We know a lot has happened since you were on Project Runway. Fill us in on your doings since.
Holy cow! Let's see, I'll give you a list, it'll go quicker...

-Finishing my book, "I Heart Chris March," which comes out this week!

-I have filmed two TV pilots to be the host of my own show (one is a fashion makeover show and one is about me and my crazy workshop), plus, a few other television offers on the table.

-I have done designs for Prince, and made costumes for the lovely Beyonce and her latest tour.

-Working on a line of women's ready-to-wear (hopefully to be sold on TV).

-Blogging about "Project Runway" on mylifetime.com, as well as my weekly video "Runway Rundown" on tvguide.com.

-The "drag" episode of PR on Season 5, and of course the "Project Runway All-Stars Challenge" earlier this year.

-A cameo in the upcoming film "Bear City" (a spoof of "Sex and the City" with big, hairy gay men!), and I also got an audition for "30 rock".

-Various TV, charity, and publicity appearances, including my favorite--being the costume contest judge at the season 3 premiere of "Mad Men" in Times Square!!

We're exhausted just reading that. You're also getting back into performing, right?
I am doing a one man show in February (13th, 14th and 15th) at the Ars Nova Theater in New York called, "Laughing at my Expense". It's a mix of stand-up, biography, and crazy costumes.

Tell us more about your line of women's clothing.
Well, it is based on some of my past designs (like the PR all-stars stuff) made a little more mass market accessible. I have gotten so many requests for it, I finally decided to do it.

You mentioned how you were a contest judge at the premiere of Mad Men season 3 in Times Square. Joan Holloway: potential drag icon?
I love Joan! I wish I was her...my mother had a red wig that I used to wear in 1966 (I was 3 years old) so I have been channeling her my whole life. Big boobs, big hair, gallons of eyeliner--what's not to love?

So, what really happened with the whole Beyonce and Thierry Mugler lawsuit? We heard so many different versions and opinions that we couldn't make head or tail of it.
I'm not allowed to comment too thoroughly on this issue, but legally speaking, the lawsuit is against Thierry Mugler for non-payment of invoices. Not Beyonce. It is for Beyonce's costumes that I was not paid. You can Google it, and get thousands (literally) of versions of the story...

Let's talk about your costumes, they're really amazing. When did you start designing them?
In kindergarten; I started making costumes for myself to play in, and then for Halloween, and then it just morphed into my profession before I knew it. I have always been creative, and costumes just include all the things I love, including humor and fantasy.

You always find a way to use non-traditional materials in interesting ways, like the geisha girl on your site with the tubing for a wig. How did you receive your training? Did you go to school or are you self-taught?
I went to college, but not for any kind of design degree. I am self-taught, mostly because I could never find anything I wanted off the rack. Plus, nobody could really create the outrageous look I was after, so I just learned to do it myself. I think that has really expanded my horizons--I will make anything out of anything, even if it's "against the rules".

What's your favorite part of a costume? The gown, headpiece, wig...? What's the one piece that makes a costume?
You know I have a fondness (obsession!) with large things on my head, whether it's a wig, headpiece, or the Chrysler building. The one thing that makes the costume? Always--the idea behind it.

Tell us about your book,"I Heart Chris March."
It is a 150 page photo book of the last 25 years of my costume and fashion designs. It is packed with one outrageous photo after another--it was kind of overwhelming to see them all in one place!! It was the best way I could think of to share my world with everyone.

Was it hard to choose what photographs/looks would go in the book? We know you have an insane amount of costumes and photographs.
The hardest part was deciding what to leave out--I will only embarrass myself to a certain extent....

The book has a foreword by Tim Gunn. How did that come about?
Oh, Tim....he is such a special person to me. I have told him many times that he is my guardian angel on earth. All I did was ask, and he wrote the most beautiful, flattering thing you can imagine....the great Harvey Fierstein also wrote an incredible blurb for the back cover.

Where can people buy the book?
You can order it exclusively through my website (www.chrismarchdesign.com) or go directly to this purchase page: http://www.chrismarchdesign.com/ilovechrismarch/

If you want to get the book before Christmas, please order it by December 4th (Friday!). Due to popular request, I am going to do my best to sign all of them....

Still dating the guy who sent you an email right after the show aired?
Yes...I have the most wonderful boyfriend in the world thanks to "Project Runway". He saw me on the show and sent me an email on Valentine's Day--We met and have been together ever since. That's what I meant when I said I had no idea how much love the universe would send my way....

Well, we can’t wait to get our hands on your book. Thank you, Chris!
Thank you, guys.


