One of Lorenzo's favorite models, Kristen McMenamy melted the lens of Steven Meisel in an intense editorial for Vogue Italia July 2009, entitled "The Legend."

This is our favorite editorial in a long time. The clothes are absolutely to-die; the styling is starkly beautiful and eye-catching; the model is working the shit out of it all, and the pictures themselves are gorgeous. We heart Vogue Italia so damn hard, you guys.

Not a bad idea for a challenge.

It's just okay. In fact, we have a big problem with that weird collar treatment. You know, the one that the judges never bothered to ask her about and the one that was so clearly impractical and probably uncomfortable that it just got completely edited out of the manufactured version (which, we have to admit, aside from that is a pretty good translation of the look).

While it might make for an interesting look on paper, in real life, that shoulder flap was distracting and every time the model moved, you could see it pulling away from her.

It made for an interesting back, we'll admit that...

But what woman wants to walk around with this heavily beaded flap just sitting on her shoulder, practically flapping in the wind?

Don't get us wrong, it's an okay dress and maybe even the judges could have come up with a reason as to why this one got the win, but it annoyed us that there was an impractical, what looked like uncomfortable design element that no one even bothered to mention.

And let's all bid a long overdue goodbye to this sour queen. Long ago, we'd decided we'd had enough of him and his bitchy comments about other designers used to cover up his insecurities about his own skills. "I don't do pretty." Give us a fucking break. The list of things you haughtily proclaimed you don't do during this competition is about a mile longer than the tiny list of thing you apparently can do.

And we will never understand when people who have a camera on them 18 hours out of the day think they can get away with lying to cover their ass.


You might remember that when we first wrote about Maggie Gyllenhaal wearing this dress (from Lanvin Spring '09) back in January, we summarized it as "From The Blanche Devereux Collection at Sears." Time has not dimmed our antipathy towards this Flintstones-esque frock.

It says a lot that the dress that he lifted almost entirely from another designer was without a doubt the best thing he'd done during the competition. Alongside "doing pretty," we can add "designing" to the list of things (like sewing) that he feels he's above.
But clearly, he had one and only one dress envisioned and that dress was in a leopard print. It, again, says something that he was so intent on re-doing another designer's work that it never even occurred to him to make even the most basic changes to it.

And let's face it: he's made cracks in the past about knocking off another designer's work. He was so clearly shocked by the judges' reaction that we doubt he ever even considered what he was doing wrong, or at the very least, a dumb idea in a design competition. Johnny doesn't do pretty, or sewing, or even designing, and that's all perfectly acceptable to him.

Ugh. So glad to see the back of him. What with his open nastiness to Angel, not just while he was working with her but also when he (quite unbelievably) tried to pass the blame for his "design" on to her, and then to state out loud on the runway right in front of him that Reco's dress was "so ugly," we couldn't have received a better summation in one episode of everything we can't stand about him. Undertalented, nasty to his contemporaries, highly defensive, and a rip-off artist to boot.

[Photos: BravoTV.com/WireImage/Style.com - Screencaps: Projectrungay.blogspot.com]


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Style.com:

"There was no misunderstanding the opening at least: the MGM signature tune and Lara Stone strutting petulantly in a leather trenchcoat, beehive, and giant pout—it was Bardot to a T! Jean Paul Gaultier always lets us know where we are at the outset, and for Fall, we were off on a movie buff's coach tour of the gracious wardrobes of Hollywood heroines, ostensibly. In fact, it proved a bit of an elastic theme that at times meandered off script. It ranged so widely—from a Louise Brooks flapper dress and gilded fur coat to an ultrashort gold T-shirt under a black leather vest that looked like a possible choice for Lindsay Lohan—that it was sometimes hard to see where the designer was going. (Geometric-deco meets sci-fi was a particularly odd patch.)"

