Says New York, "Even with all the cutbacks and trimming down this week, it was hard to find a sorrier spectacle than...the Project Runway show." As every sentient being knows, Project Runway 6 has been bedeviled by lawsuits between the Weinstein Company and NBC Universal and as a result, went into production without a home. Just in case it does get filmed, the show went ahead and had a traditional Fashion Week finale runway show. Except that this time, since no one has, you know, seen the show or met the contestants, it was hard to build up much excitement. The producers made the designers keep a low profile in case of leaks, so they didn't get to so much as introduce their collections: a moment that's probably a career highlight for a lot of the show's contestants. Said Christian Siriano, according to New York, "Oh, it's horrible, it's the worst thing in the world. Because this is the end and it isn't as fun and exciting. I mean, who even knows if their families are here! And that's tough, because we got to have our friends and families."

And the collections? Apparently without any personalities or drama or suspense, it just looked like a bunch of somewhat lackluster fashions in the midst of real designers' shows (although attending celebs were encouraging about aspects), and elicited what WWD describes as "muted enthusiasm from the crowd. "

New York described the collections thusly:

The parade of clothes included two rocker-type collections heavy on black and knitwear, and one collection of the kind of jewel-tone, girlie, draped-silk charmeuse dresses young starlets wear to Target store openings. The final rocker-wear designer showed shades of Alexander Wang with lots of black mixed with intricate knits; the designer also seemed on point with the season, presenting a lot of textured tight pants and leggings.

According to the New York Times, Heidi Klum announced from the runway, "We are all in a bit of a limbo, and we hope that everything is sorted out very soon." Leanne and Jay, at least, were there. And Siriano, despite his sympathy for the faceless designers, saw a silver lining, according to WWD: now mediocre designers couldn't make it through on the basis of personality (cough, Wendy Pepper.) "Every year, there's always a weed or two that manages to make it through Project Runway." Tim Gunn, back in lovable pedagogue mode, was typically encouraging, according to the Times: "We have a smashing, sensational season for you. We can't wait for you to see it." Neither can we, Tim. Neither can we.

Project Runway Show: Strong Collections, Weak Spectacle [New York]
A Down Tempo 'Project Runway' [WWD]
‘Project Runway' Battle Dampens Fashion Week [NY Times]

Eleven Minutes, which opens today in limited release, is a documentary by Michael Selditch and Rob Tate, who met Jay McCarroll when they made the Bravo special Project Jay. The two filmmakers follow Jay's creative process as he takes his designs from sketches to his first show during New York Fashion Week. Jay is in almost every frame of the film, and while some critics find his flamboyant personality "insufferable," others feel the directors still didn't get to the heart of what makes the designer tick. Several critics predict the film will bore Project Runway fans who are not truly devoted to learning about the minutiae of the fashion industry. (Apparently the months of preparation that go into the "eleven minutes" a designer gets to show his collection on the runway aren't quite as exciting as stitching together a red carpet look from corn husks and Twizzlers in under 24 hours!) Below, the critics weigh in on whether Eleven Minutes can, as Tim would say, "make it work."

The Wall Street Journal

For a while Jay McCarroll's flamboyant self-involvement is fairly insufferable. (As I heard him wonder, in the opening sequence, if he's incapable of being loved, I wondered how much, if at all, the documentarians loved him.) Before long, though, his courage and exemplary toughness shine through. Maybe he was having nervous breakdowns off-camera, but the man on screen grows into the role of hero as the preshow frenzy reaches fever pitch. Project Runway isn't the only thing that got him here, he tells an interviewer who keeps strumming the same frayed string: "It's my passion and my humor and my talent." By the end you're rooting for his talent to prevail.

NPR

Funny, fragile, acerbic and irreverent, McCarroll is acutely aware of his outsider status and prone to trip over his own insecurities. Post-Runway, he rejected both the prize money and a deal with Banana Republic, apparently from lack of confidence. The tension of his relationship to the fashion world - and specifically how he earned his place in it - permeates Eleven Minutes, a movie whose title refers to the length of a runway show but also suggests a truncated allotment of Warhol's 15 minutes of fame.

