really winners

have you wondered where the winners of reality television series go after their time on-screen ends? the last couple of days got me thinking. for one, we know that the first american idol, kelly clarkson, is doing very well. however beyond american idol, are you able to name some of the winners from other reality television series? if not, this is your quick update on where are they now.

1) project runway: jay mccarroll

Jay McCarroll

as the winner of the show's first season, mccarroll was awarded $100,000, a mentorship from banana republic and a spot in the prestigious 2005 new york fashion week event. however, jay turned down the money and the mentorship, citing a contractual clause stipulating that the project runway production company would own a 10% stake of all his professional ventures in perpetuity. the company has since dropped this clause.

in april 2008 mccarroll launched his blog and designer fashion boutique, the colony by jay mccarroll. after leaving new york, mccarroll now teaches at philadelphia university and has a fashion line on qvc. mccarroll is a designer for field of view winter guard in west chester, pennsylvania. 

mccarroll also won the seventh season of celebrity fit club on vh1, having lost 40 pounds over the course of his time on the show.

2) america's next top model: adrianne curry

curry was signed to wilhelmina models in new york city. she has modeled for several magazines and has appeared in a commercial for the merit diamonds sirena collection that ran from november 2004 to january 2006.

Adrianne Curry

curry appeared on the cover and in a nude pictorial for playboy in february 2006. she returned for a second cover and nude pictorial in the january 2008 issue. curry made playboy's 2008 top 25 sexiest women, along with the top 100 playboy spreads 2008 edition. christopher knight proposed to curry on the season finale of my fair brady. the show was renewed for a second season and focused on the couple's wedding preparations. the couple announced their separation on may 29, 2011. the couple filed for divorce on august 19, 2011.

adrianne hosted live coverage of blizzcon in 2011, as well as hosting live from e3 for namco bandai in both 2011 and 2012. most recently, adrianne has teamed up with comic book legend stan lee to create her show 'superfans'.

3) popstars (uk): hear'say

Hear'Say

the winners of the series - danny foster, myleene klass, kym marsh, suzanne shaw and noel sullivan - formed the group hear’say. hear’say went on to sell three million records worldwide and scored two uk number one singles before disbanding eighteen months after their formation. today, klass is a television presenter, while marsh and shaw are actors in television soap operas. sullivan is a west end theatre performer, while foster has made occasional appearances in reality television shows.

fash'on... BAM!

the best and the worst: week 07

it's judgement time again. time for me to take a closer look at all the various posts that i put out during the week and evaluate how well they sat with readers. if you are wondering how i go about the decision for the best and the worst, here's how:

1) unique hits: if you were directed here from my twitter or facebook, that would score as a unique hit. blogger has a counter function so i can track exactly how many hits came via that channel.

2) spike in traffic: after a post goes live, some may not click on the link but will visit the blog via the generic web link hence each time i publish a new article, i will track the general blog traffic to see if it is a popular post.

3) facebook likes, shares and retweets: this is the last factor but it is monitored as well.

anyway, back to this week of animals. there were many struggles this week in writing about animals and fashion. the main reason was the amount of material that was planned and then later dropped. for instance, yesterday's discussion on dragons, phoenix and unicorn were really smokescreen posts. the original posts were titled, 'i've got your covered: fur / feathers / hair'. it was meant to be a discussion of the production of fur, feathers and hair but i realised that it was too difficult to direct the material towards a neutral point. hence at the eleventh hour (literally minutes before the first post went live), i pulled the plug and rushed in new content. truly, there is no lack of good reference material for the topic of animal and fashion but until, i was ready (or at least felt ready) to take a stance, which i alluded to here, i rather not deal with certain subject matter.

perhaps i would have a decision somewhere down the road but let's compile the results and give you what you came here for. 

the best: iconic creatures

i liked this article. i really do. it was a 'lightbulb' moment while planning for the week's posts that i realised that many brands and logos used animals. hence i did a little snooping around to uncover the truth behind the animal of choice. the more interesting background stories would have to be the playboy rabbit and abercrombie & fitch moose. anyway, clarence apparently has an interesting picture for abercrombie & fitch singapore so i pulled it off his blog for you... here it is!

