baddaddy, indeed

I know that I have gone to great lengths in order to document my complete adoration of Laura Bennett, but my fascination continues. As I reported back in October, the final collections of the Project Runway designers went up on the auction block. Apparently Laura's Husband, Peter Shelton (under the moniker "baddaddy") bid on and won 6 of the 12 pieces from Laura's collection.

Here are the runway shots of the pieces that have been reclaimed by Laura, as well as some recent snaps that show Laura's masterful touch in great detail.

Auction price tag - $600

Auction price tag - $720

Auction price tag - $590

Auction price tag - $4,500

Auction price tag - $910

Auction price tag - $1,525

Grand total - $8,845
Not bad - for 6 pieces!

tea bag

You know Kelly Ripa loves a good tea bag...

katharine mcphee

Katharine McPhee's highly anticipated album finally dropped today. Do yourself a huge favor and pick up a copy (or two). LOVE her!

2007 australian open - mens final

At this point, what does one even say about Roger Federer?

Via The New York Times -

At least there is history for Roger Federer to play against, because for the moment, no man is much of a match. Fernando González gave it all he had, or at least all he had left, in the final Sunday at the Australian Open. With his forehand working and Federer’s slightly off target, the Chilean even managed to serve for the opening set.

But despite all the Latin emotion in motion, the coolest head in tennis once again ruled the evening as Federer defended his title in Melbourne and won his 10th Grand Slam singles title with a 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-4 victory.

If Federer’s opponents hoped that all his success in the past three seasons would leave him feeling sated, his performance here in the year’s first Grand Slam event was an unmistakable signal that he remains eager and excellent.

For the first time in his groundbreaking career, Federer swept through a Grand Slam tournament without dropping a set, and the only set points he faced were the two he saved in the first set against González.

...o'er the land of the free...

With the hot global mess that the current administration has made, the upcoming Presidential election is more important than ever. These days it seems that everyone in Washington wants to get their skin in the game - save of course, for John Kerry (thank Christ). This weekend Guiliani is stomping around New Hampshire trying to drum up some publicity for himself, while Hillary has been doing the meet and greet in Iowa. Check out this painful clip... an open mic picked up on Hillary singing along to the national anthem earlier today.

I can't fathom tone deafness, but I guess you can't fault a girl for giving it her all. Painful!

2007 australian open - ladies final

Never underestimate a motherfucking Williams sister!

Via The New York Times -

It has been two weeks of turning back the clock for Serena Williams, and under a closed roof during Saturday’s Australian Open women’s final, she completed her astoundingly quick trip back to dominance against the top-seeded Maria Sharapova.

Under the lights, she was the relentless Williams of yore: crushing returns and first serves, casting ominous glances across the net and showing not the slightest hint of vulnerability as she raced to a 6-1, 6-2 victory.

The rout, which required just one hour and three minutes, capped one of the most remarkable comebacks in tennis history, and it came against the young, confident woman who will regain the No. 1 ranking on Monday.

But there could be no doubt about who was No. 1 Saturday, as Williams applied enormous pressure from the start and methodically extracted all the suspense to win her eighth Grand Slam singles title and third Australian Open title.

She also won here in 2003 and 2005, and that victory in 2005 was her last in any tournament until this year’s unexpected run through a brutal draw in Melbourne. Although Williams arrived here unseeded and ranked 81st, she eliminated six seeded players in her seven matches.

But Williams, the first unseeded woman to win here since the Australian Chris O’Neil in 1978, saved the most prestigious victim for last. When it was over, Williams was jumping up and down with delight, reaching up into the stands to slap hands with her mother and coach, Oracene Price, and eventually dancing in front of her chair. Meanwhile, Sharapova was sitting in hers with tears streaming down her cheeks.

“You can never underestimate her as an opponent, and I don’t think many of you expected her to be in the final, but I definitely did,” Sharapova said to the crowd in Rod Laver Arena. “I know what she’s capable of. She showed it today. She’s an amazing champion, and she showed it here many times, and of course I look forward to playing her many more times, and winning a few, I hope.”

chanel - spring 2007 couture

It wouldn't be fashion week without a rave for Karl Lagerfeld. Once again the fashion press has fallen all over his latest collection for Chanel - and for good reason. After all Karl is the doyen(ne) of the industry.

As always, the collection is chock-full of variety - from the very mod Edie Sedgwick pieces at the beginning of the lineup, to the belted military coats to his slinkier shredded dresses. His proportion is what pulls the collection together - specifically, a belted higher waist.

