I don't know if this works, but it's wendypepper@earthlink.net or wendy@wendypepper.com. According to others who've tried to contact her, or tell her off (same diff), she has a spam filter on it and you must be an approved correspondent.

Wendy Pepper is so famous!!

www.cafepress.com/ididwendypepper

My original point exactly, folks. Thanks.

Hemlines on the Stand: A Design-Off for Fashion Glory
By ALESSANDRA STANLEY

Published: February 16, 2005


eauty is undefinable, but fashion is not. It's the dress that makes every other outfit in the room look fussy or staid.

And aptly enough, Bravo's "Project Runway" is the Prada of reality shows - the fashion contest is yet another "Apprentice"-like competition, except that this one makes even Donald Trump's New York seem frumpy.

The couture smackdown pits 12 aspiring designers against one another in an atelier at the Parsons School of Design in Manhattan, and has collected a loyal, intense following among the hip, young and gay - viewers who do not necessarily identify with the suburban pastry chefs and wreath makers on "Wickedly Perfect," CBS's quest for the next Martha Stewart. But "Project Runway" is not as narrow as its niche: all reality-show competitions are the same, but they are not all alike. Amazingly enough, "Project Runway," has a decent heart beating under its frisky silk chiffons, frivolous chatter and pesky product placement. (Unlike Waldo, it doesn't take long to discover where L'Oréal products are hidden.) It has suspense and unexpected turns, but only the good kind.

Even at their most artificially flavored, reality shows always have an element of surprise. Sometimes, the producers are the ones caught off guard. Najai Turpin, 23, a middleweight boxer from Philadelphia who was a contestant on NBC's forthcoming boxing show, "The Contender," committed suicide on Monday, after the show had been taped, for reasons that NBC said were personal and not related to the show.

In a fictional drama like "Eight Simple Rules," the plot can be altered to deal with the death of one of its stars, as ABC did when John Ritter died suddenly early in the 2003 fall season. Reality shows cannot be rewritten once they are taped: In a made-for-television boxing championship that magnifies the Rockyesque personal struggles of the fighters - lots of scenes with children, spouses and girlfriends - the real tragedy took place off camera, and will likely be unnoticeable on the show. Mercifully, personal vignettes are not as important to "Runway." For one thing, artistic talent is more tangible on this show than on most; contestants are not judged by how long they can lie in a tub of worms or how fast they can sell lemonade on the street. Perhaps because Miramax Television, which produces the series "Project Greenlight," is a partner with Bravo, the show itself has a cleaner, more streamlined, documentary-style look - fewer hammy reaction shots and no scary "Jaws" music.

There is plenty of the cattiness and clawing that add a kick to "America's Next Top Model," on UPN, and Bravo's "Manhunt: The Search for America's Most Gorgeous Male Model." But behind all the personality clashes and waspish repartee ("Daniel's approach is, like, so Bob Barker," Jay, 29, says about a rival designer's first creation), there is also a real test of individual ability and imagination.

Sometimes with as little as 24 hours, each designer has to come up with a sketch, buy supplies, sew, cut and adapt an outfit to a runway model who parades the creation before a panel of judges, including the designer Michael Kors and Nina Garcia, hard-to-please fashion director of Elle magazine. The host is the supermodel Heidi Klum, and her angelic features and German inflection ("You're out. Auf Wiedersehn.") add a dominatrix touch to the dress making.

Its not a completely fair fight, of course. A message tacked onto the final credits explains that the criteria for elimination are the judges' scores, and also the producers' preferences. But however molded by show business concerns, their choices make fashion sense, too.

The tasks are gimmicky: the first assignment was to design a sexy evening dress entirely from materials bought in a Gristede's grocery store (Austin, 23, won with a cocktail dress made entirely from corn husks). But there are also more classic challenges, including wedding dresses. When the model first tried on Kara's soft, sleek satin design, her eyes welled up with tears like a real bride.

Of course, everybody cries on "Project Runway," a minefield of histrionics, hugs and tantrums. And just as every reality show has its Omarosa, on "Runway" everybody loves to hate Wendy, 39, a mother and dress designer from Middleburg, Va., who conceals a killer's cunning behind glasses and a homebody hairstyle. In next week's finale the three finalists, Jay, Kara and Wendy, show their collections during New York Fashion Week (the eventual winner will get, among other things, $100,000 in seed money). Tonight, as a warm-up to the finale, eliminated designers are brought back to reminisce and confront. Wendy, suddenly glamorous with newly dyed hair and no glasses, bears the brunt.

"We were all really nice to you because we felt sorry for you because you're such a terrible designer and like, a mother of however many children and you live in the middle of wherever," Vanessa, 34, a Englishwoman with a loose upper lip, wails. "And you just stepped on every one of us."

Jay and Kara are more talented and far more pleasant, and they deserved to be finalists. "Project Runway" is what fashion should be and so often is not: naughty, but also sometimes nice.

Though I have enjoyed this season of Project Runway, if there is a 2nd season, I don't think I will get myself hooked into it. The show has been enjoyable, I love fashion and even the competition between designers is fun to watch, but Im stilled galled at the fact that I got played by the producers of the show. I thought it was a real competition, but as events in the last weeks of the show have shown, it is not a competition. The disclaimer at the end of the show spells it out. The final contestants are picked by the judges scores "AND" the producers preferences. The producers preferred that Wendy stay on to add some extra drama, and drive up ratings. It is not a fair competition, and though enjoyable, the show willingly lines itself up with other "Reality" shows that manufacture what they want "reality" to be . Thanks, but no thanks.

quote:
"We were all really nice to you because we felt sorry for you because you're such a terrible designer and like, a mother of however many children and you live in the middle of wherever," Vanessa, 34, a Englishwoman with a loose upper lip, wails. "And you just stepped on every one of us."


wowee... this sounds like it is going to be intense!

Quote:

---

Does anyone know why Wendy's Wedding dress is back on auction tonight?

---

i don't know-- but it has been removed from the "SOLD AUCTIONS" as well which makes me think perhaps the person who bought it said they didn't want it anymore (maybe, i dont know, because the maker is a bi*ch?)