Project Runway 8/26

So far the team with Gretchen on it seems to have boring outfits. Kind of funny for a group filled with winners of previous challenges.

Also, completely pointless, but every time I heard them mention Peaches her name reminded me of another contestant from a past season and I finally figured it out. Her name reminds me of Sweet Pea.

Holy crap. After watching Gretchen turn on everyone my annoyance has turned to dislike. She needs to be taken down a notch, although if they send her home I’m sure she’ll blame everyone else on the team.

Wow, Tim!

I’m speechless, lol.

Thank you, Tim.

Thank you, Michael, Nina, and Heidi.

I think it’s the first time I’ve actually yelled “YES!” at the TV in a long time.

Wow. That was a helluva ending. I had thought Gretchen was getting the bitch edit, but now I am pretty sure she is just a bitch.

Wow. I’ve never seen Tim call someone out like that before! He sounded pissed!

And with good reason.

Michael Costello was equally annoying. The man has bitched about every other designer on the show in the nastiest way possible. Meanwhile he’s whining that other designers don’t like him?

Puh-lease.

Gretchen should have gone home, not just for being such a twat on the runway, but also because she was clearly the leader of the team that produced that dreadful collection. They were right that the collection was cohesive, but when it’s that cohesive and that shitty it means the problems came from the top down.

But this is Project Runway, and there’s no way they’re going to let go of a villain like Gretchen until they absolutely have to.

Speaking of people who shouldn’t still be around, I kind of liked that they gave Casanova the win, even though I’m not sure he deserved it on the merits. I don’t think he’ll be around much longer, so it’s nice to give him a win. And it provided a sweet little twist of the knife in the other team’s wound.

I was so happy to see Casanova win. It was quite likely an encouragement win more than anything, but it’s exactly what he needed. He’s finally struck a balance between old lady and skank in his point-of-view.

Gretchen’s whole “it’s not cohesive!” thing about the other team is such bull. Similar shoulders in several, similar color stories, similar silhouettes, and really cohesive styling. I liked some of her work and I like when there’s designers from the Pacific Northwest (go Seth Aaron!) but she needs to go away.

I agree with LavenderBlue that it’s annoying that Michael Costello bitches about the other designers, but I feel like it comes from a “wanting to be the Anthony of the season” place. Gretchen is just acting like she’s massively superior to EVERYONE.

I’m happy Casanova won too, but yeah, I think it was more of an “encouragement” win than anything else. Would I wear that particular design? No way. Lace makes me itch :shudder:

I was pleased with Peach too – first time she’s sent something down the runway that doesn’t look dated.

None of Team Lux’s designs are memorable. Except for that hideous white shirtdress and the gray checked pattern on a couple of the blouses, I cannot recall any other pieces right now. Hmm, that says something.

It says your mind has blocked them out to preserve your sanity. There were several memorable pieces, but they were memorable because they were so bad that Mr. Blackwell wouldn’t put them on his worst dressed list out of kindness to the mentally ill and/or disabled. After all, no normal mind would ever design or wear such things.

Of course, I rather suspected we were going to be treated to a festival of the worst fashion ideas of my adolescence the moment I heard the words “winter short.” (I said it in 1990, and I’ll say it again now: SHORTS ARE NOT FALL/WINTER CLOTHES, NOT EVEN IF YOU PUT TIGHTS UNDER THEM. You do not look interesting, edgy, fun, or cool wearing shorts with tights and a long-sleeve shirt. You just look stupid. Very, very, very stupid. I can’t decide if I hate the knee-length duster more or less than the sweatshirt and turtleneck one of my classmates used to wear with them, but I hate both looks quite a lot.) My unease deepened considerably when I heard the term “grandpa sweater,” especially when it expanded to the plural, because that moves it well away from “stupid shit my classmates wore in middle school” and more into “Dorothy Zbornack” territory.

And that’s pretty well how their collection looked–like the wardrobe mistress for the Golden Girls had reinterpreted some of the stupider teen trends and aged them up for Bea Arthur.

As much as I wouldn’t ordinarily consider Casanova’s contribution a winning entry, I’m hard put to think who else I would have given it to offhand. The only piece I thought was better than his blouse was Peach’s, which was really lovely but was paired with that dreadful, dreadful skirt. As a whole outfit, his entry was way better than hers, and I can’t remember particularly liking anything else on that team. There was, quite frankly, rather a lot of fug on the runway this time.

ETA: Gretchen, just like there’s no crying in baseball, there’s no sniveling on the runway. Outright weeping, sure, but no sniveling.

[quote=“CrazyCatLady, post:12, topic:551612”]

LMAO!!! Where was it…I think it was during the previews when Tim was interviewed and he was quoted as saying that this season’s contestants were “very fragile”, IIRC. I mean, c’mon – Casanova’s diva moment? I can see how participating in PR or some equally “personal” show can squeeze one’s confidence, but between Casanova’s blubbering and Michael C’s “woe is me” attitude, I wanted to knock their heads together.

The bitchy part of me wants to see how Gretchen will take the slapdown. I’m waiting to see if Ivy gets one because, oh, she also so much deserves one.

I think it’s one of the more idiotic looks of fairly recent times. I certainly wouldn’t wear them. Neither would any other women I know. WTF?!?

And hey, I still have a grandpa sweater from circa 198-something. I only wear it around the house. One of the warmest pieces I own :slight_smile:

Loved the Tim Gunn speech at the end directed towards Gretchen. It will be interesting to see if it actually brings her down a notch or two, but I doubt it will. I loved seeing her dig her self deeper in front of the judges. Micheal C is not my favorite, but it seemed like they really weren’t just calling him out because they knew he had immunity, but to be catty as well.

