This post was delayed due to a hard drive crash that left me computer-less for a few days. This is being typed out on a spanking new Mac, and all is now right with the world. Second, this blog is a work in progress. I'd like to try using more pictures, but I've had trouble resizing them, and if they're not resized, the posts look like a series of enormous image files. For this reason I'm sticking with links; also, I'm heeding Tim's advice and using my editing eye and will try to shorten these posts. I appreciate the feedback, and will try to make this blog less text-heavy in the future.
It is morning in the men's dorm, and a few dudes are dissing Jesusito. When someone mentions Jesus doing "the Ping" (she's a verb now), Emilio groggily says, "Don't mention her, it's too early". Another episode of Project Runway has begun, and it's an early A.M. bitchfest. I expect nothing less.
Tim brings the designers to the Met, which means that this challenge should be good. The challenge is to create a high-end signature look worthy of a master collection, and take inspiration from some classic designs by the likes of Dior, Balenciaga, and Yves Saint Laurent. The designers are given the highest ever budget in PRunway history, $500, and 2 days to work...in teams.
Team leaders are chosen, and among them is Ping (v., to ping), who says that she is a good leader because she is very good at delegating work and giving instructions. Somehow I suspect that this won't be the case.
The following designers pair up: Jay and May (Jaya), Jesus and Amy (Jesumy), Anthony and Seth Aaron (ASA), Janeane and Ben (Benneane), Mila and Jonathan (Milothan), Ping and Jesse (Team Conflict), and lastly, Emilio chooses to work with Anna, creating Team Annilio. My early money is on Annilio to create something flirty and feminine and beautiful.
As the designers inspect the classic gowns before them, Seth Aaron states that he is pleased that there are no guards or pit bulls coming between him and some vintage Dior. Only for Seth Aaron does this haute couture fantasy involve rabid dogs.
Sketching in the workroom, Ping informs Jesse that her design will combine her flowiness and his tailored look. This is the first of many times during this hour that I feel both nervous and excited to see what this train wreck of a dress will look like. I pop my first of many Tootsie Roll minis in anticipation.
Hold onto your Singer sewing machine, Janeane, we're at Moooood! Jesse is already flipping out at Ping's unfamiliarity with fabrics and her general indecisiveness. He is informed that he will be constructing (draping?) everything.
As the designers begin working, Jesse clashes with Ping, and coins a phrase I think anyone who's ever had to work with an annoying/frustrating colleague will understand: "I feel like I'm just trying to rein in the crazy". Don't we all at times, Jesse, don't we all.
Anthony and Seth Aaron are creating a yellow, red and black concoction. I love the flamenco/Spanishness of it, but also recognize that it could veer into Tackyland very fast. Team leader Anthony says it could be "a gown for the Vice President of MacDonald's", as if this unique color motif sprouted out of nowhere. You did design this, right? And then I realize a MacDonald's-themed challenge would be awesome. Only cheese, pickles, and Egg MacMuffin wrappers can be used to design a look that will be guest judged by the Hamburgler. Are you listening, Lifetime?
Jesse and Ping are doing an origami dress (their words, not mine). In the right hands that could be cool...IN THE RIGHT HANDS.
Tim walks through the door with a mischievous look in his eyes, which is never good. All those models want their chance to walk down the runway you know, and in order to do that...they need a second look to work it. The designers must create a "look for less"....with 10% of their budget. It takes me a few moments but I realize that means...$50...and the second look must be inspired by another team's look. This is a rocking challenge.
Ping then dashes off, with the other team leaders, to buy material, and she comes back with a "hooker kind of shiny, synthetic something" (Jesse's words, not mine). He is not pleased with the working girl version of Emilio's look that Ping is about to create. I am not focusing excessively on Team Conflict; the producers are, which only makes me even more anxious to see this creation. Tootsie Roll midgie #6 is consumed. This is the contents of my stomach now.
I hate when designers slack off when they have immunity. This usually means that their days are numbered. Those who do not care what their designs really look like will be auf'd and don't deserve to win. Lazy Jay, I direct these words your way.
Jonathan is constructing both looks for Mila and is "concerned" about being the team seamstress (read: passive aggressively pissed).
