Beden
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Posts posted by Beden
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What amused me the most was how relatively few of those various contestants made enough impression on me that I actually remembered them.
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I don't mean to be intrusive, but would you be comfortable saying who your grandmother was?
Without trying to be obtuse or in any way rude, in all honesty I prefer not revealing too much personal info on line. 'Not to offend anyone here but I've had problems with idiot stalkers who disagreed with things I wrote as well as others who wanted to become my bestest friend and come over for tea (no kidding) and also have had identity probs.
She was a high end lingerie designer who worked in the garment district in NYC, specialized in the good stuff--top of the line silks, imported laces and all of that. My father told me stories about how, when he was a schoolboy in NYC, she would go to the usual parent/teacher conferences, size up the teacher and then, come the holidays or end of the year, pull something from the line as a teachers gift. His poor 9 or 10 year old self would stand by teacher's desk, wanting to fall through the floor as the teacher exclaimed over the silk slip or nightgown in front of the class.
My other favorite story was told to my by my great aunt--close friends with my granny. One day they were hanging out, chatting, catching up on the gossip. As they talked Granny was studying a piece of fabric spread out on the living room floor which her husband had brought back from a business trip to the Far East...looking at the pattern, grain and such. Finally she got down on her knees and started cutting with no pattern. The aunt shrieked "____ What are you doing????" "Don't worry, it'll be fine." A month or so later they met up for dinner or a show in the city. Granny work the dress she'd cut during their gossip. Not only fabulous, but it fit her perfectly. Yeah--she was that good. She was also the reason the family stayed solvent during the Depression--she got her butt to work every day and kept producing for the clients who could still afford her stuff. Sadly for me, she died about a decade before I was born and I never actually met her, though have the proof of her career in bulk (and a few fabric remnants). I've been told, over the years, that 'Oh, you inherited ___'s talent!' No, I sure as hell didn't and wish I had. 'Maybe a very tiny percentage, but that's it. Would that it were true.
And apologies for going off topic...but I question how many of PR's contestants could have handled the stuff she did and made a success. Not to make her sound like a female Horatio Alger, but she (and her 3 sibs) were dumped/abandoned into an orphanage when their widowed father remarried to a woman who wasn't into kids. All 4 made a success out of their lives--a lawyer, a theatrical agent, granny and a sister with a very good marriage. Widowed herself with two young kids, she remarried, kept her design career and had a good life. Like I said above, all of them were tough as nails but still, somehow, remained nice people.
Yes, I know that some of PR's contestants have had tough lives--Kortu (sp?), and others but...yikes.
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I hope it's not another challenge where they have to use car parts...and I like the creativity of the unconventional challenges as well. The floral, grocery store, candy ones--lots of fun. Car parts, not so much.
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But I don't think the fans will really accept a minor position in a fashion house as a success (maybe unless you're Dmitry and they love everything you do). People expect your name to be on a brand with fancy ads in the front pages of Vogue as soon as the show is over and the winner declared
The fans may not but the designers would, unless their egos are ridiculously outta control. A year or two spent in Cavalli's workroom, doing assistant work for St. Laurent or some such would be a major plus for anyone who understood the value and I suspect that many fans would get it.
Galliano, a very talented designer, no question, shot himself in the foot a year or two ago when he made widely repeated and widely reported anti-Semitic comments. He may well make a come-back but he left a bad taste in many mouths when he did that. I believe he apologized but many found it too little, too late.
My own grandmother was a well known designer in NYC about a century ago and into the 1940's. I can sew--she could conceive and make anything, using any fabric. She was a true expert and professional at patterning, cutting, building a garment. She was also a businesswoman of the highest order, kept a close eye on that side of things and only stopped with her death. Tough as nails but respected and somehow managed to treat people well. She had the foundation and balls to make a success and sustain it through the great depression.
With apologies to my old granny, I wanted to add that she was also a damn good designer which she could tie her technical and business abilities on. She understood her clients and came (literally) out of an orphanage to head a company still in existence , though without her guidance and without her taste level, nor do they still target the high end clientele. Sorry, Grandma..
