Project Runway Season 9, Episode 6: The Art of the Matter

Hey there, Project Runway fans!  It's time to recap and analyze another episode.

This week's episode was an avant garde challenge!  Exciting, huh?

No, not so much?

How about you, Tim?

Looks like you're busy chasing Swatch through Mood Fabrics.

I was trying to bite designers who were going for the chiffon, but Tim thwarted my plans!

Avant Garde.  Ever since the Christian Siriano season, we've had some sort of avant garde challenge.  What is "avant garde?"  It's the intersection of fashion with art, pushing fashion ahead (avant) of the current trends (garde.)

In other words, these are the clothes that pop singers wear to pick up their MTV Video Music Awards.

For inspiration, the designers were teamed up with a child artist.  I was hoping for a standard, garden variety grade school so that designers would come up with something like this

but instead, they were teamed up with students attending the prestigious Harlem School of Art.

Because I was attending to my own talented children this week, I tuned in a little late.  I was hoping that the designers were presented with a painting chosen via Heidi's dreaded BUTTON BAG, but no.  They were teamed up with an artist and WORKED WITH THE ARTIST ON A PAINTING.  I emphasize this because it's handy information for later, when you will see that most designs bear no relationship to their painting whatsoever.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Let's start with the designer who drove me the most batty this week.  Oliv(i)er.

This week a student tried to help our weird accented friend from Ohio overcome his fear of color with a little art therapy.

"Tonyalee, I don't think I can do it.  I can't touch the color.  It makes me uneasy."

"It's very easy OliVER.  Just move the brush up and down.  That's it!  You've got it!"

But alas, when Oliv(i)er went to design his dress, he did not see the colorful painting he created with Tonyalee....

He came up with this.

To me, it resembles that morning after moment when you throw the sheet over yourself, in your chiffon nightie and stumble across the floor to your pile of clothes.   We've all been there, but do we really need to see this on the runway?  And if you wore this to the VMAs, would everyone think you were pushing the fashion envelope or would they think your tryst with John Mayer totally messed up your schedule?


This man is Kenneth Cole.

You know who he is because if you're human and live in the developed world, you have worn something he designed.  I just point him out because he thought the top part of Oliv(i)er's outfit was well designed.


Presented with a similar type of painting, Viktor chose a similar path, but to more successful results.  But he still drove me just as crazy because he took this magnificent painting

This was one of my favorites.

and reduced it to this.

He put a lot more work into his garment and the effect on the runway was quite stunning

But it was not quite avant garde enough to capture the imagination of the judges.  He was safe, however, because he produced a well-made dress.


The editors at Bunim-Murray didn't dwell on the actual composition of Laura Katheen and Kai's painting, but according to Laura, this rather Georgia O'Keefe-like image

was actually two roses with thorns that were sprayed with water after she painted them.  So while the eye is drawn to the white petal shapes at the top, Laura had peach petals, green stems and thorns on her mind when she created this

Nope.  I'm not seeing it.  I don't know why the judges were enamored with it.  The "juxtaposition of 'hard and soft'" wasn't even genuine.  The "boning" they saw under the dress was actually strips of dark, green fabric.  It was a pretty dress, but it would make Katy Perry look like a prom queen.  She would demand that Laura install some LED lights inside to make it flashy.


Becky and her artist came up with a painting that was out of this world...

She fixated on the little green blocks at the top.  She produced a respectable runway dress

but was it avant garde?  Not really...however...where have I seen the blocks on the shoulder before?
Oh yeah...on the Today Show...

"Stupid Jean-Charles de Castelbajac!  I told him to put the dice on the RIGHT shoulder!"

Well, if Katy Perry can wear blocks on her shoulder on the Today Show, I guess they ARE avant garde after all.  Well done, Becky!

Kim disappointed me the most this week.  She's got mad construction skills but seemed to get all lost in the imagery when presented with this challenging painting...

Tim talked her out of the feathered sleeves and headdress.  "You don't want Michael to call this a 'Hiawatha Moment' do you?"  All that was left was a little leather dress.

