Gordana Gehlhausen Fall 2010 Collection

Go, go, Goga!

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VOGUEKnitting: Gordana Gehlhausen

Everyone's favorite knitter finally had her day in the sun.

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Gordana in VOGUE Knitting

Darlings, we're so proud.

We snagged these pics of Gordana's photo shoot for VOGUEKnitting (featuring pieces from her spring '10 collection) from Gordana's Facebook page. Now, you might say that a blog post with nothing more than pictures from someone's Facebook page is scraping the bottom of the barrel for content but you should shut your whore mouth because:

A) It's Gordana, and we know you minions have a special love for her, and

B) We actually had something to do with it, which is why we're so goshdarn proud. To wit:

"Hi Guys,

I just wanted to share with you the power of your blog and the wonderful people who are spending their time commenting on it. Remember your post of my spring 2010 collection and there was a debate about two of my knit dresses? Some of the bloggers suggested that they should be in Vogue Knitting. I got contacted by Vogue Knitting because of you and I will be featured in one of their issues as well as the dress I knitted.

Could you please share this with your readers and thank them for me?

P.S. In the last episode I was sick and was given medication every 2 hours. That dress was the only thing I made that I wasn't proud of. Sorry to disappoint you guys. I have to say I am proud of everything else :)

Sending all my love to you and thank you again.

Gordana"

Congratulations, Gordana! We couldn't be happier that we and our fearless minions helped to make this happen for you.

This spread will be featured in the Spring/Summer issue of VOGUEKnitting, so be sure to pick up the issue and show Gordana the love.

Eagle-eyed readers will notice that standing in the background of the last picture is PR S7 contestant Jesus Estrada. Gordana and Jesus wanted us to come into the city to meet up with them during the shoot, but holidays and work commitments prevented us from doing so. Kittens, why can't we be independently wealthy bloggers? Is that so much to ask?

[Photos: Gordana Gehlhausen's Facebook Page]


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T Lo Interviews Gordana

Everyone's favorite gal has something she wants to say!

Hi Gordana, how are you, darling?

I’m so upset you couldn’t make it to lunch! I was so looking forward to meet you. You are my favorite people. Thank you for everything. You two are amazing. Every time my husband is reading your blog to me, because I don’t have time to read it, you know, I’m always touched by the things you guys and your readers write about me. You guys have an amazing following; your readers are so into Project Runway. It’s fantastic.

Well, thank you so much. They all love YOU. Did you watch the last episode? Was it hard?
Of course it was hard even though I knew what the outcome would be and I knew when I was doing that challenge what the outcome would be. You know what? What I’m proud of is that I walked away not being ashamed of anything that I had done; I’m proud of who I am as a human being and I never gave them a chance to represent me anything else other than what I am. I am proud of the fact that I was able to reach so many people, which was my goal in the first place. If I had shown on Project Runway when I was growing up, it would have made such a difference in my life; it would have given me the wings to fly. I have received emails from kids all over the world saying just that to me. It’s the biggest gift that Project Runway has given to me.

Speaking of growing up, it was very touching to hear you talk about your humble upbringing on the show.
My parents are survivor children from WWII and their motto is, "If you have land, that means you can survive." I don’t know how God or the universe, whatever you want to call it, misplaced me to be born in a village where people only care about corn and potatoes. I’m the skinniest kid ever dreaming about the bigger world; dreaming about fashion. Not to mention that I didn’t have any resources, nothing. I’m grabbing the scissors and just cutting anything I can possibly cut. As I said in the last episode, I was using onion peels to dye whatever it is that I had like my dad’s old shirts. I was using berries and beets and all kinds of stuff.

To be able to make it to Project Runway in the first place, I always had to remind myself where I came from and that somehow I made it to that stage. It doesn’t matter, all the criticism, I made it. And my mom was burning my clothes when I would make something because it was so out of the norm. I really feel like I had created my role in my childhood and it was in my dreams. In my mind, I knew there was a bigger world out there and I wanted to taste that so I ran away from it.

It is an achievement to make it on the show and to make it this far, no doubt about it.
Absolutely! It’s also human nature, you know, you become kind of greedy when you make it so far. First you’re like “Oh my God, if I make top six how challenging it is,” then you get to top six and you’re like “Hmm.”

