Keep Calm and Carry On

There comes a time in a busy writer's life when the unimaginable and completely unexpected  happens, and I'm not talking about being nominated for an Outstanding Writing Emmy. Remember on Sex and The City when Carrie's computer crashes and she freaks out because she hadn't backed up her files? Weeeelllll such a scenario happened to me a few days ago..... My laptop died. Suddenly I found myself feeling quite naked and alone, at the will of extremely kind friends and pitying strangers who have since offered me valuable internet time and lots of emotional support. Meanwhile I am crying over the fact that I will not have my weekly RedPoppy Project Runway episode recap for you, and it may further take some days until I get to read and comment on all of your amazing blogs. Have no fear though! I shall continue to write my daily posts even if it means finding an internet connection via the toaster. So thanks for your continued visits to RedPoppy, and I wish everyone a lovely fabulous weekend. PS. Make sure to backup your computer data in your spare time! xo RP

-Image courtesy of je suis un lapin

Project Runway Season 9/ Episode 1 Recap: Come As You Are or American Idol

Welcome back to NYC, American Idol !, erm Project Runway. I had reckoned on writing my Season 9 Episode 1 review last week but alas time has gotten in the way of things. Again. So back to business, this season begins with Twenty fashion hopefuls; a motley crew of familiar character repeats including verbally incontinent guy in skinny jeans explaining away an awfully dated collection, and small-town girl from another planet who thinks outerwear is underwear. One notable designer is Cecilia Motwani who sounds exactly like Nina Garcia if you just close your eyes...

The new season plot twist? Four designers will be sent packing before they even get a chance at drama and hot tears as they face our Fab Four judges sitting behind a table, looking eerily like a fashion remake of American Idol. At this juncture it is unclear whether we are in fact watching Heidi Klum or if she has secretly been replaced with Paula Abdul... Being neither here nor there and twenty mixed collections later, Tim and Heidi deliver the final Ins and Outs. Now we can all breathe, have a cocktail party, and get on with the first challenge...

The following morning's crack of dawn 'Come As You Are' workroom challenge can only be viewed as a very rude trick by the producers. After a slightly humiliating march past Bryant Park in matted hair and many states of undress including pj's or underwear, or both if we're lucky, the designers receive their first challenge and must design an item of clothing using only what they are wearing plus a bed sheet, plus some PR sponsored zippers, buttons, and dyes (and we need some bras people!). As a coiffed Joshua 'what just happened?!' McKinley puts it so well: "This is what Project Runway is all about!"...

 Meanwhile Anya 'Miss Universe' Ayoung Chee is still figuring out how to thread the machine, Bert 'Bill Blass' Keeter is turning his boxy shorts into glamorous evening wear, and Rafael is sporting Antoine Dodson head wear. Hopefully Tim Gunn's workroom medicine can make miracles! It's finally Runway time and lip-plumped actress Christina Ricci is guest judge. What exactly does she know about fashion besides having to wear it? Not much apparently judging by her completely useless and sophomoric remarks. The looks that come down the runway are pretty impressive considering we are looking at expertly dyed pyjamas and bed sheets. Some standouts were Bert's rumpled-chic cocktail dress, Anthony Ryan Auld's lace striped tank, Fallene Wells' whimsical clown vomit dress, and Miss Universe's impeccably constructed miracle pants. Either we are gigantic fools or she is a designing genius, and only time will tell. Meanwhile I ain't buying her "I've never draped, sewn pants, or worked with silk before!" routine, I just ain't! 

And the winner is Bert! Absolutely well deserved, a pair of boxers has never looked so good. It also means so long to Rafael and his creation of a no good horrible very bad fitting pair of sweatpants....In the meantime we are already down to 15 designers and it's Auf Weederzein until next episode!! xo RP

Project Runway Season 9 Premieres!!

 For all you fashion and drama lovers, make sure to set your television sets tomorrow for the long awaited premiere of PROJECT RUNWAY Season 9!! Heidi and Tim are back as your favorite tv mentors and judges as we excitedly traipse through yet another season of high hopes for some amazingly executed fashions! And as always, stay tuned for RedPoppy's well written and witty recaps after each episode!

Project Runway PREMIERES THURS. JULY 28 AT 9 PM/8C!

