With the exception Christian Siriano, none of the actual winners of PR have been the ones to actually go on to any real commercial success anyway, so I would say that like Daniel Vosovic, Mondo will probably get plenty of job offers.
Having said that, I was pretty shocked they picked Gretchen for the win. I figured Mondo would get it because his designs are the most “runway” of the three, and I thought he had the sympathy vote all tied up.
I don’t share in all this Gretchen hate anyway. Sure she talks too much, but so does everybody else. Ivy was the bitch of this season by far. Plus…I see alot of myself in Gretchen, literally. She kinda looks alot like me, even family and friends have commented on it, but her legs are lots longer than mine. I find it kinda hard to hate on someone who looks so similar to myself. Somebody on this board made a comment afew weeks back tat there was some ginger bias going on, and I had to laugh. I does happen, you know. The only thing that really makes me mad with her is that she said the first show she was of Irish heritage (me too!) and while Andy and Mondo created designs that celebrated their heritage, she went in this southwest Native American direction, while I would have liked to have seen her stay true to her own roots and include a nod to Ireland in there, that would have been nice.
I can’t believe nobody has commented on Gretchen’s outfit for the Runway though. Girl had some serious peek-a-boo going on. Maybe that’s why they picked her and told her she was “going to be a star”. She has the legs for it.
My interest level in PR is way down like everyone else. PR used to be a show I made plans to see, while this season I have been content to see it in reruns. I will tune in less now because they really become more cheesy overall with their stupid edits and fake drama.
The finale episode was put together badly, too. Really weird editing, too much re-capping and not enough focus on the design, and the “reunion” was boring and pointless. A little amused that Ivy is STILL bitter and making snarky remarks, and I thought she even liked Gretchen. A little disappointed that April joined in the bitchfest.
I do think Gretchen has a place for her designs (she really does seem pure Portland-crowd to me) in a company like Free People or Urban Outfitters or something. But like someone else said, Mondo seems to have a lot more runway-high-fashion power. I just don’t get the judging this season at all, and in retrospect it was a pretty boring season design-wise. I don’t think I’ll make a point to tune in next time, either.
So April got chewed out for sending layered grannie panties down the runway in the hat challenge, yet Gretchen gets the win with a collection that featured 3 looks of gps??? As soon as she was announced as the winner, I said “I will never watch this show again” (like anyone cares) and turned off the tv. I haven’t been so disappointed since Jeffrey Sebelia won Season Three. I predict Mondo will actually come out way ahead of Gretchen in the long run. Most winners haven’t produced much of anything, but many second/third/didn’t make it to Fashion Week have been successful. Austin Scarlett has quite a line of bridal gowns.
Chloe Dao won Season Two, so now there have been 3 female winners.
Leanne was Season 5. There were also Chloe in Season 2 and Irina in Season 6. Gretchen makes it 4-4 men vs. women, while a Mondo victory would have made it a hardly implausible 5-3.
If you want disproportion, consider that 25% of the winners at this point are brunette hippie chicks from Portland, not that Gretchen should be mentioned in the same sentence as Leanne.
One of the more frustrating things about PR is the way “wearable” is a good thing one week and a bad thing the next. One week they’ll praise you for taking chances and going out on limbs and the next week they’ll condemn you for overreaching. It’s completely inconsistent. Everything Nina and the Dutchess were dissing Mondo for this week they had praised him for in the past.
After watching his video diaries and reading his book, it wouldn’t shock me if Tim Gunn didn’t come back. His heart hasn’t been in it this year. At that point, I’ll be done with the show.
During Mondo’s runway show, the necklaces were disappearing and reappearing. It was driving me crazy.
Honestly, I didn’t love any of the final collections. Gretchen’s looks needed Birkenstocks, and Mondo’s stuff is too “out there” for me. In terms of who should have won, though, I’d have gone with Mondo because it’s “fashion” and his stuff is more likely to get people talking and more likely to show up in weird editorial photo shoots.
