Project Runway Season 16, Episode 1

It's been a long time since I've recapped Project Runway: The Mothership--November 2009. That's eight years and ten seasons ago! I did recap All-Stars last year, and that was fun. I figured I'd try again and if I hated it, or even worse, if you hated it, I'd give up for good. But let's get on with the show, shall we?

This season there are sixteen competitors, only five of whom are white. That's a huge shift from previous seasons. Another big change this season is the models, who range from size 2 to size 22. Models will be randomly assigned throughout the season so everyone will get a chance to work with a bigger girl and not exclusively with someone tall, leggy, and hip-less. Yaaaas! Big is beautiful! It's about time that the fashion world recognizes that the average American female is a size 16, with curves, or if more like me, shaped somewhat like a tree trunk. In either case, we are not wire hangers and typical size 0-2 models do not represent us.

The new contestants meet up in what looks to be a large garage-like facility. There's a bartender shaking up creamy coffee-looking drinks that everyone is holding but few seem to be drinking. Possibly because those drinks contain Grey Goose vodka and it's only 8am. Still, that's good vodka and I probably wouldn't turn one down even that early in the morning.

We meet Kenya, a plus-sized woman herself with bold lipstick and a shaved head. She says she is coming to "murder you up...in a good way." I instantly like her. Two of the white girls this season are identical twins Shawn and Claire Buitendorp. Shawn's the "edgy" twin, as evidenced by her shaven head. She says the way to tell them apart is "Shawn shaved, Claire hair." They both have nose rings and matching hot pink lipstick and occasionally speak in unison. Five minutes into the show I am already completely annoyed by them.

The rest of the cast has unfamiliar-sounding names that will take me a week or nine to remember: Kentaro; Batani-Khalfani; Kudzanai; Amy. Brandon seems immediately lost and full of self-doubts. He's 24, and has only designed womenswear once. Once. He won't last long in these here parts. Aaron has long bleached hair with pink roots and looks like a cross between Dr Drew and John Lennon, so I'm probably going to refer to him as Pink Hair John Lennon when I can't remember his name is A-A-Ron. Or maybe even if I do remember. I liked Samantha, Margarita, Ayana, and Deyonté immediately--they were full of enthusiasm but not full of themselves. Sentell and Michael didn't make much of an impression of me at all. And then there is ChaCha from Taiwan, who is 24 going on 7. His name is really Vincent, but everyone calls him ChaCha, which means "annoying little bird." Right on the money. I determined he would be the first to be aufed simply by reading his bio on the Lifetime web site. When asked what his weakness was as a designer, he replied,"I’m bad at fitting!" Welp, kiddo, Nina and Zac don't play that. And after so many seasons, it's getting more and more rare to find a cast member who doesn't have good sewing skills. Thankfully.

There's a bit of "getting to know you," during which Shaved Twin acts like she's the fucking hostess of the party, greeting every new person who walks through the door with her hand outstretched, "Hi! Who are you?" Once everybody is in the room, garage doors open at one end of the space to let in a huge tour bus. Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn emerge and share awkward double-cheek kisses. Tim appears to be uncomfortable during the exchange, which seems odd after so many years of doing the show together.

They introduce the first challenge, which is to design a red carpet look that showcases "who you are as a designer." The designers seem pleased that the first challenge isn't particularly challenging, but then Heidi says, cryptically, "expect the unexpected." On cue, models emerge from the bus. Some contestants feign pleasure at the variation in size, but others just plain freak out. Like poor menswear designer Brandon, who is assigned the biggest girl of the bunch. I briefly reconsider my prediction that ChaCha will be the first out, but only briefly.

The models get a feature this season called "Model Mirror" when they gaze upon their reflection in a full-length mirror and talk about how they are feeling at the time. What we see looks like a standard to-the-camera confessional, but with an added overhead angle showing the models and the mirror. I don't understand the point, but whatever.

The designers get a budget of $300 for this one-day challenge and are quickly whisked to Mood to purchase fabric, after which time they are introduced to their work space.