This is exactly why, by the way, I myself gave up on fashion school and am just a lowly garment worker. Project Runway didn't exist yet when I started out but I had a similar conception of designer-as-fine-artist who does everything herself and works with her hands and answers to her own muse. What I found instead (I was naive) was a world of money money money and people who vaguely suggest buzzwords to an army of assistant designers
But you've stayed in something you obviously still get pleasure in; a good thing and credit to you. Sadly, the designer as fine artist is an incompatible concept on a large scale, or so it seems to me. To do that you pretty much have to be the one man band, doing everything (or almost everything) yourself. With success , with a business which grows, some control or hands on work has to be delegated. The bigger the business, the harder it is to do it all.
And just BTW, a friend is an auto designer for GM. No, he doesn't build the cars but he does know how and spends spare time rebuilding his own car. He knows carburetors and all that stuff--it's not just a concept. He understands the nuts and bolts inside and out. There are some who have that passion if you look for them.
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I know higher end sponsors have dropped out, but that's due to the quality of the show waning, I'm sure. If they had better design talent and longer time for challenges, we might see some measure of return to glory.
The high end sponsors will be back if and when the ratings go up. The more viewers, the more people see the ads and the sponsors products.
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I think more 2-3 day challenges will bring a more talented pool of designers. If I were a talented, young (or older) designer looking to make a name for myself I would probably run from PR at this point. PR should be a showcase for super talented fashion designers.
Well, yes. But I still suspect that one reason for the one-day's could well be a cost saving device on the part of the producers. Less time for the challenges means fewer days renting the living spaces, fewer meals, fewer days to pay the crew and rent whatever production space they use. Just MO, as they say but I'd say it's a real possibility.
I think the amount of money that is necessary to get up to the level where the average person considers you "a success" in fashion is absolutely humongous. Big houses that sell in department stores and things are owned by vast multinational conglomerates and it is just not very realistic to imagine a designer getting to that level in the time since Project Runway has been on.
Very true but still, the big designers, the Laurens, the Kors and so on started somewhere, started as assistants (Vera Wang was an accessories designer for Lauren, as memory serves, before she struck out on her own). Perhaps a good prize, instead of a car or a roomful of sewing machines or whatever would be an assistantship with some successful professional for , say, two years. Work with Von Furstenburg, Lauren, at Dior or someplace. Get to really understand the various facets of the industry from the inside, get your name out there, maybe get some great recommendations. If you can make that work that would be a valuable prize.
As for designers not having to know how to sew. Okay, granted, some couldn't put in a zipper if their lives depended on it, depend on assistants, describe what they want instead of draping or sketching. It does happen, of course. But (you knew that was coming...) it's of obvious advantage to fully understand construction to be fully aware of what both is and isn't possible to do with different fabrics and techniques. To not have that knowledge is to have to rely on other people and then you've put yourself in the possible position of having your ideas compromised or changed or simply fail. My own grandmother was a well known designer in NYC about a century ago and into the 1940's. I can sew--she could conceive and make anything, using any fabric. She was a true expert and professional at patterning, cutting, building a garment. She was also a businesswoman of the highest order, kept a close eye on that side of things and only stopped with her death. Tough as nails but respected and somehow managed to treat people well. She had the foundation and balls to make a success and sustain it through the great depression.
Okay, that was a lot of years ago but it can be done. It isn't easy, but it can be done. There are plenty of talented people. Talent isn't that hard to find--big talent combined with the wherewithal to make a success, make and maintain a reputation, be able to sell yourself and your product and still keep an eye on the bottom line--that's the hard part.
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My sister in law is 6'4", as is her sister. My nephews are both 6'5" and, yes, they all have trouble finding clothing, just as we shorties do. Obviously, we're all at the extremes of the size ranges--though I have a bunch of friends who are close to my size and tall folks are hardly freaks in the low to mid six foot area. Equally obviously more clothes are sold in the average sizes, hence the designation 'average'.
I get that it's a cost factor thing. More sales= more $. Got it. But the fact that Kors, Lauren and a number of other designers seem to make $ from short people and even Land's End has extra long garments on the internet and, for all I know, in Sears, speaks volumes.
