Published by Stocking on 07 Sep 2007
Tim Gunn’s “Debut”
Tim Gunn’s House OF, I mean “Guide ToStyle” is debuting tonight on Bravo, and I will be watching my former mentor on his debut. I can’t wait to hear all his acerbic wit and see his now-infamous lifting of his eyebrow and lowering of his glasses (which on Project Runway, would send any of us designers running to cry over our future demise!).The last time I saw Tim was when I was asked to introduce him at a Bravo event for Los Angeles’Outfest. He was, of course surrounded by his “handlers” and even I, got barely a chance to say “Hello” and get a hug in. 
The next thing I realized I was being pushed by about ten people who wanted to get a photo for their “MySpace” with Mr. Gunn. He was almost being suffocated into a corner and all I could see was his face saying “Help me!” Boy, things have changed since two years ago when we would be walking down 7th Avenue to go to Mood and no one even blinked an eye. I wish him all the best and luck on his wonderful new show. I’m already a fan. He had me at “Hello”.
More: click here…
DRESS LIKE YOU MEAN IT!!!MSN.com’s Style Studio has been a hit! Or so they tell me! Friends , family (they better!), as well as strangers I run into on the street, at airports, hotels…No, I am not running around town at the wee hours of the night wanting to find out what people think of us , “The Glam Squad”–even though that’s what you might think! And now, more than ever I find myself telling girls randomly to “Dress Like You Mean It”. I think the catchphrase has been embedded so much in my brain that I dream it! So everyday I wake up , I try to follow my own advice.I have been making monthly trips to NY to film the segments and enjoy doing them–even though during these recent blistering summer months, the studio/loft where we film has felt as if we were filming in an oven! (they turn off the air conditioning while we film in order to lessen on the noise it makes) So, in the event you see my T-zone glistening (more like dripping!) now you know!Here are some photos from one of the last shoots where I hung out with the lovely models as well as 
the fabulously chic hairstylist to the stars (and Heidi Klum’s personal stylist), Helena Faccenda (working her fierce Prada ensemble). Check out the site HEREYou can see some of my most recent style segments under “Everyday Focus”; segments include “Clean Sweep”, “A Blank Canvas”, as well as “Eco Chic” . You can also check what my favorite “celebrity” clothing lines are as well, under the “Trends” section.
Prom Memories…I was so excited when I received an email from Mollie, a fan and a young lady with exquisite taste I might add. The email contained photos from her prom , in which she wore one of my fabulous Windsor dresses that I designed for Prom Season 2007. She had chosen the style appropriately titled “Summer”, which was a bit of a hit with the girls when I did my in-store appearance tour of several Windsor Stores a couple of months back.The dress was a version of the style I designed for the My SceneBarbieChallenge back in Season 2 of Project Runway. It was a light lemon yellow stretch satin, featuring ruching at the waist and midriff , twisted gathered bust and a high-low hem. Mollie said her friend loved it so much, she also bought it and wore it to her prom! 
Here are the photos. And if there are any more of you girls out there who wore one of my Windsor original designs for your prom and have photos, please send them to me and I will also post them up! Let everyone see how gorgeous you looked!!!
I am back from Miami, getting ready for my upcoming Resort/Spring 2008 Fashion Show at the W Hotel San Diego(more details to follow!) and catching up on some past events I attended. Two weeks ago, OUTFEST had its 25th Anniversary of showcasing the finest in Gay, Lesbian and Transgender films, here in sunny Los Angeles and I was invited to several accompanying events. First was the Opening Night Gala at the historic Downtown Los Angeles Orpheum Theater, in which I attended with my buddy, Erik. I ran into several OUT socialites, including my favorite Latina, Wilson Cruz (whose body is too ripped for words) and Momma, an LA icon. It’s not enough that she runs EC2–one of the greatest costume houses in the world and the home and archives of Mr. Bob Mackie– Momma defines the word FABULOUS! Erik and I had a fun time, not only watching a great Opening Night film, but also partaking in the after party, traditionally held in the parking lot right behind the Orpheum. In one word, G-G-G-GAY–as in Season 2 designer, Emmett McCarthy’s infamous bubblegum pink figure skating costume GAY!