I liked Casanova’s design. It certainly worked very well for their theme. I think the military/lace was very hard to pull off, and they did it. Certainly harder to pull off than menswear/camel. The detail on Peaches top was very good as well, but I don’t think the entire outfit translated to the screen very well. Team military lace designed pieces that looked like they were designed by different people, but all worked on the same theme, which is apparently what the judges wanted.

The vests/jackets on the losers side were awful, although I did like a couple of the blouses they put out there. AJ’s shirt dress was awful. It would have been better with a even hem and possibly a different fabric. The runway looked like it was all designed by one person (Gretchen/Ivy) and even if you had a different aesthetic (AJ/Michael), you weren’t allowed to show your personality. Apparently, the judges did not like that, and I have to agree.

Yeah, I forgot to mention how that speech made me adore Tim Gunn even more than I already did, which I hadn’t thought was physically possible. Has Tim ever just come in and basically called someone an asshole (or for that matter, a pack of spineless jellyfish) before? And I have to say, I agree with him 100%. Gretchen pretty well rode roughshod over the rest of the team, and they pretty well just laid there and took it.

And I understand exactly how it happened. She seized the reins because she thinks she’s right about everything all the time (which, hell, I’m guilty of myself from time to time) and because she thinks winning the first two challenges means the judges love her and her work. And most of the rest of them followed her lead because they think her winning the first two challenges means the judges love her and her work. And, honestly, none of them wanted to be the man what runs with the football if things should tank because that would put them on the chopping block. It looked like Michael and AJ both tried to make objections and suggestions, but were basically told to sit the hell down and shut the fuck up, and there’s not a whole lot you can do when it’s 4 against 1 and someone else is holding all the fabric shopping money.

And I think they weren’t calling out Michael for strategy reasons at all, but purely to be bitchy under the guise of strategy. It was just the culmination of a a whole campaign of bitchery–totally ignoring his input in the planning, standing over his shoulder bitching and criticizing the whole time he’s trying to work, reworking his stuff while he’s taking a break from listening to your bitchy ass. I’m inclined to give him a pass for his unflattering commentary on them this week, as Og knows I’d have far worse things to say about anybody who treated me that way.

So who was Tim calling out: Gretchen for being so controlling or the others for being controlled. For those that wanted Gretchen to go home, I disagree. 4 crappy pieces beats out 1 crappy piece

I don’t get the Gretchen hate, just like I didn’t get the Wendy Pepper hate in season 1. They were just speaking their opinion and being pretty diplomatic and constructive about it too imo. And what did people expect Gretchen to say when they kept badgering the team for a scapegoat, I don’t know why no one else up on stage opened their mouths, either for or against her. I thought Tim was a little out of line, I must’ve missed something Gretchen said.

And I can’t understand why if Micheal C had immunity why did they spend so much time coaching and teaching him and not concentrating on their own ensembles?

Hands down, that was the most jaw-dropping episode of the series that I’ve seen (and I think I’ve seen all of them). The comeuppance for the ultra-smug, cattily-superior “Luxe” team during the judges’ review was pure Schadenfreude - a reality show hall-of-fame moment.

We all knew that Gretchen had grown too big for her britches, but oh my. Who knew that she would melt down so spectacularly under the judges’ criticism? Graduate-level business management programs ought to archive Gretchen’s performance, and show it to their students in perpetuity, as the textbook example of how NOT to respond to criticism from superiors.

The expressions on the judges’ faces, during the Luxe team’s feeble attempts to justify their “collection,” were simply priceless. Michael and Nina, you could tell, could hardly believe what they were hearing at first, but then they verbally sliced and diced those outsized egos into three hundred little pieces. And I loved every second of it! Heidi, you could tell, was trying her damnedest not to laugh out loud at Gretchen’s histrionics. No worries, Heidi. I had you covered. I was laughing my ass off enough for the both of us.

Every time you thought Gretchen would realize how “done” she was, and that she ought to just STFU, she’d start talking again and dig the hole even deeper. And that smackdown that Tim delivered at the end, primarily though not entirely at Gretchen, had me cheering. When Tim Gunn says you’ve behaved despicably, is redemption even possible? Tim Gunn is God. At least on Project Runway.

But, fun and games aside, “I’m concerned,” as Tim would say:

Has the show ever done a “group” project with this many designers (six) on each team? If so, I can’t remember it ever causing this much upheaval. With this episode, the show seems almost on the verge of flying apart. As in, the center cannot hold, and we’re fast approaching Lord of the Flies territory. And although at least a dollop of drama is part and parcel of what this show is about, I don’t think it can survive becoming Survivor-like. The promos for next week are already dishing up “revenge” story lines, though, so I guess the producers have decided to go “all in” with this. I hope they know what they’re doing. I love the show, and I’d would hate to see it reduced to The Real Clothes Designers of New York.

Season One did the whole group as a team challenge. There were about 8 designers remaining and they had to design a “collection” that would be worn in 2050 or something like that. Kevin Johns was chosen as leader, Wendy Pepper sliced and diced him at the grilling and he was auf’ed. But they never done a challenge with teams as large as last night.

Everyone agreed that they wouldn’t scapegoat each other. Then almost immediately Gretchen tries to throw Michael under the bus.

She also starts out saying how proud she was of the collection, then quickly turns around and says how it’s all crap and she was trying to save it but didn’t have enough time, or something like that.

And finally, she was practically begging the judges not to axe her. She basically had no dignity at all. Along with turning on everybody else on the team, and the fact that she wouldn’t shut up. All of those reasons, plus her huge ego, which has been apparent for about three episodes now, is why we hate her.