Back where we started from

I didn't meant to do a hiatus at the same time as Project Runway, but that's what happened, huh? Anyway, I've also been reading a lot more books that just weren't good or bad enough to review. They were just kind of there.

But since Project Runway is back, so are my recap/review/ramblings!

Every time Project Runway or Top Chef start a new season, I just watch the new people and wonder if I can get invested in them. They never seem to catch my attention quite like the first crowd (for me, Runway season two and Top Chef season one). But then somewhere along the line, one or two of them win me over. Last season, it was Chris March and Kit Pistol. In season three, it was Michael and Kayne.

The strength of each season, I think, is how I feel about those contestants that I don't become big fans of. While I loved Michael and Kayne, I still really liked Bonnie, Bradley, Katherine, Uli, and Robert. But in Season 4, most of the contestants were ones that I tolerated more than actually LIKED.

So now I'm sitting here wondering how this season is going to fall. I have to say that the women look like a lot of fun this time around. Some of them seem a little out there *coughStellacough* but for the most part, they seem like a really interesting bunch. Then men...well, we'll just say I like Joe, so far.

But enough rambling, on to the clothes!



This completely reminds me of Santino's disastrous skating outfit from season two. I know that Michael Kors said it was the wrestling challenge over again, but I don't see that as much as that turkey feather explosion.

First and foremost: what the hell is with the "girlicious" thing? What is so girlicious about this outfit? There is NOTHING that that moniker fits here. Girlicious to me is something that Britney Spears or Ginger Spice would wear. Something sleek that shows off their curves, possibly in pink but not necessarily.

There's also something very strange about the shoulders. You only got a glimpse of it once in a while, but they were made out of some odd colored fabric that had nothing to do with the rest of it. The whole outfit was just confused and going in too many directions.

Blayne also strikes me as a whiner. His model is too curvy apparently (they had their measurements, and they should realize that's what the hour of fitting is for) and according to my text messages, the supermarket clerk rang up his purchases wrong so he didn't have the money for a skirt.

Really? Austin's dress shriveled and almost died. It's called make it work.

I'm not thrilled with Blayne, at all.



I'm with the judges on this one: who goes in the grocery store and says "plastic cups! GENIUS!" But it worked, and it worked really well. That must have been such a time consuming and difficult dress to make.

I admit that it doesn't really look comfortable, or all that perfect (she is so obviously encased in hard, rough plastic) but if it was made of fabric it would just be a cute little dress. I think the only reason he didn't win is because he went with just one idea rather than the multitude of stuff that Kelli did. But it's a very strong showing to start out the gate with.



I have to say that I'm actually not a fan of this outfit. And I agree with Tim that everybody used a "fabric substitute" and that made it kind of boring. The outfits were interesting, and they were dresses, sure. But it went entirely against the spirit of the challenge.

The bottom of the dress, using the detail from the tablecloth, are cute. It's all at least interesting, but it honestly just makes me think that somebody stuck a bunch of gum on the model and this is the result of years worth of schoolchildren's bad habits.

Plus, there's the fact that the collar of the dress doesn't really seem to flow into the rest of the dress, it's like they're two different outfits put together. I have a feeling most of the collar is the result of Tim's angry comment about nobody being able to wow the judges.



I know that I'm technically yawning because I got almost no sleep last night, but this dress could easily be the culprit. It's so boring that there's so little I have to say about it.

See, I know it's made of paper towels, and that's interesting. But they didn't really transform into anything, it just became a boring little dress. Michael Knight's coffee filter dress was fluttering and fascinating. Somehow, it was both coffee filters AND a dress. Don't ask me what the difference is, but there's nothing that makes it MORE. Maybe that's what Tim means by wow factor.

(The fact that I just typed that as "WoW factor" means I'm playing way too much World of Warcraft, BTW).



On the one hand, I'm not entirely sure what this outfit even is. On the other hand, it's pretty whimsical and much more reminiscent of the outfits from the first time they did this challenge. The skirt is actually really cute, it's the kind of thing I'd want to wear. The top is a little out there, and the colors certainly clash a bit. But for some reason having the stripes on the top go all the wrong directions actually makes me like it MORE.

And the paper umbrellas are a fun touch, I'm surprised nobody else thought of it. Overall, a good idea, but not the best outfit to walk down the runway that night.



Poor Jerry, I actually liked him. I think his problem here was more styling and presentation than the actual outfit. Well, there's a few problems with the outfit too.

But the boots? Too much. The gloves? Never in a million years should have happened. That weird hat she's got on? Bad choice. The wacky cape on the raincoat? What in the world was that for?

If he had actually taken the shower curtain and made a really great raincoat with it, I think he would have been middle of the pack safe. But he tried to just chuck stuff at it to capture that "wow factor" and none of it worked at all. Plus, if he had said something about his inspiration being the whole "april showers bring may flowers" and then actually followed through on that...

Think about it, cute little white raincoat (that was tailored and fit without the weird bunching on top) is atop a neat little dress that actually is covered in fake flowers (or real ones) or umbrellas, or something bright and colorful and reminiscent of flowers...

That would have been a great reveal on the runway, it would have been cute, and it would have been a great soundbite for the judges. But instead, it's just blah. Plus, the dress under the raincoat was a disaster. The gauze, and the random swaths of purple just made me think of a bad sci-fi movie.

I'm sorry Jerry. I don't think you were the worst of the bunch...in fact, I don't eve think this was the second worst. But it was third to last, probably.



This was a really cute idea, and he styled it really well. But I just really like that he went in with a theme and an idea (pasta, one of my favorite foods) and he executed the theme from top to bottom. The pasta makes a really fun pattern on the skirt, the pot holders make a great bodice. It's not really making a dress out of banana peels, but it's still a really cute little outfit.

I'm already thinking I'm going to like Joe.



Again with the yawning. And this time I can't even talk about how it's paper towels. It's just a tablecloth. Yay.

It's not even a new or interesting silhouette or a really fabulous gown...it's just a little cocktail dress. We've seen this plenty of times before.



I think it's obvious that this should be the winning outfit. I have no qualms here, this was the best, the cup dress came in second. I really love the skirt, that's the kind of print that I would wear if I could pull it off (and if there was really a top that matched it). She's the only person that didn't use a single thing as it was intended. Well, aside from the cups.

But she didn't use any plain fabric. Even her fabric substitute, the vacuum cleaner bags, she transformed with die and bleach. She made clasps out of a notebook, she made a pattern with thumbtacks (and I'd like to know how she did that without killing her model). The whole thing was exactly what the challenge was about.

When it comes down to the dress itself, I like the skirt, and the clasps in the back. The thumbtack belt I'm okay with. But I'll be honest, I hate the coffee filter bodice. I can recognize that it was exactly the right thing to win the challenge, but I have to admit that it just looks weird on the model. It doesn't really flow from the top to the bottom, it feels like three pieces put together, like one of those books where you flip part of the page to make silly pictures.

But it's still the clear winner.



I love that you could still see the texture of the dodgeball on the bodice. I also really like the fun, asymetrical nature of the skirt. If Kelli and Daniel's outfits hadn't been so great, I think this one would have been in the top. It's a cute, fun outfit. It's colorful when most of them really weren't and it seems to fit pretty well too.

I imagine that it wasn't that comfortable to wear though.



I don't really see what Michael Kors was so in love with here. I do like that she used fresh produce, and that she thought about it. It wasn't just "I want to throw something living on here to be impressive" it was "I wanted to slice the tomatoes to look like brooches or jewels."

It sort of reminds me of the salad dresses that Chris March made before he came on the show. But I see why the judges didn't really want to put it too far ahead because it, once again, was just a piece of cloth that happened to come from a grocery store.

It's a good dress though, it's made well and it's just different enough to catch the eye. Plus, the colors are all fabulous together.



This is a really cute dress, but it seems like something you'd make for a five year old for Halloween. Add a tiara of twizzlers and call her queen of candyland.

But I do have to say that of all the people that listened to Tim say "what's with all the fabric" Leanne actually did something about it. There's not much different between her gluing the meringues on top of the tablecloth than Joe gluing pasta on a muslin skirt, or Chloe gluing leaves on a dress for that matter.

It's not my style at all, and it could probably stand to be a few inches longer, but it's a pretty good effort. Also, for some reason, I really like Leanne and can't wait to see more from her.



I hate this outfit and I don't like the designer much more. Remember when I said Blayne was a bit whiney? Yeah, Stella turns that up to eleven. She's the one that got the trash bags without looking to see if they were high quality or cheap, and not thinking about it. And she put more in her bag than one box of trash bags and yet she couldn't muster herself to do anything but this?

It's a horrible, horrible outfit. It's not even close to the outfit that got Kirstin eliminated in season two (the clothes off your back challenge). That one at least had an interesting skirt to go with it.

Not to mention that she styled it with the hair under the halter top, so I kept wanting to yank it out and fix it.

She did nothing to make this outfit. She barely draped it, and sure she "hand sewed" it, but really? That's barely any effort compared to what some other people did here.