Images via myLifetime

Weekend Sendoff: Rebecca Minkoff French Pouches

Dear readers I want to wish you a very happy and restful weekend, whichever part of the world you are in. And so to send off the weekend in RedPoppy style here are a couple of adorable and very fetching leather pouches with perfect French sayings in perfect redhead colors, from Rebecca Minkoff's latest Fall collection. Available at Rebecca Minkoff Handbags

...And remember to stay tuned for RedPoppy's latest Project Runway recap on sunday!!
xoxoRP

Project Runway Season 8 Episode 1 Premieres: And Sew It Begins

Hello Designers! Project Runway Season 8 is finally here and Heidi (with a questionable new shag 'do') and the gang are back with a new crop of aspiring attention grabbers (most of them over 12 years old this season which pleases me greatly) and a load of new 'Twists'! Our new group of 17 designers gather at NYC's newly minted Fashion stage Lincoln Center for their first challenge where Heidi and Tim confess that it was nearly impossible to narrow down the group to 16 because they were all so darn good. So their first challenge actually becomes the final stage of the audition process! No one is safe! And that's Twist #1.
Let me just note one designer who already stands out: Casanova and his impossibly tight red pants who is "taking New Jork by the balls..." I love him already and so will the producers when they make sure he sticks around for many episodes to come...

And now for the first challenge each designer must go hunting in their tightly packed suitcases for one item of clothing which they will incorporate into their first garment. Twist #2: they must pass their beloved item to the person on the right. Darn! There goes Casanova's very very expensive pair of Dolce & Gabbana pants. Twist #3: They only have 5 hours to complete their garment.

Back at the Parsons ranch we are all surprised to see that MOOD fabrics is in the house!! No need for the traditional field trip to MOOD which will save time and presumably money (I didn't notice anyone actually paying for their yardage so I'm guessing it was on the house). Tim arrives in his familiar wise mentor fashion which always sends a warm feeling spreading across my chest. Among Tim's workroom progress comments are some gems: Gaah "Good heavens!", "Is it sexy or is it vulgar?", and the winner of the week:"The cap sleeve worries me"...Like a creepy doctor, Jason (with cocky hat in tow) is distracted by his model's unusually large bust, Peach's garment looks like it's out to lunch rather than fit for a lady who lunches, and Casanova's model is almost completely nude save for a bikini and a sarong hanging by a thread...

This could only be Tim laughing out loud at Casanova's lack of fabric yardage

Mondo concentrates on sketching. Love his spotted bandana btw

And now it's Runway time and it's sure good to see Michael Kors and Nina Garcia back with fresh tans and pedicures, sitting alongside guest judge Selma Blair, sometime actress and permanent surly face (although she does know a thing or two about fashion). Coming down the runway I am loving Andy South's pants outfit which looks pretty amazing, and I LOVE sustainably green Gretchen's beautiful and effortlessly flowy black dress with beaded cap sleeves. Everything else was a blur of garbage bags and cheap taste, most notable being Jason's 'deconstructed' backwards kimono which was stapled and pinned into a drab mess of one ugly bathrobe. Nina's nose couldn't help but flare disapprovingly at the enormous amount of messes coming down the runway. Meanwhile we aren't yet sure how many designers are going home tonight, but according to my calculations for awfulness it must be at least 9... and yep! Heidi announces that the entire group of 6 designers still standing after the first 11 leave the runway, are ALL in the bottom. No one is safe. So who's design is the least offensive tonight?
Let's try and guess via some of the judges' comments:
"She looks like an '80's streetwalker"- Nina on April's Deconstructed (aka unfinished) Tux
"That is Butt ugly"- an eloquent Heidi on McKell's cute but tastefully questionable dress
"She's a pole dancer in Dubai"-Michael Kors on Casanova's scantily clad model. Brilliant. Love it! Twist #4: Nina blurts out some perfectly sexy Spanish in her smooth Colombian accent, and I can tell this is going to be a very different season of Project Runway. Twist #5: The judges are curiously united in appreciation for Casanova's 'fascinatingly bizarre' (aka trashtastic) look, and its clear the producers were buzzing in the judges' earpieces as they too are bizarrely fascinated with Casanova (as I had predicted), and so his awful nostalgic ode to Jennifer Lopez and that green Versace dress from 2000 is, against all common fashion sense, safe. Someone please explaaaaaaaaaaaiiin......!!!
Thankfully the judges were also unanimous in crowning Gretchen the clear winner! The Portland, OR native clearly deserved it. So until next week, stay tuned for more RedPoppy Recaps, thought, and twists on the next episode of Project Runway...
xo

Photo source: Mylifetime.com