Neither the clothes nor the quotidian drama of their making are especially interesting. The true subject of Eleven Minutes, an inadvertently poignant cautionary tale, is the toll reality TV stardom can take on the psyche and ego.

The New York Observer

The amount of work that goes into making those 11 minutes run smoothly is truly mind-boggling. Directors Michael Selditch and Rob Tate do a good job of hanging back and letting the inherent drama of the loony-toon world of fashion unfold. It's not always pretty, and more often than not it's completely unglamorous. But compelling it is, even when it is downright depressing (watching a sales meeting with reps from Urban Outfitters should be enough to dissuade plenty of wannabe designers).

The Village Voice

What truly elevates it all is how the directors (deliberately appearing on-screen at times) subtly address our perceptions of filmed "reality," from their even-handed vérité here to the more grossly manufactured confines of reality TV, a medium McCarroll is quick to call "vulgar." Like Soderbergh's two-part Che-yes, I'm making this comparison-Eleven Minutes is less about its subject and more about formalist processes (both McCarroll and the filmmakers'), and shouldn't exist as a stand-alone without viewers having experienced its other half, Project Runway.

Yahoo

Considering that McCarroll is in pretty much every frame of the movie, though, we never really get to know what moves and drives him as a person. We see the ugly parts of his personality but they never make him human; they feel more like quirks... In the very beginning, he laments feeling lonely when he sees other people in love, and he wonders whether he'll ever be deserving of such love himself - but Selditch and Tate never come back to that. At one point McCarroll describes himself as "the poster boy for angry insecurity," something else they should have explored.

The San Francisco Chronicle

If you're a fashion insider, you may find the entire film fascinating. If you're not, you may find it way too long, even at 103 minutes. For general audiences, it could use a bit of, ahem, tailoring - taking in here and there. It can be argued that the unrelenting immersion in McCarroll's fits of panic and pique mirrors the intensity of preparing for a major fashion show for an entire year. It can also be argued that, at the end of the day, it's a movie and one that would have been even more effective with a tighter edit.

USA Today

While it's intriguing to learn about all the players involved in creating a fashion line, there's too much minutiae to keep the attention of those who are not obsessed with design trends. What works in snippets on a reality show would seem to work blown out to a full-length documentary. Only it doesn't. Perhaps this is partly because the film lacks the suspense of the show's competition. Additionally, the documentary's scope feels hampered by too tight a focus... What is meant to be a no-holds-barred exploration of the creative process often comes across more like the tiresome Confessions of a Reality TV Darling.

The New York Times

Eleven Minutes, directed by Michael Selditch and Rob Tate, might be described as a low-rent answer to Douglas Keeve's documentary about Isaac Mizrahi, Unzipped (1995), a movie that also revealed the fundamental silliness of fashion, though it had some glamour attached. Here Mr. McCarroll, a self-deprecating show-off with a whiny voice, and his unpaid assistants scuffle over eight months to come up with the cheap materials and outsourced labor to turn his sketches into items that in the end nobody buys. Famemongers are advised to heed the film's cautionary message: Fleeting celebrity on reality television comes with no guarantee of an afterlife.

"Eleven Minutes" opens today in New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Phoenix and San Francisco.