That the designers in PR all opted for average to tall slender women tells me that they either aren't comfortable with anything else or they were playing to the runway and the judges. I question if they're capable of adjusting both their ideas and their designs to be wearable by actual average women, the ones who are maybe 5'4" and 150 pounds. If they can't, who will they be selling their stuff to and what store buyers will purchase them? None of these contestants are well known or seem to have much of a track record, certainly not enough to be hired by any high end companies if they're this limited in ability or vision.
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over on Project Runway, even talented finalists are treated as mere novelties by the fashion industry.
This is something Ive wondered about. With the exception of Christian none of the contestants, let along the other winners seem to have made much of a splash. Austin Scarlett landed a gig designing bridal for Poole for a while but that's really all I can come up with. Santino said his line in LA is doing all right but nothing else comes to mind.
My question is why? Certainly they had talented designers go through the program among the dreck and drama and, yes, I know that the competition to launch a line and have it succeed is huge but still...
Thoughts?
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It's proudly sponsored by AARP now.
Which suggests that the audience is now an older group. Otherwise AARP wouldn't waste their ad budget here.
I'd also suggest that the judges be tossed and replaced. I actually like Posen and like that he checks the technique, isn't always all that nice--being able to take criticism is part of any creative career. Lose Nina--she's bored and it shows. She's helping to set a tone of 'been there, done that, seen it all before'. Not good. Obviously Heidi will always be there as she's one of the main producers and so calls the shots but she's also getting bored and has her attention diverted by too many other ventures--her kids, her jewelry line, her modeling and whatever else. The later crop of guest judges--what rocks did they crawl out from under? No-name, third rung actresses who know squat about fashion. Bring in some more real designers if they can--Cavalli, Lauren, Von Furstenburg was fabulous. Bring in some of the manufacturers who will be blunt about what will or won't sell.
Have people there who know what the hell they're talking about, not random nobodies.
Yes--more time, and maybe more money for challenges would help up the designs.
Bring in designers who have actual talent (talent isn't that hard to find--superior talent, exceptional talent is rare), not just drama. The drama is bull--this isn't Housewives of the Garment District.
This is a design competition--let them design.
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I'm 5'3", size 8. Michael Kors is one of a few designers that makes grown up petites. Most clothes in petites have flowers, butterflies, and sailboats. Just cause I'm short doesn't mean I want to dress like a child.
FineWashables likes this
A number of years ago I was looking for clothes in a store I've since forgotten. As I mentioned above, I'm short, 5'. Now sometimes I can wear stuff sized for a taller person, plus I sew and am capable of tailoring or simply shortening things as needed. The salesclerk and I were chatting and she--jokingly--suggested that I look at the Geraninals collection over in the kids department. Yes, she was kidding but that was a common reaction before manufacturers realized that there's serious money to be made by tailoring their lines to various segments of the buying public other than so called standard sizes.
The garment trade is a money based industry and the reality is that people who may not be a perfect size 8 (no offense in the least meant to Rhetorica) also like to look and feel good about themselves and the clothes they wear.
As my old grand-daddy used to say; 'No one is doing you a favor by taking your money'. He was right.
The designer--Sean, Alexander-whomever--who declined a model for her size is no different than the other designers who also all (without exception , I believe) all chose attractive, young women who were slim and at least average height. Maybe they were using the women available, maybe they were playing to the judges, maybe they're all simply too limited to stretch. Whichever, I'd have been more impressed with at least one older woman, maybe a shortie, maybe a solid size 16 in the mix.
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I know someone commented a few pages back (sorry, couldn't find the quote) but am I the only one who heard one of the designers turning down a volunteer because she was too short? I speak as someone who peaked at five feet nothing. Too hard to deal with the proportions? Not tall and willowy enough for you? You have a problem with short? The average height of the women in the US is, I believe, 5'4". Just like the average size is 14.