It was probably the best she could do with what she was given.  Was it avant garde?  Hell if I know.  The judges seemed to think it was good enough for safe, but not the top three.  I would have put this ahead of Laura Kathleen's, but no one cares what I think.  I don't have a fancy title at Marie Clare magazine like SOME people...

"You talking to me?  Listen, if Nina makes one false move, I am so taking over!"

Right, Zanna...if that's your real name.



Bert, Bert, Bert.....

The accusation here is that Bert is stuck in the glory days of Studio 54 with Scaasi and Halston, but I think we need to move the clock forward about 7-8 years to 1984.....

Can't touch this.

Yeah, he embraced the inspiration piece

so much so that he nearly cut it apart and adhered it to the outfit.

It was as if MC Hammer rolled around in some Colorforms.

Now we get to my favorites...not exactly because they triumphed in producing the perfect, avant garde dress in 2 days with $300 and a rabid dog chasing them through Mood Fabrics.  These designers let their inspiration piece bring out the best in them instead of letting it get the best of them.

This week, Bryce received quite a bit of snide remarks from the other designers for what they perceived to be a poorly constructed piece.  Perhaps...but then again, some of those same designers thought that Bert's outfit was amazing.

Audrey's painting with Bryce was haunting.  The editors had a whole lot of fun playing around with the eyes, even superimposing them on the runway model at one point...

Bryce resisted any temptation to take a literal interpretation of the images in the piece and instead, constructed a garment around the theme.

You can't see it from this pose, but the top is constructed as a sort of straightjacket.  The model had some fun with it.

I actually thought this was the piece that used its inspiration in the most innovative way.  Was it for the win?  Not really, due to some serious construction issues.  But it was a good use of two days, materials and inspiration and kept Bryce safe for another week.


Anya found some sewing skills this week and constructed a pretty sophisticated dress.  AJ, her artist, had a vision of desolation and burning trees and from this

she created this.

I think that's pretty magnificent and should have ranked right up there at the top, instead of Laura Kathleen, but what do I know?


Another example of this is Josh McKinney, who almost pulled off a repeat win this week.  Patrice painted a vision of a tree with a strong trunk and deep roots.

Josh M was really challenged by this.  He dwelled on the strong horizon line and eventually saw the blend of red and green into brown.  Brown, like a standard tree trunk.  He decided to use neoprene (too bad Nina wasn't there this week to praise the neoprene!) and paint it like a tree trunk.  Faux bois, is the term...you may recall Malon Breton getting booted out for trying to create faux bois with fabric stitching a few seasons back...   Josh had some fun with it, painting "carved" initials into the side to honor his mom, who recently died of ovarian cancer.

The tree skirt itself was not enough to take it over the top, so Josh created an exuberant, fiery ruffled top.

Unfortunately, the "Bride of Frankenstein/Stevie Nicks" hair was a little too much for the judges.  Once again, Josh M got docked for his poor styling.

The winner of this week's Project Runway challenge is one, lucky devil.

It was only because his portrayal of the inspiration piece was so clever, that he was able to win with what is proving to be his standard, go-to silhouette.

Anthony Ryan and his artist painted self-portraits.

And Anthony focused on the brush strokes to produce this.

Through half the challenge, he was applying orange and blue swatches to the chiffon underlay.  The artist kept begging him to use more green.  At one point he said, "Maybe I should lose the orange."  Tim agreed that he should lose the orange.  Dude, you're colorblind!  Never make color decisions without running them past a committee!  Luckily, his artist was able to steer him back to the "color story" as designers like to call it.

The same Kenneth Cole who designs everything we wear and thinks that Oliv(i)er produced a wonderful top, began to pick apart Anthony's dress.

Yes, the brush strokes were tacked on...

rather haphazardly...

and the whole thing looks unfinished...

and didn't we see that neckline in the pet store challenge?  (Heidi and Michael mentioned this in the critique, but once again, those comments were edited out.)

But still, someone has to win this challenge and it might as well be the person who designed the dress that Zanna most wanted to wear when deposing Nina from her throne at Marie Claire.

