Nick Verreos Season 8 Mylifetime.com Recaps: Episode 8 Jackie Kennedy Cameltoe!!!

Jackie Oh No!!!!!Even though I am traveling in the Caribbean (Puerto Rico!!!) and the South (Nashville Tennessee), I am still keeping up with good ol' Project Runway, of course. This last week's episode was all about American Sportswear and Jackie Kennedy as the Muse and Inspiration.

Mondo Guerra,or as I lovingly call "Latin Urkel", won for his fun yet elegant "Jackie Kennedy at H&M" ensemble. I wonder if he realized that it was the 2010 version of this...

Black and white houndstooth wool tweed with black braided trim Suit, ca. 1959, which Jackie Kennedy wore for the Presidential campaign, fall 1959-spring 1960. For some "Fashion History" c/o your truly, here's a brief background: It was designed by Bob Bugnand who trained with the Parisian couturiers Lelong and Piguet.
After his apprenticeships, Bugnand opened his own salon in Paris before establishing a branch in New York in 1957. Although his fashionable clients were fitted in New York, their clothes were made in Bugnand's Paris workrooms. "French workmanship without the necessity of a passport" is what Harper's Bazaar declared about his clothing. LOVE that!

The WORST for me was...
This unfortunate get-up from usually on-point Andy I-only-design-with-an-Asian-aesthetic South. It was a mess! He said he wanted to give the judges "Edgy Jackie". Nope. This is not Edgy and furthermore, not even cute. The Star of this bad outfit were those pants! AGHHHH!!!!! (Is that a word?) The drape is odd and not harmonious and of course: Can we TWALK about the CROTCH:

Nasty.

But, he was Safe! So, Michael Drummond and his cute tank tops and questionable Do Rag scarves, had to go.

It was his Annie Get Your Gun pleated skirt ensemble which was more Prairie Home Companion and less Jackie Kennedy in her Official State Visit to France.

Here's the Intro to my Mylifetime.com Project Runway Recap for this week, titled:

Jackie Cameltoe!!!

I just arrived in the beautiful island of Puerto Rico to host a fabulous Macy's event ("Don't Cry for Me, San Juan!") and had visions of last week's Resort Wear Challenge and how maybe they should have brought the designers here — but somehow I don't think a trip to Puerto Rico would be in the show's budget! Upon arriving at my hotel, I got "good and ready," turned on the flat-screen TV and began watching this week's new "Project Runway" episode to see:
A. What Challenge these kids would not understand;
B. If Gretchen would continue her critiquing; and
C. If maybe, just maybe, Mondo figured out how to take his tacky Vegas Resort Roller Disco Girl (from last week) to a higher level … I would soon find out.

The Queen of Effortless Chic
Still Shag-a-delic Heidi Klum greets the designers by telling them that they are to meet up with Tim, where they will be "stepping back in time." At a "Capsule Studio" in Manhattan, Tim Gunn — with a wall of fabulous Jacqueline Kennedy photographs projected behind him — tells the remaining designers that for their next Challenge, they will create a look that defines THEIR point of view on American Sportswear — and use fashion icon Jackie O as their muse.....

Click HERE to read my entire mylifetime.com Blog!

Pearl Jewelry 101

From Coco Chanel to Michelle Obama, women have always considered pearl jewelry a must-have addition to their jewelry collections.

Ever wondered how those oysters manage to create such a shiny little miracle? Or what about the five most important factors to consider when buying pearls?

Here is a pearl primer from my sugar momma, Jewelry.com, that tells you all the pearls of wisdom you'll ever need to know! Enjoy!


Pearl Jewelry 101:

Pearl, the birthstone for June, is among the most timeless, classic and treasured of all gems. Throughout history, pearls have been associated with wisdom, wealth, purity, romance and mystery. The ancient Egyptians were buried with them. In Rome, pearls were considered the ultimate symbol of wealth and status. The Greeks prized them for their beauty and association with love and marriage. Medieval knights wore them in battle as a talisman against injury. And during the Renaissance, some European countries banned all but nobility from the right to wear them.


It's hard to believe that such a luscious, beautiful gem comes from such humble origins. A natural pearl starts out as a grain of sand or microscopic worm that works its way into an oyster and cannot be expelled. To protect its soft body from this irritant, the oyster secretes a smooth, hard crystalline substance called nacre. Layer upon layer of nacre coats the foreign object and hardens, ultimately forming a pearl. In general, the thicker the nacre, the richer the 'glow' of the pearl - which can greatly enhance its value.


Although early pearl gathering depended on divers braving the oceans' depths to retrieve these treasures, the vast majority of pearls today are grown, or cultured, on pearl farms by surgically inserting a small shell bead, or nucleus, into the mantle of an oyster.

Even though pearls are harvested en masse on pearl farms, producing a quality pearl is an extremely rare event. It is estimated that half of all nucleated oysters do not survive - and of those that do, only 20% bear marketable pearls.

When shopping for pearls, the five factors that determine value are luster (surface brilliance); surface cleanliness (absence of spots, bumps or cracks); shape (generally, the rounder the pearl, the higher its value); color (pearls come in virtually every hue of the rainbow, and a few others, too); and size (the average pearl sold is 7-7.5 millimeters, but these gems can be as small as 1 millimeter or as large as 20 millimeters).

Because pearls are soft, ranking only 2.5-4.5 on the Mohs scale for hardness, they require special care. Natural oils from the skin, as well as hair spray, lotions and cosmetics, can dull their luster. Like other jewelry, they should be cleaned with a soft damp cloth and stored in cloth or cotton away from other jewelry to prevent scratching. Also, avoid allowing your pearl to come in contact with harsh chemicals, which can erode its surface. And if worn frequently, pearl necklaces should be brought to a jeweler once a year for re-stringing to prevent strand breakage.