♥ black is the new black.

last year, i was lucky enough to be asked to model in a

fabulous fashion show for the IIDA

{international interior design association}.

if you have never heard of this extraordinary event

which takes place right here in boston-

then the best comparison i can offer you is that

it is literally like being on an episode of project runway.

and last year, that even included the hot tranny mess himself,

christian siriano, who served as a surprise guest judge!

whose the fiercest one of all?

architectural firms of new england participate with

suppliers, contractors and designers to compete in an

all. out. fashion. extravaganza.

the challenge is to utilize materials from the design industry

which range from plastics to papers to wood

to carpet, to upholstery fabric and beyond,

to create unique, avante garde looks

that are larger than life and will

leave the audience breathless.

last year, the theme of our collection was

"drill, baby, drill,"

a visually compelling commentary

of our country's depdency on oil..

i was asked to wear a perfectly scaled red oil rig

mounted on top of a head of wiry black faux curls

teased out from a spool of carpet fibers.

my dress was made out of sonic fabric, which is made from

50% recycled cassette tape and 50% muslin thread and is

said to play a garbled record noise if you run a tape head over it.

(watch video here.)

despite all of that,

you will be surprised to know

that to me, the strangest thing i was asked to wear

was not the oil rig,

nor the casette tape dress,

the fishnet stockings,

or even the false red eyelashes,

but rather,

the black lipstick,

which was just so elvira,

i was skeptical whether or not it

would complete the look...

but it did!

it turns out that we were a year ahead of our time,

because this fall, black is back in such a big way

that it will have you wondering

if it was every really gone

in the first place.

image found here.

next thursday, september 24th,

mac cosmetics

will be launching their new

"style black collection,"

with offerings for that goth gal in all of us.

image found here.

one tube of black lipstick packs a powerful punch!

i would not want to mess with the chicks in the

rachel roy fall 2009 ready to wear collection..

(perhaps only to borrow their lipstick!)

...and if i didn't know any better,

i would swear to goodness that the mulleavy sisters

of rodarte must have seen my lips on the catwalk last year

and just had to replicate it for their

spring 2010 collection.

... the good news is,

black lipstick is not just for halloween anymore!

invest in one this season and

come spring time, you will still be able to wear it.

as you can see here in the newest

jason wu spring 2010 ready to wear collection,

everything is fading to black.