'Architect to the Stars' competes on
Bravo reality show 'Launch My Line'

A former environmental design student from Texas A&M who has designed homes for some of Hollywood's biggest stars is a contestant on a reality show that debuted Dec. 2 on the BRAVO cable TV channel.

David Applebaum appears on the new series, "Launch My Line," as one of 10 professionals highly regarded in their respective fields, teamed with 10 established fashion designers; at the series' end, a clothing line from the winning team will be launched.

The show's airs at 10 p.m. central time.

"It's quite compelling television," said Applebaum, "if you like design, and the competition of other contestants trying to figure out how to make a design that's lovely, and works, and will win, and getting to know a whole bunch of different, crazy people."

Since earning a Bachelor of Environmental Design degree in 1984, the Hollywood-based Aggie architect, widely known as the "Architect to the Stars," has designed homes for well-known celebrities, including Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Diane Keaton.

In the new show, Applebaum and his fellow contestants were constantly tossed into tough situations.

"OK, they said, you're going to do an outfit with a certain theme," he said. "There's a DJ, a choreographer, an event coordinator, and an architect. We've never had to do this kind of thing before, and that becomes a challenge, because you can't just go to a store and pick something out."

You've got a blank canvas, he said, and you've got to pull something out of the air to try and figure out what you're going to create.

Viewers, he said, will marvel at the outcomes of the teams' efforts.

"It will shock you," he said. "Somehow, out of a bunch of rolls of cloth and sewing machines that only worked on occasion, we produced clothing that's really good. It's the indelible, undeniable, human spirit at work."

Equipment foul-ups and "curve balls" the show's organizers tossed at the competitors kept things lively, he said.

"A container of oil in a sewing machine opened up, spilling oil all over a half-done dress," he said. "Also, they'll tell you we supply this and this and this, and you go into a room and you don't have a zipper. You've got everything cut and ready to go. How do you get your model into clothing with no zipper? Now what do you do?"

Applebaum drew on knowledge from his college days to get him through the show's tight spots.

"I was the only one of the group who had the advantage of being part of those all nighters in architecture school, where the conditions are pretty similar," he said.

His classes with Rodney Hill, professor of architecture, also helped him during the competition.

"When they said, OK, you have no zippers, instead of freaking out, I would go back to first year design, and say OK, this is the kind of thing Rodney would give us that looked harder than it really was," he said. "You just had to see what the real problem was, not what you thought the problem was, and how to come up with an elegant design solution."

He said being encouraged at Texas A&M to think "out of the box" helped him not only in the show, but in his career as an architect.

As a freshman and sophomore, Applebaum said he used to wonder why he and his fellow students were doing art pieces, lighting exercises, making furniture, and not designing more buildings but now he has a different take.

"There's so much to learn. One of them is how to learn and how to reinvent yourself. All those things we did those first couple of years taught me more than I thought at the time, because what I'm doing now is different than what I thought I was going into. I've probably used more of the things I learned those first two years than I learned my senior year doing nothing but buildings."

Applebaum said he hopes his appearance on the show won't make people think he's not serious about architecture.

"The scariest thing about me doing this is that I'm not entirely sure a Cuba Gooding Jr. would say 'Oh, you’re the architect on TV? That’s why I want you.' He might be even quicker to say, 'sorry, I want an architect who's interested in me, not putting my project on television,'" said Applebaum. "But the economy we’re going through has created a situation where we must all reinvent ourselves in some way or another. With loans not available, there isn’t that much work going on. I’ve got a kid, a wife, and a mortgage, and I’ve got a million ideas a day in my head, most of them having to do with design and trying to create some kind of beauty and meaning in the work that I do, and I’ve got no place to put it, no arena to set it in."

He decided to take a chance and accept an offer to be a contestant on "Launch My Line."

"When this show came to me, it was, seriously, what else am I going to be doing the next two months," he said. "And, scary as it was, I may have completely shot myself in the foot for the kinds of clients that I have, but it was a gamble I had to take."

It's an experience he treasured.

"You have some very nice, warm-hearted, generous creative people, and then you have some real selfish, dirty tricks jerks. It’s a fur fight," he said. "I had the time of my life. It was a great deal of fun."

More about "Launch My Line" is available at www.bravotv.com/launch-my-line.

- Posted: Nov. 18, 2009-