Now that they've finally pared the field down to four designers, it's time for them to wrap up the final challenge and get to the runway show. (Though in the recap of last week's elimination I noticed a detail I missed before - Justin had 3D printed himself the bowtie he wore on the runway! Awesome!) There's one more trip to Mood to buy easy-care fabrics for the Tide "washable garment" challenge. They will have to swap out one of their ten planned looks to include it.
Dom makes an interesting observation - since she and Bradon didn't have to present three looks to the judges, they haven't gotten any feedback on what they have. Justin and Alexandria, however, can choose to address any criticism. As everyone soldiers on finishing up their collections, we get the first of two L'Oreal product placement segments, as they get the hair consultation. Justin, having gotten negative feedback on the giant mushroom hairdos, comes up with a less crazy iteration of the idea.
And just to continue my apparently all-Justin post, he helps Dom get her heavy unconventional materials dress up on a form. She calls the dress "a nightmare," to which Justin replies "a beautiful nightmare!" "What are you Beyonce?" "Yes!"
Tim comes by to check in on their collections. The editors didn't include any advice, if any, he gave to Bradon, but he has lots of little nitpicks for Dom. He also advises Justin on the length of a dress, and informs Alexandria that Nina thought her t-shirts were "dumb," and that if she doesn't at least appear to have listened to that feedback, the judges will find a way to retaliate. Real talk!
The next day, the last one in the workroom, we get the second product placement segment, since it's time for the makeup consultation. Bradon is running back and forth and back and forth, fraying first Alexandria's nerves and finally everyone's. As the day drags on everyone picks up the pace, and Dom loses her bag of zippers and has to beg one off Alexandria.
The day of the show, the designers make the traditional pre-dawn trip over to the tent to see everything before anyone else arrives. After a few star-eyed moments of contemplation, they all fall to work and start getting their models dressed. Justin takes an early lead in last-minute drama, when one of his models turns out to have broken an ankle, and he has to fit her look on an alternate with a different body type. Then Alexandria surges ahead by harassing the hair and makeup folks with constant tweaks and "being neurotic about every detail," as Dom puts it. Then, in a perfect "Checkov's gun" moment from the editors, Bradon warns all his models and everyone else around to please move their "tea and muffins" away from his garments, less any stains result. So I'm sure no viewer was surprised when, thirty seconds later, he was sponging coffee off of charmeuse. Agh!
And then, finally, we get to the runway. Justin's collection is very much the black, white, and gray tailored style we saw in his three-look preview. His washable look is a pants and vest outfit that strikes me as looking like a civilian outfit from Star Trek: The Next Generation (in a good way). Dom's collection has a ton of prints, of course, with lots of purple. It looked like the judges were laughing at the visible rear end of her model in her metal finale dress, but in the judging later we hear only praise, so it must have been more joyful and less derisive than it appeared to me.
Alexandria starts her collection off with her unconventional look, the phone book dress that her sewing camp kids helped make. The rest are her variety of neutral separates. Bradon's, on the other hand, is very floral and shiny and full of occasion dressing.
The judges have plenty of praise for Justin - it has ease but still femininity, the 3D-printed accessories are cool and give it cohesion - but Nina thinks there is not enough wow. Bradon's has plenty of wow, but is too disjointed. They like Dom's, except that Zac isn't fond of the swimsuit she sent out. They like that Alexandria started out with the shock of the paper dress, and think the styling is good.
Next, they ask each designer why they should win. Justin, continuing his run as the star of the episode, notes that since he hasn't won a challenge yet, this would be the one to win! Dom feels in her soul that this is her time, Bradon knows this is his new direction after retiring from dancing, and Alexandria has sacrificed so much and worked so hard that she's sure it's her turn.
The judges first eliminate Bradon, then Justin. Then, alas for hardworking Alexandria, Dom is named the winner (as widely predicted). I definitely agree with that decision - her clothes had the best combination of unique point of view plus immediate visible appeal.
Next week - we get the reunion special, back right up to the premiere of the next season of All Stars!
Showing posts with label projectrunway. Show all posts
Showing posts with label projectrunway. Show all posts
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Project Runway Season 12 Finale Part 1
In preparation for the final show, the final five designers are dispatched home and given six weeks to create ten looks for a Spring runway. One of the ten looks must use "unconventional materials," which seems to have been the theme of the season. Dom and Bradon will definitely get to show what they make, but Alexandria, Helen, and Justin are still on probation - though the judges have been deliberately vague about whether two or only one of them will get to be in the finals.
In any case, we get to have the "Tim Gunn home visits" partway through the six week period. With Dom, he is treated to a patio brunch in Philadelphia, and he urges her to go for the knit substrate for her Blade Runner retro futurism custom prints. Bradon, in LA, was inspired by crocuses pushing through the snow, and Tim gets to go to the beach with his dog. Cute! A bit further north, and even cuter, Alexandria takes Tim to the "Camp Couture" sewing room she runs for kids, where they've made caricature dolls of most of the Season 12 cast! For her collection, she's going for a neo-punk, modern nomad feel, and has already made around 30 pieces.
Helen, in New Jersey, has keyed in on capes and a print based on her boyfriend's iris as ways to convey her theme of "clairvoyance." And finally, after a meal in a very bright and busy dining room with Justin's family, we get to see how Justin is making use of a 3D printer for his looks. He is inspired by his own journey of being deaf for 18 years, and then adjusting to his cochlear implant.
Once the six weeks are up, everyone is summoned back to the workroom. They all suddenly turn into the world's least-subtle rubberneckers as they all try to peek at each other's clothes coming out of the garment bags while concealing as much of their own as they can. Finally Dom breaks the ice by running over to see Helen's. They all seem to like Justin's and think Helen is being overconfident. Bradon thinks that Alexandria's bounty of separates is in fact not an advantage - that too much choice is going to mess her up.
We get a confusing and jarring little interlude when a PR person for Tide (the detergent) comes in and tells them that the final challenge for the finalists will be to create one more look that is actually machine washable. So more on that next episode, I guess. The finalists will be chosen in the usual manner - the three probationary designers will pick three looks to show the judges.
When Tim comes back to check on this effort, he is shot mostly from his right side, as he had an unfortunate accident in the subway and has a busted lip and four stitches in his forehead. Yowch! He advises Alexandria to not put a bra top under one of her sheer looks, as it would mess up the proportions. Justin gets lots of little tips about construction and pressing details. Similarly for Helen - she's been focusing on the whole collection instead of her three chosen looks, so she's also behind on finishing touches. He also doesn't like a loincloth shape she has in some of her skirts, which she is reluctant to remove since she put a lot of work into it.
Alexandria considers this a sign that Helen doesn't have enough critical distance from her own designs, and still has a student mentality. For her part, Helen thinks that Alexandria's collection just looks raggedly and is not seasonally appropriate for Spring. Tim gets choked up as he leaves. Dom ends up helping Helen with some bias tape finishes, and Bradon helps Justin get his model laced into his unconventional materials look - a gown covered all over with little plastic test tubes.
Other than that test tube dress (which I would love to know what it sounds like being worn), Justin also sends out an all-white look of pants, shirt, and jacket, and a black dress splattered with white paint - and some unfortunately mushroomy bowl-cut hairstyles on the models. Alexandria sends out three looks of her mix of separates, but rather overpowering punky, feathery styling. Helen sends out a short navy blue dress with an oddly suspended handkerchief hem, a red cape dress, and a dress with a self cape in that eye print. Her styling mistake is chokers - made from each model's own hair.
Zac characterizes Justin's three looks as "chic" (the white), "too much" (the dress) and "wow" (the test tube gown). The judges like the 3D printed neck pieces as well. Heidi wants all of Alexandria's clothes, but Nina thinks the lack of color may make it "not show-worthy." Helen's is praised as "minimal yet feminine," but Heidi notes that the models look sad. They ask the girl in the blue dress if she can move her arms, and in response she flails around (only from the elbows down) in the funniest moment of the episode.
It's pretty clear from the judging that Helen is not going to make it. Indeed, she is out, and the other two are in.
In any case, we get to have the "Tim Gunn home visits" partway through the six week period. With Dom, he is treated to a patio brunch in Philadelphia, and he urges her to go for the knit substrate for her Blade Runner retro futurism custom prints. Bradon, in LA, was inspired by crocuses pushing through the snow, and Tim gets to go to the beach with his dog. Cute! A bit further north, and even cuter, Alexandria takes Tim to the "Camp Couture" sewing room she runs for kids, where they've made caricature dolls of most of the Season 12 cast! For her collection, she's going for a neo-punk, modern nomad feel, and has already made around 30 pieces.
Helen, in New Jersey, has keyed in on capes and a print based on her boyfriend's iris as ways to convey her theme of "clairvoyance." And finally, after a meal in a very bright and busy dining room with Justin's family, we get to see how Justin is making use of a 3D printer for his looks. He is inspired by his own journey of being deaf for 18 years, and then adjusting to his cochlear implant.
Once the six weeks are up, everyone is summoned back to the workroom. They all suddenly turn into the world's least-subtle rubberneckers as they all try to peek at each other's clothes coming out of the garment bags while concealing as much of their own as they can. Finally Dom breaks the ice by running over to see Helen's. They all seem to like Justin's and think Helen is being overconfident. Bradon thinks that Alexandria's bounty of separates is in fact not an advantage - that too much choice is going to mess her up.
We get a confusing and jarring little interlude when a PR person for Tide (the detergent) comes in and tells them that the final challenge for the finalists will be to create one more look that is actually machine washable. So more on that next episode, I guess. The finalists will be chosen in the usual manner - the three probationary designers will pick three looks to show the judges.
When Tim comes back to check on this effort, he is shot mostly from his right side, as he had an unfortunate accident in the subway and has a busted lip and four stitches in his forehead. Yowch! He advises Alexandria to not put a bra top under one of her sheer looks, as it would mess up the proportions. Justin gets lots of little tips about construction and pressing details. Similarly for Helen - she's been focusing on the whole collection instead of her three chosen looks, so she's also behind on finishing touches. He also doesn't like a loincloth shape she has in some of her skirts, which she is reluctant to remove since she put a lot of work into it.
Alexandria considers this a sign that Helen doesn't have enough critical distance from her own designs, and still has a student mentality. For her part, Helen thinks that Alexandria's collection just looks raggedly and is not seasonally appropriate for Spring. Tim gets choked up as he leaves. Dom ends up helping Helen with some bias tape finishes, and Bradon helps Justin get his model laced into his unconventional materials look - a gown covered all over with little plastic test tubes.
Other than that test tube dress (which I would love to know what it sounds like being worn), Justin also sends out an all-white look of pants, shirt, and jacket, and a black dress splattered with white paint - and some unfortunately mushroomy bowl-cut hairstyles on the models. Alexandria sends out three looks of her mix of separates, but rather overpowering punky, feathery styling. Helen sends out a short navy blue dress with an oddly suspended handkerchief hem, a red cape dress, and a dress with a self cape in that eye print. Her styling mistake is chokers - made from each model's own hair.
Zac characterizes Justin's three looks as "chic" (the white), "too much" (the dress) and "wow" (the test tube gown). The judges like the 3D printed neck pieces as well. Heidi wants all of Alexandria's clothes, but Nina thinks the lack of color may make it "not show-worthy." Helen's is praised as "minimal yet feminine," but Heidi notes that the models look sad. They ask the girl in the blue dress if she can move her arms, and in response she flails around (only from the elbows down) in the funniest moment of the episode.
It's pretty clear from the judging that Helen is not going to make it. Indeed, she is out, and the other two are in.
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Project Runway Season 12 Episode 12
Project Runway is down to the final five, and this week's challenge is to be the last elimination before the final shows at Fashion Week. Heidi compares this to a "sausage dangling right in front of your nose - or is it a carrot?" So the editors spend all episode throwing out possible leads as to who is going to fall short fail by overreaching (Justin has never won a challenge!) or by lack of urgency (Bradon doesn't sketch before the trip to Mood!) or by collapsing under stress (Alexandria makes a tearful call home!)
The challenge this time is to be inspired by butterflies, for which they get to spend a little time in a butterfly house to observe many species of them together. We are treated to an adorable shot of Justin watching a butterfly, unaware another one is perched on his hat. It's also another product placement challenge - this time, the makeup one, so we get plenty of screentime of the consulting makeup artists painting the models' faces and nails. And on top of butterflies and makeup, their looks should be avant-garde. Since it's the last time they have to use their prepaid cards, the designers all go wild at Mood and spend around $1000 apiece on many, many different expensive fabrics.
Most of the first working day is spent in making black velvet piping (by Justin) and white silk "noodles" (by Bradon). When Tim visits, he urges Dom to not be timid in her print combinations, Alexandria to leave the extra flaps along the side seam unfinished, and Justin to use a less inexpensive fabric. He likes where Bradon is going, but doesn't get the noodles. As Bradon tries different noodle placements out, however, Tim starts believing in it. Helen's look, however, Tim is having none of. Helen has her usual crying breakdown, resulting in an awesome pep talk from Tim - he literally stands in front of her, clapping, yelling "Come to! Right now! Rally! Rally!" Dom also has to continue to try to buoy her along, as does Helen's own model.
The next day, they come to the workroom to find all of the losing looks from each previous challenge lined up. It turns out they'll get one more day to work, but have to make a second look - a transformation of one of these losers. It's a completely separate challenge though - it doesn't have to "go" with the avant-garde look, nor does it need to fulfill the constraints of the original challenge (like being for a "modern Southern woman" or whatever). From what I saw, they don't get another trip to Mood, but it also looks like - and if they mentioned this explicitly I missed it - they also get any leftover fabric that was bought by the eliminated designer for that look.
Anyhow, Dom chooses to redo Jeremy's red blazer and print dress from the Belk challenge, since the colors are good. Alexandria is tackling Miranda's red plaid pants from the shoe episode, since she really wants to remake those pants. Bradon takes a risk by taking on Sue's "unconventional materials" placemat dress. Helen selects Kate's gown from the last challenge. And finally, in a teary moment, Justin picks his own look, for which he would have been eliminated in the glamping challenge had Tim Gunn not used his save.
Work continues, and then we got the inevitable long montage of makeup sequences, so I blacked out a little bit. On to the runway!
Dom's avant-garde look, inspired by the cross-breeding of the captive butterflies, mixes multiple exuberant prints in a full-skirted jacket over a jumpsuit. Helen doesn't feel so great about her orange gown with diagonal rows of raw-edged chiffon. Alexandria's is like a messier goth version of that. Justin's outfit has an A-line black jacket over his white dress shaped with waves and swooshes of piping all over. Bradon's all-white look is also swooshy all over, with the addition of the "noodles" accenting the movement.
For the reinvention looks, Dom changed the blazer into a vest, the dress into a top, and added a black skirt. Alexandria made the plaid pants fit like a glove, with leather accents, and provided a new top and painted vest. Helen turned the dress into essentially the same cut as she did last time - super high-waisted skirt, cutoff shirt. Justin makes his foamy failure into a very serviceable cocktail dress. Bradon reimagines his chosen garment in the same silhouette, but (faux?) leather instead of placemats, with the placemats contained to just a half-peplum.
The judges respond well to both of Justin's looks. Nina crows that his avant-garde is his best work all season. Similarly for Dom's output - and they're even more blown away when the model takes the coat off, and reveals the jumpsuit underneath. Bradon also gets praise overall, especially for the fact that his avant-garde look is interesting from all angles.
