Saturday, August 25, 2012

Project Runway, Season 10, Episode 6: Extreme Makeover: Deja Vu Edition


Art is like masturbation. It is selfish and introverted and done for you and you alone. Design is like sex. There is someone else involved, their needs are just as important as your own, and if everything goes right, both parties are happy in the end.
— Colin Wright



Greetings, Project Runway Fans!

Every season of Project Runway after Season 1 has had some sort of version of a "real person challenge."

Yes, I know that the designers had to dress previous contestants of Project Runway--but that doesn't count, since they were already familiar with the design process.

What's wonderful about working with regular people outside the fashion industry is that the designers are forced to address real issues and problems that real people have.  Some of these issues are physical, some are emotional, and some are just a matter of taste and style.  As we learned from previous seasons with the mother-daughter prom and entering the workforce challenges, having an advocate for the client makes it a whole lot more challenging for the designer.  This season, those advocates were best friends--even better than a mother because their agenda is their friend's agenda, not their own.

And every season, a top designer struggles with the challenge.  This season is no different.

Meet Ven.  He's on to something....

"It isn't fair that some designers had plus-sized women and others had regular ones."
Ven is an excellent technician.  He can fold, pleat, dart and set a sleeve like no one else.  He can sculpt a garden of roses out of lowly polyester crepe de chine.  He's an award-winning designer.  He medaled in design at the Fashion Institute of Technology.  

Design is about making things good (and then better) and right (and fantastic) for the people who use and encounter them.
— Matt Beale
You see, Ven is on a reality contest show but I don't think he's quite realized that this is a manipulated experience.  Oh, he knows that the producers are manipulating the competition.  Not everyone gets "plus-sized" models, it is unclear how "randomly matched" the clients and designers were.... where's Heidi's beloved button bag?
But "the invisible hand" goes even further.  The Lord and Taylor Memorial Accessory Wall is mysteriously devoid of plus-sized belts.  I know for a fact that belts come in three sizes: Small, Large, and the only ones left on the rack when I go to look for a belt, so it is possible to get a belt for someone who is a Size 14 + in a regular department store.  It should have been available on the wall.  Oh, those mischievous producers!
Then, there's the whole business about "One or more of you will be out..."  It was just a ploy to leave Ven and Sonjia up there to get a proper "interview without coffee" as they would say in Great Britain.
So knowing the decks are stacked against you, why oh why do you resort to being...at worst...mean ...at best...indifferent to your client?  You could have chosen to be a solicitous suck-up, like Gunnar, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Yes, it was reminiscent of Jeffrey Sebelia, in Season 3.  He actually made Angela Kesslar's mother cry.
But in that exchange, Angela's mom told Jeffrey what she wanted, Jeffery told her what he wanted to make and the two agreed to disagree....disagreeably.  It was terse, maybe not so polite, but the animosity went both ways.
On the other hand, Terri, Ven's client, was nothing but nice.  But right from the get-go, Ven is doing all the talking and Terri doesn't get a word in edge-wise.  We don't learn until much later, and Ven was too busy talking to know,  that Terri is a busy working mom.  She has no use for fussy clothes.  What she could use is probably a gold-medal winning jacket and a sheath dress--two easy pieces that are versatile and....slimming....since that was so important to Ven.
"We'll do this part in black because black is slimming.  Note how slim I look in my fitted, black tee-shirt."
I've watched this episode a couple of times and it is pretty clear that Ven gave the producers plenty of material to cast him as the heavy (pun intended).  Even if he said just as many encouraging things to Terri that we didn't see, the point is that he said some devastating things that we did see.  Sometimes, all it takes is just one slight to send someone's confidence into a tailspin.
It's too bad the producers pit him up against a very shy, reserved Terri.  Ven needed to have a more aggressive demanding client....someone very familiar to Lifetime Networks....

