T Lo Interviews Peach Carr

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Chatting on the Phone with Heidi

We're totally BFFs now!

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T Lo Interviews: Seth Aaron Henderson

We never did come up with a good nickname for him, did we?

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Chatting with Kara Janx

When we found out that Kara Janx won the second annual International Design Awards Competition for sportswear; we gave her a call to chat about it and whatever other topics pop up. One thing we have to say about Kara: she is one of the most charming people we've met. She's funny and self-effacing and animated. She's just a total hoot to talk to. Plus, we adore her feminine, colorful, funky clothes.

Congratulations, darling, that is awesome!
Thank you!

How did you get involved?
I got an email saying that I had been selected to submit my work for free, because there’s actually a fee involved to participate. So I said, "OK," and sent some pictures of my collection and I didn’t think twice about it and that was it.

We read that over 1000 entries were submitted participating in several categories from over 52 countries.
I know. It’s bizarre. I wasn’t expecting to win at all. I just did it to participate.

How does it feel to win? It’s quite exciting, isn’t it?
Yes, it is. It’s great. I googled my name and found out that I won, which was funny.

Are you going to attend the ceremony in LA?
No, I’m like seven months pregnant [laughs].

When are you having your baby? Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl?
In June, and It’s a little boy.

Have you been back to South Africa since your wedding?
No, I went to Thailand and I met up with my family there in December, which was great. We had a great time; a much needed rest.

Tell us a little bit about your spring 2009 collection. It’s very colorful, fun and wearable.
I felt that with the spring collection I finally got to a more commercial, funky space that I needed to get to in terms of designing a collection that really had one language and not like fifteen languages. It made a lot of sense, the fabrications were divine, the colors were very inspirational, they both worked so well together. It’s such a cohesive, well-edited, totally merchandised collection. It’s a nice springboard for my fall collection. I feel like I’m in a rhythm now that I kind of understand my customer. I can give them what they want without compromising my vision.

You have a lot of separates, which is perfect from a sales point of view.
Yes, they’re easy pieces, beautiful dresses in the right colors; it just made a lot of sense to me as a collection.

You also added some prints.
Yes. I’m not very print-driven but the prints that I do use are more like just a splash of design, it’s just to bring the whole color story together. The prints are a good starting point to draw a lot of colors from.

Are you still selling the wrap dress?
Of course, are you kidding me? Every day I get some sort of request, an order, a wedding dress kimono…you name it. The kimono is like the Everlasting Gobstopper. It’s incredible.

Are you doing swimwear and lingerie as well?
Every summer I like to do swimwear because I really enjoy that. The lingerie I have taken a step back from because it’s a major production for very little profit. I have to concentrate on what the label has become known for. The swimwear is sort of my anecdote, just a little something fun to add to the collection. The stores always respond to it and they always order it, but I don’t push it.

Speaking of stores, where can we find Kara Janx?
My clothes are sold nationwide - east coast, west coast and everything in between - including sites such as my site, karajanx.com, shopstyle.com, frenchcornersoho.com, ifashionmall.com and many other sites.

That’s quite an accomplishment.
Thank you, I can’t lie to you. It’s a lot of hard work.

Do you have a studio or do you work from home?
I’ve got a beautiful office now in the garment district and half of the office actually works as a little nursery for my little girl because she comes to work with me quite often. I’m so happy I’m out of the house. I need the space for my business to grow, but I also needed to get out of the house.

Thank you so much for taking the time, darling. It’s nice to see you doing so well.
My pleasure, I love you guys. I love what I do. It’s something I need to do, it's my own remedy.

********

Check out her gorgeous spring line, ladies:

[Photos: Getty Images/karajanx.com]


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Dirty Diana

Diana Eng, the squeaky, geeky girl from Season 2 of Project Runway, has a new book out called Fashion Geek. She was sweet enough to send us a couple copies and we have to say, it's a cute little how-to book that teaches the reader how to incorporate technology into fashion, with fun projects like the hoodie with the headphones built into it or the petal purse that lights up. It's the perfect book for the DIY hipster nerd.

Hi Diana, let's start with the obvious question. What have you been doing since Project Runway?
I co-founded an art/electronic group called NYC Resistor and I’m working on starting up my website which is going to be fashionnews.com and it’s going to sell accessories and printable fashions that you can print out and assemble yourself.

You also contributed to Craft Magazine, right?
Yes, I also contributed to Craft Magazine and I worked for Victoria’s Secret in the R&D department for a little while.

Oh, that’s awesome. Tell us about the Victoria's Secret stuff.
We created the new technologies for the bras because a lot of the bras have patents in the technology behind them. You really don’t think they do, but they actually have several patents behind a lot of the technology in the bras. I can’t really mention the projects I was involved with, but it was a lot of fun incorporating technology with the latest fashions.

