Playing Catch Up

So, I missed writing up last week's Project Runway. I'm sorry, I had some class commitments that took up too much of my time, and I admit I wasn't looking forward to this one in particular, since it was amazingly boring.



Althea

Well, gladly I think my pictures ended up alphabetically so this is first and I can get it out of the way.

I absolutely hate this outfit. I fully believe it should have been one of the bottom two on the runway at the end, and that it's execution problems were on par with Johnny's rumpled mess, and Althea deserved to be called out for a shoddily made, poorly fitted, disastrous garment. As many people have pointed out, the jacket is really nice. Okay, sure.

But who can see the jacket over the bunched up wrinkled skirt? Over the tank top that doesn't even fit the model as well as my pajama shirt that I wear when I'm not feeling well and want to wear something frumpy and comfortable?

I've pointed out problems with the craftmanship on Althea's garments before that goes unnoticed and it just serves to remind me how ridiculously biased the PR judges can be, and that doesn't make me happy. It makes me grumpy with one of my favorite shows and who wants that?

Even if you don't believe this was a bottom tier outfit, at the least it should have been on the level of "safe." Who cares how good the jacket or the model were, it just wasn't as good as half of the other things that walked that runway, no matter what the guest judges had to say.

Some people have taken umbrage at Irina's catty comments about it in the episode that ran this week, but I can't help but agree with everything Irina said, so I can't hold her accountable for it.



Carol Hannah

This dress reminds me of Rami, in the best of ways. I love the purple fabric of the top, and how it works with the black. Actually, I would absolutely love to see these fabrics and this idea spread out across an entire collection.

I can't say I'm crazy about the model's styling, her hair really bothers me. But in the end, it's a great dress. The bit on the back is a little much, but I digress.



Christopher

On the one hand, I actually like this idea and the execution of it is pretty cute. On the other hand, it does look an awful lot like a sushi wrapper.

The fabric is also suffering from some of the same rumpling and messiness that Johnny's did, so not the best fabric choice for color or style.

But the shape itself is rather nice, maybe if he had done it with a more subtle green, or a blue, it would have been lovely. Not winner lovely, or anything. Safe, middle of the road, "you can leave the Runway" lovely.

Side note: I love his model, I think she's one of the most beautiful ones this season.



Epperson

This dress is not even a little bit within my style of clothing, but I like it. I think it fits Matar very well, and it flatters her coloring in an amazing way. This is a great dress for her to wear to an industry event where she'd like to impress people and be hired.

I think that Epperson is becoming one of my favorite designers, though I don't know if I picture him going to the end of the competition. But he's juts got this steadfast GOOD quality about him. He works, he does what he's meant to do, and he just gets it done. There's not much fuss or muss, no drama aside from his interactions with Qrystal. He just makes really good clothes.

There's a lot of room for that in the world.



Gordana

While I agree with some comments that the color of this dress when matched with the model's hair and skin tone makes her wash out a lot, at the same time I think it's just a really fabulous little dress. It somehow manages to feel mod and hippy at the same time. The detail on the front is really well done, especially considering how much time and effort it must have taken.

I wish this dress had been in the top three, because I think Gordana deserves a bit of respect and she doesn't seem to be getting it just yet.

All I'm going to say in conclusion is that if I wore skirts this short, I'd wear this dress. I really like things that use something other than lace, ruffles, sequins, feathers, or whatever to accent the garment in a non-traditional way.



Irina

Irina has been the dark horse of this competition, because nobody seems to be noticing the fabulous looks she's sending down the runway week after week. Well, at least they weren't noticing at this point. But look at this! That pattern could have been a complete disaster, and yet it works so perfectly on the model. The shrug tames the pattern just a smidge more, and makes it all much more elegant and classic.

I have a tiny problem with the giant lapel going on here, but in the end it's a really solid effort and I think it absolutely should have taken Althea's place in the top. It's a great piece.



Johnny

Well.

I think the judges did a good job describing this on the runway, so I won't really add to it except to say I'm pretty sure I knew girls who owned that dress and wore it to homecoming, or a spring wedding as a bridesmaid. There isn't a single interesting or innovative thing about it.

Also, the purse and the shoes don't really match each other, let alone the dress.



Logan

WHY did all the designers pick up that type of fabric? Christopher, Johnny, and Logan all had this stiff satin-y stuff (I'm not good with fabric names, personally, I know what I'm talking about but not what it's called). That stuff is terrible for wrinkling up and looking like this, and they all did it.

