Project Runway Season 2 at NY Fashion Week

So tonight we will finally find out which one of these four designers actually made it to the final 3! Although unfortunately for me, with the lack of cable, it will take me even longer. And to think that this show must've been filmed AGES ago considering that in the show Heidi was still pregnant and she gave birth in September 2005. But anyway, lets take a look at the runway shows and ponder the results.

Kara Janx
Personally I thought she should've been off before Nick was. She was just lucky that she got to give Santino a makeover, which didn't require too much skill at all-any improvement is an improvment. For the show, I like the fact that vibrants color were used.

Especially these two which caught my eye. But then its because the two looks very similar.

Overall, the collection is not very flattering and doesn't inspire me to run to a shop and buy it. She will probably be out first.

Santino Rice
Ah. The guy we all hate and love. He has such a personality that if he makes it, he will be the type (like supermodels)that will go by his first name alone. And I must say, I'm somewhat impressed. He showed his talent, his peculiar style and he didn't overdo as he tended to do in the recent challenges.

Like this is a very good example of what I'm talking about. Creative, skilfully executed and but still not too over the top.

But the rest of the stuff is not exactly very fascinating. He's probably going to go next after Kara.

Chloe Dao

At the beginning she said we'd be seeing her in the final three, and indeed, we will be seeing her in the final three. Or so I hope. Throughout the show, she's been cool, calm and stable with the quality of her work. And her sleek, simple style really shows.

For the fashion show, along with her usual style, you can tell that she took it a step further and added a bit of creativeness to it. And the great thing is, instead of being over the top, this creativeness adds a little something special to the outfit-which we can totally picture ourselves wearing! But as much as we love Chloe, in the end she is still second to our dear dear Daniel V.

Daniel Vosovic

Oooo Daniel V if only you were straight! You are talented, loyal, young, sweet and looks SOO cute with that scruffy hair and all. . . . :) Well anyway, even though he completely butchered Chloe, judging from his runway, he definitely picked it back up. The overall style reminds me of the design he made for the picture he took of the potted plant, simple, elegant and feminine. If we didn't know better, we would've thought this was professional!

Love it. I want the white coat!

Gorgeous. Just GORGEOUS!

And he's only just graduated from college. We love u Daniel V!!!

Happy Valentines Day!

OK, so Valentines Day is a controversial festive, but I've never understood why so many singletons feel the need to be depressed on this day. I mean, does it really matter if you're in a relationship on this particular day? I always thought Valentines as a great oppurtunity to ogle over pretty things, (read: jewelry,) although of course if you have someone giving you this pretty thing then even better. Note to male readers: here are some wonderful gifts that the female population wouldn't mind recieving!

1. I theorise that only YOU could buy the perfect perfume for yourself, but one of my best friends' boyfriend got her a Coco Chanel for her birthday last year and she, who is extremely picky, loved it. So maybe my theory isn't true for everyone. Or maybe Coco Chanel is just so classic that no one can resist!

2. Personally I think recieving flowers is sweet but somewhat a waste of money. What I would really love recieving in replacement of flowers are Swarovski crystal flowers. They're so nice and shiny, and most importantly permenant. Another wonderful potential gift by Swarovski is their SCS membership. According to my other friend, whose wonderful boyfriend just got her one, your bf basically pays for the membership for a number of years, and each year you get a special edition crystal.

3. Not every girl would like this Juicy Couture boy shorts set, but I've supringly seen it on a lot of girls' 'want lists.' If you're a Juicy fan, then it's a def must have.

4. Every holiday I look towards the classic Tiffanys for inspiration. OK, so this Heart Pendent With Heart Padlock necklace is a tad bit cheesy, but it's just so perfect for Valentines!

5. Too expensive? Then take a leaf out of last week's OC and pick something from the Victoria's Secret catalogue! VS even has a special Valentines Day catalogue for those who want something extra romantic.

6. And if you have absolutely NO idea what your partner likes, or you really really love him/her, then get her a gift certificate from her fav spa. Just the thought of going to a spa will make any girl do a little happy dance!

And finally, if your bf dares to give you something as hideous as this Hello Kitty Tennis Kitti Necklace, (which costs a shocking US$950), then well......

The Osim Slimming Belt

In this day and age, slimming is of utmost importance to our generation. Not only does one look better in clothes slim, but its also healthier for us too. Hence people everywhere are desperately looking for ways to get thin- quickly and easily. That is why the slimming programs and products are thriving. How else does Victoria Beckham look so sickly thin?

My mom's friend recently bought this slimming belt from Osim for $199USD. It claims that it is all you need for slimming, toning, massaging or even indigestion. Basically it is a belt you wrap around your waist that vibrates at varying speeds. You are supposed to wear it for around 15 minutes everyday. I've personally tried it. The vibration comes in varying degrees and it completely effortless and not painful at all.

I'm not sure how that is suppose to help one slim down though. In fact, I'm not convinced that it works at all-doesn't the concept behind it sound a little farfetched to you? But then again, celebs put electrodes on their butts so then the muscles there are 'working' with no effort on their part and they look like it works. So far (its been a month?) I haven't heard of any major improvements. Either it makes very slow progress or it doesn't work. And I think its the latter.

New York Fall / Winter 2006 Wrapup IV

So I've been avoiding fashion week. As much as I love it, after all the work spent last season on fashion week, I'd developed a sort of phobia towards it. So from now on, as hard as it is going to be choosing just a few collections and a few pieces to showcase, I am going to be selective. So I'm just going to skip those that are not worth mentioning or just not interesting. Plus, I'm just super tired from my first ever ski trip today. My muscles are hurting (they don't get used very often) and my bottom hurts. But def a lot of fun.