You don’t really think about it, but there is a lot of technology involved in the structure of it.
Yes, it is so much more complicated than it seems. Sportswear has a lot of technology in it and bras are actually so much more complicated than sportswear. Normal clothing might have ten components, but bras have at least thirty components in them.

Thirty components? Wow! We had no idea.
Well, you probably haven’t worn a bra ever. [Laughs] You don’t have much to support. Breasts can weigh between five and twenty pounds. That’s a lot to support there.

What was your motivation to combine technology and fashion?
I really think that technology is the future of fashion. We use it all the time now. For example, you wear your headphones, and why can’t they be accessories? You wear them all the time, they’re kind of ugly, you might as well make them accessories and incorporate them; it could be a hat, which is on the cover of my book; it could be a hoodie, or it could just be part of the clothing that you wear or you could have them as earrings.

We’ve seen some designers like Issey Miyake using technology in fashion.
Right, in the other end of the spectrum there’s the fact that we have all this new technology but we’ve kind of been treating fashion in the same way for a while. There’s a digital locket in my book that holds digital photos in it. You can have hundreds of photos in your locket and display them all as opposed to the traditional locket, probably a family heirloom from your grandmother.

Take advantage of what you can do with technology if you’re going to make a locket or something.

Do you think people are more open to wearable technology?
I think it’s getting better. A lot of the things in the book you can’t mass produce because technology is not quite there yet. It’s not machine washable with all the electronic components. With the book, you are able to make all these different designs that can’t be mass produced yet and you can make it yourself.

What are your sources of inspiration when you design something combined with technology?
I really think about the actual function of the garment and the actual function of the technology. When I combine both, I want to bring the best out of both. I want them to be better. For example, the hoodie with the headphones, you can listen to music in the hoodie, so you don’t have to worry about carrying your headphones because it’s actually part of the hoodie. Also the light-up shoes. The whole bottom is lit up. I was thinking of the cars that have underlighting. I thought it would be neat to have that for your shoes. You walk around with the lighting. There’s a little bit of tongue and cheek there. In terms of style, I am inspired by Japanese pop culture.

Do you think there’s a fine line between gimmicky and actual designs when it comes to incorporating technology in fashion?
Yes, there is. The audience for this book is younger people, so a lot of the designs are geared towards them, like the light-up shoes. I try to appeal to young people because I think most of them don’t realize that technology and electronics can be used in a fun way. I’m trying to kick in their interest at a young age. A lot of the projects in my book are geared to the teen groups.

So, let’s talk about your book. It’s called “Fashion Geek”.
The book has thirteen different projects in it. It has the instructions on how to make all the different projects and it also has a section in the beginning that teaches basic sewing techniques and basic soldering and electronic techniques. It talks a lot about the use of conductive thread. It can basically replace wires which are very thick and uncomfortable to wear and the conductive thread is actually machine washable and it’s something you can use as embroidery, for example.

How do you see the future of wearable technology?
I guess it’s going to depend on how quickly technology can be adapted because a lot of the things aren’t machine washable yet. It’s slowly getting there. They now have screen-printable conductive ink and that’s actually almost as deep as screen printing a t-shirt, so that’s going to be really neat.

The question is ‘is it going to be gimmicky or not?’ Kanye West wears all these el-wire things all the time and el-wire is basically electronic luminescent wire and it glows. Is that going to be accepted as fashion or is it going to be gimmicky? It could easily go both ways. It depends on how well it’s done. Like the light-up shoes, for example. It can be really fashionable if you’re like a hipster and you’re going to a party with the Heatherette crowd. And if you’re talking high fashion and couture, probably not for them, but it could be adapted to them if it’s done differently.

***********
We have one copy of Fashion Geek for the first nerdy girl or boy who can answer this question: What was the name of the bitchy model from S2 who gave poor Diana such a hard time about wearing her lingerie designs? Email us now, bitches!

WE HAVE A WINNER!


[Photos: fashionnerd.com]

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T Lo Interviews RuPaul

Oh, kittens. Of all the interviews we've done (not that we're Barbara Walters or anything), our interview with Miss Ru was by far the most enjoyable, the easiest, and the one where we laughed the most. She's as sweet as a cane-sugar Coke and funny and incisive and warm. Normally, when we publish an interview there's some editing involved, either for space reasons, or because the answers weren't that great, or a hundred other reasons. For once, we're giving you the entire interview, exactly as it was conducted, not a word taken out. Why? Because we wouldn't want you to miss any of it. We even included the portions when she laughed simply because she did it so much and her laugh is so infectious.