I don’t know, even if they didn’t put me in the top three, which I understand, whatever, I kind of saw who the favorites were in the beginning. In the middle of the show, I already knew that there was no way they were going to give me that opportunity, but I still kept on going, and what helped me was that in that last challenge, I completely disregarded the judges and I said, “OK, I’m going to create something for me and my family and friends." I kept thinking about the cathedral and what that represents to a lot of people. It's a place of hope, some kind of salvation. It really gave me such a great opportunity to create my vision. The angel, that was what I wanted to create.

The funny thing is that they never showed me making the dress. You don’t just buy fabric like that. I bought flat organza, I was working on connecting the colors and layering them over to make them look like the same colors of the painting, to use brush strokes in a way. I textured the fabric, heating it up and drying it. I used a spray bottle with water to mold it so that the strokes would look equal. They never showed any of that. And the outfit that I was wearing, I actually made it that same day. I made the dress and the outfit I was wearing.

Many or our readers feel that Heidi had a problem with you, that she never really warmed up to you. Do you agree with them?
I kind of felt the same way and I’m not trying to make excuses by any means. I don’t know if it was the fact that I’m European and she was making sure that the viewers didn’t think that she was showing any favoritism or maybe she didn’t like the fact that I was older. I don’t know. When I did my paper challenge and the costume challenge and they put me on the bottom and they didn’t really know what they were criticizing me about and that was kind of weird to me. I love to watch So You Think You Can Dance and when I see the judges criticizing the contestants with such respect, so constructively. So kind. It put me to tears. Why can we not have the same respect?

I’m not making excuses. I admit when I’m doing something wrong. I remember for the Cristina Aguilera challenge I was very sick. The reason why I broke down is because I was already starting to feel that I wasn’t feeling well, my nose was bleeding, I was getting a fever, you know, when your system goes down, then I’m crying for my family. You have to understand, and you two know that, they are filming every day. You watch it once a week, but for us it’s every day and thank God I had immunity and that I was still able to create anything to send down the runway. Anything.

I was really lucky that I won the previous challenge and that I was safe. When Heidi said that Irina was safe and that she had done a good job and then when she came to me and all that criticism that she gave me, I was like, “OK, as long as I can just get off the stage go lay down, that’s all that I care.” But then when I watched the episode at home and saw the closeup of Heidi’s face, it was almost like of hate, disgust or something. It really affected me and shook me to a point that I couldn’t sleep that night. OK, I didn’t create a great dress, so what? It’s not the first time in Project Runway’s history that somebody has created something bad. It was really a tough pill to swallow.

How was it watching the episodes at home and seeing the other designers talk about each other in the confessionals? Was it tough to hear or did you just brush it off?
You know, in the beginning, designers were coming up to me in the workroom and saying, "That's stunning," and then I'm in the bottom three a couple of times and then maybe they think, "Oh, the judges don't like her," and they don't want to look bad, so... I just brushed it off. I have proven to myself that I have survived for the past ten years, I’m actually living a pretty good life off of my designs and off what I’m doing. Maybe the others think that I am not talented but the rest of America thinks differently otherwise people wouldn’t be buying my clothes.

You have two stores, right?
Yes, I have one in Charleston, South Carolina and I moved actually, when we filmed the show I never left California, I opened a store in San Diego.

How are the stores doing?
They’re doing fine. The one in San Diego, I’m trying to get to something bigger. I would love to have an opportunity to maybe do some sort of after-school program, like something called Design with Gordana. I’m very much connected to young people and I feel that a lot of times if you don’t get straight A’s or if you not good at math and science, you’re kind of labeled as not very intelligent. There are so many kids out there who are so creative. I can knit, I can crochet, I can make jewelry, I can design…if I could have some kind of program with gifted children…I know, because when I was thirteen years old and I designed this unbelievable outfit and I wore it out and I got so much attention, it gave me an identity, it put me on the map. If I could do something like this for somebody else it would be a big deal.