[Photos: Courtesy of chrismarchdesign.com]


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Our favorite half hour of campy reality TV bitchiness is on its way back and we can't wait to shred some hair, bitches. Unfortunately, host Jaclyn Smith and mentor Rene Fris have both moved on, so we're ready to sit back and judge the performance of new host Camilla Alves and new mentor Orlando Pita. We'll just see about that. Plus we have the returning Miss Kim Vo and her Performing Lips, joined by new judge and veteran stud in the Bravo Stable O' Stars, Jonathan Antin, who brings something every judging panel needs: massive ego. Okay, maybe not. Still he's a top stylist with reality TV chops. If nothing else, he'll be entertaining.

God bless the hairstylists. What a colorful little muster of peacocks we have here. What with all the time we spend ripping on fashion designers and their sometimes dreary pretensions, it's a breath of fresh air to spend time with people who will do or wear anything to establish a look for themselves. "I'm going to dye my hair CANARY YELLOW!" "I'm gonna wear a skintight low cut pink t-shirt with LIPS all over it!" "I'm gonna wear a tiny little red satin stripper dress!" "The HELL with it! I'm just gonna wear a black satin pair of underpants on the bottom - JUST BECAUSE!"

What's not to love about that? And except for the bald guy, everyone has VERY STYLED hair.

We will, as always, be blogging the shit out of it once it starts airing.


From the press release:

BRAVO’S “SHEAR GENIUS” IS BACK FOR A THIRD SEASON WITH 12 CUTTING EDGE STYLISTS

Series Premieres Wednesday, February 3 At 11 PM ET/PT

NEW YORK – December 2, 2009 – Bravo’s creative hair-styling competition series “Shear Genius” is back for its third season with a whole new look, premiering Wednesday, February 3 at 11 p.m. ET/PT. International model and handbag designer Camila Alves makes her hosting debut alongside new series judge Jonathan Antin, celebrity stylist and former star of Bravo’s hit series “Blow Out.” Famed stylist Kim Vo returns as a judge for his second season, and new to the series, accomplished stylist Orlando Pita adds his voice of expertise as mentor to the contestants.

Joining the expert panel each week, stars from the hair world and beyond serve as guest judges to determine who makes the cut, including Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Estelle, Tabatha Coffey, star of “Tabatha’s Salon Takeover,” renowned hair guru Ken Paves and celebrated stylist, Oribe.

“Shear Genius” has gone international for the first time ever and after combing the world in search of top stylists, Bravo has assembled 12 remarkably talented individuals who will raise the level of competition as never seen before. The winner will receive $100,000 in prize money furnished by Nexxus Salon Hair Care, an apprenticeship with Nexxus and the chance to style hair for an Allure magazine photo shoot.

The world of styling is much bigger than just a salon – and Bravo’s “Shear Genius” offers a glimpse into that captivating and little-known arena. This season the challenges are more glamorous, the hair more knotty, and the competition more fierce, as the contestants attempt to demonstrate that their style is a cut above the rest. Throughout the course of the series, the stylists’ skills are put to the test as they find themselves working behind the scenes at an iconic hotel, styling a celebrity at a glamorous home in the Hollywood Hills, and even in a rural barn.

Following are the 12 stylists competing on the series:

· Adee – 36, Hometown: London, England

· Amy – 25, Hometown: Toronto, Canada

· April – 42, Hometown: New York, NY.

· Arzo –35, Hometown: San Francisco, Calif.

· Brian – 37, Hometown: New York, N.Y.

· Brig – 33, Hometown: Simi Valley, Calif.

· Faatemah – 36, Hometown: Minneapolis, Minn.

· Giacomo – 43, Hometown: Austin, Texas

· Janine – 28, Hometown: Los Angeles, Calif.

· Joey – 29, Hometown: Melbourne, Australia

· Jon – 38, Hometown: Nashville, Tenn.

· Matthew – 38, Hometown: Denver, Colo.


[Photos and video: BravoTV.com]


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To be honest, we had planned to do a post just on Miss Liu's outfit but we saw CR in the pics for this event and had to feature them both. Has Christina changed stylists lately? Suddenly she's wearing all these meant-to-be-talked-about outfits. Let's break it down.

When we first laid eyes on the dress, we were all, "Wow, so '90s." but in a good way. Not that it isn't a modern looking dress. Certainly the cutouts are very in right now. We haven't figured out who the designer is yet.

But it's a very tight silhouette with a very prime-time soap opera hem length and while you can do some fabulous things with that while you're young and have the body to pull it off, unless you pay attention to the details, you can look a bit trashy. It's all a roundabout way of saying that she didn't pull it off in the styling. The heavy shoes, the bag with the kind of sporty strap length, the severe hair - it's all a bit much for a dress that's already quite enough.

