Project Runway?

[SeaBunny]

Their only problem with it, is that they needed to go further like you are suggesting.

Musical inspiration for what type of outfit? Formal wear? Stage outfit? Costume? Streetwear?

The looks were more "toned down" because the judges have been hitting the contestants over the head all season with not being "cliche".

That's a cliche business outfit. That's a cliche cocktail dress, etc.

 

I agree totally. They need to define the purpose of the outfit first of all. But I would like the inspiration part to make the designers think harder and look deeper (it's the creative director in me -- always push for something cooler, LOL).

 

I mean "rock" can be anything from a 50s poodle skirt and bobby socks to a Beatles' lapel-less jacket to glam rock sequins to Gwen Stefani. So if you just say "rock" you wind up generic (in this case sort of Van Halen) based largely on the age and listening preferences of the designer.

 

But if you say design a (specific type of) outfit inspired by R.E.M.'s "Orange Crush" or Roy Orbinson's "Pretty Woman" (just pulled two random things from my iPod), you then push the designers to find their own inspiration within the song -- they can be themselves yet they push their creativity by interpreting the song.

 

Is "Pretty Woman" a street walker? Is she uptown? Small town? Old? Young? Flirty? Haughty? Is she actually a woman? Is she a possible employer? Is she a famous designer? The answer to that depends on where the designer is coming from. His/her design will not just be an outfit, it will be a revelation about who he/she is.

 

I was so surprised by the quality of Joe's runway show -- so much better than what he did on PR because the challenges don't inspire so much as frustrate.

 

Yes, it's a game show. But the time and budget limitations (and, sometimes the materials) are enough. Make the designers stretch their imaginations not just regurgitate. Let us see who they really are.

 

Oops! My soapbox just caved in. LOL

[Happy ks]

I'm so far out of the "current" fashion trends in comparison to most people here, but I'm glad I'm reading the word boring in so many posts. This is exactly how I'm feeling about this year's show. That Jerell has made it so far in the competition is telling, even his wins are no big deal. Where are the fabulous designs he promised at the beginning of the season?

 

Last year, even though I didn't think Christian deserved the win, at least he was interesting. This year has not produced much interest at all.

 

Suedes show was horrendous, especially that bridal gown at the end, how embarrasing. The dress style was ugly umpteen years ago when (I think) Demi Moore wore something similar she had designed herself, I think hers had a pair of shorts underneath. Of course, this is coming from a person who doesn't care at all for uneven or handkerchief hems. It's the kind of dress that anyone famous who would dare wear it and be photographed in it, well they would not only be on the worst dressed lists for the week, it would follow them their whole career.

 

Joes was so much better, to the point where his aufing may have been a major error in judgement.

 

I'm almost thinking this show has run its course if it doesn't do something of interest next year.

[Jane110]

LOL! I love these!

 

And to get back to you and some of the other posters before...

 

See, with a lot of these challenges, I think that they are good ideas - but the producers don't follow through with the final details to make them great.

Exactly! And it seems that the audience at home hears one set of rules, and the judges a different set. It creates a Lose-Lose situation.

 

I liked the idea of this challenge, because of the musical inspiration challenge.

Their only problem with it, is that they needed to go further like you are suggesting.

Musical inspiration for what type of outfit? Formal wear? Stage outfit? Costume? Streetwear?

The looks were more "toned down" because the judges have been hitting the contestants over the head all season with not being "cliche".

That's a cliche business outfit. That's a cliche cocktail dress, etc.

Exactly! The designers were given a mish-mosh of instructions.

 

 

 

 

Suede specifically did a fantastic everyday streetwear Rock look. Very saleable. And, really and truly think about it...

Isn't that the best, more flattering, non-what-was-Jerell-thinking, that Jerell has looked the entire season!?!?

Suede dressed Jerell better than Jerell dresses himself!

You got that right! That was Suede's best outfit and Jerell really rocked it!

 

I see it as the fact that if you become a super successful designer, you will end up expanding and having to design other things.

Menswear. Sportswear. Purses. Shoes. Belts. Tshirts.

Nope. Designers license these things out to other companies who know how to do them best. No clothing designer can make a pair of shoes, a handbag or a swimsuit. They can inspire and give design direction at best, but they can't design.

Joe's is really great and wearable in comparison!

He's extremely talented and verstaile. Look how great he did for the Elvis tranny in the pink jumpsuit. He messed up the the makeover because he put the girl in a suit. But then we learn that he wasn't given enough information about her to design the right thing. :(

 

I do think that this season has been "boring", because they're not having crazy drama situations (although the one week that they did - the team up week) they completely edited all the craziness out!:confused:

So I think it's a producer choice/fault more than anything.

You got that right! There was plenty of good stuff here. But honestly the challanges weren't that great, and with the mis-information, it was frustrating to watch the interactions.

 

[SeaBunny]

Another great review from The Advocate.

 

http://www.advocate.com/exclusive_detail_ektid62470.asp

 

Also, if you go to the archives for his PR write ups in the past, there's a great interview with Christian. And all last season, too, if you care.

[mii]

Well i wonder who is going to be ousted tonight. Hope it is Kenley.

