I watched last week’s episode of The Fashion Show (slightly annoying, but will suffice until Project Runway’s triumphant return) over the weekend and I was stopped cold by Lidia’s unfortunate red eyeshadow.

Red shadow’s been done well both editorially and on the runway - Nars’ Diane Kendal did a fantastic reddish-brown smoky eye for Thakoon’s AW09 show - but we’ve never seen it work well in real life. I think it would require a darker skin tone because on Lidia’s pale face it came off looking more rash-like than avant-garde.

Recently, a few notable brands have launched shadows in the grenadine color family and I am seriously at a loss to think of who, besides a makeup artist, would actually purchase the hues. I just can’t see this look parading down the streets without causing some worried glances or frantic calls to the CDC.

But maybe I’m just missing something. Is there a successful way to translate this trend from the runway to real life?

—MEGAN MCINTYRE

Watching this two minute clip of The Fashion Show’s first runway presentation felt like one of those Spot the Difference cartoons we used to love in Highlights.

The Fashion Show differs from Project Runway

1. The runway is triangular.
2. There are lots of people in the audience, not just the judges.
3. Stila has major product placement.

The Fashion Show is the same as Project Runway

1. One designer says, “I don’t need the money, I don’t need the fame, I just want to see people in my clothes,” the other says hes from, “the hood” and the other has Christian’s haircut & thick black glasses.
2. They live high up in an ultra-modern New York apartment.
3. Tresemme is everywhere.

We’d call a draw, but as a general rule, anything with Isaac Mizrahi wins.

Clear your schedule for Thursday night. Isaac Mizrahi debuts his new show, Isaac Mizrahi: Tell Me Everything, on Martha Stewart Living Radio from 7pm to 8pm.

Mizrahi will take calls from around the country asking for fashion and style advice. Most of the questions he’ll answer on his own, but he’ll also be joined by stylists, designers, models and celebrities for roundtable discussions.

While it sounds like the old Isaac Mizrahi show, and about ten times better than Bravo’s forthcoming The Fashion Show, the absolute impossibility for Sketches & Answers leaves us bummed.

Though Fern Mallis, senior vice president of IMG, is one of the most important figures in fashion (she is basically who we have to thank for that little thing called Fashion Week), many people don’t actually know her know her.

So we thought we’d share this short, rare interview she did with Bravo in promotion for her role as a judge on Bravo’s new Project Runway replacement called The Fashion Show, for which Isaac Mizrahi is also a judge, so everyone can get to know the lovely Fern a bit better.

Learn that she used to wear only American designers while director of the CFDA, that her style is “international,” that Donna Karan sometimes “gets fats, gets skinny,” and that Fern is much nicer than most people seem to think she is.

The show premiers May 7th - more info on Bravo’s site.