Project Runway doubled up on clients this week,as the challenge was to make an outfit for recent college grad girls who had their moms along side for some advice and influence on the design. The new clothes were part of an overall TreSemme makeover,with the winning look being featured in an ad for Elle magazine.
The guest judge this week was Cynthia Rawley,who many know as one of the regular judges on HGTV's Design Star. It was nice to see her input on clothes and in my opinion,Rowley was better dressed here than she's ever been on Design Star(some of those outfits did not suit her,sorry Cyndy!)
Anyway,on to the challenge at hand;Kenley got to work on a girl who is a fashion buyer and whipped up a trendy little number that had everyone calling her model a "miniature Kenley".
Personally,I thought the whole look was more of a Ugly Betty clone(it's not hard to picture Betty walking around Mode in this dress,is it?)and while it did turn out well,Kenley's bad behavior soured the mood.
She laughed at another designer on the runway AGAIN(with her model giggling right beside her)and is still talking trash about Tim Gunn,of all people! Tim is there to help you,honey and despite your claim that you "don't change things for Tim",you did shorten that tulle on the skirt like he suggested before that dress left the workroom.
Leanne is a much nicer person but I do have to agree with the judges that her dress for the elementary school teacher looked much better without the jacket. Granted,the gal wanted to have a look of authority and not be mistaken for a student,however that gray bit of business hid the glory of the dress.
Leanne did have to rework the top half of the dress near the end,since the teacher's mother thought it made her daughter look flat chested at first. It was a hassle but her last minute re-do was clearly worth it,as the judges swooned over the dress once the jacket was taken off.
Korto created a nice jacket and dress combo,too(that seemed to be the unspoken theme for the designers this week)for a budding biologist. I had my doubts about the look yet,she really managed to pull this off. Rowley,in particular,praised the jacket as being very refined.
Kudos to Jerell,for winning this challenge and having a second victory notch on his belt. This blend of brown shades and moderate use of frills combined with a lovely pencil skirt and cardigan that didn't look dowdy at all was wonderful to witness.
Bonus points to Jerell for listening to his client,who didn't want to be made up ultra feminine and bonding so well with her. Listening skills are important,people!
Suede needs to listen to someone other than the third person in his head who kept telling him that "Suede doesn't do pants".
His photographer model would have more use for them than the shapeless coat he made to cover up that so called "Pucci looking purple" dress. He tried to defend that ensemble by saying she wanted something that would go from day to evening but Rowley suggested than she'd be better off going home to change first(ouch!)
Joe's pin striped suit dress earned him not only a dismissal from the competition but the title of "Becky Home-Ec-Ky" from Michael Kors. I hated the up turned collar on the shirt,which was sloppy and ill fitting on his graphic designer gal.
She also disliked the pinstripes,which did look dated and dull. Joe insisted that she needed a good interview outfit(since she didn't have a job yet)and that pinstripes were considered to be serious enough. It would've helped if he had seriously made that shirt look like it belonged on a professional rather than a rag that even folks shopping at a flea market would turn down,regardless of price.
Next week should be interesting,as Tim Gunn in the previews says it will be the "most unique runway show" they've ever had. Also,Kenley seems to be having a crying fit or two,another reason to check it out.
Top Design saw some Runway action with their challenge this week,which was to create a store window to showcase an outfit made by past contestants from Project Runway. Two of the PR clients were known to be trouble(Santino and Jeffrey)while the others were much more pleasant to deal with (Sweet P,Andrae,Daniel from Season 1).
Preston and Andrea worked with S1 Daniel,who wanted a window that was based on a poem he had written. Preston was made the team leader and immediately clicked into the poem's vibe,capturing the description of dark tree branches and sandy soil that made the dress pop.
Ondine and Natalie had Sweet P,who saw her dress as a butterfly coming out of it's cocoon. The ladies were able to interpret that nicely,without being too obvious and making their window shine along with the dress on display, They won the challenge and I was happy to see that.
What didn't make me happy was seeing Kerry take the fall for his team's window. Jeffrey's concept was Blade Runner,which didn't click with either Kerry or Wisit right away. Kerry suggested a David Hockney approach,with mirrors creating a kaleidoscope effect that Jeffrey liked and made him team captain for.
