Today I needed to buy new shoes as my others were falling apart. I ended up buying the exact, kind of ugly, style as the broken ones.
When my previous shoes broke and I found they were discontinued and heavily discounted, I bought the three remaining pairs in my size.
I am a fashionista beyond compare.
Today I bought a pair of shoelaces so that I could fix a dress that had a missing drawstring.
When I showed Mr Pigalina the result he was relieved – he thought my plan had been to simply tie the shoelace around my waist like a belt.
I went past Hallensteins today and they had these pants outside like they were supposed to lure fashionable young men inside. I’m sorry, I may be 30 so completely out of the fashion loop, but how are denim trackpants cool? Elderly men would reject them for being too ugly. They have a drawstring. They have elasticated bottoms!!
Thought I had gone through a wormhole back to 1996 upon entering Wild Pair today.
New Zealand’s Next Top Model Season 3, Episode 4.
I can’t be bothered this week – I am blaming my lethargy on a Vitamim D deficiency (it’s mah new buzz phrase). So, I will do a quick Finn-on-Glee style rundown of “what you missed”.
Everyone is getting sick of Tyne and next week she storms out after AJ calls her a bitch. The girls did a posing challenge then went to the zoo to win the chance of being featured on the 2Degrees website. Arihana was one of the three, the other two don’t really count because she needs to win! Bianca is growing on me and it turns out her mum is/was a model so that must be why she is able to rock it in challenges depite being naturally awkward. The girls had to model with Vinnie a male model with a stupid ghoul tattoo on his chest and Yanna and Rosanagh reacted like he was water in the desert. Bianca said she felt she didn’t know how to pose with him as she has never had a boyfriend.
Brigette got picked first. Amber and Yanna were bottom two and Yanna went home.
And that’s what you missed on (*really high pitched*) NZNTM!
(Photo updates to come)
Brigette, Amber, Aroha, Brianna, Yanna, Arihana, Bianca, Rosanagh, Aminah, Hilary, AJ, Tyne, Issy and Holly.
(I have a feeling this will be long. I haven’t blogged in a while, the urge to write is strong in this one).
Last week, at least one month overdue, I decided it was time for new boots, I could wait no longer. I had been walking around on shiny plastic nubs of heels that were dangerously slippery surrounded in ragged pleather as the real heels had worn down long ago. Also, all the rain we have been having lately had started to seep in through the ripped soles (I get good wear out of things you have to agree).
Usually I will buy all of my shoes from Number 1 Shoe Warehouse for $40 or less. However as I seem to get through pairs quickly I asked the ladies at work how much “real” boots cost. They all said over $100 with one having spent around $300! Good gracious, I certainly wouldn’t be spending that much.
Off I trotted to town and as I passed EB Games the siren call of cheap Xbox goodness lured me in. I left with Lego Indiana Jones. That’s fine, I told myself – Mr Pigalina will play it too and it was second-hand.
Off to the shoe shop – boots on sale – hurrah! I bought a pair that made my size 10-11 feet look tiny and they had $220 off. Great bargain hunting said I. Heading back to the carpark I passed a shop and a necklace caught my eye. I carried on only to turn back and buy not only that one but another too (total was $27.50 – pretty good price eh?)
Anyway, back at home despite getting some bargains, I felt a little bad for my spree and told Mr Pigalina I would not buy my lunch for a week to make up for some of my impulse buys. Mr Pigalina was handed my cards to take care of so that I wouldn’t sneakily buy any. I lasted 2 days on soup and could take it no more.
Today I went to Pak n Save hallowed supermarket of South D to buy my lunch. I also had a few other bits for home so I had a trolley. I had less than 12 items so I headed for the self checkout however the EFTPOS was down on them so it was cash only. I felt too cheeky standing in the express lane with a trolley as I usually complain about the old ladies who do just that and I would have been blocking the main thoroughfare. Every checkout had at least two trolleys queing up. I joined one que and the lady operating the till was slow and gossipy and there were three people ahead of me. I went right down to the other end of the shop and found a better que. The lady in front of me went to pay and was told “Oh sorry, EFTPOS isn’t working” Nooooooo, I thought, I have just spent 10 minutes in ques. Luckily we were all able to put our items through, suspend the sale and then go to the Customer Services booth to join another que and then pay. 20 minutes after getting all of my purchases together I left to walk in the pouring rain back to work to eat my sandwich.
I think Pak n Save was trying to tell me that I should have stuck to my self-imposed food-from-home diet. I only had two days left.
Well, here we are. Now what will I watch of an evening?
