Was anyone else sorely disappointed by the Project Runway Season 4 debut on Wednesday? Not unlike most of us in the fashion world, I was eagerly awaiting the Bravo season premiere to finally arrive, only to see (mostly) one lousy outfit after another come down the catwalk. This first challenge especially should have produced amazing results because the designers were given $50,000 worth of high-end fabrics at their disposal, as opposed to, say, aluminum recyclables or groceries, as in past seasons.

Sadly, the first person to get the axe was one of our own, 32-year-old Simone, of San Francisco, and a California College of the Arts alum. Hometown girl or not, you couldn’t blame the judges for kicking her off for her double whammy delivery of poor construction and zero point of view. I’m not giving up hope on SF representing fashion—in a good way— on reality TV yet! Chris, a self-taught freelance costume designer who made his mark designing for Cirque du Soleil and creating the towering hats and wigs of North Beach’s own Beach Blanket Babylon is still in the running. I instantly fell in love with his gorgeous violet-silk halter number, which moved beautifully down the runway, and his ebullient personality that reminds me of Nathan Lane from The Birdcage.

                                                                             photos courtesy of Bravo