Nick Verreos Will Be In San Antonio Texas this Thursday April 2nd!

Texas (Fashion) Hold 'Em!!!Nick Verreos co-emcees the IADT IMAGINE 2009 in San Antonio Texas, Thursday April 2nd

Watch out San Antonio, 'cause I'm coming! This week I will be flying into the big ol' State of Texas to co-host the International Academy of Design and Technology/IADT IMAGINE 2009 Fashion Show on Thursday April 2nd at the Norris Conference Center.
Last year, I had the pleasure of being invited to IADT San Antonio to emcee this wonderful event which showcases the fashions of IADT design students. I will also be doing a special workshop/seminar the day after at the IADT San Antonio Campus, discussing how I got into the world of Fashion Design and what steps you can take to navigate through "this crazy industry". Sibling Pose-Off: Nick Verreos poses with his sister Rita Verreos (wearing NIKOLAKI), at IADT San Antonio IMAGINE 2008 "red carpet" last year

I am always excited to return to the city San Antonio since it also just happens to be where my sister, Rita Verreos, lives as well as my beautiful nephew and niece, Alain and Casia. My parents also reside there. So as brief as my visit will be, I will try and get in some "Uncle Nick" time with them. Last time, they got a big kick out of riding in the limo with me to the event and sitting front row. I will have to see if my nephew Alain can put down his X-box 360 long enough to pay attention to his Uncle hosting and the pretty models (and fashion) that will be coming down the IMAGINE 2009 runway.Meet & Greet: Nick Verreos chats with a guest at last year's IADT San Antonio IMAGINE event and fashion show

If you are in the San Antonio area, make sure not to miss the show because it will be a great night of fashion , and a "Walk-Off" or two from yours truly--and hopefully I will get to meet you and take a fun photo--Call 210-530-9449 for tickets and info regarding my Seminar/ Meet-and-Greet the following day.
Click HERE for more IMAGINE 2009 Fashion Show information.

THE ONE FINAL RULE

Pageant fans often complain that they see the same girls competing at Miss South Africa year in and year out, and that they would like to see "fresh faces". If the truth be known, there are very few "fresh faces" on the South African pageant circuit.

Whilst many contestants at the Miss South Africa finals may be making their first appearance at the pageant, very few are new to the pageant scene. Most of the finalists have "cut their pageant teeth" on the regional pageant circuit. Although I could be mistaken, I cannot think of a single Miss SA winner that had not previously entered a national or regional pageant or model contest. The same applies to the runners-up and other contestants. Most of the finalists are seasoned pageant girls.

I do understand that "fresh" could stand us in good stead at international level, and that "pageant patty" and over-rehearsed or trained contestants could be over-looked, but let's for a moment consider that at least 80% of the semi-finalists at international level are "pageant patty" types. Every now and again a "fresh" contestant will slip through and place or win, but that doesn't happen too often.

My personal motto is "practice makes perfect", and I don't have issues with girls making multiple appearances at the national pageant although I do believe that, if you have not won after two attempts, chances are very good that you will never succeed. I do find the "you may not be a finalist in successive years" rule a bit silly though.

What if a situation exists where the Top 2 contestants in a particular year are equally qualified to win and are at their pageant prime, yet there can only be one winner. The "gap year" for the runner-up could just be enough to lose that competitive edge. Excluding entrants from the national pageant because they had previously been finalists is the same as excluding athletes from the Olympic Games because they had been finalists at the previous Games. Silly!

Whatever your opinion, let's hypothesise that the "one final" rule had been in place since the first Miss South Africa pageant in 1956, and that no contestant could make another appearance at the pageant after having been a finalist in preceding years. Assuming that all other variables remained constant, who would have been crowned Miss South Africa:

1958: Rosemary Whitlock
1961: Marlene Boyes
1963: Ellen Liebenberg
1967: Mary McDonald
1969: Diana Newman
1986: Nancy Riach
1988: Mache Booysen
1990: Olivia Scrooby
1991: Amy Kleinhans
1992: Augustine Masilela
2008: Anja van Zyl

Whilst the rule would only have affected 11 winners, more than 40 finalists would not have been allowed to compete again. We would also have "lost" some of our favourite winners such as Penny Coelen, Linda Collett, Suzette van der Merwe and Diana Tilden-Davis. Hmmm! So the "one final" rule is not such a good idea after all.

2008 MANHUNT INTERNATIONAL

Christopher Lee Martins

2007 MANHUNT INTERNATIONAL

Quinton van der Walt

2006 MANHUNT INTERNATIONAL

Heimar Beukes

2005 MANHUNT INTERNATIONAL

Willem Roos

2002 MANHUNT INTERNATIONAL

Jorge Maia (Top 15)

2001 MANHUNT INTERNATIONAL

Mark Blair

2009 MISS EARTH

Chanel Grantham (Top 16)

2008 MISS EARTH

Matapa Maila

2007 MISS EARTH

Bokang Montjane (Top 16) (Beauty With A Cause Award)

2006 MISS EARTH

Nancy dos Reis

2005 MISS EARTH

Jacqueline Postma

2004 MISS EARTH

Sally Leung

2003 MISS EARTH

Catherine Constantinides

2001 MISS EARTH

Inecke van der Westhuizen

REALITY....SHOWS!