Abby Lee Miller.
"I like color, comfort...I'm a dance teacher and I need to move around a lot.  I teach kids, so I bend down a lot, too."
"I've got this blue here...but I'm not sure I have enough.  You're not exactly a model size."
"Listen here, Ven...EVERYONE is replaceable and EVERYONE wants to see you fail!"
Who designs a slit-zippered dress for a working mother?  That top is way too fussy and it cuts her off in the middle.  Listen, the world knows that pleating and fabric sculpture is Ven's trademark, but award-winning designers usually know how to design clothes to put a body back into proportion and hide figure flaws that we all have.   This is down right horrible.  It deserved an auf this week, if it hadn't been for....
Nathan.  
We're always surprised he's still in the competition.
“Designers need to be mavericks, because the best way to design a successful object is to pretend that either it never existed or that people will be able to have a new behavior with it.” 
— Paola Antonelli
I was too busy soaking up all the information about Nathan's life that he shared with us...because the producers gave us very little to go on thus far....to notice that he was totally getting the "loser's edit."  
"My mother was a classical musician and I used to design her outfits, so I know something about designing outfits for musicians.
Here's the thing...Nathan's client was a budding R&B artist and considered herself something of a diva. She wanted a short, tight dress with a bare midriff.  Clearly, she had taste issues.  Reminds me of someone else who was so very demanding of her designer....
Remember Christian Siriano's Prom Challenge client?  Whew!  What a handful she was.  Not even a can of Tresemme hairspray and fabric glue could help that situation.
So in the end, Nathan took as much of the list his client gave him and crafted a shiny, satin dress with black, illusion sleeves.  There was some sort of lycra striping down the sides...so that it was extra tight.  Instead of being well fit, it hugged her like a gift wrapping awkwardly taped around a bottle of wine.  What sort of behavior did Nathan think she was going to engage in this outfit?   Ice skating at a gentleman's club?
"Black, illusion sleeves? That's something Betty White would wear."
Actually, Michael, Betty White wouldn't get caught dead in black, illusion sleeves.  Helen Mirren, however, has been known to wear them, so, we get your point.
It was sad to see Nathan go...just as I was getting to know him a little better.
Not getting the point this week was my gal,
Sonjia.  
She let her design aesthetic get in the way of the brief.
Her client was short and needed a way to elongate her body and draw the eye upward, away from her hips.  The knot, in this case, was not.  Sonjia, who is just an inch taller than her client, knows how to elongate her body but doesn't use that same know-how on her client.   Struggling with the opposite of know-how was
Alicia.  
Her client wanted a pink dress.  Alicia designs the antithesis of a cute, pink dresses, so she struggled for a while at Parsons.  What emerged was the antithesis of a cute dress, in pink and Alicia remained safe again this week.
Come to think of it, perhaps Nathan and Alicia should have switched clients behind the producers' backs.  Alicia's client looks like an R&B singer in that dress.  By the way, those triangles are not cut-outs, but fabric panels--kind of a trademark of Alicia's and a technique Nathan could have used on his client's outfit.  
Melissa is lucky she had immunity this week.
This was awful and unremarkable.
Poor Christopher!
He designed a very nice jacket to go with the stylish dress he made....
And his model took it off immediately and wadded it up into a ball!!!
"Sorry.  I forgot to tell Chris that I'm allergic to jackets.  My bad!"

"I think dress, hairstyle and make-up are the crucial factors in projecting an attractive persona and give one the chance to enhance one’s best physical features."

— Vivienne Westwood
Dmitry once again designed the perfect dress that every woman wants to wear.
The pleats in the bodice were a nice detail.  The fit was impeccable.  However, this was not the week to simply design a pretty dress for a pretty girl.  If everyone else makes a mockery of their plus-sized, or awkward clients, then, the judges can simply award the pretty.  But that was not the case this week.
Even Elena stepped up to the plate.
Her model didn't need to be a warrior princess, so Elena backed off.  In fact, this week, with her client, she seemed relaxed...even ebullient.  Perhaps she was just grateful to be working on her own again.
The top shows her signature tailoring.  She was safe this week but could have been in the running with slightly longer pants and a slightly longer peplum in the front.


"One is never over-dressed or underdressed with a Little Black Dress."

—  Karl Lagerfeld
Gunnar started out like a fashion-designer version of Richard Simmons.
"There, there...let Gunnar take are of everything for you!"
My favorite part of that picture is the camera man and the sound guy right in back of Gunnar's elbow.  Great shot blocking, Bunim-Murray!  
Despite all his insipid cheerleading, Gunnar won me over this week.  It is one thing to design something to hide figure flaws.  It is quite another to do that and pour your design aesthetic into it.  Taking a page from Christopher's playbook, he created a sheer, ruffled overlay dress that went over a black shell.  It was ethereal, so there was no added bulk, but it was also fitted, so it didn't look sloppy.  She was a woman transformed in that dress.  Well done!