Even though most of your pieces were intricate and full of details, some people, including the judges, thought you were too safe on the show. The judges kept waiting to see more from you.
It’s kind of a tricky situation because you saw what happened to Ra’mon. They want something bigger, they want this and that, but as soon as you do it, you’re giving them the opportunity to kick you out. As I keep saying, it’s very sad that you’re kind of designing out of fear. I feel that if I didn’t have all this on top of my head and being criticized all the time, yes, maybe I would come out of my box a little more.

For example, when I made that jacket for the previous challenge, I really liked it, I don’t care what anybody says. Ideally, I would have designed it with tight pants or leggings with high boots or something. But if you design leggings, you're going to be chastised. You can’t design leggings; you know you’re going home. They all hated leggings. And the Macy’s wall, give me a break, they don’t really have much accessories to offer you. Then you start over-thinking, I can’t do this and I can't do that and the time is ticking, you get yourself tangled up in the situation.

In the real world, the circumstances would be different.
Of course, I feel that I’m a very creative person in the real word. Also, when people see me on the street now, the first thing they say is “Oh, my God you look so much better in person.” [Laughs] It’s the truth, it’s easier to bounce back when you’re nineteen or twenty years old after sleepless nights, but when you’re forty-five you need a little bit more time to get back to your usual self. It was really hard for me physically to keep up. In my private life, I have a great sense of style, people love my clothes. I’m completely confident in my style, in what I personally wear and design. When you’re on the show people work differently and under different circumstances.

Do you think you achieved what you wanted with this competition?
To some extent, yes. I wish I had gotten the opportunity to show at Bryant Park. In the history of Project Runway I am the only designer who has finished in fourth place and didn’t get the opportunity to show. Even if they didn’t show it on TV, people would still have gotten an idea of who I am as a designer. It’s much easier to design when you have somebody giving you nine thousand dollars and saying, “Knock yourself out,” you know. For any struggling designer, nine thousand dollars is a lot of money.

I kind of feel like maybe I was robbed out of it. I wish they had given me the chance even if I didn’t make to top three, but give me the chance to showcase something. I would have created some beautiful designs had they given me the chance. I know that Christopher wanted it too. I felt that they kind of cheapened out on me, you know? It's like, for God's sake, what's nine thousand dollars? I don't know, I felt a little bit robbed. I’m not trying to put the top three down by any means, but I really don’t think they’re any better than me. I’ll tell you one thing, any one of them the minute they would be criticized, they would fall apart, I was dealing with that practically from the first episode.

The good news is that you are going to be featured in VOGUE Knitting. That’s awesome.
I know, and that’s thanks to you guys. It was such a great surprise. It’s going to be, I believe, the spring issue. As soon as it comes out, I’ll let you guys know.

Knits are very important to me; it was kind of like my gateway to fashion. I remember ripping apart some old sweaters that my mom had and making a new one. I remember she was so impressed with the fact that I knitted a sweater, although she didn’t like my style, you know, because it was the '70s, with the big sleeves and the pocket on the front [laughs].

You do incorporate a lot of knitting in you work.
Yes, I love knits. It’s something about comfort. When you have something that’s so soft, it puts your mind at ease. I knit so much it’s like meditation to me. I’m very spiritual; very connected to nature and sometimes when you look back in life and the things that you wanted so much that didn’t happen, turns out that something even better will happen. I’m a big optimist and who knows? Maybe the whole experience will work in my favor.

It was so nice to see you on the show. We wish you all the best.
Thank you so much, guys, for all your support and your honest words. All your critiques, good and bad; it’s all welcome. And a big thank you to all the people blogging about this show, who are taking their time to voice their opinion. And if you ever come my way, please let me know. I’d love to give you a big “mama hug.” [Laughs] Good luck to you and everything you do.


[Photos: myLifetime.com]


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Auf Wiedersehen 1

WTF?!?

WTF, WTF, WTF?!?!?!

Blah blah blah. Final challenge, blah blah, inspiration, blah, Getty Museum, blah, blah, blah.

Blah, blah, only five left, blah, blah.

Blah, Monet, blah.


*sob*

It's hard not to write "FUCK YOU, BUNIM/MURRAY!!!!!"

Oh, wait. We just did.

