Posts Tagged ‘Project Runway’

The 2010 Boston Fashion Week is gearing up and promises to be the most exciting year ever for the best in local clothing design. This year’s array of events include appearances by both local and national television personalities, and could even attract some celebrities in the audience who may attend any of the numerous fashion shows going on. The week officially kicks of on September 24th and runs through October 2nd.

On September 23, a “fashionable” opening party will be held for the new “green” G20 Spa and Salon on Newbury Street. The party will be hosted by Billy Costa and Jenny Johnson of NECN’s “TV Diner”. Live music will be provided by DJ Charles Mercer.

On October 2, at the Burlington Mall in Burlington from 12-5PM, a Wearable Art 2010 MassArt Fashion Exhibition will feature a runway show with fashions by Maya Luz, a MassArt graduate and former contestant on season 7 of “Project Runway”. Also on that day, at the Seaport World Trade Center, a Fashion Expose: The Ride of Fashion Spring 2011 runway show will feature a number of designer from Boston, Washington DC, England, and South Africa, including Korto Momolu, runner-up on season 5 of “Project Runway”.

Also, launching on September 25 and lasting through June of 2011, the Museum of Fine Arts will be exhibiting works by designer Arnold Scaasi. The museum recently acquired an archive of more than 100 pieces of his designs, which includes works for Broadway, TV, and movie stars, such as Mitzi Gaynor, Barbra Streisand, Diahann Carroll, Mary Tyler Moore, Elizabeth Taylor, and Ivana Trump, and First Ladies Mamie Eisenhower and Barbara and Laura Bush.

Early Thursday morning, the nominations for the 2010 Emmy Awards were announced in California, and Hollywood East was left far from being out of the running. A number of TV shows and actors with connections to the New England area were nominated this year.

In the Outstanding Comedy category, “Glee” was nominated. The series is helmed by Newton, Massachusetts bred creator, Brad Falchuk. In the Outstanding Actress in a Drama category, Glenn Close, from TNT’s “Damages”, was nominated. The critically acclaimed actress was born in Greenwich, Connecticut, and first cultivated her acting chops at Choate Rosemary Hall High School in Wallingford, Connecticut.

For Outstanding Actress in a Comedy, Burlington, Massachusetts native Amy Poehler was nominated for her hilarious role in “Parks and Recreation”. Another Massachusetts resident, Steve Carell, was nominated for his role in “The Office”. Carell just recently announced he’ll be leaving the hit comedy on NBC after season 7.

In the Outstanding Reality Show (Competition) category, “American Idol”, “Project Runway”, and “Top Chef” have all been nominated, which have all featured contestants from New England this past season.

Double nominee Jane Lynch, up for Emmys in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy category for “Glee” and for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy for her guest stint on “Two and a Half Men”, recently celebrated her marriage to her partner in a ceremony in Massachusetts.

As the summer approaches, the academic calendar at most colleges, universities, and school systems are winding their way down. Many of these schools feature art programs with a variety of media, whose graduating students display their works at year-end shows. The Boston area is no exception, and with the plethora of institutions around the city and beyond, those that have fashion design programs will be hosting shows to illuminate their senior students’ best work. This year, the Fashion Group International of Boston  will be celebrating the area’s graduate fashion with a number of fashion shows and exhibitions featuring designs by students at school like Lasell College, Fisher College, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and the School of Fashion Design. These shows started April 10th, and will go throughout most of May. For more information on dates of shows, click here.

Fans of fashion and good design are encouraged to attend and support these young creative minds as any one of them could be the next big thing. All of the students are being openly encouraged to try out for the next season of “Project Runway”, which is currently casting for season 8. The most recent season of the popular reality show airing on the Lifetime network, now in its 7th season, featured a 2009 MassArt graduate, Maya Luz, who made it to the top 6 before choosing to leave the competition. If you are a fashion student, freelance designer, or other creatively minded, fashion oriented individual, then you too can try out for the hit reality show, hosted by Heidi Klum. Casting is currently going on, so check out http://www.bunim-murray.com/prcasting or email [email protected] immediately so you don’t miss your chance!