She should have been eliminated, I can't imagine why she wasn't. Jerry at least showed some creativity. This, this is something that a middle-school goth kid might whip up.



It's boring. It's a checkered tablecloth. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Also: SUEDE? And he owns a bedazzled denim jacket with his "name" on it? Wow, I am not impressed.



I don't exactly love the look of the top, but I love that she did it. It was something different, and nobody else really did anything similar (unless you count Blayne's weird jump rope belly patch). I can't imagine how much work went into weaving that together, I'm impressed.

It's a pretty nice outfit too, but there's not that much I can say about it.



Boring. Tablecloth. Only with fly swatters as decorations. And? And nothing, that's it.

You know what I'd like to see? Next week's challenge to be "take all that crap you bought and didn't use, you know, all the fun stuff? Make THAT into a dress now you slackers."

But I guess they didn't know people would buy all those fun looking things and then not bother using them.

I think this crowd looks promising, but if Stella doesn't get eliminated soon, I might snap. Especially if I have to see her in those leather-booty-short-with-striped-leggings pants again.

But I know what I like...

You know, you would think that the art history minor in me would have celebrated this challenge. You would think I would love it. But really? I was kind of bored by it. I think that when they did the inspiration challenge in season two, they nailed it on the head: designers should be inspired by everything around them.

So giving them famous works of art was intriguing but not that fascinating to me. Being inspired by art should be status quo. There was something about the way they were phrasing things, that they were "lucky" to get to be inspired by this art...it didn't make any sense to me.

This episode also made a few things more clear. I'll get into them as I go.



On the one hand, if you put the avant guarde dress and this one side by side, I wouldn't say they were THAT similar. On the other hand: he should have known better.

But really, the similarities to the previous dress weren't what bugged me. To be honest, nobody this season has much of a range. Chris probably has done the most varied work on the show.

What bothered me was that it was practically a direct copy of the inspiration piece. Remember when Andrae took a picture of gutter water and made it a fabulous gown? This was supposed to be about transforming the piece of artwork into something else, and Chris didn't really do that much for it. It was a very literal translation.

It is very lovely though, I will give him that. But I have to say that I'm just sick to death of Chris telling Tim Gunn that he likes his work, and ignoring any advice he's given. "Don't defend the shoe to me!" Every time Tim tells Chris something, Chris ignores it, and then he gets called out for it on the runway.

However I think it's terribly hypocritical of them to be so rude to him about this being similar to ONE other outfit he's made. Rami, Christian, and Jillian have turned in the same outfit over and over again.



I'm so bored with Christian. Where is this talent? Where is this wunderkid? Look, he made skinny black pants, a poofy top, and a short jacket. The sleeves are poofier than usual, sure. But it's still just a more exaggerated version of the same thing he's been making since day one.

I know that the final collections have already been posted, but I like to be surprised so I've only looked at Sweet P's. But if Christian wins with a collection full of skinny, unflattering pants, short jackets, and poofy sleeves, then I will personally write a letter to Bravo telling them to stop abusing my faith in them.

Christian reminds me of Santino with one fundamental difference: once you really looked at it, you realized that most of Santino's problems boiled down to being confident, and putting on an act in order to sell a brand. Christian? I think Christian really is a prissy little drama queen.

I don't think this outfit should have won, because I don't think it's really different at all. I don't even think it's that much of a re-imagining of inspiration piece, it's more of a literal translation. No thank you.



Jillian is also turning in the same outfit over and over, but it took the denim challenge for me to start to realize it. She likes tailored jackets, she likes short skirts and high collars.

The difference is, I think that Jillian's clothes are more wearable, more interesting, and just show more talent. I think she, again, took a more literal approach to creating this outfit, but I think she re-imagined it just enough. Actually, I'm sorely disappointed that everybody went so literal. That is just dull.

I think this outfit was cute and fun, but at the same time it makes me think of ice skaters or maybe ballet dancers. It definitely has a costume vibe to it, but then, so does Christian's. Apparently costume and avant guarde are in the eye of the beholder.



First, let me say that I think this is the best model this season. She is just absolutely gorgeous.

That out of the way, Rami had a chance and he failed it. I can understand his point: why should he compromise who he is as a designer?

The answer? To win the competition. If he wants to be known as the designer you go to for drapy-grecian dresses? That's fantastic. Plenty of designers only really do one thing (See Christian and Jillian), but that should be what you do in a COMPETITION. We know he's good at other things, he's done really great tailored work, he just doesn't LIKE to. But isn't something like Project Runway about the challenge in the end?

This is a beautiful dress. I think it is downright gorgeous and I can find very little to say against it. It was interesting, it was different, it was fun. The color is stunning. As much as I'm tired of Rami's draping, and his attitude about it, I wouldn't have even been upset if this dress had won.

It is, again, far too literal for the inspiration. I really hope he learned his lesson before he made his collection.



Poor Sweet P. I really just think she was out of her depth once she got to this point in the show. It wasn't anything to do with her model being late, it was that the dress itself is just not up the level of everybody else's pieces.

I could make this dress. I try not to say that, but I could. It wouldn't be that hard, but I wouldn't actually do it because it doesn't look that good either. There's just something odd about it, something off.

I think she's the only person that didn't go literal with her inspiration, and went so far afield you can't see it at all. She needed some sort of train, at the very least (thanks Shoka for the suggestion). It doesn't bring to mind "peacock" at all.

Also, it makes the model's hips look large. It's not a very flattering silhouette at all.

One thing I have to say though: of everybody this season, I think Sweet P would be one of the first I would personally hire if I was a rich eccentric. She's full of self-doubt, and that hampers her work in the show, but when she goes for the gusto she really nails it.

I still think she and Elisa should start a line together.

Next week is the reunion show! I probably won't have much commentary on that, since I _try_ to focus on the clothes. But we'll see. Not too long and this blog will return to your regularly scheduled book and movie reviews!

Also: a quick thank you to MyIncognito, for all the wonderful comments : ) I've really enjoyed them!

Slammin'

Before I get started, there is one thing to ramble about. I've said a couple times that I don't get why Tim Gunn keeps saying that this group of designers was the most talented.

He appeared on the Daily Show this week, and elaborated a bit: they're the most talented when it comes to execution and sewing. They are very technically proficient. I have to say, I agree there. They do seem to be accomplishing more and with better results in their time allotment.

Here's a flash for Bravo though: I don't care. I don't care if they could make me a three piece suit in two hours. I don't care if they can line a jacket in thirty minutes. I don't care if they've never seen an unfinished hem.

I want them to be ARTISTICALLY impressive. And those are two very, very different beasts. This batch of designers has been safe, boring, and I've seen almost nothing that really is going to become iconic. Think about it: Jay's Empire State Building dress. Santino's disastrous lingerie. Jubilee Jumbles. Coffee filter dresses. Teal wedding dresses with trashed trains.

The memorable outfits from Project Runway are not the ones that are made impeccably. They're the ones that are different, that show a great amount of creativity, of ingenuity, of insight and just DESIGN.

Christians fit last week, reminiscent of some of Vanessa's complaints from season one, is that "real fashion" isn't like the show. "Real" designers aren't expected to sew a garment in two days, in fact they aren't often expected to sew much at all.

So, in a competition that is supposed to be about design, how can you claim that being technically good, but not that creative, makes them "the best group yet?" They clearly aren't, I'm sorry. They need to be idea people, they need to make more flops that show that they were at least trying to be crazy. They need to take risks and chances. Universally the most interesting challenge this season has been declared the avant guarde challenge. That's because its' the first time this season they've really done something that was out there and not necessarily wearable, but at least interesting.

Okay, all that off my mind now, we turn to this challenge. To make an outfit for a WWE Diva.

Um. Okay? I mean, it's no more ridiculous than some things they've done, but still.



Okay, it's no secret: I love leopard print. I adore the stuff. I can't really pull off wearing it, but I love it all the same. So this was, very much, my favorite outfit of the night.

Plus, I love the hoodie, especially the fablous bell sleeves that give it a little more style and definition. It makes it more flirty and fun.

The criss-crossing straps are also fantastic, and a great way to add some detail to an outfit without loading it down with rhinestones or feathers. I just really love that kind of stuff.

The styling is also fantastic. I love the boots he picked to go with this, they're perfect. And his girl really worked it on the runway, and you can tell she really loved it. I'm not sure what the holster on her leg is, but it's an interesting touch too. It keeps her legs from becoming a big bare area.

I completely agree with this win. This outfit looks fabulous, and I'm glad to see Chris win one.



I know everybody loves this. And I know, I don't like Christian and that's factoring into my opinion. But I can't stand it. One of the things I like about Chris' outfit is that it doesn't scream what it is. Sure, you wouldn't catch somebody just running around in those hot pants, but I could see it being a costume for all kinds of characters. Trust me, you put an anime character in that, and the cosplayers will go nuts trying to duplicate the straps.

There are only so many things that Christian's outfit could be. And most of the ones I can think of aren't very nice. It reminds me of something, and I can't think of what, but it isn't a good association.