We're a little torn on this one. We adore JPG and we can't deny that this is a collection of beautiful looks. It's just that...Hollywood? Really? We feel like a designer of his caliber can do better than a "theme" that has been done to death, not only by tons of his predecessors, but by tons of less talented and important designers. We can't help but cringe when a review of a JPG couture collection mentions Lindsay Lohan. You know something's gone wrong when that happens.

But like we said, these are some incredibly beautiful looks. We're just a little underwhelmed by the inspiration. The end product is beautiful, but because of the starting point, these aren't nearly as interesting to us as a lot of the stuff he's done before.



Watch the video:



[Photos: Getty Images/WireImage - Video: YouTube/michelepierro]


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First Lady Michelle Obama joined her husband on the trip to Italy while he attends the G8 summit in L'Aquila wearing a Jason Wu dress and a vintage brooch.



This is why we're always going on about her poor belt placement. While they may be her signature and she's shown some pretty fabulous taste in them, she simply looks so much better without them. Some readers have taken us to task for not taking into consideration how high-waisted she is, but that's kind of the point. It's because she's so high-waisted that she should just skip them. She's built for sleek tailored looks and sheath dresses. She looks fantastic and we love the color on her.

To get a little nitpicky, we can't help but notice that the seams on this dress are puckering quite a bit and the dress is more than a little wrinkled, though. We applaud the use of the vintage jewelry but the smartasses in us can't help but think that it looks like it should be on a table full of dip and surrounded by crudites, but that's just us.

[Photos: Getty Images]

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Today's the day, kittens. Lifetime released the goods on all the designers we'll be making fun of lovingly critiquing in the months to come. Since we've got an agonizingly long 6-week wait for the premiere of the new season, let's take a gander at the little ragamuffins, shall we?


And ragamuffins would be the right word. This may be the group with the youngest median age of any other season. Although the fact that it also contains the oldest contestant to ever appear on the show may skew that number. EASTERN EUROPE REPREZENT, Y'ALL! Plus, a couple cute guys! And thankfully, we spot a couple potential freakshows. We say "thankfully" because our first impression of the group was that a lot of them look surprisingly normal and low-key.

But enough of our thoughts. We turn the floor over to you, our minions. Get your bitchpants on, roll up your sleeves and get to some pre-judging, bitches. Which ones are the bitches? The airheads who can't sew? The gay ones? The delusional ones? The ones that are going to send all their friends and family here to post anonymously and tell us we're all a bunch of losers? Get crackin'! You've got a lot of ground to cover!

Oh, and check out Lifetime's just-gone-live new Project Runway page! It is LOADED with stuff!




Tim Gunn:"Everyone [thinks] she's only on the show because she's a tall blonde beauty," admits Gunn. "But she's extremely talented. She's going to blow people away."

First up: The, bar none, best idea for a mini-challenge we've seen. Seriously. Plus: fantastic judges!



Next: Another pretty decent challenge! It's kind of cute how they think the viewers can't figure out who the "special guests" are. It's only something you do in ALL of your reality competitions, Bravo.



Then, Haven and Daniella have a scintillating conversation about the color gray.



And finally, a strangely drama-free backstage.



We've said it before: this show is showing some improvement over time and this looks to be a pretty decent episode.


[Photo/Videos: BravoTV.com]


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Cate Blanchett attends the Armani Privé Fall 2009 Couture show during Paris Fashion Week at Palais de Chaillot in Paris wearing Armani Privé, and ohmigod, kittens...

... she nailed it once again.

We've been putting this off for a while now because we knew that in order to make our case, we were going to have to produce a post practically Proustian in length (alliteration + literary reference = QUALITY BLOGGING). Get yourselves a cup of coffee, darlings. You're going to need it.



Despite what Andy Cohen said to us at the finale taping, we have not "given up" on this show. There are a couple of reasons for that. One is that we love fashion/creative reality shows, but the big reason is that we've been rooting since Day One for Bravo to get this one right. We felt that they were really screwed out of a show they'd done an awful lot to promote and find its place and we felt that they really deserved a chance to create a suitable replacement. Unfortunately, we think they rushed this one into production too quickly before they could really figure out what they wanted to do.