Karl Lagerfeld
I was surprised at first seeing it on the NY runway, because I could have sworn that last season it was on the Paris one! I nearly thought I was going out of my mind until Harrods Girl assured me that I wasn't and that it was only on the NY runway this season because some American company bought it. I'm babbling. Anyway, the Lagerfeld runway was very. . black. Luckily that was the only bit that resembles dear Karl (remember last season with the white shirts and all?) The collection was bold and strong-as you can see in the structured coat and the bold black and white dress- but offset with a hint of girliness with floral patterns, soft flowy materials.

Temperley

I adore Temperley. Everything is just always so pretty! The intricate embroidery on each outfit is exquisite and the dresses are of course-oh so ladylike. I love the white dress with black details because it looks so bold, fun and flirty. The second dress is just classic. And the last two, too gorgeous for words.

Matthew Williamson

Finally, some COLOR! As easy as it will be dealing with the monotonic nuetral color palette of the coming seasons, it is GOOD to see some color. I love how he blended the preppy with glam, as evident in the first 2 photos, pairing the preppy (delightfully striped) v necked sweater and tweed jacket with glamorous shimmery skirts. That cutely collared tweed jacket was also presented in many variations, from long, short to yellow bow. The dresses were just darling. Worn on top of long sleeved shirts, we will definitely not get a chill come fall 06.

Ralph Lauren

If you've been reading this blog, you know I LOVE Ralph Lauren. But this time, I seriously LOVE LOVE LOVE it. I have no idea what private hunting involves, but it definitely works. The signature RL olive green ruled the runway- as you can see on the shawl/cape in the first picture. Imagine, the cape can just cover your whole outfit-worn with narrow pants and you are ready to go! Plaid prints were prominently used from daywear to evening wear- which is good to know since I recently purchased a very cute plaid grey/pink blazer. I love how they put the big hat on her to make the dress more hunting-like. Again, love the glam factor. The shimmery gold skirts spicing up the plain olive outfit and the absolutely heavenly gold dress.

New York Fall / Winter 2006 Wrapup III

The NY shows are almost over! To be honest, I'm quite glad because I always thought European shows were more interesting. But anyways, trends are starting to emerge more obviously now. The color palettes are in the region of black, grey, white and navy, with a hint of dark purple and red. And yes, lots of interesting shapes.

Vera Wang
There werw a lot of wearable serpeate pieces, and a lot of pieces tightened around the waist area. Most of the collection was pretty, but I didn't like the cutting of some of them. Overall it wasn't a very remarkable NY collection. Though one thing about Vera Wang you can always depend on is that the dresses are guarenteed to be gorgeous.

Anna Sui
Even though Sui's palette was also pretty much in that black and navy region, her collection was still one of the most colorful so far. There are hints of SS06 Marc Jacobs and Balenciaga in the marching band-looking parts of the collection, and hints of SS06 Miu Miu in the white shift parts. Despite all these similarities, I suprisingly liked this collection, (I'm usually not all too enthusiastic about Sui's shows). For once, Sui's collection manages to look colorful and girly without sickenly sweet and flowery. I loooved the way Sui incorporated gold into some of the pieces at the beginning of the collection, and especially loved these ones:

Calvin Klein
The thing I really like about this collection is that the clothes actually have a very united theme. Costa used a lot of that arrow-like pattern, (don't know how to describe this but check out the first photo below.) Also, he used lots of chiffon for the dresses. The collection was Calvin Klein-y simple, down to earth, but still relatively more 'complicated' than previous collections.

Proenza Schouler
Some very cute pieces, but the whole collection wasn't all too special. I do love the outfits below though. They used a lot of thick lines to accentuate designs and some were done quite well, (see second picture below.) And again, there was an emphasis of cinching the waist in a structured manner. After looking through the whole collection, I still can't tell what age range the duo are designing for, oh well.

Grammys Award 2006 Fashion

Admittedly, the Grammys have never exactly been the most fashionable and glam event of the year, but this year I must say, I'm impressed. Especially when compared to last year. Most of the stars played it safe with classic one piece dresses-which was really quite boring, but a few did make an effort to be creative and the result was stunning.

My favourite outfits were from Beyonce and Alicia Keys. Both were very slinky and glam, but I think I'm going to hand the prize of best dressed to Alicia Keys in her Armani Prive dress, because she made the most improvement since last year.

And then there are Teri Hatcher and Christina Milian. The headlines have all admired Teri Hatcher's Jean Paul Gaultier dress as the best one in the whole show, but I beg to differ. Its nice, but its not that irresistible. And I just find Christina's Max Azria Atelier dress very interesting. Its a thin line between looking skanky or sexy, but I think she has managed to look elegant here.

I also thought that Kelly Clarkson's Max Azria Atelier (wow they must be sponsoring a LOT of starlets this event) black dress was quite flattering. Different from the usual punk rock star image I somehow see her in. And Eva carried this blue dress well-it can potentially be a fashion disaster.

Next season's white also seemed to be a very popular color, as seen on Mary J Blige and Ciara in her Alberta Ferretti dress. Mary looks like she's playing tennis the glam way. But Ciara looks godess like.

For all those pregnant celebs out there, it is definitely a good thing that the empire waist has been so popular recently, because they are so completely flattering on pregnant women. They barely look like they're pregnant. This is very well demonstrated by Gwen here. I'm not that much a fan of this leopard printed dress, but it is very Gwen.

I have no idea what Madonna is trying to achieve here. And from the looks of her expression, she doesn't know either.