I can't put my finger on what doesn't work about this. Is it the styling of the model? Well, yes, but that still fits Koji very well. Is it the thick lace? Well, it doesn't do the dress any favors, but it's not a disaster. The shape? No, the shape is really fine, in the end.

Maybe it's just putting it all together that leaves something to be desired. I don't know, but it just doesn't work and I don't know why. I don't like it, but I don't hate it either. Maybe it's the fact that this particular shade of blue doesn't look good with Koji's skin tone, in my opinion.

Whatever the reason, it's good that Logan didn't go home for this because I don't think it's an intentional disaster, it just feels like one of those projects where you get started and you have no idea what's wrong or how to fix it, just that in the end it might be better to scrap the whole thing. I think almost all creative people know what that's like.



Louise

Well, it's nice. Okay, it's a personal opinion but I hate big collars like that. I've rarely seen women who can actually pull them off and make them look even the least bit comfortable or wearable. And it's not just that, because something can look unwearable but still fabulous, but it just doesn't work right with the shape or something. It makes women look like their heads aren't attached or something, I don't know. Can you imagine trying to talk to Fatma at an industry party while she's wearing this? Her head all cozied down in the middle of this ruffle? How do you have a conversation with somebody in this type of thing?

That said, I think if you took the collar off of this dress, it would be a fabulous little black dress, and it would be something most women would want to have a version of in their closet.



Listen, I don't understand Nicolas. I just don't, I don't know why so many bloggers love him, I don't know why everybody thinks he's fabulous. He's yet to make anything that I thought looked well fitted or desirable, and he seems to have about half the imagination of some of the former contestants of the show. Could you imagine him in a showdown with Daniel Vosovic? Daniel V. would wipe the floor with him without even trying too hard.

This is one of those garments that looks good on a runway, but not anywhere else. Think about it, imagine you're at an event looking for someone to work for you and represent you. You see someone wearing this. Does she stick in your head? Do you remember her at all?

Not to mention these were supposed to be tailored specifically for these models as a client, and I see no real match going on here. When you saw Matar in her dress, you saw MATAR in her dress. You don't see the model here. If this was in a runway show for a collection, I would think they picked the wrong model to wear the garment because somebody dropped out.

As for Nicolas' comment that the dress fit his model wonderfully, was he watching the same garment I was? From the bottom of her bust down, yes it fit great. Around her neck? Sure, it's fabulous.

But her bust wasn't even a little fitted, and it poofed out and folded with her every movement. Which is an innate problem with halter tops, actually. It's pretty darn difficult for it NOT to do that, especially with a fabric like this instead of say, a thin cotton. So normally I wouldn't really call attention to it, since it's an inherent issue with the style, but he's the one that said it fit her perfectly.



Qrystal

Valarie looks really unhappy in this picture, and I start to wonder a little if the judge's reaction to this garment isn't a little more influenced by her expression and performance.

Yes, it's safe. Yes, it's boring. But it's still pretty stylish, and maybe it's for an older crowd but I think there's a huge market for this particular dress. I bet she could make a dozen of them and sell out of them over a weekend.

In other words, Johnny made something that looked like something a high school girl would sew as an early project as she learned to make clothes (a talented high schooler, sure, but one without much attention to detail) and Qrystal made something that was at least put together well and didn't look like her model had just gotten out of bed.



Ra'mon

I think this angle and this photo highlight the absurdity of this dress quite perfectly.

Listen, I'm not against it. I think it actually could have been a great answer to the surfer avant guarde challenge. But it's not a cocktail dress for a model to wear to a party where she's trying to get a job. Again, we go back to the "how do you talk to her" scenario. When they showed her at the event itself, she looked completely strange and out of place.

The color is beautiful, and it's well made and all. But it doesn't fit the challenge, really. So middle of the pack safe makes sense.



Shirin

I love Shirin, I really do. And I think she did well with talking her model away from a jumpsuit and such. But there's isn't the first thing about this dress that stands out in any way.

It's boring. I can't even remember seeing it on the runway, I keep seeing the pictures of it again and going "Oh...is that from the same week?" It's a good dress, she could sell it in a store. It would be a great dress for going to a party where you want to look good enough to impress. But it's nothing to write home about either. Executives at the end of the party might turn to their friends and say, "You remember the girl in the blue dress?" and their friends would say, "What blue dress?"

Unless they responded, "The one that was being eaten by the ruffle-flower?"

