Project Runway: the all-star challenge.

Check out my weekend Annarbor.com article about season 6 of Project Runway!

As a follow up to this article, they finally aired the "All Star Challenge" online last night and I watched it. Here is my review! I have to say, I enjoyed it much more than the actual season 6 premier. I don't know if it's a loyalty I still feel towards the old designers, or if it was because this episode was shot in New York, but it was really great. It was interesting to see how the the designers they brought back had evolved. Let's start with Chris Marsh. It was a nice twist that they showed him being lazy and sleeping the entire show, and then at the end he turned out this really nice, polished collection full of wool plaids. Totally sophisticated and sleek! Poor guy really needs to get some confidence in him though. Here is my favorite look of his, really nice jacket with a beautiful oversize collar.




I was disappointed with my all time favorite, Santino Rice. In the Bryant Park runway show of Season 2, his old Hollywood glamour inspired 13-look line blew everyone else away in my opinion. Even though he didn't win. But it seems as if he tends to get all caught up in being on television and being crazy and pissing everyone off, and in the end of this challenge it kind of bit him in back. His collection of metallic silver slinky lame' ensembles was nice, but kind of boring and too toned down compared to what people expected of him.



Jeffery Sebelia, another favorite of mine) got poor remarks from the judges, but I personally thought his collection was great. The tangerine gown was kind of a mess, but the other looks were really nice. This was my favorite. Wild sequined slip dress with a great structured blazer. Fantastic shoulders!




Korto - I agreed completely with the judges - pretty, wearable - perfect for every woman. Her "restaurant challenge" gown was amazing though. The designers were invited to a celebratory dinner at a restaurant in NYC's meatpacking district, and after they were done eating they were told they had to construct a 4th look, using only materials found in the restaurant. This amazing dress by Korto was made from place mats and the rocks found in the vases. I honestly think above all the designers, she was the one who deserved the win. This look was the only one that wasn't totally costumey and crazy.



Daniel V. He spoke a few times at FIT while I was in school, and always seemed pretty smart and willing to give good solid advice to new designers. However, I am not so sure I see this as a winning collection. This little dress is hot. The shape is nice, the choice of fabrics was creative. The side panel inserts are well done. But the overall winner? Maybe, but...eh. I guess I still have really mixed feelings about this.

This dress, like I said, Nice.






And there are no words for this bubble mini skirt and mesh tank top they were going so ga-ga over. It's simple, it's nice, but deserving of $100,000? Please.



And I don't even want to comment on his "restaurant materials piece".
Really? I mean REALLY?



Uli - Nice, interesting work. I would have thought she'd get higher marks. It's clear she has evolved from what we saw her doing in season 3 of Project Runway, which was a lot of long flowy printed dresses, perfect for Miami Beach. This structured mini dress with interesting ruffled pleats along the bodice is pretty nice. Unfortunately the judges found it too toned down and didn't like her color palette.



Her "restaurant dress" was amazing! Very Rodarte.




I loved Sweet P's color story, and the romantic "garden party" feel of the 4 looks tied together. The little green leather dress was my favorite. Super hot, super cute, I'd wear it in a second.





Mychael Knight. (Didn't he spell his name Michael when he was on Season 3?) His collection was "okay". I dunno. I don't even know what else to say about it. He seemed lost and a bit spaced. What he made was by no means terrible, but it wasn't all that great either. When the first look came down the runway, and then the second look I felt it didn't look cohesive in the least. But somehow in a way the four pieces did go together nicely with the bold bright colors and 80's body hugging shapes. He was the one designer who didn't seem to grow as much since is debut on season 3.

This is the only dress of his I really liked. Simple, but cute. Nice folded pleats on the bodice, kind of origami like.