When we look at the show it seems really obvious to us that Bravo attempted to differentiate it from Project Runway as much as they could, especially with the introduction of a voting audience, but also in smaller ways: eliminating the mentor role, making sure none of the judges was a model or fashion editor, and introducing a mini-challenge. Those smaller changes don't bother us but that big change with the audience bothered us the minute we heard about it (and we heard about it long before we reported it to you guys). We'll return to all this in a bit because it's all window dressing. The real problem with this show is that in their attempts to differentiate if from PR, they threw out the wrong things.

In our minds, there are many ways you could do a fashion design competition show and differentiate it from Project Runway. Foremost among them is to just do away with the runway show completely. The fashion industry has many ways of presenting its wares and they don't all revolve around walking models down a runway. It struck us as very strange that they would even attempt to keep the runway portion at the end since the show that everyone knew it was replacing; the show that everyone was going to inevitably compare it to, has the word "Runway" in its title. We would have thought that would have been the very first thing to go when devising its replacement. We realize that a lot of you are probably scratching your heads and wondering what the hell we're talking about. Hold that thought.

Now, as we said, they eliminated both the model and the fashion editor from the judging pool, replacing them with a judge who knows the American fashion industry like the back of her hand and a judge who's there merely to look pretty and who doesn't appear to have anything interesting to say about fashion outside of "I'd buy that." The latter turned out to be worth not much to the show in the long run, which neither surprised nor really bothered us. It's the former judge whose performance has been so disappointing. Fern demonstrated fantastic judging skills when she was on PR and occasionally we see glimpses of that on TFS, but for the most part her performance has been terribly disappointing. Based on her previous appearances on PR, we have to assume that the fault isn't hers. It's Isaac's.

In fact, as much as it pains us to say this, Isaac is a BIG problem with this show. He hogs the spotlight way too much and as the central judge, he determines the tenor of the judging. It's a situation that doesn't play to Fern's strengths. One of the many things that Nina and Michael get right is that they have always treated the other judges, not just Heidi, but any guest judge that happened along, with respect. Isaac just can't do that. He's too much of a bitch. Whenever another judge speaks, he gives off the distinct impression that he's allowing them to speak. Isaac is a colorful personality with a great deal of industry knowledge who's usually quite good on camera. He's been cast in the wrong role, is all. Now, hold that thought too.

Let's talk mentor. The most common complaint we hear about this show is the lack of Tim Gunn. Well, kittens, that was a given going into it. There simply was never going to be a Tim Gunn on this show and we initially thought it was a good idea not to even attempt to replace such a singular personality. There is no one in the public eye quite like Tim and if they had put in some pale shadow of a replacement, the poor person would have been raked over the coals. Having seen most of the season, we've amended that somewhat. No, they shouldn't try to replace Tim, but someone needs to walk through that workroom and offer their thoughts.

One of the best parts of PR is the viewer experience of watching the creative process unfold. For whatever reasons, that aspect is completely missing from TFS. Like we said, the creators of this show chose the wrong parts of PR to eliminate. Having Kelly and Isaac walk through the workroom without actually offering their thoughts on the process makes absolutely no sense from either a viewer perspective or from an in-show perspective. What we mean by that is the viewer does not get the enjoyment of watching creative people defend their work to a mentor and the designers do not get the help with their work that anyone would need in a crazy, unrealistic situation like that. It's completely pointless and in fact, it makes our blood boil every time we're subjected to it. All Kelly and Isaac do is walk in, ask a couple questions, and all but roll their eyes at the designer before moving on.

