Blog Archive
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2007
(96)
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October
(15)
- TV Guide's Fashion Team Halloween!!
- TV Guide Channel's Fashion Team
- Where's Andrae?
- L.A. Fashion Awards Celebrates Project Runway
- Vintage Divas! Nick & Chloe Dao sitting in a Tree...
- Los Angeles Fashion Week
- MSN Style Studio:Singing Styles plus more
- Frontier Magazine: Dressing for the White Party
- Web Shout Out
- Web Shout Out
- From The Mailbox
- Chicago Fun Times
- Malin: My Ice (Runway) Queen!
- Basil Hayden Gown
- Basil Hayden Tastemakers 2007
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October
(15)
TV Guide's Fashion Team Halloween!!
In the spirit of Halloween, I have added the video from my Guest Hosting duties on TV Guide Channel's Fashion Team. It was a Halloween themed episode and as you'll see from the video, I was dressed in full 18th Century Regalia! I had the best time, as always hanging out with my buddies at TV Guide and they were nothing but kind as they helped me "keep my head above water" through the perils of Semi-Live TV!
Below are the other 3 parts of the episode.
TV Guide Channel's Fashion Team
The episode I co-hosted debuts tonight on the TV Guide Channel at 7 PM and replays at midnight as well as at 4 PM Monday afternoon (check your local listings). I had so much fun doing it, since the show is about fashion (my forte) and this particular episode was the Halloween Special!! Yes, you will get to see Uncle Nicky in full costume! You will have to watch it to see what I wore. Since the show is "live taped", there is little room for missteps--and I warn you, there were some on my part, but that's the beauty of live TV! It was a joy to have been asked to do this and to work alongside Daphne (who was a dream!) and to return to the TV Guide Channel. Love them!
Where's Andrae?
Oh, and did I tell you Andrae is designing for them? So the next time you ask "Where's Andrae?", he's at Single with Galina!!!!!!
L.A. Fashion Awards Celebrates Project Runway
Vintage Divas! Nick & Chloe Dao sitting in a Tree...
Check out my best Moderator-meets-Thursten Howell III double breasted jacket with an orange silk hanky look. I was trying to look "vintage", "sassy" as well as serious!
Los Angeles Fashion Week
And last Friday, I went to the debut show of Season 3's Bradley Baumkircher, held at the wonderful Besant Lodge in the Hollywood Hills below Beachwood Canyon. Model Amanda Fields(just about walked every damn show--except this one), came with me, wearing one of my Spring 2008 Duchesse backless dresses, as well as my partner David. It was a wonderfl show,I have to admit. All Bradley. Quirky yet lovely dresses, perfect for that oh-so-chic boutique on Third Street or Abbott Kinney. I met Bradley's mom, who was the nicest woman you'd ever meet, dressed very elegantly I might add. And I also ran into Season 3 designer, Vincent Libretti, who could not have been any nicer, saying something to the effect of "You are a great guy Nick, and it's so good that you come and support..."
This Friday Los Angeles Fashion Week will conclude with the LA Fashion Awards, which will honor Project Runway. I will post info on that next!
MSN Style Studio:Singing Styles plus more
First of all, congrats to my fellow team of "Glam Squad" at MSN's Style Studio. A little bird tells me that the site is a major success:
*Over 2 million unique visitors *Generating over 3 million page views on main site *More than 3.3 million videos have been viewed
Let me just be the first to say YEAHHHH !!!!
Check out the MSN.com Style Studio site, and click TRENDS on the right side. I was asked to give my "two cents" on the rockin' and not-so-rockin' style of Nelly Furtado, Pink ( both hot), Avril Levigne, Fergie and Amy Winehouse (not so much!)
Click HERE
Let's just say some of these lovely ladies need some style help.
Frontier Magazine: Dressing for the White Party
For over a year, I have been writing a bi-monthly column for Frontiers Magazine, a Southern California magazine, geared toward the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans gender) community. I write about style, fashion and the gay community. I am sort of a "Gay Eye for the Gay Guy" and try to give my advice for the style-challenged gays out there that might need a little bit of help and inject a little bit of fun into it. Noting from the emails I have received this last year from readers , I guess I have been helpful to some and it has been well-received.
Last year, I posted some of my first published articles here in my blog site and then I stopped.There are almost two dozen articles that I written since and I will be posting them weekly here, beginning with "How To Dress For The White Party". Click on the article above to read.