However, 
you hold your pencil like a second grader.


“Over the years I have learned that what is important in a dress is the woman who is wearing it.”

-Yves Saint Laurent

Fabio figured it out.

His client, Ko-Rely, had the style, grace and wardrobe of a lumberjack.

You were as old as the baby on the cover of Nirvana's "Nevermind" album when the Seattle grunge look was popular!

Ko-Rely had a strong aversion to dresses and "girly" looks.  She was a hip artist, but preferred to be androgynous.  Leave it to an androgynous designer to find the inner girl in the Grunge Grrl.

Reminds me of another androgynous designer named Jerrell, who managed to nail the "Get a Job" challenge, where designers had to make a work outfit for the daughter of a client.


Michael Kors is right.  Sometimes, you have to go to the guy wearing a dress to get over your aversion to wearing a dress.


And if a designer like Fabio, who wears dresses as a means of artistic expression, can't design a dress for an artist who wants to be more edgy than pretty--and still make her look pretty-- who can?

The belt is a distraction and the booties just make her calves look heavy, which they are not.

She still walks like a linebacker and has all the grace of a train engineer...but when she's standing still, she looks fabulous.

Perhaps our designers could take on one more real woman this week....


Yikes!  Could somebody dress Heidi in something decent?  It's becoming pretty clear that she can't dress herself.

See you next week, when some sort of challenge sends our fragile Elena completely off the deep end.

Addendum
Several blogs have referenced the Tweet-a-thon that Ven engaged in last Thursday night when this episode aired.  Referencing back to my first quote, it would appear that Ven considers himself something of an artist.  He is not a good designer, however.  Think about a recent fashion designer whose artistry no one would question.
Alexander McQueen.
Yes, McQueen designed for plus-sized women....no one more plus-sized physically or personality-wise than Beth Ditto.
And she looked like a work of art.

Oh, and by the way, pleats and folds can look fabulous on a plus-sized woman....perhaps one of the richest plus-sized women in the world, who can afford to wear the best designers, like Victoria Beckham.
Let's all have a round of applause for a belt that fits!
And what if, somehow, Ven miraculously manages to win Project Runway and the hottest actress of the day wants to wear one of his dresses....will he be as successful as Christian Siriano was with Christina Hendricks?
Fierce!
Something tells me...no.  
By the way, Ven, did you think you'd have Heidi's sympathy this week?  Have you ever heard of Karl Lagerfeld?  I quoted him above.  He's not one of Heidi Klum's favorite people.  He had the audacity to call her "too fat for the runway."
Ven, don't go blaming the client or the producers or anyone else but yourself for the fix that you're in.  You're just digging a deeper hole for yourself.

Monday, August 20, 2012

Project Runway Season 10 Episode 5: Shark Week


It's that time again when we watch fierce creatures of the deep demonstrate their true fury.

"Shark Week, right?"
No, Mike Rowe, it's ANOTHER PROJECT RUNWAY TEAM CHALLENGE.



Gee, Mike...there's no dirtier job in reality television than the Project Runway Team Challenge.

Right, Heidi?


Dirty girl...still showing your fishwhistle this week.

So far this Project Runway season, we've promoted Ralph Lauren's daughter's business, luxury cars, and a new flagship store for Michael Kors....this week, it was Nina Garcia's turn.

"Designers, clothes for working women is one of the fastest growing areas in the fashion market.
"So even though women have been participating in the workforce for decades, we also know they just haven't been fashionable.  So we launched 'Marie Claire @ Work.'"
I don't know about you, but nothing says, "meeting with the board of directors" more than a gold bondage belt and a low cut tank top.  That's why I laughed and laughed at the judging in this week's challenge.

Garcia, Kors and Klum were joined by Joanna Coles, who is one of my favorite judges.  She's sensible and aware of what ordinary women have and need in their wardrobe, yet, she is always trying to push the design and artistic vision forward.  However....it is clear that these four folks are pretty out-of-touch with what most working women need.  And our designers....well, they had such good intentions...

But before we dive into the intentions, we have to contend with another challenge with confusing elements.  The designers were to make clothes appropriate for work, then, they were to dress and arrange a photo shoot with one of Marie Claire's photographers.   It was unclear if the photos were part of the judging score.  Sometimes, they were mentioned, other times they weren't.  It was clear, however, that they became a very convenient way to reward a very unworthy dress.