We conducted this interview this morning and even though we were barely caffeinated ourselves, we hung up the phone buzzing on a high that's lasted all day. Everyone should get a call from RuPaul to start your day out. There'd be no need for anti-depressants ever again.


T Lo: Hello?
Ru: The time has come for you to lip synch FOR YOUR LIFE.

T Lo: (laughs) It is SUCH an honor to interview you, Ru. You are amazing.
Ru: (laughs) Thank you so much!

TLo: Are you in L.A. right now?
Ru: I’m in New York right now.

T Lo: Oh, okay. Because we were thinking “My god, this girl gets up early!”
Ru: When I am in LA, I get up early. I usually get up around 4:30, get on the computer, go for a bike ride, usually before the sun comes up.

T Lo: We’re impressed! Okay, let’s get started. We have to say, we weren’t sure if we were going to blog your show and we watched the first episode and were FLOORED. The minute Akashia said, “Bitch, I’m here. I took off work,” we fell in love with it.
Ru: (laughs) Well, thank you!

T Lo: This is quite a year for you. You’ve got both the show and a new album just released. Was there a conscious effort to get yourself out there this year?
Ru: Well, you know, I've always been out there. I think it's just somehow people...their eyes just turned toward me again. I've always been doing things. There was a time, probably around 2000, where I decided to step back for a minute. And then, probably in '04, I started making records again and started doing shows again and I think these latest two projects for whatever reason got people's attention again.

T Lo: You said in a recent interview that in the last 8 years, drag has taken a back seat in American culture. Is that right?
Ru: It has taken a back seat as far as gay men are concerned. Straight men have taken over the genre, like Tyler Perry and Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence. But for gay men, it was sort of underground.

T Lo: Why do you think that is?
Ru: I think in times of fear and hysteria in a culture, gender experimentation as it pertains to men has to go underground because it scares people too much and it's too much for people to take on. Especially when a culture is held hostage by fear and hysteria and fundamentalism.

T Lo: Well the show is bringing it into America's living rooms in a big way. We think for those who read our blog who are not, shall we say, members of our tribe, it's been quite eye-opening, getting a glimpse behind the curtain of the world of drag. Specifically, how hard these girls work and how talented they really are.
Ru: I agree. Most women, when they ask me for beauty tips aren't really prepared for my answer, which is, there is no magic beauty wand that can transform you and make you beautiful. It takes practice and what you see on Rupaul's Drag Race is years and years of practice by these kids.

T Lo: You said that your mission is to see drag positioned in its rightful place within our culture. Do you think you're achieving that with the show?
Ru: I think so, little by little. But it really has to do with our culture. You know you can lead a horse to water... but you know, our culture is one that is so easily in denial. We have such a strange dichotomy, so hypocritical. The truth can be blaring in neon letters but our culture will find a reason not to hear what the truth is.

T Lo: So true. Let's talk a little about your album. We love "Cover Girl." We walk around our house scaring our cats when one of us breaks out in "COVER GIRL! Put the bass in your walk!" Tell us a little about the album.
Ru: (laughing) I love it. It's the best thing I've ever done. I was paired with Lucian Piane to write the theme to RuPaul's Drag Race and we got together and had such a great time that we continued on to make an album. Our collaboration is just the best I've ever done. He comes from a music theater background and I come from a pop background. And aside from my own music, I just love pop music. I have over 26,000 mp3s on my external hard drive. I just love it, so the two sensibilities, music theater and pop, the melodies are so strong, I've never been as strong vocally as I am on this album, it's just the best thing ever. I've never listened to one of my albums more than I listened to this album.

T Lo: We love the remixes.
Ru: Thank you so much. I love the Machutchi mix. In fact in my nightclub act, which I just got back on the road last weekend, I'm performing the Machutchi mix.

T Lo: So you are touring?
Ru: Yeah, I did two nights in Tampa last weekend and I will be in Seattle next weekend.

T Lo: Now...I want to ask about last night's show.
Ru. Yes...

T Lo: Now, we understand why, in fact we agreed with the decision, but we were SO upset to see Ongina go home. And clearly you were too.
Ru: I tell ya, each elimination, I would be so upset and I had to tell myself, "Ru, this is a game, this is a television show". All of these kids are winners because out of the hundreds who applied, these are the nine girls who got to do it. And Ongina will live in the consciousness of people for the rest of their lives because she is a star. And I had to have this little discussion with myself each time because I hated to see each of the kids go. I chose all of the kids. It's like saying, "Which one of your children do you want to live?" And it's a terrible thing but I had to remember, it's just a TV show.