Model: Matar Cohen

Seriously, when the show pulls out crack-smokery like this, it's always difficult the next morning to come up with a cogent, reasoned response. And why should we, you ask? Well, because "FUCK YOU!!!!" responses are not exactly hard to find on the internet and we try to be a little better than that.

Better than a "FUCK YOU!!!" response. Which is why we rarely ever write it.

"FUCK YOU!!!" That is.

To Bunim/Murray. So it would read like this:

"FUCK YOU, BUNIM/MURRAY!!!!"

As you can see, we're better than that.

Christ, what are we supposed to say here? We saw the final collections back in February. Once the designers established their aesthetics, it wasn't hard to figure out who was in the final three. For us, it was all about waiting to see how they got to that point.

So when this beautiful dress came out and blew all the other dresses out of the water, and then when all the judges admitted that it was a beautiful dress and the only one that truly looked inspired by the inspiration, we thought, "Were we wrong? Is Gordana in the final three?" Because even jaded, cynical long-time PR commenters like us couldn't figure out how she could be auf'd if the judges loved her dress.

We STILL can't figure it out. And while we don't want to take any of the deserved blame away from the judges - especially Nina with her "I don't know who she is" crap. NEWSFLASH, CHICA: YOU DON'T KNOW WHO SHE IS BECAUSE YOU WERE FLYING ALL OVER THE WORLD WHEN YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN SITTING IN THAT JUDGES SEAT - the fact of the matter is, this has producer manipulation written all over it.

After all, they found themselves in this predicament before. In season 3, they couldn't decide who to send home after judges' pet Michael made a crappy dress and judge's punching bag Uli made a beautiful dress, so they sent all 4 of them to Bryant Park. In season 4, they couldn't make up their minds so they sent all 5 designers to Bryant Park.

We realize that the lawsuit was hanging over this production the whole time and no one involved in the show was really on their game, but why couldn't they do as the Magical Elves did and just give the woman her damn due? She clearly NAILED the challenge. Send her to Bryant Park, for Christ's sake. Would it have killed them to have someone not young and perky in the finale?

As for the dress, well, it's not that we love it all that much, but we love the thought behind it and we really love the technical skill she brought to it.

But frankly, those judges should be ashamed of themselves. They certainly looked it. That was the most sheepish judging session we've ever seen. Why not just have the producers standing behind them and whispering everything in their ears on camera? It wouldn't have been any less obvious.

Extended Judging:


Tim Gunn's Workroom Critique


Exit Interview:




[Photos: Mike Yarish/myLifetime.com - Videos: myLifetime.com - Screencaps: Projectrungay.blogspot.com]


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Gordana

Don't hate us!

Darlings, we know she's popular among the viewers and we know that a lot of you want to lock Heidi in a room somewhere for being mean to her - and we like her too! Honestly! She's a sweetheart! - but that doesn't mean everything she does is golden. In fact, we think she's been floundering in the competition as much as Christopher has.

Show of hands: who thought she was going home when this popped up on the screen?

Model: Matar Cohen

And who thought she was going home when THIS popped up on the screen? Because we did.

Oy. Honeys, sweet as she is, there's just no defending this look. It's limp and it's sad and it's got all these weird details that we can't quite wrap our heads around.

It's strange to us that she chose yet another grey look. Last week she was defensive about using grey, so why return to it this week?

Sure, the original look was grey but that's no reason to return to it. Companion pieces don't necessarily have to be the same color; they just have to evoke the original piece in some way.

ANd to be honest, we don't really see how this evokes the original piece. What were the elements of the original piece? Asymmetrical collar, strips of fabric cut on the bias creating a diagonal effect, with frayed seams.

Well, she got the frayed seams part, but that's about it. We can't say we particularly like the seaming here. In fact we think it's kind of weird looking.

And we really hate that limp, formless collar. And the styling! Why do that to Matar's hair? She looks sad. A sad girl wearing a sad outfit. Rosa Klebb on a bad hair day.

No, we can't get behind this one at all. There were a lot of strange, indefensible choices made here that we just don't get. The original piece had an edgy, sexy vibe to it and we've looked high and low, but we can't find any similar such vibe on this look.