My friends G-Dogg and E-Boo (we all have interesting names here in Dunedin) told me to look out for Colin throwing lamingtons at the girls in this episode. (For those who aren’t up with the play lamingtons are cream filled squares of cake covered in coconut and an unknown substance that comes in both red and brown.)
So it’s down to the final 3. I know who I want to win (H) and I think I know who will win (C) – though having said let’s not forget that Adam didn’t win Idol and that Whitney won the last ANTM – both suprises. (In case you are wondering why my tenses tend to change from past to present and future throughout the post it is not because I am an ignoramus, it is because I blog as I watch. So, I’ll press play and begin). In the recap at the start I noticed that the girl I mentioned that cried in the first episode was poor old Hosanna and who was it picking on her? Teryl-Leigh of course! From right back then!
The girls all headed to the photo studio to shoot their 8 page editorial spreads for Cleo magazine. However, only the winner would get to see her full results – in the mag. I must mention Colin’s hair at this shoot, it looked fab and I might go and get it done for myself this week – finally the insipration I needed – and from a man! Chrisobelle was first wearing an 80s gold skirt, a see-through top, and chunky gold jewelery. She had to just walk around while the photographer took photos. She needed to open her eyes a bit. Laura wore a metallic sheet with belts tossed loosely round her shoulders like a seamstress would wear tapemeasures. She later used the belts as belts to belt in her sheet. Colin said that she looked like a supermodel, and I’ll have to admit that she did look the part. Hosanna wore a black dress and a fur jacket (which I hope was faux). The dress had tassles on the front of the top and on the bottom of the skirt which made her look like a bogan on a night out.
Christobelle then had a go with the sheet. She said that she knew the pose that she wanted to do but the photographer told her it was too complicated. Colin mentioned that it took a true model to work such an outfit and make it look like fashion. Laura then wore a gold tassled top that matched her hair and some gold undies. Hosanna wore a plum dress and Colin said she looked “magnificent”. Chris said that he isn’t even sure if Hosanna is aware that she is doing it but she has moments of “pure beauty” in between her poses.
Colin was very impressed with them all, not bitching, focussed on their work and he mentioned that Laura has grown into her makeover and it is almost as it that is how she always looked. Christobelle wore the gold tassled thing next, the gold skirt outfit looked terrible on Laura too. Only Hosanna got outfits all of her own.
Eek the Cat it was then time for panel – already! Only two would get to face off in the final runway. Colin wore an Indian prince gold hat and big earrings at panel. Trelise Cooper, NZ designer and one of the people the girls had to impress on their go-sees, was the guest judge.
(Bah! Just nipped to the shop and a stupid newspaper had the winner on the front. Not all of us watch it on the day you know!)
The girls then got questioned – Who most deserves to be Next Top Model and who has the least potential (harsh!). Hosanna said she should win and Laura should go, Christobelle said Hosanna should go and Laura said she should win and Hosanna should be sent home. Then they were shown a couple of their photos from the Cleo shoot. The judges all loved Christobelle’s photos, Colin told Hosanna that she looked like a supermodel, Laura’s first photo – in the gold outfit, was great – Trelise Cooper said it was the kind of photo that she would be looking for. Unfortunately that shot out shone her next. At deliberation they said Christobelle had a unique look, Laura probably wouldn’t have got as far without her makeover and Hosanna was the strongest commercial girl with a great personality. Hosanna and Laura were bottom two – Hosanna was sent home in tears. Nooooooooo Double-You Tee Eff! Why, after they had said Laura only got so far because they chopped her hair off and Trelise Cooper had said her white blotchy legs (like mine – that’s why they never see daylight) ruined her photo? Hosanna deserves it more! Boo.
Laura and Christobelle went home and were celebrating when Colin arrived with a large platter of lamingtons. He threw the lamingtons at them as they had started dinner without him, how they shrieked. Christobelle must be related to the princess from princess and the pea as she said “It actually really hurt, they were like hard lamingtons.” He then revealed the real reason he was there – runway practise. The next day the girls went on a boat ride to The Wharf which was the location for the final fashion show. All of the other girls were inside to walk in the show too – even Sarah “I don’t want to be a model”. New Zealand’s A-List (Petra Bagust was the only one I actually spotted) were there along with designers to watch. Christobelle strutted round the runway – like a panther stalking prey said Colin, Sarah said that C constantly amazes her. Laura said that she thought about how amazing she is as mental preparation, Colin said her eyes were piercing and that she had fantastic focus. T-L charged down the runway like she was in a hurry to get to an appointment with both arms swinging, not that it mattered what she did in that particular show. The girls had never had to change quickly for a show before so the pressure was on. On her second walk Laura slipped but carried on walking as if nothing had happened, Colin commented that her recovery was fantastic and Chris said a tiny slip wouldn’t mean she would lose.
