Darlings, before they headed out to the Shear Genius finale party, Lorenzo spent some time at Emmett McCarthy's design studio and snapped some shots. We thought you'd get a kick out of seeing one of the designers at work.
Emmett's sketches are, in the words of St. Tim, "sublime." He showed us a book of his sketches once and they're breathtaking.
He's currently working on his Spring '08 collection. Both of those dresses are gorgeous but the one on the left is fabulous. He's also working on a line of shoes and handbags, which are guaranteed to be to-die-for, no?
With Erin McDonnell, EMc2's VP of Design. Last month, we had the distinct pleasure of having lunch with Emmett, Erin and our good friend and supporter, Ann, aka Gorgeous Things. Erin has a sweet, friendly, low-key personality but when she starts talking about the business, that all fades away to reveal how whip-smart and on-her-game she is.
Unfortunately, the boys had to rush off and be fabulous for the cameras at the party, so these shots were all they had time for, but rest assured, we'll be back. Emmett's got more pies in the oven than you realize and there's going to be several announcements in the months to come. Watch What Happens, kittens!
Yes kids, it's Guys and Dolls! A musical tribute to misogynistic gambling addicts and the dumb girls who love them! Before we get started, we have to pay tribute to probably the greatest character in the whole movie: the fantastic Times Square set, which wisely put forth the idea that this movie is pure fantasy. Had they shot it on location, this would have been a very strange movie.
Not that it's not strange anyway. Two minutes into the movie, no one has uttered a line yet and we've already decided on our favorite characters - not to mention this year's Halloween costumes. Alas, we never see these fabulous whores again.
We meet the local gambling addicts instead. Wouldn't it be great if shady characters stood around and sang about their shadiness all the time? We're introduced to saccharine sweet Sarah Brown, the quintessential good girl. She is virginal and pure and has virtually no sexual characteristics and we all know it's only a matter of time before those buttons come undone. Then we meet Sinatra as Nathan Detroit. Nathan's in charge of the floating crap game that all the other gambling addicts rely on to get their fix. Unfortunately, Nathan's got a bit of a problem. He needs to come up with a thousand bucks to pay off the garage owner so he'll let them hold the crap game there. Boys? Take it away.
Later we meet Nathan's long-time (very long-time) fiancee, Adenoid.
Sorry, that's Adelaide. Honest mistake. Anyway, because she's not too bright, she's been waiting 14 years for her wedding, thinking that Nathan's gonna clean up his act any second now. Oh, honey. Brando. Scorching hot. He plays Sky Masterson, the highest of the high rollers. Nathan, desperate to come up with the 1000 bucks he needs to host the crap game, entices him into a wager he can't refuse. Sky has to convince a girl to fly to Havana with him for dinner. Nathan gets to pick the girl. Big shock. But come on! This is Brando! He could charm the panties off Mother Teresa if he had to!
We'll wait for you to scrub that image from your brain. Sky visits Sarah at the Save-A-Soul Mission, but she keeps her buttons buttoned. But this is a musical of course, so Sky sings at her for a bit. No dice. Next step? Force yourself on her. Charming! Romantic! Okay, maybe we love her a little bit. After slapping him around a bit, she throws him out so she can go masturbate. That night, Adenoid is working it on stage. We've changed our minds. This is our Halloween costume. The Regional Director of the Save-A-Soul Army visits the mission and announces that she's closing it because Sarah's done such a shitty job. Sky interjects and promises that by midnight the next night, there will be at least a dozen sinners sitting in those chairs waiting for their donuts and coffee. Sarah, backed against the wall, reluctantly agrees to go to Havana with him. Nathan doesn't know any of this and expects Sky to show up with his grand any minute. He and the rest of the gambling addicts wait around for the game to start when Lt. Brannigan shows up to harass them. Ah, for a simpler time, when the NYPD could spend their man hours tracking down floating crap games instead of floating bodies. Nathan tells the cops that they've got it all wrong and they're just having a bachelor party in his honor. Unfortunately for him, Adenoid overhears the whole thing and rushes off to buy a dress and hire a wedding planner. Meanwhile, in Havana, Sarah remains as buttoned-up as ever. But Sky's got the cure for that. Alcohol. And lots of it. As we all know, every good girl throws away her convictions the minute the devil drink touches her lips. The local drag queen takes a shine to Sky and Sarah doesn't like that. No, Sarah doesn't like that at all.
