sundance

Casting designers for season 3 of ALL ON THE LINE!

Joe Zee – Creative Director for ELLE – is not only one step ahead of the trends…he defines them. Now, Joe is using his style smarts and eye for detail to guide struggling fashion designers back on the road to success. With insider savvy, a positive spirit, and a double dose of tough love, Joe inspires these struggling designers to rekindle their creative fire before their line goes down in flames.

High heels are the devil

High heels are an essential part of our fashion-glam culture. Finding a pair of flats at last night’s SAG Awards was like trying to find a vegan quinoa recipe in a Paula Deen cookbook. More common was the doughnut burger of the shoe world: the 29-inch stiletto like Emma Stone wore. What women will suffer for fashion! Personally, the two of us fall into the more utilitarian camp: while Em has been known to rock a sparkly pump at a party, you’ll find her more often than not in the day-to-day dressing up a flow-y, flowery dress with a pair of Converse. And Lo? Nothing comes between her and her Danskos. It may not be pretty, but nothing’s more ugly than her mood after 20 minutes in a pair of uncomfortable pumps (are they even called that anymore?). Which is why we always feel high and mighty in our low flats when a new study about the horrors of high heels comes out.

Sundance Channel greenlights third season of fashion series ALL ON THE LINE WITH JOE ZEE

Sundance Channel announced today it is renewing its hit fashion-rescue series ALL ON THE LINE WITH JOE ZEE for a third season. Starring Creative Director of ELLE Joe Zee, the series exposes viewers to the intense behind-the-scenes world of fashion design. In each episode, Zee encounters the challenging task of working with new designers—all in desperate need of help resuscitating their fashion line and protecting their livelihood. Season three of the series will include an all new set of struggling designers who will look to Zee protect their creative vision while helping them achieve commercial success. Not all designers will be up for the challenge of accepting Zee’s opinions, causing tension and sparking emotion. With this series, there are no guaranteed happy endings.

Joe Zee on Nicole Miller

Her Challenge: Nicole Miller is a totally different case study altogether. First of all, she isn’t struggling at all in the same sense as the other designers I’ve worked with. She’s a hugely successful brand that is already carried in every major department store with incredible sales. So where does my role come in exactly? I wanted to help Nicole make her business EVEN BIGGER.

Joe Zee on Designer Aysha Saeed

Her Challenge: I found Aysha an extremely interesting case from the moment I first arrived to meet her. She seemed very confident, poised, in control and yet she wanted my help, which intrigued me. After listening to her story and seeing her clothing, I had a better understanding. First of all, she’s invested almost one million dollars (one million!!) of her own money into the company and just wasn’t seeing the return on revenue she was anticipating. Sure, she was selling SOME of her collection but it wasn’t the blowout success she had anticipated. And in terms of her collection, she had some pretty shift dresses but that was it – just pretty shift dresses. I could see this being a bigger business for her in the dress departments of major retailers but she wanted to make a splash. And a splash requires creativity – which means taking her designs out of the confines of her personal dressing and into something that will stand out in a bigger way on a department store floor. But you can’t even begin to make that splash if you’ve closed yourself off to any creative brainstorming. Aysha was strong-willed and often apprehensive when it came to taking advice so welcoming ideas from her team wasn’t always top of mind for her. She needed a creative intervention – and quick. Enter a new inspiration exercise.

Like everyone, Adam Lambert grows up (stylewise)

At some point we’ve all been eager to enter a scene bright eyed and bushy tale, usually putting what is thought of as our best foot forward, personality and fashion wise. You’re wearing you’re heart on your sleeve, and your wallet’s pretty empty. Let’s face it, you’re wearing every last dime because not everyone has a powerhouse PR team and the blessing of a celebrity stylist, or designer—let alone both—to balance the enthusiasm of being the new kid on the block with a desire to be a fashion plate, subjected to public scrutiny. Ciao Clay Aiken.

Joe Zee dishes: How-to Fall style tips, where he shops & his favorite thing to eat between two buns

Watch All on the Line with Joe Zee, Fridays at 9:30pm.