Also, I don't think it really displays much creativity on Christian's part. He's making variations on a theme here. Is his entire fashion week collection going to be "feirce" tight pants, short jackets, and skin tight shirts? I realize this is chaps with lace and such. But really, he makes tight pants and a jacket almost every week.

I'm bored with him. I do have to say though, his attitude this week was refreshing. Thanks for having fun with the challenge for once Christian!



This outfit is a very close second for the win, in my opinion. While I think the shoes are horrible, the rest of it is spot on perfect. The shiny fabric makes it the costume, and gives it the Diva attitude. But the design of it is very sporty and fun. It's taking something pretty standard and making it really sexy.

The criss-crossing straps are also fabulous. They showed some close-ups while talking to Jillian and I was fascinated by how well done they were. Also, I again this this outfit is more versatile in it's own way.

Fabulous job from Jillian.



I'm not sure words can describe what I think about the thing he made that poor girl wear. For one, I'm not sure it's the color that's so much the problem, it's what he did with that color.

Something like Jillian's outfit made in that pink? Could be flirty and cute. This frilly, uneven mess? The color just accentuates how terrible it is! I'm absolutely astonished that they didn't think Rami's was worse than Sweet P's. If Ricky hadn't made that horrible sack for his girl, I would be right now declaring that Rami should have been out.

It doesn't fit her, it doesn't flatter her. I can't, for the life of me, figure out how this came from RAMI.

I can't explain my innate "Get it away, get it away!" reaction to this garment. It's that bad.



Ricky, what good will you earned by not crying at your auf'ing, you ruined with your sour grapes complaining on the Bravo website.

He said (paraphrasing) that they wrestle in bathing suits, that their wrestling outfits look like bathing suits.

No, they don't, okay? Maybe, a long time ago they did. But look at what the girls were wearing when you first talked to them. They were wearing things more in line with what Jillian made. Plus, this outfit is not practical for wrestling. As much skin is showing in Chris, Christian, and Jillian's outfits, they were fitted so well and made in a way that they looked like they weren't going anywhere. This? This looks like the first girl she fought would grab that thin bit of fabric in the front, and yank her by it until the thing ripped in half.

But as much as this showed little innovation and not as much skill to make, there's the sack he made to go over it. First, why was that necessary? Because he had the time since his bathing suit wasn't that difficult? Second, it was ugly. It was poorly made, it looked terrible on her, and it was awful looking.

Ricky, don't whine about this. You lasted a lot longer than many people think you deserved, you got one win before you left, it resulted in your outfit being sold (and selling out literally within an hour or so), and you made it this far. Be a big boy, recognize your faults, and move on. Don't say that your outfit fit the theme when it so clearly didn't match anybody else's, because it only makes it more obvious that they understood and you didn't.



I really hope this Diva did her own hair and makeup, because otherwise, Sweet P...what were you thinking?

As for the outfit, I don't think it's as bad as everybody (Sweet P included) seems to think. I can see the Pin-Up influence, and I would actually think it would be fun to do a photo shoot with this outfit doing traditional pin-up poses. With different hair and makeup, of course.

Now, Sweet P messed up on one thing: there was no reveal. She said this Diva's thing is "Robe, and reveal."

Okay, then you need a reveal. However, I think she did the best she could after her fatal mistake: choosing those fabrics. She couldn't do anything with those fabrics, unless she mixed them with something else, that wouldn't leave her Diva looking like the alien princess of the latest Sci-Fi original series.

But in the end, I absolutely do not believe this outfit was on the same level of terrible as Ricky and Rami's. I think she just didn't make what her Diva would like, so she had trouble catering to the client.

I have to say that as much as this was a strange and nonsensical challenge, it produced more memorable outfits than most of the other ones this season. So in the end, I did enjoy it more than others.

The Fashion Week show was this morning! I'm not telling, but I've already read who the final three are, the information is out there if you like!

Project Runway: Home of bad puns

You know, I realize I should have seen this before. But the titles of Project Runway episodes are alway terrible puns, and they usually give away the content of the challenge before it gets started. I wasn't shocked in the slightest about the denim.

The actual context of gathering materials was just odd to me. Why this warehouse? Why make them sprint 50 yards to get to the material? Why hang it up so high that I would have never been able to reach it? And why did the warehouse have a dirty, dirty floor?

Do viewers really respond to the scramble? It reminds me of the food flurry* on Top Chef. I don't really like what it brings out in the competitors. Is it just me, or does Victorya seem reminiscent of the type of person that no matter what you say you found, she'll say it's probably hers? "Oh, Victorya, there was some money on the floor in the hallway, do you know whose it is?" "Oh, it's probably mine, yeah, I think it's mine..."

*(I fetched that term from Television Without Pity, it's not mine)

The outfits themselves, I have little to say about. You'd think I'd be more excited, since if I had my way I'd wear jeans all the time. But for some reason all I kept thinking of was the time Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake showed up at some red carpet with denim formal wear. They're still on worst dressed lists for that.



You know, this dress is so close to nice...honestly, I think that weird little piece that Tim pointed out is hat ruins the effect. If I have to hear one more designer say to Tim Gunn, "But I like it..." I'm going to scream. Listen guys, any artist should know and embrace the fact that sometimes you're too close to your design. Sometimes the best thing you need is an outside pair of eyes. Especially an extremly creative, knowledgeable, and intelligent pair of eyes as Tim Gunn possesses.

I also don't really see the "little black dress" interpretation. If this was made out of a nice black fabric, it wouldn't really fly very well. It's too...something. I always thought the point of the little black dress was that it was entirely timeless, and as long as you fit into it, you could wear it. It's outside of the trend-sphere. The actual skirt here is cute, but the top is just not working in a way that's timeless.

I don't think it was a travesty though, I'm not sure why the judges were so upset about it. But then, I'm often confused as to what upsets the judges. They seem to find one thing and harp on it for ages. Look at Stephen's "French maid" debacle. That dress looked nothing like a French maid, and they never stopped saying it.

All that said, the dress certainly doesn't wow in any way, shape, or form. Chris is back to be being a little non-plussed and boring. Stop that!



Okay, I should preface this: I absolutely without a doubt, with every fiber of my being, hate skinny jeans. The depths to which I hate this fashion trend know no bounds. I think they always look terrible, I have yet to see them on anybody of any body shape that I think they look good.

So making his model look like she's teetering on stilts instead of legs? Not winning me any points here. I personally think adding the sleeves on the bottom makes it look like she's wearing leg warmers.

Also, the outfit just reminds me of everything else Christian has done. Maybe it's that he's putting his personal touch in everything, but really? He reminds me of Santino more ever week. I first started writing up these recaps because I was trying to show that Santino was using almost the same techniques from week to week and that I couldn't see this amazing talent people kept talking about.

I say the same about Christian. And his attitude is even worse. For one thing, yes, getting denim wet changes the color. Does it do it permanently? Not to any jeans I've had. A damp cloth wouldn't have done so much damage that it deserved Christian's little preachy speeches. You know what? How hard is it to say, "You know, that might not be the best idea. If you're going to get it wet, do it today so it has more than enough time to dry." And then? DROP IT. Walking around boasting about how right you are? It's so utterly childish.

Also, might I point out that once again, Christian was "above" the challenge. You know what Christian? If you're so "above" this? Then leave. Walk out. Quit. Nobody is keeping you there. Of course this thing isn't how "fashion is." But it's how the SHOW is, and if you didn't know that before you auditioned I have no sympathy.

As for the outfit, well, honestly, if I hold my hand up to the screen to block out the pants, then the jacket is kinda nice. But the poofs on the shoulders confuse me. They looked on screen like the seam had ripped and the lining was poking out. Other than that, I actually like it. The collar is fun, and I really enjoy that it's made out of pants.



I'm really baffled by all the hate for Jillian's coat. Okay, so I completely recognize what Tim said in Tim's Take: this is too similar to what she sent down the runway last week. I also do think that taking off a row or two of the red tags would improve that idea.

But overall? I like it. I actually think that it takes Victorya's idea of updating the classic trench and actually DOES it. I think it flows well, for denim, and the color is really the right one for it.

The construction can't really be seen on a screen, so I can understand if it was made poorly. But I don't think it makes the model look huge, it makes her look like she's wearing a coat. They're in New York City, it gets cold there, and women wear coats when it's cold.

Actually, employing the same method I used for Christian's outfit, I covered up the red on the shoulder and the whole thing was more interesting. So while I think the idea was cute, that probably should have been ditched.

But overall, it's not a bottom two garment, in my opinion.



Okay, here's the thing: Rami obviously watched season three of Project Runway. How do I know this? When talking about the field trips, he says you could be making a dress out of trash or going to Paris.

Both of these things were very significant moments in season three. Season three ended with the victory of one Jeffery Sebelia. Whose final dress happened to use zippers along the seams as an accent. It was, in fact, widely praised for this.

So why exactly has everybody, Tim Gunn included, been oohing and aahing over the zippers like he invented the idea? Yes, he uses it to really good effect. Yes, I like it overall. No, there are no new ideas in fashion. But I don't like that everybody seemed to be acting like it was so brilliant. Yes, it was cool looking. Fine, I'll give you that.