There are so many designers in the beginning the show tends to concentrate on the ones who are most likely to be in the top or bottom. Brandon is getting a loser edit because he is so concerned about designing for a plus sized woman. ChaCha is also getting a loser edit, because, well, he deserves it. He calls his model fat, then switches to "oversized." Nice. But his model is not what I would consider "plus sized." While sketching, ChaCha said he would purposely emphasize her "big butt" with a snug dress, but what he's actually fabricating looks more like a big bag of cotton candy.

They did let the camera linger briefly on Sentell, as his story is somewhat interesting. After working as a dancer for 12 years, he was tired of the struggle. So he went to a medium who insisted he should be a designer. That's not to say he has any talent, but I guess we'll see as the season progresses.

The photos we see of Batani's pre-Runway portfolio show a strong African influence and she herself is wearing a fun patterned dress with matching head wrap and huge earrings. She says she loves to use bold colors and wanted something colorful for her model, but then settled on a drab gray stretch material, claiming that it would be "best on her body shape," because she wants to "tuck her in." Right there that sounds like she sees having a plus-sized model as being a problem.

Tim comes in for his consultation with the designers and except for ChaCha's bag of cotton candy, doesn't seem to have any overly serious issues with what they're creating.

The models come in for their fittings and everything goes fairly well there, too. Brandon still seems a bit lost, and his model hopes that he can deliver something that's figure flattering. What I'm seeing mid-creation looks completely unflattering. The skirt is too voluminous, and the blouse is boxy, with some weird tie detail on the left sleeve. It's still in the muslin state at this point though, so perhaps once it's created in the actual fabric he plans to use it will be good. But the fabric turns out to be a brown and peach camo. Errr...I have issues with camo. I think it belongs in the military or in the forest on a person hunting deer, otherwise, it's ugly. But hey, that's my opinion. I have a lot of them, and it's fine if you don't agree.

The day ends and the designers are tired, but they still have some commuting to do. Their lodgings for this season are in the Box Hotel. While that sounds like a euphemism for a cardboard appliance casing somewhere on Broadway, it's actually a real hotel...in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. I suppose it's not that far, but still at least a 20 minute ride. I can imagine the designers will be getting pretty punchy during their evening commute by mid-season. Hopefully we get to watch them snipe at each other in a moving vehicle.

The next day they have two hours to finish their red carpet looks, plus send their models to the Avon Beauty Lab and get their hair did at what sounded like "our" beauty salon. I couldn't tell if there was a sponsor for hair at all this year. And accessories....oy. They are furnished by JCPenney.

...and accommodations in Jersey City.

Tim seems more concerned than usual about over-accessorizing. I don't blame him.

Designers and models are soon herded to whatever faraway venue they use for the runway show these days, perhaps on Staten Island. Heidi, Nina, Zac, and guest judge Olivia Munn are awaiting the potential shitshow, but I think by the end they're pretty pleased overall. It's not a bad group of designers this year...apart from one or two.

Since there are so many designers at this point, I'm just going to talk about the top and bottom three looks.

Batani talked a good piece about doing colorful African-inspired garments, but then she put out this drab, stretchy, mess. When she was talking about using the lace applique as a motif, I thought it would be really pretty, but she just tacked it on to basically hide her model's big tummy, and then added a drape on top of that. Her gal had a great curvy shape and deserved better than that.

I thought for sure poor Brandon was on the bottom, but the judges loved his look. Maybe they felt sorry for him? But they called it strong, sassy, and fabulous, so maybe they actually liked it. I don't think the colors were very red carpet-like, but it really wasn't a bad outfit if you're into athleisure, despite the camo.

Predictably, ChaCha's clown costume was on the bottom. Who knows what he was thinking? The outfit was made with a fabric that the judges seemed to think was beautiful close up, but the overall look with the ridiculous ruffles looked like a "dance recital costume," a "scrunchie," and a "clown/unicorn" mashup.

Deyonté's floral two-piece gown was magnificent. Though Tim usually has issues with large floral prints, he loved it, and the judges loved it too. the draping was perfect, and the colors really went well with his model's coloring. So lovely.

