Down and Out in Denver

Hutton in a recent GAP ad

You know things have gotten crazy when Alastair and I post twice in one day (see below), but that’s the kind of mood we’re in: excited for Design After Dark tonight (a fancy social event in Denver! a chance to dress up in this city of constant casualness!) and still reeling from the wonderfulness that was Lauren Hutton on Project Runway (and Models of the Runway) last night.

Hutton in earlier modeling days

That’s right, la Hutton was on PR as the guest judge.  And about time!  We are very glad that LH never stepped in to fill Janice Dickinson’s shoes on America’s Next Top Model (too lowbrow), but that doesn’t mean she has to confine herself only to selling her line of makeup on the Home Shopping Network. That’s right, LH hawks makeup on TV and many of us probably also remember her turn as the spokeswoman for Hormone Replacement Therapy before HRT became linked to the possibility of higher rates of breast cancer.  But before all that Lauren Hutton was the original supermodel (take that, Janice Dickinson!), signing on to be the face of Revlon in 1974, the first time a cosmetics company would associate itself with one model only.  She graced the cover of Vogue 28 (yes, that’s right, 28!) times.  And of course she also acted, hosted a talk show and a travel show, modeled for J. Crew, and for many years has devoted herself to causes benefiting the environment and women’s health. In short, she’s a wee bit of an icon.

Hutton as Judge

Well, last night, she finally graced the guest’s chair on PR.  And it was well worth the wait. Wearing a simple blue button-down and what looked like a suede blazer, LH was her casual non-flashy gorgeous gap-toothed self.  And the voice!  Just as gravelly as ever.  Though at first she was hesitant during the final deliberations, telling Heidi “You go first,” she warmed up considerably, noting of Amy that she “gloried” in the burlap assignment and paying particular attention to the fact that the seams in Pamela’s dress were not so flattering to her model’s ass.

But the best part must have been when Lauren popped backstage to see the models after the show was over.  I was worried that they, children that they are (well, save Brandise [32] and Alison, who is clearly lying about her age) might not even know who she was, but oh no.  Cerri’s exclamation might have summed it up best: “Sweet Mother of Jesus, it’s Lauren Hutton!”  One of them even shed tears. Lauren’s advice to the aspiring supermodels?  Work four times harder than anyone else.  After all, she explained, she was shorter than her competition and had a “lopsided face” and yet she became, well, Lauren Hutton.

La Hutton was clearly the high point of last night’s hour and a half so far as I’m concerned.  The designers all did a good job with their potato sacks, Jay and Mila particularly (I didn’t care for Amy’s dress as much as the judges did).  Ping’s contraption was kind of a disaster, and while Pamela’s was a little trashy looking, at least it covered her model’s ass.  If I was surprised by anything it was that Pamela was kicked off instead of Jesus or Ping.  I see the hand of the producers here: Ping is loony and Jesus (easy on the eyes) brings in the gays.  Buh-bye Pamela.  The other surprise of the evening was that Ping ditched Elizaveta, despite the model’s loyalty to Ping in the model-chooses-designer twist at the beginning.  And for Ping to do so without shedding a tear signals something of a transformation.  Not that I disagree with Ping’s choice, but when did she become so hard-hearted?

OK, that’s enough.  I have other design choices on my mind; I must select my outfit for the big event tonight!