Actually, with the exception of the way the zippers go down in the front edge of the skirt instead of just going around and doing a full ruffle, there's not much fault I can find with this dress. I love the top, it's really cool looking. The buttons are something that reminds me of a sailor costume, but it's pulled off well. It's a great garment, and if it had won I wouldn't be surprised.

I will however point out that Rami's assertion that he's more sophisticated and fashion forward because he's not American is insulting. What is it about this season? First Michael Kor's says that straight men can't design women's evening wear. Now we get that American's aren't fashionable.

You know what Rami? That's ridiculous. Think before you open your mouth. If you said you have a different design sensibility? I would be behind you. But saying it's BETTER because it's not American? Whatever.



Okay, I really don't know why Ricky won. For some reason I'm okay with it, I don't know why. I don't understand why it's any more or less impressive than Chris or Rami's designs (in fact, it reminds me a lot of Chris' design). I can't explain to you a single reason why this is a winning design other than it must have been constructed impeccably.

Now, one of the parts of the challenge was to represent the Levi's 501 brand. And I can see how this dress does that more than the others. Certainly more than Rami's. I think that it was probably what helped it win, that it seemed to fit 501s so much more than the others. Even Christian's, as much as it was based on their "trucker jacket" didn't quite capture it. Don't ask me to explain why, but 501s are in my world rugged, real world jeans. They have their own laid back style, but they're not high fashion. So maybe that explains the win.

I do have to say thank you to Heidi for asking Ricky what the hell was up with his crying. She said it exactly the way I wanted to.



I probably would never wear a denim dress. But if I for some reason decided to, it would probably be one like this. Now, the fact that the dark patches don't line up at the waist bothers me. But having just made a dress that had a similar issue I can tell you I understand 100% how hard that is to do, especially if you're in a time crunch.

There's just so much that is right about this, and it puts me right back on the Sweet P bandwagon. I would like her more if I didn't see her reactions to criticism, but her clothes are getting better and better.

This dress has so much to like. The pattern, the construction, the shape. It's all in all just so well made, I think the only reason she didn't win was because it was more dressy than the idea of 501s.



Okay, sometimes I say things like "I could make that!" Most of the time, it's not really true. It's usually especially not true if you take into account the time constraints that these contestants have.

But I do not exaggerate here: I could make this. Something like this, any costumer with a couple hours and the right supplies could throw together. I know she tried to say on the runway that it took her a long time to do, and it LOOKS simple but isn't...and I think the judges believed that as much as I do. If it was that hard for her to do this, then how has she survived so far?

There's nothing to like about this. The jacket was probably pretty standard before she altered it. The collar is okay, but the skirt-that-isn't-a-skirt is weird looking. It doesn't match, it doesn't flow well. I can't find a single thing to praise about this coat.

My picks for the top four are changing, slowly. I'm not entirely sure that Jillian can survive much longer. She's been about to miss the runway for weeks now, and seems to be falling more and more unhinged. Rami, of course, is a shoo in. Sadly, Christian probably is as well.

So the question is, Chris, Ricky, or Sweet P?

*insert "witty" guarde joke here*

On-Guarde, Off-Guarde. See, it's "Avant guarde" jokes! Haha. Really, we get it Bravo.

This challenge was actually FANTASTIC. Thank you, this is exactly what I want from this show! Please do more of this. And the prize was very good, so please, more of that too. I was actually struck by the fact that the description of taking the avant guarde idea and translating it to ready to wear echoed a lot of what I said talking about Kit's dress in episode one. Which turns out to be rather ironic...

So, we have another team challenge. I find it very interesting that the only people who led teams were ones who hadn't before. Chris certainly wasn't going to step up to that plate again, and Ricky probably couldn't have been paid to go through that again.

Jillian, who had probably one of the easiest times in the previous team challenge would have led again, but lost in a notion toss. What did they toss? It looked like a pack of needles. Anyway, I'm surprised that Victorya didn't think strategically and say she should lead because she was immune. I can't recall a single time they've eliminated a worker in a team challenge, it's always the leader.

On to the fashion! Each team did two outfits that were meant to be a matched set, so here goes:



I admit I was worried about this one. I loved it, but I don't really know much about avant guarde fashion at all. I thought that of the looks walking down the runway, it was the most over the top and conceptual, and the most like it was based on an idea or a word rather than a "look."

Also, I could not in a million years imagine making this dress. I think my brain would freeze about a third of the way through. Over 40 YARDS of fabric? Yikes!

I also think one of the great benefits here was the great synergy between the team members. While Christian had some of his standard diva behavior, it really seemed like Chris knew how to take that attitude and roll with it. Christian also seemed to really respect Chris' opinion and expertise. It was a great partnership, and that was refreshing to see!

Their ready to wear look was a great translation of first dress. I agree with the judges, the skirt is just there. And to be honest I'm not a fan of the shirt, but it works for the challenge. It is what it was supposed to be, even if it was a bit too puffy for my taste.



What was Victorya's contribution to this look? The outfit under the coat? Eh, I was underwhelmed. Okay, I admit it. I just really don't like Victorya, and I can't even completely explain why. Possibly because she hasn't made one garment this season I've actually liked that much. But as soon as I saw that coat walk down the runway I knew this wouldn't be the episode to take her out unless they really hated the ready to wear outfit.

That coat is a marvel. I can clearly see the inspiration from the hairdo (which wasn't as clear to me with Christan and Chris). I don't know that I like the tan pants underneath, just because they don't seem to match the plaid. But the plaid looked much darker on my television, and I liked it.

There's so much to love about this coat. But I think that the reason that Christian/Chris won was because they really were outside the norm. I could see a J-rock star wearing this coat, easily. It isn't something that would be worn every day by an "average" woman, but it's a look that would be wearable in certain situations outside the runway.

If you know the ready to wear outfit was constructed in about twenty minutes, you think it shows. But if you don't think about it (and you have a model brilliant enough to pose like this one to minimize the flaws of the garment) then it's a great. The little strap (which the model is covering in this picture) really wasn't great, and the dip of the dress was too low, in my opinion. But it echoes the original dress very well. It is cute, and fun, and I absolutely can't believe it was made in less than an hour. Actually, I watched Iron Costumer at Technicon last year, so I can believe it. But it's still impressive.



Hey, remember when I said that Rami reminded me of an old co-worker last week? Yeah, this week he acted EXACTLY like the other guy. Guess what Rami? Sweet P was right. When Tim Gunn agrees with Sweet P, you should LISTEN. Kthnx.

What did Rami think "avant guarde" meant? Apparently ribbons and folds and bows. He didn't have drama, he didn't have a WOW factor. There wasn't anything that made you go "How did they DO that?" The fabrics, if you ignore the pants, are beautiful. The corset is actually lovely. If you started to strip off some of the random ribbons, it is a nice dress.

But first: blank pants? Under a dress? Please, Rami, go visit Go Fug Yourself and learn a little about why pants under dresses is bad. It looks like she's trying on the dress in the store and just didn't feel like pulling off her pants because she hasn't shaved lately and doesn't want the sales girls to gossip about her hairy legs.

I also don't see what his "theme" or idea was, or how the hairstyle inspired it. I can, however, see how the first look inspired the second. Sweet P continues to surprise me, and I'm actually finding myself rooting for her. It's strange.

There's a little bit of an odd poof on the torso somewhere. But it's cute, it's a compliment to the first dress, and it's made well. Sweet P, despite Rami's constant micromanaging and his belittling of her opinion, managed to pull out something great.

And for the record, I think the bustle could have been a great idea. It would have at least been more interesting.



I hated that Kit was going to get eliminated, but as soon as I saw it was her versus Rami, I knew she would be out. And it's terrible, because I think she has a lot of talent. But it's not showing in this dress.

I love the corset, I love the sheer apron. But honestly, the fabric selection reminds me of my childhood. Like it's something I would get for a Strawberry Shortcake doll, or maybe Holly Hobby. It's not quite either of those, but I could easily see this skirt being on one of those cartoon heroines of the 80's.

Kit had a theme and an idea, which puts her one up from Rami, but I don't really see it in the dress. She said nesting because the hair was like a bird's nest, but she made a dress that took the idea of nesting from nesting dolls. Those two don't work together, even if they're the same word.

But it just doesn't fit the challenge. I hate to say it, I want to love it. I do, because I like Kit so much and I dislike Rami's dress that much. But it just...I can't see how it has anything to do with what they were asked to do. It doesn't make me think high fashion. It makes me think of little southern girls who think hoops skirts are fun (they are, until you try to sit in them...)

The ready to wear look, well it's made well. It's a cute dress, and I don't dislike it. But again, it's boring. I wouldn't mind it being a little longer, but I also don't see what it has to do with the first dress. It's not even made out of one of the fabrics from the first dress.

Honestly, these two looks were such complete missteps for the challenge that I understand why Kit was out. But that doesn't mean I have to like it.

In the end, while I loved the challenge, the results weren't very surprising. So I wonder which I would rather have: to agree with the judges and have little to say, or to disagree and being so angry I could rant for days?

Take it back!