Nick kinda nailed it when he compared it Soviet-era office wear, but apparently Nick's been feeling the wrath from the Polish viewers. As he wrote on his blog:

"And to my Angry Polish Bretheren:

I hear that you are a bit miffed at my "She looks like an office Worker from Warsaw Poland" comment regarding Gordana Gelhausen's sad grey suit look. Sorry I wasn't specific enough, I meant to say "From pre-Cold War Communist Warsaw Poland..." You see in TV land, you must be brief with your comments. I didn't mean to be disrespectful to office workers in Warsaw Poland--it was a joke kiddies. I am sure that there are A LOT of sexy, glamorous and beautiful office workers in Warsaw Poland--and I am sure I will hear from them! You can go ahead and say that all Greek and Venezuelan office workers look sad and gray--and I won't take it personally."

Don't mess with the Gordana fans, Uncle Nick. They are FIERCELY protective of their girl.

Extended Judging:


Tim Gunn's Workroom Critique:



[Photos: Mike Yarish/myLifetime.com - Videos: myLifetime.com - Screencaps: Projectrungay.blogspot.com]


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Girls on Top. Again.

Sparkle!

Dr. Whitfield seems to have settled into her role as "strong contender." She's only got one win under her belt, but it seems like it energized her a bit, mainly into talking about what a bitch Irina is.

As for her look...

Model: Tanisha Harper

Well, it's Uli 2.0. We don't like to make those types of comparisons ("She's totally ripping off Leanne!!!") because let's face it, fashion is about a limited number of elements that get reused time and again in various combinations. It's all variations on a theme and looks that remind us of other, earlier looks are an inevitability.

But seriously, this looks EXACTLY like an Uli dress.

Except Uli would have picked a better print. The judges all moistened themselves over this print and sure, we can see how they might like it, but it's only just alright to our eyes. To be honest, we thought it looked a little bedsheet-y.

She really bumped it up with that braiding detail. Nina really loved it and we have to say we agree. We normally find braided fabric to be clumsy and uncomfortable looking but she managed to give it a delicate nature it rarely has.

Even in the back. Braided straps often look a little like a yoke, but not here.

So, good job, CH. It's a bit of a cliche from an inspiration point of view, but it's extremely well made with some interesting details, which automatically sets it far ahead of the rest of the pack.

And Blue Hands comes roaring back strong with an "In your FACE, BITCH!" to Heidi.

Just when you think the little slav who could is down and out, she finds something inside her and pulls out a great, eye-popping design with which no (leggy, German, bitchy) detractor could find fault.

Model: Katie Sticksel

This is, in some respects, similar to CH's in that it comes right up to the border of cliche.

But, similar to CH, she did such a good job in the detailing and the execution, that the superiority of the look simply can't be denied.

Long story short: she nailed the look on very little money and with very little in the way of embellishment. She kept it simple and between the near-flawless execution and the shiny details, it gave the outfit a classy, understated, expensive look.

To be honest, we were not sold on the necklace until it showed up on the runway. It was looking a little "crafty" to us when she was working on it. But paired with the dress, it really works. We know she made it removable for use with other outfits but to our eyes, it's meant to be paired only with this dress.

There was a lot of pulling and puckering in the dress, but that all appeared to depend on how Katie was standing. For the most part, it's beautifully fitted and technically well done. We especially like the lines running through the dress, which lift it up from being boring.

So good job, Gordana! Show that leggy German how you don't take shit from no leggy Germans! It was practically killing her to admit it, no?

" I think it's a really sexy. sophisticated, sleek dress..."

"You want me to say what? No."

"It's urban...it's all of the things that really are very Park Avenue."

"I don't WANT to. She looks at me funny. And her hands are blue. And she cries all the time. Oh, fine."

"The little voice in my earpiece told me to say 'Good job."

"Oh. Uh, well thank them for me."

"Of course, the dog collar is not something I would wear. In fact - what? I'm just saying! I can't even say that I hate the collar?"

"Fine. Whatever. Good job. Get off my - I mean, you may leave the runway."





Don't miss this week's T Lo Awards, bitches!

[Photos: Mike Yarish/myLifetime.com - Videos: myLifetime.com - Screencaps: Projectrungay.blogspot.com]


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