Web Shout Out
Last month, I was invited to an "Operation Smile" event in association with "Reality Cares". Someone sent me this link to their MySpace site, with this lovely photo of me next to what seemed like a fabulous Goodie Bag! Miss Janice Dickinson hosted this event and there were lots of "Survivor" and "Big Brother" as well as "American Idol" personalities on hand to lend their name to this great cause. Love the photo, if there was a caption, it would read :"Here is Nick from Project Runway ,with a bunch of goodies that he didn't go home with..." Maybe Janice got them! Figures, damn! Just kidding, even though you may not believe me, I did not attend the event for the Goodie bag (didn't even know they had one!), I wanted to support this great cause and I respect the founder of Reality Cares and wanted to do this for him.
Below was the original posting...
"Nick Verreos / Project Runway at Operation Smile
How fun is this!!! We got the photos back from the charity event we did, Operation Smile, and there in the stack of pics is NICK VERREOS! Those of you who watch "Project Runway" (like we do) know he's from season two fame and an absolute doll of a human being. He and Malan are two of our most beloved designers from the show…..and here's Nick pictured with one of our Furlesque tees….we're so loving this! "
Web Shout Out
I think it would be rather fun to show up and do my "Dress Like You Mean It" on one of the unsuspecting ladies. But, knowing this Industry, now that I have actually mentioned it and put it in print, that means that, as they say "It ain't ever going to happen".
"One thing I'd definitely like to see on Guide are appearances by past Project Runway designers -- I'm sure the chance to be dressed by Nick Verreos would be just as exciting to Guide to Style's makeover recipients (who, if they know Tim Gunn, must know Project Runway), and Runway fans would enjoy the chance to see their favorite designers in their element."
For the entire article, Click HERE
From The Mailbox
Big kiss Miss Amanda...and knock 'em dead at Los Angeles Fashion Week this week!!
From Amanda: "So I saw this on 20/20 tonight when they were discussing child stars. Emily Osment is 15 and on Hannah Montana. I got really excited because I thought it might have been your design! If it isn't.. somebody is getting inspired! (aka stealing your ideas!) I mean.. really! "
Chicago Fun Times
My visit was incredible, to say the least. First, being that it was the beginning of October, I expected Chicago to be its typical cold and windy self. Not! I arrived on the weekend of the Chicago Marathon and it was a balmy 85 degrees, thank you very much! I called my girlfriend Kelly Ryan O'Brien ahead to warn her of my whirlwind three-day trip to Chicago. She was the director of Chicago's branch of GenArt and a co-judge on the castings for Season 3 of Project Runway. Now, she is the marketing and public relations director for Michigan Avenue Magazine. She was so excited that I was coming that she was actually waited at my hotel lobby to greet me! I had barely taken out my credit card to put down for "incidentals" and she whisked my trench coat-wearing butt into her car to head to a VIP party Lucky Magazine was throwing to celebrate the launch of its November issue, which featured a whole section on Chicago's best stores. Once I arrived, it soon became photo and meet-and-greet mayhem, as Kelly escorted me through the party . I spent most of the time taking photos and doing various interviews and socializing with Chicago's fashionista that once we finally decided to leave, we went to get our Goodie Bags (which I heard had lots of fun stuff--they looked HEAVY!) and there were none! So we left empty handed. Lesson here is: Be tacky and get that Goodie Bag IMMEDIATELY, the minute you walk into the event, otherwise you'll end up like me.
Afterwards, we returned to my hotel, the fabulous James Hotel and I was treated to a scrumptious dinner and champagne at the JBar. I finally got to check out my room at the hotel and I just about screamed like a little girl who just got her first Barbie! The James Hotel's Marketing Manager, Joel Morales had upgraded me to one of their fabulous Loft Suites and I was in heaven! It was huge! With it's own projection room (to watch movies), a separate master bedroom, two flat screen TV's and more Kiehls products a gay man could ever use! Thanks Joel for "hooking me up". Too bad I didn't have anyone to enjoy it with me: I came stag on this trip unfortunately!
The next day was the event at the Center at Halsted. This brand new multi million dollar building is amazing, housing several floors, including an auditorium, and a huge gym to boot. It is there as a "refuge" of sorts, to give counseling, and educational as well as moral support to Chicago's LGBT community. For this final Basil Hayden event, the clients went all out, creating a very exclusive private party ambiance with orchid- accented tables , delicious hors d'oeuvres , a live DJ, and lots of free-flowing Basil Hayden cocktails for the guests to enjoy. I have several friends in Chicago, and I was happy to see them at the event. It's nice to see familiar faces when you are away from home (Thank you Bil, Anthony and Tony!) I also mingled with lots of my Chicago gays (and their beautiful girlfriends), lots of which professed their love of Project Runway and were very anxious to see the gown I had designed to benefit the Center.