• Recession? What recession? "In 2011 I'll be doing more clothing," quoth "designer" Lindsay Lohan, who, in addition to leggings, is working on "self-tanner and cosmetics with her fashion and beauty company Stay Gold." [WWD]

• In case you were wondering, here's what Salma Hayek wore on her honeymoon: "a ruby-colored ensemble" from Vesperini. [WWD]
• "Which kooky fashion figure asked for illegal substances on her contract rider? She said in order for her to appear at a fashion show, she needs two bottles of Cristal and "cocaine - a lot of it." Um, you tell us! [New York Post]
• Speaking of...we don't even know, Ashley Dupre for some reason continues to be a fixture at Fashion Week. Says Veronica Webb, ""Who's that? Spitzer's call girl? Oh. Well, no matter what you do for a living, you still need clothes." [New York]
• And killing the last of our interest, apparently Bryant Park is rife with celeb spawn. [WWD]
• Eva Longoria Parker claims to be just another penny-pincher: "I've always been pretty frugal about everything I wear on the red carpet. I return it all the next day." [WWD]
• Nicky Hilton is equally somber: "I'm being smarter about my spending. I'm not going into stores and buying anything. I am buying more pieces instead of just a bunch of clothes." [WWD]
• As we feared, Eleven Minutes, the Jay McCarroll-Fashion Week documentary, apparently blows. [Yahoo]
• Speaking of the Prodge, Tim Gunn's being all elliptical about their traditional end-of-week final showing. Quoth the Silver Fox, "You'll see collections from extremely talented people, but you won't be able to place the designer with the collection." [MSNBC]
• Oy. Puma's down almost 80%. [WWD]
• Laura Ashley, meanwhile, blames stores' price-slashing for its profit warning woes, rather than the proliferation of floral chintz in said stores. [Times Online]
• Halston, for its part, gets with the times: slashing prices and embracing new technology. Doesn't it seem like now's the time for a disco revival? [WSJ]
• But Benetton's up! [WWD]
• And more good news: Armani donates a million dollars to New York City public school arts education. [New York Times]
• Which will not affect PETA's plans to protest at the New York Armani store this week, dressed in giant bunny suits. [WWD]
• Continuing to keep them guessing, Dame Vivienne Westwood is teaming up with Royal Ascot; she's styling the PR shoots for the venerable races. [WWD]
• Not shockingly, buyers and investors are trying to score fashion lines at rock-bottom prices. [Portfolio]
• Thakoon Panichgul is a big fan of Michelle Obama's stylist, Ikram Goldman: "You know what, she has guts, and she has instinct about what she likes, and she's passionate about it. And so when I first launched the collection, she said, ‘I'll buy every single piece.' And so that kind of conviction, I think, is exciting." Exciting for him, definitely! [New York]
• Designer and socialite Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss is the new face of Judith Ripka jewelry. [WWD]
• Why does Kanye West love the Paris Women's shows? "It's Paris. Women's. Shows." [PaperMag]
• Kirsten Dunst - who so would - loves Rodarte. So do we, but no one cares. [WWD]

• Jessica Simpson is launching a line of luggage. Because that's the image of America we want to project when we travel abroad! [People]

