Project Runway 8/2/06 - Someone's Been a Naughty Designer

Cafe Society
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Bonnie, we hardly knew you. The outfit was very, very ugly, though. A little scary, even. Bradley was pretty diplomatic with the “what we made was very close to the sketch” comment when asked about the outfit.

Robert’s design was boring, but the only thing about it that really bugged me was the slit up the back. What would have been the best way to fix it? Theories? The jacket was sorta cute but not with that businessy outfit. Vincent, who disagreed with the design throughout, was also surprising diplomatic with the “Robert is the team leader and he was passionate about this, and I was only too happy to help him.” Robert should have listened to Kayne, who wanted more color and verve to the outfit. Might have made the difference.

So, I have to reluctantly admit Angela freakin’ won that challenge, fair and square. Her team’s outfit was better than Alison and Jeffrey’s, though I liked their pants a lot. If I had to pick, I’d go with the short jacket over the long, because long jackets like that make big butts look huge, IMO. Bonnie’s shirt had that problem too.

Angela benefitted bigtime from excellent team selection, picking two people who are hip and cool, and who like each other and work well together. I felt her, throughout the task, wanting badly to ingratiate herself with them, and it seemed to work, partially because she was on-target this time, and partially because she was receptive to her teammates’ good ideas. Nothing succeeds like success, I guess. Both of them reigned in her rosette craziness. Quote of the night, from Laura: “We were all happy with Angela’s fabric selection. It was more appropriate for this challenge than the full-tilt boogie Angela extravaganza of puff.”

Does Angela have immunity for the next challenge? Is that automatic or what?

Does anyone remember if Chloe flew under the radar the first half last season? What I’m saying is, could Michael win this, or will he go out like Bonnie, from obscurity to auf’d? I see Laura and Michael going very far in this, unless there’s a major misstep like Bonnie’s. I like both of them a lot.

Won’t miss Keith and his bitchy attitude. How LAME is it that he had design books under his freakin’ bed? And I wonder where he went on his unauthorized departure? Weird. The worst part of Jeffrey and Alison’s design was those loops, which were supposed to be the t-shirt that pulls up, but never really got off the paper, I guess.

Jeffrey is similarly annoying and needs to go soon, just so I don’t have to look at his neck.

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I just checked out Tim’s Take. Two good snippets:

I also noticed that Tim referred to that top as a “convertible tank,” which I now remember Keith mentioning could be pulled down and worn as a dress, so maybe it could be turned upside down and the loops become the tank top.

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I’m actually a tad disappointed with the editors here. I knew from about ten minutes in who would lose this challenge. I didn’t even need to see the designs, the fabrics or the final product. All that was irrelevant to me figuring it out. It came when I said to myself “Bonnie? Bonnie who? Have I even seen her this season? Why is she getting so much airtime all of the sudd…oh. Yeah, ok, it’s her last episode.”

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Well, despite the drama of the untimely exit, i thought that this wasn’t a particularly interesting episode. The clothing was all rather blah, and i just don’t like it as much when they work in teams.

The winning design was OK, and it was certainly well made, but i’ve never been a fan of those little half-jacket thingies. Alison and Jeffrey did a good job, although, like some other folks, i was a little nonplussed by the loopy things.

I’m just going to reiterate what i said last week: Alison has heaps of talent, and i’m betting on her making the top 3.

Also, she’s so incredibly gracious about everything, like when she was talking about Keith etc. in tonight’s show. If everyone was as nice and as humble as her, i think it would be a pretty boring show.

The two other designs were just god-awful. I had a hard time picking which was worse.

Finally, a note to the producers of Project Runway:

When you have team challenges, don’t wait until after you’ve slammed a garment to ask the collaborators what they thought of it. Make them get on record as liking it or disliking it before giving your opinion.

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It probably says something about my taste that I didn’t get either of the “winning” outfits. The other two were my favorites - Then again, I shop at the INC department - I am their target customer, and I really liked the “losing” one. I would buy that. (The slit in Robert’s was a bit too slitty)

Those damn rosettes? No - and quarter length jackets don’t look good for most people in 10, much less once they size it all the way up and down the spectrum. It’s Macy’s. They’re pedestrian.