Kenya's look was "white hot," definitely white but not at all wedding gown-ish, which is a usual complaint heard when a designer chooses to use all white. It was sexy, elegant, clean, and well-made, although she got dinged for using a fabric that perhaps didn't offer enough support to a bustier. Still, gorgeous.

Bald Twin's look had promise until you got to the tacky silver leather shorts. I think if they had been tight hot pants, it could have worked, but the floppy boxer short look was just tacky. It was too "club kid," too "hooker-y" for the judges.

I think Deyonté's look just edges out Kenya's for the top spot; I would have been happy with either. Predictably the annoying little bird was sent home. Told ya so.

What did you think? Did my recap suck? Hopefully not. Leave me a comment or two so I know if I should continue on or not.

Posted by theminx on Opalescentminx.com Because of past content theft, I am forced to add this statement to the end of my posts: If you're reading this post anywhere other than the Opalescent blog, OpalescentMinx.com (also http://minxbeads.blogspot.com) then this content has been stolen. Please do not support this thief!

Project Runway All Stars Season 5 Episode 12, or Everybody Hugs Sam

I must really love you guys. I missed Manny Machado's grand slam last night because I was watching PRAS instead of the Orioles/White Sox game. My allergies are killing me right now, so forgive me if I am less than coherent this week. But, as they say, the show must go on!

There are four designers left, which means only one more week of missed baseball! Those final four--Kini, Dom, Sam, and Ken--meet Alyssa at the runway where she unnecessarily involves two other people in order to introduce a relatively straightforward and very familiar challenge. This week's guest judge and regular Project Runway critic, Meana Nina Garcia, is trotted out (rocking a fabolos jumpsuit pretty hard, I might say), as is some poor bland girl named Barbara Meyer (who isn't wearing anything particularly memorable, in fact she's got no business standing anywhere near a runway in that Drab Debbie outfit) in order to convince the designers that cellphones are a fashion accessory.

In the past, HP has been involved in the design-your-own-fabric challenge, which is what this penultimate contest is all about. The All-Stars twist, to fancy up an ordinary Project Runway Mothership challenge, is that the designers have to use more than one print! Omigod! How creative! How novel! How isn't this what Dom does every week? For a perk, such as it is, the winning designer will have his or her pattern printed on an Otterbox, which is where Blandina Meyer comes in. She's the PR director for Otter Products, makers of Otterbox, a protective case for cell phones. The PR director! That's the best they can do? Not the owner, or another designer? The least they could have done is tarted her up in some bizarre sparkly dress with built-in digital technology, like Alyssa's dress by Cutecircuit. (Personally, I think it's gimmicky to have lettering flash across one's chest like a human Times Square marquee, but I'm no Katy Perry.)

After watching her for two seasons, we know this whole pattern mixing thing is right up Dom's alley. She is amazing with prints, and is the Print Goddess, as Ken calls her later in the episode. Ken, on the other hand, is terrified of prints. They haunt his darkest nightmares, so he doesn't use them. He tells us that the only prints he wants to work with is the one that wants to party like it's 1999. Which is scarily timely, being that he passed on to that big Purple Rain cloud in the sky a week ago.

So the designers head to the workroom to play with their own prints, then take $150 to Mood to sketch and buy more prints. Once there, Sam announces that not only does he want to make a jumpsuit, he also wants to work with the same white neoprene mesh that he's used in the past 467 challenges. And lest you think he's joking - he's not.

Back in the workroom, Sam and Ken have a little chat. They both mention something that happened "last night," and if we go by the usual PR convention of speaking about challenges being a week apart, we might wonder if something else happened between Sam and Ken. But no, it's the whole, "you're a snake," "no I'm not" green room encounter from the end of the last episode in which Ken expresses his displeasure in Sam's seemingly lackadaisical method of design and fabrication.

Ken, who shows us every week how he's grown as a person, tells Sam he didn't mean to hurt his feelings, but meant his words more as a push. Sam says he definitely feels pushed off a ledge and the two hug it out.

The designers haven't received their printed fabrics yet and expect Alyssa to come in with the Head Sanitation Engineer from We Print Ur Fabrix, Inc., any minute now. Instead, they get the four former winners of PRAS, Mondo, Anthony Ryan, Seth Aaron, and Dmitry. They bring not only the fabric, but also words of advice for the Final Four.