T Lo: It's a little Sophie's Choice. In fact you should rename it "RuPaul's Choice."
Ru: (laughing) I will be stealing that line.

T Lo: It's yours, honey, you can keep it. Speaking of lines, we're always cracking up at your one-liners: "Do not accept an apple from this woman," "Akashia, part of a wholesome breakfast." How do you come up with those lines?
Ru: (laughing) I'm a QUEEN! As gay people, we always think outside of the box. The irreverent is always important to a drag queen and anyone else who lives outside the box. And this is why drag's important: remember to not take life seriously. It's always important to see the laughter in the illusion that we pretend is real.

T Lo: That reminds me, I wasn't going to ask this, but I'm curious: When the girls are doing their runway and the judges are cracking all these jokes, can they hear you?
Ru: (laughing) Yeah, they can hear us.

T Lo: I have to admit, those girls deserve an Academy Award, because they never break character or laugh or even smile. How do they walk with all these jokes flying at them?
Ru: Well this is something that every queen learns from Day One: Lipstick application is one and taking jabs from passersby is two. You have to understand that you are fierce no matter what because the day you decide to do drag, there are going to be people up in your grill saying "You're not right." So they're used to it. They're very used to it.

T Lo: We love seeing Santino on the show. Is he a friend of yours?
Ru: I saw him on Project Runway and I thought, "There's someone I can be friends with," I was living in New York at the time, and then when I got a place out in L.A., I sought him out and we went on a few hikes and went rollerskating and did some stuff together and when the show came around, I thought "Who better?" that's how that happened.

T Lo: He actually makes a great judge. Merle Ginsberg is a fantastic judge too.
Ru: Yeah! Y'know, all the judges, the regular judges and the guest judges, are all experts in the field of pop culture, and presentation, and starmaking. They really make the show.

T Lo: We were touched when we saw Michelle Williams CRYING at a queen lipsynching her song. That just made us love her.
Ru: I love Michelle and in fact, I understood the tears because when I see a drag queen do a song that maybe I didn't really get the lyrics or something, and then this drag queen can just turn those lyrics into what they were really meant to say, and it's like "Oh my goodness!" My guess is that she heard things in the lyrics that Akashia interpreted that she didn't even know existed before.

T Lo: Since you brought up Akashia, we wanted to ask you about a couple of the girls that went home. What do you think went wrong with, well...let's start with Akashia.
Ru: I think with Akashia, there was a certain-- a bad energy that surrounded her and everyone picked up on it and I don't think that helped her in the judging of the show. But her real demise was that she wasn't able to complete the challenges -- she was in the bottom 2, I think, in the first 3 shows. And then in the Oprah challenge, I mean...(laughs) Y'know. She was just so arrogant! It definitely cemented her position in the bottom two.

T Lo: It was kind of a shame, because we thought she really had a lot of potential. She could be quite beautiful with a little work.
Ru: Yes, absolutely. But you know, these challenges are based on everything that I've done in my career and I've had to eat crow, I've had to hold my tongue at times when the ghetto could've very easily come out. But I had to compose myself and realize that I am representing. And there are times when you have to hold 'em and times when you have to fold 'em, and she didn't have that discretion.

T Lo: Now what about Tammie Brown?
Ru: LOVE HER! All the girls really represent different facets of the drag world and Akashia is the badass black girl who can do the booty-clapping stuff and Tammie Brown represents the quirky, comedic drag queen that we all grew up with and love. She, again, as a competitor wasn't able to come up to the challenge and change enough to suit what the challenge called for. And, again, her camaraderie with the other girls, they felt a little spooked out about her. It's something that Rebecca Glasscock could learn from because I don't think the girls love her very much. But, the judges like her.

T Lo: We felt that with Victoria too. Ironically, the one with the most experience was the first one to go home.
Ru: I love Pork Chop and it was hard to see Pork Chop get ... chopped.

T Lo: To get her pork chopped.
Ru: (laughs) But y'know, somebody had to go and unfortunately it had to be Pork Chop. But people still remember her and people will always remember her. Look at Santino. He did not win that season of Project Runway and I don't even remember who did win, but he's still around.

T Lo: What about Jade?
Ru: Jade is such a gorgeous girl. So gorgeous. I think that her inexperience with the world was her undoing. I think that she was just a little inexperienced with communicating. And the next drag queen superstar must be able to do that.

T Lo: Let's drop the girls and talk about the guys. Tell us about the Pit Crew.
Ru: (laughs) Well, when planning the show, we knew it was going to be on LOGO and I thought, "Well, what do we want to see?" And we wanted to see some...y'know...