For me it was inspiring to watch these designers work again. Many of them were my favorites from past seasons and it was nice to know they weren't so traumatized by being on the show that they would return for this challenge opportunity. I am strongly considering auditioning for season 7 or 8, if they get picked up again.
The only reason I didn't audition in the past was, before I attended FIT I didn't feel that I had the skills. During school, it was impossible! Two years of fashion design school is intense. There was no time for realty shows or even getting together a portfolio. School was my life. But now, I'm starting to consider it. I just have so many things on my plate right now. Trying to get together enough looks for a fall photoshoot; trying to open an etsy shop; trying to design my wedding gown...rome wasn't built in a day.

Exciting new things.

I am going to be writing a fashion & style column for annarbor.com - I'm pretty excited about this! You can read my first article here.

My next post will be Saturday morning, and will include a video tutorial of how to make a skirt in under an hour. :)

I have decided to move my first collection up to this February instead of doing it in September. There is just waaaaay too much going on in my life for me to finish a full collection that I'm actually proud of, by this September. Living in a new place, just graduated school and didn't even take a break...new job, planning a wedding, trying to buy a house and close on it by November..just too much! So I'm focusing on two things right now as far as fashion goes. 1. I'm trying to make a bunch of clothes for MYSELF, so I can be my best advertisement! and 2. My goal is to get an etsy shop going in the next few months here, so I can sell some of my designs online and makes some money. My hours at work got cut from 40 to 20, so I could really use some extra income. Michigan is so lovely for everything except jobs right now.

Aside from fashion I'm thinking about doing the Detroit Freep 1/2 marathon this year! I have been running 30-60 minutes six days a week for the past 2 months and I've been feeling great. I've always wanted to run the 1/2 marathon in Detroit...it's October 16th, my favorite time of year for running. Plus it's getting me back in shape, which I needed pretty badly.

and of coarse, I'm still planning my wedding :)
I can't wait to start making my dress! Our date is October 3, 2010. I'm getting really excited. I wanted to make all my bridesmaids dresses as well, but we'll see. I'm going to wait on affirming that one until I see how much work my own dress ends out being.

The date has been set! My show will be September 12th, 2009.

The collection for spring 2010 is coming along! Still trying to plan a show for the Fall, but more interested in being involved with other designers and Detroit Fashion Week events. I recently discovered that there is a group of people sponsoring an event called "Fashion In Detroit" which will be on October 1st and 2nd of this year. Why I didn't hear about this until just now is blowing my mind, but my HOPE is that they still have some room for another designer, and that I can somehow find a way to show them some of my work in time for the show. If anyone reading this has any information I would appreciate it! I did send an an email to the info address listed on www.fashionindetroit.com so we'll see....

The hardest part right now about making a new collection is my space! My fiance and I are sharing a house with 3 other people, while we look for our own house and my work space is a small corner of a basement. I try to make it work wherever I can, but it has become quite difficult. Until a later date though, I will dream of a spacious loft filled with tables upon tables for fabric cutting, and rows of naked dress forms just begging to be draped upon, and use those livid dreams to propel me into a collection sewn by the angels of imaginary feng shui.

Kelly Lynne on Facebook

The pieces are slowly coming together for my show this fall!
I am looking for other local michigan designers who might be interested in showing as well. I think the event would be more appealing if there were more of us, and it would be a longer show. If anyone knows of someone who might be interested, please send them my way! kellylynnetinsley@gmail.com

Next!

Well, my life is all different now! Finished school, hung around New York for about three weeks just having fun and decompressing from what was the most challenging semester EVER, totally crazy. Now I'm back in Michigan, living in Ypsilanti for now. It's so good to be back. I will always have a piece of my heart left in New York forever and ever, but Michigan is my home. I need trees and air and space to be inspired. I realize this every time I come back here and ideas just flow out of me like crazy. The less is more factor I guess, just too much everything in New York. Two years was perfect for me. I'm going to keep applying for jobs everywhere all over the world and who knows, maybe New York WILL end out being where I'm supposed to be, but I'm going to wait and see and in the meantime I'm really excited for what's next.