Designers who can't design for anyone less that model perfect don't impress me. Sure, tall and leggy looks great on the runway--you really think the average woman can wear that shit? I don't care what you ended up showing, as far as I'm concerned you're a fail. It's like back in the days before manufacturers wouldn't make anything decent for plus sized women because it wasn't chic. Then it was discovered that large women could also spend money and appreciate silk and cashmere and good design. I actually heard one wannabe designer sneer that 'I don't do upholstery'. No kidding. You can only design in a niche? Loser.
Bite me.
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Either that or she's just more comfortable with the later challenges. I'd be interested in seeing another gown challenge and see what she does with it.
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So we may possibly end up with a champion who is talented, but not likable.
With respect, I have to disagree here. I find her to be a one trick pony. She makes a good motorcycle jacket but when asked to design a gown she had a double fail and a big one. After the initial walk through her garment sucked so badly that she was told to get more fabric and start over. She basically bought the same fabric (or damn close to it) and came up with a hot mess, complaining that she'd never made a gown or some such. Tough. She had to have known what she was getting herself into with PR--varied challenges from gowns to day wear to men's to makeovers to seriously weird shit made out of used gum and beer bottles. Her garments under the jackets are meh...
She not all that, no matter what her edit is and is benefiting from a weak field, IMO.
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It's been said on these boards before, but I guess it bears repeating, Tim Gunn is a producer on the show (as is Heidi), which gives him editing authority.
On scripted shows, producer just means a salary bump. I may be different in reali. But story editor etc, all just words for writers.
Yes, true--being named as a Producer is often just an excuse for a raise-hence the reason why/how a lot of obviously unqualified actors/actresses, people with serious backing money for a project and the like are sometimes listed as producers. They get--maybe--an office and sit in on meetings but often are just being given more money and a sop to their ego.
But it's also sometimes true that someone knows enough about what's going on to have earned the title, money, responsibility. I'm willing to give Tim Gunn enough credit to believe that he's qualified for the title and position after 13 years of doing this show added to his many years as a teacher/professor and dean (I think) of fashion and construction at a top design school.
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Mary Kay's not bad makeup. My niece sells it, so I have some around. They have color that look natural on me, which isn't easy to find. I think the problem here is that they're putting women who should be in pinks and corals in berries and browns because they're trying to be dramatic and they just don't make the right products for that.
Okay, I'm not a makeup wearer but it seems to me that the problem could have been with the makeup artists who were working on the women, actually choosing the colors and all of that, not the fault of the various products. Maybe?
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Someone explained on the TLO board that the zippers they use on Runway don't have stoppers at the end so a person, if not paying attention or told, could do exactly what Char's model did.
That's true because then you can custom a zip to whatever length you need as opposed to having to buy a 10", 24" or whatever. But it's a simple thing to sew a garment so that there's a stop added to prevent the slide going off the end; I had to do so yesterday on a sewing project of my own. It's a basic thing.
Having said that, zips break. They do. Even Posen's reaction was a shrug and an acknowledgement of that simple fact. And cars get flats and baseballs sometimes break windows. These things happen. Sure the other designers were pissed and they were kind of put in a corner when Gunn asked them but they all did agree. Even Amanda (no, not a fan) said something to the effect that they'd all agreed so let it go.
And yes, add my voice to the Korinda dislike list. I don't care enough to use 'hate'. She's not all that and she seems like a one trick pony to me.
Finally he's gone, and newsflash Tim Gunn, he is not one of the best designers ever, and his designs are hideous every week, not just this week!
My take on this was simply that Tim was acting as a mentor towards a young designer. He was being kind and encouraging when the kid was being kicked to the curb and told to leave.
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Yeah, but Simon is merely another poor struggling working stiff. Reid OTOH is supposedly enormously rich. Why would he wanna continue on the reality path -- and with such a sleazy show?
Can you imagine what a hell his live would have been if she insisted that she reallyreallyreally had to be on RHWNY because her doctor (her doctor, dammit!!!) wrote a RX saying that she had to because it's the only cure for her asthma and her leg will grow back if only she's on national TV? The man might have well jumped out of their rented window.
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Also we don't know when they might get measured for their boots but it would be more cost effective to wait later in training camp with fewer boots to pay for.
