Mechanical Art

Sculptures made from Machine Parts.

Malan has a video blog! Hurray!

"I think that is something we can all aspire to -- to be
an individual of style."

Oh Darling, we could NOT agree more. If you haven't checked out the fabulous Malan Breton's video blog on OUTzone, you really must do so. It's this intense nugget of fabulosity and charm packed into 4-minute bites.

SEE! Malan discussing his collection!
HEAR! Malan answer YOUR questions!
MELT! Every time he giggles or smiles shyly at the camera!

If you didn't love him before now (and shame on you if you didn't), you'll definitely love him after viewing his vlog. International glamour coupled with a shy charm is a winning - and unique - combination. Bravo, this man needs his own show!

Mother Jugs

Kudos to Mrs. Seal for finally wearing a couple of outfits that didn't make us laugh. Last Wednesday may have been the first time all season that someone in our living room didn't say "What the hell is she wearing?"

She looked really cute in this little number.

But she looked downright HAWT in this one. DAYUM!

Even WE had a hard time keeping our eyes on her face. She must've figured "All the queens are eliminated! Time to show my titties!"

But Schätzchen, you probably shouldn't throw terms like "Milk maid" around when you're looking like that.

Checking in with Shatangi

AOL's Black Voices caught up with Zulema recently and got the inside dish as well as a look at her latest collection.


"So was your experience with Reality TV real at all?

Oh please, they changed my words... Oh my God, the only thing that happened that truly happened, I did tell Kara to 'Cry and cut.' And I did have the model walk off; everything else is some sort of re-edited rehashed reality they wanted to create."

Aww....FREAK OUT!

Check out Mr. Fluff and Fold!

Break it down one time.

Oh, for crying out loud.

Bravo execs? A suggestion. Next season, have the first 3 challenges be "Design for a Hooker," Design for a Stripper," and "Design for a Porn Star." Just let the designers get it out of their systems.

"Nina, my story is...she's rich; right? Really classy. And she's just coming out of the shower, ok? And uh... the poolboy barges in! She barely has enough time to get her evening gown on!"

We love Michael and we're glad he made it to OFW, but he was obviously fashion-fried at this point and he'd just had his muse - who just happened to be the best model of the season - taken away from him unexpectedly. We've all been there.

Well...okay, none of us have been there, but still.

Still cute, though.

Three things:

1. His rejected designs look more interesting than his final one.
2. You can tell he was still sketching for Nazri and that's probably what tripped him up the most.

3. His sketch for his final design looks a helluva lot more interesting than what he produced.

Let's break it down; shall we?

Poor choice of fabric. The color is a little tacky and the excessive shininess screams "PROMSLUT!"

Second problem: poor styling choices, both in the photo and on the runway. All she needed was a pair of clear-heeled shoes and a pole at the end of the runway and the image would have been complete.

This is basically Act 2 of every Lifetime movie. The part after the troubled daughter runs away and gets herself into a hot mess, but just before the mother heroically sets out to rescue her.

Final problem: Poor execution and fit - which is the most surprising of all, since Michael is usually meticulous in these areas.

And speaking of areas...it's not just that the poor fit gave Clarissa a little belly bump; it's that it gave her a very oddly shaped, lop-sided, baby alien belly bump.

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON THERE?

Laurology

Okay, we admit it.

When we saw where Laura was heading, we were underwhelmed. Granted, "wow the judges" is about as articulate a design challenge as "make something pretty," but we were afraid that "doing what I do, better than I've ever done it," while plucky, probably wasn't what the judges wanted to see.

On the one hand, we were right; on the other hand, so was Laura. She didn't win it, but it seemed that she made a conscious choice to produce something that she knew would get her to OFW and lo and behold, it did. Her mama didn't raise no fool.

As for the dress, it's beautiful and probably one of the most perfectly executed garments in all 3 seasons of the show. While we agreed somewhat with the judges that Laura needs to widen her point of view slightly, we also think they overstated the point.

For one, up to now, Laura has not had any professional experience in fashion, which means she's never produced a collection. That she is focussed on a particular aesthetic right now doesn't necessarily mean that she only has one point of view.

Second, we started thinking about it and realized she's not as repetitive as some (including us) have been saying. Look at what she's produced during the competition:

For all the talk from the Duchess of never wanting to see another one from her again, she only ever produced two garments with what could be called "plunging" necklines. Looking at her garments all together like this, it's interesting how much it looks like a collection. She has a concise point of view and there are certain design elements she returns to again and again (lace, beading, "exuberant" collars), but she doesn't make the same dress over and over and she doesn't design only for herself.

As a point of comparison, look at Uli's competition work:

There 's a hell of a lot more similarity of form going on there. Ironically, even though this grouping is far more repetitive, it somehow looks less like a collection than Laura's does. We don't mean to be ragging on Uli. She also has a strong point of view that she executes masterfully, so it's practically inevitable that she and Laura get compared so often.

It struck us that part of the reason the "narrow" placard gets hung on Laura's neck has as much to do with what she wore during the competition as it did with what she produced for the competition.

That's a consequence of having a strong point of view and the force of personality to consistently and fabulously express it, which our girl has in spades. Right Laura?

"Fuck, yeah!"