Okay Judges, we had an understanding.

We were in so much agreement! It was unprecedented! I was surprised every week to hear you talking so much sense, to hear you saying things I actually agreed with. When you ousted Elisa, I was upset but I understood. The same with Chris. I actually was completely behind you the rest of the time.

Until tonight. Oh no, when you break my heart you really make sure to do it well, don't you? Why do you do this to me Nina? Heidi, how have you forsaken me so?

In other words: who put what in their water before the episode and don't you ever do it again. What in the WORLD were those results? Were we on the same planet? Did you people EVER go to prom? No really, even the designers: I don't believe you know what prom is.

Do me a favor everybody, do a quick google image search for "Prom" or "Prom Dresses."

In my little corner of the world (which in HS was Southwest Virginia, nestled between Radford University and Virginia Tech) prom dresses were about the same amount of decadence and expense as bridesmaid dresses, only often with more style.

Actually, my prom dress Junior year WAS a bridesmaids dress. Shh, don't tell anybody. But the fact is that these teenagers really do deck themselves out like the red carpet. Almost none of these dresses was actually nice enough for prom in my hometown. So I find it hard to believe that these rich, private school girls did not want something similarly fine. In fact, when I went to my first formal "grown-up" party (a holiday party for my husband's company) I realized that the dresses were pretty much just prom dresses. Man, where is Kayne when you need him?

This episode was so insane, that as much as I'm angry at the judges, it's bringing back the feelings of old seasons. For once, I finally am actually involved. I care! I was talking to the tv again!



I'm unpopular in this opinion, I realize this, but I think Christian needed to be booted for his own good this week. If I heard one more disdainful comment I was going to throw a complete fit.

So Christian is above his fellow designers, he's too good for Hershey's, and he's OBVIOUSLY too cool for school (and prom). Fine, Christian, we get it. How many times do you have to have something like this happen before you get your comeuppance and start behaving like a real person? There's no easy way to put this: stop being a diva. Even Santino eventually realized he wasn't all that and baboon's ass.

As for the dress, well...I hate it. It looks like it could have been something interesting, but the construction looks so poor that quite frankly it reminds me of my own attempts at more formal dresses. It is absolutely not a prom dress, that's for sure. It looks terrible on her figure, though the colors compliment her skintone. But the silhouette is just not something that she should be in, and she was the client.

His behavior on the runway was just downright ridiculous. I do agree with Nina, him blaming his client was wrong. It's just professionally unappealing, along with the fact that the challenge WAS to work with your client.

I do, however, concede that his client was annoying. She was overbearing, sure. But in my world, that's just the way fate likes to turn around and give people what they gave out before.



Chris belonged in the top three for this dress. He absolutely deserved as much praise as could have been heaped on him. I could easily see all the richest girls in my school begging their parents to buy them this dress. If it came in a deep navy blue (or any shade of blue, really), I would buy it myself. I'm not kidding, depending on the price, I'd go out and put some money down for it because I think it would look good on most body types, and I need a new formal dress.

This dress is the exact mix of style and fun that most prom dresses are designed for. In my world, the only reason I don't think it should have won is that I don't adore the color. It looks great on this girl, but for some reason I'm not a fan.

But man Chris, thank you. You're actually bucking up and showing us what you've got. Keep it up!

(Also, thank you for shutting down Sweet P and Victorya's whine fest by pointing out you got voted off. They were annoying me).



You know, if you just ignored the bust of this dress, it's actually quite lovely.

But I was positive Jillian would be called out for how borked up the bust looked. It's bunching oddly, the seams aren't smooth...I just don't understand it at all. It's a great idea, actually. If it was constructed perfectly, I bet I would like it.

Maybe I'm crazy and it's not a construction problem. But the bust of this dress looks terrible and I don't understand why not even Tim said anything about it. Where is the justice?

I do, however, love the colors.



I was absolutely baffled by almost every word coming out of the judge's mouthes during the judging of this dress. What planet were they from? Matronly? Old? Wait, what?

In Tim's Take, he says they really were obsessed with the hem. Okay, I decided to go and check out my own skirts because I personally am a huge fan of the flirty handkerchief hem style, which this seemed to want to be. I have four of these style skirts.

Each of them had the edge of the fabric barely turned under, not even a half inch, and a simple seam around. One of them (a red one, actually) had the very edge of the fabric covered with a sort of zig-zag stick that gave the bottom this interesting rolled look.

Neither of these seem like what Kevin did, so okay. He should have done one of those two things, fine. I actually can't understand why he didn't just do a quick, small hem. I know that hems are annoying. Trust me, my last sewing project I actually volunteered to do anything else so that my friend would sew the hems because it was probably about ten yards of hem to sew. But while it was tedious, it was actually the easiest part of the entire project. If you actually own a hem gauge, then yes it would be time consuming but not the end of the world.

The only reason I don't like this dress is that it's not formal enough for prom. If it was floor length, then yes, I'd be all for it. But as it is, it's a homecoming style dress, where shorter dresses are more the style.

I honestly have no idea what they mean when they said this dress looked old. I see nothing about this that looks old. The only thing I can figure is that they didn't like it and latched onto the first criticism they could think of, if it fit or not.



I actually really love this dress. It's very cute, it seems like a great marriage of Kit and her client's styles. The colors are really bright and fun.

My only problem with it is again, it isn't formal enough for prom. It would work, especially depending on the girl wearing it. But I think people just really have missed what the modern prom is: a FORMAL.

But I do really like this dress, it is fun and well made. It deserved a little bit of praise, but then I often think that of Kit's outfits. Why isn't she getting the attention she deserves?



In the middle of the episode Wednesday I realized finally why I don't like Rami. He actually reminds me of somebody I used to work with, years ago. This somebody was...not a nice person to work with. And Rami has a lot of the same mannerisms and a very similar look.

So forgive me for not jumping on the Rami bandwagon, it's nothing to do with him, I just can't get past that resemblance to somebody I'd rather never see again. It's not his fault!

This dress though, sorry, is his fault. What IS it? It looks like there is supposed to be a train, but the model got tired of tripping on it and threw it over her shoulder. Also, please, how many times do I have to say this: prom is a FORMAL, not a cocktail party. FORMAL. This is not a formal dress. Just because they are 17 doesn't mean they don't understand the meaning of formal. Please to go pick up an issue of YM's Prom Special. Or whatever the hip teenager magazine is these days.

This dress doesn't really just fail because it's not right for prom, but because it can't decide what it is. It looks like three different dresses put together, without too much trouble to blend the ideas.



I don't understand all the hate for this dress. For one thing, if you're going to hate on the skirt you have to hate on the winning dress too (and trust me, I will). The weird bubble hem was just...dumb. I can't even figure out why somebody would think it looked cool.

If people were complaining about the fact that the skirt was odd, or that it wasn't formal (again, not formal, what challenge were you people doing? What proms did you go to?) then I would understand. But instead everybody is angry about the color.

I don't think the color is that bad. She needed more interesting makeup to mitigate the fact that it's not a color that pops. But I don't think the color is so bad, I think under the prom lights (it's a dance, the lights are dim) this lighter, sparkling fabric would actually pop instead of fading out like darker shades.

All that said, I would gladly have let them eliminate Ricky if it meant Kevin got to stay. Ricky did well at the Hershey challenge, but in this one he's right back to lackluster. It's boring (not because of the color, because it's a non-entity of a design) and it doesn't fit the challenge at all. And honestly, it doesn't look that far removed from lingerie. Plus, the construction isn't too on par.



This dress should have won. Flat out, no question in my mind. The judges are on massive amounts of hallucinogens if they do not agree that this dress should have won. They obviously are too old to properly judge high school fashion.

This dress is classic, beautiful, perfectly constructed, and made of some of the most gorgeous fabric I've seen this season. The working relationship between Sweet P and her client was perfect. The client asked for something, Sweet P took her wishes and made them work without compromising herself.

The styling is perfect. The hair, the jewelery. Everything is absolutely spot-on exactly what it should be. This dress and this model could be the cover of Seventeen's Prom Special.

I can find nothing to say that is negative about this dress. Some people might say it looks a little too "old" or something. But as I said before, I see no difference between the formal wear at my prom, and the formal wear at parties for adults. There are outfits on red carpets right now that aren't that far from dresses being sold for high school girls. There isn't this huge disconnect like the people on the show seemed to think.

The fact that this dress didn't win is ridiculous. Sweet P had been faltering, but she pulled this one out. She deserves a lot of praise for this. I only wish I would look good in it.



There is one thing I like about this dress: the color. It's a fun, bright blue. Something like that can really be a neat twist on the average formal dress.

I hate everything else. The depths to which I dislike this dress are matched only by the depths to which I dislike the judges for choosing it to win. What in the WORLD are they thinking? How could any of them have thought that THIS was the best example of prom fashion on that runway? When you had Sweet P and Chris' dresses next to it?

It wasn't. It just simply wasn't. For one: NOT FORMAL. This is maybe a homecoming level of formal, it is NOT PROM FORMAL.