Penelope

First, I just want to point out how much I absolutely adore Netflix's Watch it Now service. Now that I have a television I can hook up directly to my computer, I have watched quite a few hours of great movies and television without having to wait for a disc. My only complaint is that I have to run it in IE rather than Firefox.

Now that my fangirl moment is out of the way, I'll get to Penelope, after one brief tangent.

I'm currently enrolled in an editing class. Our current assignment is to cut a trailer for a film, so last week we watched several trailers and discussed how they were or were not successful. When the trailers for Penelope were coming on television, I thought I'd like to see it. It looked like a fun little whimsical fairy tale, and I just knew it would be a love story with a happy ending. Let's face it, I'm a sucker for a love story with a happy ending.

Now, in an attempt to find the trailers that I watched that made me want to see the film I just found the "extended trailer" which basically includes the entire plot of the film, and isn't nearly as fun and certainly wouldn't have made me want to go see the movie. If you have to give away the ending of your movie in the trailer, then how much faith do you have in your actual movie? Maybe film students are different from most viewers, but most people I know can tell if the trailer gives away the end and really resent it.

Anyway, all of that aside. I didn't watch that trailer until just now, and I did watch the good ones. So I watched the film the other night and I have to say I greatly enjoyed it. Don't get me wrong, the film had flaws, and some major ones at that. But I was willing to just let all of that go and enjoy the ride.

The biggest flaw, really, is the story. There's not enough of it there, and what is there isn't as well drawn as it could be. The film landed a huge coupe when they cast James McAvoy and they certainly underutilized him. In fact, almost every character is underdone. It's just not a character driven piece, in the end. I think that works against the film with current audiences, though I don't know that it was trying to be so much more than it was.

The problem is that once in a while, with a line here or there, a moment, an expression, the film transcends it's silly fairy tale treatment. When Penelope tries to explain to her mother how she's feeling, the writing becomes heartwrenching, if a little exposition heavy. I know I'm going to keep coming back to James McAvoy but in the end he has some of the finest acting I've ever seen. He says more with a pained look than some actors can in a whole monologue. And the end...I try not to spoil endings, but I must say that I think anybody who likes romance or love stories needs to watch the film, if for no other reason than to see the next to last scene.

I think that the art director and costume designer for the film deserve praise. They've created a setting that exists everywhere and nowhere at once. If the film is intended to be set in a specific place then I couldn't figure out where it was. It felt like New York City and London at the same time. Penelope's clothes were delightful, and everything looks beautiful. The only thing I can say is that Christina Ricci is almost too adorable in her pig nose, but I forgive everyone's overreaction to it as part of the sort of oversaturated screwball world that they live in.

It's a good little film. I think most people who like fairy tales, love stories, or quirky comedies will enjoy it. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to add everything James McAvoy has ever done to my queue.

Avant guard meets...surfer?

When you think of surfer girls and surf wear, what's the first thing that comes to mind? Wet suits? Bathing suits? Hibiscus flowers? That really annoying level of JoJo's Fashion Show?

How many of you thought "Avant Guarde fashion?" Nobody? Crickets?

I'm so completely baffled by the decision to pair the two ideas, and apparently so were the designers. In season four, the designers had to make an avant guard look, and then create a ready to wear look to compliment it, the two looks mostly complimented each other. You also got some astonishingly good fashion out of it. Even the dress that got a designer eliminated wasn't BAD, it just didn't fit.

Yet this group...this group turned out a lot of really weird stuff. Some boring, some downright weird, and none of it matched, really at all. What did their pairs of outfits have to do with each other? They didn't. Much like surf wear and avant guarde fashion.




Louise and Althea

What's really sad about this episode is that aside from a few key groups, I can't even remember who was paired together. I keep having to go back to the website to figure it out, but I guess that's what you get this early in the season.

Last week, I didn't like the fit of the bust on Althea's dress. This week, the fit is still really similar, so I think it's just one of her design trends. There's just something about that particular style and fit that makes the woman's chest look like an odd proportion. I don't understand why people think it's great, I guess because it shows off a lot of flesh? But in the end, it actually elongates that part of the chest, which I don't think is the intended result.

I also gave a pass last week to Christopher for the bubble skirt hem he did on the shirt he made. I won't do that with this bubble skirt hem, I still hate them.

In the end, while I like the color and the garment fits the challenge really well, it's just filled with sewing techniques that I've never liked, understood, or wanted to wear.

The avant guarde look is much nicer, and very well constructed. I find it very impressive, and beautiful. I don't think it takes enough chances to be really avant guard, but it's still nice.

