Friday, September 12, 2008

Missed Oppurtunity

I understand that in a way they wanted the designers to have some sort of investment into the sign that they were using, so they wanted them to do either theirs or the auf'd designers. But here's my issue: we could have had this great fashion show type situation where each of the twelve signs was represented and everybody was working on something different. You could have even tried to do that first season thing where it needed to look like a collection instead of separate pieces. Instead, we get lots of the same sign over and over.

And only one person picked Leo! I guess there was only one Leo, but that's just not right. Obviously we Leo's are the most interesting sign ; )

On with the show:


This garment is so much of a disaster that I can't even begin. It reminds me so much of the terrible-ness that got Emily sent home, and nearly had Blayne thrown out too that same week. What in the world was he thinking? How could he have conceived of this idea and thought that it actually made sense? What in the world was he thinking when he chose that fabric for the base part of the outfit and then puckered it that way so that it looked like old pantaloons?

What does have to do with being a Libra? I get the idea of playing with weight and balance, but how does this actually convey that? I don't see that really even at all. I'm completely baffled.

I don't really understand how Blayne made it this far in the competition in order to be this bad at this stage in the game. I suppose because of his habit of being on one week and terrible the next week.



I really wish we had been able to see more of the judges talking about the top outfits, because I want desperately to know why this dress won. First, it's not avant guarde. I might hate that term, but it doesn't fit it. Second, if I saw this and had to guess the sign it represented I would say Pisces because it seems fish-like with the scales and the green colors.

I also think that it makes the model look like she's leaning back in a weird way when she wears it, and maybe she is. But there's something about it that makes her look wrongly proportioned. The top is sort of baggy and loose too, which does her no favors.

I'm not saying this is a BAD dress. I'm just saying it shouldn't have won. It certainly is nice, it's well made, and I do like the skirt and think it's pretty interesting. But why it won, I'll never know.



I kind of don't care at all about this design. I don't see it really representing anything about the zodiac. I like the fabrics but really, it's just sort of there. It's not bad, it's not good. It just is.

It's another one of those outfits that the next day I couldn't remember even seeing in the show, let alone what it looked like.



Okay, I realize avant guarde does not mean wearable. I get that. But this is the thing, when Christian and Chris created an avant guarde look last season, it was completely unwearable and yet it was fabulous and gorgeous. This? This is neither of those things.

First, I don't care what Kenley says this has no relation to Aquarius. And I realize that the two fabrics don't have to MATCH but really, they could do better at it than these two. Kenley might want to be known for prints (which is what my text message said last week when they were doing the Diane Von Furstenburg challenge) but really she needs to work at figuring out that fine line that's involved with "matching" contrasting prints. I haven't seen her achieve it all that well.

This is the worst thing about this episode though, not only is this garment off the wall and strange, not only does it not fulfill the challenge, but Kenley turned into a horrible person somewhere along the line. I kind of liked her before, but she's just turned a little more every episode and I want to put duct tape on her mouth.

It's fine if she's in love with her design, she should be. You should be doing something you believe in. But the way she expresses it seems intentionally obnoxious. She's also rude to the judges, and you can think what you like about the judges but that's just a stupid thing to do. But in the end the thing that drives me the most crazy?

"I don't look at collections."

If that is true, my dear Kenley, then you are a failure. You can't be a writer without reading, you can't be an artist without appreciating art. What do you do in film school to learn to make films? You watch a LOT of films (trust me on this one, a lot) and you're encouraged every step of the way to look at other films that have done what you're trying to do so you can see ways they failed or succeeded as well as developing your own idea about the topic. If you want to be a fashion designer and you want to say, "I don't look at collections" then you're doing it wrong and I've lost all respect for you.

I'm almost sad that she stayed, and that's saying something.



Korto's dress really captures the essence of her zodiac sign, Aquarius. But it does so in a rather expected way, I think. The dress itself doesn't seem very new or edgy either. I love it, don't get me wrong, I just think it wasn't out there enough and that might be Korto's weakness.

I do wonder about the little jumpsuit that the model is wearing under the sheer overlay of the top. It looked a little odd coming down the runway.



I have to admit that I think Leanne should have taken home a third win in a row. Not just because I like her, not just because her colors are so gorgeous. But because if you look at the top designs it is clearly the one that took the challenge as inspiration and then went somewhere else with it. She didn't make a direct representation of the zodiac sign, she made something that is tangentially related but more about the avant garde portion of the episode.

It is something that you could take and then tone down into a ready to wear outfit that would be a huge hit. I can't necessarily look at it and see Scorpio, but I can see how she got there once I know. With Jerrell, even after I know what he was doing I don't see what he was thinking.

I do think that there's something about the dress when it's shown in a photo like this one that you don't get, and it doesn't look as good in a picture as it did on the runway. It's definitely something that needs to be seen in motion.

It does make me wonder if the designers supervise the photo shoots, because I don't know why the model is smiling the way she is.



Honestly, as much as Terri's attitude bothered me, and as much as I think her inability to be a team leader makes me think she should go home, I think Suede should not have stayed in this instead of her.

This outfit is not just kind of boring, it's not typical, it's poorly made. It is so badly made that it reminds me of the first time costumers try to mess around with satins. It's puckered and mangled and just sad to look at. But at least Suede didn't try to make himself a martyr. But really, he should have gone home. Sorry Suede, you seem like a great guy though!



It depresses me that this is the only representative we have of Leo. That makes me downright sad. Leo isn't just a fire sign, it's also a sign that denotes royalty. This does not look like royalty.

I think if she ditched the gold skirt for either a different gold fabric or something else entirely, I would like it so much more. But as it is the fabrics just don't go well together and I just don't like them.

But the thing that bothered me most was Terri's attitude. It was useless, it was baseless, and it made me cranky. She intentionally set up a situation where she was doing all the work and then tried to get somebody to feel sorry for her about it. She wanted to be a martyr for her efforts and that's just stupid. Even if you don't like Keith, he knows how to sew a straight line so have him sew the straight lines. It's not that hard. Give him the crap work, sure, but don't just tell him to get out of your way and then get mad at him for listening to you.

While it may have been a touch petty, I like the way Keith handled it. He basically said, "Fine, I'm not going to fight you, there's nothing in it for me." But he wouldn't just sit there on the runway and take the blame either. I'm impressed that the judges realized that Terri was the problem and didn't try to say "Why didn't Keith stick up for himself." Good on you judges, did you review the tapes or something?

In the end, like I said, I still don't think this deserved to go home because really, Suede's was much worse. I may not be a huge fan of Terri's work (I don't actually understand why so many people loved it so much) but in the end, she's proved herself to be more skilled than Suede and I'd rather see her collection at Bryant Park.

Another administrative note: For those of you who have LJs and would like to add the Syndicated Feed for this blog to your friendslist, my friend Domynoe created one for me! It's at http://syndicated.livejournal.com/1girlsopinion/profile. Thanks!