The reaction is more mixed for the other two. For Helen, Heidi likes the gown but not the reworked look, but the rest of the judges feel the opposite. The orange gown is compared to "a carrot in a grater." They don't have much to say about Alexandria's gown, but they feel that though her new plaid pants are "smoking hot," the styling pushes the overall look too far into "punk costume" territory. Zac says that neither of her looks were transporting.
Now we get the inevitable lineup where they ask each designer which other two designers they think should go to fashion week. Justin and Helen both pick Bradon and Dom. Dom picks Helen and Justin. Bradon and Alexandria pick Justin and Dom. So everyone picked Dom and nobody picked Alexandria - a fact Nina points to when deliberating who to eliminate, even though Heidi is trying to save her.
Bradon is named the winner! Dom is also through to the finals. That leaves the last three. The judges end up with a hung jury - EVERYONE will go though, nobody is eliminated today, all five get to create collections, and only just before the final runway show (and another challenge) will they decide for really-real.
The challenge this time is to be inspired by butterflies, for which they get to spend a little time in a butterfly house to observe many species of them together. We are treated to an adorable shot of Justin watching a butterfly, unaware another one is perched on his hat. It's also another product placement challenge - this time, the makeup one, so we get plenty of screentime of the consulting makeup artists painting the models' faces and nails. And on top of butterflies and makeup, their looks should be avant-garde. Since it's the last time they have to use their prepaid cards, the designers all go wild at Mood and spend around $1000 apiece on many, many different expensive fabrics.
Most of the first working day is spent in making black velvet piping (by Justin) and white silk "noodles" (by Bradon). When Tim visits, he urges Dom to not be timid in her print combinations, Alexandria to leave the extra flaps along the side seam unfinished, and Justin to use a less inexpensive fabric. He likes where Bradon is going, but doesn't get the noodles. As Bradon tries different noodle placements out, however, Tim starts believing in it. Helen's look, however, Tim is having none of. Helen has her usual crying breakdown, resulting in an awesome pep talk from Tim - he literally stands in front of her, clapping, yelling "Come to! Right now! Rally! Rally!" Dom also has to continue to try to buoy her along, as does Helen's own model.
The next day, they come to the workroom to find all of the losing looks from each previous challenge lined up. It turns out they'll get one more day to work, but have to make a second look - a transformation of one of these losers. It's a completely separate challenge though - it doesn't have to "go" with the avant-garde look, nor does it need to fulfill the constraints of the original challenge (like being for a "modern Southern woman" or whatever). From what I saw, they don't get another trip to Mood, but it also looks like - and if they mentioned this explicitly I missed it - they also get any leftover fabric that was bought by the eliminated designer for that look.
Anyhow, Dom chooses to redo Jeremy's red blazer and print dress from the Belk challenge, since the colors are good. Alexandria is tackling Miranda's red plaid pants from the shoe episode, since she really wants to remake those pants. Bradon takes a risk by taking on Sue's "unconventional materials" placemat dress. Helen selects Kate's gown from the last challenge. And finally, in a teary moment, Justin picks his own look, for which he would have been eliminated in the glamping challenge had Tim Gunn not used his save.
Work continues, and then we got the inevitable long montage of makeup sequences, so I blacked out a little bit. On to the runway!
Dom's avant-garde look, inspired by the cross-breeding of the captive butterflies, mixes multiple exuberant prints in a full-skirted jacket over a jumpsuit. Helen doesn't feel so great about her orange gown with diagonal rows of raw-edged chiffon. Alexandria's is like a messier goth version of that. Justin's outfit has an A-line black jacket over his white dress shaped with waves and swooshes of piping all over. Bradon's all-white look is also swooshy all over, with the addition of the "noodles" accenting the movement.
For the reinvention looks, Dom changed the blazer into a vest, the dress into a top, and added a black skirt. Alexandria made the plaid pants fit like a glove, with leather accents, and provided a new top and painted vest. Helen turned the dress into essentially the same cut as she did last time - super high-waisted skirt, cutoff shirt. Justin makes his foamy failure into a very serviceable cocktail dress. Bradon reimagines his chosen garment in the same silhouette, but (faux?) leather instead of placemats, with the placemats contained to just a half-peplum.
The judges respond well to both of Justin's looks. Nina crows that his avant-garde is his best work all season. Similarly for Dom's output - and they're even more blown away when the model takes the coat off, and reveals the jumpsuit underneath. Bradon also gets praise overall, especially for the fact that his avant-garde look is interesting from all angles.
The reaction is more mixed for the other two. For Helen, Heidi likes the gown but not the reworked look, but the rest of the judges feel the opposite. The orange gown is compared to "a carrot in a grater." They don't have much to say about Alexandria's gown, but they feel that though her new plaid pants are "smoking hot," the styling pushes the overall look too far into "punk costume" territory. Zac says that neither of her looks were transporting.
Now we get the inevitable lineup where they ask each designer which other two designers they think should go to fashion week. Justin and Helen both pick Bradon and Dom. Dom picks Helen and Justin. Bradon and Alexandria pick Justin and Dom. So everyone picked Dom and nobody picked Alexandria - a fact Nina points to when deliberating who to eliminate, even though Heidi is trying to save her.
Bradon is named the winner! Dom is also through to the finals. That leaves the last three. The judges end up with a hung jury - EVERYONE will go though, nobody is eliminated today, all five get to create collections, and only just before the final runway show (and another challenge) will they decide for really-real.
Friday, September 27, 2013
Project Runway Season 12 Episode 11
As this week's episode kicks off, Alexander is still feeling thrown off by the blowout with Ken last time, and Kate is sick of being in second place. This time it's the HP challenge, meaning they get to design a fabric. There's an extra twist this time, in that they will each be paired with a young innovator, who will serve as muses for their looks. Both the winning designer AND the paired innovator will get an HP technology suite as the prize.
Helen gets to pick first, and pairs up with the paint/print artist. Kate chooses the 17-year-old computer scientist, who is working on way to encourage more women to enter the field. Justin will be inspired by the charity-involved Miss USA 2012. Bradon picks the BMX rider, Alexander the pastry chef, and Alexandria the magazine editor. That leaves Dom with the president of Kiva, the microfinance organization.
Then they all get to actually meet their innovator muses and discuss their work. Helen really hits it off with the artist, as he seems to remind her of her fine-artist parents. They work together on a piece, based on a photo of her, that she gets to keep. Alexander actually has to decorate the cake with the pastry chef - and then take it back to the workroom with him! He's not feeling very inspired by the process.
Since it takes time to print up the fabric, the producers always have to come up with some way of filling the gap. This time, they've simply set it up so that their innovator interviews take up the first part of the day, then they design the fabric, so it gets printed up overnight and they sew the next day.
Kate designs a white-on-blue print composed of flowers and lines. She keeps saying that the print is like "binary code" but based on the design she seems to be confused with "bar code." Alexander takes the chocolate strands on his cake as inspiration and makes squares full of rayed chocolate streaks. Dom is drawn to the indigenous prints created by some of the women who received Kiva loans, plus the global interconnectedness of the whole thing, and makes giant black and pink chevrons. Bradon evokes the BMX activity through NYC with an abstract black and electric blue plaid. Alexandria continues the "abstract menswear" trend with a pale, scribbly windowpane. Justin is inspired by Miss USA's love of her work to make a ghostly, smoky print with hidden sign language "love" signs. Helen does a print of stars on white.
At this point I noticed that Kate had gotten a lot of screen time already in the episode. Not a good sign at this point in the season.
The next morning, they get to work on garments. Helen is struggling mightly and annoying everyone with constant requests for help. Dom urges her to just get something done so that Tim can give her guidance instead.
Tim's visit is, as usual, intercut with clips of the designers making comments of their own in the interview booth. We learn that Dom doesn't understand Bradon's, Bradon doesn't understand Kate's, Helen doesn't understand Alexander's, and Justin doesn't understand Alexandria's. Tim professes himself perplexed by Bradon's, who then decides to ditch the long skirt he was planning. Alexander has put a giant white cross on the front of his dress, which Tim pegs as clerical - but Alexander (last name Pope) won't be dissuaded. Bradon comments that "[his] last name is McDonald, and you don't see me making dresses out of french fries."
Helen is still struggling mightly. She's afraid to even cut into her custom fabric. Dom is doing her best to pep her up. Alexander and Alexandria kvetch in the break room about how Helen's process always seems to involve peppering everyone else with constant requests for help, reassurance, hand-holding, etc. Alexandria describes as Helen's "usual fit." Once she actually makes something, and gets it on her model, she starts feeling much better about it. Meanwhile, Kate is having fit issues, of a different kind, getting her dress on her model. But finally everybody gets a look out the door.
Bradon makes a bomber-style jacket from his semi-plaid, over a stretchy tube dress. Justin makes a fairly blah, gothy-even-though-it's-white, gown. Kate makes a busy, flippy dress, in which the print is entirely shrouded by a transparent white layer. Alexander's can only be described as a chocolate nun, or perhaps when you see the revealing back as something that Willy Wonka's arm candy (hah!) would wear to a red-carpet event. Dom's graphic dress is really cool looking. Alexandria's outfit is strange and messy, with a weirdly hanging wrap skirt and raw-edged leather vest. Helen's minimal look is composed of a short top and a very high-waisted skirt.
Since we're down to seven contestants, only one person will be in the safe middle - and that's Alexandria. Then the judges tease that one OR MORE of the rest will be out. I suppose we do have Tim's save to make up for...
The judges adore Dom's dress. Since Dom is known for working with print, they feel this was her challenge, and she lived up the expectations. Even the styling was good. The details of the print placement are great, and it's global without being too costumey. Zac Posen says he would wear it if he were a woman - of course, not that he couldn't wear it as a man, but I guess he's no Marc Jacobs.
Bradon's gets lots of love too. It's cool, the dress is very sexy yet versatile, it's an updated classic. Zac thinks it's his best work all season. Helen is also in the top. her decision to make it two pieces was a good one, and the combo of the figured print on white with ivory solid fabric gives it an interesting vintage versus modern feel. The shoulder is interesting, and it could be "1930's pinup" or "star-spangled hipster."
That leaves Justin, Alexander, and Kate in the bottom. Justin's is good from the waist up, but the bottom is drab, depressed, and not modern. Alexander's is neither sweet nor sexy, and is serious when it should have been light. Heidi thinks the white lines look like masking tape left on by accident. Kate tries to talk up the whole "digital dots of information" of her design but the judges are just giving her looks like (-_-). The shrouding layer makes it look like she fell into a kleenex box, and the look is just not about the print any more.
Backstage during deliberations, Kate is already freaking out because she's sure she will be eliminated - especially since they said they might "auf" more than one.
Dom is named the winner! So Kiva will get the additional technology suite. Bradon and Helen are safe. Alexander is out, Justin is in, and poor Kate has to be in suspense the longest. Alas, she is indeed out as well. Many tears are shed, and she says it hurts even more the second time. So close and yet so far!
Next week, it's the final elimination challenge that will decide who gets to show at fashion week.
Helen gets to pick first, and pairs up with the paint/print artist. Kate chooses the 17-year-old computer scientist, who is working on way to encourage more women to enter the field. Justin will be inspired by the charity-involved Miss USA 2012. Bradon picks the BMX rider, Alexander the pastry chef, and Alexandria the magazine editor. That leaves Dom with the president of Kiva, the microfinance organization.
Then they all get to actually meet their innovator muses and discuss their work. Helen really hits it off with the artist, as he seems to remind her of her fine-artist parents. They work together on a piece, based on a photo of her, that she gets to keep. Alexander actually has to decorate the cake with the pastry chef - and then take it back to the workroom with him! He's not feeling very inspired by the process.
Since it takes time to print up the fabric, the producers always have to come up with some way of filling the gap. This time, they've simply set it up so that their innovator interviews take up the first part of the day, then they design the fabric, so it gets printed up overnight and they sew the next day.
Kate designs a white-on-blue print composed of flowers and lines. She keeps saying that the print is like "binary code" but based on the design she seems to be confused with "bar code." Alexander takes the chocolate strands on his cake as inspiration and makes squares full of rayed chocolate streaks. Dom is drawn to the indigenous prints created by some of the women who received Kiva loans, plus the global interconnectedness of the whole thing, and makes giant black and pink chevrons. Bradon evokes the BMX activity through NYC with an abstract black and electric blue plaid. Alexandria continues the "abstract menswear" trend with a pale, scribbly windowpane. Justin is inspired by Miss USA's love of her work to make a ghostly, smoky print with hidden sign language "love" signs. Helen does a print of stars on white.
At this point I noticed that Kate had gotten a lot of screen time already in the episode. Not a good sign at this point in the season.
The next morning, they get to work on garments. Helen is struggling mightly and annoying everyone with constant requests for help. Dom urges her to just get something done so that Tim can give her guidance instead.
Tim's visit is, as usual, intercut with clips of the designers making comments of their own in the interview booth. We learn that Dom doesn't understand Bradon's, Bradon doesn't understand Kate's, Helen doesn't understand Alexander's, and Justin doesn't understand Alexandria's. Tim professes himself perplexed by Bradon's, who then decides to ditch the long skirt he was planning. Alexander has put a giant white cross on the front of his dress, which Tim pegs as clerical - but Alexander (last name Pope) won't be dissuaded. Bradon comments that "[his] last name is McDonald, and you don't see me making dresses out of french fries."
Helen is still struggling mightly. She's afraid to even cut into her custom fabric. Dom is doing her best to pep her up. Alexander and Alexandria kvetch in the break room about how Helen's process always seems to involve peppering everyone else with constant requests for help, reassurance, hand-holding, etc. Alexandria describes as Helen's "usual fit." Once she actually makes something, and gets it on her model, she starts feeling much better about it. Meanwhile, Kate is having fit issues, of a different kind, getting her dress on her model. But finally everybody gets a look out the door.
Bradon makes a bomber-style jacket from his semi-plaid, over a stretchy tube dress. Justin makes a fairly blah, gothy-even-though-it's-white, gown. Kate makes a busy, flippy dress, in which the print is entirely shrouded by a transparent white layer. Alexander's can only be described as a chocolate nun, or perhaps when you see the revealing back as something that Willy Wonka's arm candy (hah!) would wear to a red-carpet event. Dom's graphic dress is really cool looking. Alexandria's outfit is strange and messy, with a weirdly hanging wrap skirt and raw-edged leather vest. Helen's minimal look is composed of a short top and a very high-waisted skirt.
Since we're down to seven contestants, only one person will be in the safe middle - and that's Alexandria. Then the judges tease that one OR MORE of the rest will be out. I suppose we do have Tim's save to make up for...
The judges adore Dom's dress. Since Dom is known for working with print, they feel this was her challenge, and she lived up the expectations. Even the styling was good. The details of the print placement are great, and it's global without being too costumey. Zac Posen says he would wear it if he were a woman - of course, not that he couldn't wear it as a man, but I guess he's no Marc Jacobs.
Bradon's gets lots of love too. It's cool, the dress is very sexy yet versatile, it's an updated classic. Zac thinks it's his best work all season. Helen is also in the top. her decision to make it two pieces was a good one, and the combo of the figured print on white with ivory solid fabric gives it an interesting vintage versus modern feel. The shoulder is interesting, and it could be "1930's pinup" or "star-spangled hipster."
That leaves Justin, Alexander, and Kate in the bottom. Justin's is good from the waist up, but the bottom is drab, depressed, and not modern. Alexander's is neither sweet nor sexy, and is serious when it should have been light. Heidi thinks the white lines look like masking tape left on by accident. Kate tries to talk up the whole "digital dots of information" of her design but the judges are just giving her looks like (-_-). The shrouding layer makes it look like she fell into a kleenex box, and the look is just not about the print any more.
