Suede is starting this thread so Suede can do the whole thing in the third person.
StG
Spoilered, since it just ended here on the East Coast:
[spoiler]Dammit, the odious Suede won. Suede will be even more insufferable. If this goes on, all of the other competitors will have to take him in the back and beat him with broom handles. I’m glad to see rocker chick did well this week, because she’s got potential to either succeed or flame out spectacularly.
Wesley (who?) was the one eliminated for just a muddle of a dress. I really don’t know him well enough to care, but anyone who wears a sport jacket and shorts is enough of an affront to fashion to deserve banishment.[/spoiler]
Right now, there are so many of them that I can’t really differentiate between them, except for the few with particularly vibrant personal characteristics like really annoying Suede, the rocker chick, and the girl who always has a flower in her hair.
Green Bean thought Project Runway ROCKED THE EPISODE!
Oy.
Anyway, I liked this episode very much. I thought it was a nice way to let us get to know the models a little bit, though I’m not sure what I thought of the twist of letting the models buy the fabric. It was interesting to see how little they knew about design and sewing.
Most improved was Stella. Obviously. At first, I didn’t like how she disregarded what her model wanted, and I do hate to hear people on the show proclaiming what they do and do not do. You gotta be flexible if you’re going to be on PR. But ultimately, the results were excellent. The fabric was inappropriate for what the model wanted, and Stella used it very well. And I agree with MK–combining biker chic and cocktail glamour is a tall order, but she pulled it off.
I’m surprised Suede won. I thought the dress was butt-ugly. I figured he’d be in the “safe” group, 'cause it was ugly, but well-executed. But everyone else really liked it, so I guess it’s just not to my taste. MK had a good point about taking a difficult fabric and finding a way to use it.
I think they made the right choices about the bottom 3. Korto’s was a failure, but the execution wasn’t horrible, and compared to the other two… I’m curious to see what she shows us next.
Wesley’s and Leanne’s were both awful, but at least Leanne’s didn’t look like it had been through a meat grinder. It looked like it had been through a paper shredder though. That fabric really sucked. I’m not optimistic for Leanne. Isn’t she the one that glued all the crap on her pink dress last week? Girl really needs to learn to edit.
Personality-wise, Jerrell was irritating me a LOT. I think he read a manual about “how to act like a New York Queen” written in 1984. Blayne wasn’t too bad this week, and he was funny with teasing Stella about her children made out of “leathuh.”
Does it seem to anyone that Nina seems more relaxed and good-humored this year? Maybe leaving Elle has been good for her.
Oh, and I’m sorry to say it, but Natalie Portman was a weak guest judge.
On preview…I totally agree with Bill about the shorts and sports jacket thing. The only grown man who is allowed to wear such a thing is Angus Young.
Best Moment of the Night Award:
Tim Gunn: Oh. This is the outside of the dress? OH! Ooohhhhhh…
ETA: Is it just me or is this a particularly whiny bunch this year?
Stella may have improved in her designs but she’s still as annoying as hell. I can see people in Season 1 and 2 complaining about having to do stuff outside of their usual “thing” but this is Season 5, so if you didn’t know this kind of thing was expected of you and went on this show blindly never having seen a PR before you’re an idiot. If you did know all that and you’re just whining for the drama and more camera time then you’re an attention-whoring idiot.
I don’t like having so many contestants, you can’t tell most of them apart at this stage. They should just start with 10 and not eliminate anyone for 5 shows.
I thought the winning dress was butt ugly as well. I was hoping Daniel’s black dress might make it. But there was very little I luuuuurved.
Stella’s attitude’s gotta go. We get it, you’re a hard rocking leather chick, and she did a good job, but stop whining about what you will and won’t do when you have to please your client.
Agreed–the shorts on Wesley…so wrong.
I actually liked the winning dress. It wasn’t something I would wear, but it had a fun funkiness to it that I think looks neat. The only thing I didn’t love about it was the neck line. That looked a little bit like someone’s mom sewed it for Halloween or something. It just didn’t look finished.
The thing that annoys me the most about Stella is that she whines so much about not being able to use leather, but in her bio clip she said the that her goal was to show people that she could sew things that weren’t leather. I really hate a hypocrite. Oh…and her eyeliner…what is with that!?
It’s leathuh. 
Terminus Est is glad that we won’t see Wesley’s little shorts any more. Terminus Est also thinks that Suede’s design is awful. Terminus Est will be dismayed if he should ever see Natalie Portman wearing Suede’s butt ugly dress. Natalie Portman shouldn’t be wearing Suede’s dress. Natalie Portman shouldn’t be wearing any dress at all. Sorry, did Terminus Est say that out loud?
I know. On the one hand, I can’t stand Suede. On the other, I know who he is. Unlike the as of yet undetermined number of girls with longish-brownish hair who speak kind of slowly. I think there are at least two - but there may be 4 or 5. They’ve all blended together. As far as Suede’s dress - I kind of liked it, but I don’t think it’s mass-producible in a way that will look good.
Stella annoys me. It was a good dress - but I find her really annoying.
The guy who almost didn’t finish - why did his model walk around with her hands in the pockets? It made her look like she was hiding fat or a pregnancy or something. It was not a flattering display.