Now, Miss Liu on the other hand:

That girl did it just right.



Sure, it's a bit safe, but it's classic and simple and the shoes are fierce. Can't go wrong with that.

[Photos: WireImage/Style.com]


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Just because Project Runway, Mad Men and V are all on hiatus at the moment doesn't mean your beloved bloggers get to take a rest, darlings. Tomorrow night at 11, we'll be plopping down in front of our TV to watch the premiere episode of Bravo's Launch My Line.

Of course, we've already seen most of the episode via a screener courtesy of Bravo and we're here to give you the goods. First off: it's not Project Runway and thankfully, it's not trying to be. Think of it as Project Runway's glitzier, slightly trashier cousin. Which isn't to say it's trash TV; just that it's not going for the high end fashion feel that PR always strives for. It's more in the "guilty pleasure," reality TV mode and that's fine with us.

Conceptually, it's markedly different. Oh sure, at the end of the day it's all about a model walking a runway wearing an outfit made in a ridiculously short time, but the feel of the show is different. It's all about pseudo-celebrities, people who've made their mark in some field other than fashion, trying to, well, launch a line in the way that pseudo-celebrities always seem to do. They're not trained and most of them can't sew a stitch. All of them are paired with trained designers to help them realize their vision. So it's all team-ups, all the time, and that makes for some delicious reality TV drama.

Because of the different setup and because the contestants themselves aren't trained designers, there's a TON of personality on display. If you're one of the people who watch PR solely to watch trained designers exhibit their technical skills, this probably isn't the show for you. If you're someone who likes to watch reality TV just to bitch at the screen and offer opinions as to the output of the contestants, come sit next to us, kitten, because this IS the show for you.

And to be fair, from what we could see, the clothes weren't that bad. And thankfully, it's staged on a very well-lit runway so you'll have no problem really getting in there and bitching about the technical details.

It's hosted by freakish twins Dan and Dean of DSQUARED2 and while we definitely needed a minute or two to get used to them, they're certainly an interesting choice. Sweeter than Isaac Mizrahi and bitchier than Tim Gunn, they weirded us out a bit because they're 40-something helium-voiced twins with 28-inch waists who dress alike and finish each other's sentences. If nothing else, they're certainly unique among TV hosts.

Just, if you're going to watch, do yourself a favor: forget about Project Runway. This isn't it. The good news is, it's not The Fashion Show either. Sure, there's bitchiness and camera-hogging on display, but it didn't have the dour, funereal feel of Bravo's last effort in the fashion reality TV genre.

We can't speak to the quality of the show over the long haul, but there was enough there to keep our interest and we will, of course, be blogging it. How could we not? Fame whores and fashion, darlings! What else is life for?

Here's some previews to wet your whistle:





"Launch My Line" will premiere on Wednesday, December 2 at 11 p.m. ET/PT


[Photos and Videos: BravotTV.com]


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Brooke Shields attends IFP's 19th Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards at Cipriani, Wall Street in New York City wearing a Malandrino dress.


Because we kept going back and forth on the fit. It's a lot looser on her than it is on the model but ultimately we came to the conclusion that not every dress needs to be form-fitting and besides, it's doing her figure a lot of favors as it is. We love the graphic quality of this dress. It gives it a bold, youthful vibe without looking like she's trying to dress too young. It's exactly the right length for her and she looks sexy and curvy. Our only complaint is with the way too matchy-match shoes but to be honest, we're not sure what color shoes we'd have recommended. Black would have been a safe choice, but no more exciting than what she's wearing. IN.


[Photos: WireImage/Style.com]


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These are from Korean designer Wooyoungmi's fall 2009 collection. Lorenzo loves them. Tom's not so sure he'd want to be standing next to him in public should he ever decide to wear one.

Okay, that's not true. We're both in agreement that from a design perspective; a purely aesthetic point of view, these are all certainly eye-catching and interesting. Because really, that's the only way you can look at these. You certainly can't bring functionality into the discussion.

We don't know who would wear something like this but one thing's for sure: they won't be waving their hands in the air like they just don't care.




[Photos: fashionising.com]


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The singular Dita Von Teese did what she does best (dressing up and posing) for the Harper's Bazaar Russia December 2009 issue, photographed by Marcin Tyszka. Let's take a look, shall we?













The clothes are gorgeous and perfectly suited for her but something's a little off here. She looks too posey-posey and the shots just aren't as dramatic as the both the clothes and the model require. We think it might be the photographer at fault here because Dita never had a problem having her picture taken before.