Backstage during deliberations, Kate is already freaking out because she's sure she will be eliminated - especially since they said they might "auf" more than one.
Dom is named the winner! So Kiva will get the additional technology suite. Bradon and Helen are safe. Alexander is out, Justin is in, and poor Kate has to be in suspense the longest. Alas, she is indeed out as well. Many tears are shed, and she says it hurts even more the second time. So close and yet so far!
Next week, it's the final elimination challenge that will decide who gets to show at fashion week.
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Project Runway Season 12 Episode 10
This week's challenge is the dreaded "real woman" (i.e. not the figure of a professional clothes-hanger) episode. The eight possibly naive souls this time are in fact "Project Runway Superfans" who get to come, tour the set, and get complete makeovers. They are so incredibly happy that I start to seriously dread whatever bad treatment they may get at the hands of the over-stressed designers. But my fears turned out to be unfounded - the designers reserve the bad treatment solely for each other.
Since they're down to just four men, Alexander and Bradon have to troop over and move in with Ken and Justin. When they arrive (at eleven at night, exhausted from the day's work), Ken is camped out right inside the door, ironing a pair of denim shorts (??? isn't the point of jeans that you DON'T NEED TO IRON THEM???) wearing some kind of skin-treatment domino mask, and stone-facedly ignores Alexander's attempts to get in the door. For Alexander's part, he tries to be jokey about it at first, but then he loses his patience and simply pushes his way in, deliberately knocking the iron on the ground. So of course it turns into Ken screaming in rage, with Megan, the poor "talent coordinator," trying to get him to take deep breaths and calm down, and him having none of it. In the morning everybody has to sit in the lounge together and talk it out, led by Tim Gunn, and they eventually agree to put it behind themselves, though Alexander, Bradon, and Justin remain quite rattled. Ken will also remain in a room of his own, with the other three rooming together.
On to the challenge. They get two days for this one, instead of the usual one, which is a very smart move - hopefully this ratchets down the stress level a little, making the designers more pleasant to be around for the superfans, plus the added time gives them the best possible chance of sending everyone out on the runway with a finished garment.
The designers are assigned to the superfans randomly. Helen feels like everyone is jealous of who she got - the tall, thin, Jamie, who has the most dated style and very unflattering hair. Jackpot! This lady is ripe for the classic movie makeover montage - take off the glasses, smooth out the hair and bam!
At the other end of the spectrum is Jennifer, a very pretty and put-together blond assigned to Bradon. She doesn't need a makeover, per se, but wants a look with more edge.
The superfans actually get to go to Mood with the designers. The curly-haired Susie, accompanying Ken, falls in love with a nubbly chartreuse fabric, which he loathes but feels he has no choice but to use. Once they all get back and the designers get to work, the superfans go off for the massive L'Oreal product placement segment, I mean hair makeovers.
At Tim's workroom checkin, he tells Justin to watch the length of his dress, Alexander to watch the bust of his suit, Ken to watch the fit, and Dom to watch the print. As the time ticks away, Alexander has the most alterations to complete. We get to see the superfans lined up backstage right before the runway, getting their final "walk and pose" instructions. Jennifer is so excited she is in tears and has to repair her running mascara. Susie wants vodka.
Kate, for the most mature superfan Altagracia, makes a fluttery tunic top and leggings. Dom, working with red-haired Jane-Sarah, makes a pretty safe print dress and an interesting A-line jacket. They are both safe, and relieved to be so. Both are happy to have made looks that their clients liked.
Alexander, Ken, and Alexandria end up in the bottom. Alexander didn't have enough time to finish the suit he made for Andrea (who has just switched careers blue collar to white collar) and it shows. But even if it were finished, Zac Posen doesn't like the colorblocking or the cut, and says the shape is like an Oompa-Loompa. He also has unkind words for the interview outfit Alexandria made for Art student Stephanie. For her part, Stephanie likes the jacket, but not the rest. Zac thinks the jacket is sad, and that the wide waistband on the skirt makes it "maternity librarian." Susie actually completely loves the green sheath dress that Ken made, but the judges dislike it. The placing of the leather piecework is unflattering to the figure and it doesn't have any "fashion".
Justin nails the challenge with a lovely black dress for the tall Tristan. He also places her signature down the front as lovely abstract-seeming white embroidery, a beautiful touch that goes over well with the judges. Helen follows through on Jamie's perfect makeover potential with a navy red-carpet-ready gown. Bradon's black dress and vest with beaded and patent leather trims definitely delivers the edge requested by Jennifer, but the judges are a bit more divided - the vest can take it from workwear to evening, but the shiny leather looks cheap.
Helen wins! I though Justin made the most personal garment, but I can see how it would be hard to vote against the overall effect of Jamie's huge makeover. Even though Alexander is sure it's the end for him, it is in fact Ken who is eliminated. So, I guess the producers don't have to keep paying for an extra room for him after all. Ken is at peace with his exit at this point, and feels like it was actually a boost of confidence for him and his barely-budding career to have made it to this point.
Next week - it's the digital textile design challenge!
Since they're down to just four men, Alexander and Bradon have to troop over and move in with Ken and Justin. When they arrive (at eleven at night, exhausted from the day's work), Ken is camped out right inside the door, ironing a pair of denim shorts (??? isn't the point of jeans that you DON'T NEED TO IRON THEM???) wearing some kind of skin-treatment domino mask, and stone-facedly ignores Alexander's attempts to get in the door. For Alexander's part, he tries to be jokey about it at first, but then he loses his patience and simply pushes his way in, deliberately knocking the iron on the ground. So of course it turns into Ken screaming in rage, with Megan, the poor "talent coordinator," trying to get him to take deep breaths and calm down, and him having none of it. In the morning everybody has to sit in the lounge together and talk it out, led by Tim Gunn, and they eventually agree to put it behind themselves, though Alexander, Bradon, and Justin remain quite rattled. Ken will also remain in a room of his own, with the other three rooming together.
On to the challenge. They get two days for this one, instead of the usual one, which is a very smart move - hopefully this ratchets down the stress level a little, making the designers more pleasant to be around for the superfans, plus the added time gives them the best possible chance of sending everyone out on the runway with a finished garment.
The designers are assigned to the superfans randomly. Helen feels like everyone is jealous of who she got - the tall, thin, Jamie, who has the most dated style and very unflattering hair. Jackpot! This lady is ripe for the classic movie makeover montage - take off the glasses, smooth out the hair and bam!
At the other end of the spectrum is Jennifer, a very pretty and put-together blond assigned to Bradon. She doesn't need a makeover, per se, but wants a look with more edge.
The superfans actually get to go to Mood with the designers. The curly-haired Susie, accompanying Ken, falls in love with a nubbly chartreuse fabric, which he loathes but feels he has no choice but to use. Once they all get back and the designers get to work, the superfans go off for the massive L'Oreal product placement segment, I mean hair makeovers.
At Tim's workroom checkin, he tells Justin to watch the length of his dress, Alexander to watch the bust of his suit, Ken to watch the fit, and Dom to watch the print. As the time ticks away, Alexander has the most alterations to complete. We get to see the superfans lined up backstage right before the runway, getting their final "walk and pose" instructions. Jennifer is so excited she is in tears and has to repair her running mascara. Susie wants vodka.
Kate, for the most mature superfan Altagracia, makes a fluttery tunic top and leggings. Dom, working with red-haired Jane-Sarah, makes a pretty safe print dress and an interesting A-line jacket. They are both safe, and relieved to be so. Both are happy to have made looks that their clients liked.
Alexander, Ken, and Alexandria end up in the bottom. Alexander didn't have enough time to finish the suit he made for Andrea (who has just switched careers blue collar to white collar) and it shows. But even if it were finished, Zac Posen doesn't like the colorblocking or the cut, and says the shape is like an Oompa-Loompa. He also has unkind words for the interview outfit Alexandria made for Art student Stephanie. For her part, Stephanie likes the jacket, but not the rest. Zac thinks the jacket is sad, and that the wide waistband on the skirt makes it "maternity librarian." Susie actually completely loves the green sheath dress that Ken made, but the judges dislike it. The placing of the leather piecework is unflattering to the figure and it doesn't have any "fashion".
Justin nails the challenge with a lovely black dress for the tall Tristan. He also places her signature down the front as lovely abstract-seeming white embroidery, a beautiful touch that goes over well with the judges. Helen follows through on Jamie's perfect makeover potential with a navy red-carpet-ready gown. Bradon's black dress and vest with beaded and patent leather trims definitely delivers the edge requested by Jennifer, but the judges are a bit more divided - the vest can take it from workwear to evening, but the shiny leather looks cheap.
Helen wins! I though Justin made the most personal garment, but I can see how it would be hard to vote against the overall effect of Jamie's huge makeover. Even though Alexander is sure it's the end for him, it is in fact Ken who is eliminated. So, I guess the producers don't have to keep paying for an extra room for him after all. Ken is at peace with his exit at this point, and feels like it was actually a boost of confidence for him and his barely-budding career to have made it to this point.
Next week - it's the digital textile design challenge!
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Project Runway Season 12 Episode 9
Jeremy starts us off this week by doing his own recap of the previous day's events - Karen is out because "she f***ed up the challenge." Ken says that he's being very careful what he says to who at this point in the competition, and that his guard is up. He's not the only one - the designers are told that they will get to have a nice brunch out, and everyone is immediately suspicious, wondering what the catch will be.
They do indeed get to have a fancy brunch, out at a restaurant patio reserved just for them, punctuated by a little gloating from Helen over her New Balance win and a little secretive eye-rolling in response. Everyone is tense, waiting for the other shoe to drop. So when Tim Gunn finally appears it's a relief. But fortunately the twist isn't too brutal - the brunch is simply to put them in the right frame of mind for the challenge, which is to make an outfit (day or evening) for a modern Southern woman. This is because it's the challenge for Belk, which is supplying the accessory wall this season, and who's slogan is "Modern. Southern. Style." Also, the winning look will actually get produced by Belk.
Ken and Dom are immediately perceived have an advantage, both having family backgrounds in the South. They, in fact, know exactly what modern Southern women are wearing at this very moment. At Mood, everyone goes for very colorful fabrics, and then in a repeat of the Miranda/Alexander plaid pants collision, Bradon and Alexander both get very similar large-scale plaids, not seeing the coincidence until too late. Alexandria also ends up with plaid. Really? Plaid? Somehow plaid doesn't say "Southern" to me at all but I must be missing something. Dom and Ken also seem to agree that plaid is definitely not a "thing" in the South, leading to a running joke throughout the episode that whenever on of the plaids is mentioned, we get a quick shot of one of them looking skeptical, irritated, or bemused. They did one of those "live polls" during the show, and in fact the majority of viewers agreed that they did not see plaid as something a modern Southern woman would wear.
At Tim's visit, we find out that Bradon's plaid is a very close match for Tim's tie. Tim also warns Justin that combining dark colors with his lovely coral fabric just push it into cheap orange Halloween territory. And then he just straight out tells Alexandria that hers is hideous. She ditches some complicated patchwork she had started for the skirt and starts over using the plaid alone.
We get a little interlude with Ken. He's feeling "not quite homesick," but misses his family. He has a conversation with his mother where it becomes apparent that they're both aware he has an anger issue. "Has that other side come out yet?" she asks. "A little." And in one of those moments where the editors enjoy themselves far too much, we get a montage of the times Ken has yelled at, sworn at, or attempted to silence the others.
Heading into the runway, everyone is really happy with their looks except Alexandria. So we know already at least two folks are in for a rude shock.
Ken's dress looks like a long version of Marilyn Monroe's iconic gown, but in purple, and somehow the proportions around the torso look awkward. Helen's lace-over-yellow gown looks very nicely made but doesn't seem modern to me. Justin's flippy coral dress with interesting draped elements is probably my favorite. Alexander's plaid dress strikes me as a tamer take on Vivienne Westwood. Alexandria's plaid dress has a weird shape and has some kind of odd structure around the hips. Bradon has pieced his plaid in a way that is interesting for the textile, but I think makes the dress too unevenly flexible - it drapes nicely in some parts and is too stuff in others. Dom's evening gown is long and colorblocked, and looks pretty nice but slightly too twee. Jeremy's print dress is alright, but the red jacket makes it look far too old. On the other end of the spectrum, I think Kate's exuberant confection reads too young.
Helen, Justin, and Alexandria are safe. Helen is peeved, as she feels that she was bumped out of the top just because hers would be too expensive to mass-produce.
Now, I have to say, at no point in this episode did I get any real understanding of what was meant by "modern Southern woman." The judges seemed to have gravitated towards "modern country woman" in my opinion. They were definitely not sold on Ken's and Dom's, who both made what they claimed were the kinds of things that the actual modern Southern women, which they know in real life, would really wear. So those two were in the bottom, as was Jeremy.
Jeremy's is not modern or sexy. Zac hates the jacket, Nina hates the print, and guest judge Stacey Keibler hates the length of the skirt. As for Dom's, Heidi says it's not fashion forward, Nina thinks the colors are reminiscent of hospital scrubs, and it's too safe and pageanty. Heidi also calls Ken's safe, as well as unflattering, and she doesn't understand where anyone would wear it. Zac finds it uninteresting and calls it a purple nightgown. Ken is visibly fuming more and more, and finally Heidi remarks that he looks like he wants to roll his eyes into his head. Ken, probably recognizing that if he says anything he's going to completely lose it again, chooses to remain silent and we get some awkward moments of staring.
Praise for Bradon's and Alexander's plaid dresses are universal. We gets lots of shots of Ken and Dom giving hairy eyeballs, since they can't imagine the modern Southern women of their acquaintance wearing plaid (Dom even compares Bradon's to a tablecloth). As for Kate's, the judges all like it except for Heidi who thinks the high-waisted poofy skirt looks too much like a baby bump.
Bradon is named the winner! And then we get the twist. Based on how the judges are acting, Helen thinks they might just eliminate all of the bottom three, but it's more interesting than that. The judges feel none of them "got" the challenge, so they each get one more hour, one other designer as an assistant, and any remaining fabric in the workroom to produce another garment.
Dom chooses Helen, and makes a completely new dress out of the black and white print she was initially going to use for her long skirt but then passed on.
Jeremy chooses Alexander, and they also start completely over, making a tank dress out of two different light-colored fabrics.
Ken chooses Kate, and they rework his purple dress. They chop off the skirt and make it nearly a mini, then drape the extra fabric around the neck and down one arm.
The judges adore Dom's new effort. Heidi wants to buy it right then, Zac loves the print, and the guest judge from Belk admires how it has interest both from the front and the back. They agree that Ken's is a 100% improvement, and is sexier and cooler. However, Heidi thinks it's now TOO short, and the top looks forced. They're even more lukewarm on Jeremy's - it's pretty and more fun, they like the prints, but it's the least interesting of the three.
Nina takes a stab at keeping Jeremy around instead of Ken, since he has a better attitude, but nothing can save him - he's out. Ken stays for another day. Dom not only stays, but her design will ALSO be produced by Belk!
Next time - looks like it's the "real woman" challenge, this time with Project Runway "superfans." Judging from how those usually go, I really hope they all have thick skin and a willingness to look ridiculous. And speaking of thick skin, or a lack thereof, it also appears there will be some kind of blow up between Ken and Alexander in their apartment.
They do indeed get to have a fancy brunch, out at a restaurant patio reserved just for them, punctuated by a little gloating from Helen over her New Balance win and a little secretive eye-rolling in response. Everyone is tense, waiting for the other shoe to drop. So when Tim Gunn finally appears it's a relief. But fortunately the twist isn't too brutal - the brunch is simply to put them in the right frame of mind for the challenge, which is to make an outfit (day or evening) for a modern Southern woman. This is because it's the challenge for Belk, which is supplying the accessory wall this season, and who's slogan is "Modern. Southern. Style." Also, the winning look will actually get produced by Belk.