 

marilyn

[cigal]

Well i wonder who is going to be ousted tonight. Hope it is Kenley.

 

Yeah......I think we all did.........:rolleyes:

 

That being said, I thought the final outcome of this week's episode was kind of a cop-out.....:confused:

 

BUT - I understand that it adds drama, and prolongs the viewership......which does make for good TV (from a producer and advertiser point-of-view at least)

Oh well, I'm looking forward to seeing how CJW explains the decision. He always adds insightful clarity.:D

[tiger belle]

agreed, Alice--it does seem like a cop-out, but there was a hint they were going to do that when Michael Kors made the comment about all 4 of them bringing something different to the table and how interesting it would be to see all 4 of their collections

 

I also am looking forward to CJW's comments

[Lois R]

Interesting television?:eek:

 

Kenley has about made me want to turn it off:rolleyes: but I watched

it too.

You know if you look up the words "Bad Attitude" in the dictionary

her picture would be right next to them.

 

I want to read CJW's take on this episode as well.

[whoop913]

All I have to say is, AARGH!!!:mad: I really hate this type of copout. I'm tempted not to even watch the finale. I'm sure I will, but I'm less likely to watch next season. Even if it wasn't going to be Kenley ousted (which it should've been), don't drag it out. Now they put Jerell and Leanne in danger of not showing, and they were the top designers for this challenge. I mean, it might've been ok if they did what they did last year and had a walk off between Korto and Kenley. I understand not wanting to do the same thing as they have in the past. But, considering that they are recycling the weekly design projects, they shouldn't worry about it.

 

The one good thing about this week was that everyone was ripping on Kenley...Jerell, Leanne, Korto, the judges. :p And I loved how Jerell basically told her to shut it on the runway. She needs to learn some manners.

 

As for the designs (what, this show is about fashion, not stabbing people in the back?), I agree with the order they basically gave - Jerell, Leanne, Korto, Kenley. I would've had Jerell's top come up a little higher and it did need some polishing off, but his was my favorite. I liked the front of Leanne's dress, but agreed that the back was off. Korto - I really liked the cut of the bodice. And I liked that she was kind of trying to do something different for her by using lace, but it didn't quite work. Good thing she minimalized how much she used after talking to Tim. And Kenley, where do I begin? Ok, I'll give her that the fit of the dress from the knees up was good. But, the fabric choice? I see how it fit with her picture, but she was totally going reptilian with it, not floral. I absolutely hate the mermaid style bottom on dresses, and the way she did it (with "scales") made it all the worse. Why, oh why, did they have to keep her on?:confused:

[cruisemom42]

I was a little disappointed overall last night with the work from all of the finalists. I thought it was a really great challenge -- with all those gorgeous flowers and plants to draw from, AND it gave them some latitude as to their interpretation, AND they had two days.......well, hmmmphff. Just look back and remember the "couture" dresses that the contestants from two seasons back pulled off when they went to Paris.

 

That said, Jerell was my favorite. Over the past few weeks, I've really liked most of his designs, and his color palette is close to the colors I like best.

 

I liked most of Leann's design (the top especially) but I wasn't very fond of her color choice -- looked a little "bridesmaid" to me; maybe it showed better in real life.

 

Korto's was sort of ..... average. But definitely well fitted and nicely designed. I'd certainly try it on if I saw it in a store (maybe without the lace and beading though....)

 

I'm no fan of Kenley, but to be fair I did notice that Heidi referred to the challenge at least once (maybe more) as "Design an evening gown inspired by nature." Okay, maybe I'm nitpicking, but scales would fall into the nature category, yes? Anyway, that said, her dress was not great either AND it didn't really have much of her signature, which is probably what the judges were looking for (as opposed to Jerell's and Leann's which DEFINITELY had "their" look...)

 

I sort of had a feeling that they'd end up not auf'ing someone tonight. I did expect them to at least grant that tonight's challenge winner would definitely show in Bryant Park. Oh well, as someone else said, it creates more drama this way....

[SeaBunny]

No one tossed.

 

And why should they? We know that actually 6 designers get to show at Fashion Week. There are really six winners in that respect. So why not keep one more on for a bit longer?

 

I hope in the future they adjust the timing of PR so they don't have to resort to this subterfuge. It lessens the value of winning, IMHO.

 

Notice how they tried to get some sympathy for Kenly this week?

 

And did everyone have to turn on the waterworks? Jeez, we know and they know they'll all be showing collections so what's the deal? There's really no difference between coming in 6th through 2nd as I see it. So hold those tears for the final runway, designers.

[PattyW]

I found the ending this week very irritating. It was so staged: "I want to see all four designer's collections." Guess what? You will see all four, and not only these 4, but a couple of others that you auf'd, too.

 

The first time it happened, I did not realize that they had previously eliminated contestants prepare "false" collections so as not to tip off the viewership. Now that I know that, the whole concept of letting a fourth contestant participate loses the "oh how exciting" factor.

