Now you don't have to be a designer to be a part of "Project Runway" Season 12. The reality fashion design competition is looking for fan fanatics in need of a makeover.

Submit a video telling produceers why you love "Project Runway" and deserve a new look, for a chance to be featured on one of Season 12's runway challenges.

Winners will be flown to NYC and paired with a Season 12 designer for a fashion and beauty consultation, makeover and chance to strut their stuff on the PR catwalk. June 20 is the deadline for submissions.

Entrants must be 18 or older, and up to seven fans will be chosen for the opportunity.

Here's a link to contest, upload site and rules: http://www.mylifetime.com/shows/project-runway/casting-call

For instance, videos must be a minimum of 10 seconds and no longer than 2 minutes, and answer the questions: “Why are you a Superfan of Project Runway” and “Why do you deserve a fashion makeover”?

Hawaii made a strong showing in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, but we're also represented in other publications.

Lucky magazine's February issue includes a feature on Oahu as a "Shopper's Paradise." Featured are a number of downtown boutiques—Fighting Eel, Owens & Co., Community, and Barrio Vintage—plus the fashionable Collins & 8th on Pensacola, Rebecca Beach at the Kahala Hotel, and Aloha Rag on Kapiolani Boulevard, plus So'Mace Lifestyle, and venturing beyond Honolulu to Olive and Muumuu Heaven in Kailua, and Guava Shop in Haleiwa.

Some of the downtown boutiques missing were Roberta Oaks, and La Muse, where I picked up this nifty Joomi Lim spike bracelet.

And Vanity Fair's March issue includes a photo of former Hawaii resident, actor Jason Momoa, in a photo retrospective of "Bruce Weber's Adventures in Hollywood." Beautiful black and whites demonstrate why Bruce Weber is Bruce Weber.

Alex Cayley photo
Ariel Meredith was photographed for Sports Illustrated 2013 Swimsuit Issue's online edition, in Seville, Spain, in a swimsuit by Sarah Bolz of Maui's Kai ulu Swimwear.

In today's paper, I wrote a brief story about Maui-based Letarte Swimwear's history with the Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Issue, going back 13 years.

Another Hawaii company that made it into the issue was Maui Girl, and the online version also featured swimsuits from another Maui-based company, Kai ulu Swimwear.

Maui Girl suit by Debbie Wilson, modeled by Ariel Meredith and shot in Seville, Spain, by Alex Cayley. The company's swimsuits were featured in four magazine spreads, four full pages and six suits were presented in a collage format. With online presence as well, 28 of the company's swimsuits were featured.

Maui Girl suit modeled by Jessica Gomes and shot by Derek Kettela in Guilin, Guangxi Province, China. Many of the suits are already available at http://maui-girl.com

The annual issue has grown into a $1 billion enterprise according to Business Insider, but the issue had humble roots.

Our sports editor, Paul Arnett, happened to have purchased the original 1964 Swimsuit Issue for $10 in the 1990s. (Original price: .25 cents). I saw one site listing its value today as $175, though of course that's dependent on availability and one's desire to own it.

It's pretty rare that a sports and fashion writer have a meeting of minds. Most times, he's making fun of me because I never know the names of the Superbowl teams, except when I can't help but pick it up through osmosis. Generally, I try to avoid all talk of football and pretend to know nothing of the game, though I went to every game of my high school alma mater, and followed the UH team when I was there, as well.

I was much more enthusiastic when he brought in the original swimsuit issue. Sports Illustrated was born in 1954, and the "Swimsuit Issue" started 10 years later, on Jan. 20, 1964. It was really just a six-page fashion spread, with a few water-oriented stories on snorkel and dive spots, but the cover—of Babette March in a white bikini—was definitely not your typical Sports Illustrated cover.

The look was also more girl next door, vs. the bombshell look look of today's models. It was all quite tame and wholesome.

According to Business Insider, the supplement was started by then-editor Andre Laguerre to increase readership during the winter lull between popular sports seasons. With a hit on their hands, Jule Campbell was chosen as SI's first swimsuit editor, taking the helm from 1965 to 1996.

Since becoming a stand-alone issue in 1997, the magazine has become "one of Time Inc.’s biggest revenue drivers over the years, bringing in more than $1 billion," according to Forbes.

The empire encompasses online editions, videos, calendars, and a swimwear website, SwimDaily.com

In contrast to the original swimsuit spread, which fits in its entirety here: (The magazine is now in ab archival cover, and I don't think Paul would let me handle it again.)

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As part of New York Fashion Week,  SiriusXM hosted "Town Hall with Kenneth Cole,” with SiriusXM Fashion Insiders host Fern Mallis, who was instrumental in starting NYFW, interviewing Cole about his return to the runway and the importance of social media.

The most interesting part of the brief interview was when he said, “What’s interesting now is that we don’t consume the product by buying it in the stores. I mean, one percent do, maybe. 100 percent view it [and] consume it, by shooting it, by posting it, by pinning it, by blogging it, by tweeting it, by retweeting it, and today it is being consumed everywhere in these unique and interesting ways. And they define themselves by it … there’s Pinterest, Instagram and all of these social platforms.”

I've been doing this for at least a decade. If I can't possess an item I find beautiful, I'd save a photo of it as a reminder. Before, I would have to save the images in folders on my computer desktop, but now Pinterest makes it easy to collect photos and create storyboards. For retailers, it's a great marketing and advertising tool as the public spreads word of their love and affection for a brand.

But in the long-term, I wonder what happens to the retail business model when everyone does make consumption virtual. The economy is questionable, unemployment is still high. It's conceivable that the cash-strapped won't need to make purchases if they can enjoy items vicariously via Pinterest. It can be unexpectedly satisfying, because let's face it, even if we buy coveted items, chances are we tire of it in three months or even before the credit card bill arrives.

If so, retailers might one day find themselves in the same boat as the record, book and newspaper industry, trying to stay afloat in a world where increasingly, life is being led online.

Or, maybe it really is the 1 percent that props up the industry, and its just the 99 percent of us who have to use our imaginations. It sort of works in the way it really couldn't for food and housing.

You can view his show here:

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Day 7 views of New York Fashion Week, via Twitter: http://storify.com/fashiontribe/nyfw-fall-winter-2013-day-7