After successfully making it to top 6 contestants on season 7 of “Project Runway”, former Massachusetts College of Art student Maya Luz opted to leave the competition on Thursday night’s show. The elegantly creative 22 year old student had been experiencing a largely successful run on the show, landing in the “best 3” designs 6 out of 10 weeks, including the last 4 weeks in row, though she never won any of the challenges outright. Citing her youthful inexperience as a reason for contributing to her feelings of being overwhelmed by the pressures of the competition, Luz, who is originally from Santa Fe, New Mexico, was in fact the youngest competitor on this year’s show.

Luz, a  2009 graduate with a degree in Fashion Design, received honors from Gen Art, as a finalist in the Avant-Garde category for a Styles 2009 competition. At the insistence of one of her professors, Luz applied for and was cast in the 7th season of “Project Runway”. Filmed in New York City and hosted by supermodel Heidi Klum on the Lifetime network, this season commenced with 16 designers, which also originally included New Englanders 30 year-old Ben Chmura of South Meriden, Connecticut, and 47 year-old Pamela Ptak from Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Remaining in the competition is 29 year-old Jonathan Peters, from Woonsocket, Rhode Island, though his designs have landed him in the bottom 3 for the past 3 challenges in a row.

Click here to check out Maya Luz’s audition tape for “Project Runway”, filmed at the MassArt campus.

★ Filmed-in-MA, The Proposal helps make Sandra Bullock the top box office star of 2009.

★ Stephen Colbert gives a shout out to Connecticut.

★ “Southland” star and East Bridgewater native Tom Everett Scott comes to Ned Devine’s for premiere last week.

★ RSVP for the 2010 IMAGINE awards at the Liberty Hotel in Boston on January 12.

★ “Pregnancy Pact” movie to air on Lifetime cable network, based on story of Gloucester teens.

★ Former bodyguard to the stars in Norfolk county prison for ripping off the MBTA.

★ First ever conservative film festival being held at the Portsmouth Public Library in NH.

★ Mass Art graduate makes it to the 7th season of “Project Runway”.

From September 25th to October 2nd, Boston celebrated its 14th annual Fashion Week with more shows, parties, lectures, and events than ever before. Boston Fashion Week founder and executive director, not to mention creative-marketing director at the School of Fashion Design in Boston, Jay Calderin, helmed a massive undertaking this year between creating and scheduling the various events, while also negotiating shopping incentives among local shops and boutiques to create a “Fashion Trail” as a sort of recessionista package to help spur the more fashionable side of the economy.

Just like any budget conscious couture lover these days, Fashion Week packed more glamour per square yard than ever before, including touting a number of reality TV stars as guests or even participants.

At the Stuart Weitzman Fashion Show, which was held on September 26th, models wore jewelry by A.M. DePrisco Wellesley and styled by celebrity stylist Gretta Monahan and Katie Faessler of “The Rachael Ray Show” and “Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style”. On Thursday, October 1, the “Fashion Strikes Back” arts and entertainment summit featured a bevy of both TV stars and other entertainment notables. Speakers included Mary Chiochios of the Massachusetts Film Office and Joseph G. DiLorenzo of Plymouth Rock Studios.

Special guests included Amanda Kelly, Miss Massachusetts 2009 (Miss America Pageant), Korto Momolu, fashion designer & “Project Runway” season 5 – 1st runner-up, Bianca Golden, “America’s Next Top Model” cycle 9 contestant, and Sandra Nyanchoka, “America’s Next Top Model” cycle 12 contestant. Later in the week Momolu showed at the “Fashion at the Park” runway event, featuring sportswear, and again at the hair and accessories show. That Friday, SYNERGY events held an Emerging Trends of 2009 runway show, which featured designer Keith Lissner, a contestant on Bravo’s “The Fashion Show”.