Two, bubble skirt. I hate that style of hem. It flows funny, and it makes the model look like a cartoon character or something. The movement is completely off, and it just reminds me of a marshmallow or something.

Three, the bedazzled front. I could have sworn that the Bedazzler was "out" when I was in high school, is it making a comeback? Cheap jewels that don't match glued on in no discernible pattern? WHAT? Without the jewels it was okay, with them it looks like somebody in high school that fancies herself a designer made her prom dress and expects everybody to think it is "kind of a big deal."

Four, the bust. It's just constructed badly! It fits strange, it looks lopsided...it's just not made well. Sweet P's dress had no flaws, not one. This one looks again, like a home sewn job.

I cannot fathom why this dress won. I can't wrap my mind around it in the slighest. I can't come up with a single reason for that decision, except that the judges have some sort of strange love for Victorya, who I personally think should have been eliminated a few episodes ago. Her construction seems poor, her fit is almost always bad, and I haven't seen her do much that really pops and demands attention. Why do the judges like her so much? How completely disconnected are the judges from the actual purpose of the challenge that they thought this met the criteria?

It seems to me if you're going to do a prom episode, you should maybe research prom. The designers couldn't, obviously, but they had their clients to help them do it right. The judges should have known what they were talking about before they walked in that room, and they so clearly didn't.

One last note, and I hate to be harsh to 17 year olds (which is a lie, really, but I usually save my barbs for private conversations) but couldn't they have gotten some runway coaches for the girls? This was our fifth episode with non-models on the runway (mothers/sisters, designers themselves x2, "real women", and now high schoolers). This was by far the worst showing when it came to runway walking and presence.

When I still worked at the newspaper, I covered a high school fashion show. Those kids were fantastic, they weren't awkward in the slightest. So I know high school kids can do a runway walk, it's completely possible. So why were so many of these girls so awkward? They didn't show off the garments at their best, and that's kind of a shame.

Though I guess, walking a runway in front of Heidi Klum would make anybody seem awkward and nervous. But really, I think the show would benefit from a runway coach for these episodes. I was too focused on the model's walks that I missed the clothes the first time around.

Stop volunteering, really

There's a double edged sword to the team challenges on Project Runway: you can't win if you aren't the team leader. But I don't know that in the entire history they've eliminated somebody that WASN'T team leader in the final analysis.

I mean, to be honest I'd probably want to be a team leader. If I wasn't, I'd probably end up being a little like Victorya because I am a very controlling perfectionist most of the time. This is why I hate team assignments in school, I loath them.

To be fair, just because I said I might act that way does not excuse Victorya for being a bit of a passive aggressive bitch.

But I'm here to talk about the designs!

The challenge is to update old out-of-fashion trends and make them hip and modern. But to work together in teams of three and create a three look "collection."

I have to say I'm starting to hate the word collection. Not being in fashion, I'm not sure I understand what it means. They say it has to be cohesive. In season one, we are told that fabric choices aren't the only thing that can tie them together when they did the future challenge. In season two, Daniel Franco gets eliminated for making them too similar. But then people get in trouble for making them too different. Where is that fine line? Can it even be described or explained? I know that watching some of the runway shows I've said, "This feels like a collection more than X or Y." For example, I was much more impressed with Kara's showing at Bryant Park (even if she was a decoy) than I was by Daniel V. Daniel V's clothes were wearable and interesting, but something about them didn't fit together as well.

So my thought process is this: is this something that is taught in their fashion schools? How do you learn this? It's just so darn nebulous. It's like that whole "I know it when I see it" idea.

Anyway. We're going to start with me agreeing with the judges again (what is going on with the world?). Jillian's team had the clear winner. Their fashion trends were 70's flare, poodle skirts, and overalls. I was amused that Tim pointed out that all the outfits looked like they were designed FOR Jillian. Yeah, I pegged her for that type of designer in my first post about this season.





That said, sometimes the challenge calls for that kind of thing. And since she was wearing overalls, we've seen her in very full poofy skirts, and I can picture her in flared-leg pants without trying to hard, then it seems obvious that she'd do well here.

The shirt here is really cute, in fact the whole thing is very cute. It's not something that I think anybody over the age of 30 could every get away with, but for young women it's stylish and girly. To be quite honest, I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if a look like this suddenly showed up on the front of magazines. To make it more everyday-wearable, I think it would be better to have a denim vest of this style and maybe different colored pants. But really, the things people are wearing these days? I could imagine this on the street with no problem.

I've been kind of griping about the hairstyles and things lately, and I really like what Jillian did here. The hair has a whiff of the stereotype of a farm girl that goes with the overalls, but also looks like a stylish girl in the city. Overall, this is a big win.





I can see why everybody loved this, honestly. I can kind of understand. But I think that those types of shorts are not flattering on anybody, not even Jillian. Everyone I've ever seen in them has looked generally more awkward in them. They pretty much delete a woman's hips, and why would anybody want to do that? They don't hang well, they move as one solid piece. It makes me think of polygons in a video game. There's no flow. And the shirt, well I chalk the shirt up to something that nobody would wear in public, but is considered high fashion. It did serve it's purpose on the runway.

All that being said, this outfit does fit the collection. It fits the theme by echoing the poofiness of the poodle skirt, and the denim of the overalls. I don't see much 70's flare, but they never said all three looks had to have everything.





This dress isn't modern or fashion-forward to me. At all. I feel like I had this dress in my closet in late middle school, and that was the mid 90's, not a high point for fashion. It reminds me of the sort of barnyard cute/farm kitsch stuff that becomes popular every once in a while and was pretty big when I was young.

It's trying, in another fabric it probably could have been adorable. Like a cute white sheer or eyelet lace over a muted pastel color. But the denim creates a lot of bulk, and restricts the flow. Which makes me make a point I think a lot of people miss: poofy skirts and poodle skirts are two different things. A poodle skirt is simply a full circle skirt, sometimes worn over crinolines that make it more full. But for the most part, it's just so much fabric that it falls a certain way.

I realize I'm not the high fashion police, and that I can't necessarily declare a definition. But I actually have made my fair share of poodle skirts for costumes, so I feel like what happened was that the trend itself was misnamed on the card. Or like the "poodle skirt" trend was actually already taking something and altering it in the first place, so that when Elle was reporting on it it was not truly poodle skirts to begin with, but poofy or bubble skirts like Angela was famous for.

All of that isn't important in the slightest, but it part of what bugs me about this dress. Poodle skirts are meant to swish and flow and twirl out and be as much fun as possible, that's why little girls love them. This skirt will swish, flow, and twirl, but not at all as much.

I hate to say this, it sounds so terrible, especially coming from me but do Rami's fashions make his model look large or is she just a larger size than the rest? Because the girl always looks so different in comparison to the other models, who can be so bony it almost looks painful. I think she actually looks like a real, healthy person. It confuses me.

Moving on to Christian's team, who were dealing with fringe, pleather, and zoot suits:





I can see the zoot suit inspiration here, but where's the pleather? Was there some fringe I can't see in the picture? My cable actually fritzed on and off during the runway show, so I didn't see this one actually walk.

Now, not all of them had to incorporate everything I'm sure. But I thought they had said that was their goal.

The only reason this is important to me is because this outfit bores me. Christian seems to usually do something at least innovative and a little off-kilter. This is so simple, that I can only hope something awesome is going on under the jacket. Otherwise, it's just...eh.





I see some things that could be fringe...I see stripes (don't get me started about how zoot suits are more than just striped suits), but I see no pleather. And pleather was Jack's trend! Are the pants pleather? The accents? Why did they not play with this trend more? One of the reasons I think Jillian's collection won was because the influences were so clear, so obviously there. It was like when Top Chef had their "reinvent a classic American dish" challenge, and some people just went so far it didn't resemble the original dish. I don't see Chicken A La King on this plate.

I also very very much do not like this dress. It makes me think of a prison shift. The color isn't just dull, it actually looks like it's been washed so much that it used to be something interesting but now it's leached of all the dye and you're left with what happens when you don't seperate your clothes like you should.

In another fabric, this dress could maybe be cute. In another fabric, this dress would also still be pretty boring. If these are the most talented designers that the show has seen, then why am I so bored so often? Why are so many of the outfits things I could go buy at a handful of stores at Tyson's Corner? Is it that the challenges aren't challenging enough?





Kit still continues to surprise me. I don't know why, but her things are so unconventional, and her prints usually clash...but something about them makes me notice them. Are they so ugly they're good? I don't know. Lots of people on the internet seem to disagree with me greatly. Reading other blogs I'm finding that I seem to think the exact opposite of popular sentiment half the time.

I actually have little to say about Kit's outfit here. Again, I don't really see much fringe (unless you count the scarf) and the zoot suit is only echoed in a pin stripe, and where's the pleather? Can I just not spot the pleather? I thought that stuff was shiny...

But overall, it's not boring. It's not something that you have seen again and again. I think Kit is going to really break out soon, and I can't wait to see it.