Before you think we could get away scott free without drama this week....

"Hi!  I'm Mike Rowe.  Here are some more fun facts about sharks. When they swim alone, they are practically harmless.  When they swim in schools, however, they become competitive for prey and are more prone to attack.
"The rare, black Ukrainian bear shark, seen on the left, looks calm now.  But when presented with less than ideal conditions for feeding
"she becomes out-of-control and prone to attack."
Oh Elena....nothing pleased her this week.  She hated everything.  She hated her teammates designs, her own designs, the way her teammates dressed the set...she even called Dmitry 'stupid!'  Nevertheless, she did sing the best line of the week...

"Silk chiffonzies!"

"Silk Chiffonzies" was the nickname the gals came up for Christopher, Nathan and Gunnar because when presented with a world of fabrics, they'll make a beeline for the silk chiffon.

"Aaaayyy...what this outfit needs is a little silk chiffon."
And sometimes, they called them the "Silk Chiffonies," which reminded me of a 1960's girl group.   If they had been a 1960's girl group....

Chris would have been the lead singer.
And no episode would be complete without a tale of woe.  This week's tale was of the recently returned Raul, who was picked last of all the designers for the teams.

He faced rejection and ridicule at every turn.  The producer's hand was very heavy this week.  So were the opinions of the designers.  More about that in a minute.
"Every week, this blog organizes the clothes by designer, but this week's challenge was a complicated team challenge.  We at "Dirty Jobs" "Shark Week" thought it would be fun to describe them by the sort of job or firm the model would work at."
But wait...only "Team Six" mixed up their designs.  In "Team Five," each designer contributed their own look....

We lost him again.....

Frank Gehry's Architectural Firm
Design by Ven

If I have to tell you that Ven designed this, you simply haven't been paying attention this season.  It's becoming a repeat performance of Ven Folds Five, which is why I think he didn't win this week.  It was my favorite look and should have won, hands down.


Andy Cohen's "Real Housewives" Casting Director
Design by Nathan

Because what American women are clamoring for is a top that exposes one shoulder to go with those pants that make them look like a drag queen who forgot to tuck up the package.

"Next up on 'Deadliest Crotch,' designers outfit the entire crew of the Time Bandit in neoprene."

Real Estate Agent for Donald Trump
Design by Gunnar


This isn't as bad as the judges made it out to be.
"What are you talking about?  Her boobs droop like a deflated souffle and if there's anything worse than a deflated souffle, it's an outfit that makes your boobs droop."
Well, maybe so...but maybe the model wasn't wearing a bra.  I mean, if you don't wear a bra, sometimes your boobs droop.

"Mine don't!"

Heidi's Divorce Attorney
Top by Elena, Pants by Alicia

Joanna could envision a lawyer or investment banker wearing this jacket and pants combination.  Heidi said she would be too scared of a lawyer wearing this outfit....but isn't the ability to strike fear in the heart the sort of quality you want in a lawyer?

Elena struggled with the shoulders and at the advice of Alicia, softened them up a bit from her armor-like silhouette.  It would have been nice to have a peplum in the front to match the peplum in the back and maybe the armadillo shoulders didn't have to be so puffy.


Presidential Campaign Coordinator
Design by Alicia, Jacket, with assistance by Elena



Alicia's streamlined jacket, with leather embellishments from Elena, would be a hit on any campaign trail.  The slim pants are very modern.  It was my second favorite look of the competition.  The judges did mention that Alicia had an positive editing effect on Elena.  The trademark shoulders are there as a leather embellishment, but the jacket is easy and comfortable.


Goldman-Sacs Public Relations Spokesperson
Design by Christopher

The dog days of August are a great time to hold that press conference about how the company lost hundreds of millions of dollars in bad investments.  When the heat is on, a smart executive turns to short sleeves.  It's hard to make short sleeves look chic, however.  Working with an elbow length sleeve, Christopher almost manages to do that.  Some sort of sleeve treatment like a v-shaped vent, button detail, or cuff would have helped as would a better fit in the back.

You can see the subtle striping effect in the skirt that was created by sewing strips of chiffon together, a signature for him.  Unfortunately, in the photo shoot, the model wearing his skirt was sitting down.


