Ya know,

A couple of months back I wrote about how Kate Moss’ snorting cocaine really did a number on her career. Boy was I wrong. Moss has comeback stronger than ever. One could even say she is better for it. Let me explain.

She gets caught doing lines somewhere (I think it was a studio or a party or a studio party, don’t hold me to that); some of the companies that back her pull their contracts with her, she checks into rehab, things go quiet for a couple of months, then, all of a sudden, she re-emerges on the cover of W. She also holds on to her Yves Saint Laurent endorsement, appears as the cover story in December’s issue of Vanity Fair entitled “Can she come back?” Let’s not forget the French Vogue story pictured above.

So, the moral of the story: coke doesn’t kill your career, it just places it on pause for awhile.

I cannot believe that Nicole, who I nicknamed little miss piggy while watching the first episode, was named the Top Model tonight. Even in the finale she continued to whine, complain and make excuses for herself (lights are blinding me, bla bla wah wah), and she still needs a technician to trim the small bush-lets on the insides of her eyebrows. Her voice is like taking a metal knife to a cheese grater, which is amplified by her constant whining and screeching.

Honestly I was really disappointed with the final four – Kim was edgy and “fierce” and I think she should have won. I only watched the last two episodes because I’d already wathcied the entire season, but I wasn’t pulling for anyone after Kim (and Lisa) left. Overall it was a disappointing season, the pettiness reached a new level and ruined Bre for me, who up until that point had seemed cool. I might not watch next season at all.

Thank god for Project Runway, which has some amazing (and awful) new designers, but more about that tomorrow.

-Ali

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Since the premiere of (Emmy-nominated) Project Runway’s second season is TONIGHT (move over Top Model), I thought it would be nice to recap last season and do some investigative journalism (i.e. simple Google search) to see where our favorite designers are now (surprise, surprise: designing).

Favorite Designs

Kara and Jay definitely deserved to be in the top two—their designs throughout the show were consistently the cream of the crop. Kara’s design for the innovation challenge (left) in episode two proved she was a force to be reckoned with, with a gorgeous feminine pseudo-military meets flight attendant design. Jay really started to come into his own towards the end of the show—especially with this outfit for the Design a Collection Challenge (right) in episode seven. His signature well-coordinated but edgy and funky look is encapsulated in this brown-toned multi-piece outfit (the belt really makes it work).

Almost-wonderful designs were Robert’s trademark, but I think he really nailed it with his wedding dress (left) for episode five’s Model Client challenge. Perhaps the next Vera Wang? Probably not, but what a dress (and a body to model it). And this dress Austin designed for the Banana Republic Challenge (center) was as dressed down as Austin was willing to get, which is fine by me because he is a designer born for haute couture. But this dress is gorgeous, despite my aversion to floral print, he has actually redeemed it with his amazing tucks.

The Winner

My absolute favorite pieces all came from Jay’s final runway collection. Being a fashionista who is a classicist at heart (I cringe every time I see brown shoes worn with a black outfit), I also have a rebellious streak in me that responds almost viscerally to hip, edgy, almost-unwearable-because-they-are-so-funky designs.

Jay geniusly combined both of these fashion traits into one collection that is completely coordinated with a complimentary (and sometimes monochromatic) color scheme but also incredibly fashion-forward.

Where are They Now?

I tracked down the websites of Jay, Kara Saun and Austin (admittedly not hard to do).

All are designing, and seem to be working toward the ultimate design goal of launching their own lines. My roommate saw Austin walking around in the Lower East Side of New York, where according to his website he is designing in his own studio (in the Flatiron district). Austin was admittedly my favorite personality-wise, simply because he had such a secure, strong sense of self. Jay’s site is scant on personal info, but he is no doubt doing promotional stuff for the new season and taking full advantage of his one-year design contract. And Kara is back to costume design, working for the WB series What I Like About You.

I can’t wait for the new season to start. I love looking at the runway designs. What about you?

-Ali