• Jennifer Aniston wants a beauty deal. Join the club, sister. [WWD]
• When Kimora's slashing fabulosity budgets, you know things are bad! On her subdued Baby Phat show, "Now's not the time to be running all over and flaunting the money that we don't have." [WSJ]
• Ex Russell Simmons would seem to agree: he's launching a line at Wal-Mart. [Business Week]
• Remember how last week Rachel Zoe said that designer Christopher Sauvé couldn't sell those "Bananas/I Die" tees due to trademark infringement? He's having none of it! He's starting a "free the fruit" campaign to return bananas to the people. [New York]
• Should you have a Michelle fetish and a few grand to spare, check out Jason Wu's truly lovely offerings on Net-a-Porter. [Fashionista]
• Liz Claiborne exec: "Isaac Mizrahi is a nuclear weapon." Is that...a good thing? For the flailing company's sake, we hope so! [New York Times]
• A big spread in O Magazine can't hurt: "A spokeswoman for Liz Claiborne said the brand chose O because it reaches its demographic. In the issue, more than 50 pieces will be modeled by a mix of "real" women, models and celebrities, including Veronica Webb, Becki Newton of "Ugly Betty" and fashion icon Iris Barrel Apfel. The designer has included plus and petite sizes in his collection and has kept it budget conscious. To finish each look, Liz Claiborne is selling coordinated shoes, bags, jewelry and lingerie."[WWD]
• David Gandy is as modest as he is beautiful. Quoth the British model, "Why would anybody want to look at my body?...How can a man be pretty? Flowers and women are pretty. Men are not". We respectfully disagree. [Fashionista]
• Wal-Mart's move to New York could screw some of their vendors. Good plan, though: we're sure the cost of living is way cheaper here than in Bentonville, Arkansas! [Business Week]
• We're not sure how psyched we are about the Jay McCarroll Fashion Week documentary. On the one hand: his last doc was a bit sad, what with Heidi blowing him off and everything. On the other: it's as much Runway as we're getting! [Reuters]
• Jenna Lyons, the creative director of J. Crew, obviously has great timing and a lot of skill. But...we're confused by the deliberate hole in the knee of the jeans she's pictured wearing. [Observer]
• The new Zappos ads: "Underpants-clad customers are pictured either standing in a Zappos box or walking into one. Putting on their best Vanna Whites for the camera, they either reveal their purchases or lift the box over themselves — at which point they are suddenly transformed into fully-dressed Citizens of Society." Hehe. Underpants. [AdRants]
• Speaking of skivvies: OMG the Herry Hall Cherie-inspired Chanel ads are out and are they rad! (We're assuming they're ignoring the sequel in which Cherie commits suicide.) [New York]
• Meanwhile, Chanel's mastermind, Karl Lagerfeld, doesn't dig the internet. Quoth the Kaiser, the web doesn't project "the unique feel and sophistication of luxury materials, refined tailoring and extraordinary attention to detail found in luxury fashion." But can luxury fashion show Christian Bale ranting?! [WSJ]
• THE BARBIE COUTURE IS HERE. Okay, sketches, but still. [AP]
• Anna Sui: "It's survival of the fittest at this point." We'll back the iconic iconoclast in any Darwinian struggle! [NYT]
• Says the head of struggling label Five Four, "I want to create our generation's Polo. You can't be a megabrand in the U.S. today if you're selling a woven shirt for $200...I think the concept of luxury is passé." [WSJ]
• Rachel Roy's current motto? "Strength and courage." [Glam.com]

• Rumor has it that Jessica Biel's gonna be designing bags for squeeze Justin Timberlake's William Rast line. "Sources say she has already started sketching designs for a limited edition collection. Isn't it a coincidence how much hidden design talent there is in Hollywood? [Daily Express]
• "In times of uncertainty, I think the wrap dress becomes an even more important friend. It's flattering. And wrapping is a reassuring thing." Why yes, it is, Diane Von Furstenberg! [Newsweek]
• Naomi Campbell is doing a duet and music video with Indian star Ashkay Kumar - in Hindi. [VogueUK]
• Apparently Manolo Blahnik can take or leave Sex And The City. He's never seen it! [New York Post]

