Sep/090
PR: The Models Never Know Best
Previously on Project Runway - The contestants were paired up to create a beachwear/surfer inspired outfit. This seemed too easy, and half way through the challenge they were told to make a second garment that takes the idea of their beachwear and make it avant garde. For the first time ever, the leader of the winning team, Mitchell, wasn't made the winner because Ra'mon did 95% of the work. Ra'mon won and Mitchell was out in a Project Runway first.
This week, Heidi tells the designers that Tim Gunn is waiting in the workroom with a group of women who know exactly what they want. The designers are fearful it may be bridezillas or teenagers who need prom dresses, but it ends up being their models. Tim explains that the models have been invited to a very important industry event. The designers must create garments based
on the wishes of their models while keeping their style infused into the outfit. Some girls are specific in their requests, but most are open to what the designers want. They also learn that this is their first one day challenge.
Irina gets a critique from Tim
With this kind of interaction, the bond between the models and designers is solidified. It doesn't look like there will be much model switching from here on in, but you never know what may come. Its this kind of challenge that can become tricky because there are so few limitations. Create a beautiful dress for a skinny model. The options are endless, which can be daunting. If you can't do well in this challenge, you should be worried about how you will perform in the more difficult tasks ahead. This is the designers chance to shine.
The outfits overall were pretty hot and most were remarkably suited to their particular models look while still retaining the designers essence. Let's take a look at the top three:
Althea Harper's design
Epperson's design
Carol Hannah's design
Althea's design won and I totally agreed. It was more than just a simple dress. She created a three piece power suit that was stylized and sexy. Considering the time constraint, its amazing that she was able to pull off creating three separate pieces. I was also really feeling Epperson's. It had a lot of intricate layers carefully placed on difficult stretch fabric. It was certainly attention getting and it matched his model's personality/look extremely well. I understood Carol Hannah's design, the juxtaposition of hard and soft, I just didn't particularly care for it. I think mayhaps it was the proportion that didn't aesthetically appeal to me. The judges liked it though and that's all that matters.
On to the losers...
designs by: Johnny Sakalis, Logan Neitzel, and Qristyl Frazier
All in all, these dresses weren't hideous, but compared to the others and in regards to the intended event, they failed. Johnny's was mostly boring and flat. I thought the only thing good about it was the color but that's not enough. Logan's design actually fit his model's vibe extremely well, but unfortunately her style is a bit 50's, a bit gothic, and a bit bright. He did a great job of creating the dress for her, it just wasn't very good. His lacework was lumpy and too thickly layered. Qristyl had started another dress but Tim referred to it as messy and I couldn't have agreed more. She started a new dress from scratch, but it was safe, boring and aged her model a few years. The simple black dress is not what you want to get noticed in a crowd. Qristyl got auf'd and that was that.
My picks had a particularly good week.
Althea won, Epperson was in the top three and Gordana floated in the middle as usual. I'm worried about her... she better step up her game.
Aug/090
Labor of Love
This week's episode of Project Runway was popping at the seams... literally. After a few seasons with the lovely host Heidi Klum being pregnant, they wait til she isn't preggers to do a maternity outfit competition. 
To guest judge this one the very pregnant Rebecca Romijn greets the judges. The one thing she mentions is that despite being pregnant, she still enjoys her shape. She doesn't want a flowing dress covering her bulge, she still wants a beautiful silhouette and something nicely tailored.
The designers are off and running with their ideas being a bit all over the place. Most have never designed an outfit for a pregnant woman, so they are in new terrain. The women have the advantage off the bat, especially since some of them had been pregnant before. Its clear that a man is going home this week and if I had to bet on it, a woman is going to win.
Filling in for Michael Kors this week is fashion designer Monique Lhuillier. It is fitting, because now there is a panel of judges consisting of four women who had at one point been pregnant and know exactly what kind of clothes they would have liked during that time. The fashion show begins and we see looks ranging from casual and simple to more elegant and tailored. When we get to the top and bottom group, we are left with three men and three women. Shockingly, the women were the top three. Let's take a look:
1st place: Shirin, 2nd: Althea, 3rd: Lousie
It is a bit hard to see in the photos, but Shirin's design had really beautiful stitching around the belly, kind of showcasing it but not drawing too much attention to it. There was some draping at the top, but it didn't muddle the silhouette. It was wearable and quite attractive. She even made a jacket to go with the outfit with a killer patterned silk lining that made the whole ensemble pop. Althea's navy cocktail dress was slimming and elegant. You could definitely see a pregnant celebrity rocking that outfit on any red carpet and making the best dressed lists. Louise's dress wasn't my cup of tea. It was a bit too nightgowny and red sating makes me cringe. However, it was beautifully detailed, excellently constructed and well thought out.
And now... the losers:
Losing designs: Ra'mon, Mitchell and Malvin
Ra'mon made a dress that looked like a bowling ball bag. He was going for something interesting with a play on depth and proportion, but the array of shades of purple and the shoddy construction put him in the bottom three. He had nothing to worry about next to the other two messes though. Mitchell can't sew to save his life. The judges like the idea of the outfit, but his execution was excruciatingly bad. It seemed like he was going for teen pregnancy chic to me, but the delivery was just dreadful. He said he was happy just to have a model with clothes on this week. Yah, great accomplishment. Somehow, he wasn't eliminated. Poor Malvin was. He was such a conceptual designer and couldn't mesh that concept with a ready to wear look. Drawing inspiration from a mother hen, he fashioned the belly as an egg and added a feather detail to the neckline. It was a tad bizarre and it didn't go over well with the judges. But I am going to miss seeing what he would have made for the coming weeks. The conceptual designers on the show never actually win, but are really interesting to watch.