Okay, and now the slightly offensive part. We realize that this look is her signature look and she'd be nothing without it, but she's getting awfully close to the date where she's going to age right out of it. You can pull off that retro burlesque thing in your 20s and 30s, but in your 40s? It's gonna have the stink of desperation. She's not there yet, but she's definitely lost the dewy quality she used to have. Don't get us wrong, we're not saying that a woman's desirability ends when the first digit becomes a 4, but it's not always a good idea to be working the same look for over 15 years, especially when it's such a distinct look. We figure the expiration date is somewhere within the next 5 years. After that, she'll be entering Ann Miller territory.


[Images: TheFashionSpot/Tarsha/Style.com]


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Okay, we're gonna say something about Kalyn that was weighing on us all season. She's a pretty girl and there's no reason to think she can't be a successful model, but to our eyes, she doesn't look like a fashion model. She's got the conventionally pretty, beauty queen looks that would make her perfect for say, hair products and makeup modeling. She's just not striking enough for runway walking. Nothing illustrates this more than this look, which was Irina's surprise 13th-look. Why she picked this look for Kalyn to wear is a mystery to us. She can't pull off the edgier stuff. Blow out her hair and put her in one of those fluffy sweaters and she's your girl.

As for the look, love the lower half, but the upper half is WAY overworked. We hate the silhouette from the side and the way it makes her look like her boobs are blooming from a flower. Plus, the fit up top is weird. We no likey.


[Photos: firstVIEW.com - Video: Youtube/myLifetime]


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Additional pics:




[firstVIEW.com]


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We are still in the throes of turkey and carb overload-induced coma while simultaneously attempting to gear ourselves up for what we hope is a mere toe-dip into Black Friday madness, and since this was a pretty disjointed episode that recycled a lot of the same old conflicts, we're only up for bullet points and videos. We figure that's all you're up for too. Ready? Go.

- Except there are no videos. Boo to Fox, who apparently is protecting its property vigorously. It gets harder and harder to find decent embeddable performance clips from each episode, and this week we couldn't find any at all, unfortunately.

- It says something about the quality of the episode that we're not particularly upset about Bullet Point # 1. There just weren't any kickass musical numbers. Sure, "Papa Don't Preach" was cute (and Quinn's best vocal performance yet) and so was "True Colors," if only for the long-overdue Tina solo. Her voice was perfectly suited for the song. That Hair + Beyonce mashup was funny - especially the deaf kids' reaction to it - but it's not like we were humming it the next day, which was kind of the point, we guess.

- But what really kind of made us uncomfortable was the "Imagine" number. They were clearly going for the lump-in-the-throat effect (and to be fair, they got it from us, a little bit), but we couldn't help thinking how rude it was for the New Directions kids to jump in uninvited. And it struck us as a little bit of a copout on the creators' part. If you wanted us to tear up over the deaf choir, then have the bravery to give them the spotlight on their own.

- "It's like cool epilepsy." lines like this, along with characters like the pick-pocketing Aphasia, are what keep the show from skirting too far into Hallmark Channel sweetness. The occasional political incorrectness of the show is, for us, a selling point and to its credit, it's applied equally to all the characters, from the pregnant head of the chastity club to the scheming bitchy queen, plotting to trick his unrequited love into loving him.

- Having said that, there's no denying that the show definitely has a problem with its female characters. Terri, her sister Kendra, Quinn, Sue Sylvester, Rachel - they're all either batshit crazy or scheming bitches, usually both. It's to the credit of Jane Lynch and Jessalyn Gilsig that they can find the comedy in their characters, but it's episodes like this one that illustrate just how pervasive it is on the show.

- And speaking scheming queens, we have to give it up for Kurt, who got some of the best lines of the night.


It could be argued that Kurt's character is a cliche and a tragic one at that, but like we said, it's a little refreshing that the gay character can be as politically incorrect as any of the other ones and they've built up enough goodwill by showing us various sides of the character in previous episodes, so we don't mind it at all.

- In case it wasn't obvious, this was clearly not our favorite episode of the season. All the plotlines feel like well-trod ground at this point. Don't get us wrong, it's always an hour bound to get you to laugh at least once and enjoy at least one musical number, but this one was a bit of a letdown.

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Kittens, we couldn't wait to see last night's episode. Not because we were anxious to see what happened next; we already knew what happened next thanks to a screener sent to us by those lovely folks at Warner Brothers. The reason we couldn't wait is because the screener was a rough cut sans special effects (with some unintentionally hilarious results) and we were eager to see what the engine room and the V armada looked like. Well, now we know. Kinda cool that the Vs fly in V formation.

