Bravo’s fashion designer throwdown show Project Runway is in its fifth season, and we have a hometown hero among the pack representing Midwest style. Woot woot! 39-year-old Terri Stevens hails from Chicago and is a Columbia College alum. Looking like a bit of a headbanger herself, Stevens describes her style as “if Aerosmith met Lauryn Hill met Michael Jackson.” So how did that Frankenrocker aesthetic parlay into the first challenge? As a throwback to Season......

The listed events were chosen by the editors of Chicagoist and brought to you by the 2009 Toyota Corolla. Music Gypsy jazz guitarist Alfonso Ponticelli and his band, Swing Gitan, are one of the go-to acts to fill in at the Green Mill whenever Kurt Elling is out of town for his regular Wednesday engagement. Ponticelli's faithful recreations of old Hot Club of Paris numbers, complemented with original compositions, are fresh and accessible without......

While we were chompin' at the bit for the return of Project Runway following a holiday hiatus, the casting for Bravo's next attempt at reality success had us wishing some more episodes of The Office were ready to go. Thus far, this season's PR had left us wishing for a little something more. The contestants (with the exception of the reincarnated Christ Marsh) seemed a bit ho-hum, all of the challenges felt a bit stale,......

This week's installment of Project Runway played out like a roller coaster of emotions. The designers were given the challenge of clothing for real people (yay!), retooling "fat clothes" from women who had lost significant amounts of weight, ranging from 45 to 160 pounds. Although the contestants tend to bitch and moan every time they're forced to design for, gasp, a non-stick frame, we always enjoy seeing what they have to offer. After all, while......

When you think of stylish, modern fashion, don't the terms "neon," "flares," "fringe" and "overalls" pop into your mind? Oh, wait, they don't? Well, on Wednesday's fashion designer throw down, the challengers were faced with modernizing such dreaded fashion trends that we all hoped were relegated to the design graveyard in the sky. As if designing a chic outfit with shoulder pads wasn't hard enough, Nina Garcia also bore the bad news that they would......

After rumors that Jon Bon Jovi would be the guest judge on last week's Project Runway proved to be false, with Sarah Jessica Parker filling the celebujudge role, Chicagoist was hoping that he might venture to show up on this week's episode. As Tim Gunn led the contestants onto a soundstage, we held out hope, but instead were treated to...Tiki Barber? Yes, the former NFL running back/Today Show correspondent was the challenge subject and guest......

In Los Angeles, LAist most definitely celebrated Thanksgiving like no other. After all, one has to keep up all the energy to keep on walking the line at the Writers Strike and fighting the unfortunate return of the wildfires in Malibu, which single handedly destroyed over fifty homes within the first 24 hours. National outlets may be covering the fires, but CNN also found it is easier to buy a gun than fruit and......

Here at the Chicagoist offices, several reality shows are popular among the staff, but our devotion for the majority of programs pales in comparison to our love for the crème de la crème, Project Runway. Bravo's hit show returned last night for its fourth season of designing, measuring, catwalking strutting and drama, with two Chicagoans vying for the chance to take it home at New York City Fashion Week. The first episode was the usual......

Things are looking up for some Chicagoans on the boob tube, and for some, the yellow brick road of fame has ended suddenly, let’s recap: Our girl Gina Glocksen has been kicked off “American Idol”. We’re sorry to see her go and in part, blame votefortheworst.com for her downfall. Votefortheworst is the anti-Idol website that encourages visitors to vote for the least likely winner. Interestingly enough, votefortheworst is run by Dave Della Terza from Chicago.......

Chicagoist has said before (and will probably say again) that we love television. But it’s not often that we get to be on the other side of the box. Last night we got the chance to be the guest on “Talkin’ Funny,” the brainchild of Steve Gadlin, Paul Luikart and Blewt Productions. We’ve talked about these guys before; they produce one of the best comedy shows in town, Don’t Spit The Water, a show much......