Mondo, who was Sam's mentor on Under the Gunn, tells him that he believes he can win it all, provided his craftsmanship improves. Sam is happy for the advice, and he and Mondo embrace.

The most important advice given to the group comes from Seth Aaron, who admonishes them all not to bore Nina.

Let's pause to take a look at the designers' fabrics now. Veddy interesting. Would love to know how long they had to create them.

Dom's...

Sam's...

Ken's...

...and Kini's. What do you think of any or all of them?

Not long after the previous winners finish wasting the designer's precious little time, Zanna comes in, right after a sound bite of Ken saying, "can Zanna come tomorrow?"

She starts her critique at Kini's station. He tells her about dramatic shoulders, and she warns him to make it interesting in a good way, not gimmicky.

Sam then dismays her with his concept. He says he thinks the mesh is "different and weird and cool," but Zanna doesn't think it's all that different since he's used it for several challenges in the past (and Kini has used it, too).

She runs screaming over to Ken, where it's not all that much better. His Mood print is better than the one he created, and she's not seeing them working together.

Finally, Dom's painted pleather gives Zanna pause. Not really, but she has to say something bad, and she knows Dom's got this challenge in the bag.

Models come in for a fitting, but the designers don't really have all that much done. By the end of the day, Ken is worried about time management, as he's just got sleeves and nothing else. Dom has a whole jacket to create, and Sam hasn't even started on his jumpsuit.

The next day, they manage to get all the 10,000 things completed and send their models for hair and makeup. The makeup artist, Mr Crazy Moustache, suddenly gets all creepy on Dom. After they decide to put a nude lip on her model, he declares that Dom would herself look pretty nude. She seems slightly taken aback. He must be one of those gay guys with a boobie fetish.

They toss cheap accessories and shoes on their models and send them down to the runway where Meana awaits.

They start with Kini. They think his girl looks "10-feet tall," partly because she is that tall, but also that skirt gives the illusion of height. Isaac prefers the print Kini bought to the one he made. Nina said she recognized the work as being Kini's immediately, and Alyssa thinks his print deserves to be on a phone case. Not sure that was a compliment?

Sam is next. Georgina doesn't like the prints and thinks the jumpsuit is just bad. Nina likes the coat, but doesn't like the slouchiness of the jumpsuit (which I do like).

Isaac thinks the Neoprene Net Council must be paying Sam to use their product so much.

Nina thinks Dom's is both fabulous and fresh, which of course it is. And the contrast between the two pieces is "phenomenal." (One of Nina's favorite words; a shame she doesn't know what it really means.) The sideways high-low length is a bit weird though. Alyssa thinks the coat is a piece of art, and while Isaac likes both the coat and the dress, he think he prefers them more apart than together.

Finally, Ken's prints don't gel together. Georgina thinks there's a lack of polish. With the high waist on the skirt, the neckline should be lower, and the hem should be shorter. Ken's print is taking a back seat to the Mood print, rather than vice versa. Isaac said if that print were on his iPhone case, he'd cry every time he called his mother, which is no different from what already happens.

Back in the green room, Dom remarks that seeing Nina was a bit like encountering the ghost of Christmas past. Sam says to him it was like meeting Santa Claus, which is pretty cute.

The judges are deliberating. Dom and Kini are on top, Sam and Ken are on the bottom. They come to a winning decision, but can't seem to decide who should go this week. They bring the designers out and announce Dom as the winner (of course). However, "for the first time this season" they can't decide who to send home. Which of course is absolute bullshit, because the same thing happened twice already this season. In episode 1, they couldn't decide whether Mitchell or Danielfranco should go home, and in episode 5, whether Valerie or Sam should be escorted to the door. In both cases, both designers were allowed to stay. This time, however, either Ken or Sam would have to leave. Or, they could fuck with us and allow both to stay.

Fuck with us they did, not by allowing both to stay, but by tacking another half hour onto the episode, half of which was commercials. They make the potential losers battle each other right there on the runway, not with maces and swords (which would be fun) but with sewing machines.