From NBC San Diego:
A week before the season premiere of his show “All on the Line,” the dashing and always gracious Joe Zee took some time out of his busy schedule to talk to us about food, fashion… and well, more food. As creative director at Elle magazine and now host of his own show, our favorite fashion guy is always on the go, but still has time to fit in his favorite shopping spots and restaurants on both coasts. Find out how Mr. Zee spends his time outside of his kushy midtown office. And, don’t think we let him go without getting just a few style tips.

You’re a busy busy man – how’s life these days? How do you juggle it all?
Two incredible assistants, my Blackberry, Entourage and no sleep.

Have you enjoyed the Hearst cafeteria sushi station in your new digs yet? (And, by the way, have you noticed that all the mirrors in the Hearst Tower make you look great!?)
My first lunch before we even merged with Hearst was with my friend Annebet, an editor from Seventeen magazine and we indulged at the sushi station and it was amazing. In fact, I remember tweeting my lunch experience and a fellow tweeter even wrote back suggesting I…

Beyond reality TV: Getting to know the real Joe Zee

Watch All on the Line with Joe Zee, Fridays at 9:30pm.

Now that you’ve seen episode one (or see the rebroadcast schedule if you missed it) of what proves to be a very ‘real’ season of All on the Line with Joe Zee (don’t be sad, there are happy endings ahead!), get to know the fashion guru himself, the man behind the big fancy Elle Magazine desk. Joe Zee dishes on his “naughty” childhood and how he survived his days as a starving college student to “work his way into fashion’s pantheon.”

Here’s what Luaine Lee had to say about Joe Zee in “Fashion Guru Joe Zee learned almost everything on the job.”..

No more Mr. Nice Guy: A sneak peek at Joe Zee’s first episode of All on the Line

All on the Line with Joe, season 2 premieres Friday, November 25th at 9:30pm.

From NBC’s ThreadNY:
Fashion doesn’t always have a fairytale ending – a point being emphasized on the second season of Elle creative director Joe Zee’s All On The Line, premiering on the Sundance Channel November 25th. On each episode Zee works with one designer to help get their businesses back on track. In the premiere episode, Zee is tasked with counseling Angelo Lambrou – an East Village-based designer who has found success in the bridal market but has struggled to create a viable ready-to-wear business.

Zee tells us, “I want people to realize how hard everybody has to work to make it. That’s what’s really exciting about this show…

The top ten biggest offenders from AOTL with Joe Zee, season one

With everyone in a serious tizzy over the Friday night premiere of season two of All on the Line with Joe Zee, I realize that some readers may not have caught the epic dose of reality that was season one. Luckily, you can watch the entire season on iTunes for $20.What else are you going to do this week in between bouts of turkey-induced stupor? And watching Joe dole out tough love to struggling designers is as addictive as tryptophan is soporific. I got a sneak peek of season two last week and I’m dying to see the rest of the designers that get sent under the gauntlet…

Happy Movember!

When women want to promote breast cancer awareness, they turn everything pink and post inane (sorry, we mean hilarious double-entendre) Facebook status updates about where they like to hang their pocketbook. When men want to promote prostate cancer awareness, they grow temporary, ironic hipster mustaches in the month of November. Get it, Movember? Depending on your take on ironic hipster mustaches – and the color pink – you may feel like you got the raw end of the deal…

The Speedo makes a comeback

If you’ve ever rolled your eyes at that iconic image of the bikini-clad woman sudsing up a muscle car or rollerskating along the boardwalk, then have we got two videos for you. First, the high budget one: LMFAO’s “I’m Sexy and I Know It.” As our writer friend Grant Stoddard recently put it in a Facebook post, never before has banana sling been so explicitly celebrated in a music video – it’s shot in a way that gives the illusion of three-dimensionality, if you know what we mean. (Best line of the song? The chorus refrain “I work out.”) Yes, it’s funny and tongue in cheek, and yet the high production value gives it a weight that makes it feel like genuine equal-opportunity objectification.

Properly Villainous Beats

Proper Villains

Had enough booty boppin’ after last week’s mix tape? Of course you haven’t!

The fourth installment for all you ladies, gents and gender benders is here — Proper Villains Mix. Coming to you once a week as tribute to couture fashion designer Garo Sparo, all thanks to our lovely friends over at Garo’s workshop.

