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This week on Lifetime's Season 11 Project Runway, the challenge was to create an Avant Grade piece of  "wearable art" and a companion, more ready-to-wear piece inspired piece, after a visit to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in NYC. The remaining six designers were paired up in boy-girl teams and used the HP Touchsmart Desktop to create a textile/print design.

This was the highly anticipated "HP Intel Challenge". It is always one of the most fab episodes on Project Runway since the designers get to create a print and then--by "magic"!--it arrives the next day.





Back in February, during NYC Fashion Week, I had the pleasure of
attending the HP Project Runway Designer Reunion bash where lots of the
HP prints--designed by Project Runway designers were featured--alongside
the HP and Intel Touchsmart technology.



Now, let's Photo-Discuss this Episode and the Designs:




Stanley Hudson and Michelle Lesniak Franklin--were paired up and from the beginning, they were "the Dream Team", working well together with much cohesiveness, no drama, and a general, let's "make it work" and create something FAB-u-lous attitude.




Layana Aguilar and Daniel Esquivel--CRY-ana--as one of my Tweet peeps @LisaMacNewton coined (LOVE HER!), was all things a mess in last night's episode--whining, crying, mad at not getting her way, bitter about Daniel getting all the praise...I really wanted to say "GURL! Here's a life lesson: you don't ALWAYS get everything mija!"




Patricia Michaels and Richard Hallmarq--Patricia "The Artsy One" of the season was "made" for this challenge and very excited about it. What she wasn't excited about was working with "It's EVERYYYYYTHING" Richard. He, for some reason, was uncooperative and even Tim Gunn suggested and questioned whether Richard was deliberately trying to make their pairing fail.



The Runway:





The Winning Creations--(left) Michelle Lesniak Franklin's design and Stanley Hudson's (right)--they created a "screaming" macabre woman print that worked well with these creations. Michelle's khaki coat with exaggerated train was grand and the addition of the painted bubble wrap, tiered ball gown underneath added the "avant garde" to it. It was a little "arts-&-craft-y" and would have rather seen something more in line with this:




 Alexander McQueen by Sarah Burton Fall 2012 Collection--now, that would have been great!




But Stanley's exaggerated baby doll creation (above)--which won--and rightly so--kind of reminded me of this:









Daniel Esquivel--Daniel created the more ready-to-wear ensemble in "Team Layana and Daniel". I liked this look. The jacket was well-executed and the skirt was modern and young. The entire look was very Barneys New York, the "Designer Floor".




Layana Aquilar--This is a MESS. The judges said that it reminded them of a "Period" piece (from the Belle Époque I presume?) gone wrong. They also said it looked as if she "threw in everything AND the kitchen sink". Poor thing looked as if she got caught in a wind tunnel or tornado.














Patricia Michaels--I liked the look Patricia created--when the model came down the runway, I was like "At-a-Girl!". The print was very modern and loved the hand-painted/washed out effect Patricia did. The white veil was a great soft angelic counterpoint to the geometric silhouette. The entire ensemble reminded me of a 15th Century woman I could see being depicted in a Van Eyck painting:













And now...here's my Project Runway Blog RECAP for this week:

HP Objets d’art

Sold Out Michelle

In case you didn’t get the "Michelle Is Back memo, our dear Season 11
voice of reason designer Michelle Lesniak Franklin won last week’s Lord
& Taylor Challenge, with the prize being that her dress would be
manufactured and sold at Lord & Taylor. According to the web, her
dress SOLD OUT by 8:45 am the morning following last week’s episode (I
wonder if she got any profits from that!?). I’m excited that Michelle is
no longer "Bad Luck Michelle" but "I Might Win This Entire Show"
Michelle. Her positive design karma continued onto this week’s episode
as well. Speaking of, let’s get to it…



Why Are You Not Smiling???