Ken and Dom are immediately perceived have an advantage, both having family backgrounds in the South. They, in fact, know exactly what modern Southern women are wearing at this very moment. At Mood, everyone goes for very colorful fabrics, and then in a repeat of the Miranda/Alexander plaid pants collision, Bradon and Alexander both get very similar large-scale plaids, not seeing the coincidence until too late. Alexandria also ends up with plaid. Really? Plaid? Somehow plaid doesn't say "Southern" to me at all but I must be missing something. Dom and Ken also seem to agree that plaid is definitely not a "thing" in the South, leading to a running joke throughout the episode that whenever on of the plaids is mentioned, we get a quick shot of one of them looking skeptical, irritated, or bemused. They did one of those "live polls" during the show, and in fact the majority of viewers agreed that they did not see plaid as something a modern Southern woman would wear.
At Tim's visit, we find out that Bradon's plaid is a very close match for Tim's tie. Tim also warns Justin that combining dark colors with his lovely coral fabric just push it into cheap orange Halloween territory. And then he just straight out tells Alexandria that hers is hideous. She ditches some complicated patchwork she had started for the skirt and starts over using the plaid alone.
We get a little interlude with Ken. He's feeling "not quite homesick," but misses his family. He has a conversation with his mother where it becomes apparent that they're both aware he has an anger issue. "Has that other side come out yet?" she asks. "A little." And in one of those moments where the editors enjoy themselves far too much, we get a montage of the times Ken has yelled at, sworn at, or attempted to silence the others.
Heading into the runway, everyone is really happy with their looks except Alexandria. So we know already at least two folks are in for a rude shock.
Ken's dress looks like a long version of Marilyn Monroe's iconic gown, but in purple, and somehow the proportions around the torso look awkward. Helen's lace-over-yellow gown looks very nicely made but doesn't seem modern to me. Justin's flippy coral dress with interesting draped elements is probably my favorite. Alexander's plaid dress strikes me as a tamer take on Vivienne Westwood. Alexandria's plaid dress has a weird shape and has some kind of odd structure around the hips. Bradon has pieced his plaid in a way that is interesting for the textile, but I think makes the dress too unevenly flexible - it drapes nicely in some parts and is too stuff in others. Dom's evening gown is long and colorblocked, and looks pretty nice but slightly too twee. Jeremy's print dress is alright, but the red jacket makes it look far too old. On the other end of the spectrum, I think Kate's exuberant confection reads too young.
Helen, Justin, and Alexandria are safe. Helen is peeved, as she feels that she was bumped out of the top just because hers would be too expensive to mass-produce.
Now, I have to say, at no point in this episode did I get any real understanding of what was meant by "modern Southern woman." The judges seemed to have gravitated towards "modern country woman" in my opinion. They were definitely not sold on Ken's and Dom's, who both made what they claimed were the kinds of things that the actual modern Southern women, which they know in real life, would really wear. So those two were in the bottom, as was Jeremy.
Jeremy's is not modern or sexy. Zac hates the jacket, Nina hates the print, and guest judge Stacey Keibler hates the length of the skirt. As for Dom's, Heidi says it's not fashion forward, Nina thinks the colors are reminiscent of hospital scrubs, and it's too safe and pageanty. Heidi also calls Ken's safe, as well as unflattering, and she doesn't understand where anyone would wear it. Zac finds it uninteresting and calls it a purple nightgown. Ken is visibly fuming more and more, and finally Heidi remarks that he looks like he wants to roll his eyes into his head. Ken, probably recognizing that if he says anything he's going to completely lose it again, chooses to remain silent and we get some awkward moments of staring.
Praise for Bradon's and Alexander's plaid dresses are universal. We gets lots of shots of Ken and Dom giving hairy eyeballs, since they can't imagine the modern Southern women of their acquaintance wearing plaid (Dom even compares Bradon's to a tablecloth). As for Kate's, the judges all like it except for Heidi who thinks the high-waisted poofy skirt looks too much like a baby bump.
Bradon is named the winner! And then we get the twist. Based on how the judges are acting, Helen thinks they might just eliminate all of the bottom three, but it's more interesting than that. The judges feel none of them "got" the challenge, so they each get one more hour, one other designer as an assistant, and any remaining fabric in the workroom to produce another garment.
Dom chooses Helen, and makes a completely new dress out of the black and white print she was initially going to use for her long skirt but then passed on.
Jeremy chooses Alexander, and they also start completely over, making a tank dress out of two different light-colored fabrics.
Ken chooses Kate, and they rework his purple dress. They chop off the skirt and make it nearly a mini, then drape the extra fabric around the neck and down one arm.
The judges adore Dom's new effort. Heidi wants to buy it right then, Zac loves the print, and the guest judge from Belk admires how it has interest both from the front and the back. They agree that Ken's is a 100% improvement, and is sexier and cooler. However, Heidi thinks it's now TOO short, and the top looks forced. They're even more lukewarm on Jeremy's - it's pretty and more fun, they like the prints, but it's the least interesting of the three.
Nina takes a stab at keeping Jeremy around instead of Ken, since he has a better attitude, but nothing can save him - he's out. Ken stays for another day. Dom not only stays, but her design will ALSO be produced by Belk!
Next time - looks like it's the "real woman" challenge, this time with Project Runway "superfans." Judging from how those usually go, I really hope they all have thick skin and a willingness to look ridiculous. And speaking of thick skin, or a lack thereof, it also appears there will be some kind of blow up between Ken and Alexander in their apartment.
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Project Runway Season 12 Episode 8
This week's episode opens with Tim, dressed as a ref, waking everybody up at oh-dark-thirty by blowing a whistle in their rooms and tossing them a duffel bag of athletic wear. Ah, of course, the t-shirts all say "HK for NB" - this must be the challenge where they have to make a look for Heidi Klum's activewear collection for New Balance. Both workout ready and fashionable, fits in with the existing collection, the winner's design will actually get produced as part of the line, etc etc.
But first, a little humiliation, I mean fun, for the designers. They get paired up to run an obstacle course: three-legged race, then a tire run (before which they have to untie their legs), wheelbarrow race, and then a search for a flag in a pile of random cloths. The winning pair will get to pick from the available fabric first, and get an extra hour of working time for the challenge.
Bradon and Helen had an early lead, but they forgot the wheelbarrow portion and just ran to the flag pile, so they had to go back and redo it. That gave Dom and Justin enough time to take the lead and win! Strangely they still made everyone else finish the course and root through to find the flag, even though there was nothing to be gained from any further places. Alexander and Jeremy were the very last, and still had to keep sheepishly tossing the fabric around until they found the last flag.
Then, each designer gets to pick a total of ten yards of fabric from the varieties available from Heidi's collection. There was never a mention of the quantities being limited, or anyone not getting the ones they wanted, so I'm not clear on what the advantage of being able to pick first was. Back in the workroom, they are each given an outfit from the existing collection so they can see how the style looks (though they are not allowed to cut them up and use them in their garments).
The big dustup of the episode occurs when Helen goes out in the hallway to ask Tim whether they can use the existing garments to help them make patterns - so that nobody else can hear. He says yes and she returns to the workroom, and smugly declines to tell anyone what she asked. Which seems a little silly since wouldn't anyone glancing over easily be able to see her doing so once she gets started? The other designers are annoyed, since they say she always comes around and asks for advice. But instead of calmly calling her out on this hypocrisy, they fume in mostly silence, until Ken finally "tsks" enough that Helen rolls her eyes and says "well fine, if you're going to be CHILDISH about it, what I asked was..." But OH NO Ken can't possibly bear such a CRUSHING insult and starts yelling at her, which escalates until he's just shouting "shut the f*** up" at her over and over. When he finally makes a vague threat of "going over there" Helen again ducks out and tells Tim what's going on and that she feels unsafe now. In general I would consider that the right move, but she did it in a very self-conscious way that grated at me. She seemed like she was relishing her role as the "victim" here far more than she should have, had she actually felt afraid that Ken was going to escalate further to physical attacks.
Fortunately, Ken takes a break at this point, talks to some people back home on the phone, and calms down a little. Tim also talks him down a little further, until he can go and calmly apologize to Helen. Helen doesn't do any better accepting this apology than she did with Sandro's, but at least that's the end of it. Yet more examples of how sleep deprivation and intense pressure to perform can make people into the worst versions of themselves.
Heidi joins Tim for his workroom visit. They urge Helen to make sure her as-yet unstarted jacket is a wow piece, and Alexander to make his trim narrower. Justin is adorably nervous and blushing around Heidi, who makes fun of Jeremy for having gotten sunburned at the obstacle course. Tim is concerned about Alexandria making drop-crotch pants (again) but Heidi likes them, unlike Karen's outfit, which Heidi loathes - it is impossible, crazy, Martian, nobody would want it. So Karen has to completely start over. Ken also starts over after Heidi compares his to a scuba suit.
The funniest moment of the episode comes at the model fitting, when the seam at the crotch of Helen's pants pops open on the model, who quips, "I don't think this was the kind of wow piece Heidi wanted!" Karen's model is second guessing her second attempt as fast as she can - should it be this baggy? sure you don't want to make shorts? and grimacing mightily all during the fitting. Karen convinces herself that there are other outfits worse than hers.
On the runway, it was hard to believe that this was filmed in the summer, as everyone except Justin made full- or capri-length leggings. Nearly everyone used the same vernacular for workout gear - black and grey for the most part, with angled accents in neon colors. So I'll just list the differentiating factors.
Helen is named the winner, and Karen is out. Next week, the teaser makes it look like they all do so badly on the challenge that they're all given a re-do. Looking forward to that one!
But first, a little humiliation, I mean fun, for the designers. They get paired up to run an obstacle course: three-legged race, then a tire run (before which they have to untie their legs), wheelbarrow race, and then a search for a flag in a pile of random cloths. The winning pair will get to pick from the available fabric first, and get an extra hour of working time for the challenge.
Bradon and Helen had an early lead, but they forgot the wheelbarrow portion and just ran to the flag pile, so they had to go back and redo it. That gave Dom and Justin enough time to take the lead and win! Strangely they still made everyone else finish the course and root through to find the flag, even though there was nothing to be gained from any further places. Alexander and Jeremy were the very last, and still had to keep sheepishly tossing the fabric around until they found the last flag.
Then, each designer gets to pick a total of ten yards of fabric from the varieties available from Heidi's collection. There was never a mention of the quantities being limited, or anyone not getting the ones they wanted, so I'm not clear on what the advantage of being able to pick first was. Back in the workroom, they are each given an outfit from the existing collection so they can see how the style looks (though they are not allowed to cut them up and use them in their garments).
The big dustup of the episode occurs when Helen goes out in the hallway to ask Tim whether they can use the existing garments to help them make patterns - so that nobody else can hear. He says yes and she returns to the workroom, and smugly declines to tell anyone what she asked. Which seems a little silly since wouldn't anyone glancing over easily be able to see her doing so once she gets started? The other designers are annoyed, since they say she always comes around and asks for advice. But instead of calmly calling her out on this hypocrisy, they fume in mostly silence, until Ken finally "tsks" enough that Helen rolls her eyes and says "well fine, if you're going to be CHILDISH about it, what I asked was..." But OH NO Ken can't possibly bear such a CRUSHING insult and starts yelling at her, which escalates until he's just shouting "shut the f*** up" at her over and over. When he finally makes a vague threat of "going over there" Helen again ducks out and tells Tim what's going on and that she feels unsafe now. In general I would consider that the right move, but she did it in a very self-conscious way that grated at me. She seemed like she was relishing her role as the "victim" here far more than she should have, had she actually felt afraid that Ken was going to escalate further to physical attacks.
Fortunately, Ken takes a break at this point, talks to some people back home on the phone, and calms down a little. Tim also talks him down a little further, until he can go and calmly apologize to Helen. Helen doesn't do any better accepting this apology than she did with Sandro's, but at least that's the end of it. Yet more examples of how sleep deprivation and intense pressure to perform can make people into the worst versions of themselves.
Heidi joins Tim for his workroom visit. They urge Helen to make sure her as-yet unstarted jacket is a wow piece, and Alexander to make his trim narrower. Justin is adorably nervous and blushing around Heidi, who makes fun of Jeremy for having gotten sunburned at the obstacle course. Tim is concerned about Alexandria making drop-crotch pants (again) but Heidi likes them, unlike Karen's outfit, which Heidi loathes - it is impossible, crazy, Martian, nobody would want it. So Karen has to completely start over. Ken also starts over after Heidi compares his to a scuba suit.
The funniest moment of the episode comes at the model fitting, when the seam at the crotch of Helen's pants pops open on the model, who quips, "I don't think this was the kind of wow piece Heidi wanted!" Karen's model is second guessing her second attempt as fast as she can - should it be this baggy? sure you don't want to make shorts? and grimacing mightily all during the fitting. Karen convinces herself that there are other outfits worse than hers.
On the runway, it was hard to believe that this was filmed in the summer, as everyone except Justin made full- or capri-length leggings. Nearly everyone used the same vernacular for workout gear - black and grey for the most part, with angled accents in neon colors. So I'll just list the differentiating factors.
- Kate: A-line sweater with a zipper in the back that can make it more form-fitting
- Bradon: got the most flattering lines down the legs
- Alexandria: drop-crotch pants, slashed detail on shirt
- Helen: black mesh jacket with drawstring waist
- Dom: Tron-like red accents and matching hat
- Justin: shorts!!! Looked like something on the cover of Women's Health, though the bra top was too busy
- Ken: too-long purple tank, model looked like she wanted to kill someone
- Jeremy: mixed purple and green accents
- Karen: the loosest fit - banded capris and awkward sweatshirt
- Alexander: made his leggings with no seams on the outsides of the legs!
Bradon, Dom, Justin, and Jeremy are in the middle. Dom is irritated to not get any feedback, and Jeremy is relieved, as is Bradon who think that Michael Kors, back for this challenge, looks ready to spew his trademark one-liners.
The judges aren't completely unanimous on which are best. Heidi doesn't like Kate's back zipper, but the others do, and they like it even more up close. Heidi and Zac like Alexander's, but Nina and Kors don't - Nina says the piecing make the model's butt look too big, and Kors finds it unmemorable. Up close they like it less, as the mismatches in the graphic piecing are more apparent. Zac calls out Alexandria for using drop-crotch pants again, which Heidi defends because she likes them. Nina hates them and considers them impossible to be active in. Kors hates the, uh, "suggestive" placement of the pockets on the front and deems it creepy. They all like at least parts of Helen's look, and they all love the jacket, especially Nina. She's about ready to run up on the runway and steal it for herself that second.
Ken tries to play up the functional elements in his (long top to avoid cameltoe, black around collar & armholes to camoflauge sweat) but the judges like it less the more they look. It doesn't have enough fashion, the top is so long it just looks like Tina Turner's dress rode up, and the complicated straps in back just make it look like the model is wearing seven bras. Karen's is also disliked by all, including the model wearing it. It's not athletic and it is badly sewn.
Helen is named the winner, and Karen is out. Next week, the teaser makes it look like they all do so badly on the challenge that they're all given a re-do. Looking forward to that one!
Friday, August 30, 2013
Project Runway Season 12 Episode 7
At the start of the episode, everyone seems happy to have Justin continuing on, as they reflect over morning coffee. Kate points out that this is the seventh challenge, which is when she was eliminated last time. Alexandria, basking in her immunity, hopes it's a really hard challenge this time.