But how does it even remotely relate to the first look? Look at them together, they don't even seem like they'd be in the same collection, let alone the same challenge.



Shirin and Carol Hannah

The surfer outfit was nice, I love the fabric. It really reminds me of the things that Uli made. The only thing I hesitate about is that I don't know if surfers actually wear teensy bikinis or if they prefer something with a little more coverage. Since they talked to the surfer girls, I'll presume that sometimes they wear more skimpy things. But in the end, solid effort, a little fun, and well done.

The avant guarde look...well, if you cover up the bottom third of the dress and pretend it isn't there, then it's really nice. The color is very pretty, the sweep around the shoulder, the braiding, all lovely.

The pouches at the bottom? Um...what was that about? They flopped around weirdly on the runway, they're large and cumbersome, and they don't really serve any purpose besides being large weird things on the bottom of the dress. And we're not going to go into what they remind me of.

But the big thing in the end? Again, what do these dresses have to do with each other? The colors don't match, the designs don't flow together. They're just two different dresses with two different inspirations and I wish that they could have kept everybody on the runway so that the judges could have called them to task for it.

Actually, why didn't the judges call them to task for not making the dresses work together? It was part of the challenge!




Christopher and Logan

Okay, okay. THESE two looks at least look like they belong in the same show, if not "inspired by" or anything. They're similar enough to be of the same aesthetic.

The top half of the model for the surf look is great. But while I realize this is a "surf inspired" look, I can't get over the idea of how much a surfer would probably hate wearing skinny pants like these. They look vastly uncomfortable, and as I pointed out time and time again during Christian's season, skinny pants are not flattering on anybody. They make you look funny, so please women of America and the world, stop wearing them.

No really, even if you're skinny they aren't right. They accentuate the wrong parts of the woman's body, they make her legs look strange, and just generally throw off the entire natural curve and proportion of a woman's body which is, in general, the entire thing most people find attractive about women.

While these aren't as bad as some I've seen, they certainly don't work for me.

I actually quite like the avant guarde look, because it's rather daring and fits the idea. It's on the edge, something that would be a good centerpiece to a collection even if it's not entirely wearable. I also like that it seems to be a very good blend of Christopher and Logan's styles. Actually, I think it's the best avant guarde look of the night because it certainly feels more risky, better made, and more demanding than Ra'mon's.




Qristyl and Epperson

I like the fabric for the casual dress, I like the top (though it's got a little of the same issue that I talked about with Althea. The problem isn't the tiny top so much as it is the long long straps until you get to the top, it makes that part look too long). But the bottom, I don't understand. It's gathered and flows strangely as the model walks down the runway and again, I just don't get it. I don't understand fashion. But I especially don't understand the level of this season's designers. Sure, I might not understand. But usually I'm not so completely baffled by the fall of the hemlines, even on PR. It's a topic that comes up for me several times and episode right now and I don't understand why.

As for the avant guarde...there are no words. Remember last season (was it last season, really? feels like years) when several designers made dresses out of this one particular brown fabric, and it was really hard to work with and looked pretty bad all around, and the two bottom outfits were made of the same fabric?

I think this might be made out of the same stuff.

Okay, I know it's not because I looked back at the old pictures and that brown was much lighter and shinier. But still, this is just...wrong. First, it looks more like a swimsuit than half the things that went down the runway. So, I guess in that sense it fit the challenge to mesh surf and avant guarde? But the bunches of fabric and how haphazard it looks just...what is it? What are they going for? What are they actually SAYING with this garment? Because I have no idea.

I wanted to like Qristyl and root for her, but I think I'm done.




Nicolas and Gordana

For the surf look, while it might not be my personal style, I get it and I like it. The workmanship is pretty amazing, and surprising. Actually, there was a lot of braiding and macrame this week, and I'm curious why. Is it something one of the surfers said? Anyway, it's still really nice, and it's light and open, so very beach-wear. The bottom also is very light and airy, and just feels appropriate for a beach cover-up, though it is a shade long. I'd rather see it show just a little more leg.

As for the other...

Well.

Color wise, I can see how the two relate together. In any other way, I don't really quite understand. And the blue lace body stocking...I mean, it even goes over her shoes! What in the world IS it? Who would have created that? Who, in a million years, would think that looks like anything other than trashy? If I cover up the bottom, and assume that the top flows into some sort of matching skirt (though I can't imagine what that could be) then it's not that bad. The collar and the design are interesting, at least a little inventive. But the stockings. I just can't imagine the stockings working anywhere on anyone.