TWO huge things. The first one, not the most important of the two but the most time sensitive, is my fashion show this Sept. I'm starting to sketch now and have to crank out minimum 15 looks for my Fall show. I'm really excited about it, but not as excited as I am about the fact that the day before I left New York.... I got... ENGAGED! :)

My long time boyfriend who is the love of my life and I must add, EXTREMELY supportive of my design dreams, asked me on one knee in Central Park. :) He presented me with a gorgeous ring that's been in his family since the 1940's, we walked around all dreamily, and THEN? what did we do? Go on a horse driven buggy around the park? Celebration lunch? Champagne? NOPE! He took me on a fabric shopping spree! Yes, the man I'm going to marry is definitely someone who would say, hey, Kelly, this is your last day in New York, let's LOAD YOU UP.

So yes, I'm excited about this because I'm making my wedding dress, and, if it seems possible, maybe all my bridesmaids gowns as well. Even though I've only been engaged for 4 days now, I'm realizing how big of a task the dress thing is going to be - not even so much the designing and sewing part, but just narrowing it down to ONE idea, one dress! I always found it so hard during school when we had one dress or one garment due at the end of the semester. I always wished we could do at least three pieces, because it feels like compressing all my ideas down to one is always so hard. And now, here I am, trying to make the most important garment of my entire life... the one I want to be the most beautiful, the most flattering, the dress that will make me feel the best I've ever felt in my entire life... well... it's TOUGH. I don't want anything basic that's for sure. I have a few things that I know I want for sure...

Like the neckline, is going to be similiar to Jackie Kennedy's wedding dress, with these cap sleeves, I just think it's so classic and elegant. I'm def not a strapless kind of girl. (and luckily my fiance' loves this look too!)



I also know I want the bodice strait to the waist, and a full skirt. probably either a bell skirt or a ballerina or a ballgown. No train, I think it would drive me crazy and I'd feel like I was 10 again walking around my house with a blanket draped over my shoulders and the blanket dragging behind me. But either the bodice or the skirt will have to have some crazy design element to it. Not sure yet, if I do a crazy skirt, the top will be more simple and if I do something crazy with the bodice, then the skirt will be a little more toned down. Either way it has to be interesting and beautiful and "me".

the HARD part, is setting all these thoughts aside and focusing on my fashion show. It's funny now that I'm engaged i'm all like fashion show smashin show! I want to talk WEDDING! :) But we are planning on Fall 2010, so it's more than enough time to focus on the show now, then in the Fall start the wedding planning. I'll have about one year to figure it all out, which is perfect.

THE FUTURE IS SO EXCITING! It's fun, SO FUN, to be designing again and not have to worry about other projects and school stuff, even though I do already miss FIT dearly. Next to my new fiance, that school was the love of my life. :)

I'm going to have fun posting updates throughout both of these huge projects.

Graduation, 5/20/2009 @ Radio City Music Hall

I am officially, a degree'd fashion designer! :)

This morning I FINISHED my last project ever at FIT, the fluted bodice dress with french lining. Then my wonderful boyfriend Martin went with me to FIT and I cleaned out my locker. (had to choke back tears). My parents are going to be here in less than an hour, they made the 12 hour drive from Michigan just to see me graduate. They are the BEST. I feel such a crazy mix of emotions right now. Most of which comes from 2 weeks of not sleeping and suddenly being finished with all projects and feeling like I lost a leg somewhere or something. Tomorrow is my last class. Tuesday is my graduation. THEN 2 awesome weeks of doing nothing but hanging out in new york, then it's back to michigan, to start the process of figuring out how to make money. I intend on focusing my resume action heavily on California and New York. No, I am def not giving up on finding a job here. The recession will continue on, and fizz out, but my passion will not. :)

Here is the dress... weighs about 5lbs, heh. the construction on this thing is insane...the inside has french lining, which is boned, and kind of like a really tough corset bra, like they used to wear in the 1950s.





Doing this, all of this, has really changed me. Today, I am grateful for my bravery. Because I did this. In two days, I will be a degree'd fashion designer. Who am I kidding though. I didn't need the degree to know the first time I sewed together a basic skirt and felt the magic of someone who just absolutely loves to make clothes.

:)