Pop Culture Princess

Pop Culture Princess
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Thursday, August 07, 2008

Project Runway goes for the gold,Shear Genius walks the dog and we have a new Design Star in our midst



Another celebrity guest judge on Project Runway this week,only this time it was a fellow who could give some real expert opinion on the challenge. Apolo Ohno,a gold medal winning speedskater,got to give the designers their challenge,which was to create a female friendly outfit for the opening ceremonies of the Summer Olympics.



Stella went against the grain and chose black fabric for her ensemble,with red,white and blue trim. It did look sporty,I grant you,but insanely goth. The judges didn't seem to mind it and gave it a pass to the next round but that thing bugged me to no end.

For one thing,it's going to be pretty warm weather for the opening ceremonies and the last color you want to go out into the heat wearing is black. Also,that hole on the bottom half of the top that showcases the belly button? What the bleep is that for? Stella may think that bikers might like that look but it's highly inappropriate for the Olympics,I'm sorry. This is not some beer fueled romp where displaying your navel piercings are considered good form,okay?!



Blayne did have enough sense to choose white as the base color for his outfit but he then claimed that it was "modern". Dude,please-that look is modern only if your idea of a current sci-fi movie is Logan's Run. The judges gave it a passing grade and let it move onward.

The only significant thing Blayne did this week was to whimper about his fading tan and get Tim Gunn to say "Holla at ya boy" again. Enough with the "Holla" bit already and the "licious" scribblings on the dry erase board(I know that's you,Blayne!). Also,you do not need to tan,what you need to do is keep your skin from looking so leathery before Stella gets tempted to use it to make another one of those outfits that she loves to hammer grommets into.



What did look modern and fresh was Korto's all white pantsuit,with stylish and subdued red and blue trim. The judges loved it and so did Apolo. Turns out that Korto watches the Olympics and noticed that white was the best and most used color scheme for the opening ceremonies.



Korto took the win but Terri gave her a run for her money. She was inspired by photos of past Olympic opening ceremonies(available for viewing to all of the designers)and went for a classy seersucker suit. I liked it but did think that the neck piece was a tad too elaborate.



Michael whipped up a cocktail dress with a 1940s flair that didn't suit the theme at all(he shouldn't have listened to Kenley and made a bolero for it when he had the chance). The guy was very much out of his comfort zone and fretted about his bright colors making the outfit look too much like Wonder Woman.

Dude,Wonder Woman would have been my template for this challenge and both Tim Gunn and Michael Kors agreed with me.



Jennifer was the one who had to clear out her work space and say so long,with this dowdy sweater and dress that even a character on Mad Men would get sneered at for wearing.

Her inspiration for the skirt was a pair of vintage boxing shorts but the end result was more Audrey Hepburn than Million Dollar Baby. Jerell went for an old school look ,too and even made a floppy hat for his outfit which looked rather costumey. However,he survived to sew another day and have the joy of listening to Stella pound some more grommets into leather next week.



A very snippy Shortcut challenge on Shear Genius this week,as the stylists were asked to make "futuristic" hair dos,using only natural ingredients such as honey,molasses,squid and peanut butter,instead of hairspray and mousse to hold the hair up. Charlie started baiting Nekisa right off the bat and the sniping spread around worse than a cold during this episode. I don't mind some fussing and feuding but there are times when you have to put up a hand and say "Stop!"



Enough of that,onto the hair. Paulo won the challenge,using corn syrup and coconut oil to make his model's hair glisten. Adding those bright purple hair pieces was a nice touch. Nicole tried to jazz up her look with squid as decorative bits but replaced them with blackberries,which didn't help her much.

Nekisa used mustard and molasses,both of which just made a mess. Dee went for an anime inspired style that would've not looked out of place at the comic book convention I went to last weekend.



Since Paulo won the Shortcut,he had the usual First Pick/Who Goes Next reward for the Elimination round,which was to style complimentary hair dos for a dog and his/her owner.

I did like the way Paulo colored the hair on the owner of his dog(the dogs were presented as the clients and the choices were made that way)but her locks did seem a bit too choppy there.



Dee based her human client's look on the tail of her dog,a cute little Pomeranian. The color added to her hair matched the dog without looking too matchy-matchy and it was a great cut and style overall. Dee was declared the winner,which made me very happy to hear.

Nicole did a nice job,too,by cutting off enough from the human model that it allowed her to give the lady a wavy look that made her pleased as punch. Most of the stylists had trouble in grooming the dogs but that was to be expected.



Nekisa and Charlie,however,really bombed out and wound up in the Bottom Three(with Paulo,who was spared from turning in his scissors this time). Charlie had no interest in this challenge and phoned in a sloppy hairstyle that Kim Vo called "both matronly and crazy at the same time."

Nekisa had to be nagged by Rene to add color to her model and then wound up using a flat iron to fix the messy curls that she put in the woman's hair. Finally,Nekisa was sent packing and seemed to take it well,but she did mockingly blame the dog for her defeat. Real funny,Nekisa...NOT!



Our new Design Star is Jennifer Bertrand,yah! Congrats to Jenn and my best to Matt,who I was rooting for a wee bit more but am very happy about the both of them making it to the finale. Lots of amends were made on the reunion portion of the show but how long the truce will last between Tracee and Michael remains to be seen. Looking forward to seeing Jenn's show next year and hope she had a wonderful celebration party with her family and friends:



RANDOM NOTES:

SUMMER SHOWDOWN: HGTV is having some of their designers and carpenters team up for one on one battles to create brand new rooms for deserving folks within an hour. Sounds like it could be a blast,especially since one of the judges is Sparkle Josh from season two of Design Star:



THE MIDDLEMAN: Since there are concerns that this show might not get another season,here's another plea and reason for folks to tune in-the constantly creative
fake IDs that Wendy and her Boss Man come up with to take over odd crime scenes:

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