• Karl Lagerfeld unveiled the Christmas windows of Paris store Printemps, which feature "a fantasy troupe of articulated puppets named Coco frolicking in a garden of golden flowers." [WWD]
• "Each puppet is stylishly attired in a modern, almost space age take on the classic quilted Chanel suit and every puppet has Mademoiselle Chanel's iconic blunt fringed bob." [ElleUK]
• Speaking of moddles named Coco: "Not so long ago, Rocha was just your average Irish-dancing, nature-loving Canadian teenager." [WWD]
• "The first order of business for the new president will no doubt be to get America to hitch up its pants and give the economy a kick-start. It will be interesting to see if he can also get America to hitch up its pants, period." [NY Times]
• Breaking! "This week has seen Agyness Deyn on a fashion rollercoaster channelling a different trend or decade every day." [ElleUK]
• Cosmetics company Carol's Daughter will help address the severe shortage of celeb fragrances with "My Life by Mary J Blige." [WWD]
• Following K-Mart's example, Sears brings back layaway. Which, sadly, requires far too much foresight for the average holiday shopper.[AdAge]
• L'Oreal announces winners for the 11th annual L’Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science. [WWD]
• Oscar de la Renta's house is really nice. [Style.com]
• Jennifer Vendetti may be the one to discover the rest of us! "The New York casting director is known in the industry for her rare eye for finding the imperfect, but captivating, beauty in everyday people." [W]
• Check it: Hayden Hartnett's line for Target. Dig the umbrella. [Racked]
• Rachel Bilson's "style obsessions" apparently include Kobo candles, her own line. [Cosmopolitan]
• These "just douche it" ads are intended/likely to piss off Nike. [AdRants]
• Fashion darlings Rodarte win Swiss textile award. [WWD]
• Feminists, Catholics aren't thrilled about Boston College's Victoria's Secret collaboration. [UPI]
• Newsweek discovers that redefining our fashion priorities, recessionista-style, could be a good thing. [Newsweek]
• Modelinia, the new all-moddles-all-the-time site, is gearing up. [Fashionista]
• More on Helmut Lang's bizarre collaboration with Absolut, which is allegedly about "experiencing art" in new ways. Drunk? [BlackBook]
• New book on secret rebel Geoffrey Beene. "On the outside, the bespectacled, bow-tied Southerner appeared uptight and WASPy, but he was an enthusiastic early adapter of cheap chic (launching his lower-priced Beene Bag sportswear collection in 1971) and the promise of the Internet." We do like our contradictions! [Los Angeles Times]
• Kohl's and Nordstrom pessimistically cut their outlooks. [Reuters]
• Ouch, and Abercrombie's really hurting. [The Street]
• Get me Demarchelier! The legendary lensman started small: "I was 17 and living in Le Havre when my stepfather offered me a camera. I got hooked instantly. I learned the art of photography working in a small shop there, taking passport and wedding photos." [WSJ]
• Jay McCarroll hates the spotlight. Kinda. "But I guess the more I stand there and the more someone notices and writes, then I can have a beach house...I’m going to get to drinking now, okay?" [Observer]
• Apparently the hemline index is still relevant in Morocco! [Global Voices]

Season 1 winner Jay McCarroll says of his burlap cocktail-length dress, "We need to live within our means and get back to basics."

But for his spring 2007 collection, Jay designed this citrusy gown and this metallic gown. Either one could be an elegant choice for Michelle Obama!

Season 1 finalist Austin Scarlett created this washed burlap strapless gown.

Here's a more formal choice, from Austin Scarlett's line, Kenneth Pool.

Season 2 semifinalist Kara Janx made a dress "about patriotism and change, with a pop culture spirit."

But can you picture Michelle Obama in one of Kara's famous kimonos? The gold trim adds a more glamorous touch.

Malan Breton of Season 3 cut the stars out of the flag and used them to highlight his dress.

But a more simple, regal shape from his 2009 spring collection seems more fitting for a First Lady.

Mychael Knight, Season 3 semifinalist, created a "youthful and sexy" gown. "She’s becoming the first lady, not an old lady!"

Mychael's designs are so youthful and so sexy (think: leather bikinis) that the only appropriate gown to be found was this one from an old episode of Project Runway. Still, Ms. Obama could rock this.

Alison Kelly of Season 3 says she "thought back to the Great Depression and remembered Coco Chanel’s dropped waist silhouette" when she dreamed up this black gown.

But what if she took this top from her line, Dahl by Alison Kelly, and lengthened it into a dress? It has a quiet yet impactful "wow" factor. And Michelle Obama has great shoulders.

LOL. This is from the lovable Chris March, Season 4. Due to dire financial straits, "The first lady will have to resort to wearing a barrel. Of course, hers will be glamorous."

Checking out Chris March's site, it was tough to find anything Michelle Obama-appropriate. This was the best I could do. It's very "after the revolution," no?

Rami Kashou of Season 4 used draping, of course. The stripes are awfully distracting, though.

Could Michelle Obama wear a Rami Kashou divine golden goddess number instead?