It's all coming together a little bit more. We can't say we know exactly what the Vs are planning, but they clearly built their plan banking on human fears and paranoia. You have to remember that this isn't a strict remake of the original V so it's not a foregone conclusion that they want to eat us. It looks to us like whatever the plan is, it's a bit more complicated than that.

So what do we know? We know that they're sucking humans further and further into relying on them to "save" them, by opening up "medical centers" where they can magically treat a host of ailments that we backwards humans haven't conquered. We know that they've been secretly experimenting on humans and that they plan on introducing a drug they call R6 into a common flu vaccine. We know that Valerie is pregnant with a little V hybrid and that Chad is dying (or was fooled into thinking he is). We know that Georgie is a loose cannon and a pain in the ass and we know that we won't shed a tear when he gets killed. We also know that Tyler is an idiot and we also won't shed a tear whenever he finds out how he's been used by the Vs. Whatever else Tyler is, he's "The One" and we don't think Lisa means her future husband when she calls him that. We know that "The Bliss" entails Anna acting out her own little Chanel No. 5 commercial for the V population, which makes us think she's as much a religious figure as she is a political one to her people - and that makes her far more dangerous and powerful than we originally thought. We know that Father Jack really is Action Priest and we know that Erica, for all her other good points, is kind of a lousy mother. We also know that there are cute gay Vs.

Okay, maybe that last one was just us. But did anyone else get a "I wish I could quit you" vibe from Fifth Columnist Joshua and his little compatriot, who sacrificed himself for the good of the movement? There were an awful lot of longing glances between them, wouldn't you say?

Thankfully, the creators realized that they needed to step up their game and they did so with this episode. We still see problems (and apparently so do they, hence, the hiatus): Erica needs work, the show needs to rethink its style, and the dialogue is sometimes painfully clunky, but the tension level rose dramatically with several major plot advancements and some juicy cliffhangers. How long is Ryan going to let Valerie think she's carrying a normal baby? Now that Erica knows her idiot son is in tight with the Vs, what will she do about it? Will Father Jack live? Of course he will, but now the Vs know who he is and that can't be good. Will Chad become a full-on V supporter after they save his life? What is R6? And what happens when that V armada shows up in our solar system? And the one that they're going to drag out as long as they can: Who is John May?

We know this: we can't wait for the show's return in March.


[Pictures courtesy of ABC TV]


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President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama hosted their first State Dinner for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur of India.

Michelle Obama wore a one-of-a-kind gown designed by Indian-born designer Naeem Khan.



Knocked that one out of the park, wouldn't you say? It's a gorgeous dress and the big earrings and bangles really set it off. Love the hair, but not so in love with the makeup, which, curiously, doesn't look, shall we say, expertly applied. Visible lip liner is a big no. But that's really only noticeable in the closeups. Minor complaint though, because all eyes would only naturally be on that dress and rightfully so. She looks stunning.









[Photos: Getty Images - Video: YouTube/MsMamaobama]


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We love this dress and we think she looks great. Obviously, that means IN. Lorenzo isn't nuts about the tights but Tom doesn't mind them. We're both in agreement that she shouldn't have altered the straps the way she did. It's supposed to be all about lines radiating out from a central point and she almost ruined the effect by eliminating one of the straps. Still, a minor complaint. It's an eye-catching dress and she's rocking it. Love the hair too.



[Photos: WireImage/Style.com]


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An illustration of what well-placed curves can do for a dress. She looks way better than the model.


We like it much better without the belt but the shoes are way too matchy-match.



Feh. It's alright, we guess.


Cute. Nothing earth-shattering. We kind of dig the "'40s bathing costume" vibe of it.




Looks like a trashbag and the shoes make her look awfully stumpy.



Pretty, but a bit too formal and ethereal for the event. Oh, and Nicole? Lay off the flat iron for a bit. That hair looks tortured.



Way too much dress. She looks a little like a wedding invitation.


Yawn. Did you hear us? YAWN.


Very cute. Love the sandals.



We got a lot of emails about this one last night. Most people thought it was a version of Carol Hannah's Bryant Park dress:



But CH herself twittered last night that it wasn't hers. We'd love to know who the designer was because that's close enough to be called a ripoff. The shorts don't help the look.


Note from Carol-Hannah:

"My first thought was "SHORTS??!!"

I don't know what to say about this. I'm generally one to give the benefit of the doubt, but there's an awful lot of shady vibes coming from this given the timing, etc. It's one thing to be copied (potentially)...but a whole other issue when copied poorly.

I would absolutely LOVE to talk to her stylist."



[Photos: WireImage/Style.com]


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