Modeling the world

Actresses, models and WAGs are often snapped sporting the latest Jimmy Choo designs, but currently it seems even the Queen is a fan of Tamara Mellon’s fashionable footwear too.

The Berkshire educated Jimmy Choo President and co-founder obtained an OBE for her services to the fashion industry.

And Mellon added a small piece of va va voom to Buckingham Palace as picking up her medal in a Dolce & Gabbana hat and polka dot ensemble.

The 43-year-old exposed that some younger royals are fans of the luxury brand too, alongside celebrities such as Paris Hilton and Madonna.

There are currently 115 Jimmy Choo stores worldwide, across 39 countries and Mellon said she was appreciative to everyone at Jimmy Choo and its customers around the globe for serving with her success.

It’s as if Project Runway cut their budget and auf’d Heidi Klum: See the art of trash upcycled into eco-fashion by proletarian fashion designers at the third annual Trashy Fashion Show at the Largo Cultural Center in celebration of Earth Day.

Brown-bag it today and instead of waiting in line at the drive-thru on your lunch breaks, you can spend the afternoon on the banks of the Hillsborough with Curator of Education Gianna Russo and Curator Susan Carter.

In Conservation Conversations, they give a brief history of Henry Plant and the Tamp Bay Hotel, providing a timeline of chief conservation movements from 1891-1931 and conversing the architectural features and building materials, which today would be considered “green,” followed by a tour of these features in the building.

Earth Day events are everywhere this week — even at your gracious indie bookstore. Ginny Stibolt, a naturalist with a master’s in botany, signs copies of her newest in tips and tricks for greener gardens, Sustainable Gardening for Florida.

After the break, we resume our frequently scheduled, non-Earth Day events coverage, including Co-Motion Dance Theatre, Bright and White at the Mindy Solomon Gallery.

For those who don’t pursue “Project Runway” – and you know who you are – Christian Siriano is that show’s season-four winner.

And it comes as wonderful news to report that his very own new reality show is about more than just the high-strung, high-drama, high-maintenance fashion game.

It’s set in that world, of course but the most attractive story line here isn’t the trauma of a last-minute broken zipper on a vital pair of shoes.

Sure, there’s plenty of that, and plenty of Siriano declaring, this is the worst, I’m exhausted and I hate interviews.

But in the larger sense, having a Moment tells the far more universal story of how cruelly hard it can be for any small-business man to become a medium-sized- or big-business man.

University of Alabama graduate Anthony L. Williams returned to “Project Runway” on Thursday, one week after he was removed from the fashion design reality show.

On Thursday night’s episode, Williams was permitted to return after another contestant quit.

He was one of two champions in this episode’s challenge.

Guest judge Jessica Alba articulated interest in wearing Williams’ design to a red carpet event.

Judges had censured his designs as “too safe” when eliminating him.

Evan Biddell, the Toronto Fashion designer who detonated onto the city’s fashion landscape as the 2007 winner of Project Runway Canada, has proven in just a few years that he’s more than actuality show novelty.

On Tuesday night during LG Fashion Week, subsequent two lacklustre shows by veteran Canadian designers Pat McDonagh and Linda Lundstrom, Biddell, a self-taught designer originally from Saskatoon, elevated the evening with a collection that was provocative, experimental and intellectual.

In the spirit of the most excellent conceptualist designers such as Hussein Chalayan and Rei Kawakubo, Biddell moved beyond the conformity of the human shape – adding structured volume to a extra-large lampshade cork-print skirt or black silk moiré pants that ballooned at the front – or mainly startling by incorporating a “Quasimodo” hump at the back of a high collar but sleeveless short dress. Such elements of the collection were dense with a futuristic, almost alien, responsiveness.

He played on themes of generalization in print and construction. A black shirt dress was embellished and cut with seemingly random details; a colorful vintage patchwork print jumpsuit was pure kitsch.

Beyond his inflated play with shape, Biddell exposed his talents for manipulated fabric with flattened ruffles, long swaggering fringes, sharp pleating as well as intricate lattice work on black bomber jacket or short dresses.