Last, but not least: Season 5 winner Leanne Marshall. Her gown features a dramatic collar and "a very full, pocketed sweeping skirt of 50 horizontally paneled potato sacks." Not bad, but…

This beautiful dress from Leanne's final collection would be much, much better.

The Ball Gown Challenge [The Daily Beast]

Related: Jay McCarroll
Austin Scarlett
Kara Janx
Mychael Knight
Dahl By Alison Kelly
Chris March
Rami Kashou
Leanimal

Photography by Alex Wright.
(Click on any image to begin gallery)

Earlier: Live From New York: The Project Runway Fashion Show & The Case Of The Missing J. Lo

• Okay, it's slightly less random than it seems: Dempsey's wife, Jillian, has been Avon’s global creative color director since July 2006. Not that this really excuses it. Or why WWD refers to "Unscripted", ominously, as the actor's "first scent." And about that name: does he really want to take credit for ad-libbing the Grey's dialogue? [WWD]
• Meanwhile, in other fragrance news, Josh Hartnett is fronting "Emporio Armani: Diamonds for Men," [ET]
• ...while Eva Mendes is the, um, face of both Calvin Klein's new Secret Obsession perfume and its "Seductive Comfort" underwear line. Quoth the loyal pitchwoman, ""I wear [Calvin Klein] G-strings all of the time on the red carpet and when shooting for a film because you don't see the [panty] lines." [WWD]
• Christian Siriano: "I am honored to be a part of this amazing group of talent!” Siriano said. “It is a dream to work with legends such as [director] Charles Shyer, Uma Thurman and [costume designer] Milena Canonero on a wonderful story filled with creative inspirations." The project? Eloise in Paris. [E!]

• Meanwhile, fellow PR winner Jay McCarroll is shilling his wares on QVC. [Blogging Project Runway]
• I think we can all agree that there's no such thing as too many Karl Lagerfeld documentaries. [WWD]
• German Elle celebrated its big 2-0 in Berlin. Yes, Lagerfeld was there. [WWD]
• In one handy reference: the Ethical Fashion Directory. [The Guardian]
• Bravissimo offers "full-figured" nightwear; PJs that actually support. 'Rather than the 'one size fits all' approach, Bravissimo's designs are based on a standard sized back, shoulders and waist but, within each dress size, offer different sizes to account for the fullness of the bust.' [The Star]
• Model Lily Cole in French Playboy, which is allegedly more 'artistic' than the Yank version. Hm. [Fashionista]
• Long-awaited Prada flagship opens in San Francisco. [WWD]
• CondeNast'sFashion Rocks, the worst fashion and music magazine in the history of the universe, will come out in September, and the accompanying concert features Rihanna, Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake, Fergie, Mariah Carey, Keith Urban, Kid Rock and Lil Wayne. It'll air on CBS. [E!]
• Yup, the death watch is on for Mervyn's, all right. We feel bad for the chain's founder. [Los Angeles Times]
• That Visa London clothing swap LiLo fronted? Listen to this undemocratic twist: "Participants dropped off unwanted items at collection points over the last six weeks, receiving points on a swipe card. The more exclusive the outfit, the more points they received, which they could spend yesterday on other donated items." Wait, who determined "exclusivity"? [The Observer]
• Russian public schools ban "emo and goth" clothing. [Fashionista]
• "But fashion is also theatre, a world of make believe, and there is nothing more theatrical than revealing the layers of artifice that construct an image, especially when it is done within the image itself. It is like the conjurer's reveal." The intricate dance that is Fashion Photography. [The Guardian]
• Alexander Calder's jewelry, which he mostly made for family and friends, is on display at the Philly Art Museum. And it's amazing. '"He's not a jeweler,"a curator said. "There are no welds. He's working on an anvil and a bench, but he's not doing what jewelers do, not making links or soldering things. He's taking wire and doing stuff with it that no one else was doing. With basic wire."' [NPR]
• New York's Clock Tower Building, a century-old Madison Avenue landmark, is getting a makeover. By Versace. The quietly tasteful fashion house is decorating 55 apartments and a spa. presumably gold, cheetah, tanning beds will figure prominently. [Reuters]
• Betsy Johnson is awesome, has a "man-lover." [WWD]
• Parishoners at St. James United Church of Christ have modified 150 pairs of boxer shorts for wounded veterans, replacing the shorts' side seams with fasteners so they are easier to fit over bulky prosthetics and braces. Good work and probably something that people don't often consider. But the fact that they're bringing the undies to the altar to be blessed on Sunday is just peculiar. [USA Today]
• "Jacques Kaplan, 83, Bold Furrier, Dies." [IHT]
• Designers Kate&Kass name their designs after famous women. They have an Ingrid Newkirk. Also a Benazir Bhutto minidress. [Fabsugar]
• In spite of economic challenges, textile fairs thrive. [WWD]
• Seattle Jezzies: donate gently used prom duds for low-income teens. [,a href="http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/lifestyle/371628_tf222.html?source=rss">Seattlepi]
• Bravo's Runway replacement? UK import Fashion House , which "replicates the workings of the fashion business through a fashion house." Teams of designers will live together and work to create an entire line — rather than just individual pieces — that has the potential to be purchased by commercial buyers.' We want to believe! [New York Magazine]
• British denim brand Lee Copper celebrated its centennial with various one-off collabs: "From the gothic-inspired denim dress complete with Swarovski crucifix designed by Giles, to the vintage denim jacket emblazoned with signature gold lips by Jade Jagger, each and every piece is set to shoot straight to the top of every fashion fan's wishlist." Well, let's not get carried away, here. [ElleUK]

