Tuesday, August 19: Tim Gunn is here! Tim Gunn is here! You know how we’re positively smitten with the Project Runway judge (and, as it turns out, DC native), and we couldn’t be more excited that he’s the guest host at the Out for Work benefit cocktail hour at Halo. (EDITOR'S NOTE: We just received a call from Out for Work that the event tonight has been canceled! The organizer hopes to reschedule it for later this fall. Email info@outforwork.com for details.)

Thursday, August 21: It’s a busy day for DC fashion! First, the Chevy Chase Saks Fifth Avenue will be showing off the latest Prada accessories all day long. You’ve seen those insanely sculpted heels and ruffle-edged bags all over the September magazines—now prepare to drool in person.

Designer Abigail de Casanova

What: Girly vintage pieces from the ’40s, ’50s, ’60s and unique stone jewelry in a variety of styles and colors.

Who: Abigail de Casanova has come a long way from the pompom-adorned alpaca sweater she wore on her first day of school after moving to United States at age 13. Today the fashion designer, makeup artist, hairstylist, and head of the DC Fashionistas wouldn’t be caught dead donning such a major fashion faux pas. But there are still signs of her Peruvian roots in her current style. It’s travel—exotic locales inhabited by people with styles and clothes completely foreign to her—that inspires this beauty and fashion jack-of-all-trades. But even now she still winces when looking back on that first day of school.

“Now that I think about it, I would have skipped the pompoms,” she says.

Where to buy it: Abigaildecasanova.com 

And here we go! Your fearless recapper had the pleasure of enjoying this week’s show with family, which involved explaining to my father that Project Runway and the subsequent airing of Shear Genius were two different shows. (He was quite confused). But we digress. Let’s move to the recap, shall we?

After some gratuitous exercising footage—does Daniel always wear plaid pants when lifting weights? Weird!—we’re back with Heidi on the runway. I’m glad they’ve decided to fully dispense with the tedious choosing-the-same-model-every-time process, but I sure do miss those tacky oversized buttons with everyone’s names on them.

Back in the studio, everyone starts speculating on who the “high-powered and glamorous professional woman” they’ll be designing for this week will be. Blayne hopes it’s not Hillary Clinton, because he would be forced to make her a neon pantsuit. Which is a hilarious image. There is also speculation that it could be Nancy Grace (um, who?), Joan Rivers, or Sharon Osbourne. Obviously, Project Runway’s lengthy history of bringing on D-list personalities has had much bearing on the contestants’ guessing games. At least they’re being realistic.

It’s hard to know what to expect when preparing to meet Simon Doonan, the creative director of Barney’s New York, who was in town recently to give a nearly sold-out talk at the Corcoran Gallery of Art for his newest book, Eccentric Glamour: Creating an Insanely More Fabulous You. After all, Doonan is something of a larger-than-life figure in the fashion industry, whether he’s creating elaborate window displays for Barney’s midtown New York flagship, stepping out with his longtime partner, home décor guru Jonathan Adler, or dishing out witty commentary on shows like America’s Next Top Model or VH1’s I Love the 80s.

Truth be told, I was expecting Doonan to make a dramatic entrance befitting his towering persona: perhaps a sweeping cape, or a small entourage, or at least his beloved little terrier Liberace nipping at his heels. Instead, he was surprisingly low-key and reserved, still delivering his signature barbs, but with a subtle deadpan. There was no entourage and no lap dog on hand when he charmed the Corcoran crowd with tales of dressing up as Queen Elizabeth II, in full royal regalia, for a Barney’s event. Before his talk, he sat down with Washingtonian.com over a glass of juice and doled out even more sage style advice.

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