Moving on to Chris' team, we have shoulder pads, baggy sweaters, and dancewear:





Eh. That's all I have to say about this, eh. I actually like the fabric of the jacket, and apparently since the episode was filmed, this look has become fashion forward (I'm sure Chris is gloating) but again I say: where is your first dress Chris? I wanted to see so much from him based on that one design, and he gives us this. It's just nothing special, and he took the whole shoulder pad thing so literally, making a jacket with shoulder pads, and not really very huge ones. Be bold! Be brave! Forget about if you're boring Nina, stop boring me!

I hate that Chris was out in this challenge, but he seemed like the only choice. The other choices I had were Ricky, Victorya, and Steven. But the last two weren't leaders, so they weren't really eligible. While I think that Chris' past performance was better than Ricky's, I also think that when you put these two outfits together individually, and judge if the collections came together, then Chris was the choice.

I don't have to be happy about it.





While again, this dress isn't all that out there or "wow" at all, it is a very well made, very interesting way to take on the idea of the baggy sweater. I wonder, if Sweet P had been allowed to do the designs for all three outfits, how would the collection had come out? Sure, this is once again something you could probably find in a store, it's also something that you might BUY in a store, which is a difference.

I also have to say that while it irked that Sweet P acted like she didn't know she would have to pick somebody, I commend her for the statement she made. She chose someone, she defended her decision, and she apologized. And Steven to his credit, acknowledged her fair criticism, and accepted it.





Sweet P was absolutely right, this outfit sticks out from the other two like a sore thumb. I vastly disagree with Nina though, she said she doesn't see dance wear in this. I see it as almost an exact copy of the photo she gave them, and half the modern dance outfits out there. This isn't a reinvention or an interesting take, he just made what was on the card. And actually, it came out kind of cute. But he no matter if I think I'd wear the top (I probably would, but never with leggings, I hate leggings) the fact is it shows no innovation and no creativity.

I think Steven was saved by two things here: his execution is very good, the outfit itself is very well made, and he wasn't the team leader.

Lastly, we have the train wreck that is Ricky's team! They had neon, underwear as outwear, and cut-outs. Victorya interviewed that she actually picked the team based on the trends and what they could do with them. I think that these three trends fit together SO well, that it's just depressing what was done with them. And with Ricky as a lingerie designer! Yet, I think the blame for it falls squarely on Victorya, not Ricky.





It's a toss up on which of the two outfits (Ricky or Victorya) is actually a worse design. But you can't change the fact that Ricky was the leader, even if Victorya decided to be annoying, or the fact that his execution once again failed. Last week he was almost eliminated because he couldn't finish his outfit, and this week he showed that he just can't handle making a nicely finished garment. Exactly why weren't these things pressed before they went out?

I don't understand the yellow to be honest. I don't know what it would take for me to accept the yellow, but basically from the bust down it's a different garment. Also, while sheer is interesting, that's the part that echoes underwear to me, not cut outs. Where were the cut outs? I see the neon influence, and that's cool (but doesn't excuse the yellow not tying in) and I see the influence of making undergarment type designs but the fact is that corset tops aren't that rare, so it doesn't automatically think "Underwear!"

With a different color option, better finishing, and some pressing, this could have been a really great dress. That's what is so annoying about Ricky, he's so close to good but isn't getting there.





If this hadn't been wrinkled all to hell like she'd slept in it (and it's Elisa's, maybe it was slept in) then it would have been really cute. Not too innovative or fascinating, but it looks like a slip or a nightgown (underwear), it has cut outs with neon in them. Tadaa! I want it to have something at the bottom so that the fabric doesn't just drop off the way it does, something to make it feel finished and less like a block. But it is the best outfit out of this group.

I want to say huge props to Elisa for two things. First, because she acknowledged on the runway that Ricky helped her understand what he wanted, and pointed out that he attempted to explain things in a way she would understand. Because honestly, there is nothing more valuable as a leader than the ability to communicate in the same weird ways as your team members. I think the way he took the time to say things in a more sculptural language said a lot about him as a leader. When you combine that with the fact that he sacrificed his own garment to help his team members, you see that he's probably a very good guy to work for and with.

The second thing is that she outright said what I've been waiting to hear for AGES. When asked who to eliminate she basically said "I have integrity and I'm always going to choose myself, no matter what."

Thank you Elisa. That could have been such a canned and terrible line, but she was very genuine with it, and just shrugged it off. She said it in a manner like, "this is what I do, ask the next person now." She's growing on me more every episode.





If you stop an inch or so above the waist, then this garment is actually pretty nice. At least Victorya admitted that Ricky helped her with the fit, because the top does fit well.

But the waist has execution problems (the puckering! How did that even happen?) and the bottom is just...it reminds me of the skating outfits they made in season two. I don't understand it, I can't make it fit. If there was something in the waist are to either bring the two design elements together, or something like a waistband to seperate them, then maybe I could see it. But overall, there's just this puckering strangeness along the waist, and it doesn't work unless you're a figure skater or a dancer.

As for Victorya's behavior...well, it was ridiculous. Ricky more or less said, "Eh, I'll be in charge if nobody wants it?" and Victorya as much as said that he could be her puppet. She intended to control the group without taking the heat if it went wrong, and she almost got away with it. I'm very glad that Michael Kors basically said he was surprised that she was so terrible to work with. You get a sense that they've known designers like that before in their professional lives. While Ricky did lower himself to say he felt micromanaged, he also did it to defend himself and didn't go past what I thought needed to be said. Victorya managed to dig her own grave, and I was shocked to see it. Normally that type of person knows what to say and when to say it so they end up looking like they didn't mean any harm.

She very clearly wanted Ricky to be her fall boy, and even though I'm sad at losing Chris, and think Ricky is going to be eliminated next week if he doesn't get better at basic construction, I'm glad she didn't get her way.

That's it for this week! Slowly this thing is getting easier to write!

Worlds collide

Okay, so it's about four or five days late, but here it is! I'm still shocked that Vegas had no Bravo and no free internet. But it was Vegas, and it was a ton of fun. In a few days I'll probably write up a few reviews of different things like the Cirque show that we caught, the Star Trek Experience, and all the restaurants I ate at.

But for now, the surrealism that was last week's Project Runway!

I knew the challenge had something to do with menswear because I get the text message alerts from Bravo. I was amused, because I'd been thinking for ages that it would be fun, but I also had been thinking for ages that it would probably not work because menswear isn't as freeing or as interesting as the challenges should be to really show off a designer's talent. I still feel the same way, if not for one thing I probably would have been pretty bored by the whole episode.

That one thing? Tiki Barber. Okay, I don't watch football, I know nothing about football. First down what? Who fumbled what now? But I did grow up in Southwest Virginia, and I went to college in Ronde and Tiki Barber's hometown. They are two really great guys, and great role models. One of my friends actually has met their mom on multiple occasions and says she is a really fantastic person. So I'll just say it's really weird to see a hometown hero on Project Runway.

I do have to say that he continued to be a classy person, because the only bad things he said were "sloppy," "messy," and "it looked like my five-year-old made it." The last thing wasn't even to the designer but after they'd left. Considering some of what came down that runway, that's a heck of a lot of tact.

Which brings us to the runway! Again, this is alphabetical.





Oh, Carmen. I actually was not surprised in the slightest to discover that she was out (Bravo's website ruined it for me when I was trying to find the episode, thanks guys). Her taste is a little questionable, especially when it comes to styling. What in the world is that hat? I realize that they've got this Bluefly accessory wall, and that it's really impressive, but sometimes I wish they'd step away.

I think draping the fabric when she couldn't make the shirt might seem like a crazy idea, but it was what she had to do. I admire the idea actually, because she had to do something. I personally think she should have presented it differently when she went to talk about it on the runway though. None of this "representing the idea of the shirt" that she wanted to make. Fine, own up to running out of time, but just say you decided to drape the fabric and see how it looked. Because at that point she should have been on the same page Sweet P was: forget everything else except not being out.

Carmen's outfit also brings to mind something I noticed about a good number of the outfits: this is an outside jacket, not a suit or an indoor outfit. Does Mr. Barber's work with the Today Show mostly take place outside? Because inside a studio this would just look silly. Like he forgot to take off his coat.

This outfit really is just such a mess that it's hard to see where Carmen was going or what she was doing. She just fell victim to the challenge, that's the best way to put it. She couldn't handle it's particular constraints. I completely agree with the auf'ing.





I want to see something from Chris that's on par with his first dress, and this is just kind of boring. I will give him the fact that it looks well made, and would probably look nice on Mr. Barber. But unless he chose some really interesting fabrics, there's not much to really make it stand out.

I will say that Chris' model was well-styled. I think the designers this week had a LOT of problems knowing how to make men look good, and I'll get to that later. But overall this is well put together, just not very interesting. It looks like next week is another team challenge too, and I just want to see more from Chris!





Christian's outfit here is the opposite. It's interesting, it's not the same as everybody else's. I don't know that it fits the challenge because I can't picture Tiki Barber wearing it, but it's a well-constructed outfit.

I don't like the fabric on the pockets either, with the contrasting color. I don't think that works. But otherwise, it is something new and different. It's not just another suit in a new color, especially that shirt. I think this was a job very well done, though I do have to admit that looking at it I don't think you'd wear that jacket with that shirt in real life. That shirt shouldn't have a jacket over it at all.