I was actually pretty surprised I won. I wanted it so badly, but I needed it more than I wanted it. I'm just getting started....I'm not looking to make hundreds of thousands of dollars. I want to brand myself as well, but I want my clothes to be high fashion, avant-garde. It's easier to take inspiration from something that's creative than to build on something that's not. I don't want to do QVC.

Fortunately for Siriano, he — unlike Project Runway alums Chloe Dao, Jay McCarroll, Emmett McCarthy, and Laura Bennett — won't have to: Barneys New York, Jeffrey's, and Saks Fifth Avenue have all already bought pieces of his. So, yeah — one week after winning and Siriano, on talent and personality alone, is already the most successful person to have come out of the Bravo show. Other reasons to love Christian? He cares about his friends. "The only episode that bothered me was the first part of the finale. They showed all of the other designers with their friends and family, but not me. I had a bunch of friends over, and they cut it out of the episode. I'm not alone out here," says the clearly sensitive soul. Also, he's still friends with model Lisa Nargi. Says Lisa, "He's someone I'm always texting or sending messages to on MySpace. When things calm down for him, we'll definitely see a lot of each other....His clothes are going to be up there with the top designers. They're going to be the clothes that everyone wants to have. He'll be a designer like [John Galliano]."

And how is his life different post-Runway? "I can hardly go out anymore," he says. "Everyone wants to touch me or carry me, which gets really annoying after the first few times. You'd think I was naked the way people look at me....But I get paid to do parties now." Oh and does he say "fierce" anymore? Of course not: His phrase du jour is now "I'm gonna stab you."

Rubbing Elbows, Making Art [The Advocate]

• OMG! International Herald Tribune fashion critic Suzy Menkes and designer Marc Jacobs have somehow settled their seemingly-insurmountable differences! After their tiff in New York over Marc's really late fashion show, Marc left Menkes a Marc Jacobs T-shirt with a pretty bow on her seat at Louis Vuitton on Sunday. And what was on the T-shirt? A "love letter," says Marc. Coy! [Fashion Week Daily]
  