T Lo: Half-naked men.
Ru: Exactly. Exactly. I saw their pictures and thought "Bring me two of those. Have them washed and brought to my dressing room." (laughs) They're really gorgeous guys and we wanted some eye candy. We wanted television that's been missing for a long time. Something that's very self-aware, that's very well-executed and that has a little sex appeal and that's what we did.

T Lo: Well, we think you did a fantastic job and we're looking forward to Season 2 already. Is there going to be a Season 2?
RU: Y'know, we have not been greenlit for Season 2, but we are planning on doing a reunion show for finale night. We're actually going to shoot that a week from tomorrow in Los Angeles. We've not been greenlit for a second season, but we're on LOGO, on VH1 and we're on LOGO online.

T Lo: Well, we're gonna start the internet petition for Season 2, don't you worry about that.
Ru: (laughs) Y'all are so wonderful and thank you so much for supporting me. It's become such a cult hit and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

[Photo: RuPaul'sDragRace.com]

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Fabrics by Jay

Jay McCarroll has two new lines of fabrics coming out ("Garden Friends" and "Woodland Wonderland"), so we took him out to lunch at the Thai place down the street from us and when the three of us weren't admiring our adorable waiter, we asked him about it.

So, why a line of fabrics?
I’ve been on this path of trying to get back where I was before Project Runway and I really had to dig to find why I was in this world, so, it basically came down to a level of fabric and color and texture. My sister is a quilter and I expressed to her my desire to do a fabric line. I was making one-of-a-kind little things like greeting cards using other people’s fabrics and I always thought "Hey, I wish I could do this with my own fabrics." My sister helped me contact Westminster Fibers and ask if they’d be interested in me doing a line and they were all for it. It was very easy, actually.

Quilting's a big thing in your family, isn't it?
My sister’s been quilting my whole life. My mother is more of a sewer. My sister edits quilt books and she’s made quilts my whole life. We spent lots of time going to Lancaster County as a child. I remember going to quilt stores as a ten-year-old boy and being fascinated with all that stuff. My sister definitely got me interested in it and she makes absolutely perfect quilts. She has a line of bags called “Love Tomato” and actually one of my fabrics is called “Love Tomatoes”, which is a little cherry tomato fabric print.

I went to the Quilt Market in Houston. I actually bumped into Vanessa Riley from season one. I went out to dinner with her. It was awesome to go to her store. She’s doing really well. Anyway, Quilt Market is the biggest market of its type in the country and it was great to see what people are doing and creating. Everybody was nice and friendly, so welcoming. It’s an event to show the new fabrics of the season. It happens twice a year and the next one is in May in Pittsburgh.

Is that part of why this appeals to you? To see what people are "doing and creating" with something you designed?
Frankly, I’m not really interested in the timing of fashion, of every six months having to be new and fresh and young and relevant and sexy. This is more like ‘here’s the fabric, do something with it.’ It’s much more interesting to me. I’m kind of a flat thinker, I’m not a draping-around-the-body kind of designer, I don’t see thing in a three-dimensional way, so, two-dimensional fabric really makes sense for how I work. Great colors, fun, unidentifiable graphics in a two-dimensional format, it’s really perfect for me.

I'm interested in the whole Etsy world, which is a place where people who are unknown and young can handcraft one-of-a-kind products and I thought, "These are the fabrics that I want these creative people to be using." I want people to take my fabric and make little monsters out of them, quilts, clothes for their kids, even pillows for their TV room [TLo: we had said we were thinking of using some of his fabrics for our TV room].

It's about encouraging creativity. I’m not telling someone "Here’s what I’ve decided this fabric should be used, in the shape it should be worn on your body" and so on. Go make curtains out of it, make a dress; do whatever you want.

What's the process for creating a fabric? How does that work?
My friend Emily Goodwin-Wong, who I work with, she’s a textile designer and went to Philadelphia University as well, we kind of collaborated on this, she helped me with all the computer aspects of it, she was a huge help. I sketch everything by hand, and then I work with my friend Emily, who formats it into a 26-inch repeat, then we discuss color, and we fill in the blocks and the dots.

How did you come up with your designs?
I kind of gauged the market to see what’s happening. I was always drawn to buying cute, graphic-y fabrics. They’re not fashion fabrics per se, they’re more quilting and home décor. I dug back into what kind of fabrics I liked, these kind of seventies, nostalgic, cute, Japanese-y patterns. I collect these little deers and bunnies at my house and I was looking at them and thought they would be so cute as fabric.

Where and when can people buy them?
The fabrics are being sold in New Zealand, Japan, and other countries; they’re technically not out until February, but some stores got them early. By February you will see them in many places.