Which brings us to our next problem: the utterly execrable staging on this show. Look, we're not naive. After 3 years of blogging and having met countless reality show contestants, hosts, and producers (and getting to hear a TON of behind-the-scenes gossip), we're more than aware that there is very little "reality" in your average reality show. There has to be a certain amount of staging. The problem is, these people are terrible at it. Those little hallway conferences between Kelly and Isaac are the most cringe-inducing scenes on the show. Part of what makes PR work is the fact that Tim, Nina and Michael are all very well-spoken and can deliver a line or make a point not only with panache, but with clarity. Heidi less so, but her talents lie elsewhere. She's great on camera, she can fake a great personality, and she speaks from her gut. When she hates something, you know it and when she loves something, she can't hide it. She's not the most articulate out of the four regulars on PR but she's never had a problem getting her point across, even when she confuses bagels with hotcakes.

Let's pause and recap for a second. The runway portion is too derivative of PR; the judges are not suited to their roles; Fern is lost, Kelly is useless, and Isaac is hogging the spotlight; there's no mentor; and the staging is terrible, not least because the principals are all very bad at getting their points across effectively. With us so far? Okay, moving on...

Another huge problem with this show is the format. We'll just quote ourselves on this one:

"[T]he judges are forced to restrict their decisions to whichever garments got the lowest and highest scores, which means by definition, the judges are forced to judge their way around other people's decisions and criteria. It's a murky process made doubly so because we have no idea who the vast majority of these people are (except for a shot of maybe 6 or so every episode) and we have no idea what information they've been given about the challenge and what the designers were required to do. '90% of the audience said they wouldn't buy your outfit.' Well, okay. Who the fuck are they, then?"

We suspected as much when we first heard about the judging audience and we're sorry to see that we were right: it just doesn't work for this format. Now, one of the things that really differentiates this show from PR is the prize at the end: there is no Bryant Park finale. Instead, the winner gets to have their line produced for sale. That was the ONE thing they got right in this show. It instantly sets it apart from PR, which, much as we love it, has too often had a "Here's your money and your car! Good luck!" aspect to it (which is why so many winners of PR haven't exactly set the fashion world on fire). The problem with TFS is, they had this great idea to make the show different by offering a different prize at the end, but they never gave a thought as to how that ending should have informed everything that came before it.

Project Runway deals for the most part with "high" fashion. The finalists all get to appear at the premiere American fashion event and the challenges quite often revolve around high-end clients and sensibilities. We had assumed going into TFS that it would be more focused on the retail and ready-to-wear end of things, but it hasn't worked out that way. They've had socialite clients and "inspiration" challenges when what they really should be focusing on is the nitty and the gritty of trying to design something for mass production, which is something they never really deal with on PR. There have been some complaints about how the judging on this show tends toward giving the win to pieces that will be relatively easy to manufacture but that's one of the things we LIKE about this show. It should be built into every challenge and every judging point. The designers should be aware of this every time they put pencil to sketchpad or go shopping for fabric. That's the real world of the fashion industry. That's what hundreds of lower-end designers have to deal with every single day: how to produce a garment that will sell and how to keep the costs down to make it profitable.

Wow, you're still reading this? Good for you. Okay, we've done enough bitching. Bravo, if you decide to do a Season 2 (and we hope you do), here's what we propose:

Go all in on the retail aspect of the show. Every week, the designers have to produce some garment, bearing in mind that it's for mass production. They have to find the cheapest fabric and design a piece with as little frippery as possible so that it can be manufactured at a reasonable price point. We can't speak for everyone, but we don't mind if we don't get to see gorgeous gowns every week. If they have to design a decent pair of jeans or a salable trench coat or a killer pencil skirt, so be it. It's not the end product so much as it's the process we all enjoy watching.

Don't fire Isaac. We realize that some of the readers might not agree with us on this, but when he's on, he's really on. So put him in a position where he can really be on. He shouldn't be a judge. He should be the mentor.

Now, now. Sit down for a second. Hear us out.

