There are few bold face name actors or singers that would excite me were I to see them in person, but the mere mention of a potential Bravo reality star sighting is enough to make my heart skip a beat. While they’re no Real Housewives, I attended a roundtable Q+A held at Bravo Studios with the cast members of Fashion Hunters and Mad Fashion, following a screening of their respective season finales. As a Bravo addict, one could easily imagine my excitement especially when after the hour long session, two of the cast members from Fashion Hunters came up to me. One, Tara, liked my handbag (Alexander Wang’s Devere, which she did not recognize as being a Wang design), the other, Wilson, told me he loved my coat, which he immediately recognized as Mackage. If they were hoping I’d consign either, they were out of luck, but needless to say I left with a smile on my face and a strong desire to work in Bravo’s upbeat work space.
Here’s what I left having learned:
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Bravo studios’ offices are covered with thought bubble stickers and the walls are covered with more Bravo reality star-themed artwork than you can imagine possible.
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The season finale of Mad Fashion felt a bit product placement heavy (ahem, Swarovski crystals), but nonetheless it’s always interesting to see Chris March’s design process, given the materials he ends up using (think human hair and safety pins).
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On the forthcoming episode, March designs a dress for John Legend’s model/girlfriend Christine Tiegen to wear to the Met Ball. She does not go with the original design and Chris March says that in hindsight he wishes she did. She opts for feather embellishments over a leather collar piece which he said “lumped her in with that whole Black Swan trend.”
- March said that, unlike the other people in his show, he knew what to expect given his Project Runway past. Among the things he knew – you’re not allowed to listen to music when on the show, which all the cast members agreed made being creative difficult, and it’s important “to be nice to the editors!”
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March said that all of the cast members in his show came across true to who they are except for Christine who is made out to be ditzy, but is not that way in real life.
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When designing for Lady Gaga, March says the feedback is usually “weirder.”
- When designing for the show the thing March was most worried about was always the fit because he was usually given very little measurements and just over a day to create his pieces.
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There is a charity auction on the forthcoming episode of Fashion Hunters and among those in the clearly staged crowd are past Millionaire Matchmaker women and press people.
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Kelly Bensimon from The Real Housewives of New York appears on a forthcoming episode of Fashion Hunters and one of the cast members is in her closet in one scene and points to a pile of bags and exclaims, “Are those all Birkins too?” To which Bensimon replies something to the effect of, “No! Those are pieces from my own collection.”
(Note: Bensimon has previous been accused of “borrowing” ideas.)
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According to March, Bensimon is often described as the friendliest housewife.
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Fashion Hunters cast members were given sheets of what to expect from the clients that were coming in to get filmed because while filming, they were forced to price on the spot for the camera. In “real life” they would price the next day and not in front of the client.
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The sequence of events seen on camera is not necessarily chronologically true.
- Both shows had new cast memebers introduced while filming and yes, Bravo had a hand in picking them.