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So, Angela, as team leader, has immunity for the next challenge. I wonder who would have gotten immunity if Keith’s team had won? They could have given immunity to both Alison and Jeffrey, I guess.

Another question: Since two people left during this challenge, how does it affect the rest of the competition? Will they eliminate one of the challenges so it comes out even? Will one of the auf’ed designers come back?

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I was thinking they’d have a surprise non-elimination challenge somewhere along the line.

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Also, will two models be booted next week?

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I’m listening to Tim’s podcast right now:

[spoiler]Apparently, there were two days off between Day One and Day Two of the challenge, where the designers were being shuttled off to photo shoots and things like that. Tim and the producers found out what was going on late on Day One. They spent the next day sorting out what to do about it when they weren’t busy with commercial filming and things. Meanwhile, the other designers already know. All the old designers are back, everyone knows, and they’re all cooped up together, and Keith was sort of on the outs of the entire thing. So they’re going to a photo shoot, all in one van, and as soon as they exit the van, Keith bolts. It’s not hard to imagine why - Keith mentions in his exit interview that Vincent was yelling at him, and I’d imagine that “Bad Mommy” Laura and the unambiguously gay duo of Kayne and Robert weren’t exactly being nice about it. (Weirdly enough, Jeffrey, his roommate and teammate, appears to have had very little to do with it at all.) SO on the one hand, Tim and the producers are obviously pretty worried about Keith. On the other hand, his fate is probably sealed at that point. That may be why he seemed so calm about it. He knew what would probably happen, he’d had a chance to leave and hopefully talk to a friend about it, and with the other designers either shunning him or bitching him out, he may not have wanted to stay too much at that point.

I never really liked Keith, but I’ve got to say, I do feel for him. It would have been kinder for him to be kicked out as soon as the books were discovered, rather than leaving him to be fed to the lions, as it were. There was obvious hostility towards him, and as soon as that label of cheater was affixed… oh man. Keith, you dumb bastard, you never needed the books in the first place. What the hell were you thinking?[/spoiler]

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By the way, all you Angela fans can buy her outfit here.

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I have no problem with Angela’s outfit, I think it deserved to win. It isn’t something I think is particularly attractive, but it is what’s in fashion and it was well made. Of course if Angelea has been allowed to do this on her own it would have turned out horribly, but it was her design and vision so she deserves credit. Still she isn’t long for this competition.

Keith was stupid, but at least he went out humble and not all whiny as I have seen other reality show contestants do.

Alison is really pretty. I mean, my fiance said she thought she might be prettier thatn Heidi and I pretty much agree. And she seems very centered and gracious and she is very talented, too.

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Which is why i think they need to cut out the group projects already and get back to the individual designers competing against one another.

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Wow, Angela can do something other than a bubble skirt, who’d of thunk it? But she still had to wear another one of those godawful things. I agree that Laura and Michael kept her in check - if that were a solo project somehow it would have ended up as an “extravaganza of puff”, despite her original sketch. I am annoyed that this win means she will be with us for at least another two episodes.

Laura may be a bit of a controlling bitch but I like her, I just wish she’s stop wearing those low cut things that show off her ribs.

With these group challenges, I think the teammates are afraid to say anything against the outfit for two reasons;1) after the Vincent/Angela fiasco it’s obvious that team leaders won’t take any criticism of their design and 2) the judges will say you’re not a team player if you criticize the work on the runway and you could still be screwed - best to say nothing and hope the team leader goes if the design fails.

Keith, okay I didn’t like him but he appeared to have talent. Why would he think he could get away with blatant rule violations when he shares his room with competitors and he has cameras following him around all the time? How could he think he could get away with it? I feel a little sorry for him but as Kayne said he did bring it all on himself. Keith could have gone far in the competition but he screwed himself. I do think he handled it with class, he didn’t blame anyone else, he admitted he screwed up.

So it looks like next week that Jeffrey, now having no competition for the role, jumps into the arrogant asshole role with both feet, his big neck and tiny head.

Do they repeat challenges from other seasons? Could next weeks fashion icon be another Barbie challenge? If so Robert could have an advantage.

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Actually, i don’t remember hearing anything about immunity for the winner of last’s challenge.

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So true, Mehendo.