The challenge turns out to be designing an outfit around a pair of shoes. But of course they have to try to make the assignment of the shoes interesting. They get to go to the Marie Claire offices, where they have a giant shoe "library." The producers try to make it look like they can choose from anything off all the shelves in this giant closet, but it becomes clear they only have eleven pairs in one little area that they have to choose from (obviously so it's easier to have all the possible sizes available to fit their models).
And then, because it can't be too easy, the designers each get a buzzer and have to answer a fashion trivia question before they can pick a pair. Alexandria gets to choose first, though, without having to answer. Ken is worried that he's at a disadvantage, being self-educated, but he's fast on the buzzer and gets the first question right. Dom and Miranda struggle the most, with Miranda being the absolute last - so she just gets the last pair of shoes without ever answering a question right. Ken and Jeremy have many chuckles over neither of those ladies knowing that Coco Chanel was the one who introduced the term "little black dress."
At Mood, both Miranda and Alexander end up going for red plaid. Neither of them declines this game of fashion chicken, though, so red plaid it is. They both make it into pants, causing much heartache and sideways glances, but neither wavers so two very similar pairs of red plaid pants go down the runway.
But before that, Tim's workroom visit. Miranda declines to take any of his advice, as she feels like following his suggestions instead of her own instinct is what has landed her at the bottom before. Tim warns Justin and Karen about making theirs too matchy-matchy with the shoes, and Ken and Helen about being too dated/matronly. Karen think's Alexandria's is "weaksauce" but really wants Helen's. Bradon thinks a casual outfit would go better with his shoes, but for some reason only wants to send something dressy down the runway. Tim asks him where someone wearing his look would go - a complete stumper. So he has to rethink.
Ken tries a little psychological warfare by pretending to be concerned to Miranda that the judges might object to the places where her plaid doesn't match up. He objects to any designers that are still being helpful to each other (like Jeremy) and thinks it's time to "bring out the knives and play the game as it was meant to be played." Maybe he's getting confused with the Hunger Games?
Jeremy is very confident about his look. Bradon is struggling with his and is feeling very homesick, and the others think his look makes his 19-year-old model look far older than that. Alexander has to sew his model into his skinny plaid pants, but still calls Miranda's look an "ugly mess." Ken says Miranda's model, after the outfit and styling are in place, looks like Amy Winehouse "after she OD'd." Then we get a little montage of all the last minute "hurry hurry sew sew tuck tuck augh" things going on.
On the runway:
The challenge turns out to be designing an outfit around a pair of shoes. But of course they have to try to make the assignment of the shoes interesting. They get to go to the Marie Claire offices, where they have a giant shoe "library." The producers try to make it look like they can choose from anything off all the shelves in this giant closet, but it becomes clear they only have eleven pairs in one little area that they have to choose from (obviously so it's easier to have all the possible sizes available to fit their models).
And then, because it can't be too easy, the designers each get a buzzer and have to answer a fashion trivia question before they can pick a pair. Alexandria gets to choose first, though, without having to answer. Ken is worried that he's at a disadvantage, being self-educated, but he's fast on the buzzer and gets the first question right. Dom and Miranda struggle the most, with Miranda being the absolute last - so she just gets the last pair of shoes without ever answering a question right. Ken and Jeremy have many chuckles over neither of those ladies knowing that Coco Chanel was the one who introduced the term "little black dress."
At Mood, both Miranda and Alexander end up going for red plaid. Neither of them declines this game of fashion chicken, though, so red plaid it is. They both make it into pants, causing much heartache and sideways glances, but neither wavers so two very similar pairs of red plaid pants go down the runway.
But before that, Tim's workroom visit. Miranda declines to take any of his advice, as she feels like following his suggestions instead of her own instinct is what has landed her at the bottom before. Tim warns Justin and Karen about making theirs too matchy-matchy with the shoes, and Ken and Helen about being too dated/matronly. Karen think's Alexandria's is "weaksauce" but really wants Helen's. Bradon thinks a casual outfit would go better with his shoes, but for some reason only wants to send something dressy down the runway. Tim asks him where someone wearing his look would go - a complete stumper. So he has to rethink.
Ken tries a little psychological warfare by pretending to be concerned to Miranda that the judges might object to the places where her plaid doesn't match up. He objects to any designers that are still being helpful to each other (like Jeremy) and thinks it's time to "bring out the knives and play the game as it was meant to be played." Maybe he's getting confused with the Hunger Games?
Jeremy is very confident about his look. Bradon is struggling with his and is feeling very homesick, and the others think his look makes his 19-year-old model look far older than that. Alexander has to sew his model into his skinny plaid pants, but still calls Miranda's look an "ugly mess." Ken says Miranda's model, after the outfit and styling are in place, looks like Amy Winehouse "after she OD'd." Then we get a little montage of all the last minute "hurry hurry sew sew tuck tuck augh" things going on.
On the runway:
- Ken
- Shoes: lace-up stilettos
- Outfit: a black dress, made of a highly textured fabric, that has a big peplum but a raglan sleeve construction makes it look a bit too much like luxe workout gear to me
- Alexander
- Shoes: Beigie peep-toe platforms
- Outfit: the slim-fit red plaid pants look pretty good, but the big pleats on the white shirt seem a bit awkward and forced
- Miranda
- Shoes: red loafers with gold details
- Outfit: her red plaid pants and higher-waisted than Alexander's and pleated, with a belly shirt and jacket that look remarkably similar to the ones she made for the bow tie challenge.
- Dom
- Shoes: multicolored creepers
- Outfit: an all-over pieced and quilted dress in the same colors as the creepers. Sailor Moon as a motocross driver. Her model seemed weirdly uncomfortable and tentative on the runway.
- Justin
- Shoes: platforms with tile-like print
- Outfit: All black, so the details are hard to see. Pants with some volume at the hips, black corset top, and a leather shrug. Kind of looks like an anime villain - perhaps Dom's would be the protagonist.
- Alexandria
- Shoes: thigh-high gladiator boots, which appeared to be too short for the model's legs and too small for her feet
- Outfit: little black toga dress with lace insets.
- Karen
- Shoes: beige and yellow pumps with wide crossing straps over the ankle
- Outfit: A bland colorless jacket over a colorblocked yellow and black dress
- Bradon
- Shoes: gold-beaded flats (my favorite of the shoes)
- Outfit: Circle skirt over halter top with a wavy pleated treatment.
- Kate
- Shoes: surreal, sculptural red and yellow shoes that appear to coil around the feet
- Outfit: high waisted pants with thigh-high slits up the fronts, with a too-tight shirt with too many busy details
- Jeremy
- Shoes: Over the knee black boots with chain detail. Are these in style right now??? They look very dated to me - I don't even know how a normal person in the present time would pair them with clothes.
- Outfit: a very, very, VERY 80's giant white sweater with faux cable knit applique over a gold lame camisole and a black miniskirt
- Helen
- Shoes: black booties with studded toes
- Outfit: A boring black sheath dress with a cape
Kate, Karen, Dom, Justin, and Alexander are safe. Kate gets to remark for the second episode in a row that they're now officially in the top ten. And speaking of things that get repeated, let me just say I'm getting incredibly sick of the auto-tuned Yoplait commercial they've been playing at nearly every commercial break, every episode. I hear "I WANNA MEET THE COW THAT MADE THIS!" in my sleep.
In the top: The Heidi and Nina love Alexandria's and appreciate that she chose such a dramatic shoe. It's cool, editorial, and the soft, whimsical dress plays off the hard shoes. Zac, however, is not wowed. The judges are unanimous about Helen's, though - everything from the fit to the styling is great, though they agree the cape is the crucial element, not the dress. I was distracted during the discussion of Ken's, because it looked like his model was shivering whenever they did a close-up. They like the fact that the top is covered up to balance out all the leg, and think it's nicely done and rich-looking.
In the bottom, they immediately call out Jeremy's as being a bang-on homage to Pretty Woman, which he denies. It's not pretty or modern, and verges on trampy. For Miranda's, Zac likes the nerdiness but thinks it didn't go far enough, Nina thinks it's Christmas all the way, and Heidi just says it isn't cool. Bradon's swing dancer is too old school, overworked, and frumpy. It's a bad bridesmaid's dress!
Helen is the winner! Exhausted, wrung-out Miranda is out. She lasted longer than I thought she would, but it seems like she didn't have much left to give the competition. At least she left on something she actually liked.
Next time - Tim dressed as a referee, three-legged races, and a visit from Heidi in the workroom!
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Project Runway Season 12 Episode 6
As the episode begins, Ken is still fuming that Alexandria would dare imply that she had to be careful in speaking to him, lest he should become angry. Mm-hm. When they get to the runway, Tim is wearing a camo suit to introduce the next activity. First, we learn that Jeremy can't tell the difference between hunting and military camo, and then we learn that they will all get to go "glamping" over night! As it happens, there really is no trick (as I kept expecting) - they get to hang out at a lovely campsite night next to a stream, relax in hammocks, go rafting and ziplining, have a lovely catered picnic dinner, and sleep on cushy cots in canvas tents. The only stressful part was that they only got 30 minutes to pack. Well, Ken hates being outdoors so he hates the whole experience, but he manages to warm up to it by the end.
It's very nice of the producers to give them this break. In previous seasons, they've brought in loved ones for a day for a similar purpose, but that sometimes seems to backfire - some of the designers collapse under the pressure once the challenge resumes. It's almost as if it gives them a bit too much of a break and reminds them what life is like outside of the insane crucible of sleep-deprived reality TV contestants and omnipresent cameras. So this is an interesting tweak - they are still only around each other, but get a day off from competing. It does seem to have been more uniformly refreshing rather than emotionally crushing.
Justin in particular has a great time "glamping." He explains that his hearing impairment make it essentially impossible to work and communicate at the same time, so he hasn't been able to get to know everyone else until now. There's a very cute scene of him teaching everyone else swear words in sign language.
Interlude over - the actual challenge is to make a high-end fashion look, something editorial. They can use the glamping experience as inspiration, but they don't have to. Their suggested Mood budget is $300.
Justin buys a bunch of glue gun cartridges and proceeds to make it into lace - Tim approves of what he sees so far. Bradon has been "painting" with thread to create his own textile, irritating the other designers with how much constant noise he's making in the sewing room, and unfortunately Tim thinks it looks like a kid's drawing. Dun dun dun! Tim is also very skeptical of the drop-crotch pants Dom is working on. Her model says that pants like that are used as underwear in her culture - a reassuring notion, to be sure! Tim thinks Karen's dress may be too boring and urges her to go for the ombre dye effect she'd been contemplating. Bradon and his model joke that it looks like a nightgown. Everybody really likes Helen's moth-inspired dress.
Overall, at the end of Tim's visit, he's actually very pleased with how things are going in the workroom and thinks it seems like one of their best overall efforts so far.
As we get through the model fitting and the final rush before the runway, the editors unleash a wave of snark from the interview rooms. Jeremy in particular, riding high from having immunity, is enjoying endulging in name calling and compares Alexander's leather train to an "oil slick" and Kate's poufy concoction to "a pregnant fairy in a shiny harness." Ken jokes to Jeremy that he wants to buy the immunity off of him! (And if he did, I'm sure they'd do it with those pre-paid cards they've been using all season!) He's also shown being great pals with Justin, and compliments Miranda's work so far ("is that Miranda or Christian Dior???") which makes me start wondering if the editors are doing a little "reputation repair" to make us feel bad if Ken gets eliminated.
Alexandria is behind where she wants to be and Ken thinks she should go home. Helen thinks the judges will hate Justin's lace and she hates the silhouette of the top of Ken's dress. Poor Bradon is getting stuck on his draping, is running around frantically, then has terrible static cling issues with the dress. But in the end they all manage to get something walking down the runway.
Karen sends out a beige red carpet dress that seems verrrrry "safe." Bradon's dress is loud and kind of wacky, but I could actually picture in an editorial...in a teen magazine. Miranda's dark petaled dress is my favorite this time, though also a bit on the safe side. Ken has made a sheath dress using several colors of the same heathery print, with a very heavy blob of folded fabric on the top. Alexandria's outfit is a denim jacket with a dramatic back and those dreaded drop-crotch pants - the styling does a good job of selling it, though, and I could picture it in an editorial settig. Alexander's long, dark, tree-printed dress seems like too literal a take on their inspiration. Justin's is very messy, and he acknowledges that he took a risk. Dom's watery print dress would be better if the collar had just one color instead of two. Karen's buckle-top ombre maxi dress and Kate's poofy "fairy in a shiny harness" dress both seem like things that could be in an editorial but would never be worn by a person out in real life. Jeremy's slinky dress, made of fabric on which he painted a love letter to his husband, seems a bit too much like lingerie.
Dom, Bradon, Kate, Helen, and Miranda are all safe - and they realize that means they've made it into the top ten!
The jugdes hate Karen's - it's trashy and looks like a duvet or muumuu. She had her model wear it with cowboy style boots, making it look like she can't decide between the beach or the rodeo. They don't like the Easter-egg yellow or the figure-hiding shape. Ken's prompts Nina to shout B! O! R! I! N! G! and they loath the weird heavy wad of fabric he put on the bodice. He claims it was inspired by layers of exposed sediment near the stream, and the swept back hair was supposed to evoke Mother Nature, but Zac Posen says it looks like a frog queen. (Cue a huge smirk from Alexandria.) Justin's doesn't fare much better. Heidi compares it to a cheap Halloween costume and Zac says the lace gives the effect that the model is "foaming from the hips." Nina takes this even further and mirthfully utters the deadly phrase "FOAMING VAGINA." But then they do try to find some nice things to sac - Zac likes the color and Nina likes the varying layers of transparency in the skirt. Backstage, Karen and Justin are reduced to tears over their critiques.
At the top, the judges melt for Jeremy's sweet love letter dress. It's chic, personal, emotional, and breathtaking. When they get to see it up close they love it even more, for the details like the buttons up the side and the tulle around the sleeves and neckline. They also like similar details on Alexander's dress, and the great fit (achieved with a zipper, not sewn on the model!). Zac is not wowed, however. As for Alexandria's, he's also in the "no drop crotch pants!" camp, but she's managed to sell them to him. Nina indicates that her outfit would definitely be a good fit for an editorial.
Alexandria is named the winner! And despite all the screen time he got, Ken is safe. In fact, Justin is out. Bah! Backstage, everyone is upset and crying when this happens. I can't remember ever seeing any group so universally affected by the elimination. And then, Tim comes in...and announces he's using his save! So nobody will leave this week. Of course now everyone is crying even more.
Next week looks like shoes, shoes, and more shoes.
It's very nice of the producers to give them this break. In previous seasons, they've brought in loved ones for a day for a similar purpose, but that sometimes seems to backfire - some of the designers collapse under the pressure once the challenge resumes. It's almost as if it gives them a bit too much of a break and reminds them what life is like outside of the insane crucible of sleep-deprived reality TV contestants and omnipresent cameras. So this is an interesting tweak - they are still only around each other, but get a day off from competing. It does seem to have been more uniformly refreshing rather than emotionally crushing.
Justin in particular has a great time "glamping." He explains that his hearing impairment make it essentially impossible to work and communicate at the same time, so he hasn't been able to get to know everyone else until now. There's a very cute scene of him teaching everyone else swear words in sign language.
Interlude over - the actual challenge is to make a high-end fashion look, something editorial. They can use the glamping experience as inspiration, but they don't have to. Their suggested Mood budget is $300.
