream supermodel what does?

From left to right: Coco Rocha on the runway for: Badgley Mischka - Oscar de la Renta - Zac Posen - Dior

Apart from her impressive portfolio and editorials Coco is also famous for her charity work (along with James) and on social networks such as Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, Pose and Google+. She has over one million Google+ followers and that makes her the first high fashion model to reach that goal! Even her personal life is going pretty awesome. Coco is happily married to James Conran. 

Coco Rocha and James Conran on their wedding day

Yes it's difficult to be a model and it's even more difficult to become a supermodel. Once you're there the designers and contracts will keep knocking on your door and all at once. Even Coco, who has been in the business since she was 15, had to face a couple of bumps along the way. She was told many times that she was too fat (she's a size 6!). She refused to lose weight and even though she lost a couple of runway opportunities, she stayed true to herself. In an interview she said that she refused to lose weight, because she already felt too skinny, so losing weight would make her a size zero and that's not her goal.

It is truly impressive to read that a model can have such a big impact on the fashion world:

- Coco Rocha was given Marie Claire's Prix d’Excellence as their model of the year in Paris, France

- Coco was awarded the Seventeen Body Peace award by Seventeen magazine. Rocha contributed a number of articles to Seventeen magazine on the topic of girls body image and self esteem.

- Coco was awarded the Elle Style award for 'Model of the Year' by Boy George in London, England.

Coco Rocha in Seventeen magazine for Body Peace

I'm guessing that even non-models want to be her or at least in her presence. People love her and not the hate-to-love kind, which is really important. What makes Coco even more special to me is that I keep thinking: "models have done Twiggy, Michael Jackson (Agyness Deyn for Harper's Bazaar), James Dean (Agyness Deyn) and even Edie Sedgewick (Sienna Miller in Factory Girl), but who's going to do Coco?". I can't even imagine anyone looking so radiant, beautiful and eccentric all the time! She's even got the personality and charm people can't ignore. Celebrities, designers and fellow models keep raving about how nice and humble Coco is. I think this upgrades her to Top Supermodel?

Coco Rocha in Vogue U.S.

Coco Rocha in Vogue U.S.

Coco Rocha for Nordstrom

Coco Rocha for H&M

Coco Rocha for Chanel

Coco Rocha for Balenciaga

Coco Rocha for Balenciaga

Coco Rocha for Balenciaga

Coco Rocha in Vogue U.S. 2008

Coco Rocha in Vogue 2007

 Aside from the supermodels who have earned their title, some models who are famous cannot be seen as supermodels for an amount of reasons. One of those models is Gisele Bundchen. When you think of Gisele Bundchen, you immediately think of: Victoria Secret. Which is a problem. The problem is that a model can't be known for one gig or one memorable moment, they need to be versatile at all times. Another reason why this Brazilian model can't really be seen as a supermodel is because any guy would want to have her editorial on their wall. She comes off a bit too sexy a little too much. A magazine even called her the Brazilian Sex-bomb, which is impressive but it's not a supermodel earning name tag. Yes Gisele was the highest paid model in 2004, but according to the facts she doesn't suit the supermodel name tag.

Some may argue that Gisele is a swimwear and lingerie model, but I find that a supermodel should be able to do anything and she should have done her "anything" already. To compare Coco and Gisele, I thought: "I have never seen or I can't remember Coco ever in a bikini" and I wasn't the only one. Of course I was proven wrong, I barely found a couple of pics of Coco on the runway and in an editorial. The thing is even if Coco barely has clothes on she doesn't look particularly sexy, she looks "supermodel wearing a bikini for a runway show" sexy, while Gisele always looks sex-bomb sexy. Some may find that Coco isn't the "typical" bikini/lingerie model, because her skin is so pale and when you think of beachwear you think tan. It is questionable if lingerie is really in the category of high fashion. High fashion means Haute Couture (French) and Haute Couture literally  means high dressmaking (Haute: elegant, feminine, high). So if we're going by definition no lingerie and swimwear model is truly a supermodel!

It is also questionable if Adriana Lima and Miranda Kerr are supermodels. Adriana and Miranda are also famous for VS.  Miranda Kerr is the new VS girl to watch, she wore the million dollar bra last year for the VS runway show. Miranda has not had enough experience to be on the supermodel list. Although she is set to have a bright (modeling) future she's not there yet.

Gisele Bundchen

Coco Rocha on the runway in silver bikini with silver jacket

The thing that makes a good model a great supermodel is a combination of talent, luck, hard work and perseverance. The right place at the right time should be the motto of a model who wants to be a supermodel. You need to stand out. You either have to do or have something that sets you apart from others. I will agree that nowadays it is tougher to become a supermodel, because the amount of models is increasing more and more everyday. That makes it even more interesting to become a model because you have to be so different that every magazine and designer wants you to make their product look even better! Back in the day (yes I said it and no I wasn't born then) supermodels were up to anything. They had to have the whole package: they had to be athletic, they had to be good at beauty shots as well as full-body shots, they had to be nerds, they had to be sexy, they had to have a million dollar smile and they had to be fierce at all times. If a designer asked to pose with exotic animals, they had to deliver! The best part about it: they didn't have to be so skinny, they had to be lean and glowing. 20 years ago a plus size model was between the sizes 12 -18, now a plus size model is between the sizes 6 - 14. The average woman is a size 14. That means that a lot of models from back in the day would have been considered as plus size models at the moment.
Their size had nothing to do with their performance, in fact they were better then than now, because they had more guts then.

'80s model

'80s editorial

'90s British editorial

Looking at old editorials and fashion magazines, I see big hair and I-know-what-I'm-doing-models. Very few "new" models have that at the moment. Maybe that's because there are so many types of models these days. They have categories and selected models for different ads and editorials. Years ago you were known as model, now you're known as a swimwear model. If you only do swimwear, it never really shows if you're only good at swimwear or if you can do anything. So who's to blame for the lack of supermodels these days? Society! Society started to make different categories of models, because they needed more models. More designers, more magazines, more people on the planet, more interest in Fashion! People asked so they delivered.

Jourdan Dunn and Cara Delevingne

Cara Delevingne for Chanel

Cara Delevingne in Vogue

Jourdan Dunn in Elle

Jourdan Dunn and Chanel Iman in Teen Vogue

The models to watch are Burberry's golden girls Cara Delevingne and Jourdan Dunn. Both have had an impressive year. They were both featured in Burberry Prorsum's Runway shows, Burberry Beauty ad and multiple ad campaigns. My favorite supermodel is Coco Rocha. She has an amazing and outstanding face and I have seen her do almost everything! She's so versatile yet I always recognize that not-so-common face. I also like Agyness Deyn, Cara Delevingne and Chanel Iman.
 

Coco Rocha Portfolio

Who are your favorite models and supermodels?

Leave a message and let me know what you think.

Much Love,