That weekend, I was invited to attend and actually introduce the one and only Tim Gunn, at the Bravo Outfest Party, held at the Hollywood nightspot, Boulevard 3. First, I was honored when I was asked by Bravo to introduce Tim at this party. OK, I was verklempt! Tim arrived to the party with the beautiful Veronica Webb in tow. After my “introduction duties” were done , I enjoyed myself up in the Bravo VIP area with all my friends. 
There were a lot of Bravo “celebs” from all their different shows, including Work Out, Top Chef, and of course, Project Runway. Two of my favorite Project Runway alum were there, the always FIERCE Robert Best, and Andrae Gonzalo, looking very Resort 2007 in his ensemble. 
I also ran into one of my favorite trainers from WorkOut, the HOT Brian Peeler and chatted a bit. Spotted at the party was the “Queen of AllMedia”, Perez Hilton, who was at one point posing with a cardboard cutout of Heidi and Tim. OK, he was almost humping them! I also got the chance to meet one of my favorite hotties of TV, actor Matt Dallas of Kyle XY. He was, of course, surrounded by a gaggle of pretty young girls. 
There were many of Tim Gunn’s books, “A Guide To Quality Taste and Style” as well as Bravo emblazoned pillows strewn throughout the VIP couches. Let’s just say I spotted several Bravo “talent” snatching many of these under their arms– like Latin mothers at a wedding taking the table centerpiece flower arrangement– you KNOW what I am talking about! It was a fun party and again, I was honored to have been part of it and celebrate Outfest’s Silver Anniversary in Bravo style!
Vitamin Water: Check. Throat Lozenges: Check. Outfit to wear in front of High School Students: Check. It’s FIDM’s Three Days Of Fashion!Last month, I got the chance to visit all of the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising’s California campuses in a flourish of activities that the school plans out during Summer Break. Traditionally, FIDM plans out an event called the Three Days OfFashion for high school students throughout the country who are thinking of coming to fashion school or going into careers in fashion. As FIDM’s spokesperson and as an alumni and an instructor, I was asked to make special appearances at all their campus–all within a span of two weeks. Let’s just say, I got to know airports and the Southern California freeways very well! Lest you think it’s all “flossy flossy”, I flew Coach and drove myself to these events!I began my appearances in a rather “dazed and confused” state. My first, San Francisco event was set for the same day
I was flying back from New York City filming my MSN “DressLike You Mean It” fashion segments. And I had to be in San Francisco by noon. I left NY at 5 AM , arrived in SF at 10 AM and drove straight to FIDM SF. No sleep and not enough Vitamin Water to keep me going. But somehow I did it! One of my oldest of friends, whom I consider like a sister, Didi Simon, greeted me at the airport and then took me to a much needed power breakfast before heading into the city. Love me some Didi!! Since I spent my adolescence in the Bay Area, I always love returning to the City by the Bay. After I was greeted by the energetic FIDM SF staff, I took a look at their window displays of original student designs ofgarments they made from hospital smocks. Yes, you read it right: Hospital smocks! They were great by the way. Note to future Project Runway segment writers: This is a challenge worth doing. I then spoke to the over 150 high school students about school, FIDM, and of course, Project Runway. I also signed autographs and posed for lots of My Space photos.
Next stop was home base, Los Angeles. At this ThreeDays of Fashion, I brought along a surprise “guest star”, model Amanda Fields, who was on Season Three of the show (designer Kayne Gillespie’s model). She models here in Los Angeles now, and I thought it would be a fun addition to the appearance to bring her along to model some of my dresses. Needless to say, the kids loved it–and you know Amanda was eatin’ it up too!! 