The best way to fulfill the mentor role without drawing comparisons to Tim is to put the most un-Tim-like person you can find in that role and Isaac fits perfectly. What we propose is that instead of casting the show with a bunch of designers, cast it with a bunch of newly graduated design students and put them in the role of Junior Designer to Isaac's Senior Designer. This accomplishes several things. One, if you put a bunch of hungry kids in there, it'll be a hell of a lot more entertaining. Two, they'll all be much more likely to know how to sew since they're fresh out of school and we won't be subjected to a bunch of safety-pinned garments. Three, we suspect Isaac will be a lot gentler on a bunch of kids than he would be on a bunch of semi-established designers. Have Isaac come in every week with an assignment ("Design a work outfit/dress/coat/whatever for sale at X price point. Here's an inspiration board for you. I want to see your sketches in 30 minutes.") and have him guide them through the process. He'll get plenty of chances to be bitchy, but more importantly, he'll get plenty of chances to be instructive, which we suspect is a talent of his we're not seeing yet.

Fern should be the lead judge. She's a goddamn expert and she's playing second fiddle to Isaac, which is a travesty. Get rid of the judging audience and get rid of the runway show. Instead, as co-judges for Fern, because mass production is the focus of the show, bring in a couple of actual buyers every week. You can't tell us that in all of Manhattan, you can't find two buyers with the kind of wit and personality to make a show like this entertaining. We've met buyers; they can be quite snappy and savvy, and the good ones have seen it all. There's a couple Gunn-esque diamond-in-the-rough potential reality TV stars somewhere in that industry. We know you can find them.

Instead of having the models walk a runway, do it salon style and have them walk around right in front of the judges/buyers. Let every judge walk up to the garment and look at the seams and the pattern and the buttons and the zippers and everything that makes up the physical part of the garment. Not just to critique the execution, but to look at it to determine whether it's worth manufacturing. Instead of wasting time on a runway show that only draws inevitable comparisons, use that time so the judges (and us) can look at each garment, with the designer standing by to defend it. TFS doesn't let us see the garments very well and we only get to hear a couple designers defend their work each week. Have them ALL defend it. Have them stand right there as the judges declare their work crap or gold.

Unfortunately (for her), there's no role for Kelly in all this. You'll pardon us if we fail to shed any tears about that.

That about wraps it up. Think about it, Bravo. And please, do something about the lighting, for god's sake. If you heed nothing else in this post, please just take care of that.

Okay, readers. Let's hear it.



[Photos: BravoTV.com]



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Madonna is running around on stage wearing Givenchy Haute Couture by Riccardo Tisci. The fashion house designed her new wardrobe (inspired by their spring-summer 2009 Haute Couture collection) for her worldwide Sticky + Sweet Tour.

And guess what?

We don't hate it!
In fact, we think it's kinda fab.


We have been *ahem* somewhat vocal in the past about Madonna's less-than-fabulous entrance into middle age, but for some reason, this getup doesn't inspire the same eye-rolling. Sure, she's not wearing any pants and it's got the same somewhat tired fetish-inspired feel to it that she's been flogging for too long, but it's also kind of fabulous and, because this is Madge we're talking about, it's about as demur as we can expect from her. Besides, it's stagewear and the rules are different for that.

Although those thighs frighten us a little. The last time either of us saw thighs like that there were a couple balls hanging between them.


[Images: WireImage/Coutureinthecity.com]


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Project Runway season 5 finalist Korto Momolu has launched her jewelry line on her site. Back when we featured the pictures of her Bryant Park show, many of you commented that you would love to buy her jewelry so when we heard about her new line, we picked up the phone and called her to hear more.

Inspiration:
"I tried to do a follow-up on the few pieces that I got to show at Fashion Week. They’re very much Asian and African inspired and it’s a fusion between these two ethnic cultural backgrounds that I really love. I found myself always doing things that are Asian inspired."

Colors:
"I used a lot of the bright colors that I love to use. The ocean greens, really beautiful yellows, purples, and hot fuchsia pinks. Very vivid colors, fun colors, happy colors…those are the colors I really love."

