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MySpace likes iLike

News Corp.'s struggling social networking site MySpace today announced it has a deal to acquire iLike, an application that helps users of social networks share music recommendations and playlists.

The combination would bring together MySpace, a site emerging and established artists have long used to promote their music, with an application that allows people to introduce their friends to new music.

“The iLike acquisition advances our relentless pursuit of innovation and the need to create new distributed social experiences in music and beyond,” MySpace Chief Executive Owen Van Natta said in a statement. “We are deeply committed to bringing world class talent into all areas of the company and this acquisition demonstrates our focus on this objective.”

The acquisition comes as iLike has been poised to introduce its own music store, in cooperation with all four major music companies. Brothers Ali and Hadi Partovi founded iLike in 2006. In two years, it has attracted 55 million users -- including users on rival social networking site Facebook. It is unclear what the acquisition would mean for Facebook.

“Combining MySpace’s existing platform, reach and resources with iLike’s syndication network and social discovery tools creates the potential for truly exciting innovation," said iLike President Hadi Partovi.

Van Natta said the acquisition would have no immediate impact on iLike users.

-- Dawn C. Chmielewski

Photo: MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta. Credit: Jacob Mosur / Los Angeles Times.

Rejoice, 'Project Runway' is finally back

As promised, here is the "Project Runway" feature I wrote for the Tribune's LIVE section. It contains some quotes from this interview with Tim Gunn, as well as some quotes from a "Project Runway" contestant from Chicago, Ra'mon-Lawrence Coleman.

It’s not easy to make Tim Gunn lose his composure.

But sitting at First Lady Michelle Obama’s table at a July 24 White House luncheon was a beyond-fabulous moment for the famously calm designers’ mentor on “Project Runway” (9 p.m. Central Thursday, Lifetime).

“I was in heaven,” Gunn said in a recent phone interview. “I already loved her, but then I thought maybe I’ll be disappointed [in person]. No. She exceeded my expectations.”

Gunn was at the White House event celebrating the winners of the National Design Awards, and meeting the woman he calls “fashion’s savior” was a thrill.

“When I consider the economic downturn, if it weren’t for Michelle Obama, I would be putting an RIP stone over American fashion,” Gunn said. “Not only because she is this warm, accessible, charismatic figure who looks fabulous in her clothing, but because she sends a message to Americans, which is that you can do this on a budget.”

Yes, the Obamas are fans of the showâ€"at least three of them. The first lady told Gunn that “she was sorry that the kids [Malia and Sasha] weren’t there because they were off at campâ€"they were big fans of the show.”

The Obamas, like many other “Project Runway” devotees, may have been wondering what happened to their favorite fashion show. Starting in April 2008, “Project Runway,” which aired for five increasingly successful seasons on Bravo, was the subject of a legal tussle between that network and Lifetime, which eventually won the right to air the catwalk chronicle.

“I thought it wasn’t going to [air],” Gunn said of the show’s sixth season, which was filmed last year as the lawsuit dragged on. “I thought, ‘This will just be in court forever.’ [Host] Heidi [Klum] was forever optimistic; I was ever doom and gloom.”

Eventually the legal catfight was resolved. The show returns looking much the same as it ever has, even though most of the season was shot in a new city, Los Angeles. (The finale was filmed, as usual, in February during New York’s Fashion Week.) Gunn pronounced himself “beautifully satisfied” with how Season 6 turned out, but he said that shooting the season with a new network and a new production company had its share of challenges.

“We were doing challenges that integrated ABC shows and Disney [properties] that suddenly went away because we didn’t know where the show was going to air [Lifetime is part-owned by Disney]. It was awful,” Gunn said. “There wasn’t a single solitary soul on the set other than me who knew what happened ... from the time Heidi would deliver the challenge until the work would end up back on the runway to be judged. I was the only one.”

“Runway” fanatics will want to know two things: Is there worthy design on display? And is there juicy drama in Season 6? Gunn says yes to both.

“We have drama to beat the band, including a model who refused to wear a garment. I’m in the sewing room begging herâ€"well, not begging her. I’m quite firm in saying, ‘This is your responsibility. It’s not a matter of personal tasteâ€"you are a mannequin basically. A walking mannequin. Put it on,’.” he said.

The “Project Runway” designers bring quite a bit of professional experienceâ€"several of the 16 contestants have serious fashion industry credentialsâ€"and of course, there are some larger-than-life personalities.

Of Chicago native Ra’mon-Lawrence Coleman, mentor and Liz Claiborne Chief Creative Officer Tim Gunn would only say, “There’s never a dull moment with Ra’mon!”

Gunn also wrote on Lifetime’s “Runway” site that, as a designer, Coleman “thinks too much.”

Coleman, a graduate of south suburban Hillcrest High School, said in a phone interview that he took that statement “as a compliment. I like to consider myself an intellectual person. I think it’s better to think about things rather than throw things out there without any intent. So many people dabble in design with no clear vision.”

Coleman, 31, took an unusual path to fashion design. At the University of Iowa, he was in a neuroscience program but began to have some doubts that science and medicine were his true callings. He returned to Chicago and ended up studying art history and fashion design at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
“Something clickedâ€"I thought, ‘This is what you’re supposed to be doing,’.” Coleman said. And his study of anatomy and biology paid off, he adds.

“The way I approach design, I think about the human form,” he said.

Coleman ended up moving to Minneapolis and designing for Target, but after filming of Season 6 of “Project Runway” concluded, he moved to Milwaukee and began working for Kohl’s. These days he’s collaborating with “The Hills” star Lauren Conrad on the line of clothing she created for Kohl’s.

Of course, Coleman wouldn’t say if he won the sixth season of “Runway,” but he sounds quite happy about where his pursuit of fashion has taken him.

“I really don’t know because there are so many opportunities right now,” Coleman said when asked whether he would stay with Kohl’s. “Whatever the outcome of the season, a lot of doors have been opened for me.”

Tickets on sale
Live performancesAmerican Metal & Iron Fight Night at the Tank. Sept. 12, HP Pavilion. Ticketmaster.
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