Kerry's big mistake was in trying to please both Jeffrey and Wisit,who insisted that mirrors weren't enough and had big shiny wallpaper put up on both ends. Jeffrey hated that,and Kerry took a suggestion from Wisit to paint the two end panels of the window black to make up for that.
While it does make sense to hold a team leader responsible for the success or failure of their challenge,the judges picked the wrong one to send home. Kerry showed real character during the Judges' Panel by taking full responsibility for what went wrong and refusing to throw Wisit under the bus(too bad Wisit didn't return the favor very convincingly),praising him instead. Bad pick,judges,bad,bad bad!(did I mention that it was bad?)
The guy you should have sent packing was Norman,who hated the dress that Andrae made and let that dislike of that(plus the confusing political climate motif that Andrae wanted for the window)influence the end result.
Nathan didn't listen to Shazia during the shopping and bought wicker pieces that Andrae vetoed upon arrival,which ended up in the cluttered crapfest display looking more desolate than originally intended. He also threw Shazia out to the wolves as quick as could be and while she's a bit of a ditz,she did at least listen to the client. Next time,judges,be more careful with your choices or put more thought into them than Kelly Westerler puts into her hair styles.(she needs an appointment with Tabatha,stat!)
The new F/X series,Sons of Anarchy,is about a biker gang who rules the small town of Charming with an steady eye towards the forces eager to make things unsteady,both inside and out of their select circle. My sister got me interested in this show and I have to admit,it's pretty good so far.
SOA is well cast,with Ron Perlman as the current head of the clan and Katey Segal as the reigning matriarch who is also the mother of Jax(Charlie),the heir to the Charming biker throne.
Jax is starting to have some doubts about what the gang was truly meant to be about,as he reads through the memoirs of his late father,who died under mysterious circumstances. A very smart way to slip in a Hamlet subtext here,plus all of the other subplots stirred into this soup makes the Sons of Anarchy worth the ride:
RANDOM NOTES:
THE RACHEL ZOE PROJECT: I didn't plan to watch this show,but after seeing a couple of episodes,I just can't help myself.
What makes me want to see more of this entry into Vapid Fest of '08 is not the flaky Ms. Zoe,who believes that saving money for a rainy day is senseless and every time her husband/manager suggests that they do something economically sound,gives him a look of disgust suited to the suggestion of barbecuing babies for lunch.
No,what hooks me is the plight of new assistant,Brad,hired to do the grunt work and get a little training from Taylor,the head assistant who would be perfect to keep the trains running on time in a fascist state. Taylor is nasty to both Rachel and Brad,who is capable of doing the work if only Taylor would drop that rule about him not talking to her and expecting him to know everything that needs to be done with a minimum of communication(I'm not kidding,folks!).
She undermines him at every turn and talks back to her boss,which is more "bananas" than anything Rachel has deemed to be so thus far. This clip is from the last episode where Taylor and Brad had to deal with a flood in the basement studio but it doesn't show that Taylor(after screaming her head off)told Brad not to tell Rachel about what had happened at first and left him all alone to deal with the clean up.
While Brad went outside during the clothes removal to call some folks on the phone to get replacement outfits,Taylor introduced the whole mess to Rachel and used that opportunity to hang him out to dry. Brad,you really need to be more aggressive here or both of these women will just walk all over you in their overpriced designer shoes. Rachel, if you don't want to be a referee,then act like a damn boss and put Taylor in her place,pronto!:
The Rachel Zoe Project fascinates me as well. I feel a lot for Brad, having been in a very similar position recently myself. I don't think there's going to be anything he can do, though. He's tried making nice with Taylor, he's tried going to Rachel, he's tried to give in and he's tried to fight back. And he's had to do all this in his first few weeks of employment. Taylor is obviously just territorial and clearly doesn't want managerial responsibility, so she's doing everything she can to make sure she doesn't have any. Rachel will figure out who the problem is after Taylor's eaten three or four more Brads alive. Brad's best bet is to hang on as long as he can, ride the residual wave of fame from being on the show, and hope it lands him in a better situation.
ReplyDeleteI so agree with you,LD. I just hope that before Brad goes,he takes the opportunity to lay a verbal smackdown on Tayor(I so do not like that girl).
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