Sarah and Colin said it was going to be hard to choose a winner, Colin said he was looking forward to getting into a fist fight over who should win. So, final deliberation time – They showed a series of photos to see how the girls have progressed from week one. They both had their good and bad shots but their last few weeks have both been high quality. Both girls were told that they had walked well in the final show and were then sent away while to judges discussed their decision. Chris said Christobelle is his favourite from a photographer’s point of view – more alluring and more compelling. Colin prefers Laura – “she is amazing”. Sarah asked them both about personalities, the only difference they could decide on was Christobelle is super determined for a 16 year old. When the girls were in LA Alexis Borges said he would sign Laura out of them all. The girls were then called back in and Christobelle’s photo popped up on the screen to announce her win. So for once I actually got it right!
(Daddy Pigalina thinks it was fixed, but that’s not for here).
Tiffany, Victoria, Christobelle, Ajoh, Rebecca Rose, Sarah, Rhiannon, Teryl-Leigh, Ruby, Olivia, Laura, Lucy and Hosanna
You can watch the episodes online (NZ only) and see the final photos by visiting here.
Keeping it short this week so here it is in a nut shell:
There are 5 girls left, four of them think Hosanna should go home and have taken over from Teryl-Leigh in bitching about her. They went on go-sees around Auckland. Christobelle fell over at one, Victoria put on the wrong jacket which apparently was a terrible crime and Hosanna got off to a slow start. It was Victoria who failed miserably on the time front though arriving back 55 minutes after the deadline. Hosanna won and got to go to the New Zealand Music Awards.
The photoshoot was on a boat (“I’m on a boat”) or a yaught to be presice where the Rastafarian Gok Wan dressed them as 80s ladies and they had to be the hottest girl at the party. Hosanna and Ruby rocked it and everyone else looked frankly awful.
At panel Colin had some mohawk deely going on and Hosanna was called first. Victoria and Ruby were bottom two but thankfully Ruby stuck around and Victoria went home after a very dismal week.
Tiffany, Victoria, Christobelle, Ajoh, Rebecca Rose, Sarah, Rhiannon, Teryl-Leigh, Ruby, Olivia, Laura, Lucy and Hosanna
You can watch the episodes online (NZ only) and see the final photos by visiting here.
Phew, the girls are off to LA – not staying in Australia as I had cynically assumed they would. This week Nigel Barker, photographer from America’s Next Top Model is photographing them.
They got to fly Business Class and were then driven around LA in a limo to 2Pac’s California Love (OK that was overdubbed, but they should have had it blasting).
The girls were summoned to Next Model Management and were introduced to the director Alexis Borges. They had to walk in front of him. He liked Laura, he told Hosanna she was 2 inches too short so didn’t even bother getting her to walk. T-L was told she was too fat (she’s had two kids and I’ve seen her in a bikini – she looks damn good!) He told Ruby she looked like she still had some baby fat and she laughed – they measured her hips and told her she would have a hard time fitting the samples. (I then went and measured me, I am 6 inches bigger than required…). Both of them weren’t too worried as they can work on losing weight. Poor Hosanna will have to save up for some of those bone lengthening cages. T-L got straight into her diet by having some wedges with sour cream using the logic that they are less fatty than shoe-string fries. So is a salad.
Their next Sara Mail told them that their challenge had something to do with shopping. They were given $75 and 30 mins to shop and put together a look that said “Sucessful International Model.” They set off running, T-L tried to wangle a discount but the shop assistant didn’t look keen but in the end he agreed to let her have a dress and some shoes “rounded down” to $75. Hosanna stripped off in the shop so as not to waste time queing for a changing room. She found some pants she loved but ended up having to sit on the counter to get the barcode scanned as she refused to take them back off. Christobelle didn’t realize that she was supposed to be wearing her outfit so had to change in the street. Victoria was too late to be considered as punishment she had to sit in a big glass box back at the hotel, for 3 hours, as a kind of living advertisement. T-L had to join her because her dress made her look like a sausage and Christobelle had to go in there too for not being ready in time.