Justin buys a bunch of glue gun cartridges and proceeds to make it into lace - Tim approves of what he sees so far. Bradon has been "painting" with thread to create his own textile, irritating the other designers with how much constant noise he's making in the sewing room, and unfortunately Tim thinks it looks like a kid's drawing. Dun dun dun! Tim is also very skeptical of the drop-crotch pants Dom is working on. Her model says that pants like that are used as underwear in her culture - a reassuring notion, to be sure! Tim thinks Karen's dress may be too boring and urges her to go for the ombre dye effect she'd been contemplating. Bradon and his model joke that it looks like a nightgown. Everybody really likes Helen's moth-inspired dress.
Overall, at the end of Tim's visit, he's actually very pleased with how things are going in the workroom and thinks it seems like one of their best overall efforts so far.
As we get through the model fitting and the final rush before the runway, the editors unleash a wave of snark from the interview rooms. Jeremy in particular, riding high from having immunity, is enjoying endulging in name calling and compares Alexander's leather train to an "oil slick" and Kate's poufy concoction to "a pregnant fairy in a shiny harness." Ken jokes to Jeremy that he wants to buy the immunity off of him! (And if he did, I'm sure they'd do it with those pre-paid cards they've been using all season!) He's also shown being great pals with Justin, and compliments Miranda's work so far ("is that Miranda or Christian Dior???") which makes me start wondering if the editors are doing a little "reputation repair" to make us feel bad if Ken gets eliminated.
Alexandria is behind where she wants to be and Ken thinks she should go home. Helen thinks the judges will hate Justin's lace and she hates the silhouette of the top of Ken's dress. Poor Bradon is getting stuck on his draping, is running around frantically, then has terrible static cling issues with the dress. But in the end they all manage to get something walking down the runway.
Karen sends out a beige red carpet dress that seems verrrrry "safe." Bradon's dress is loud and kind of wacky, but I could actually picture in an editorial...in a teen magazine. Miranda's dark petaled dress is my favorite this time, though also a bit on the safe side. Ken has made a sheath dress using several colors of the same heathery print, with a very heavy blob of folded fabric on the top. Alexandria's outfit is a denim jacket with a dramatic back and those dreaded drop-crotch pants - the styling does a good job of selling it, though, and I could picture it in an editorial settig. Alexander's long, dark, tree-printed dress seems like too literal a take on their inspiration. Justin's is very messy, and he acknowledges that he took a risk. Dom's watery print dress would be better if the collar had just one color instead of two. Karen's buckle-top ombre maxi dress and Kate's poofy "fairy in a shiny harness" dress both seem like things that could be in an editorial but would never be worn by a person out in real life. Jeremy's slinky dress, made of fabric on which he painted a love letter to his husband, seems a bit too much like lingerie.
Dom, Bradon, Kate, Helen, and Miranda are all safe - and they realize that means they've made it into the top ten!
The jugdes hate Karen's - it's trashy and looks like a duvet or muumuu. She had her model wear it with cowboy style boots, making it look like she can't decide between the beach or the rodeo. They don't like the Easter-egg yellow or the figure-hiding shape. Ken's prompts Nina to shout B! O! R! I! N! G! and they loath the weird heavy wad of fabric he put on the bodice. He claims it was inspired by layers of exposed sediment near the stream, and the swept back hair was supposed to evoke Mother Nature, but Zac Posen says it looks like a frog queen. (Cue a huge smirk from Alexandria.) Justin's doesn't fare much better. Heidi compares it to a cheap Halloween costume and Zac says the lace gives the effect that the model is "foaming from the hips." Nina takes this even further and mirthfully utters the deadly phrase "FOAMING VAGINA." But then they do try to find some nice things to sac - Zac likes the color and Nina likes the varying layers of transparency in the skirt. Backstage, Karen and Justin are reduced to tears over their critiques.
At the top, the judges melt for Jeremy's sweet love letter dress. It's chic, personal, emotional, and breathtaking. When they get to see it up close they love it even more, for the details like the buttons up the side and the tulle around the sleeves and neckline. They also like similar details on Alexander's dress, and the great fit (achieved with a zipper, not sewn on the model!). Zac is not wowed, however. As for Alexandria's, he's also in the "no drop crotch pants!" camp, but she's managed to sell them to him. Nina indicates that her outfit would definitely be a good fit for an editorial.
Alexandria is named the winner! And despite all the screen time he got, Ken is safe. In fact, Justin is out. Bah! Backstage, everyone is upset and crying when this happens. I can't remember ever seeing any group so universally affected by the elimination. And then, Tim comes in...and announces he's using his save! So nobody will leave this week. Of course now everyone is crying even more.
Next week looks like shoes, shoes, and more shoes.
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Project Runway Season 12 Episode 5
At the beginning of the fifth episode, we get a little montage of the designers in their apartments, with some of the boys saying they miss Sandro, and some of the girls not missing him in the slightest.
This episode's challenge is one of those where they have a whole bunch of complicated product placements - I mean conditions. I had to watch it three times before I understood what they were doing. They are split into teams of three (since there are twelve left at this point). Each team must make a high-end mini collection, with each designer individually responsible for a single look - but together the three must look cohesive.
Then we start with the product placement. Each team gets a Lexus (of a different color) they can drive around to the places where they will get their materials for the challenge. They can also use the Lexus as inspiration if they so choose. Since this is yet another unconventional materials challenge (the third one, just five episodes in!), the stores they can go to are a combination homegoods/party store, a vintage wallpaper store, and a specialty food store. But they can only go to two out of the three). And the locations of all three have been programmed into the Lexus navigation system, in order to show it off.
Finally, they are instructed on how they must pay for materials - one of each team must be the chosen treasurer, and spend all of the (suggested) $1500 from just his or her card. And then later the other two will reimburse that person 1/3 of the amount from their cards. I was unclear on why they specified that, since there are other ways to prevent someone from getting ripped off by their team members, but then it became clear - it's so they can show off the ability to transfer between the cards via smartphone. Ahhhh.
The teams are:
This episode's challenge is one of those where they have a whole bunch of complicated product placements - I mean conditions. I had to watch it three times before I understood what they were doing. They are split into teams of three (since there are twelve left at this point). Each team must make a high-end mini collection, with each designer individually responsible for a single look - but together the three must look cohesive.
Then we start with the product placement. Each team gets a Lexus (of a different color) they can drive around to the places where they will get their materials for the challenge. They can also use the Lexus as inspiration if they so choose. Since this is yet another unconventional materials challenge (the third one, just five episodes in!), the stores they can go to are a combination homegoods/party store, a vintage wallpaper store, and a specialty food store. But they can only go to two out of the three). And the locations of all three have been programmed into the Lexus navigation system, in order to show it off.
Finally, they are instructed on how they must pay for materials - one of each team must be the chosen treasurer, and spend all of the (suggested) $1500 from just his or her card. And then later the other two will reimburse that person 1/3 of the amount from their cards. I was unclear on why they specified that, since there are other ways to prevent someone from getting ripped off by their team members, but then it became clear - it's so they can show off the ability to transfer between the cards via smartphone. Ahhhh.
The teams are:
- Ken, Alexandria, and Sue (everyone, including these three, immediately decide this is the worst trio possible - nobody thinks they'll be able to get along)
- Kate, Jeremy, and Karen
- Justin, Dom, and Helen
- Alexander, Miranda, and Bradon
The only events of note during the shopping phase happen on the doomed Ken/Alexandria/Sue team. Ken is particularly up-front about hating being on the team. He disagrees with what the other two want to do, such as choosing the wallpaper store as a destination, but when they continue to disagree with him, he just rolls his eyes and purses his lips and doesn't press the point. Here's a hint, Ken - if you don't stand up for what you want, or even bother to present reasons for your viewpoint, people are going to assume you actually don't care all that much!
In the workroom, Ken becomes even more furious with his team when he realizes Sue's ability to sew and make patterns are well below what he considers passable. Then we get taken in a different emotional direction entirely when Tim brings in...Sandro! To make his goodbyes. He does apologize to Ken and Helen, who had received the brunt of his tirade, but it's the hedged kind of apology (I'm sorry, but you DID make me mad!) that leaves a bit of a sour taste in the mouth. I certainly hope he gave a good apology to the crew too, for threatening them and destroying things back stage!
When Tim comes back later for his usual visit, we get one of those little moments that make me love the editors so much. Jeremy is working with some placemats that he describes as being a little "madame" so he's doing something to counteract that - and then when get a quick cut to Ken, working with the exact same placemats, looking over at him with an outraged expression. Tim likes what he sees so far from Jeremy/Kate/Karen, but given the materials they have, feels like they're only at a "two out of ten" in terms of taking advantage of them.
Tim is very concerned about Ken/Alexandria/Sue. He sees that Sue is doing her usual draped/smocked black dress using curtains, and that he is "sick" seeing this - "you've thrown the challenge! Haven't you seen Project Runway before?" The judges do not appreciate use of fabric in unconventional materials challenges. Sue will have to start over. But they don't have much material to use, since they spent so much money on the wallpaper that I guess they've decided now doesn't fit in with their planned collection. Ken is smirking constantly through this, drawing the ire of Tim, who tries to get him to pitch in. Ken of course just uses this as another chance to insult his team, and reaching out as if to a rotten piece of fruit, touches Sue's dress and says it's "the best [she] can do right now." Cut to wide-eyed "glad I'm not on that team!" facial expressions around the room.
Things only go downhill from there. Ken is talking to Alexandria, and when she, at some point, doesn't give the exact response he wanted at the exact time he wanted, he decides she wasn't listening to him at all and walks off in a snit. From there he pulls Kate aside and asks about how team eliminations go, to try to come up with a strategy to save himself. Kate's advice boils down to "save yourself."
Nobody is ready to leave the workroom when Tim comes to take them to the show. Sue, in fact, has to be stopped from further sewing out in the hallway. Tim says that nobody has had a model so far from having a wearable garment before. It's later revealed that the model herself actually keeps sewing back stage so that the dress will actually stay on.
Alexander, Miranda, and Bradon make looks using mostly white and silver wallpaper. Alexander makes pants and a shirt, with a giant puffy stole. Miranda makes a sheath dress. Bradon finishes it off with an exuberant bridal look.
Justin, Dom, and Helen anchor their collection with cream patterned wallpaper and goji berries. Justin makes a tunic and pants, which Dom disparagingly dismisses with "goji berry overload," which confuses me since her sheath dress with giant crystalline shoulder forms has almost as many berries on the waistband. Helen makes a dress with a panniered skirt and corsage.
The doomed trio has a boring collection of black foam mesh and gray placemats. Sue acknowledges hers is a disaster and it inspires an epic stink-eye from Nina as it goes by. Ken's dress looks stiff and pleathery. Alexandria's skirt is hilariously loud walking down the runway. SQUEAK CREAK GURK CHMIRK
Jeremy, Karen, and Kate have a black, white and silver collection, with a large variety of textures. Jeremy's white dress has tinsel down the sides. Karen's drop-waist dress is a patchwork of different materials. Kate's dress is edgier than she usually does, with thigh slits and lots of little cut outs.
Jeremy/Kate/Karen are the top team, with Alexander, Miranda, and Bradon a close second. Ken/Alexandria/Sue are obviously on the bottom.
For the winners, the judges gush over it all and want to know what materials they used and where they are. A patch of poppy seeds mixed with glitter! Pieced placemats! They love the tailoring Jeremy did and Heidi points out how great the model's cleavage looks. They captured luxury and they captured the spirit of the Lexus.
For the losing team, of course they have to recap all their drama for the judges. Ken and Alexandria blame Sue for not being able to sew - and Ken makes sure everyone knows the model finished sewing Sue's dress. However, the judges counter by saying that all three looks are terrible: bad proportions, bad taste, bad, weird, funky, ugly! "NONE OF YOU CAN SEW!" Alexandria also brings up how hard it was to work with Ken, and that she had to "walk on glass." Ken tries to claim that can't possibly be true, but shows his true nature to the judges. First, he calls her "AlexanDRA," then when she starts talking after he has very plausibly stopped talking, he snaps "I'm still talking, so I need you to be quiet!" Oh yeah, nobody will believe you were hard to work with after THAT!
He continues this behavior back stage, telling Alexandria how furious he is that she would dare imply she had to be careful in how she spoke to him. So furious, that he orders her to not talk or even look in his direction! Yeah, he's really disproving Alexandria there...
Meanwhile, the judges are pooh-poohing Ken's garment, saying that his duct-tape-over-cloth skirt doesn't really meet the challenge of using unconventional materials. Then they tease that they might eliminate more than one person this week!
Jeremy is named the winner. Alexandria, for being the only one who tried to make the team work, is safe. Sue is out. Ken...is also safe. So, just a normal elimination. Nobody backstage seems all that enthused that Ken is back.
Next week - glamping, and Tim gets teary trying to make some kind of announcement.
Saturday, August 10, 2013
Project Runway Season 12 Episode 4
Well, Tim Gunn sure wasn't wrong when he warned us on Facebook ahead of this episode that it was a doozy. The editors give us a heads-up right away with an action-movie technique - Sandro is shown backstage, yelling at the other designers, then storming out. Then - "36 hours earlier..."
In the morning montage of the designers in their apartments, we learn that Sandro wants more direction from the judges, Helen is glad she has immunity, and sadly Jeremy's grandmother has unexpectedly died. And of course, since he's on the show, he's not going to be able to attend the funeral.
The challenge this week is one of the simpler ones - they have a bajillion bowties in the workroom, which they must use as inspiration. And of course, they have to use at least one in the outfit (but not in a traditional way).
At Mood, their suggested budget is $200 - and we get to see that Miranda only spent $120, whereas Sue dished out a whopping $400. Either could spell trouble. Back in the workroom, Sandro is still ranting to himself about the judges. We are treated to a number of delicious shots of him grousing, with someone else sneering or eyerolling just over his shoulder.
Dom is making a dress out of narrow black and white stripes that, at least on my TV, interfered with the refresh rate and caused crazy moire patterns every time it appeared. When Tim shows up, he warns Miranda that her design is veering too far towards prim fussiness, and that she should do something to sex it up. When he gets to Helen, he gives her what seems to be only the very mildest criticism (such as he sees the outfit as being more feminine than she does), but for some reason it completely derails her and she has no idea where to go next.
When Tim gets to Sandro, Sandro makes it weird right away by deciding to call him "Top Gunn." They have a long discussion about Sandro's apparent delimma, of wanting to win the challenge, but feeling like the judges (Zac Posen especially) have it in for him. If he does his own style, then they'll keep telling him "too much, too much!" He is essentially trying to get Tim to tell him exactly what to do that the judges will like, but Tim of course tells him that he needs to be himself.
Ten minutes before the runway show, Miranda decides that the needed sexiness will come from her blouse becoming a crop top. Hmm. Also in the sewing-until-te-last-minute club are Bradon and Sandro.
Dom's striped dress comes out great, with graphic piecing and well-chosen bowtie patterns. It's my favorite of the bunch. Jeremy produces a red jacket and brown pants, in a thirties/forties style as a tribute to his Grandmother, which makes it hard to dislike. Bradon's is a bra top pieced entirely from bowties, paired with a shorts suit. It's a striking look, but falls into that category of things I don't understand where you could actually wear it.
Ken's leather dress looks ok but the halter neck looks awkward. And speaking of awkward, Miranda's! Ugh, houndstooth suit with a weird gappy waistband and that terrible green crop-top. Helen's dress has some elements I like - the piecing in the shape of a bowtie outline, and the harness made of ties - but those two elements overlap exactly and interfere with each other, so it just looks fussy instead of graphic. Alexander makes a black suit with a big rainbow bowtie collar. Interesting idea but I find it unappealingly clown-like.
