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!"

Fantastic Art of Jacek Yerka

Jacek Yerka is a Polish artist born in 1952. Yerka's work can be witnessed though Mind Fields, in which Harlan Ellison has provided narration for each of Yerka's selected pieces.

Yerka studied art at University, before rebelling against the trend to paint with less attention to realism and detail. Instead, he found his education studying the works of the Northern European masters like the Van Eycks, Dierck Bouts, Robert Campin, Bosch, and surrealists such as Magritte.

To View More of his Master Pieces Click Here.

Note from Emmett

"Dear Project Rungay boys:

I loved meeting you guys, who knew our event would get the special
Rungay recap treatment!

We have been overwhelmed by the LOVE for Tim Gunn and have been packing up bobble heads and t shirts and shipping them out! (So much for the glamourous life of designing!)

The shipments are on the way so look for Tim Gunn in your mail box!

Also the REAL Tim Gunn is coming by this weekend and offered to sign more t shirts and bobble heads for those "Rungays" who missed out the first time.

If interested place your orders and specify if you want a signed t shirt or bobble head in the comment field. Click here to purchase them.

Can't wait to see you at our next event!

xxoo
Emmett"

We love ours!
We dress it in little outfits and ask it for advice.

UPDATE: Emmett sent pics:



DAMN! You boys look HOT!

Edited to add (October 4th):

Dear ProjectRunGay:

This morning Tim Gunn was interviewed by Fine Living Network at EMc2.

Tim is a featured guest speaking on the history and fashions for cocktail dressing. Audrey Hepburn's appearance in "Breakfast at Tiffanys" exemplifies the classic, chic, fun and glamourous dressing for cocktail parties according to TIm. Tim is standing in front of mannequins dressed from the EMc2 collection. Afterward Tim autographed t shirts for fans who missed the Fall off the Runway event and want to have them before the season finale. Fans can order the last 50 autographed T shirts on line at EMc2.

Here are the exact available signed T shirts:

Black: 2 small
6 medium
20 large
2 xl

Pink 6 small
38 medium
35 large
16 xl

Heather Grey
7 large

We are trying our best to make everyone satisfied with their signed t shirts!

Look for Tim on tonights Project Runway Reunion show, he told me it was seven hours of filming and it will be very interesting TV!

I am off to Paris for Fashion Week!

xxoo
Emmett

Peanut Provocateur

Sorry, Jeffreyphiles. We hated this one.

Y'know, it really says something about Jeffrey that when he thinks "Romantic, provocative," he thinks of the St. Pauli Girl.

It's to his credit that he consistently makes the attempt to work outside his expectations. That can't be said of any of the other designers this season. The problem is, he doesn't do well outside of his comfort zone, which forces the question, Is he to be commended for shaking things up or condemned for not realizing his limitations?

The jet-setter outfit? The couture dress? They worked because Jeffrey took those challenges and molded his style and strengths to them. Simply declaring "I'm going to shake things up" isn't enough of a design statement. In fact, it's not a statement at all; it's a reaction.

He's got a very strong aesthetic and when he's working within the boundaries of that aesthetic, he's capable of producing some really interesting stuff. Thing is, Jeffrey doing "romantic" is about as good a fit as Laura doing "hip-hop" or Uli doing business wear.

And, well...this is a bit nasty, but Jeffrey always seems to make expensive fabrics look cheap.

"I made a dress like this once before and people almost cried when they saw it."

Well, we can certainly understand that.

As with so much of Jeffrey's stuff, this just looks rough and unfinished. Yes, it could be said that this is his style, but another question that has to be asked at this point is, can he just not sew?

Uli made a dress in less than a day, Laura made an incredibly intricate, hand-beaded dress in two days. This was a relatively simple dress, so there's just no excuse for pulling a Libretti and whipping out the glue gun.

Awwww. They are totally going to be voted cutest couple by the Prom Committee. They're like those old "Love is..." tchotchkes. "Love is...wearing a poorly fitted skirt with bugs on it."

Okay, now we want jobs at Elle.

We have burning real estate envy when we look at Nina's office. We especially love the fact that she apparently doesn't feel the need to provide seating for anyone other than herself. She made a pregnant woman sit on an air conditioner. That's a level of fabulous bitchery of which we can only sit in awe.

Betcha her staff has to sit on the floor when she's pissed off.

We fully support any office dress code that sees spangled tank tops as appropriate and encouraged. What do they wear on casual Fridays? Bathing suits?

Mrowr, Chica! Hot! We're as gay as pink Christmas trees, but who wouldn't want a bitchy Latin woman in kickass shoes to make you sit on the windowsill in her fabulous office, bark orders at you, and kick you out? Where do we send our resumés?

They should have wrestled for it.

"I'm gonna pick...Nazri."

"Ha.

I'm gonna kill you in your sleep, y'know."

"WHAT?! Ohmigod, are you kidding me? Look at me! Did you see how I worked the shit out of every frikkin art camp project I had to wear? That paper dress? I was FIERCE! You people are big STUPIDHEADS and when I'm on the cover of Vogue - because who the hell wants to be in Elle anyway - you know what it'll say? I'll tell you what it'll say! It'll say "AMANDA FIELDS IS FIERCE! SUCK IT, BITCHES!!!!!!"

"I'm sorry, Lindsay!"

"Fuck off, Swiss Miss. Yeah, that's right. You better be looking both ways when you come outta that tent at Bryant Park, Bitch."

"Heh.

Suck it, Bitches."

Everybody Wins!

And Project Runway takes one step closer to the Special Olympics. Next season, there will be someone permanently stationed at the end of the runway to give out hugs. We recommend Andre Leon Talley.

It's a cute, sassy dress and that's saying something coming from Uli. While some of us thought it looked a little too "Star Trek," the general consensus on the couch last night was that she done good. Loved the collar and trim and loved how she arranged the tie-dye pattern to mimic the female form. She may only have a couple notes to play, but Uli plays them like a virtuoso.

Every time Uli stands next to her model, the resultant "Uli explosion" burns another hole in our TV screen. Bravo better buy us a new TV after the season's over. This one's about shot. The people in the Claritin commercials all have weird, hippy, beach-party patterns on their faces as they stoically inform us of the oily discharge side-effects.

But let's be honest here, there's one model who consistently sells the garments better than any other and all the designers have been itching to use her. Uli got her chance, and god bless her devious little Teutonic heart, she dumped poor Lindsay like a pimp with a ho on her 40th birthday. Lindsay's all "Shit, I worked a dozen Janis Joplin dresses for that bitch and this is what I get?" Nazri's all "Eat it, bitches. I'm fabulous." And she is. The picture Uli took of her with the street band was fantastic.

That girl can work just about anything.



Edited to add: For the completionists and the curious, the band's name is a dropdead star.