How was it that the prop department happened to have large cardboard boxes with question marks printed on them? Were these left over from a Lifetime movie of the week about the secret forbidden romance between Batman and the Riddler? Or was this whole thing planned? In any case, the boxes each contained two looks--one winning and one losing--from the season. Sam and Ken have to use components from each look to create a third look. Let me remind you that we've seen this before not all that long ago: Korinna and Char faced a sudden death challenge in episode 11 of season 13.

Ken gets his own winning and Mitchell's losing look from the baroque challenge. Sam gets Asha's winning and Alexander's losing looks from the fairytale challenge. They slice and dice and the judges return. Sam's made a wonky jacket from the bodices of both dresses over a dress made from Alexander's lining. Ken crops his dress, makes a collar for it, and only uses a bit of fabric from Mitchell's as trim. The judges hem and haw and finally send Sam home.

You read that right. Sam is out. Despite the entire season seeming rigged to allow Sam to win, he gets eliminated. And you know what? I feel bad for him. I want to see an entire 8-look collection from him. I want to see him do something that doesn't involve neoprene mesh and jumpsuits.

Big hugs from Alyssa before Sam goes to clean up his workspace.

Next week: no jumpsuits, no neoprene mesh. Fingers crossed!

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Because of recent content theft, I am forced to add this new statement to the end of my posts: If you're reading this post anywhere besides the Opalescent blog, OpalescentMinx.com (also http://minxbeads.blogspot.com) then this content has been stolen. Please do not support this thief!

Project Runway All Stars Season 5 Episode 11, or, Avant Garde a Clue

This week, PRAS gets all artsy-fartsy (or, as Zanna and Mrs Weinstein might pronounce it, aahtsy-faahtsy) on us. The five remaining designers meet Alyssa at Agora Gallery in Chelsea, where the current show is an exhibition of some of "New York's cutting edge artists."

Alyssa, who appears to be dressed as an android, at least from what little we can see of her outfit (and, oddly, it has potential), tells the designers that this is the Avant Garde challenge, and they are to produce wearable works of art, innovative out-of-the-box fashion, dramatic looks, and assorted other adjectival phrases. She then reveals the name of the guest judge this week--Boy George--which is probably some contractual obligation on the show's part. Because - why does it matter? They're not designing for him. He just wants to get his name out early and often, I suppose.

The designers toast with champagne and schmooze the artists for inspiration. Sam is absolutely fixated on Carl Hopgood's piece, "Digital Taxidermy," a digital video of an owl under a glass dome. Hopgood says the concept of the piece is taking a moment and making it last forever, which really resonates with Sam. Sam is excited about gay marriage being legal across the US and wants to celebrate that in his garment. Hopefully, legal marriage for all isn't just a "moment in time," and will be an enduring thing. Unfortunately, with the current divisive political climate, nothing in this country seems to be guaranteed anymore.

Both Emily and Ken are inspired by the works of Lexi Bella, an artist who paints "strong women." Be careful with googling her; there is also a Lexi Belle, who does porn, and she has far, far more links. Of course, if you're into that stuff, google away. I'm not so impressed by Bella; her work looks a lot like the partial faces and portraits of imaginary women I doodled on my book covers in high school, only bigger and in color. However, both designers feel they design for "strong women" (does anyone design for weak women?) and her words and images resonate with them.

I'm far more into what Dom is into - the work of Juan Carlos Pinto, who makes mosaics out of cut up Metro Cards (and other stuff). I love mosaics; I suppose it's not unlike the beadwork I've done in the past, attaching small pieces together to form a cohesive whole, only in 2D. Dom recognizes that the way she plays with fabrics is not dissimilar to the effect of Pinto's cutting and pasting.

Kini gets into the work of Bradley Theodore, whose boldly colored works make me think of both Matisse and classic Mexican Day of the Dead iconography. Theodore is primarily a street artist, but his work translates well to the smaller scale of canvas.