Was Gretchen wearing granny panties under a sheer dress? Please tell me that’s not where fashion is going. And why was Heidi Klum wearing a monochromatic late-80s power suit?
Also, Jessica Simpson looked like she’d had a stroke.
I was really shocked that Mondo did not win. If they’re going to judge based on if the crunchy granola crowd would buy it, why have a high fashion runway show? Gretchen had maybe two prints, used over and over.
As a jewelry designer, I was bored by Gretchen’s jewelry. It was one design, done over and over. It’s a V-shape. Not that special.
Mondo said he had made all his own jewelry – not just designed, but actually made; and had hand-beaded that Day of the Dead skull. That’s wow factor talent.
One of the main things that bothers me about this is that it will be easy for the Project Runway powers-that-be to discount the fan outrage over Gretchen’s win because she wasn’t personally popular. That wouldn’t have mattered if her clothes were exciting. It was like JCPenney in 1974 on that runway. (I really didn’t appreciate Gretchen trying to spin the response to her personality as being affected by sexism because she’s just so direct. She’s anything BUT direct! That was the issue. If it’s sexist to criticize another woman for being a passive aggressive twat, sign me up.)
I think generally when the judges critique things as ‘too ready-to-wear’ or ‘overly commercial’ they mostly mean ‘looks like things that are already in stores now’, whereas when they praise them as wearable, they mean ‘I could totally see myself wearing that’. Well, maybe not when Michael Kors says it, but you get the idea – there’s a difference between new things for people to wear and the same old thing.
I think, ultimately, Gretchen got the win because she listened to the judges in Finale Part 1 and did what she was told, while Mondo took all the advice he got from the judges, said ‘Screw that noise, I’m awesome the way I am’ and showed on the runway exactly what he’d showed in the previous episode.
The judges have showed time and time again that while they will forgive a multitude of sins, “not sucking up to the judges” is not one of them.
Well, that will teach me to be certain that I know what is going on. I was actually mad at PR because I felt that they tipped their hand and spoiled the finale for us by letting us know that Mondo had it in the bag. So you can imagine my ASTONISHMENT when they sho’ nuff showed me.
I have lost all respect for Nina. I never thought I could lose all respect for someone over one decision, but I’ve done just that. No regrets.
Jessica Simpson had no biz judging fashion when she was wearing such an unfortunate choice. And while it is clear she is no towering intellectual, she made some very clear and strong points. She didn’t back down to Michael and Nina when it came to her opinion about the dress and about Mondo. So she could have been worse.
I don’t think the uproar about her winning is about her personality, it is about those fugly clothes. On the other hand, I do think her unappealing personality is going to hurt her sales in the long run. With most designers, we don’t know if they are awful people, so their personality doesn’t affect sales. PR winners, however, are different. We do know something about who they are, and as Mel Gibson and Tom Cruise know all too well, that affects the marketplace. I know I would think twice about buying something of hers because I don’t like her.
Yeah, but isn’t being a bitch almost a cliche for Fashion folks? Isn’t Karl Lagerfield one of the biggest bitches of them all? He is also one of my favorite designers.
Anyhow, I actually started to like Gretchen. I never actually disliked her the way I disliked Amy, or whatever her name is. I also thought many of her designs were pretty good. Some of it was ugly, but most of her stuff I kind of liked. (not that I would wear it, but I think her designs would look nice on a lot of women.). It’s just that Mondo was so much better.
I was surprised to learn that Michael Kors was only one of two designers in the industry, and the only one to make his own clothes. WTF did that comment even mean?
being openly bitchy is one thing. even her fellow designers had a problem with Gretchen’s two-faced, passive-aggressive crap. and when confronted on her bitchiness, she got all butthurt and weepy. If a person isn’t strong enough to own the name of bitch, then they need to change their behavior.
Being from Portland, I’ve suffered through my life being surrounded by shapeless unironed brown lazy drab hippiechick wear. On behalf of the region, I truly apologize to the rest of the world for inflicting this upon you.