They were then off to shoot and ad for Covergirl Trublend. It was quite comical seeing them shooting a polished ad with their NZ accents – not so high class. Victoria says “Covergee-ul”. Christobelle did a really good job, she was very relaxed and her accent was hardly noticeable. T-L looked like she was secretly angry as she said the lines and then flashed a fake smile at the end, she had at least 11 takes. Hosanna was confident that she had what it took to rock the challenge but she kept doing crazy eyes. Colin said “There was the Hosanna Stare, The Hosanna ‘I’m Seductive’, The Hosanna Claw, there’s a Hosanna Smile…it was Covergirl meets pirahna.” Ruby looked fab and breezed through the ad. (Ruby for NZNTM! Though I think Christobelle will actually win). The winner got a personal tour of LA by night in a stretch Hummer limo. Christobelle won and took T-L and Ruby with her.
The next challenge was a photoshoot on Santa Monica beach with Nigel Barker. The shoot took place under the pier. Nigel said Ruby was more of a plus size model – but would need a bit more weight and was dissapointed that she was so nervous. He thought Laura did a great job and said the other girls should watch out for her. T-L did quite a poor job she didn’t pose much and seemed to be frowning a lot. Nigel liked Victoria and thought she made a great effort – he even picked her up and swung her around. Hosanna leapt about and Nigel said it seemed that she thought “clowning around” was modelling and commented to Chris that she was wretched. Nigel thought Christobelle was exciting and did everything right.
Off to panel – Nigel was the guest judge. They loved Christobelle’s photo and her Covergirl ad. Hosanna’s photo was her very last frame and Nigel told her the rest of her film was a mess. Hosanna cried her eyes out as she thought she had wasted her opportunity with Nigel. Nigel had high praise for Laura but told her to watch her face, Colin told her that her face had also let her down in the ad. Colin told Ruby that she did an awesome job in the ad and would buy anything she was selling. Nigel told T-L that she did the same thing over and over and that if she had been like that on a regular shoot her would never book her again and complain to the agency. Victoria was told by Nigel that her eyes were some of the most beautiful he has photographed.
During deliberations they said: T-L has no charm and is argumentative; Christobelle is not the prettiest but the most interesting her photo was Sara’s fave of the competition to date; Hosanna – a mess and wretched but hard-working; Ruby dissapointing and neither a rake nor a plus size; Laura’s photo gives Colin shivers and is a great mover; Victoria – gorgeous with striking eyes and could work on an international level.
Christobelle was called first. T-L and Hosanna were in the bottom two. T-L was sent home for lacking warmth. She said she was pleased to be going home as she would get to see her kids. She also said that Hosanna would be going home next week anyway. I have a feeling I will be seeing T-L on the cover of Ralph magazine – though I hope I don’t.
Tiffany, Victoria, Christobelle, Ajoh, Rebecca Rose, Sarah, Rhiannon, Teryl-Leigh, Ruby, Olivia, Laura, Lucy and Hosanna
You can watch the episodes online (NZ only) and see the final photos by visiting here.
This week the 7 remaining girls were teamed up with 7 fashion design students. They had 10 minutes and $40 to buy what they could from Savemart. Savemart rocks, they are huge second hand clothing warehouses. (The only trouble with the one in Dunedin is it knows there is a big second hand clothing scene and bumps the prices up accordingly – especially in the “retro” (which usually is just their word for ugly) section). The designer would then use the clothes selected to create a look for their girl to wear on the runway. Hosanna raced around grabbing everything in sight but all her designer Celine wanted was a long sleeved white shirt and some ties. Laura was paired with Ivana who could have been in the model comp herself. Teryl-Leigh thought her designer was “way too sure of herself” for actually having an idea in her head that she was aiming for – she chose a Shrek T-shirt (tee hee).
Abby made Ruby a black and white futuristic Star Trek-alien-about-to-be-seduced-by-Kirk top.
Scott made Ruby a skirt out of a yucky green jacket she had insisted on having. The top however looked like a bit piece of cardboard. She did quite a good job of pretending that she liked it though.
Celine had made Hosanna a little purple top from the white shirt – it looked really great! Colin said it looked like an eggplant – Hosanna admitted she didn’t know what one was.
Lucy gave her designer Glenn a few pointers on improving his design – Colin ranted to camera that you “do not critique a designer’s design”.
April had turned some orange overalls into some black trousers for Victoria.
Ivana made Laura a dress out of some sheets and some kind of nanna shawl/cardie. I was just thinking the dress looked like a sheet still except all bunched up when Colin comented that “New Zealand loves pavlovas“.