Materials:
"I use a lot of African beads as well as a lot of things made out of resin because my necklaces tend to be chunky and bulky, so I try to use materials that are not as heavy as using the actual stones and metals. A lot of glass beads. Some of the beads are from Ghana, Kenya, and Tanzania. I love texture, there’s a lot of texture, my variation of textures, in all the pieces. I love turquoise. I also used feathers in some of the designs, I’ve always loved feathers and there are many different variations of feather earrings, so I thought “How can I make mine different?” I like the chains and the feathers. It has a soft and a hard feel to it. They’re made out of silver."

"Some of the pieces are one of a kind, especially the really detailed ones, but a lot of them can be reproduced."

She also told us she'll be adding more jewelry to the site in the future as well as launching a handbag line in 2010. That girl is workin' it. Just take a gander at these gorgeous pieces:



[Photos: Courtesy of Korto Momolu]


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Style.com:

"For Fall, John Galliano took the collection back to the dove gray salons of the Christian Dior headquarters in the Avenue Montaigne to show almost in the way the clothes were traditionally presented to clients and the press in the 1950's. And to be honest, sans the heart-pounding stress, stadium-size crowds, and general hurly-burly, it was a lovelier, more intimate parade to behold.

Galliano said he'd been inspired by behind-the-scenes documentary photographs taken more than half a century ago as Monsieur Dior dressed his cabine of mannequins for shows. The conceit of half-dressed models informed the collection, so that hip-emphasizing basques, girdles, lace-edged slips, and petticoats were hybridized into brightly colored variations on the classic wasp-waisted silhouette of Dior's New Look. "

We fully support a return to "a la maison" style couture shows. The one-of-a-kind pieces deserve a more intimate atmosphere than a tent filled with a thousand people and besides, it's a long tradition in couture.

What we can't really get behind is the styling for this show. We understand that these events are populated by (and planned by) people who have seen it all when it comes to fashion and it's difficult to find new and interesting ways to display the clothes. We get that. But sending the models out half-dressed because you were inspired by old backstage photos of half-dressed models might seem interesting if you're John Galliano, but it makes for a decidedly half-assed presentation (literally). It seems like something you'd see in an editorial rather than a fashion show.

As for the clothes, they're beautiful and very, very Dior, which is something of a problem. There's little, if anything, that looks new here. Beautiful, yes, but also very done.

Fug.

What else can we say? Taken separately, some of it's okay. We're not a fan of Wilma tops, but fine, there's nothing wrong with it. However, we detest putting a bow on a grown woman.

And while the skirt is also fine (even if we hate the color), that net he constructed is just plain stupid. It would be one thing if it fit correctly, but it bunches up the skirt underneath it.

Oh, and it's ugly.

Do you know how HARD it is to come up with new ways of critiquing these facacta clothes?

The hell?
Why wasn't this tacky-ass-looking thing in the bottom of the pile? We admit that the little short-sleeved coat was kind of cute...

But Jesus H. Christ, take it off and it's Hello Hooker! And she should have been called on the fact that not only did she already do a sheer top during the competition, but she did a sheer top in what looks like the exact same fabric.

And speaking of fabric...

Man, that is one flame-retardant skirt. It should have a little "Brought to you by the fine folks at DuPont" label on it because that's not fabric, that's a chemistry experiment.

[Photos: BravoTV.com - Screencaps: Projectrungay.blogspot.com]


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In an editorial for V Magazine's July/August issue Cameron Diaz pays tribute to Madonna:








We don't know, these pics just aren't doing it for us. Cammy never met a camera who didn't like her, but she seems weirdly out of her element in these pictures. And of all the women out there to do an editorial paying tribute to Madonna, she seems like a very strange choice. Besides, there's "paying tribute" and then there's looking like an impersonator. It's not that she evokes Madonna in these pictures; it's that they went to great lengths to make her look exactly like her. It all just comes off a little unimaginative to us. Interesting, but kind of a head-scratcher.