Lunch was wrapping up and Jay had the idea to take us to a store here in Philly that already has the fabric line on their shelves. We agreed, but we had one more question while we were waiting for the check.

Before we go, we have to ask the one thing that everybody asks us about you: Are you coming out with any new product for your online store?
Working on some designs for my spring line for my store. More items for men; stuff made out of the fabric line, like skirts and tops. It's coming.
_____________

And with that, we headed off to Spool, which is a fabulously chic local fabric store we'd never been to before. We met owners Laura Singewald and Craig Rosenfeld. We asked Laura for her thoughts on Jay's line. “Jay and I, I think, are right around the same age, we’re children of the seventies, all these prints are so nostalgic to me, but the color sense is much more modern and fun. They’re great for kids and they’re great for adults. As soon as we saw them – the bugs, the trees, the deers – we just knew that our customers would love them. It goes with what we already have at the store, but it is really different. It offers something new for our customers, so we had to get it. And he’s from Philly!”

Spool is having a launch party for Jay's line later this month. “On January 30th, from 5 to 8 p.m., we’re kicking off our monthly Stitch Party where our customers can come and show and tell, see new products, just have fun and get to know each other, and Jay has kindly agreed to come and kick off with us. He’s going to be bringing samples and it’ll be a lot of fun.”

We'll be there! Local PRG minions should drop everything and come! Spool is located at 1912 South Street in Philadelphia, PA.

And just look at these!

Aren't they the cutest fucking thing you've ever seen?


[Photos: Projectrungay.blogspot.com/Freespiritfabric.com]


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Get Lost with Elizabeth Mitchell

Our Q&A with f-a-b-u-l-o-u-s Juliet for Metrosource magazine!




"Did you feel any pressure coming on board a pop-culture phenomenon like Lost?
I think I probably just refused to feel it too much. I just had a baby like six months before, and I was too sleep-deprived to care.

Juliet has this scary-slash-intense thing going on.
She does have a kind of intense way of watching people, which is one of the more interesting things about her to play. I think that kind of stillness isn’t something people easily do. We constantly try to fill spaces and kind of make everything okay.

Do you ever get any crazed overreactions from fans?
You know, at first maybe a little bit more so because Juliet was such an antagonist. At least now she seems to be more accessible. I was on the playground with my son, and I was wearing an old-lady dress and huge hat, and this woman looks at me and gasps,“You’re Juliet!” And I’m like, “Yeah.” And she says, “Oh, my God, I thought you’d be in head-to-toe leather and riding a motorcycle.” And I was all, “No, I’m sorry. This must be horribly disappointing. I apologize.""

Read more here.



[Image: Metrosource.com]

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T Lo interviews Joan (Also Ryan!)

Darlings, we've had a tough time keeping this one under wraps but in the latest issue of Metrosource magazine, we got the chance to interview our current girl crush, Christina Hendricks, the fabulous Joan Holloway of Mad Men.

See, the theme of the issue is "People We Love" and our editor (We love saying "our editor." It sounds so Lois Lane-y.) asked us if we had any ideas for interview subjects. We were all "People We Love? JOAN HOLLOWAY, bitch!" and he was all "I'm on it!" and then we were all "Score!"

She was a pleasure to interview and she's absolutely nothing like Joan. She's giggly and funny and sweet. She doesn't even sound like Joan when she talks. Some bits:

You’ve become quite the poster child for curvaceous women. It seems every article about you has to mention your body.
I guess I’m surprised because this is how I’ve always looked. I’ve had lots of people come up to me on the street — women and men — and tell me how refreshing it is to see someone like me on TV. That feels really good. I’ve always felt like a woman, and I’ve always had curves and felt beautiful.

Well, clearly the women and straight men love you for it, but we’re here to tell you the gays LOVE Joan Holloway.
(Laughs) That’s fabulous!

We must have seen at least a half-dozen Joan Holloway drag queens on Halloween!
That’s so funny, because Matt Weiner [the show’s creator] said after the first couple of episodes, “I know we’re a success if I see Joan Holloways on Halloween."

But don't take our word for it, go read it.

In the same issue, we sat down and interviewed Ryan Brown, the cute one from Flipping Out. Also an incredibly charming and down to earth guy.

How did you meet Jeff Lewis?
He and I met through a mutual friend of ours who was an interior designer as well. He introduced us years ago. I had heard some stories about Jeff, and a lot of my friends were completely in love with him.
We didn’t work together when we were dating. We broke up, and there was a period of six months to a year where we talked about doing some projects together. We bought our first house together and started working on that. It was certainly a rocky road at first. I don’t recommend it to anybody — working with your ex right away — but it seemed to work with Jeff and me, for some reason. I think what it came down to was that he’s one of the people in my life that I absolutely trust.
To this day, we get along great. We fight, we scream and yell — you know, everything that’s shown on the show — but at the end of the day we are a family, and we realize that.