What Karl does so well is to maintain the integrity of Chanel and keep his design very current - all the while creating innovative and beautiful clothes for women of almost every age.

Here is the official review from Style.com -

The genius of Karl Lagerfeld is his way of whacking a topical spin into every couture collection without ever compromising the ineffable core of Chanel.

This time, he had a phalanx of men roll out a giant double-C rug, and struck up the band—Cat Power, who laid into some punked-up Stones and Smokey Robinson classics.

So it was with the opening volley of clothes—sixties-but-modern supershort coat-dresses and even more abbreviated jackets, all striding out on a base of leggy black tights. His ability to compress variety into those rigorously tiny, neat silhouettes was something to behold. There was a black one with patent collar, cuffs, and pocket flaps.

A navy military pea coat had bandbox-smart striped edgings. Yet more toppers with delicious sproutings of feathers or fragile tulle bows followed, until out came a gorgeous little raggedy-edged dress with a tight waist and puffed-out skirt.

Any other designer might have been satisfied to stop there, but Lagerfeld had evening to deal with. There, he changed gear, flipping between pristine military mess jackets over long, sheer-net skirts and silvery sequined streaks of vertical ribbon, let loose in the hem to whip around, car wash-style.

If that gave a more random feel to the show’s second half, well, it also succeeded in covering all occasions (and age requirements). To produce a show of this vast range and handiwork takes an army.

To that point, Lagerfeld had a nice finale up his sleeve. At the end, a curtain drew back to reveal the massed Chanel workers: models, atelier staff, studio designers, and house ambassador Amanda Harlech, who all followed Lagerfeld out to share the applause.

he exuberates fantasticisms

I don't really know if there are words that could do this kid any kind of justice... so without further ado, I present superstar, dancer, singer - Ian Benardo.

Apparently he was also on "So You Think You Can Dance." Oh, and did you catch the part about how he "exuberates fantasticisms?" Well said.

Larry King, in his quest to be oh so culturally relevant, welcomed Ian as well as a whole slew of former American Idol rejects on his show the other night.



Hopefully this kid's star has reached its peak.

christian dior - spring 2007 couture

Paris is currently playing host to the Spring 2007 couture shows, where designers including Karl Lagerfeld, John Galliano and Elie Saab have been showing their latest creations.

John Galliano's collection for Christian Dior completely blows me away. As is customary for Galliano couture, everything is completely over the top - however this collection is presented in an almost curatorial way, and I actually find it to be quite tangible.

Here is the official review from Style.com -

What psychological process did it take to lift John Galliano to the extraordinary place of brilliance he reached—or rather, rediscovered—in his spring couture? Everything about the Dior collection—inspired, he said, “by Pinkerton’s affair with Cio-Cio San, Madame Butterfly”—reconfirmed his unique talent to evoke beauty, sensitivity, narrative, and emotion in a fashion show.

Kimonos, obis, and geisha makeup were Dior-ified, transformed into delicate translations of New Look peplum suits and full-skirted dance dresses. Each look sprouted yet more miraculous planes of origami folding, their stiff geometries creating necklines like flowers or hovering birds.

Every dress had an intense color and character of its own; a hot pink, an eau-de-nil with coral, cascading shades of burgundy and imperial purple. Some were painted, others sculpted from curviform furls of woven straw.

This was a return to form, and then some: a collection that represented a comprehensive ditching of the techno-brashness, crude drag-queen posturings, and overdone multireferencing that had come to obscure Galliano’s talent in an increasingly bewildering way. Whatever caused this turnaround—the bleak sense of withdrawal of his last ready-to-wear collection puts it in particularly sharp relief—the recovery has been spectacular.

Giant gray House of Dior chairs set on a series of podiums helped rekindle the magic of those delightful nineties shows in which Shalom Harlow and her friends used to method-model their way up and down Galliano’s catwalks. And lo! There was Harlow herself, the bride, sprigs of diamonds atremble in her geisha hairdo.

For anyone who first glimpsed Galliano’s raw, romantic genius 20 years ago, or witnessed the impact of his first, all-black Japanese collection done on a shoestring a decade ago, today's presentation recaptured everything that ever made him a force to be reckoned with. Was it anything new? No. But when Galliano does what he does this brilliantly, there’s no one who can touch him.