Johnny and Irina

First, thank goodness that Irina was on the top of the runway for once. Girl needs to be given mad praise as soon as possible.

Second, Johnny's model has never looked more beautiful. She looks a bit like Sarah from the show Chuck, somehow. But I like it.

And I like their casual look. It's simple, but it's wearable, it's fun, and while the pockets of the skirt do a bit of an odd thing, in the end I think it might be the best surf look that was out on that runway. It just really looks like something a girl might throw on after surfing to go grab some lunch or a casual dinner.

While I don't see how the designs themselves really fit together, the avant guarde look was tied to it with color, which is more than some did. But I have to admit, I don't like it.

There's something about it that makes it look like the model is being pulled in two directions, like she twisted funny before she walked out on the runway and didn't have time to straighten the dress. The braiding on the top is a little off somehow, it's top heavy, though I can't explain exactly why. Maybe it's to do with the width of the strips or the tightness of the weave.

It just looks a little sloppy, a little half realized. I can't say that I'm a fan.




Mitchell and Ra'mon

I actually really adore this dress. If it had a lining instead of being sheer, and was for a dress challenge instead of a surf challenge, I would spend three paragraphs singing it's praises.

Instead, it's meant to be a surf challenge, and I don't see surf in this really. Sure, it's a bathing suit cover up. But the colors don't say sun and beaches to me. But I do like Ra'mon's story about the algae, so I guess I'll forgive it.

Now, I love the effect of the dye on the neoprene. I love the pattern that it makes, and I'd kind of like a laptop bag made out of the "print." But I can't say I loved the dress itself, especially not as much as the judges did. It's cute, and interesting. If it was the surf inspired part itself then it would be pretty good.

But avant guard? Really? It bunches in weird ways and when the model walks it just moved in an odd and stilted way (largely because it's neoprene and not being used as a formfitting fabric). But I just don't see it in the same positive light the judges did. I don't know who I would have given the win to aside from Ra'mon, because in the end his two looks were the only ones that were BOTH really well done. Not that they fit together in the slightest, but that's beside the point.

That said, the fact that he put it together in thirty minutes or so is really impressive so I won't be so harsh.

All that out of the way, to the drama. Mitchell made a huge mistake but at the same time, it was honorable and honest to not try to make himself out to have done more than he did. BUT, at the same time as that, the fact is that the only reason these came out as well as they did is because he didn't help, and I think we all know it.

I try hard not to be really harsh to these designers, and I realize I'm kind of picking on Mitchell a lot. But I just don't understand it, he seemed to show about the same amount of sewing ability that I have, and I'm really not cut out for PR.

For them to have the "follower" of the team win, and the "leader" lose, that isn't something that's happened before. But aside from Qristyl, I don't see any other way the elimination could have gone. And while they might say that they're only going to take into account the garment in front of them and not all their work, you know that they just finally gave up and said, "You know what, Mitchell isn't going to cut it."

As for the model drama, I have to say I now love the model who cried because she got chosen by her friend's designer (I can't learn any of the models names, I'm sorry models! But I'm barely keeping up with designers and cheftestants right now). But anyway, the emotion she showed for her friend was really heartfelt and it made me want to hug her, and her friend. I don't think she should have gone home anyway, she was very pretty and seemed kind, which I suppose isn't a requirement for a model but it's nice. But at the same time, I'm also glad Valerie didn't go home two challenges in a row, that would have been terrible!

I do like that they're back to their original antics of choosing models each week though. It was funny, one night the models were acting like that was such a new and weird idea and what in the world was happening, but that's the way it was first season and the designers jumped just about as often as they are this season.

I'm surprised at the girl who took the Arby's commercial instead of PR, but if they're still not getting paid for their appearance then I suppose I can't say much. But it seems to me that all other things being equal, PR would be a better way to actually elevate yourself and make yourself better known. It certainly has a larger following than Arby's. She did mention getting into SAG, which I found interesting because I'm pretty sure being in a single commercial won't get you into SAG, otherwise all the actors I've met who are so desperately trying to get in wouldn't be having so much trouble. But I guess I don't know the rules completely.

But then, why is a model trying to get into SAG? Is she really an actress and she started modeling to make more money until she broke into the business? Heck, a lot of full time actors I've known haven't even wanted to be in the guild, but that's a big long story that's far more political than I want to be. Anyway, she confuses me and we'll leave it at that. I liked Valerie (the one name I've learned) so I'm glad she's back.

As for Fatma and the other girl...The middle school called. They want their drama back.