PowerPoint Presentation Presenter
Design by Sonjia, Assistance on top from Raul

I don't know about you, but when I give presentations I'm constantly misplacing my laser pointer and my remote control.  Well, this dress solves that problem.  Amazingly, it's not an unattractive dress, mostly because the model wearing it has practically no hips or tummy whatsoever.  However, the folds probably bunch up in funny ways when you sit and you better have a large napkin on your lap at lunch when you eat your sandwich.

I bet that Ven was seething when this walked the runway.  Only Ven was supposed to have draping super powers.  He medaled in it at F.I.T., for goodness sakes.

Raul made the leather top with a distinctive exposed zipper in the back, but as everyone fashionable knows, today's chic working woman has long, flowing hair that covers up all the interesting details of her outfit.  Why would you let someone suggest styling hair to cover your hard work on the runway?  Just wondering....


Don Draper's Secretary
Design by Dmitry


Sometimes, you need that perfect dress that takes you from work to evening because your evening will be spent with someone for whom you work.  When you find yourself in that situation, Dmitry has the dress for you.


"That cut-out in the back is a little vulgar, no?"
"Just borrow a jacket from Elena and you'll be fine."
In actuality, Joanna is right.  There's nothing wrong with the dress that a jacket can't fix.  The fit in incredible and there are those moments when you have tickets to a show or a happy hour after work that you wish your work clothes were just a little bit more hip.


Intern for Michael Kors
Design by Fabio


 This dress...and critique... made me laugh out loud.


Michael: This dress could be worn by anyone to do anything...such a versatile dress. I can really see your style in this dress.

Fabio: Really?  last week you said you didn't see my style at all.

Michael: No, I finally get it.  You make clothes that are versatile and flexible for every situation.  I just don't understand that thing on her head.

Fabio: Last week, you told me to inject more of my personal style into the outfit.

Remember, Michael?  Fabio was just following your instructions...
Michael: I've decided that I hate your personal style and prefer your regular style.

I dont understand the high praise for this dress.  The way the top is designed, it makes the shoulders droopy.  The idea of it is clever, although the execution, to me, falls just a bit short.


Model for Marie Claire @ Work
Design by Melissa



I can't, for the life of me, understand how this could be the winning dress.

Heidi: It is so refreshing to see a dress in color.

Joanna: The neckline and the diagonal zipper make it very fashion forward.

Nina: It photographed the best.

I suspect Nina's answer was the one that carried the day.   How else would the producers and Nina justify tossing a photography session in with a runway show with a challenge to produce a dress for a working woman?  So, working women of the world, dress in color.  Wear a big, oversized, uncomfortable neckline and a funky exposed zipper.  Accessorize with a leather cuff because everyone knows that leather cuffs = power.  At least they do on the pages of a glossy fashion magazine.

Customer Service Representative at Amazon.com
Design by Raul, skirt by Sonjia

The losing design this week had nothing to do with appropriateness for work.  It had very little to do with the quality of the picture.  It had nothing to do with fashion forwardness.

It had everything to do with a major personality clash between Raul and the other designers.

Whatever vision Raul has appears to fall victim to his weak sewing skills.  So his teammates felt they couldn't trust him with pants or a skirt and left him to do two tops.  The top he made for Sonjia wasn't bad.  The top he made for his look has an unfortunate bib of ruffles.  It's not my style, that's for sure, but you can't say it isn't IN style.  Look around, there are ruffles everywhere.

Kate Spade, Fall 2012 

Anne Klein, Fall 2012


Mod Cloth
My working theory....Raul was mesmorized by the ruffles on Sonjia's own shirt and couldn't think of a better idea.
"Oh my gosh...I think you're right!  My shirt totally sabotaged Raul!"


I don't know...criticize him for not making a big design contribution for the runway.  Criticize him for poor construction skills, but you can't criticize him for making something that working women don't wear.  They might not be the best looking ruffles out there, but it wasn't as overwhelmingly bad as the judges made it out to be.

"Next on 'After the Runway,' defeated designer, Raul, gives Elena a piece of his mind.

"I love you all and hate you, Elena."
And that pretty much sums up another week of Project Runway.  Next week, the designers take on REAL PEOPLE, which means that Ven will be attempting to origami fold fabric onto someone with real life curves.  WHAT could POSSIBLY go wrong?

See you next week!