I realise that this is supposed to be a pageant-related blog, but since there really is nothing to get excited about on the SA pageant front at present, let's turn our attention to one of my other favourite "couch potato" past-times, reality shows.

My absolute favourite is undoubtedly Idols. Whilst it is a "talent" search, physical appearance does play a very important part in the outcome of the contest, and a number of current and past contestants wouldn't look out of place in a local pageant given the quality of pageant contestants of late.

Whilst my favourite contestant changes after every performance, I have a core group of five contestants that I feel are equally deserving of the title, and I wouldn't mind if any one of them won. My current favourite is Jason, although I did not have him in my initial group of favourites. My other favourites are/were Lize (voted off), Ntsepa (voted off), Sasha-Lee, and Thandi, in no particular order.

To be honest, I liked nine of the ten finalists. The only contestant that I really, really, really dislike is Graeme. He just works on my last nerve. Everything about him. His look, his voice, his personality. Why people are still voting for him is beyond me. Enough already!

In any event, I'll just hold thumbs that one of my faves is the last one standing.

2009 MRS WORLD

Joani Johnson (Top 12)

2008 MRS WORLD

Jo-Lize Uys

2007 MRS WORLD

Annette Kasselman (Sixth)

2006 MRS WORLD

Mariette Chippendall

2005 MRS WORLD

Retha McPherson

2003 MRS WORLD

Anna Kearney (Top 10)

2001 MRS WORLD

Carene Breytenbach

2000 MRS WORLD

Anelle Swart (Top 10)

1999 MRS WORLD

Cherie Loomes

1984 WOMAN OF THE WORLD

Sharon Gerber (Top 10)

Carrie Ann Inaba wears NIKOLAKI (again!) on "Dancing With The Stars"!!

(Grecian) Hawaiian Goddess!!!!One Shoulder Empress: Carrie Ann Inaba critiques in NIKOLAKI gown on Dancing With The Stars

This week on ABC's Dancing With The Stars, we accomplished a NIKOLAKI first: Three gowns in two weeks on national TV! The gorgeous judge Carrie Ann Inaba (sorry Bruno) wore another one of our gowns on this week's Elimination Show. We were thrilled, surprised and ecstatic when we got an email saying that indeed the lovely Ms. Inaba would be wearing another one of our designs.
My design partner, David Paul has been away at the Staples Center attending the World Figure Skating Competition and I have had to helm the NIKOLAKI studio on my own (crazy thought!) and I rushed to hit the DVR/TiVo button--oh and tell everyone from here to Caracas Venezuela!. The DWTS Panel: Carrie Ann workin' her NIKOLAKI gown (from chest up!)

Carrie Ann chose an ivory silk jersey "Grecian Goddess" one-shoulder draped cowl gown with black silk-rayon Duchesse satin band (is that enough of a description for you guys?) and looked GORGEOUS in it! White looks REALLY good against her skin color. It goes without saying: We love you Carrie Ann!!!! Athena: Model Dominique in the ivory silk jersey one-shoulder gown worn by Carrie Ann Inaba

We got so many emails from friends and family who recognized the gown, but were bummed that not enough was shown--so here's the entire gown as it was shot for our Website Look Book on the equally beautiful 16 year old model, Dominique.
Click BELOW to view the elimination portion of this week's episode (and catch a glimpse of Carrie Ann Inaba wearing NIKOLAKI)

Nick Verreos attends Andrew Christian Show at Los Angeles Fashion Week Fall 2009

Hot boys, Hotter underwear: It's the Andrew Christian Show!Welcome to HOLLYWOOOOOD: The Scene at the Andrew Christian Fashion Show presentation, Boulevard 3 Nightclub

It now has become a staple of Los Angeles Fashion Week to end the festivities and fashion shows with the Andrew Christian Fashion Show. Once again, it was held at Boulevard 3 Nightclub on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood, and I was invited to attend the madness. I rarely make it out to Hollywood--and especially on a Friday night--because it is always ONE BIG MESS! It always feels like I am at one of those big and tacky Las Vegas nightclubs--lots of drunk straight guys and scantily clad drunk girls. Picture VH1's Tool Academy and Oxygen's Bad Girl's Club somehow (and unfortunately) coming together. So, with that mix, I ended up right in the "thick of it", at Andrew Christian's Fall 2009 Fashion Show.
My "fish out of water" feeling was calmed when, as I walked in, I immediately saw my Project Runway Season 2 friend, Raymundo Baltazar and California Apparel News' Alison Nieder. Bad Girls Club: Guests including Raymundo Baltazar and California Apparel News' Alison Nieder before the Andrew Christian Fashion Show