The designers sketch for a while at the gallery. Have you noticed that what they are actually sketching doesn't always (often not at all) resemble the sketches that are blown up for our viewing pleasure? Clearly they make the designers re-draw their creations after they are finished, and those "sketches" are the ones shown to us with the designer's voice-over. Personally, I'd rather see the originals, as it gives us a glimpse into the design process and the way it evolves while making a piece. The original design often changes quite a bit, as seen in Ken's original and post-sewing drawings.

The budget for this challenge is $400. At Mood, we find Kini once again buying brocade. WTcompleteF? And Sam, who has just as much money to spend as everyone else, instead buys some floaty fabric and a ton of fabric paints.

This week, in addition to Kini's now-expected bitching about Sam, Ken gets to have his say as well. He thinks Sam is a huge threat (notice he didn't say "competition,") not because of his talent, but because he holds the judges in some strange thrall. That's called "producer manipulation," Ken. Kini seems to think that an avant garde look requires a lot of technical skills, which he believes Sam is lacking. But that's not necessarily true. To be avant garde simply means to be innovative, or in the forefront. To do something that nobody else has done before. The early 20th century art movement called Dada or Dadaism is a good example. While today, in the age of the Piss Christ, a urinal posing as art is no big thing, back then, it was shocking and unexpected. It wasn't art, it was anti-art. Yet somehow that made it art. So really, anything goes when it comes to avant garde fashion, as long as it still remains fashion, that is, wearable. However, Sam seems to think that it's about "an idea, a feeling," and that the type of avant garde that is "overdone and ridiculous" is not who he is as a designer.

What we have here is a clear non-understanding of the concept of avant garde. Admittedly, it is somewhat difficult. It is very very hard to be an innovator.

Sewing, sewing, bitching, then Day One comes to an end. Luckily, the designers have two days for this challenge, and not long after they get to the workroom on Day Two, Zanna comes in for...what would you call the opposite of a pep talk? A demoralization meeting? She starts with Emily, and tells her that her dress might be too literal a translation of the painting, what with the colors and the mimicking of the shapes on the upper left side. It's clearly an Emily dress, and while a cool concept, it's not particularly avant garde. Zanna tells Dom to "bring it." Kini's look isn't particularly modern or avant garde. (I blame the brocade.) She tells Ken not to make his dress too "Blade Runner." But if he could somehow make his dress look like a (much) younger Harrison Ford, we'd all be happy.

Ken is happy that this is a two-day challenge, as he's decided to scrap his original idea and make some major changes. His first (real) sketch showed a cage-like structure around the neck and shoulders. He chucks this out the window and works on a "neckpiece, collar moment" that will cover his model's face. And look like a giant leather taco.

When Zanna questions Sam about his choice of a rainbow, he tells her about wanting to capture the whole gay marriage is legal moment. She tells him that it's not about capturing a moment in his life, but about being inspired by the artist. But Sam is clearly inspired by the artist and the artist's concept, which is about capturing a moment. Had he decided to make an owl costume for his model, she would have had issues with that as well. The real issue here is that his design is probably not avant garde. Oh, and rainbows are a cliche.

Like Ken, Sam is happy that he has extra time for this challenge, because he is, once again, for the umpty-eleventh time in this competition, going to scrap his original design and make a jumpsuit start over. He bought some filmy purple fabric in addition to the stuff he painted, and he drapes that over the rainbow. As Sam's draping and sewing, draping and sewing, Ken gets another bee in his bonnet about Sam's lack of construction technique. He actually finds it disrespectful. There's lots of bleeping as he curses up a storm.

Eventually time is up, bitching is momentarily halted, and the designers send their models to hair and makeup. Obvious rummaging through the K-Mart Shoe and Jewelry Sale Rack also happens. Time for the runway!

Mini Cher Alyssa introduces the regular judges--Mrs Weinstein and the Iconic Isaac...

...and Boy George. I love me some Boy George. We're of the same generation, and I spent what I consider the best musical years of my life listening to Culture Club (among other artists) being fascinated by George O'Dowd's androgynous appearance. When I was in high school, I constructed a life-sized fabric mannequin of the Boy, which sat around in my bedroom for about a decade before I disassembled him and reclaimed my favorite t-shirt, which he had been wearing (it was pink, had a drawing of Big Ben, and "London" in a fancy gothic typeface). His latest album, This Is What I Do, is pretty terrific, IMHO.