Meet Unleashed by Garo’s Sequinette

Watch UNLEASHED BY GARO every Friday at 9P.

There’s no way Garo could pull off his extreme and outrageous designs (working, flapping wings, anyone?) without an incredibly talented team. In fact, they’re such a hardworking bunch that even though Garo’s assistant, Sequinette, has been on tour in South America, she still managed to work a quick interview into her busy performance schedule so we could get to know one of the unsung heroes at Garo’s studio.

Joe Zee’s Fashion-Rescue Series Returns to Sundance Channel with New Labels and New Buyers!

JOE ZEE’S FASHION-RESCUE SERIES RETURNS TO SUNDANCE CHANNEL WITH NEW LABELS AND NEW BUYERS

Nicole Miller Among the Designers Seeking Zee’s Help in Season Two of “All On The Line with Joe Zee” Premiering November 25th

Guest Stars This Season Include; American Fashion Designer, Rachel Roy, Socialite and Fashion Trendsetter, Olivia Palermo, Rock Musician Adam Lambert, Mark Badgley and James Mischka of Badgley Mischka and Model, Veronica Webb

New York, September 23, 2011 – Sundance Channel is putting a new group of designers through fashion rehab in season two of the critically-acclaimed series, ALL ON THE LINE WITH JOE ZEE. Starting Friday, November 25th at 9:30pm et/pt, Creative Director of ELLE Joe Zee, who The New York Times deems, ‘Fashion’s approachable ambassador,’ will come to the rescue of designers in need of a makeover on their business, design or both in what The Huffington Post called a “must-see” show. Among the designers featured in the upcoming season, is modern-day fashion legend, Nicole Miller, who will work with Zee to launch her newest line at New York Fashion Week 2011.

Returning slightly altered, this season Zee will enlist the help of some of his industry friends including American fashion designer, Rachel Roy, socialite and fashion trendsetter, Olivia Palermo, rock musician Adam Lambert, Mark Badgley and James Mischka of Badgley Mischka and model and actress Veronica Webb, to help judge the designer’s ability. Each label will be put to the challenge when Zee asks the team to design quickly and outside of their comfort zones for one of these celebrities, who may or may not be typical of the label’s core clientele.

Introducing Garo, the next big thing on Sundance Channel

If you don’t already know Garo, then you’re in for a real treat next Friday night when we premiere our new series UNLEASHED BY GARO. A fashion designer and skilled artisan (think complicated corsetry and lace work), Garo creates outfits for everything from runway to one-of-kind, personal transformation, occasion pieces. And let’s not forget his delightfully outlandish costume pieces for drag; Watching Hedda Lettuce’s cameo in episode one is the most fun I’ve had watching TV in a long time.

Butt up, legs out: the photographs of Guy Bourdin

See more sexy after the jump.

Guy Bourdin (1928-91) is one of those rare fashion photographers who straddled the line between art and commerce, ultimately leaving his mark in both worlds. Bourdin got an unusual start, receiving his first formal photographic training while serving in the military in Senegal in the late 40s. A few years later, when he came back to Paris, his photographs were exhibited in a show for which Man Ray wrote the catalogue’s introduction – a helluva start for a newbie. He was quickly whisked away to French Vogue, where his love of Man Ray’s surrealism made a marked impact on his fashion editorials.

Green tech finds – 7/28/11

(Fe) Catalytic Clothing from Protein® on Vimeo.

We get a little more fashionable than usual in this week’s green tech finds: from Linda Loudermilk’s compostable bikini, to a cutting-edge design for an RV (really!), to air-purifying clothing.

The film set trailer goes green: King Kong Production claims its Helios Solar Hybrid Production Trailer can run a full day on the built-in solar and biodiesel generators. So, no fossil emissions from a pampered celeb who’s late to set.

The sleek, all-electric RV: Okay, you likely never associate words like “sleek” or “cutting edge” with recreational vehicles, but NAU’s Ecco Camper may just change that. (via Crisp Green)

Upcycling a billboard into a bag: Relan

Vinyl, aka PVC, is everywhere… and, as we’ve noted before (and as the film BLUE VINYL argued), it’s pretty nasty stuff. The best thing we could do is to stop making and using it, and substitute more environmentally benign materials. Second best… make use of all that vinyl that often goes to landfills.