How did Flipping Out come about?
It was basically the brainchild of Jeff’s assistant, Jenni Pulos. She had an idea for a show [featuring] her and her husband called The Wannabes. They were trying to be actors, and they came up with what I thought was a great concept: [The show would follow] their everyday life, going to auditions and trying to become actors while at the same time working for Jeff. But when they got Jeff on camera and saw what a big personality he was, Bravo ended up really liking that concept, so the show revolved more around Jeff than Jenni. Jenni is amazing. Honestly, [she’s] one of the best people I know.

Again, go read the whole thing. Metrosource cycles the links on their web page, so we don't know how long these will stay up. We've got a bunch of new interviews scheduled (they'll have to remain a surprise for now) for their next issue, so if you can't find Metrosource in your neck of the woods and you want to keep up with the T Lo experience, you can always subscribe.

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Interview with Nathan

Darlings, we got our gay on in a big way and sat down with S2 Top Design winner Nathan Thomas. We laughed through the whole thing. Enjoy!

Hey Nathan, how are you?

Great, I've been dying to talk to you guys.

Oh my god, really? Have you been reading our blog?

Absolutely. You guys are brilliant.

Oh, that's so sweet, thank you. We're thrilled that you won. We know you've been asked this a million times, but how did it feel to win Top Design?

It was very surreal. It had this very dream-like quality to it and I've said this other times. I didn't really believe it. I didn't. I was standing there saying to myself 'This isn't happening.' I'm going to wake up and they're going say 'Preston, you just won' or 'Ondine, you just won' or I was not even on the show. It was overwhelming, but when it did settle in and Kelly looking at me and smiling and I knew I had really won.

It'll be great to have your work featured in ELLE DECOR for the world to see.

I'm thrilled. God, there are lots of decorators and designers that work for years and never get even into Margaret's email.

So, in the end, you do think all the hard work paid off.

Absolutely. I think it was such a worthwhile experience. I don't regret anything about it. Sure, I wonder here, I fucked up a few things, but it was really a great experience.

You've talked a lot about your mother and her townhouse having influenced you as a designer. We thought it was hysterical when you mentioned that you used to fan your mother's magazines because we used to do the same thing.

You know that's really weird because I didn't think I was honing my skills. I was a young gay boy and it really was, it was such an inspiring space. My mother had gorgeous Danish furniture, which I had no idea what it was. I oiled it, I dusted it and it became my hobby. Everybody was playing football after school and I was rearranging the house. Going back to it now, I think 'Oh my god, I was fanning out the Cosmos.' I just want to slap my mother. What are doing reading Cosmo?

You were labeled as a wildcard, provocateur. Do you agree with that assessment?

Without a doubt, I think in design…if we're talking about that. [Laughs]

Well, we'll get to that part of Nathan later [Laughs]

You guys can call me another day for another interview. As far as design, it can be so boring. Why not do something fun, crazy and out there? Go for it, don't be afraid. Be brave and learn from your major mistakes and if you're not brave, you're just being safe.

Do you consider yourself an interior designer or a decorator? We know. That's a tough one to answer.

I have the skills and the training to do designing. When we think about interiors, I guess I'm thinking about it more structurally too. Going into a space and altering it as far as changing a wall, knocking down or putting up a wall, which we were not able to do it on the show, but I would also call myself a designer in the sense that I designed furniture on the show. I made highly flammable paper-plate chandelier, which would never pass code.

You have one in your own apartment too, right?

Yes, I do. I love it. And you know, limited resources; I was really into paper plates on the show.

We loved your painting and you did it in 15 minutes.

Thank you. That was very cool. And the story behind it is that I wasn't able to get the artwork that I wanted from a store. I was finagling my way into getting it, being very tricky, but Bravo shut me down, so I made my own painting.

Your taste in art and accessories is exquisite. You always picked very unique and strong pieces.

I adore accessories and art. It's very much part of my life. I think it needs to and has to be part of every interior space. It brings such a life and personality to a space.

It looks like you displayed them randomly without necessarily following a theme. Do you think about a theme when you put them together?

I think in the work that I did on the show and in the work I do professionally I think there is a theme kind of involved in selecting things, but I guess to answer that in the other way, anybody can go to Crate and Barrel and look on the shelves and see how they coordinated items, bring them home and do the exact same thing, but it's so much more fun to hunt down things, marry some things; it's like oil and vinegar.

Speaking of accessories, let's talk about that horse.That's going to be remembered in the history of Top Design.