Sandro has made a big pink red-carpet dress with gray ties that just look like they were slapped on at the very end. (We did get to see him placing them there early on in the design process, but there still seems to have been no thought put into making them make sense there.) Sue's also appears to have very little ideas or time behind it, even though we also got to see her working on it for a long time - a basic black dress with an octopus of bowties draped over it.
Justin makes a very sharply tailored black dress, with an interesting pieced line in an hourglass shape. Kate's is also very polished - a belted tunic and equestrian pants. On the other side of the pants spectrum are Karen's, which have a weird belly bulge. Alexandria's colorblocked dress is nice enough but unremarkable.
Ken, Helen, Alexander, Sandro, Justin, Karen, and Alexandria are named safe. However, the judges warn Helen that had she not had immunity, she would definitely have been in the bottom three. Then to add insult to injury, Heidi implies that perhaps the only reason Helen did well in the last challenge was because of Kate.
Then, Sandro brings all the proceedings to a halt by demanding that the judges give him some feedback. After some back-and-forth, Zac Posen tells him that his looks like the walk of shame after an awards show, and that overall his work has good construction but a bad taste level. They don't see "any designer" in his work. He tries to counter by saying he's still learning, and Zac counters by saying this isn't a show for students. They eventually manage to pry him off the runway, and Heidi tells him that if he wants detailed feedback then he should end up in the top three next time.
Backstage, Sandro gets more and more upset as the other designers try to talk him down. He proves himself to be the kind of bully who has no problem yelling at everyone around him with no provocation, but if anyone else dares to raise their voices to him, then he feels justified in threatening physical violence in return. We're back to the rampage at the beginning of the episode: he storms out of the room, knocking down curtains and rigging and whatnot on his way out of the building, and finally punches a camera as a huffs across the street. At that point the camera guys wisely stop trying to follow him.
Back to the judging - they love Bradon's colors and textures. Kate's is sexy and modern, and Heidi wants to wear it. Dom's is amazing and adorable, and the piecing is fabulous.
In the bottom, Sue's gets compared to Alien, an octopus, and kelp. It's a disappointing mess. Jeremy's is lackluster and not modern, and very unfortunately highlights the model's bellybutton. Miranda's is too eighties, has too little of the bowtie, and is completely killed by the crop top. Plus they call her out for always making pencil skirts.
At this point, Tim comes in to break the news that Sandro has run off, and that they'll be updated if they manage to track him down. The judges seem amused and exasperated, and not at all worried or upset.
Bradon is named the winner! In a very sweet moment, he takes the opportunity to propose to his long-time partner Josh. Heidi backs him up and promises to go to the wedding. At first he plans to wait until the episode airs, but then gets to have a video chat with Josh a few days after this was filmed, and they settle the business then.
When it comes time to name a loser, they announce that Sandro has eliminated himself (though they never make it clear whether they actually managed to find him again or not), so none of the bottom three will be out this time. Miranda has decided that she would have been the one out if not for Sandro, doubling her burden of survivor's guilt after last week's debacle with Timothy. I have a feeling she's going to be too far off her game to make it much longer under such pressure, especially since next week is yet another team challenge, as well as yet another 'unconventional materials" challenge.
In the morning montage of the designers in their apartments, we learn that Sandro wants more direction from the judges, Helen is glad she has immunity, and sadly Jeremy's grandmother has unexpectedly died. And of course, since he's on the show, he's not going to be able to attend the funeral.
The challenge this week is one of the simpler ones - they have a bajillion bowties in the workroom, which they must use as inspiration. And of course, they have to use at least one in the outfit (but not in a traditional way).
At Mood, their suggested budget is $200 - and we get to see that Miranda only spent $120, whereas Sue dished out a whopping $400. Either could spell trouble. Back in the workroom, Sandro is still ranting to himself about the judges. We are treated to a number of delicious shots of him grousing, with someone else sneering or eyerolling just over his shoulder.
Dom is making a dress out of narrow black and white stripes that, at least on my TV, interfered with the refresh rate and caused crazy moire patterns every time it appeared. When Tim shows up, he warns Miranda that her design is veering too far towards prim fussiness, and that she should do something to sex it up. When he gets to Helen, he gives her what seems to be only the very mildest criticism (such as he sees the outfit as being more feminine than she does), but for some reason it completely derails her and she has no idea where to go next.
When Tim gets to Sandro, Sandro makes it weird right away by deciding to call him "Top Gunn." They have a long discussion about Sandro's apparent delimma, of wanting to win the challenge, but feeling like the judges (Zac Posen especially) have it in for him. If he does his own style, then they'll keep telling him "too much, too much!" He is essentially trying to get Tim to tell him exactly what to do that the judges will like, but Tim of course tells him that he needs to be himself.
Ten minutes before the runway show, Miranda decides that the needed sexiness will come from her blouse becoming a crop top. Hmm. Also in the sewing-until-te-last-minute club are Bradon and Sandro.
Dom's striped dress comes out great, with graphic piecing and well-chosen bowtie patterns. It's my favorite of the bunch. Jeremy produces a red jacket and brown pants, in a thirties/forties style as a tribute to his Grandmother, which makes it hard to dislike. Bradon's is a bra top pieced entirely from bowties, paired with a shorts suit. It's a striking look, but falls into that category of things I don't understand where you could actually wear it.
Ken's leather dress looks ok but the halter neck looks awkward. And speaking of awkward, Miranda's! Ugh, houndstooth suit with a weird gappy waistband and that terrible green crop-top. Helen's dress has some elements I like - the piecing in the shape of a bowtie outline, and the harness made of ties - but those two elements overlap exactly and interfere with each other, so it just looks fussy instead of graphic. Alexander makes a black suit with a big rainbow bowtie collar. Interesting idea but I find it unappealingly clown-like.
Sandro has made a big pink red-carpet dress with gray ties that just look like they were slapped on at the very end. (We did get to see him placing them there early on in the design process, but there still seems to have been no thought put into making them make sense there.) Sue's also appears to have very little ideas or time behind it, even though we also got to see her working on it for a long time - a basic black dress with an octopus of bowties draped over it.
Justin makes a very sharply tailored black dress, with an interesting pieced line in an hourglass shape. Kate's is also very polished - a belted tunic and equestrian pants. On the other side of the pants spectrum are Karen's, which have a weird belly bulge. Alexandria's colorblocked dress is nice enough but unremarkable.
Ken, Helen, Alexander, Sandro, Justin, Karen, and Alexandria are named safe. However, the judges warn Helen that had she not had immunity, she would definitely have been in the bottom three. Then to add insult to injury, Heidi implies that perhaps the only reason Helen did well in the last challenge was because of Kate.
Then, Sandro brings all the proceedings to a halt by demanding that the judges give him some feedback. After some back-and-forth, Zac Posen tells him that his looks like the walk of shame after an awards show, and that overall his work has good construction but a bad taste level. They don't see "any designer" in his work. He tries to counter by saying he's still learning, and Zac counters by saying this isn't a show for students. They eventually manage to pry him off the runway, and Heidi tells him that if he wants detailed feedback then he should end up in the top three next time.
Backstage, Sandro gets more and more upset as the other designers try to talk him down. He proves himself to be the kind of bully who has no problem yelling at everyone around him with no provocation, but if anyone else dares to raise their voices to him, then he feels justified in threatening physical violence in return. We're back to the rampage at the beginning of the episode: he storms out of the room, knocking down curtains and rigging and whatnot on his way out of the building, and finally punches a camera as a huffs across the street. At that point the camera guys wisely stop trying to follow him.
Back to the judging - they love Bradon's colors and textures. Kate's is sexy and modern, and Heidi wants to wear it. Dom's is amazing and adorable, and the piecing is fabulous.
In the bottom, Sue's gets compared to Alien, an octopus, and kelp. It's a disappointing mess. Jeremy's is lackluster and not modern, and very unfortunately highlights the model's bellybutton. Miranda's is too eighties, has too little of the bowtie, and is completely killed by the crop top. Plus they call her out for always making pencil skirts.
At this point, Tim comes in to break the news that Sandro has run off, and that they'll be updated if they manage to track him down. The judges seem amused and exasperated, and not at all worried or upset.
Bradon is named the winner! In a very sweet moment, he takes the opportunity to propose to his long-time partner Josh. Heidi backs him up and promises to go to the wedding. At first he plans to wait until the episode airs, but then gets to have a video chat with Josh a few days after this was filmed, and they settle the business then.
When it comes time to name a loser, they announce that Sandro has eliminated himself (though they never make it clear whether they actually managed to find him again or not), so none of the bottom three will be out this time. Miranda has decided that she would have been the one out if not for Sandro, doubling her burden of survivor's guilt after last week's debacle with Timothy. I have a feeling she's going to be too far off her game to make it much longer under such pressure, especially since next week is yet another team challenge, as well as yet another 'unconventional materials" challenge.
Friday, August 2, 2013
Project Runway Season 12 Episode 3
As we could see from last week's series of meltdowns, the designers are already starting to buckle under the stress and lack of sleep. So it definitely seemed that this challenge's conceit, that they get to go to Coney Island and play carnival games, using the prizes as the material, is well-timed to function as a nice break. However, apparently it's already time in the season for the "too many inputs at once" challenge. We are also treated to an extremely gratuitous Yoplait product placement. Before they can play the games, the designers have to operate stands and give out frozen Yoplait samples, and ask people for words to describe the treat. And let's not forget that they were split into pairs for this, because why not have a team challenge, and each pair has to choose three of those words as inspiration for their garment. But they're all super-generic (adventurous! awesome!) and didn't seem to have any impact on the judging, so let's just pretend that didn't happen.
What did happen, though, is that Heidi goes in personally to the apartments in the morning to surprise everyone awake. Random! Also funny is seeing everyone loaded up with bulging bags of giant stuffed and inflated toys, shuffling into the workroom. They aren't allowed to go to Mood for more fabric (though they did have to spend $100 each from their prepaid cards to get unlimited tokens for the games).
The pairs, assigned by button bag, are:
What did happen, though, is that Heidi goes in personally to the apartments in the morning to surprise everyone awake. Random! Also funny is seeing everyone loaded up with bulging bags of giant stuffed and inflated toys, shuffling into the workroom. They aren't allowed to go to Mood for more fabric (though they did have to spend $100 each from their prepaid cards to get unlimited tokens for the games).
The pairs, assigned by button bag, are:
- Alexander and Justin
- Kate and Helen
- Jeremy and Ken
- Sue and Sandro
- Bradon and Karen
- Dom and Alexandria
- Miranda and Timothy
Of note: before they showed the selection process, Miranda says that she really hopes she doesn't end up with Timothy. So of course that happens. But, to his face, Miranda says she's happy, and Timothy actually is genuinely happy. Also, Helen regrets having called Kate a [lady dog] when she was revealed as the "second chance" designer, and now that she's been in the bottom and Kate won the last challenge, she's quite happy to try to learn from her.
They all make a tremendous mess of the workroom when the stuffed items get destuffed, and terrible clingy foam goes everywhere. Sue and Sandro take an early lead for worst team dynamic when they get into a fight about threading the sewing machine right away. He gets more and more abusive towards Sue's suggestions, finally flatly calling her ideas [excrement], drawing hairy eyeballs from all around the room. Also Sandro apparently thinks Zac Posen is out to get him.
But then, after Tim's visit where he calls their garment both "Disney" and "hospital gown-y," Miranda goes into a silent mental downhill spiral. Then, in the sewing room, she jets their pair into the "bad team" lead by trash talking Timothy in front of everyone else there. She keeps talking as he comes in - Sandro tries to warn her but she plows right ahead. Poor Timothy - as far as he knew, everything was going ok, and he was really touched because their model brought him a sweet little card, and then he had to walk into that.
Timothy goes and hides in a hallway for a while to have a cry and console himself with the card. Meanwhile, Sandro is also crying at the sewing machine. Sue, in exasperation, finally just says "I'll be your assistant" and gives up trying to make any suggestions.
The next morning, Miranda tells Timothy that she feels terrible for what happened, but stops short of actually apologizing. Timothy points out he did nothing to deserve what she did and that he handled the whole thing much better than she did. They end up exchanging a feeble hug and think their garment is not too terrible. Now it's time for the runway.
Bradon and Karen's is a dress made mostly of blue and green plastic, with a big gathered plastic poof at the hip and and a big white polyester stuffing poof at the shoulder. Dom and Alexandria have a more casual outfit, consisting of a giant blue sweater with a mustachioed Domokun face, layered with a frilly little skirt - plus they've given their model deelybopper hair. Sandro and Sue seem to have made that big poofy cliched dress I was mentioning last episode that at least one person makes for every unconventional materials challenge (out of the blue plastic used by many of the teams). Also the model is fluffing the front of it very awkwardly so I really wonder what bizarre directions they gave her for the walk. Helen and Kate make a nicely shaped red dress out of sombreros, which guest judge Kelly Osborne takes to right away.
Alexander and Justin produce a completely ridiculous look (also out of that green and blue plastic) with way too much going on - mermaid hem at knee length, peplum at the waist, leaves at the shoulder, peekaboo holes at the cleavage and belly button. Jeremy and Ken have blue pants, a wicker bustier, and a stuffed-animal-skin shrug, which has an unfortunate trashy whiff about the whole thing. Miranda and Timothy's dress has improved since Tim Gunn's visit, but it's still costumey, and the shrug looks very Mother of the Bride.
Bradon and Karen, Ken and Jeremy, and thankfully Sue and Sandro, are all named safe. I can already tell that Timothy and Miranda are going to have drama during the judging, so having an airing from Sue and Sandro too would be just too much to endure. But I almost miss the rest of the judging anyway, because I almost sprained my face from how hard I rolled my eyes when Sandro gets unbearably smug about how "genius" it was that he finally browbeat Sue enough that she stopped trying to contribute anything meaningful and just dully followed his orders.
Heidi and Kelly both want to wear Dom and Alexandria's sweater. Zac Posen describes it as an "instagram moment," which sounds good, and they all love how it is fun, inventive, adorable, and made them all smile. Making a casual outfit was smart and they styled it well. Both designers say that Alexandria would deserve the win if this outfit is at the top.
In the other direction, they are blown away by Helen and Kate's dress. It is high fashion, but also has fun and whimsy. When they get to see it close up, they're even more impressed at the workmanship. Both of the designers agree that Helen should be the winner.
In the bottom are two pairs that actually felt moderately good about their looks. The judges agree that there is too, too, TOO much going on in Alexander and Justin's. I knew somebody was going to use the phrase "hot mess," and Posen did not let me down. He also describes all the touches as kelp on the skirt, dorsal fins on her hips, and seaweed on her shoulders. They styling is bad too, as they've matched the model's eyeshadow to her hot pink shoes. Tim makes sure the judges know that they had initally made just a top and skirt, but after he had urged them to try to make it more sophisticated, they added the jacket. So they ask to have the jacket taken off, hilarously revealing pink stuffed lumps underneath the peplum, looking like nothing so much as testicles. So they rip those off too. They agree it's better that way, but that the problems all stem from Alexander and Justin not being able to decide if they were going to make it fun or glamorous. Neither of the designers will pick who should be eliminated if they end up the bottom two.