Wearable art

Fashion line The Rodnik Band has an entertaining couture collection of dresses and outfits directly inspired by famous pop artists and their artwork. Only dissonance here is the disturbing subtext of the dress using Duchamp’s urinal… [Via]

Solar clothing: from the beach to the runway

Got to have your gadgets with you when you hit the beach? Need your tunes with you while you sunbathe, or don’t want to miss calls? Fear not: designer Andrew Schneider’s solar bikini (which first received attention in the concept stage) has hit the market (only for custom orders, though). Yes, you can swim in it (though you need to dry off before connecting any gadgets), and yes, there’s a version for guys on the way (that includes a solar-powered beer-cooling coozy).

It’s a Wrap — See you in November.

I will admit that I am feeling extra sentimental lately. Yes, because ALL ON THE LINE wrapped its first season but it’s also most likely because I spoke at the commencement ceremonies of the Fashion Institute of Technology, my alma mater, recently. At the graduation festivities I concluded with the turning of the tassels and my parting words of inspiration, motivation and passion. Or at least I hope I did. I told the class of 2011, this was not the end of school. No, in fact, the learning will continue — for the rest of their lives. And I’m speaking from experience. Life education doesn’t end when the instructors have packed their papers and gone home. No, instead, their methods and reasoning will hopefully live on in everything you do. I wasn’t inspired by every instructor I ever had, but the ones that did affect me, stayed with me.

And in some ways, my personal success is a testament to them.

Cut to the AOTL designers.

Sundance Channel Sews Up Another Season of Joe Zee Fashion Series ALL ON THE LINE

BEGINNING NOVEMBER 2011

Original Series Starring Creative Director of Elle Joe Zee

Will Conclude its First Season on May 24^th

New York, May 24, 2011 – Sundance Channel announced the renewal of ALL ON THE LINE, the fashion-rescue series starring Creative Director of ELLE Joe Zee. The series wraps its first run on Tuesday, May 24^th at 10:00PM ET/PT.

Since the series premiered in March, Sundance Channel has exposed viewers to the always intense and not so glamorous, behind-the-scenes world of fashion designing. Behind the glamour of the red carpet are tears, hard work and passionate designers struggling to shine in a world of hopefuls. In the second season, Zee will be faced with the daunting task of working with a new group of designers with the same problem; a glitch in their design or business that is putting them at risk of losing it all. He hopes to encourage designers to stay true to their vision, while recognizing when their design or business plan is standing in the way of their commercial success. Feeling like experts in their own right, not all of the designers will be up for the challenge of accepting Zee’s constructive criticism, causing tension and sparking emotion.

Sundance Channel EVP and GM Sarah Barnett commented, “ALL ON THE LINE stands out among fashion programs because it’s based in the real world, with real stakes and real results. Viewers have embraced this authenticity, are enamored with the unpretentious fashion genius Joe Zee and look forward to seeing him back in action.”

Don’t Miss Your Chance at this $2,500 Gift Certificate!

The season finale of ALL ON THE LINE airs May 24th at 10p! Don’t miss your chance to vote for your favorite designer for a chance to win a $2,500 gift certificate from Rent the Runway. Click here to check out each designer’s collection and register for your chance to win. The designer with the [...]

Episode Recap – Julia Alarcon – Too Pricey for Nordstrom

I said it to Dana-Maxx, I said it to Leila Shams, and I said it to Julia Alarcon. There will always be something special about a woman designer designing for other women. There’s that innate, intangible quality of understanding what exactly another woman wants. With Julia, I felt she had a double advantage. She also – after starting Act 2 as a designer in her 40′s – had the advantage of her maturity.

Julia wasn’t a kid figuring out her life. Sure, she shared a lot of the same woes (freshly graduated, struggling to keep her business afloat, building accounts) but she was never wishy-washy in her approach. Her life was mapped out; she knew exactly what she should be doing and designing was it. This was a quality I would come to admire greatly in her but be equally frustrated by at the same time. She was so aware of what she wanted her collection to be, what it should cost (most of the time, too much), and who should wear it. Even during the times we disagreed, Julia, always courteous and polite, stood by her designs and her convictions.

Which may not have had quite outcome I had hoped for.