[Photos: Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott/Vmagazine.com/Style.com]

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Style.com:

"Tomas Maier's exploration of male American archetypes has generated some mighty fine pieces of clothing in the eight years since he took the helm at Bottega Veneta, but he might have outdone himself for Spring 2010. The first hint was in the hairdos created for the show by star tonsorialist Guido Palau. It was a sticky-uppy, urgent look—hair for a young man in a hurry. And where might he be going? Well, a baseball jacket opened the show, then there was an army-ish group followed by tailored pieces in Chinese red and the pinks and oranges of a tropical sunset (also, exotic floral motifs and a blouson in red silk). Next came an extraordinary tie-dye moment, and, finally, denims paired with a midnight-blue tux jacket—quintessential all-American casual dressiness. The arc was unmistakably cinematic: young sporting star enlists, gets caught up in some Southeast Asian military adventure—with attendant psychedelic freak-out—and returns home as decorated hero. Okay, maybe I'm under the influence of the florid shade Maier labeled "fever red," and maybe what we saw really was a statement about mixing up formal and sporty with nary a care for rules (that would be the tailored jacket-and-sweatpants ensemble), but kudos to the designer for projecting such extraordinarily vivid images in his audience's mind, however delusional they/I might be."

Okay, that review is just a skosh too breathless for us to totally get behind, but we agree that this is a fantastic collection of stylish, wearable looks for the modern male. In fact, if we can continue the line of thought in Style's review, it appears to us that this collection takes a good look at all the archetypes of the modern man - from sports star, to businessman, to rock star, to lover - it's the grown up style equivalent of the little boy who can't decide if he wants to be an astronaut, a fireman, or President. From manly man to fop and everything in between, this collection isn't just for the modern man, it's about the modern man.




[Photos: firstView]


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Tell us a little about your background and family in Honduras.
I was born at…how do you call it? A banana field where the Chiquita banana started, that’s where I was born. My family was a very typical one, they were farmers. I have six siblings. I was the only “coo-coo” one. I’m the black sheep in the family.

You once made a dress for your mother out of a tablecloth.
Yes, I did. It was for my graduation. She didn’t have anything to wear and she wanted to buy something and I said that I would buy the material. It was a material full of flowers, beautiful, and I had no idea it was a tablecloth.

Is that when you envisioned yourself as a fashion designer?
The moment I decided I wanted to be a fashion designer I was six or seven years old. I got sick and they had these missionaries from America in town at the hospital. I had an infection in my foot because I didn’t have shoes and it got infected because of the rain. I remember them taking me to the hospital to give me medicine and I was crying and this American lady gave me these magazines so that I could relax, and one of them was a Vogue magazine, and of course that’s the one I picked. I still have the magazine. I can show it to you. That's when I fell in love with fashion.

You went to school to be an architect.
Yes, I’m an architect. That’s what I studied, then, I moved to Mexico to study fashion. I got a scholarship and I went to Milan where I studied for two years. Well, actually it was eight months studying and the rest of time I was having fun [laughs]. Then I moved to the United States. That was my goal, to come here.

Did you think that you could fulfill your dreams here? Is that why you came here?
I knew I could never be a fashion designer in Honduras. In Mexico, they pretty much copy fashion from outside, and this is not my style. I also thought that Europe was very conservative. It’s more about legacy, you have to have a big name, you maybe have to come from a very rich, respectable family and even when I was there people kept telling me that I should be in America. America is a young country of young people, and the fashion is fresh. America is a rebel, baby.

Speaking of America, you’re so funny on the show. Are you always over the top like that?
[Laughs] Always, darling, always, and there’s a lot more.

We noticed that everything you made for the show was very well constructed. Take the yellow coat, for example, amazing work in such a short period of time. When did you learn to sew so well?
I was eleven years old when I learned how to sew. My family couldn’t afford to buy me clothes, so what I used to do was to buy vintage clothes. Something that I don’t like too much, so, I used to destroy the vintage clothes and copy the pattern and make something else for me in the materials and the color I wanted. I used to destroy all the garments and see how they were made and I learned how to do it myself. I’m not patient to wait for somebody to do something that I want.