Models of the Runway was dreadful, but I can't seem to turn away from it. One of the girls got a callback for a commercial and the others are jealous. Nobody wants to work with Mitchell because he sucks and he is a 'model switcher.' Other than that it was a bunch of girls sitting around with nothing to do. At least give them a challenge or something, make it a little entertaining!
Let's check up on my picks:
Althea Harper, Epperson, Gordana Gehlhausen
All three are holding strong. Althea was in the top three, but Epperson and Gordana were barely shown at all. I am nervous for next week because they are in teams of two and Epperson looks like he was paired with Qristyl and they were not getting a long. Uh oh.
Aug/090
Project Runway: In or Out?
The Reigning Queens of Project Runway
The sixth season of Emmy nominated Project Runway premiered last night. For those who don't know, this took a hell of a long time to finally get on the air. It was actually filmed almost a year ago, starting in Sept. 2008. The Weinstein Company, the producers of the show, struck a deal with Lifetime to move the show to their channel and produce five seasons. Bravo's parent company, NBC Universal was not too pleased and immediately filed an injunction which they were granted. It bared Lifetime from showing or promoting Project Runway.
For months, nobody knew what was going to happen. The entire season had been filmed, the final collections had anonymously been shown at NY Fashion Week in Feb. 2009 and a winner had been chosen. But still, the show couldn't air. In the meantime, Bravo created a designer knock off of a TV show as fast as they could. It was interesting, but it didn't have the zest that Runway had. Finally, Weinstein Co. agreed to pay an undisclosed sum to NBC Universal and the show was able to air. What strikes me is what the poor designers have had to go through. Especially the winner and the others that have done well. They want their prizes, the publicity and the attention that comes from getting your clothes shown on television.
I expected there to be a lot of changes with the move to Lifetime. But I realized Lifetime snatched up the show because they liked what they already saw and wanted more of it. They did make two big changes. The first was a change in location. Goodbye New York, hello Los Angeles. The second change we will discuss later. First, the challenge.
L.A. is the land of Hollywood and award shows, so the contestants are asked to make dresses worthy of the hottest red carpets. Lucky bitches. The first challenges of the show have included making a garment from items purchased at a supermarket, with items stripped from their apartments, and made only from the clothes they were wearing at that moment. Making a red carpet dress should be instinctual to a designer, right?
The results were decidedly ehhh. I will agree that the top three were quite good. Here they are:
1st place: Christopher Straub, 2nd: Ra'mon Lawrence Coleman, 3rd: Johnny Sakalis
I thought the winning dress was perfect for something like the Video Music Awards, but I agreed with the judges that the ruffle at the bottom was the wrong color; it looks like dirty white. The blue dress was really chic, especially on that particular model because she had an Angelina Jolie kind of look. The red dress looked better when it was moving and had a pretty open back, but still wasn't the best. It looks cheap to me.
The losers were horrendous. Speaking of losers, did I mention Lindsay Lohan was the guest judge? She had absolutely nothing interesting to say, but she couldn't shut her trap. On to the losers:
Losing designs: Ari Fish, Mitchell Hall, Qristyl Frazier
Yikes. One of the judges described Ari's design as a disco soccer ball and it was right on. Just atrocious, especially on a red carpet. The second last design was just as bad, but I had to root for it because the designer's name was Mitchell and it is nice hearing Tim Gunn say my name. His bad design was blamed on his model for lying about her measurements, forcing him to make something in a hurry right before the runway. Qristyl's design looked tacky. Bright colors are OK, but it just seemed like these colors didn't work.
I certainly wasn't wowed, but I am intrigued. Instead of high caliber designers of seasons past, the show has gone back to its roots a bit. They all seem greener, with a yearning to learn and try new things. Even the few older contestants are rekindling the designer inside of them and it makes me curious to know more. It is nice having designers that aren't all experts by making the show more accessible and exciting.
The second big change that I mentioned earlier is the addition of a complementary half hour show about the behind the scenes lives of the models. I love me a bitchy model show, which this promises to deliver. But it seems to be about them discussing the designers and then waiting as their fate is decided by someone else. They can try to be the best they can be, but their future isn't really in their own hands. I'm curious to see how it plays out, but am no sold yet.
But I am sold on Project Runway. I am so excited it is back. The diverse crew this year will be highly entertaining and there is nothing like Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum. They are enjoyable to watch, especially Tim as he inspects the designers garment and prods them to be more inventive. For me, this season is definitely in.
Here are my early season picks of who I think will win it all:
Althea Harper, Epperson, Gordana Gehlhausen
It's hard to pick after seeing just one design, but I am willing to give these three a shot. I like Althea's personal style and she has that fresh out of design school inspiration. Epperson worked in window displays so he knows what looks appealing. He's also rebooting his fashion career so he may have a now or never attitude. Gordana owns a dress shop so I am sure she has a lot of back-up designs at her disposal.