Why is it every time she hits someone we like her a little more? Drunk off her ass and high on adrenaline after beating up a drag queen, Sarah offers to undo a couple more buttons for Sky. He suddenly has a case of ethics and turns her down. They arrive back in New York just in time to see the gambling addicts run out of the mission. Turns out Nathan found a place to hold the crap game after all. Lt. Brannigan accuses Sky of masterminding the whole thing. Sky denies it, but Sarah decides not to believe him. Apparently, as she sobers up, her morals come back. Adenoid has another number and we have yet another choice for our Halloween costumes. For some reason, Sky meets her backstage and tells her that Nathan's not going to marry her. Apparently, since he fucked things up with his girl, he feels the need to fuck up everyone else's relationships too. Later, in what must be the most colorful and well-lit sewer in all of Manhattan, the crap game is on. Sky wants to set things right with Sarah, so he bets every one of the gambling addicts that if he wins the next roll, they all have to show up at the mission to be saved and if he loses, he'll pay each of them 1000 bucks. Then he sings, of course.
Apparently, Luck was a lady that night because everyone shows up at the mission for their donuts. Darlings, it kills us, but we couldn't find a clip of Stubby singing "Sit Down You're Rocking the Boat." It's the song that makes the movie.
Anyway, Sarah is impressed that Sky followed through on his marker and apparently, that's all she needed because, you guessed it: Double wedding. In Times Square no less. Of course, cynical bitches that we are, we figure each marriage has about 5 years to go before it crashes and burns. Nathan's never going to stop gambling and Sky will always have Cuban drag queens coming after him, forcing Sarah to keep getting into public brawls. All's well that end's well, right?
Let's take an opinionated look at the final hair collections, shall we, kittens?
First up: Miss Daisy.
First off, we don't know what the hell's going on with that makeup. She looks like a mime.
This is a cute cut. She's got kind of an angular face for such a severe bob, but she had to pick one of them for it and this wigstand's got great hair. Daisy kept going on and on about her marcel wave and we're just not seeing it. Like Anthony said, there's just a little bump on the side of her head.
OhmiGOD, that is some TRANNY HAIR! Sorry, but that is just a big NO. She looks like a Hispanic Priscilla Presley. Granted, this wigstand had some major-league thickness going on, but that's when we course correct, Daisy dear.
Okay, so she took a really cute wigstand with great cheekbones and made her look ...prissy and plain. Of course it doesn't help that she's wearing a Princess Prissypants dress. It might have turned out cute if she'd had enough time to dry the pincurls, but as it is, it looks precious and old-fashioned. The back's kind of cute, though.
Ben:
It really did look great from the front. Michael Carl was dead-on when he said he got an Angeline Jolie vibe off of it. Unfortunately, that back is pure ass. A shame, because if he could have nailed this one, he might just have won it.
It's a really great cut. Ben does have skills, despite there being some doubt as to whether he "deserved" to be there. We're not supercrazy about the asymmetricality or the bangs (which look way too short), but that back is near-perfect.
It's a great cut but it's on the wrong wigstand. We don't claim to know how it turned out this way, but he gave her a youthful sexy cut and somehow she came out looking ten years older.
Writing about hair is fun! What a refreshing change after ten months of "We don't like that hem."
Anthony:
Best bob out of the three of them. Almost perfect job on this one. One problem: that is the wrong cut for that wigstand. It instantly put ten pounds on her face. The heavy makeup didn't help. She was a pretty little wigstand in her before pic. Now she just looks like she's trying too hard.
Okay, this one's tough because we'll admit upfront: we hate this kind of cut. We hate the gigantic bangs look. A little too Agent 99. That's just us, though. Certainly it's well-executed and it frames her face well. It's just that we don't thinks she looks all that pretty.
Yeah, it's a little blunt and angular but it's a perfect precision cut and it's a clear improvement over the wigstand's original look. Color's great too. No, darlings. It's clear to us that Anthony was the definite winner. Come on, when you're facing Vidal Sassoon, you don't do up-do's and finger curls; you do precision cuts and a LOT of them! The judges made the right choice. Imagine that! A Bravo reality show where there's absolutely no controversy over who won!
Darlings, we got a note from the fabulous Kara Janx, who read ourposts on her Bryant Park collection and was inspired to write us in order to:
a. tell us she loves us, and b. clear the air on a few things.
As always, kittens, we have the dish and we're sharing it with you.
"So I absolutely adore your blog!!!!!
I would ordinarily not write, as I myself am quite shy....but I must clarify some things
Tim said "Kara felt if she where in the Final 3....blah blah and she didn't have as much pressure....and her attitude was ....."
Well let me tell you boys something, I was under DOUBLE the amount of pressure, not only did I want to create the best show on earth....I had to show everyone out there that I was a great designer and that I deserved to be on the show! At the time I felt my collection was safe. I would have done the same collection whether or not I was in the Final 3.
I shocked myself, and my own personal revolution throughout the show was evident in the final collection.
Tim fabricated something to say, in order to protect the judges, producers etc....The judges on the other hand, wanted to re-edit the show, and include my collection, as they felt it would have been a sure winner......I adore Tim, but not everything he says is Gospel, believe me, I was in it to Win it, whether that meant getting the 100K or not
I love you guys.... xxxKara"
We love you right back, doll! Can't you just hear her reading that in her accent?
