An Olympic Disaster...

At 10:30 Wednesday night, I was left sitting on the couch, remote in hand, PR5 end credits in TiVo freeze, and saying “What the heck did I just watch?”

I think it all started with Blayne constantly scratching his too-tan skin or the overkill of his American Apparel hoody sans the shirt. Here I should state I’m not knocking American Apparel. Helloooo, my closet contains ¾ of their inventory, but no one should wear a hoody shirtless unless a) they’re in an American Apparel ad or b) they’re an amazing, original designer…and Blayne, I’m sorry to say, is neither.

But this is Project Runway, NOT America’s Next Top Model…

Wednesday seemed to bring out the worst and best of aspects competition in an Olympic fashion. Apparently the high drama mix of Keith almost swiping Terri’s fabric, Kenley’s giggles (I would be giggling too if I had immunity in a challenge where everyone else was having serious issues), and Joe’s testosterone-overload in a room full of “queens,” left a few designers confused when faced with their challenge. Most notably the Auf’ed Jennifer, (colorblind?) Daniel, and Jerell’s cartoonish, patterned explosion.

Was it just me, or was everyone else sick of listening to Jennifer continue to talk about her “surreal” design technique. For most of the hour I found myself trying to wrap my head around why it was Emily, not her, that went home last week. As for my sister (also a Jennifer, and completely opposite of the PR Jennifer), she just wanted to know: “Does she even know what surrealism is?” And after she sent, yet another, replication of her own wardrobe down the runway, the judges (thank goodness) sent her, and her to think forward, packing.

It did seem a few people out of the crowd had actually heard of the Olympics, and interpreted the fervor of the opening ceremonies in different ways. Joe (even though I have a grudge against him for being so annoying throughout the episode) made a very practical athletic outfit, complete with a vertical “USA” on the front, while Terri seemed to channel Olympics of 1984. My personal favorite, and the winner, was Korto’s high-waisted, peg-leg pant suit. Very lovely in clean white, and very fashion forward (all over the runways for Fall/Winter 08/09 and Resort Spring/Summer 09).

So on to next week, which I’m sure will be full of some interesting situations. For one, it looks as though Kenley’s giggling spill out of the work room and onto the runway… oh the drama…

P.s. I also heard there’s going to be a little more than sewing going on this season with two designers. True or false? Maybe we’ll see…

Holla' Tim Gunn, you make those designers work! (Ha!)

Okay, okay, so this is only two days late...but whatever:

Wednesday night, Project Runway entered some sort of strange, alternate universe, twilight zone where Tim Gunn says “Holla atcha boy” and the ongoing battle of balance between craftsmanship vs. creative appeal was tipped…

Now for the runway review:

Let us begin by rewinding time and thinking about last week’s episode. Wesley’s burnt sienna mess vs. Leanne’s burnt sienna mess. Wesley had poor craftsmanship, Leanne’s vision went in circles…literally. Bye bye Wesley. Now let’s take a look at the two dresses below, which were created as outfits inspired by photographs of New York City at night, taken by the designers:

At the left is Jennifer’s design and Emily’s design is to the right.

Michael Kors’ said that behind all the misplaced ruffles Emily had made a very nice little black dress.

Hiedi said that Jennifer’s design almost made her not want to see more.

Susanna said that if she (of all the sewing inept people) could see the jagged hem on Jennifer’s silk, blue, maternity-frock-found-a-thrift-store, called a fresh new look based on New York city…then there’s a problem. Especially when her inspiration of “Holly Golightly meets Salvador Dali” has yet to appear on the runway. Also, Holly Golightly wouldn’t have given that shamble a second look, and Salvador Dali would’ve just dumped a bucket of paint on it, or something.

I would like to insert here the point that a fellow Project Runway viewer made: Jennifer's model's hair looked fantastic (and in my opinion she was well put together with the shoes and such), whereas Emily's model's hair looked almost as frumpy as the ruffles on the front. Not that this should matter when it comes right down to it, but then again, I'm pretty sure it does...

So once again, in the bottom two it comes to craftsmanship vs creativity gone awry, and apparently they decided to Auf Emily and her ruffle explosion. It was the first time in recent memory that I have firmly disagreed with the Project Runway judges. But then again, one of the judges looked like a colorblind drag queen who forgot to brush her hair (no offense to drag queens, I love drag queens)...I mean who was that woman/man?

Now for good things:

My favorites and Wearable(s) of the Week were a tie between Kenley’s super cute, and super brave, bubble of a dress made me want to smile and sing and dance in the rain, with the help of Tim Gunn’s complimentary rain boots and poncho (Not. Ha!), and Leanne’s elegant, black shirt/skirt that featured a fantastic skirt with more (now in control) circular pieces. Most improved will also go out to Leanne for recovering from last weeks mess, as well as to her model Karalyn for supporting the designer she was working with. Good team work ladies.