Abercrombie & Fitch in Singapore

now that you have gotten your fill of your random shirtless picture (it came two days early this week. i am such a kind soul... thank you, thank you!). i pray and plead with you to read the worst post of the week. every week's worst post never get additional hits whilst the best post always gain greater readership.

so please move your cursors over the link below!

the worst: furry's fit

for a post that has an interesting thumbnail, the hits were shockingly low. in fact, it is an all-time low. even at the time of writing, the unique views remain at a single digit. in case you are wondering who the cat was supposed to be, it's anna wintour from american vogue. maybe we need a pair of shades for the feline fatale! 

so the fates have been sealed. your best and worst posts of my seventh week as a blogger. it's going to be an exciting weekend for me. i'll be at dragonboat races!!! however, circulation of The Online Edition resumes just before the stroke of midnight on sunday with 'fl@me or fr@me'!

fash'on... BAM!

iconic creatures

all right, after a rather 'heavy' post this afternoon, i'm going to make tonight's read more light-hearted. let's take a peek behind some of the most iconic creatures in today's fashion industry and ask ourselves how these animals came to be. 

let's take to the skies and start off with the eagle.

image from company logo collections

the emporio armani logo depicts an eagle that is looking in the right direction. the eagle symbolizes the brand’s supreme quality, excellence and feat, hence making it an everlasting emblem. it is interesting to note the importance placed on eagle feathers in various cultures. highland clan chiefs still wear three eagle feathers in their bonnets as a symbol of their rank, while in native american culture, eagles and their feathers still hold great significance. they were traditionally included in head-dresses, used in various ceremonies, and were also awarded to warriors for acts of bravery. being such great soarers, it is not surprising they represented a higher perspective on life and were believed to have a particularly close connection to the creator.

graphic from ecrater

baby phat uses a sleek cat as the brand logo. the baby phat logo is inspired by kimora lee simmons' own cat, the late max, who had been a part of her life since she was eight years old. the brand was touted as 'turn of the century sex kitten'. it's the perfect description for the bold, fun and sexy attitude of the baby phat woman. whether evidenced by the glimmer in the rhinestones on a pair of jeans, or in the darting glance of the slinky feline logo of the company, these are clothes for the women who defiantly sees the world on her own terms.

picture from find that logo

the a&f logo is a moose because a&f was once an outdoors store called abercrombie & co, founded in 1892 (the year that's always on the clothing today) by david abercrombie. the store was something along the lines of ll bean, selling things like camping, hunting, and fishing gear. ezra fitch was one of his most loyal customers and in 1900, ezra fitch convinced david abercrombie to let him buy into a partnership in the business, and in 1904 the store's name was officially changed to abercrombie & fitch.

image from good logo

designed by art paul, the magazine's first art director, the rabbit head has appeared on the cover of every issue of the magazine since the second. hugh hefner, the creator of the 'playboy' magazine, once explained, 'I selected a rabbit as the symbol for the magazine because of the humorous sexual connotation, and because he offered an image that was frisky and playful. I put him in a tuxedo to add the idea of sophistication. there was another editorial consideration, too. since both 'the new yorker' and 'esquire' use men as their symbols, I felt the rabbit would be distinctive; and the notion of a rabbit dressed up in formal evening attire struck me as charming, amusing and right.' added art paul, 'if I had any idea how important that little rabbit was going to be, I probably would have redrawn him a dozen times to make certain I was doing him justice, and I suppose none of those versions would have turned out as well as the original. as it was, I did one drawing and that was it. I probably spent all of half an hour on it.'

if you had the opportunity to create your own fashion logo, which animal would you choose?

fash'on... BAM!