The remaining six designers are very tired and visibly stressed. I know
exactly how they feel. Been there. Done that. When Heidi Klum opens the
episode with her traditional, "Hellooo," and follows with a, "Why are
you not smiling?" I wanted to shout at the TV and say to her, "Because
they all hate each other, have had three hours of sleep and…THEY. ARE.
OVER. IT!"



Guggenheim Fab

After Heidi’s niceties, the designers meet Tim Gunn at the Guggenheim
Museum where he is to announce their next challenge. But before that,
the producers, I mean judges, would like to "re-work" the teams. The
designers are paired up in boy-girl fashion: Stanley with Michelle;
Patricia and Richard, and Layana with Daniel. Once that’s done, Gunn
tells the designers that this is the HP Intel Challenge: to create a
piece of wearable art...



Click HERE to read the rest of my RECAP 

On Saturday, I had the honor of being invited--along with my NIKOLAKI partner David Paul--to the FIDM Debut 2013 L.A. Fashion Gala at Santa Monica's Barker Hangar. This is the "fancy" version of the previous days Debut show I hosted. It was a black tie event (well, at least for me!) that began with a "Cocktail Hour", followed by a sit-down dinner, a presentation of Scholarship trophies and then, the Debut Fashion Show! Here are some pics of the VIP'ers in attendance:
























Nick Verreos with model/photographer Brandise Danesewich--Brandise is a DARLING--and she takes some AMAZING photos--she was on Project Runway and was also modeling at this year's Debut 2013








And now...here are some photos of the Debut 2013 show, beginning with the FIDM Theater Costume designs created by graduates of the Advanced Study Program in Theater Costume Design for "Lés Miserables":




































Kelly Knaggs--Signal Snowboards partnered with FIDM to have the Graphic Design students deign original snowboards and FIDM Debut designer Kelly Knaggs created their action sportswear snowboarding outfits



























  

Cheers to another FABULOUS Debut Fashion Gala!





Security!!! Naturally--as it has become tradition--I had to get one final photo with the wonderful Barker Hangar/FIDM Debut Fashion Show Security Team--they are THE BEST in the business! I had a great time attending the FIDM Debut 2013 L.A. Fashion Gala, along with David, and congrats to all the FIDM Debut designers for such fabulous work! Until next year! xoxo

L.A. Open House:







FIDM L.A. held their annual "Debut 2013 Open House" right on Hope Park, adjacent to the main campus. There were several huge tents set up and it was packed with every seat taken! The FIDM Open House is a way anyone interested in possibly attending FIDM--along with their parents/family members--to tour the campus, get to know the facilities, meet instructors, grads, and speak to Admissions Advisors about the college.












As the Official Spokesperson for FIDM, I had the honor of emceeing the Open House which I began with greeting the audience. I then held an FIDM Open House Runway Walk-Off, where I chose people from the audience--at random--to do a runway walk right in the middle of the tent!




It was so much fun! Amongst all the future "Naomi Campbell's", there was a beauty queen with a crown and sash (see photo above), a fashionista mom with a great hat, plus I even tried to set up an "Open House Love Connection" as well!




Afterward, I hosted a panel discussion with FIDM grads, discussing their experiences at FIDM and what they were up to now--and what advice they could best give incoming FIDM students in regards to how to get the most out of the College.





Then, I took lots of pics with the attendees in an informal "Nick Open House Meet-and-Greet"--Next, I grabbed a quick lunch (a boy's gotta eat!), did an outfit change (to a Calvin Klein Collection apple green suit!) and then, headed to The Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, to make a special Photo-Op Appearance at the Fashion Club Debut 2013 Pre-Party, as well as to host the FIDM Debut 2013 Fashion Show.




Fashion Club Debut 2013 Pre-Party Pics:



















Debut 2013 Day Two:


















Post Debut Meet-and-Greet:

Following the FIDM Debut 2013 fashion Show, I had the pleasure of signing autographs and taking photos with many of the attendees...













And Last But Not Least...







**Next Up: FIDM Debut 2013 Day Three--The Los Angeles Fashion Gala Night!