True, but I suspect that DCC's budget can absorb a few extra pairs of boots. If they're decent quality they likely run a couple of hundred dollars per pair, give or take. That's chicken feed to an organization like the Cowboys and would obviously allow the women to get used to them and break them in. Of course, it would also make it harder emotionally to be cut but that doesn't seem like a major concern.
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Stupid is as stupid does. But it lets the audience feel superior--always a goal in these things.
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I just want to point out that Kit does have a dress which is supposed to be made out of chicken feed bags. As someone said above, during the Depression they made the bags with colorful patterns for just this purpose.
Didn't know that--I had a boy who wasn't into dolls unless they were Power Rangers. His name is male/female friendly and he was in a huff at about 7 when he was somehow added to AG's mailing list, getting catalogs a couple of times a year. But good for the AG folks.
I'd also add that patchwork quilts were originally simply re-purposing fabric back when it was extremely expensive to buy or had to be made at home. Often the parts of a worn out garment were worth more than the whole; eventually quilts became a true art form but they started out as recycling. Even now I recycle the burlap bags my fire starters for my wood stove come in into gift bags for bottles of wine...quite nice, if I say so myself.
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That's why I don't get it, between this and Aviva's agreeing to go on Marriage Boot Camp. Did Reid hit a rough patch in his business? If money's not the motivation, then what is?
I don't pretend to know why any of these people agreed to sign on for this or any other reality show--so called fame? Recognition? Money? Ego--or salving a lack there of?
I do know several wealthy people (not me, god knows) who are seriously paranoid about losing their money or becoming broke--or of having 'people'--whomever they think matters--believe they're in the poor house. One cousin has even told me that she inherited more money than she will ever spend. Last night she was telling me she can't afford a passport. They're what? Around $35 or $50? Insecure, I guess.
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Speed the Plow is set to open Wednesday the 24th.
Stay tuned, i guess.
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And yes, the dolls have pretty elaborate attire, accessories, etc that aren't at all realistic for anything but the girls who are from wealthy backgrounds. For Addie, a former slave, and Kit, living in the great depression with an unemployed father, it gets down right ludicrous. It's definitely a glowing view of history. And honestly, that was the case even for the original, Pleasant Company dolls and books.
True, but dolls designed to be played with are, almost by definition, a fantasy meant to encourage imaginative play, role playing, dress up and all of that. I suspect that selling slave rags or depression hand me downs, while historically accurate, wouldn't sell all that well and while there would certainly be a lesson to be learned from the dust bowl, who wants to play 'dead crops, let's pack up the Joad's car 'cause better times a'comin'? The dolls--original and those sold now--are aimed at children (and their parents) who are generally at least reasonably well off. The dolls currently sell in the $115 range for just a basic doll, the outfits are in the $25-$60 range--these aren't your basic cheap Barbies. I know some families who allow their kids one doll, period. I also families who have bought their kids the entire line; either way, they're rarely a throwaway gift.
As for Kini's garment; I like it. Granted the dress didn't really fit under the coat (which was a beauty) but I can see the dress being a special going to a wedding or Christmas party thing.
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I watched Gretch & Slade for about 2 minutes & knew that show was not for me. Doesn't this show tend to get only trashy, lowlife, really gross characters? Veevs is that desperate for attention, she's willing to mix with what will likely be extremely vile garbage? How pathetic. Can't say I have any curiosity or interest to watch how they'll cope.
But Scoobs--with all (and I mean all) respect; who the hell would agree to be on a show like that other than trashy, lowlife, really gross characters? 'Let's talk about out shitty marriage and what major a-holes we are on national TV for a few thousand dollars.' 'Hey, works for me!'
It's a 'duh' moment in my book.
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Vicki Gunvalson: Her Love Tank Runneth Over
in The Real Housewives Of Orange County
My understanding is that stage 1 is localized, no cancer cells in any other body parts of lymph node. Stage 2 is when cancer cells are detected in nodes close to the original tumor. Stage 3 i\is when there are cells in nodes a distance from the original site and stage 4 is when it's spread to other organs.
Please correct me if I'm wrong.