The FIDM grand ball room, as I call it, was filled to capacity with eager students wanting to know more about fashion, designers and , again, my experience on the little ol’ show.A couple of days of rest, and I was in my car , taking a sweet ride down to San Diego, for my next stop in my “Nick FIDMWorld Tour” : San Diego. Because of the infamous Southern California traffic, I almost did not make it on time. But, once I did, I was whisked right into the event, and all that nasty traffic was forgotten once I got to meet and greet all those wonderful students who had shown up to do the San Diego FIDM Three Days of Fashion. 
The staff had decorated the room I would be speaking in to make it look like a Moroccan souk! With an added runway( you KNOW I had to do my runway walk!). 
It was so much to meet all of these future fashion designers and to see their excited faces once they meet me and want to take photos with me, it makes it all worth it. So many of them told me “You have inspired me to be a designer…” Boys and girls alike. As an instructor, I always feel that if I can inspire just a couple of my students for doing better and wanting to succeed, then my job has been done.
My final stop was the OC! Land of LagunaBeach and MTV’s TheHills. This was my first time visiting the campus and was eager to see was it looked like. First of all, the FIDM OrangeCounty campus is FABUUUULOUS!!! The building itself is very modern and all one story. Then you walk in and its got bright bubblegum pink floors. Love it! I felt right at home. There were over 200 high school students–and their moms–waiting for me to make my appearance. I was told that they had already spent the morning and early part of the afternoon taking draping classes and putting together story boards, as well as illustrating. My appearance was supposed to be a surprise but I guess word got out. Once I walked out, I was greeted by the same amount of applause and screams I think Lauren Conrad of “The Hills” gets (OK, maybe not so much, but indulge me in a bit of fantasizing). I had a great time speaking to the students and then afterwards meetin’ and greetin’. 
After it was all over, I had such a great time doing all the Three Days of Fashion and look forward to the next round. Maybe next time, I’ll pack lots of Vitamin Water and throat lozenges–and try to upgrade to a better airplane seat, or a better car for my driving.
After finishing my hosting duties at St. Louis Fashion Week last night, I am off to do an appearance with Andraeeeeeee in Seattle at the La Mode Fashion Show for IADT!This one will be fun because I will have a partner in crime with Andrae this time. On Saturday we will be giving a seminar at the IADT Campus and Andrae will even be part of the silent auction creating a sketch of a one-of-a-kind garment live at the seminar.I’m going to have to pick up some of that world famous Seattle coffee when I get there to help me make it through this weekend!For more on the Do You La Mode Fashion Show click HERE.
Check Out my latest entry on BravoTv.com where I wrote about one of my latest assignments as a Mentor and producer of a ProjectRunway-esque challenge that took me to Dallas ,Texas last month. In short, I was approached by a home fragrance company called Anthousa Collection to get 6 Fashion Institute of Design andMerchandising/FIDM students to create a “party dress” in 8 hours inspired by 6 of their home fragrance-bottles-with-sticks products. After the designs were finished
, I then flew to Dallas Texas and presented the designs in a fashion show in front of over 100 Neiman Marcus beauty and cosmetics executives and buyers at their annual “Beauty Conclave” in the Four SeasonsResort and Spa. It was a hot, humid and thunderous 2 days in Dallas so I never really got to enjoy Dallas or the fabulous Four Seasons. Waiting 4 hours on a plane at the Dallas airport tarmac wasn’t cute. It was raining so hard they were not allowing planes to take off so we had to sit there and wait(the plane had already left the gate!). But I did have loads of fun with the entire Anthousa family. 
As you can briefly see here, the student designers really got their “creative fragrance and fashion juices” flowing! I was very proud of them. Click here to see more photos plus the entire article
Just returned from my crazy week in San Diego where I showed a “preview” of my NIKOLAKIResort/Spring 2008Collection at an event at the W Hotel organized for me at their fabulous Beach Bar. As you know, I love telling a story and this was no exception.My collection was based on Cleopatra arriving in Rome to look for her Marc Antony, but in 2008! And these were the fabulous dresses she had in her Louis Vuitton trunks. Here are a couple of shots from the runway show, which went well: No models falling, no broken high heels, no ripped seams or broken zippers! 