• But! Newsweek writer Dana Thomas, author of new luxury industry expose Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster, is now banned from Louis Vuitton after riding them particularly hard in her book about how luxury sucks now that it's all about logo-strewn accessories and crap. Good grief, couldn't LV just laugh all the way to the bank about shit like this? [Fashion Week Daily]
  
• Says Chloe Sevigny about being the face of the new Chloe fragrance: "I'm concerned that the customers might be confused, though; I have the umlaut in my name while they have the accent. I'm Chloë, not Chloé." Stop. Even if you're kidding? Stop. [Fashion Week Daily]

• Le sigh! Kirsten Dunst is, like, so over getting harassed at fashion shows for being so irresistibly fabulous. Kiki says that "Fashion shows really aren't my forte anymore" but somehow mustered the courage to go to the Chanel show anyway since, like, she was already in Paris. Her verdict? "Hey, it wasn't so bad. Maybe they had better security than other shows." [Fashion Week Daily]
• If you care about what editors think you'll be wearing this spring now that the Spring/Summer 2008 shows haveended (we know — you're thrilled), you can read here. Or you can, uh, just continue to wear whatever the fuck you want. [Vogue UK]
• Samuel L. Jackson: "I love fashion TV... Those of us who are comfortable in our maleness can appreciate fashion." [Vogue UK]
• Michelle Pfeiffer has never tweezed her eyebrows? My ass. [FabSugar]
• MTV is introducing a new online TV show following the lives of up-and-coming fashion designers. as they prepare for the MAGIC apparel trade show in Las Vegas, which is like the Fashion Week of shit people actually wear, not that that makes it any less ridiculous. Stars include renaissance DJ Steve Aoki. [WWD, 3rd item]
• It finally happened: Fashion blog Coutorture got bought out by Sugar Inc., which we hope means a name change to "TortureSugar." [WWD, 2nd item]
• Sex and the City costume designer (and longtime drag queen employer) Patricia Field swears she wasn't trying to shove Carrie Bradshaw-style down all our throats. "I'm just declaring it so. I know I look like I have a crystal ball or gypsy tea, but I don't." [WWD, 4th item]
• You know what irritates us even more than a brand getting celebrities to design a limited-edition version of a product? When a brand gets celebrities to design a limited-edition version of a product that's not even on sale! The offenders this time? French ballet slipper company Repetto. 30 designers (Chloe Sevigny, Jean Paul Gaultier). 30 pairs of ballerina shoes. On tour for your viewing pleasure. You know, because the Frick is so boring at this point. [WWD, 1st item]
• And on that note! The inhouse DJ of YSL, Balenciaga, Chanel, etc. is also a designer. His name is Michel Gaubert, and he "collaborated" with Longchamp on a collection of bags. [WWD, 4th item]

Jay McCarroll, Season 1:

You don't think I took the fucking bus to New York the day after I won the show, thinking someone was going to come up to me on the street and say, You're awesome, here's money? I thought that for two years. But I've given up on that....My hands have been creatively crippled for two years—all those fucking eyes on me, reading that I'm a waste on blogs.

Andrae Gonzalo, Season 2:

I tell everyone I'm not a star. I'm a brown dwarf... I was still working [as a waiter] while [the show] was airing. Boy, was that surreal. The guests were freaking out. They were like, 'I can't believe it's you! You have to take a picture!' He gestures to an imaginary plate. "And I was like, Uh, I have this tray.

I felt so cheap and tawdry. They gave me $500 [to be on a reunion special], and I was like, Keep the money. It was just part of my confusion, grasping for the next thing.

In the supermarket, crossing the street, at a restaurant, it's, Whatareyoudoiiiiiiiiiing? Whatareyoudoiiiiiiiiiiing? And I know it comes from a wonderful place, but it feels like, 'Oh, poor you. Are you working?' To this day, I still rattle off a résumé. And then I realized: Nick, they're not judging you.

I'll go some places, especially concerts, and I'll have 15-year-old girls jump on my back or grab my crotch. And I get into grown-up mode, like, Where the fuck are your parents?

What do you have to offer me?