NBC | Josie Girl Blog

Fashion Star Preview-Interview

March 6, 2013Josie Girl 4 Comments

Who is ready for Fashion Star Season 2? I am!

For those who didn’t watch last year, Fashion Star is an innovative program bringing together the worlds of realty TV, fashion, and game shows. Contestant designers put looks together with the help of celebrity mentors (Nicole Ritchie, Jessica Simpson, John Varvatos) and try to convince buyers from 3 department stores (this season: Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy’s, Express) to place orders. Stores that order have the looks available for purchase the next day. (You guessed it – the show definitely isn’t live!). While Season 1 was entertaining, there is definitely room for improvement, and I am excited to see how the changes they made to the format and personnel play out.

Season 2 starts Friday night on NBC at 8 PM. To get all of the Josie Girls excited, we sat down with Terron Schaefer, Saks Chief Creative Officer (and the Saks buyer on the show) for a preview of Season 2. Terron is also the owner of the coolest voice ever!

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Fashion Star Recap Week 4

April 4, 2012Josie Girl 6 Comments

Week 4! 3 contestants down, 11 contestants standing, 10 episodes left. Without further ado, here are the Josie Girl’s top takeaways of this week’s edition of….

Theme: Last week, I thought the “Summer Trend” theme for the designers was a little too broad and not limiting enough. This week was a wee bit confusing. Designers were asked to create a “high end” and a “low end” look. Buyers had the option to buy one, or the other, or both. It wasn’t entirely clear if the looks were supposed to be related or not, and judging by some of the designers tweets last night, it wasn’t entirely clear to the designers either. A number of the designers mid-way through the process decided to switch the “high end” piece to “low end”, and vice versa. I am pretty sure that doesn’t happen at Natori. In all honesty, a lot of the looks didn’t seem more one or the other. Prediction: we will not be seeing this theme again!

Favorite Look 1: Luciana! Each episode, there have been a few designers whose looks and background do not get featured. Somehowe, Luciana was one of the unlucky few in EACH of the first three shows, Luciana finally got some air-time… and a buy!

Her dress was simple and wearable. I like the subtle sequin flair on the front.

Available at Saks!

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Fashion Star!

March 14, 2012Josie Girl 48 Comments

Ken and I love us some reality TV. Like, all kinds. My personal faves are The Biggest Loser, American Idol, and Survivor. Ken is a huge fan of Top Chef, The Real Housewives (only Orange County, and Beverly Hills – not the others), and The Bachelor (don’t get us started on this season.. seriously).

What represents the perfect combination of this blog, Ken’s job, and our love of reality TV? …

For those of you who didn’t watch, Fashion Star is a new reality show that searches for the next big brand in fashion. The show features host Elle Macpherson, and judges Jessica Simpson, Nicole Richie and John Varvatos. 14 designers compete for the chance to launch their collections at Saks, Macy’s, and H&M (each store has a buyer representing it… the Saks rep is Terron Schaefer, a good friend of the Natori Company.. holla!). What’s even cooler: at the end of each episode, the winning designs of the show will be in stores immediately!

As you may know, I love lists, so below are my top 10 takeaways from Fashion Star.

1. Concept: Fashion Star definitely isn’t Project Runway, but that isn’t necessarily bad. Since the designs are going to be in stores right away, the looks have to be more commercial than runway. While the designs definitely aren’t as showy, fashion is fashion and the show was still interesting.

2. Hotty: Elle MacPherson is the host. She came to fame in the late 80’s when the “Sports Illustrated” Swimsuit Issue was a big deal, and she was always the featured model. It is nearly 25 years later… and she looks like that! Amazing. Jealous. Girl crush.

3. Chicken of the Sea No More: Jessica Simpson is honestly amazing. I watched Newlyweds a few years ago, and it sure seemed like she had jumped the shark with the famous Chicken of the Sea episode. Now she has a billion dollar apparel business. A billion dollars! You go girl. Jealous. (But no girl crush.)

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