The model in the aquamarine silk gown is , in fact, my sister Rita, former Survivor: Fiji contestant, who flew out, along with my whole family , from San Antonio, Texas .The press, media and guests I spoke to said that it was a complete success. They loved the show and the collection. From backstage ,I could see people’s jaw dropping and could hear the “oohs and ahhs”, which I guess is a good reaction.Prior to Thursday night’s show, I did several TV morning talk shows–NBC, FOX and localKUSI–promoting the event, fashion show and my “celebrity bartending”.
For morning talk show interview on KUSI Click HEREand click HEREfor my interview on FOX.
Last weekend, I went to Bakersfield, California (about a 2 hour drive North of Los Angeles) to make an appearance at the “Look andFeel Your Best Expo”. I was invited by Mimi Dorsey and her company, Unique Image to bring a little bit of “Project Runway” to that city, as well as consequently, speak about my experience as a Southern California fashion designer and how I ended up on that Bravo television show.The Expo itself was a trade show, featuring beauty, spa, hair and even plastic surgery professionals, set up in booths showcasing what they have to offer the population of Bakersfield and its nearby areas.
It was a scorching hot afternoon but we were treated to an indoor air conditioned (Thank God) auditorium and I was “whisked” off to my own dressing room to get ready. They told me that Gwen Stefani had just been there, in the same amphitheater the weekend before! I felt like saying “Oh, I’m sorry that now you get me!” The security personnel as well as the entire staff could not have been nicer and more accommodating. I even got my own three models , from a local agency, who wore three of my gowns to showcase a mini fashion show that followed my speaking appearance. The models were fabulous and very pretty.
One wore the black andwhite patterned gown that was seen on Bravo’s “Work Out” and was the style that “Miss California” chose to wear (but we made it entirely in black silk satin) for last month’s “Miss USA” contest. Another model wore the navy and creme flower printed silk gown that former “Miss Universe”, Brook Lee wore to the “Miss Universe ” pageant last year. And the last one, modeled an aubergine-colored jerseyGrecian Goddess dress from my Fall Collection.
Afterwards, I came down and did a meet-and-greet and met all the fans that came out, shook their hands and took photos. I especially loved the kids from the fashion design and sewing class of a local high school, as well as the models fromTaji, a local hair salon. David and I are very grateful to the Bakersfield fans who braved a hot Saturday afternoon to come out and see me–instead of spending the beautiful day at the Magic Mountain water park!!! ( I would have been there!)
Two weeks ago I was invited to TheActors Fund Tony Awards viewing Gala at the Skirball Center here in sunny Los Angeles. My bff, Louie Ancondo, who happens to be Director of Special Events for the Actors Fund was out here for this special occasion and he needed a date, I was available. 
I have to admit that besides being a “closet” Figure Skating fan, I also “loves me” a Broadway Show, (but don’t tell anyone!). The night which included a silent auction and dinner was fabulously hosted by comedian/writer Bruce Vilanch who would drop in during commercials and give hilarious Paris Hilton updates. The highlight of my night was meeting (for the 2nd time) Grand Dame, Diva of all Diva’s Carole Cook and I, of course, could not pass up this photo opportunity. What else could you ask for? Comedy, drama and lots of jazz hands!
And here is another special treat for Broadway fans. The Actors Fund is doing there 7th Annual Auction of 1000 Stars. I have donated 2 Fashion Sketches (one of my winning Project Runway Barbie and the other is a Nick Verreos interpreted sketch of Edie Beale from Grey Gardens). In addition, in this fun little package, you will get a signed headshot of Moi. You can check it all out HERE. Remember it goes to a great cause. You can read all about the Actors Fund HERE. Let the bidding begin!
Paris Hilton
Britney Spears Drug
Tara Red Paris Hilton