Which leaves Josh Christensen for the auf.  Now I would have auf-ed Oliv(i)er for his heinous, walk-of-shame dress...but the judges, instead, gave it to an outfit conceived by a union between a cocktail waitress and a werewolf.

Now, the artist very adeptly pointed out that the key design element in this painting is the wolf's exposed rib cage.  Alexander McQueen knew how to use a rib cage for inspiration.

Had Josh gone there, he would have been called out as being too referential.  So damned if he does, damned if he doesn't, he didn't.  And after some careful editing, he was left with this.

This made the mistake of being unflattering on the model and bearing little relationship to anything in the painting.  And even though the same shrug was praised last week for being so innovative and edgy, this week, it was just, plain ugly and Josh was, once again, booted off.

And once again, we are left to ponder the subject of avant garde.  I leave you with Alexander McQueen, who, to me, will always have the last word on this subject.  A few weeks ago, I spent a wonderful afternoon at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, touring his "Savage Beauty" exhibit.  There were examples of exquisite workmanship with rare and unusual materials.  But I leave you with a simple piece that lets its shapes speak for itself.  It is neither ugly nor beautiful.  It is provocative.  It is avant garde.

Until next week!

Project Runway Season 9, Episode 5:

Hey there, Project Runway Fans!

Boy, has it been quite a week at Tirare le fila.  First, we had an earthquake...then we had a hurricane... It sort of reminds me of a song.

For the vast majority of you who have not had to worry about having Al Roker and Jim Cantore in your back yard, the Internets erupted over this week's episode.

Has Bunim-Murray taken Project Runway over the shark?


This is the search for the next big fashion designer... sixteen lucky contestants... were picked to live in the Atlas apartment building in New York City...work together and have their lives taped... to find out what happens... when people stop being polite... and start getting critiqued...This is Project Runway!


Sure seems that way, doesn't it?

Did you notice that ever since Heidi got her fashion line with New Balance, we have the mandated episode to plug Heidi's line.  This year, it really went way over the top.

For instance, Heidi is slowing turning into Donna Karan, complete with her own version of Karan's DKNY:

Also, who knew that New Balance had a GYM IN NEW YORK CITY?  Really?  I guess if NYC ever gets the Olympic Games, it could use it as a venue for exciting events like designer races:

Look at that shot.  Almost worthy of ESPN.  Why don't more straight guys watch Project Runway with exciting action like this?

Then again, the winners of this race had to become team leaders--never good.  So it wasn't surprising when someone decided to throw the race.

Down goes Olivier Green!  Can't say that I blame him.

So the whole idea of the challenge was that the designers would work in teams (again!) to produce an outfit for Heidi's line that women could wear with the new sneakers that Heidi designed in a look that could take them from day to evening, using denim or suede or objects found in the gym locker room.  They had 12 hours unless Heidi changed her mind and gave them 14 hours, which didn't matter because the clocks were broken and extra time doesn't matter when no one really knows what the challenge is.

The extra time was for drama.  And all I can think of are hits from the 1980's....

Bert vs. Anthony Ryan, courtesy of the Human League...

You drawing's looking like a waitress in a cocktail bar.  That's all you do.
I picked you for my team cuz you were the last one left.  Not because we respect you.

Now five hours later on I see the same cocktail dress.  That pattern's been so easy for you.
But Laura and I are doing much different looks.  So Heidi will bid you adieu.

No, I don't like this.  You know I can't believe it when you say that this is fashion...

Yes, she's looking like a waitress in a cocktail bar.  That much is true.
At least she isn't wearing sloppy shorts that ride up - straight out of 1982.

We wasted five good hours trying to argue with Bert... The time just flew.

Perhaps if you had spent some time on your own work, I wouldn't have critiques for you!

Heidi vs. Cecilia, courtesy of Soft Cell...

Cecilia thinks that she should (bum bum) go away
She doesn't (bum bum) want to stay
She wants to leave the show and get out of here...

These boring clothes you're making
I see the toll this show is taking.
Pack your things, Auf Wiedersehen, that's all...

Becky vs. Josh M., courtesy of Boy George...

Becky: Do you really want to hurt me?  Do you really want to make me cry?
Josh: If my precious words have burned you, you're tired, you just need some shut-eye...