We admit it. We are Bravo addicts. When 9 p.m. on Wednesday night rolls around, our friends stop calling and we put a pause to our tireless blogging, as "Project Runway" or Top Chef have us captivated throughout the year. Add in some "Inside the Actor’s Studio" and that hot woman on "Work Out," and you’ve got yourself a mixture that’s more addicting than Chunky Monkey. Even if you’re even half as obsessed as we......

Chicagoist headed out to Guthrie’s last night for the Dating for Nerds event put on by Nerds at Heart. We weren’t really looking for a hook-up; all we heard was “board games,” and we were there. We met up with a fellow Chicagoist and checked out the scene. We were pleasantly surprised at the nearly even ratio of women to men and the overall diversity of the attendees. Since we have never managed to make......

There’s been a lot of talk around the Chicagoist offices about last night’s season finale of Project Runway (SPOILER ALERT) and, as usual, the whole debate has devolved into a mess of sequins, chiffon and turtle poop, although someone’s still turned on. Us? We were pleasantly surprised that Jeffrey Sebelia took home the big prize. Sure, he was kind of a dick once or twice during the season and his neck tattoo is a little......

While the first day of September marked the first day of meteorological fall, today is the autumnal equinox, which kicks off autumn for real. If the chilly weather hasn't brought them out already, it's official. The sweaters and boots can come out of the closet. Perhaps even a light, jaunty scarf. We overhear people excitedly chatting about how this is their "favorite time of year." Chicagoist sort of wants to slap those people. We......

Field’s, er, uh, Macy’s is at the crux of Chicago’s plan to become a fashion mecca. Earlier this year, Mayor Daley announced his support of promoting the fashion and design industry in Chicago. Today, the Sun-Times reports on the upcoming events that underscore this initiative. This year’s Fashion Focus Chicago kicks off Sept. 20 and runs through Oct 1. The 12-day fest includes runway shows, neighborhood shopping events and educational seminars. Millennium Park will host......

Since “Project Runway” didn’t start till nine; we decided to do something educational to pass the time. We traipsed our hot, sweating, rear-ends over to the Chicago Architecture Foundation to hear Meredith Mack, VP of Finance and Operations of the Art Institute, discuss its new addition. And man, it was almost better than the Runway. Almost. The new wing, designed by Renzo Piano, will (hopefully) be finished in Spring, 2009. The three floor building is......

Sometimes you need to clean yourself up, get serious, and move in with daddie for a few months before you head to Latin America for a new gig. The District bid's Jenna Bush adios. D.C.-based television shows have an elderly audience and DCist has some suggestions to fix that. They're also throwing Butterstick the panda bear a birthday bash. Yeah, we may have a few issues with our World Cup broadcasters here, but this guy......

If you heard a groaning noise coming from various corners of the city last night around 9:57 p.m., it was the sound of collective disgust at the Project Runway season two finale. There’s still some shock in the Chicagoist offices today that Chloe’s “Aaron Spelling ‘80s costume collection” took home the big prize. To be honest though, the entire show left us, well, underwhelmed. Bad boy Santino Rice kept things tame with a pretty-but-boring collection.......

Okay, let’s get to the bottom of this already. Chicagoist told you all about Millennium Park’s controversial photography ban last week, and even crafted Project Runway-worthy designer duds to commemorate the occasion, but the time has come to set the record straight. Chicagoist had a lengthy e-conversation with Karen Ryan, the friendly gem of the City’s communications department, and can now officially fill your brains with the truth about Millennium Park photography. We’ll make......

Tonight is the start of a new show called "The Road to Stardom With Missy Elliott" that has 13 wannabe singers aged 19 - 29 battle it out on a coast-to-coast concert tour with Misdemeanor, herself. The contestants live together on a tour bus and are competing for $100,000 and a chance to be a "star". Word is that this is no American Idol, but seems to somehow hold your attention, even so. Also, the......