My Own Project Runway

We all have guilty pleasures when it comes to television viewing, and I’m not ashamed to say that “Project Runway” is mine. I have no idea why. I’ll just blame my wife and daughter. They got me hooked. But again, why? I’m not a devotee of haute couture; if I were still dating I would do so with women; and I generally hate the contrived drama of so-called reality shows.

That said, I’ve been counting the days till PR’s Season 8 premier tomorrow on Lifetime. (As a cross-promotional aside, I’ll be appearing on a Lifetime show on August 29—“Drop Dead Diva”—in a bit role. That’s Sunday, August 29, 9 pm ET. Don’t miss it.)

Now, I’m no total stranger to the world of fashion. Before embarking on my checkered media career, I once modeled back-to-school “fashions” in a newspaper ad for a store in San Jose that was sort of like Goodwill without the elegance (check out these cool pictures).

"Hello, I'm Raul and I'll be your server."

Displaying stuff too cheap to shoplift.

"Son, this ruler tells you how long this crap is going to be in style."

As a local “TV news celebrity” in Louisville, I allowed someone to dress me in a tutu and then walked the runway for the perverse enjoyment of those attending the New Albany, Indiana Apple Festival (see not-so-cool picture below). And as a kid, I watched my very stylish mom organize and moderate fashion shows.

Audience members look a little too interested.

Which leads me to today’s video. It was 1979 or so, and I thought it would be funny to do a story on Big & Tall stores. You know, those purveyors of fashion for the larger portion of the population. Not fat, just enormous. But, I thought, how amusing would it be to watch the bigger-boned of our species walk around in size 54 Long jackets without some sort of context? So, not being of the plus-sized persuasion, I offered that context. Like this:

No, the wardrobe malfunction was not pre-planned. But I left it in because my philosophy has always been, “When in doubt, make fun of yourself.”

Are you a fan of “Project Runway” too? Come on, admit it. If not, then what guilty pleasure has you glued to the TV set when no one else is looking?

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