The runway show goes so quickly with only five competitors left.

It's hard to tell from the commentary immediately following the runway which looks are on top and which suck. Dom is one who is on top with her mosaic dress and wacky makeup. I wonder if Zanna mentioned to her that her look was also a pretty literal translation of the original work of art, in both the colors and the effect of the pattern? The colors and patterns also remind me a bit of Roy Lichtenstein, an artist famous for his comic book-style pop art images. This look is 100% not avant garde and 100% Dom. Perhaps had Sam made this dress, which 100% would not have happened, it would seem more avant garde, because it would be 100% unexpected from him.

Also on the top and 100% representative of its author is Kini's dress. Personally, I hate it. There's so much damn technique going on. The body suit with full head mask, which echoes the black shapes of the figures in inspiration artist Bradley Theodore's works, isn't particularly new, and it's weird and lumpy. The "bow" looks heavy. And despite the skirt being hot pink instead of screaming yellow, I can't help but think of Big Bird. Isaac thinks it's too pretty, and Georgina thinks it's something that might have been worn on "Dinnastee" (Dynasty) in the 80s.

Ken's giant black taco is the closest to avant garde we get on this runway. His model's head appears to be floating, which is a neat effect. The rest of the look falls into the "nice dress with ruffled sleeves" category. Boy George thinks it's "pure Grace Jones," which I can see. Isaac thinks it's divine, but it's slightly too short and needs a bit more drama at the bottom, like a train. 

Poor Emily is on the bottom for creating something that is simply too wearable. The OCD knitter in me wants to unknit her cables and reknit them correctly. One judge opines that it would have been better if the shoulders were huge. Emily mentioned earlier in the show that that wouldn't be her thing, but we don't know if that confessional had been filmed before or after the runway show. The judges also think it might have been better in all black, but that still wouldn't have made it avant garde. However, it's a cool dress, and styled well.

Then we get to Sam, who has to explain his whole "gay marriage moment in time" thing. The judges love the story; Boy George wishes he had heard it before he saw the piece. Georgina thinks the design is unresolved, and Alyssa thinks it looks like a kite caught in a tree. Isaac LOVES it. It's his favorite look of the day, despite the fact the model is not wearing flats. He is obviously drinking the producer's Sam-flavored kool-aid by the gallon. Either that, or he wants to get into Sam's pants. Eww*. (Could be difficult, as Sam, King of the Jumpsuits, is wearing a jumpsuit.)

I don't really know what to say about it. Ken and Kini have thrown enough shade at Sam; I don't need to pile on. Suffice it to say that I think he could have done better, even keeping the whole rainbow flag motif. It's more sloppy than avant garde.

While the judges deliberate, we have even more drama between Ken and Sam in the green room. Ken calls him a snake and a liar. And while it's true that Sam has not produced many memorable garments this season, it's not his fault that he wasn't eliminated weeks ago despite being on the bottom three times prior to this one. Blame the producers, who have sacrificed quality for drama this season. It's one thing when producer interference is subtle (and it's bound to happen every season), but this season it's painfully obvious.

Back out on the runway, Ken is named the winner. Congrats to him for understanding the concept! And while Georgina thinks that Sam's entry in the competition looks like a panic and a mistake, with neither Alyssa nor George being particularly into it, he is safe. Which means Emily is out. Which is completely ridiculous. Perhaps if she had stuck to her original concept of the dress appearing to be unraveling, and really exaggerated that with strands draping the floor and coming detached (maybe with wire inserted into the tubes and bent into flowy shapes), giving it a bigger collar, and yes, bigger shoulders, she wouldn't have been on the bottom. Certainly not eliminated. But someone had to go, and apparently it was not/is never going to be Sam.

Next week: the return of past PRAS winners and Nina Garcia! And we also get a glimpse of Alyssa saying something about "for the first time this season, the judges can't make a decision," which: 1) is a lie, they couldn't decide whom to auf in two episodes so far; 2) might mean that all four remaining designers go to the finale. Ugh.