 

Josh:  I don't really want to hurt you.  I don't really want to make you cry.
Look, I'm standing in the girls' room!  Let's give this team another try...

I didn't say these were any good.  Frankly, nothing about this episode was very good.


OK, Viktor's leather jacket was very good, but I could spend the next 16 minutes capturing and uploading that picture.  Aw heck, go to http://www.mylifetime.com/shows/project-runway and see for yourselves.  Even though I saw a lot of fug that would not look good with sneakers, somehow, Heidi thought there were two winners this week: the aforementioned Viktor and our friend, Josh.


No, there were not two aufs, although many of us would have loved to have seen that.  No, instead, the producers decided to replace Cecilia.   They asked the winners to choose who should come back and of course, Josh M. chose Josh C. (did Viktor even get a word in edgewise?) and the Joshes are reunited (and it feels so good...)  Why, then, was Josh M.* so mean to Becky?


Which leads me to the contestant that was auf this week....Danielle.  To me, she was Cecilia without the accent but now with more chiffon.


And this week, given that the parameters of the challenge involved denim and suede and had to be worn with tennis shoes, it's amazing that Danielle gave us this:

"Chiffon?  Again?"

"Maybe if I give it a black trim, Heidi will find it sporty."

"Last week it was chiffon.  The week before that it was chiffon.  I know it's hard to sew, but really, who wears chiffon with tennis shoes?"

"Clearly, my cocktail waitress's drunk friend with the flowy gym shorts that ride up and give her camel toe."

I dunno, peeps.  I gave up an hour and a half of precious hurricane prep time to watch this crazy show.  I could have been filling my bathtub with water, looking under my children's beds for working flashlights and battening down the hatches.   I sacrificed precious time with CNN meteorologist, Chad Meyers as he sat on a stool with his fancy touch maps!


Bumin-Murray, MAKE IT BETTER!  Soon!  Or else, my natural disaster-stricken life will be way more interesting than this show.  And that shouldn't be.


Until next week, come hell or high water (and we have plenty of both) perhaps we can finally sit back and enjoy an individual challenge for a change.  


*Corrections made!

Project Runway, Season 9, Episode 4: It's All About Nina!

Saludos, fanáticos de Project Runway!


This week's challenge was to design a day-to-evening outfit for Project Runway Judge, Nina Garcia.

Nina.  Picky Nina--the judge that sees every bad hem, wonky seam and sloppy use of fabric glue.  She never fails to notice gynecologically short hems, bargain basement fabrics and poor fit.  She's the author of two books on fashion, former fashion editor of Elle Magazine and current fashion editor at Marie Claire.  

But this time, she gets to pick the outfit she wants to wear.  Could this be any more intimidating?


She gave the designers a raft of instructions on what she likes (clean lines, pants, jackets, separates, neutrals, although she's not afraid of color) and what she doesn't like (too much ornamentation, crazy prints...)

She thoughtfully met with each designer to go over their drawings and give them advice...and in the process, crushed their hopes, dreams and creativity.

"Hmm...jumpsuit.  Seems risky."  What's that color?  Mustard?  Do you have a 'Plan B'?"

"I don't like the jacket.  Do you have a 'Plan B'?"

She labeled so many things a risky or needing a 'Plan B' that the designers were wondering if they should bring in one of those risk mitigation firms that advertise during "Meet the Press."

"Let's be honest.  If I had gone over the Army Corps of Engineers' plan for the levees in New Orleans, the Katrina flooding would never have happened."

It was a nice prize for the challenge this week.  The winner got a spread in Marie Claire, an afternoon with Nina talking about fashion and a taxi ad.


Yes, a taxi ad.

Well...something a bit more tasteful, I'm sure.


Before we dive into the runway this week, let me get a little pet peeve of mine out of the way.


Where was Olivier?  He didn't make an appearance until about 30 minutes into the show and it was a fleeting one at that.  The high point of the episode was when the safe designers were sitting on the couch and Bert opines that Olivier probably had the winning design and he was sitting right next to him!