Ping and Jesse continue to bicker, and according to Emilio, they're like Lucy and Ricky. "Just shut up and work", he admonishes them. Now, when he says they're like Lucy and Ricky does he mean a Chinese Ricky and a defiant, beret-wearing Lucy? Just want some 'splaining, that's all.
Tim comes in rather belatedly for his consult, and learns that Maya and Jay are having time issues, mostly because Jay has been napping in the break room. Anthony advises Seth Aaron not to act up in front of company when he disagrees with a point Anthony is making in front of Tim. Tim puffs up at the notion that he's "company".
Are Milathan working on a discarded set piece from Barbarella?
During the commercials, we see the strategy for creating a Lifetime movie: a machine cranks out formulas like: romance novel, check; dramatic beauty makeover/weight loss scene, check; star from a CBS crime procedural drama, check. Blend together and you have "Lying to be Perfect".
Another great quotable: The women get dressed in their dorm, and Anna says, "We look like we're going to a funeral. The death of our hopes and dreams". The producers choose this stuff for a reason, Anna. Please say this ain't prophetic. I nervously swallow Tootsie Roll mini #9.
Maya is peeved that Jay is slacking and leaning on his immunity. Jay, meanwhile, is turning somersaults in the break room.
Random question: Does the bluefly.com wall get rearranged for each challenge, and according to the different designs that pop up? Just wondering.
It's runway time, and the guest judge is a sloppy-haired Brit I've never heard of, Matthew Williamson. Time for the finished products:
Anthony and Seth Aaron's dress: I like the colors, but the gown itself is so..eh. Boringtown. Where I paused the DVR, Seth Aaron is making a grin-and-bear-it face, and Anthony is drawing in his breath like he's impressed by his glorious creation. I really need to watch the whole show like this.
Ick. Jesumy did a black bed ruffle with a dress of tattered black lace. What is high fashion about this? Poor baby Jesus has no taste.
I admit: Mila and Jonathan's black and white design is cool, though a bit lava lamp-esque, and I wonder, is it high fashion enough?
Janeane's look is a great work outfit, but not so high fashion in my opinion.
Emilio and Anna's look makes me gasp- it's truly elegant and immaculately constructed. This dress is something Kim Novak would wear in a Hitchcock movie (while exploring Mission San Juan Bautista, perhaps?).
I love Jaya's sea anemone on the shoulder look- Maya really knocked it out. It's got a truly old, 1930's speakeasy style. Very original.
Ping and Jesse's dress does, in fact, manage to look both tailored and flowy. And ugly. Ah well, you can't have it all.
I'll skip over the looks for less for now, and head to judge's panel. Mila and Jonathan plus Jay and Maya have the top designs, and, surprise, Anthony and Seth Aaron plus Ping and Jesse have the worst designs. I'm a little bummed that Annilio's dress didn't score higher, but moving on:
Heidi loves Maya's dress- it has passed the 'Would Heidi Wear This' test. She also loves Mila's look, and is glad that it broke the mold by having separates and not being a dress like every other one. Nina thinks Ping's dress is just fabric wrapped around a model. Very true. Kors notes that the model has to stand like the Statue of Liberty to wear it. Jesse is fighting for his life, and brings the claws out: he says that in addition to constructing both looks, he had to give sewing lessons. Is he going there? Yes, he is. Then, the model for the second look calls Ping out and says she was never even fitted. Ouch.
Michael Kors thinks Anthony's gown is a cotillion in the South from hell; furthermore, it's costumey AND Gone with the Wind. Uh, if it were a real Gone with the Wind dress, it would look more like this. Nina thinks they're both really ugly, and Seth Aaron classily stands behind the design.
Fast forward to the finale. Heidi hints about 30 times that more than one designer could be going home. Mila is the winner, leaving just Anthony and Ping. Anthony is.....in, meaning Ping is out, at long last.
However, the entertainment value of the show just went down a bit, and Ping is so tearful during the goodbye that I feel sad for our Chinese physical therapist turned designer. How do you say aufwiedersehen in Mandarin?
Next week on: a challenge designing for real women?
Aufwiedersehen, PRunway fans, till next Thursday!
No comments:
Post a Comment