Teryl-Leigh was horrified by the design Priyanka had crafted for her. It was some kind of top made out of 4 t-shirts. It looked like a big kind of shawl or one of those awful shrug cardigans but really oversized. T-L was to be topless underneath it for the show. T-L was not happy – “I’ve had two kids for crying out loud and the tops has holes all through it” Fair enough! Laura asked T-L if she thought that P was trying to make her look bad and therefore make herself look bad – T-L replied “She’s sewn together four frikkin t-shirts, I don’t think she cares.”
It was then time for the runway show – the model who did the best on the catwalk woud win a session of pampering at a spa. On the night of the show Priyanka was going to bow to T-L and sew the top up but Colin stopped her, labelling T-L a designer’s worst nightmare. When the girls were all done up and the outfits completed they all looked pretty good. Colin thought Victoria’s walk was stiff and Hosanna’s “horrified” him – she also winked at the end of the runway which he did not like at all. After all the drama T-L looked fine, she had a mesh-like top on under the t-shirt cardigan and you couldn’t even notice she was flying bra-less. Christobelle and Ruby were joint winners of the challenge. Christobelle had put her back to the camera at the end of the runway instead of posing for them to get a shot. A few of the girls were rightfully annoyed that she had won when she had messed up. They were whisked away in a Lexus to a hotel where they meditated, and then received a massage.
This week’s photoshoot was to support Smokefree. Instead of doing a photoshoot o show the bad things about smoking the shoot was designed to show how powerful the media can be in making things seem glamourous and real. The girls were each given an emotion to portray realistically in their photo – the cigarette was substituted by an emotion. The girls were done up 40s style, the golden age of the fag – that’s cigarette. Christobelle had to be angry but she just looked mildly irritated. Laura had to be sad – she imagned that her boyfriend was dead. As soon as Chris mentioned the scenario she just about bawled. She pictured his coffin and cried and cried. Chris was impressed, as was I – I love Mr Pigalina but as we have a deal that we will die simultaneously I am unable to picture such a scenario therefore unable to understand how she did it. Ruby’s emotion was joy and what was it that she hought of the bring the smile to her face? Was it kittens? Was it Johnny Depp down on one knee vowing to leave Vanessa Paradis for her? No, it was her friend faling off her chair at school and whacking her head on the desk – it seems we had to be there to appreciate the comedic gold. Teryl-Leigh had to be suprised, she just seemed to throw her hands up and open her mouth. I don’t know about you but when I am suprised I tend to screw my face up and hunch my shoulders to protect myself. (T-L was moaning about Hosanna practising her poses in the background – hogging her limelight. I had deleted something that I wrote about T-L whinging about Hosanna earlier in the episode but will give you the jist – T-L thinks that if Hosanna needs to practice so much she doesn’t deserve a place in the top 2 whereas other would just see it as dedication). Hosanna had to represent fear and she was embarrassed to admit that she was scared of the dark. Chris said that it would be hard to pick just one photo as she had done so many good ones. (Pratice makes…). Lucy had to represent despair. Victoria had to show lust.
The girls were told at this panel that they would need their passports as the final 6 were off overseas! (I had my fingers crossed that they got to go further than Australia however the end of the message said “Fair dinkum” so I gathered that TV3 had forked out $99 per girl to get them across the Tasman – turns out they were going to Sydney as I had expected – though, thank goodness, that it was only a pit-stop and all the cynics like me got a slap in the face when the girls were told they were off to LA. Lucky.) One poor girl had to fly to Sydney only to fly home again – who would it be? The guest judge this week was apparently Morgan McGlone, a talent scout for Next – though I think it was actually NZ singer Dei Hamo in disguise. Colin told Victoria that she looked like a lusty little minx and that that was how he looked at himself in the mirror every morning. If I earned money from just looking like me I would be licking the mirror each morning, alas I must earn my money as a public servant. Christobelle looked like she was ready for her close up as anger. Laura was told to be proud of her grief photo. Colin told her she had gone from ordinary to extraordinary and if she kept it up she would be legendary. Lucy was told her picture was not so great but her runway had been amazing. Ruby’s photo was fabulous – it made Colin’s heart sing and Dei Hamo Morgan said it was exceptional. Sara congratulated T-L for actually going ahead and modelling her outfit at the fashion show. T-L had a wee cry about missing her kids and the judges were pleased as “barriers were breaking down”. It was then time to deliberate. Colin declared Ruby the dark-horse – yay Ruby!
Ruby was called first – and rightly so. Hosanna and Lucy were in the bottom two – out of the two, though I wanted Lucy to go further to represent Dunedin, Hosanna deserved it more. Lucy was sent thus dashing Dunedin’s dream of model glory.
Next week it’s off to LA!
Pigalina's Palace 