After a bit of meet-and-greetin', the 250+ guests were led to the Center's auditorium , where the auction-and unveiling-of my original gown would occur. Erin put the gown on and it was a perfect fit! I never even had a fitting! A month prior to the event, I received her measurements, created a muslin sample of the gown, and had a fitting with a form I have that was close to her size (between a 4-6). My vision for the gown was a modern "Martha Washington", paying tribute to Basil Hayden's roots which go back to the late 1700's, when George Washington was President. I used the colors of the whiskey and the labels on the bottle (gold, copper and amber) and threw in some black for a bit of elegant mystery. The gown had over 30 yards of triple layered silk chiffon and featured a Duchesse Silk boned corset with a hand-beaded gold paillete over drape (the fabric alone cost me over $700!!) An obi-style tie knotted the empire section, like the final bow on a gift. This was my "gift" to the Center at Halsted and to the guests attending this final Out event of the season in Chicago.
Unfortunately, there was a last-minute glitch: About 30 minutes before the auction was about to begin, I realized that I had left the strappy heels that I brought all the way from Los Angeles in my hotel room! And I didn't like the closed-toe pointy ones the model had. I became a mini-Diva and had someone go to the hotel to fetch them. People around me said, "Oh Nick, the ones she has will be OK, don't worry..." I said "No, she can ONLY wear my gown with the shoes I created for it!" We were lucky that the James Hotel was a 10 minute drive from the event. The shoes arrived and everyone agreed how perfect these strappy heels were as opposed to what she would have worn.
As the auction began (with a starting bid of $250), I became nervous and doubtful that anyone would even bid for my gown. I felt like that kid in elementary school who was not getting picked for the vollyball game during recess! Needless to say, in a way, I got "picked". The gown went for almost $3000 !!! I thanked the winning bidder (seen in photo above) profusely and had my own Sally Field "You like me , you really like me" moment on stage.
It was a wonderful ending to a fabulous season of Basil Hayden and Out sponsored events in the Windy City and I was honored to have been part of it. I also heard through the grapevine that the winning bidder of the gown was going to donate it to the Center to have them display it. Well, my mascara almost started to run after that! (Just a note: I really don't wear mascara, even though I know you wont believe me!)
Malin: My Ice (Runway) Queen!
After pausing it, I then realized, it was a model who had done my runway shows: Malin Akerman!!! Back in 2003, as we prepared to show in the first-ever Smashbox Los Angeles Fashion Week, we began doing the model castings and several agencies, including LA Models, sent us their top runway girls. I remember Malin coming in, doing the fittings and looking gorgeous in my designs. Of course, we ended up using her. Originally from Sweden, I believe, I loved her Nordic features--very "Ice Queen". She was an excellent runway walker and a dream to work with.
So it was a nice surprise to see her now starring in a major Hollywood film. I also remember seeing her two years ago in a short-lived--but wonderful--HBO show starring Lisa Kudrow called "The Comeback", where she played a ditzy Beverly Hills 90210-ish actress really well. To me, I'll always remember Malin as my Ice Runway Queen.
Basil Hayden Gown
Today I flew to Chicago to Host the last of the Tastemakers 2007 Series sponsored by Basil Hayden and Out Magazine. So far they have raised $15,000 for the LGBT community in Chicago.
I am thrilled and excited to not only host the final event but also auction off this One-Of-A-Kind Gown I designed in honor of the event. I was thrilled with the way it turned out (this snapshot does not do it justice) and I will definitely take photos of the Beautiful Ford Model, Erin Endicott, who will be wearing it tomorrow night at the live auction. If you can't make it, don't fret!! Click HERE and you can place your bid now. This is a Gown worth $6,000.00 and believe me, you will be the envy of every woman in town if you own it!!
Basil Hayden Tastemakers 2007
Tomorrow, I will be in Chicago to host the Series Finale of Basil Hayden's Tastemaker 2007. Basil Hayden has been distilling the finest Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey since the days of George Washington in 1796. I was asked by OUT Magazine and Basil Hayden to host this event in conjuction with the grand opening of Chicago's Halsted Center in "Boystown".
In addition, I have designed a very special one-of-a-kind gown, inspired by Basil Hayden, that will be auctioned off with proceeds benefiting the Center. I have even titled the gown "Martha Washington 2007" and will be bringing it with me on the plane from Los Angeles. I hope the flight attendants don't think I am performing in the latest Drag Queen Chicago revue! Come to think of it: Who cares! If you are in Chicago and would like to attend: Please RSVP at http://www.out.com/bhoctober for the event and at http://www.out.com/halsteds for the after party following the event. Hope to see you in the Windy City!