I wanted to ride the horse. [Laughs]

Clearly. Seriously, who comes up with shit like that? You say 'I want that horse for the child's room.' [Laughs]

You know, it was what that room was about, a fantasy. It was about being over the top, being crazy, being a kid. As a kid, did you not want a horse in your room?

[Lorenzo] I want a horse all the time, darling.

Child, I know you do. Tom, what do you say to that?

[Tom] I'm just sitting here shaking my head.

You better go get a horse.

Also, the huge Indian chest, which instantly becomes the focal point of a room.

Right. Well, that thing was horrible. It was a beautiful piece but it needed an 18 X 20 size of room. It was just completely overscaled. It was pretty horrible because I stole everybody's movers to bring in that lead box. I finally said 'It's staying, it's done.'

The townhouse for the final challenge had a strange layout, didn't it? The kitchen, for example, was larger than the living-room. Was that a challenge?

It was a little bizarre because you walk in and you're presented with a staircase. You just walk in from the door and you have to go upstairs. That space that was called the living-room, which I made the foyer, kind of entry, vestibule idea, made sense to me, so yes, the layout was bizarre, but it's a townhouse. It doesn't really have that flow.

Of all the rooms you worked on in the townhouse, which one was your favorite?

The dining-room; I think it had my heart and soul in it. I designed the table; I made the chandelier and did the painting…It spoke a lot about me. It was fun.

Now about the shelves in the office, were you inspired by Donald Judd's sculptures?

Yes, they're very much Donald Judd inspired.

That's why you didn't have anything on them?

Yes, they were supposed to act as a sculpture. It was not about adding accessories to them. They were supposed to read as a Donald Judd/Pantone paint chip.

You mentioned that you're always inspired by fashion; that you tend to relate fashion to your interiors.

I think the worlds collide very well, fashion and interior, obviously one bounces off the other. The powerhouses like Martin Margiela or Comme des Garçons. They really pushed the envelope in their work and in their designs. I find that so relative to interiors. I think interiors go beyond the 1-2-3 Reader's Digest idea. I think interiors are fashion, so I'm constantly influenced by fashion and where it is and where it's been. For example, Balenciaga is constantly pulling from the past and putting it into the now. The same thing happens in interiors; we go back to French provincial furniture and reinterpret it in some way.

We asked Margaret Russell when we interviewed her what would be the Little Black Dress in interior and she said it would be the Parsons table.

I did a Parsons table. Yes, it is. It's fantastic. I did a Parsons table; I did a Parsons inspired bed for the boy's room for the final challenge. That's very true, you take your classics and work around them.

How was your relationship with everybody on the show? Did you get along with pretty much everybody?

I got along with everybody. In the beginning I had a few run-ins with a few people, but it was easy. I didn't have to deal with them too much.

What about Wisit?

Wisit was my boy. He was my roommate. My heart goes out to him. I love Wisit. He's a great guy.

Do you still keep in touch with the designers? Like Eddie? It looks like you guys had a blast together.

Eddie and I are friends and I think that everybody thought we would not be friends. He lives very close to where I live. I see him and talk to him often. Prior to this interview, Andrea called me to congratulate me. I'm very close with the two of them, and Ondine and I, we text.

Ondine had a very interesting room too. We thought it was between you and her, but we weren't sure which way the judges were going to go.

I know, I read your blog. You guys thought she was winning.

It looked like towards the end the judges were falling for her and getting tired with you.

Yes, I agree. They all of a sudden hated me.

Well, they loved you at the end. What did you think of the judges?

Margaret is incredibly well-spoken and she's got a wonderful eye. I have high regards for her. I think all the judges had wonderful criticism and commentary and everything that was said, not only to me but to the other contestants, I listened to. I think Todd has a wonderful role giving you advices and acting as a friend. I have really good feelings about all of them. They're all incredibly talented…

Even Jeff Lewis?

Oh, Christ. Jeff, Jeff, Jeff…

He's a character, isn't he?

He's a character, and you know what? He has built his empire as well and he made good TV.

What did you think of Kelly Wearstler's wardrobe?

Oh, I want it. She got some flack and you guys are so good at it too. When she came out with her turban and socks and heels, I was so impressed. It was like she was hung over, had to go the grocery store, put on her socks and heels and came to the judging.

What's next for Nathan? We know you have a new website.

I'm really hoping to brand myself into furniture, textiles, and wallpaper. I'll continue to do interiors. I'm hoping to move on, I want to do cutting edge; I want to push the envelope and continue to.

Thank you so much, darling, and best of luck to you.

[Photos: Bravotv.com/Artsconnected.org - Screencaps: Tomandlorenzo.blogspot.com]


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