LA-based Andrew Christian has become the go-to guy for sexy hot men's underwear, swimsuits and work-out wear and has built his multi-million dollar brand behind it. I'm sure you may also recognize his name from the Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency Show. Recently, he has broadened his style spectrum and began doing womenswear as well as actual "outer" menswear, such as vests, shirts, and pants. All tight-fitting , fabulous and perfect for the guy who has the .00002 % body fat to wear his aforementioned underwear. Scarf Happy: Nick Verreos poses with one of the beautiful models from the Andrew Christian Fall '09 Fashion Show

For Fall 2009, he showed fitted colorful plaid and striped men's dress shirts, grey pants and shorts, as well as those sexy underwear he's known for (one jockstrap style almost drove the entire club into a FRENZY--all the 200+ women and the 10 gay boys in the audience went into a TIZZY!). Look Hard, He's Wearing a JOCKSTRAP! The crowd goes wild at the Andrew Christian Fashion Show, Boulevard 3

For women, there were fitted black shift dresses, jumpers and "paper-bag" skirts. Since Andrew is an "equal-opportunity employer", he also sent out various lingerie looks on his girls to balance out the exposed male skin. The mood seemed very "Pussycat Dolls-meets-The Derby". For the finale, everyone expected to see Andrew come out and do his traditional bow and walk, instead his design team did. So, the main question everyone was asking was not "Where do I get that jockstrap?" but more of "Where's Andrew Christian?". If I was him, I would have been back there with the models taking care of the double-stick tape (wink wink!).
Click Below for a video of the Finale Walk of the Andrew Christian models:

Click HERE for a great slide show of the Andrew Christian Fall 2009 Collection from CaliforniaApparelNews.net.

Nick Verreos attends Single Fashion Show at LA Fashion Week

To Russia With Love...Single Runway: John Wade and Nick Verreos do the step-and-repeat at the Single Fall 2009 Fashion Show

This past Monday, I was invited to another show as part of Los Angeles Fashion Week. As you may (or may not) know, there really isn't an "official" LA Fashion Week or one like there is in NY or other cities. Last season, Fern Mallis' IMG pulled out of doing the Mercedes Benz LA Fashion Week at Smashbox after about four years of producing it. Lack of interest, funding and various other reasons were the cause.
Hello St. Petersburg: Nick Verreos poses with Russian model from Single 2009 Fall presentation

So, for this season, BOXeight decided to stage their own "Downtown LA Fashion Week" and other designers and Southern California-based labels staged their own private shows. Single was one of those. Designer Galina Sobolev and her husband Michael, created the company back in 1994 and have been going strong ever since. Single is known for its brightly printed silk tunics, blouses, tops and silky dresses. Single also has the unique title of being the one LA-based company which employed not one BUT TWO, Project Runway designers. Both Santino Rice and Andrae Gonzalo have passed through the Single doors. Model Casting? Guests await the Single Fall '09 Fashion Show, Maxim Restaurant West Hollywood

For this special Fall 2009/10 "preview" show, Galina decided to go back to her Russian roots and create a collection loosely based on her native country. And to highlight this, she staged it at a Russian restaurant called Maxim. I called upon my partner-in-fashion-crime, the deliciously sexy John Wade--of Project Runway Season 2 and Marc Jacobs--to be my "date". John had gone to Moscow late last year with Marc Jacobs and (Marc Jacobs) President Robert Duffy to celebrate the opening of their Moscow Boutique, and I thought he would enjoy it. When we first walked in, he turned to me and said "Oh My God, I seriously think I'm in Moscow!" It was that authentic--down to the fact that most of the staff barely spoke English (I just kept saying spasibo to them--thank you in Russia). Models Eat! A Single-clad model enjoying the Russian buffet, Maxim Restaurant, West Hollywood

The banquet room/restaurant was split right in the middle to create a runway with round dining tables on each side. Guests mingled and enjoyed the very ample spread of delicious Russian hors d'oeuvres such as beef-stuffed Piroshkis, salmon and lox wrap sandwiches, and red cabbage salad. There was also a fully stocked Open Bar with enough Vodka to make former Russian President Putin smile! Galina knows how to throw an event: Keep the guests well fed and have an open bar.John, Try and Smile Next Time: CA Apparel News Editor Alison Nieder, Nick Verreos and a come-hither pout from John Wade
Speaking of guests, I spotted fashion editors of both the Los Angeles Times and WWD (very impressive) as well as stylist George Blodwell (who famously styled actress Helen Mirren at last year's Academy Awards). I was also excited to see my good friend Alison Nieder, the Executive Editor of The California Apparel News. There was also a gaggle of beautiful Russian women and some skinny LA hipster fashionistas for good measure (they were NOT eating!).Parting Shot: A Guest's FIERCE Louis Vuitton shoes (no , it wasn't John who was wearing these!)

For Fall 2009, Galina decided to design a darker moodier side of Single. She showed black and purple Russian folkloric printed blouses paired with black leather pants, violet and gold mini dresses as well as long printed bohemian-style dresses. It was Russian Boho Chic. And of course, there were a few sequined cocktail dresses in case you might be invited to the Kremlin for a swanky party. Click HERE for a slideshow of the Single Fall 2009 Fashion Show.