And then we get to Miranda and Timothy. The judges main issue here is that it is soooooo boring. It looks like a deflated pool toy, in biohazard colors. They appreciate that Timothy did intensive work on the texture on the jacket, but it wasn't effective. I actually have some hope that we're going to get through this without them bringing up their workroom drama, but alas, Miranda has to bring up the topic when explaining that she would pick herself to be out. Timothy then launches into a long confusing metaphor about the Titanic, but I did catch when he made a comment like "if I had been working with a stronger designer..." They obviously edited the whole thing down to a fraction of what it must have been (thank goodness for that) but it seems the judges eventually get a whole account of the sorry affair.
Backstage during the final deliberation, Miranda and Timothy have it out once again. In the end, Miranda feels that Timothy, in complaining to the judges, did the same thing to her that she did to him by complaining to the whole workroom. Sure, in the sense of "bringing up complaints to third parties rather than talking to me directly," but the things Timothy said didn't seem to approach the level of viciousness that Miranda had. They seem to reach an understanding though.
Helen is named the winner! I though that the Alexander/Justin outfit was far, far worse than the Timothy/Miranda effort, but there's no contest as far as the judges are concerned. It comes down to the dress being mostly Miranda, and the jacket mostly Timothy, and they hate the dress a little less, so Timothy is out.
Next time, it looks like something with bowties, and Sandro continuing his escalating series of meltdowns.
Monday, July 29, 2013
Project Runway Season 12 Episode 2
In this week's challenge, Heidi pulls out the button bag and selects the order in which the designers get to chose a new model from the lineup. The catch is that each model is wearing a very fancy set of jewelry (necklace, bracelet, and earrings) and they must make a dress to show it off. And, as they keep telling us, the total sum value of all this jewelry is THIRTY. MILLION. DOLLARS. OMGWTFBBQ!
I'm not a jewelry person. The majority of the stuff doesn't appeal to me aesthetically - and even when the design is interesting, I'm unable to see why having a "gem" (of transparently over-inflated cost created by false scarcity and global monopolies) looks better than colored glass. So this one leaves me a little cold. As it turns out, I'm actually in agreement with Timothy on this one - due to his personal philosophy jewelry isn't his thing either.
The best moment of the episode is the very beginning, before the jewelry is revealed. They bring it in an armored truck, complete with serious-faced dudes in bullet-proof vests and black BDUs, who come out onto the runway before Heidi or the models. So for a few moments the designers are led to think they have to do directly with the challenge - like they have to design clothes inspired by the quasi-military look or something. But alas, just jewelry instead.
In an interesting turn, the designers are given pre-paid cards with four thousand dollars on them - which must last for the rest of the season! So they will be in charge of their own budgets. I'm assuming they get to "roll over" any leftover fabric from challenge to challenge, but it's never mentioned either way. Less interestingly, nobody exceeds the "suggested budget" of $300 for the challenge, at least as far as the editors let us know.
Timothy's ethics will only allow him to use deadstock fabric - in this case, Mood lets him rummage through the bags of discards in the back. I wonder if he'll manage to keep that up for as long as he sticks around. Sandro kicks things off in the sewing room by kicking off an incomprehensible fight with Ken, causing Justin to follow through on his threat to turn off his cochlear implant if need be. Boop!
In Tim's workroom visit, he warns Dom that her beachy look could easily turn to a Palm Beach golddigger, Alexandria that her graphic trim could overwhelm the jewels, Justin that he should lose some of his layers of tulle, and Bradon that he should take risks because Nina is already worried he may not have much range. Justin , for his part, states he's going to ignore Tim's advice. Next, Tim is aghast that Kahindo seems to be making a hash of her first time ever working with silk charmeuse, and advises her to shroud the pucked, printed result with some tulle.
And then we get the usual roll of catty comments. Alexander thinks Kate's is unoriginal. Jeremy says Helen's has too much ruching and isn't his taste - and of course edits this comment over a shot of him being surrounded by the ruffles he's sewing. Dom rolls her eyes while Tim worries that Sandro's is too retro. Tim accuses Alexander's of looking too "granny." And Ken delights in the "hilarious face" Tim makes when contemplating Timothy's effort. Tim tries to have a conversation about it, but as soon as he enters into any criticism (like "it doesn't make visual sense"), Timothy simply shuts down. He pretty much just says "uh huh, uh huh" with his eyes glazed over until Tim gives up and wanders off.
Having seemingly ignored Tim, the now thoroughly-bummed-out Timothy now goes around and begs everybody else for advice. He gets a number of design suggestions to his face, and go-back-to-school suggestions behind his back. Helen uses this as a chance to go around and give unsolicited advice to a bunch of other designers - and everybody knows how much people love that! Timothy ends up starting his dress completely over.
With one hour left, Helen is seriously behind everybody else. It falls to Sue, however, to have the next meltdown of the episode after Dom changes the thread on one of the machines from black to green, Sue tracks down Dom and makes her change it back (apparently Sue just doesn't have the time to learn how to do it herself!) all the while aggrievedly kvetching at her about it in an extremely obnoxious and ungracious manner.
The next morning, Helen says that "[her] work next to Kate's looks like a dog turd." But it then falls to Sandro to have the next meltdown, wherein he screams to the world at large to inform him how to make the steamer work, and tries to drag one of the crew on screen to come and do it for him. That poor soul scampers backstage and out of reach as quickly as he can. Sandro ends up sobbing poutily sitting at a sewing machine. Both Sandro and Helen are still frantically sewing clothes onto their models as Tim chivvies them off to the runway show.
Before the show, Heidi points out that the "blind judging" is reduced this week by the extent of her own good memory - since she was there when they picked the jewelry, she might be able to recall which is whose.
Justin, Ken, Alexandria, Miranda, Alexander, Karen, Jeremy, Sue, and Bradon are safe. Well, there go my favorites!
The judges love how Dom's green print coordinates with her assigned emeralds and feel like it's a "new way" of showing off jewelry. However, they think the stiff fabric she put around the hem messes up the flow of the fabric and the headband she styled it with is too much.
They love Kate's "Marie Antoinette" vibe and note that the color is perfect both for the model and the jewels. Her styling is good and they think it looks like a perfume ad - which I guess they meant as a compliment, but when I thought the same thing it was more of a disparagement. Overall, they agree it's the best thing they've seen from her.
Sandro is also in the top. As Heidi puts it, like last week he piled on and piled on and piled on again - but it worked this time. They like the length and the unexpected neutral color of the fabric, but the exact fabric he chose is too prone to wrinkling. And the amount of black lace, and bare midriff, edge it over a bit too close to trashy.
Heidi and Nina are very irritated that Timothy's reverse-halterback makes it impossible to wear a bra underneath. Zac Posen recognizes the blue velvet as being a cast-off from his very own studio! Nina wishes he had made a tuxedo jacket instead. Or even just turned the dress around so the all-white back was the front. In contrast to how he shut down in the face of Tim's visit, he actually welcomes the discussion this time and accepts what the judges are saying.
I'm not a jewelry person. The majority of the stuff doesn't appeal to me aesthetically - and even when the design is interesting, I'm unable to see why having a "gem" (of transparently over-inflated cost created by false scarcity and global monopolies) looks better than colored glass. So this one leaves me a little cold. As it turns out, I'm actually in agreement with Timothy on this one - due to his personal philosophy jewelry isn't his thing either.
The best moment of the episode is the very beginning, before the jewelry is revealed. They bring it in an armored truck, complete with serious-faced dudes in bullet-proof vests and black BDUs, who come out onto the runway before Heidi or the models. So for a few moments the designers are led to think they have to do directly with the challenge - like they have to design clothes inspired by the quasi-military look or something. But alas, just jewelry instead.
In an interesting turn, the designers are given pre-paid cards with four thousand dollars on them - which must last for the rest of the season! So they will be in charge of their own budgets. I'm assuming they get to "roll over" any leftover fabric from challenge to challenge, but it's never mentioned either way. Less interestingly, nobody exceeds the "suggested budget" of $300 for the challenge, at least as far as the editors let us know.
Timothy's ethics will only allow him to use deadstock fabric - in this case, Mood lets him rummage through the bags of discards in the back. I wonder if he'll manage to keep that up for as long as he sticks around. Sandro kicks things off in the sewing room by kicking off an incomprehensible fight with Ken, causing Justin to follow through on his threat to turn off his cochlear implant if need be. Boop!
In Tim's workroom visit, he warns Dom that her beachy look could easily turn to a Palm Beach golddigger, Alexandria that her graphic trim could overwhelm the jewels, Justin that he should lose some of his layers of tulle, and Bradon that he should take risks because Nina is already worried he may not have much range. Justin , for his part, states he's going to ignore Tim's advice. Next, Tim is aghast that Kahindo seems to be making a hash of her first time ever working with silk charmeuse, and advises her to shroud the pucked, printed result with some tulle.
And then we get the usual roll of catty comments. Alexander thinks Kate's is unoriginal. Jeremy says Helen's has too much ruching and isn't his taste - and of course edits this comment over a shot of him being surrounded by the ruffles he's sewing. Dom rolls her eyes while Tim worries that Sandro's is too retro. Tim accuses Alexander's of looking too "granny." And Ken delights in the "hilarious face" Tim makes when contemplating Timothy's effort. Tim tries to have a conversation about it, but as soon as he enters into any criticism (like "it doesn't make visual sense"), Timothy simply shuts down. He pretty much just says "uh huh, uh huh" with his eyes glazed over until Tim gives up and wanders off.
Having seemingly ignored Tim, the now thoroughly-bummed-out Timothy now goes around and begs everybody else for advice. He gets a number of design suggestions to his face, and go-back-to-school suggestions behind his back. Helen uses this as a chance to go around and give unsolicited advice to a bunch of other designers - and everybody knows how much people love that! Timothy ends up starting his dress completely over.
With one hour left, Helen is seriously behind everybody else. It falls to Sue, however, to have the next meltdown of the episode after Dom changes the thread on one of the machines from black to green, Sue tracks down Dom and makes her change it back (apparently Sue just doesn't have the time to learn how to do it herself!) all the while aggrievedly kvetching at her about it in an extremely obnoxious and ungracious manner.
The next morning, Helen says that "[her] work next to Kate's looks like a dog turd." But it then falls to Sandro to have the next meltdown, wherein he screams to the world at large to inform him how to make the steamer work, and tries to drag one of the crew on screen to come and do it for him. That poor soul scampers backstage and out of reach as quickly as he can. Sandro ends up sobbing poutily sitting at a sewing machine. Both Sandro and Helen are still frantically sewing clothes onto their models as Tim chivvies them off to the runway show.
Before the show, Heidi points out that the "blind judging" is reduced this week by the extent of her own good memory - since she was there when they picked the jewelry, she might be able to recall which is whose.
My favorites were Justin, who made a black dress with an interesting bodice and good movement, and Bradon, who made a very sparkly dress and shrug out of curtain material. Alexandria also worked the similar "glossy red carpet gown" feeling with a dark blue column with a draped neck. Ken and Karen fell a little short of that mark - Ken's teal effort was very generic and seemed too big for his model, and Karen's bright blue thirties-ish gown had odd proportions and badly gapping armpits. Further down the line, Kate made a big, messy, poofy asymmetrical ballgown - the kind of thing you see both on worst- and best-dressed celebrity lists. I'm not a fan of that style for my part. Sue's black dress is also very busy with ruching all over and is way, way overstyled. Jeremy's dress is pedestrian, and with his floofs around the hem, looks like the dress that at least one designer does with each "unconventional challenge" wherein they drape square of fabric (or napkins or what have you) on the bias down the skirt and always think they've done something original.
Helen, alas, knows that what she made is completely terrible, and it is finally her turn to have a meltdown, as she starts sobbing uncontrollably even before it comes down the runway. They actually stop the show so that Tim Gunn can go over and give her a little pep talk. As it turns out, the model who has to shuffle out in her creation is Timothy's model from last week - that girl can't catch a break!
Helen, alas, knows that what she made is completely terrible, and it is finally her turn to have a meltdown, as she starts sobbing uncontrollably even before it comes down the runway. They actually stop the show so that Tim Gunn can go over and give her a little pep talk. As it turns out, the model who has to shuffle out in her creation is Timothy's model from last week - that girl can't catch a break!
As for the designers who opted for a less red-carpet-ready take, Miranda and Sandro both went for retro two-piece midreff-baring ensembles - Miranda's in blue, which had a good silhouette and interesting details but ended up looking cheap and hasty, and Sandro's in beige and black lace, which definitely read as campy (though not as much as last week's). In the realm of odd fabric pairings, Kahindo's mesh-over-print cocktail dress ended up being a bit awkward, as did Timothy's graphic pieced blue velvet and white who-knows-what dress. But at least Timothy actually did allow his model to wear makeup this time, and her hair was up (though apparently no hair products were permitted). Alexander and Dom both worked a more floaty, loungewear type angle, in floaty boudoir black with costumey yellow-lined sleeves, and a green and white print, respectively.
Justin, Ken, Alexandria, Miranda, Alexander, Karen, Jeremy, Sue, and Bradon are safe. Well, there go my favorites!
The judges love how Dom's green print coordinates with her assigned emeralds and feel like it's a "new way" of showing off jewelry. However, they think the stiff fabric she put around the hem messes up the flow of the fabric and the headband she styled it with is too much.
They love Kate's "Marie Antoinette" vibe and note that the color is perfect both for the model and the jewels. Her styling is good and they think it looks like a perfume ad - which I guess they meant as a compliment, but when I thought the same thing it was more of a disparagement. Overall, they agree it's the best thing they've seen from her.
Sandro is also in the top. As Heidi puts it, like last week he piled on and piled on and piled on again - but it worked this time. They like the length and the unexpected neutral color of the fabric, but the exact fabric he chose is too prone to wrinkling. And the amount of black lace, and bare midriff, edge it over a bit too close to trashy.
Heidi and Nina are very irritated that Timothy's reverse-halterback makes it impossible to wear a bra underneath. Zac Posen recognizes the blue velvet as being a cast-off from his very own studio! Nina wishes he had made a tuxedo jacket instead. Or even just turned the dress around so the all-white back was the front. In contrast to how he shut down in the face of Tim's visit, he actually welcomes the discussion this time and accepts what the judges are saying.
On Kahindo's behalf they are merely sad. She hasn't done enough. It looks like uninspiring sand art. And she's committed the cardinal sin of dressing and styling herself to look cooler than the model! When they get to see the dress up close, they hate the print even more. Tim explains he shares much of the responsibility for the tulle covering, but they state that the print is so terrible
When they get to Helen, Heidi is aghast that she attempted to sew fitted breast cups when she's never done that before. Why do you designers always do that, she asks, trying to understand this type of failure she's had to see so many times before. Not only does the model's bust look squished, but there's some terrible "unintentional ruching" (i.e. a completely failed bunched seam) in the back. Plus the panels of some kidn of textured fabric at the top of the skirt are described as "hairy hips." Helen has her second meltdown as she tries to explain how much this all means to her and how doing eveningwear is what she truly wants to do. The judges basically tell her there's no "A for effort" in fashion. She actually manages to pull herself together and tells everyone waiting backstage that she "got ripped a new asshole, up and around my body. Practically I'm split down the middle."
Then she goes right back to dispensing advice! For some reason, Sandro and Helen are trying to get Timothy to change his strategy with the judges. They think he should NOT engage in any discussion or accept any criticism - just say "I stand behind what I made" and clam up. What I want to know, is what makes them think they're in any position to tell anyone how to speak to the judges?
Kate is named the winner. Dom and Sandro are safe. Helen is given the reprieve first - and then Timothy. The green room is distinctly NOT happy to see him return instead of Kahindo. As so often happens in this show, the crazy mess that nobody would be caught dead in is safe, whereas the outfit that seems less terrible is eliminated, due to a lack of some ineffable quality perceived by the judges.
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