* Isaac looks like he might smell like mothballs. Or whatever cheap perfume Shawnie Sue is wearing on his QVC segments. Plus, he's more than twice Sam's age at 54. When I was 23, 30 was ancient.

Posted by theminx on Opalescentminx.com
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Flashback Friday - The Fashion Show Postmortem

This post was originally published on the blog Blogging Bravo on July 30, 2009.
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The Fashion Show Postmortem

I used to write for Blogging Bravo, and one of the shows I covered there was one of Bravo's attempts at replacing Project Runway. Called "The Fashion Show," it wasn't bad, yet it wasn't particularly good, either.


The first season of The Fashion Show ended a week ago today; it's about time to take a look back and tear it apart make a critical assessment. A postmortem, if you will.

The show had both good and bad points. While I think we all were expecting it to be a real replacement for Project Runway, sadly, The Fashion Show did not deliver. Not that it was a bad show - I think if we didn't make comparisons to that other show, it could have seemed pretty fabulous. It gave us a bunch of talented up-and-coming designers, showing off their design skills while vying for both a cash prize and national recognition. But somehow it didn't seem to rouse the same passion in the viewer, didn't make us fall in love (or hate) with any one designer in particular. From what I can tell, it evoked a lot of general ennui. And some downright dislike.

What I Liked:

...Isaac Mizrahi being involved with the show, and the influential and knowledgeable Fern Mallis as judge.

...having a "quickfire"-type mini challenge and an elimination challenge.

...the home audience choosing the winner - as Issac says in the intro, TFS is about "real fashion for real people" and who is more real than those of us watching?

...the winning outfit available for purchase.

That's a pretty short list.

What I Disliked:

...Isaac Mizrahi as judge. While we like him in general and enjoyed watching him on his own show, he came off as a bit catty - ok, bitchy - on TFS. This is a man with a wealth of knowledge about the fashion industry and he could have been an enormous help to the designers as a mentor.

While we're on the subject of catty, I wasn't that crazy about the little conversations Isaac and Kelly would pretend to have after paying a visit to the designers in mid-process. "OMG! did you see that?" seems more appropriate coming from the NYC Prep kids than from professionals in the fashion industry. Well, Kelly isn't a professional, which brings us to...

...why Kelly Rowland? Because she sat in the front row at fashion shows? Wow, that makes me just as qualified! I think it would be fine if she were merely the hostess, but she is also a judge. I consider her neither a fashion professional nor a "real person" (she's a celebrity). I don't dislike Kelly, but I don't find her to be of much use to the show in general.

...while I did like the two-challenge-per-episode format, the time spent on the first challenge took away from time that could have been spent watching the designers interacting. Other than the bitchery between Daniella and Reco, we didn't get to see much of the designers' personalities, or how they bonded, something we're all used to on shows like PR and Top Chef. Face it - human interaction is part of the "reality" in a reality show.

...the overall look of the show was a bit drab and depressing. The workroom seemed gray, and was it really always night outside the windows? The lighting on the runway was also somehow off. The judging room was positively funereal.

...the cute catchphrases the Isaac and Kelly used when they cut a competitor. On Project Runway, Heidi's "auf wiedersehen" is natural - it means farewell, or until we meet again, in German. Heidi is German. Makes perfect sense. Every show now has to have its own version, and most are cheeseball. TFS is no exception, "we're not buying it" - ugh. And if that's not bad enough, Kelly has to say to the penultimate loser, "you're hanging by a thread." Or does she say...

That's what it sounds like to me.

Those are some of my thoughts. I also, for the most part, agree with Tom & Lorenzo's "Mid-Term Report." They have really contemplated the show and give some fabulous suggestions on improving things.

So what do you like and dislike about The Fashion Show? Do you want to see it come back for a second season? Would you make changes? Please leave your thoughts in the comments.

Posted by theminx on Opalescentminx.com
Because of recent content theft, I am forced to add this new statement to the end of my posts: If you're reading this post anywhere besides the Opalescent blog, OpalescentMinx.com (also http://minxbeads.blogspot.com) then this content has been stolen. Please do not support this thief!