My favorite phrase was “team ugly brown fabric.” Because it really was. I’m surprised how bad of a job the models did with picking out fabrics - I would expect they’d know something about fabric and the way it hangs or drapes. Not necessarily that they can put a garment together, but at least that you don’t make a cocktail dress out of jersey.
I think when they’re all standing there getting their ffedback fromt he judges, tehre ought to be a little picture in picture view of the outfit again. Very often when there are this many competitors, by the time I’ve seen everyone’s design, I’ve forgotten who produced what. Suede doesn’t like that.
StG
The red details in the winning dress looked to me like bleeding spots, like the dress wearer had been gunned down. Especially since they were unsymmetric. Not too pretty.
I wanted 1940’s girl to win.
I agreed with the choice of losing design. His execution sucked.
So far Suede (and no your momma isn’t going to be proud you renamed yourself something so stupid and did not pay attention in pronoun class) and Tan Boy are getting on my nerves the most.
The rest of them are just meh right now.
Which means they’ll probably be around for a while, along with STELLLLAAAAA!
I forgot to mention that I also thought Suede’s dress was fugly. It looked like a mish mash. If Natalie or Heidi were to wear that on the red carpet they’d end up in “What were they thinking?” column in Us/People/Some other celebrity mag.
Why did Korto think the inside out thing would look good? The design otherwise was not bad, if she had done some other kind of accenting trim it might not have been in the bottom 3.
I thought that brown satiny fabric was kind of pretty, why couldn’t anyone make something decent out of it? I was also surprised by the models lack of knowledge about fabric and yardage, you’d think they might pick up something being around fashion. I think it was a good twist though, otherwise it’s not a challenge.
How many notions that aren’t part of their fabric purchase do they get to use? I heard one of the designers comment that the model even bought matching thread but I gathered that thread is provided since you never see anyone buying it. But what about stuff like trims, bias tape, zippers, buttons or elastic. Is that provided or do they have to buy it with their fabric if they want to use it?
I don’t know but in this episode you can hear one of the designers telling her model not to forget things like closures and zippers. I think they have to at least give them thread because in several episodes it appeared that there was nothing even remotely like thread in the materials they were given to work with.
I think mostly it’s a result of the time factor.
I don’t sew (much) but work with fabrics in my job. Shiny satin and many silks show every thumb prints, and pulls where stitches are. You have to A) handle it as little as possible and B) know how to mitigate those effects. It’s easier to do those things when you have the luxury of time.
My grandmother was a fantastic seamstress who sewed all of her own clothes, and many of mine. I wasn’t as interested when she was still with us to learn everything she could have taught me, but I did pay some attention. For satin she would have used a thinner needle on her machine and made tiny stitches, and would have hemmed it by hand. She would possibly have only needed 12 hours to make a cocktail dress, but they wouldn’t have all been in the same day, and she wouldn’t sew when sleep deprived.
She also, and this is where she and Wesley differ, would press, and press and press some more. She told me that pressing is one of the biggest differences between a garment looking homemade and hand made. If Wesly had had more time and could have pressed his dress it still would have been too short, but it wouldn’t have looked so much like the model had partied and then slept in it.
This group seems less talented and also less driven than last season, who seemed less talented than Seasons 1, 2, or 3 to me. It also seems as if they’ve never watched Project Runway. I mean, c’mon. Do what Tim Gunn says! (or, as my cousin just said “Ask Wendy Pepper about not listening to Tim Gunn”)
This is what is bothering me about the bitching and moaning about the challenges, particularly Stella. Why would anyone go on the fifth season of a reality show without ever having seen it or not preparing themselves by at least watching some previous seasons (which in this day and age are easy to find)? I could tolerate it for the first few seasons but now I just want them to shut up about it already they knew what they were getting into. Show less bitching about the same old crap and more clothes-making, or at least find some new drama to bitch about.
Why is it that the ones who annoy me the most are the ones who almost end up winning or in some cases win hands down?! LOL Because yes Stella has already, in two episodes, annoyed the HELL out of me–so much so that I was plotting her downfall last night. Color me surprised that she nearly took the prize last night. I did not like her design, though. And I still am very annoyed by her!
Some of the dresses we didn’t get to see being made–and some of them were pretty nice dresses! I too was surprised that (some of) the models chose such … unusual colors. Ah well, hopefully the good ones will be around long enough that I’ll get to pick a favorite. So far, I gotta go with Kendell (is that right?) I’m talking about the gal who they described as like she was outta the 1940s, I think she had a flower or something in her hair. Gah. Her designs, so far, have been very nice, imho.
I thought that most of the dresses looked like home ec projects.
That said, I loved Suede’s dress and picked it as the winner, though I thought 40s girl was a really close second. I liked the little black number as well.
And folks- even curvy girls don’t want fins coming of their backsides!
Finally- I was yelling at the TV- don’t you watch Project Runway?? Listen to Tim!!!
Maybe they show the most annoying bits of those guys? You know, make them seem more like unlikely winners? They definitely seem to like that.
Stella kind of reminds me of Santino. Both very out there, very love them or hate them. And they seem like the kinds who could either be in the bottom or top three from week to week.