**Look!ninjas, **thanks for the explaination. That sort of explains Keith’s parting shot about the designers wanting someone for a scapegoat. Of course, combined with the other comments he made after Tim confronted him, he still came off as doing his best to say that the blame somehow really lies with the others. By his reasoning, after all, he is such a great designer that he doesn’t need those books anyway. Which he probably doesn’t but the fact remains he went and got them. And he left the group for a couple of hours and got access to the internet, as well.

If they were to bring back one of the auf’d designers to take Keith’s place, I hope it would be Malan. I think viewers were too quick to judge him on his looks and accent, myself among them. Not long before the Miss America show aired, though, I realized he seemed like a decent, if lonely, guy. Even though his gown had some major flaws, he still had a lot more talent than evil Angela, who can’t even draw a design on her own. (But, boy, can she ever make rosettes!)

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Oh wait, that’s right, she did do a drawing yesterday. It looked like her model had the fins of a blue whale for arms.

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I didn’t hear anything about it either but other people were saying she had immunity, so I was playing off that. Hasn’t the winner been getting immunity for every challenge? Since she was the designer for that outfit, she would be the one to get the immunity - assuming they get immunity for this week.

I wouldn’t have a problem with her not gettting immunity as long as she leaves next week.

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BTW, does anyone think that it might be an advanteage, form a competitive standpoint, not to be a team captain in these kind of chalenges. I can see how professionally you really want to get your design out there and get something noticed. But competitievely, in this case especially, with only four designs, your odds are much lower. Of course, a team leader isn’t automatically gone, but certainly they are the most likely from a poor team to go.

Also, what do you think Alison and Jeffrey deep in the recesses of their mind thought that with Keith gone it would be very hard for the judges to auf them unless they really screwed up.

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I said exactly this to my wife while we were watching last night.

Sure, if you’re the leader and your design wins then everything is great. But if you’re playing safe, the best thing for these team challenges is to be a regular team member, and do your part professionally and efficiently without making waves. If you do that you’re unlikely to be cut, even if your team’s design is the worst.

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As soon as I saw who the team leaders were, I thought, “Good. Now Angela can go.” It seems to be the team leader who tends to take the fall for a bad design, and I automatically figured that hers would be the worst.

Angela’s was the best of the available options, though it was a bit basic and looks a lot like what’s already in stores. She chose wisely, though, when she picked Michael and Laura, who had already proven during the Miss Universe challenge that they could work well together. Presenting a united front, they managed to talk her down from what could have been a truly awful mistake in those rosettes. Laura’s suggestion put them in a tasteful, marginalized context and kept Angela happy. I had no problem with this win in and of the individual episode, but I still feel she won’t be around for that much longer. I appreciated that she seemed to know how badly she’s been doing, and I am grateful that Michael’s being on her team meant he got more airtime.

Keith’s was interesting. I didn’t think it was supposed to be wearable upside-down. How could you get that narrow neckline over your hips? I thought you were supposed to be able to fold up the bottom so it became a shorter, double-layer tank-over-turtleneck look, but I could be wrong. Either way, it came out all right, and looked well made and innovative, if not beautiful.

I was genuinely afraid Robert was going to get axed. His design was the worst, far worse than Bonnie’s. The top was too short and looked like she cut the bottom off it, the false collar and cuffs have been done to death, the styling was boring, and the jacket looked like my Mom’s raincoat. Just going on this one challenge, Robert should have gone, but based on his performance thus far, this seems like an unfortunate abberation. As Tim would say, Robert, I’m glad you’re still with us.

And Bonnie: Boring and mediocre, but inoffensive. What is so deeply repulsive about brown pants, Nina? I thought the coat was nice and the collar of the shirt pleasantly retro, but I didn’t like the short-over-long sleeve and the top looked baggy and was a bad fabric.

Bonnie hasn’t gotten much face time with the camera, but she seems to be a better designer than some of the others. I’m not mourning her or anything (I’d prefer she went than Robert, and she had to go sometime in the next few weeks), but these team challenges are lame. They essentially put only the leaders in jeopardy, which means that the best designers, who are innovative enough to be chosen, are the only ones with a chance of losing. It allows the most tepid and vanilla of the designers to latch onto better contestants and stay past the point when they should.