So I can only come to one conclusion.  Olivier has somehow acquired the superpower of invisibility.  Perhaps he got it from fake Superman in Times Square when he passed by him a few days earlier during the first challenge.  Olivier was wearing nothing but a bed sheet and perhaps fake Superman thought he needed a cloak...of invisibility.

"I haven't found a way to make the hair invisible."

As we look at some of the more interesting outfits on the runway this week let's pay tribute to the many Ninaisms that we've enjoyed during the past 9 seasons of Project Runway.

The "I question your taste level" award goes to Josh McKinley

Oh, not for that side....

but for THIS SIDE.  In Josh's world, Nina should dress more like Brittany Spears.


The "that is not impeccably sewn" award goes to Bryce Black, who, had it not been for some other questionable looks this week, would have been on the chopping block with this.

The "Plan B" award goes to Anya Ayoung-Chee for her "risky mustard jumpsuit!" 

Again, I'm clueless as to how this won the praises of the judges.  I can see why Nina was pleased.  Anya solved the problem of the mustard colored fabric by dying it darker (it looked more like a dark coffee on the runway.)  The belt at the waist helps too.  But...

Really?  To quote you, Nina, "I would like to see YOU wear that outfit."  I do not believe Nina wears plunging backs to work without covering up with a jacket.


And that goes for you, too, Heidi!  You're queen of the "that looks home sewn" comment.  This looks like a professional job, the way the cropped pant rides the legs and the sloppy neckline gap at the top?


The "unfortunate fabric choice" goes to Danielle Everine, who, at Nina's request, tried to recreate last week's stilt walker outfit.

The fabric was too heavy to drape and flow the way Nina wanted.  The shoulders were too severe for Michael Kors, who remarked, "This is something you wear to a Joan Crawford Halloween Party!"

"I would hope that any blouse you would wear to my Halloween party would be neatly sewn at the collar!"

The "black isn't very editorial" award goes to 

Viktor Luna.  The capped sleeves were architectural, as was the skirt, but you couldn't see them because they were black!  Once again, a designer forgets that he's designing for a spread in a magazine as well as an outfit that Nina would like to wear.  So, while he passed the day to night test, he failed the editorial test.  Shame about it, Viktor.  


The "I'm bored" award goes to Cecilia Motwani for this.

This what was left from the drawing above after she ditched the 1980's Dynasty jacket.  Note in the drawing above that the colors were supposed to be lavender and yellow, not grey and beige. Mood, apparently, uses high efficiency CFL bulbs and Parsons School of New Design does not...or vice versa.  Otherwise, I have no idea how fabric could look one way in one location and totally different in another.


Unless, along with her confidence, that consultation with Nina also sapped her ability to see colors, which would put her on par with Anthony Ryan Auld, who really IS color blind!


The "the problem is in the execution" award goes to Julia Tierney for this look:

It's an interesting attempt.  For day, with a lighter fabric, it could have been an interesting take on the coat dress.  But, unfortunately, Julie chose too heavy a twill and the outfit had no drape.  The poorly designed collar creates gaps and bunches at the top which leads one to assume that the asymmetrical hem on the bottom was accidental.  To be safe, this would have had to be perfectly constructed in lighter weight fabric.  But with that much beige, it would have been resigned to being just a day look.

"I don't know if it's a dress or a coat.  It's a 'droat'!"

Congratulations to the winner of this week's challenge,  Kimberly Goldson, who lived up to her last name, crafting a very shiny gold top to go with a pair of flawless, navy pants.

Well done, Kim!  And yes, Nina did wear the outfit and looked marvelous in it!

Kim has immunity for next week and she's going to need it because it's another team challenge and....
a double elimination!


Should be fun.


And I leave you with a little bit of Mazel Tov this week for Michael Kors and his partner husband, Lance LePere.  They married each other this week in a beach ceremony on Southhampton Beach.  Southampton Mayor Mark Epley officiated.

And if you get the opportunity to vote for a gay marriage referendum, know that you are not just doing it for the would-be spouses, you area also doing it for nice, Jewish mothers out there like Joan Kors.

"I'm just another Jewish mother who would like to see her son walk down the aisle.  Is that too much to ask?"