Project Runway 1/25/06 (spoilers!)

Cafe Society
21

I was really surprised by Kara’s dress, especially since she was so ambivalent about what she was going to do for the skirt – but once I saw the final product, I understood why. She put a LOT of thought, creativity and effort into her top, and it looked great.

Daniel and Chloe had my favorite dresses, and I was amazed that Chloe was able to get it as finished-looking as she did. I would have been pleased with either of them winning, but I’m especially glad about Daniel’s immunity in the next challenge.

Santino… it’s as if his likeability has grown inversely proportionate to his design skills. I like him better as the season progresses (especially as he imitates Tim), but hate his designs more and more, as well. He has no construction skills and little flexibility. Ugh.

I’m getting tired of the word “vulgar.” I didn’t think Nick’s dress was great, but it wasn’t vulgar, either.

And finally, I totally agree that the judges seemed to have no concept of what flowers cost. Not to mention that flowers have very little surface area, dry out quickly and don’t bend well. The designers could have used more as accents, I suppose, but come on. This is one of the really, really contrived challenges with no bearing on what they’ll ever do in “real life,” so coming down on them for not using more color was dumb.

22

Call me crazy, but I liked Santino’s design in this episode and I didn’t like Chloe’s. I didn’t hate Chloe’s, but I didn’t like that she just added leaves to a basic dress rather than using the materials themselves to create the dress. I didn’t mind Santino’s mesh since he did buy it in the plant shop (I didn’t hear that all areas needed to be covered by living things).

I didn’t really like Nick’s dress, although “vulgar” isn’t the word I’d use to describe it. “Boring” maybe, but not “vulgar.”

I didn’t hate Andrae’s design, but it was the weakest next to Nick’s (I thought Chloe’s was bit of a cop out, but it still looked better than either Nick’s or Andrae’s). Since someone had to go and Nick has been stronger up till now, I wasn’t surprised it was Andrae.

I’m still trying to figure out why liking shiney leaves is a German thing.

23

Here’s something from Tim’s blog which makes it more understandable:

24

It is official: I love Tim Gunn. The line that did it for me (also from his blog): “Andrae, be proud of your fine showing and see you at the Red Lobster!”

25

I really thought there was a clear-cut difference between the top 3: Daniel, Kara, and Chloe, which looked like clothes and the other three, which looked like plants.

26

I don’t know what sort of plant selections were available, but plants come in all sorts of colors from blueish to yellow to red (like nandinas). Then again, the green plants are cheaper. […shrug…]

27

I wonder how next week’s makeover episode will work? Will each contestant get to pick who they make over? Will everyone have to make over Daniel because he won immunity? Is it too much to hope that Tim will just order everyone to do something about Santino?

28

Ok, I am too much of a Project Runway junkie. That much is clear.

There’s a preview video for the next episode on the website. Apparently Heidi will draw names out of a hat to assign each designer to a fellow designer. They get no choice in it at all.

… which makes me wonder if the models will be used, or if the designers themselves will model the looks?

29

If so, can we do something about his HAIR? Everytime I see those greasy, glued-to-the-forehead bangs I cringe.

Chloe’s dress was dull, but the skullcap made it work. I did like Daniel’s–I think he will win, he is consistently strong and I don’t recall any clunkers. I thought Kara was going to be out but she really pulled it together. I liked Nick’s, loved the banana leaf straps.

30

I thought they were having the makeover because of Daniel’s hair. :smiley:

31

I can’t stand Santino’s designs either, but there was a small part of me that wanted him to win last night since he promised to use the immunity to make his most outrageous design yet. It’s hard to imagine how spectacularly bad it would be.

32

I envision a hat carved from a pumpkin; a blouse sporting 10 inch cone breasts with propellers — basically a bodice worn on the outside; a skirt made of random sized quilt patches, ending in a ragged uneven hem, with a two-foot diameter ball of bunched up veil lace pinned onto the back. The shoes are cotton balls glued onto the model’s feet.

33

Daniel’s was well-executed, but I didn’t like it. I think every show, there’s a problem with a dress that has too short a bodice. I understand that that meant he had to do less basketweave (which was cool, by the way), but I still would have liked to see a longer top. I was all right, but not my favorite by far.

What was so bad about Andrae’s dress? In his blog, Tim descibed it as “creating a human topiary,” which is very apt. I think that if Andrae had used those words, he might have stayed in. A designer needs to give the judges something vivid and positive about the design. It was a very audrey Hepburn silhouette, and I think it was vell done (though there were little bald patches).

Chloe’s was too simple for the challenge. It looked like fabric, it’s true, but if your material looks like any other material in such an over-he-top challenge, and your silhouette is so basic, you’re not going to make an impression.

Kara’s was her best dress so far. I thought it was well-executed but I didn’t like it, much like Daniel’s (though it wasn’t quite as well-executed as Daniel’s). The straw back was very inventive.

I loved Nick’s on the mannequin. I thought that the banana-leaf design was cool. I wished it was longer and the bust covered more, because on the model it was a little too bare, but what was he supposed to do? He bought the biggest leaves he could find, and he only had $100.

Speaking of practicalities, why were the judges criticizing one of the desigers (I don’t remember who) for a front the “leaped” away from the model? If you’re using vegetation as your material, you need to glue it pretty throughly, and it’s going to be a little stiff. There’s not much that can be done for that.

Now for the shocker-- I liked Santino’s design. Okay, so the skirt wasn’t chiefly made of plant life, but nothing in the rules specified that it had to be, and I thought it was beautiful. The colors, the shape, the detailing of the flower made of leaves on the bust, the multi-colored leaves. The fact that you couldn’t add ruching, too much trim, or too many colors definitely helped bring out Santino’s less over-the-top side.

34

Huh? I thought the rules did specify that the outfit was to be made of chiefly plants and flowers. Otherwise, why not make a beautiful dress of fabric and pin a flower to the lapel?

35

This is my first season watching, and “garment” is a word I couldn’t love more. Garment. Garment. “This is a poorly designed garment!” “Oh, I love your garment.” “What an interesting garment.”

I’m using it in real life. “I like your garment.”

Someone shoot me. Garment. Garment.

36

From Tim’s blog: “The designers had $100 and an hour to shop. Each of the three shops available to them had different specialties: green plants, flowers, and floral accessories. But for our trustworthy muslin back in the workroom, the designers had only their Flower District purchases with which to design and make.”

I took it to mean that the only rules were that they had to make the dress using whatever they could find from those three stores. I assume that the green fabric came from the floral accessory shop, and was allowed for that reason.

It kind of reminds me of last season’s grocery store challenge, in that they wanted the designers to go wild and use food to make fashion, but the ones who used placemats and pantyhose were still okay.

37

Maybe while they’re at it they’ll do something about Santino’s horrid oily ringlets. Guys, when your hairline is receeding, growing out long stringy curls just makes it look worse. You’d think prospective clients would wonder, “Why should I accept someone’s statements on style when they clearly can’t figure out how to look good themselves!”