1 month later

cristy needs an intervention

If you haven't discovered the show Intervention on A&E, then you really need to. I have been a major fan since I first saw previews for the show a few years ago - and have subsequently seen every single episode. Yeah, I have always loved a good train wreck. My favorite contestant - I like to call them "contestants", was Cristy.

Per the A&E website - Cristy was born into a tight-knit family and sought a career as a clothing designer before she became addicted to alcohol and crystal meth. Now she earns her money as a stripper, and her desperate family knows she needs an intervention.



...and this, my friends, is why I LOVE this show!

joan collins is a bitch!

Newsflash - Mrs. Garrett is kicking asses and taking names - and apparently Alexis Carrington is first on the list! Go on with your bad, old self... Mrs. Garrett.

"Who is this old cow?" CLASSIC!

the gentlemen i know prefer gentlemen.

The Cinema Society and David Yurman recently hosted a screening of the Marilyn Monroe classic film, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. A reporter from New York magazine asked one of the guests, Bebe Neuwirth "Do gentlemen really prefer blondes?"

Her response - "The gentlemen I know prefer gentlemen." Triple love her!

Neuwirth, the Tony Award winner who created the role of Velma Kelly in the revival of Kander and Ebb's Chicago, returned to the production Dec. 31 as the show's other merry murderess, Roxie Hart.

Source

2007 golden globes - it looked better on the runway!

Now that the 2007 awards season has kicked off, I thought that I would take a few minutes to do another little fashion post - one that I would like to call "2007 Golden Globes - It looked better on the runway!"...

Cate Blanchett in Alexander McQueen
Meryl Streep in Carolina Herrera
Beyonce Knowles in Elie Saab
Kyra Sedgwick in J. Mendel

Mary-Louise Parker in Marchesa
Hayden Panettiere in Monique Lhiullier
Ellen Pompeo in Versace
Drew Barrymore in Christian Dior

Cameron Diaz in Valentino
Sheryl Crow in Elie Saab
Salma Hayek in Christian Dior
Jade Pinkett Smith in Armani Prive

I know that the noise regarding models being too skinny has been almost deafening as of late - but irrespective of all that, it still always looks better on the runway!

2007 golden globes - red carpet recap

I know that I'm a few days late with this post, but I was out of town - and hadn't watched the Golden Globes until yesterday. Also, I haven't been posting much of anything lately - so I've been kind of blog sluggish in general. Anyway, here is my 2007 Golden Globes fashion recap...

Sara Ramirez, Rachel Weisz, Jada Pinkett Smith, Vanessa Minnillo

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Reese Witherspoon, Maria Menounos, Becki Newton

Renee Zellweger, Felicity Huffman, Elizabeth Mitchell, Abigail Breslin

Naomi Watts, Edie Falco, Geena Davis, Toni Collette

Shaun Robinson, Sheryl Crow, America Ferrera, Eva Longoria

Isla Fisher, Jennifer Hudson, Rosanna Arquette, Jenna Fischer

Tina Fey, Cate Blanchett, Katherine Heigl, Hilary Swank

Maggie Gyllenhaal, Penelope Cruz, Mary-Louis Parker, Jennifer Lopez

Sandra Oh, Svetlana Metkina, Angelina Jolie, Courtney Cox

Jennifer Love Hewitt, Vanessa Williams, Beyonce Knowles, Emilie de Ravin

Patricia Arquette, Meryl Streep, Sarah Jessica Parker, Evangeline Lilly

Rinko Kikuchi, Jessica Biel, Emily Blunt, Kyra Sedgwick

Kate Winslet, Drew Barrymore, Sarah Paulson, Hayden Panettiere

Teri Hatcher, Sienna Miller, Yunjin Kim, Nicollette Sheridan

Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Garner, Melora Hardin, Ellen Pompeo

Heidi Klum, Salma Hayek, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Ali Larter

All in all there were only about 3 ladies who actually wore something other than white. My favorites included Jennifer Hudson (in Vera Wang), Cate Blanchett (in Alexander McQueen), Sarah Jessica Parker (in L'Wren Scott), Cameron Diaz (in Valentino) and Ali Larter (in Reem Acra).

Those who particularly missed the mark (in my opinion) included Rosanna Arquette, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Vanessa Williams (the hair ruined it), Patricia Arquette, and Heidi Klum.

My hands down favorite for the night was absolutely Reese Witherspoon, who wore Olivier Theyskens for Nina Ricci. The biggest loser of the night had to have been Beyonce Knowles - who looked like both a tranny and an idiot in that awful Elie Saab gown.