Oh and almost forgot, Jerrell's green gown looked like Wood Nymph Goes to the Oscars.

Yes, this weeks Project Runway was a little stressful to me and definitely full of surprises. And next week I expect nothing less.

What Susanna says about PR5: Episode 2...

In keeping with the theme of last night’s show, I should write this entire review in third person: Susanna says… , Susanna thinks… , but no, I’ll leave that little bit up to Suede, who, besides referring to himself in the third person last night, pleasantly surprised me with his innovative and super-fun red and cream mini dress. I would have enjoyed his triumph a lot more if his win didn’t prompt more spews of “Suede is so awesome! Suede +bleepin’+ rocked it!” Anyway, enough on the blue haired wonder…

In my opinion this week, all the designers had something to prove to the judges, the fashion world, and America in general. They had to prove that they were actually worth being on the show. After last weeks Parade of the Picnic (Tablecloths, that is), Trashy Trashbags, and High-Fashion Diapers, they could only improve, we hoped… and I think America got what it wanted.

This week’s designs were infinitely better than last weeks. I think the Most Improved Designer for Episode 2 should go to Stella, the “leatha’”-obsessed lady from Queens, who is slowly but surely becoming one of my favs. She was able to construct a dress that was feminine and pleasing to the client, while at the same time keeping her “Rock-Star” design identity.

My Wearable of the Week goes to designer Jerell, for the orange and gray/green dress. Very Greecian goddess runs headlong into a poppy and then goes skipping through Greenwich, or to the nearest coffee shop. I was sure that this one would be one of the top three, but I guess as far as “innovative” goes, the design probably wasn’t very high on the list.

And now for the goodbyes. Poor Wesley, it seemed he got a week of hard-knocks on a week when other designers stepped up. First he had the same material as two other designers. Then, he was still slaving over the sewing machine when they had five minutes till the runway show. So it came down to his overworked mess and Leanne’s petal explosion, which, btw, model Karalyn admitted she didn’t like (let’s see if Karalyn will reprise her role on the runway next week…something tells me what goes around comes around and Leanne’s quiet demeanor probably gives way to some girly meanness).

But anyway, the judges saw poor craftsmanship as more of a reason to Auf someone than fashion A.D.D., and I guess we all have to agree they were probably right. So goodbye little Wesley from Massachusetts. Oh and P.s. Vampire Weekend called, they want their shorts back…

PR5 KICKOFF!!!

WELL, I’m super obsessed with last season’s designers so this season has a lot to live up too.

Starting with the guy who got Auf-ed (he was that memorable, I don’t even remember his name…), I’m glad. I don’t think I could bare watching another episode, he was simper-y and simper-y people annoy me. Also, I’m glad Trash Bag girl got to stay. It just seems like she got the bad cards, which just so happened to be on the first challenge.

Also, remember the blue-checkered tablecloth dress? That crap should’ve been in the bottom two before the trash bag dress… it literally looked like he had taken piece of napkin and hotglued them on randomly…ew.

And it looks like the Tanny Tranorexic (or wait, did I mean Tranny Tanorexic…either way it fits) Blyne is going to try to be Season 5’s Christen. Newflash: Not happening.

Another question, who the heck is Blue-Mohawk Guy, and why did his dress match his hair?

I think this season will be a season of silent killer designers. The girl who dyed her dress…or rather, dyed coffee filters, and made a dress looks like a favorite. Also, the guy who ironed the blue solo cups: you could tell he put a lot of thought into the way he placed the pieces and put them together, there was actually a movement to the placement. Very nice.

So besides the excessive use of tablecloths (“Slackers” Ha!) and the attempt to copycat last season’s personalities, I think this season could prove to be interesting… of course, once said Slackers and Copycats get the Auf.

Crocs are Evil and Project Runway is Heavenly

I read this on Fashionista and I feel like saying "TOLD YA!" to every person who has ever defended Crocs (aka An Abomination to the Word Shoe)...

"Sandals with socks are certainly up there. Generally speaking, it's footwear trends. I mean, the Croc--it looks like a plastic hoof. How can you take that seriously? I know it's comfortable; I understand that. But if you want to dress to feel as though you never got out of bed, don't get out of bed."
--Tim Gunn's thoughts on the worst fashion trends, in Time Magazine

Speaking of Tim Gunn, Season 5 of Project Runway starts this Wednesday. I haven't been this excited about a TV show since...well...I don't remember... I'm pretty sure I'm going to have a Project Runway party. Let me know if you want to come! :-)