I’m loving Etro’s fall collection. The colors and richness of the velvets reminded me of what’s going on at the store Geminola in the West Village. I stopped in the other day and was overjoyed to see dresses grafted together mixing the top of one dress, with the bottom of another. This shop is one of my favorites in NY, it’s located on 41 Perry St. It carries a plethora of reconstructed vintage party dresses which are overdyed and trimmed up with wild touches of color. Their website does not do their store justice, so try to avoid checking out this link.

About a week and a half ago when Kara Janx was booted off of the show I was definitely upset, not so much that she was kicked off but that Santino the dufus got to stay on. The fact of the matter is that he’s not that talented, yeah he like to throw trim on everything and goes overboard, but he’s not likeable nor is he a nice person, on any level. He has very little respect for others to boot. Before this turns into a rant I’d like to return the focus to Kara. Despite the fact that for the majority of the show I didn’t really like most of the outfits she designed she did manage to come up with a few inspired pieces including outfit for Santino. Regardless, she was the designer to show at Fashion Week but will not be shown during last episode of Project Runway since she has been eliminated. From what I’ve heard and the few things I’ve seen her collection was definitely a strong one and perhaps better than the rest. I guess it’s easier to take risks when you have nothing to lose. There’s an informative interview with her at Andy’s Blog (a producer for Bravo). Below are some of the looks from her show, I really like the hats!

You can also find more of her things, though I think they’re a little dated now, at www.karajanx.com

Some of you may already be familiar with Etsy. It’s a relatively new website where craftsters from all over the world sell their handmade crafts. It seems that it’s easy to get started and there are already loads of cute and interesting things for sale. There are ton’s of people selling handspun yarns; dolls from japan and china. Check it out, it’s a whole lot of addictive fun. You can browse by the location of the person, by color (as shown above) or travel back in time seeing when things were posted. For the whole site they’re using a fun new approach to website functionality called AJAX, sorta like google maps, which makes it all the more enjoyable to use. I also find almost everything extremely reasonable priced. Here are two doll makers that I really liked.

Just one thing more about Jane mag…I love their beauty spread in the March issue. They recommend half lips…meaning that you apply a red stain or gloss in the middle of you lips for a splash of color, a nice way to wear red without looking like a harlot. I think I’ll try this look tomorrow.

Industry fashionistas should check out The Design Library. 60 miles north of Manhattan, the Library is home to a gazillion swatches (yarn-dyes, prints, ancient fabrics) which are for sale ranging from $75-$15,000 USD. The library was originally started by Susan Meller and her late husband 30 years ago. Susan co-authored one of my favorite textile books,Textile Designs : Two Hundred Years of European and American Patterns. The book is a great look at surface design throughout history (and for $23 dollars it’s a steal, compared to buying the actual swatches of fabric!).

As some of you know the Project Runway people sell by auction the actual designs from the show. The website has a breakdown of the garment per episode and how much they each sold for. So, do you all remember watching the “All dolled up” episode of Project Runway when they created the outfits for barbie dolls? This one on the above left was Nick’s and it sold for $1700! OMG! It’s kind of cute, in the LA sort I guess, but is it worth the price?

Yes, we know we skipped one week of Project Catwalk reviews, sorry about that. Here is a quick run-down of week 4. The challenge for this week was to further spoil one of the United Kingdom’s most pampered children, Kelly Osborne, by designing a flattering outfit for her. During the designers’ initial interview with Kelly, she not once got off of her bed / throne. Kelly really ought to have moved around a little, it wouldn’t do her any harm, and what’s with the big black hair? She looked like a puffy mushroom.

*Spoiler Alert* Winner/Loser Revealed, although you probably already know.

Fanny pack update: I just noticed this stylish fanny pack by Martin Margiela in the Febuary issue of NYLON, the pack is available at Barney’s.