But for once I have to say that Christian deserves a lot of credit for this outfit. I was surprised it wasn't in the top.





Elisa has one thing going for her here: she's herself. She is absolutely taking every challenge, internalizing it, and making a creation that represents her and the assignment she's given. As much as people might think she's a little crazy, and to be honest she probably is, she is very much settled in who she wants to be and she's fine with that.

The pants and the vest are made very well, and if they were paired with a more formal shirt I think she would have had a shot at the top this time around. The shirt is just a little too casual for the context of what they were doing, and it doesn't seem to fit the vest itself. I wouldn't pair those two colors together.

It just wasn't quite formal enough, but it proves one thing to me that I never thought I'd hear myself saying: Elisa deserves to be there. She might just make it a long, long way. As much as her first challenge was a complete misstep, she actually has talent and skill.





We'll get one thing out of the way: I do not think this should have won. It's nice, it's well done.

It's also boring. It's safe, it's not trying anything new except putting two sets of stripes together. And according to Blogging Project Runway, it didn't fit the constraints of the challenge, which was specifically to make three pieces. Apparently the judges didn't care this time, and I'm intrigued by their decision to ignore that.

It is another example of the judges picking and choosing which rules they think are important and which aren't. Keith Michael gets blasted for not making an outfit for his dog, and this season we've had several outfits which didn't follow the challenge and nobody cares. Why is that? Did they decide the challenge was too hard? I think Chloe's win in season two with that outfit for Nick proves that it wasn't. Granted, she was the eventual winner of the entire competition, but if she could crank out that beautifully fitted and fabulous outfit within the same amount of time, then these designers could too.

As for the hubbub about Jack using his own shorts as a guide, well Vincent used his pants for a guide last year. I don't think it's that big a deal, and I don't think it actually won the challenge for him. Having a pattern is a far, far cry from making something well-fitted. Trust me, I always have patterns when I sew, and they never fit that well. Tailoring is another animal entirely, and it's the part I haven't mastered.

To sum up: well tailored, nice fabric choice, but in my opinion not a winner.





First and foremost I would like to point out that this outfit has FOUR pieces. There are pants, a shirt, a vest, AND a jacket. It doesn't seem as perfectly tailored as some of the others, but it is finished, it's well-made. So to me, this is the prime example of why Carmen got cut. If Jillian could finish THIS with the same constraints as everybody else, then it was completely feasible. This also exemplifies why I think Jack shouldn't have won if he couldn't finish a third piece.

Staring at the picture, I see a few loose threads around the hem of the pants. That might be why she was in the middle of the pack. Or it could be because she picked that really odd print for the shirt. It's the only thing that saves it from being yet another suit, but it's just not something I see most men wearing. It seems a little 70's to me. You can barely see it though, so otherwise my only opinion is that it is just another suit with a printed shirt. But really, what else could they make? That's why a menswear challenge isn't all that fascinating, except to see who didn't finish.





Okay, I don't tuck in my shirts. Ever, really. But the basic rule is that if you're wearing something over the shirt like a vest or jacket, you tuck in the shirt. I'm okay with that rule, I'm a fan of it. I think this entire outfit would have been elevated to a pretty sophisticated level if he'd just tucked in that shirt.

The pants don't seem tailored as well as Jack's, which might have been part of the problem. But I'd say with well-tailored pants and a tucked in shirt, I would wholeheartedly say this should have won. My only thought is that maybe Tiki Barber wouldn't look that good in purple, I'm bad with colors. I wouldn't hesitate to put a red-head in pink and I hear that's a big fashion don't.

The fabric of the tie and handkerchief is just a really great compliment to the shirt. The fabric of the vest and the pants compliment them both...it's all just very well done. It reminds me quite a bit of why Chloe won with her outfit, when you put it all together it was just a fabulous look (though I think Chloe owed a lot to Nick really working the runway).

It does also look better without the pin holding the vest together, he should have gone with his instinct on that. Pins stick out and are very noticeable, especially under those lights. We haven't see a lot of people run into that on the show, so hopefully they'll learn from now on that hot glue is a better idea.





To be absolutely honest, I don't see the appeal of this outfit. For some reason it makes me think of yachting. It's well done, and well put together, but I can't for a second picture it on Tiki Barber. The jacket seems interesting, I never would have thought to make a blazer out of fleece.

And that I think is why even though I'm confused by the outfit, I'm okay with it being in the top. Because Kit seemed to sit back and think, "oh, a suit jacket...what can I do to make it different and interesting?"

One of the first things you start to really understand when you start sewing is how much you make or break the outfit at the fabric store. Before you sew a single stitch, you've already put yourself on the path to failure if you've picked the wrong fabric. I've learned that the hard way so many times. The right fabric can take something and elevate it past what it is. One of the best pieces of advice I ever read was that you should always buy the most expensive and best fabric you can afford.

So kudos to Kit for making that decision. It really paid off for her, because I think Michael Kors was right, if she'd made that jacket from anything else they would have been bored and she could have been in the bottom.





Rami is probably very confused about being in the middle of the pack. I bet some of his fans are too, and in a way it's quite confusing. This is a very finished, very tailored look. It isn't just like everything else, it isn't just another suit.

But it's an outdoor look, there's nothing to get away from that. Just like I said with Carmen, if you wore this on the air in a studio, you'd look like you forgot to take off your coat when you came in. I think that's what put him in the middle of the pack.

Otherwise, this is a great outfit. I actually really love this jacket, I would buy it for my husband in a heartbeat. It shows a lot of talent and skill, because it's not designed just like any other jacket. It's got some extra seams and stuff in there that make it much nicer. It's yet another reason that I think time constraints were no excuse for the designers, this was not an easy jacket to make. If it's lined as well, then Rami deserves a gold star.

I think if it had been just a touch more of a formal jacket instead of a windbreaker, he would have been up in the top.





As much as I was rooting for Ricky in the first episode, I'm not counting down until his departure. I put it at next week, if not the week after that since next week looks like a team challenge.

He just doesn't seem to have anything to say as a designer. This competition is supposed to be about the next big thing, who is coming up on the scene, who is going to be making a name for themselves. Ricky doesn't seem like he's doing that, he's just making really great clothes. Sure, they're great clothes, but what's new? What's innovative?

Completely aside from the fact that he couldn't finish it, it's just a boring everyday suit. It had a neat lining, but that was it. The lining doesn't show in broadcaster's suits, so I don't know why people were so interested in it here. Do you know what color lining Tom Brokaw has in his suits? No, you don't.





There is something about this that makes me think of American Psycho. But, putting all that aside, I think taking off the silly neck-kerchief or whatever that is (an ascot? I don't know these terms) and this is not a bad outfit. I don't know if it's good enough for the Today Show, but it's a nice sweater. My only question is would it look good on somebody as imposing as Tiki Barber?

But the neck decoration really has to go. It doesn't fit the client in the slightest. It doesn't even come close to something I could ever see him wearing. I wonder how good Steven really is at considering the client...





This actually reminds me even more of American Psycho and begs the question: where did they get these models? Eye candy though they may be, they were rather terrible on the runway. They didn't present the clothes, they didn't walk like they were models. Maybe they're all print models, I don't know. But I was not impressed with them when it came time for the actual runway shows. I have been saying since season two that the way the model presents the clothes is often a make or break point for the outfit. Actually, the episode that made me say that first was the one where Chloe and Nick both had to design menswear, and she won but he lost. Nick presented Chloe's outfit with class and skill. Daniel V. looked sour and half asleep as he walked.

Back to Sweet P. I feel so bad for her, because the last two things I've tried to make have looked great every step of the way, and then I sewed the last seams and it went terrible somewhere and I never did quite figure out where I went wrong. So I know exactly how she felt when she put that shirt on her model and it didn't work at all.

I think she handled it with humility and did well at laughing the whole thing off. And I think that was why she is still in and Carmen is out, because she just stood up there and said, "I screwed up, look at this, isn't it terrible?" She didn't try to play it off or make excuses.

That said, it is a pretty drab outfit. Even if it had been tailored perfectly it would have been boring. I like the fabric for the tie, but otherwise, ho-hum.





I'm completely shocked this wasn't in the top three. It might end up looking a little to "rap star" if Tiki Barber tried to wear it, but honestly it's cute and fun. It's still a little more formal, but not an everyday boring dark blue or black suit. It's well-made, it's finished. As much as I didn't understand the appeal of Victorya's last two high ranking outfits, I don't understand why this one wasn't in the top.

Maybe it wouldn't look as good on the client, but the model looks great. I'm a fan of it. And it isn't even just a boring white suit jacket, it's a different kind of jacket.

Overall, I'm not as thrilled with the menswear challenge as most people were because I find men's clothing very dull. Look at all these pants, they're all more or less the same style. The only people who broke out of the mold weren't praised or scolded for it. The winner made something that you could more or less put together off the rack at any department store (bias-cut pocket notwithstanding).

I'm going to be glad to return to women's clothing, where it's so much easier for crazy things to happen.