Now, you said you didn’t know anything about Madame Grès and yet you made this great gown that was very much her style and aesthetic. Did anyone help you?
Nobody. I didn’t even know who she was and I was just trying to concentrate. I kept thinking, "Who is she?" It’s true. She came to me in the night and told me.

Most of our readers cannot believe the judges sent you home with that last outfit.
You know, everybody in this life has a destiny and it was my time to go. I could’ve done the best outfit, an outrageous dress, it doesn’t matter. I knew I was out. It was part of the plan [laughs]. You just have to accept it. I take everything that comes to my life, I take it and I transform it into something positive for me.

Did you think there were worse outfits?
Oh, yes, honey and I said so.

Were you and James-Paul close? It seemed that way, especially towards the end.
I like James-Paul because we’re both different. We try to experiment with fashion and that’s the way you grow, that’s how science and everything…that’s why we got aspirin, they experimented with everything. That’s how you grow as a designer, if you’re stuck in the same position you never grow and I see James-Paul trying to find his identity and I like that about him. The same with Reco, and the other contestants, they play safe. They just want to please the market, I don’t have any reason to be pleasing the market. People that can afford my clothes will buy them.

You have dressed many celebrities, such as Paula Abdul, Paris Hilton, and Marilyn Manson.
Yes, they like my clothes and that’s my niche. I have my niche, and I dress a lot of women from high society in my area here in Beverly Hills and Bel-Air. They are all very happy with my work because it’s unique, it’s different and they are collectors. Some say “I don’t even fit in that dress, but I’m buying it because I love it.”

One of the things that impressed us about you on the show it’s that you like to be challenged, play with fabrics you never used before, for example. To us, that’s the sign of a true creative designer.
Yes, the material itself doesn’t make you a good designer; it’s what you can do with it. I'm intrigued by new things, new materials I've never used before. I like to see what I can create with them. I was trying to expose a concept on the show. I’m not trying to be a cookie cutter. Honey, I have gotten so many offers to work for companies here in LA. Hell no, that’s not what I want to do in my life. You know, I have suffered so much in my life. I’ve slept in the street in Europe and here in America too just to survive and stay true to myself and do what I like.

You’ve been called the Latino John Galliano.
[Laughs] Yes, in the Latin market. They are very proud of me because they know my career, where I came from and I’m not ashamed at all. Everything I got it’s because of myself, just me, me, me, me.

How would you describe your style and aesthetic, Merlin?
I’m more experimental. I like to keep together the colors. It’s more theatrical, it’s very theatrical actually. I like to play with different patterns. I’m the shape shifter. I want to try to find a new shape that can accommodate a woman, to establish the new shape of the century, like Dior did in the 50s. He changed thoroughly the shape of the woman. I want to experiment with the new materials. I want to find out about new technologies.

Your decoy collection was an explosion of shapes and vibrant colors. What was your inspiration?
My inspiration was this painter, Max Ernst. He’s got this painting from the 40s called “The Robing of the Bride.” He’s amazing; he’s the master of the masters. I took all the colors from that painting and that was my inspiration.

Were you pleased with the way it turned out?
Yes, I was very happy and I named it “The Phoenix” because I’m like a Phoenix, I emerge from the ashes.

We’re glad you got to show your collection. We knew it would be quite a show. So, did you enjoy being on The Fashion Show?
That was an amazing experience. Now people aren’t going to be in shock when they see me, when they see the Phoenix walking. They’ll say “Oh, that’s Merlin.” You know, when you see me for the first time you are shocked. I don’t know why, I’m just a little mouse. My business partner says that I got presence wherever I go. I love it, I like to be like that.

Well, you’re very good at it. Never change, darling. What's next on your agenda?
I have a lot of plans for this year. I’m presenting a new collection in Miami for spring. I’m going to my country for a dinner with the president and everybody over there and present a collection there too. I’m also launching a new line.

You’re going to be busy. Thank you so much, Merlin.
Thank you, guys.



Merlin's decoy collection:


[Photos: BravoTV.com/WireImage/MetMuseum.org]


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