[WannaCruiseSoon]

I have to admit I felt a "tad" sorry for Kenley last night, then she opened her mouth again LOL

 

I really liked Jerrell's dress "sketch" but the final design needed more work

 

Leanne's I liked it except the blue fabric in the back, what was the point of that?

 

I was excited at first when I saw which flower Korto was using as inspiration - but she kind of tanked.

 

Kenley's dress = I thought it was AWFUL

[wrp96]

My thought when I saw Kenley's dress is that it would've worked for the drag queen challenge.

[Curt Jerome Wild]

My thought when I saw Kenley's dress is that it would've worked for the drag queen challenge.

And her drag queen would have been:

 

Dinah Soar

 

or

 

Alli Gator

 

or

 

Liz Ahrd

 

;):p:D

 

 

I'll be back later with a big review. I grabbing some pictures off the TV so that we can compare the flower pictures to the dresses.

But, I had to post that before I forgot the names in my head...

:cool:

[wrp96]

CURT!!!!!! I thought you might like that comment.:p

[SeaBunny]

Dinah Soar! Dinah Soar! Dinah Soar!

 

ROFLMAO

[Laurab23]

Can't wait to hear from you,Curt.I always enjoy your insight.

 

Laura

[Curt Jerome Wild]

So here we go for this week's show!

 

A straightforward and basically clear cut challenge.

But, I will comment here on this last week and last elimination in general.

 

These designers are tired! Physically from lack of sleep. Mentally from the continual mental work. Emotionally from the entire process.

 

You must realize that even though it seems like months for us, they don't get a week of rest in between each challenge. They have filmed this day after day with barely any breaks. They are designing late into the night, then up early the next morning.

Put everything you have seen immediately back to back to back to back. They've had about 3 to 4 weeks with no sleep at this moment we are watching.

 

At this point in every show, they seem to:

#1 Just run out of physical, mental, and especially emotional steam. That is why there are always so many tears and raw emotions at this point.

#2 They are SO close to the win. They want to do enough to get to Bryant Park, but not so many chances that they get eliminated for having too big of a risk taking design on that last week.

It seems to happen every season somewhat.

 

I just want to put that into perspective for everybody.

 

 

So, the challenge is to go to eh Botanical Gardens and take picture of "nature" to inspire an evening gown.

Seems simple enough, but also they know (as I don't think anyone said this on the show) that this needs to show the judges either what they would do with a Bryant Park runway show - or something different to show their range.

And not do something stupid enough to get kicked off.

 

So here we go (please hold comments until I post all the pictures).

Thanks in advance.

[Curt Jerome Wild]

Jerell wins!

I think it was deserving, and I figured the judges would love it.

Here is his picture inspiration

And since I can, here's some views of the back of his dress...

 

I think the top needed to pull up, but a really good inspiration from his picture...

But, now that he wins this last challenge, I don't think he'll win the entire show...

Still on the Korto/Leanne for the win train...

 

[nlvc12]

Didn't know there was a thread here -- I love this show.

 

I agree with CruiseMom - at least at some point, they indicated the gowns were to be 'inspired' by Nature and/or the photo. The fabric Kenley used was ideal for that photo. As to what she did with it, it looked like a poor version of a mermaid costume.

Kenley as a contestant -- while she may be talented, she thinks more of her own talent than anyone else. And she obviously cannot get along with others very well. You can act that way AFTER you make to the top, but you'll never get and keep it with that attitude**. I think they should have sent her packing.

 

**I realize that Editing can paint a certain picture, but really, they can't show you saying something you didn't do! And all that eye-rolling and sarcasm!

 

I think Leann's dress was the nicest. She admitted before the show that she didn't have the time to properly add the blue fabric. She was trying to provide the color contrast in her photo.

 

I think Jerell has overall shown the most talent, with Leann a close second.

 

Korto has had some good creations, but hasn't been as consistent as the other two.

 

 

Boy, I was challenged last night - I usually watch Criminal Minds, had watched the Americas Got Talent competition, and, of course, Runway! Though I could have watched Runway another evening, I couldn't stand it. John watched CM in the other room while I switched back and forth between NBC and Bravo.

 

Nancy

[Curt Jerome Wild]

Wow! Thanks for reading the thread, and being patient while I'm posting all the pictures!

I'm so glad that I spent extra time today, doing video captures of the show - so that we could have a nice expanded runway picture post...

(I don't have a snarky winking face to put in here...)

 

 

 

Leanne is a very close second!

And I thought this was absolutely stunning.

Beautiful interpretation, and wearable by lots of women.

 

And I think she made a good choice changing her model last week.

Fits her color choices and design style better.

 

I didn't have as much of a problem with the back as the judges, as I think this moved beautifully. Maybe the back could have been a shade closer, but I like it.

Look at the top, it's incredible and great for a cruise.

 

I think it just came down to personal taste from the judges, and that is what good fashion does always come down to - your own taste and style.

 

 

[Curt Jerome Wild]

Korto is third (or tied for third) or whatever they decide to call it...

 

Here is her nature inspiration...

 

Back of the dress, which I don't see anywhere near as bad or difficult to "judge" between her and Kenley as the judges.

 

How is this a "I can't decide between Korto and Kenley"?!?!

:confused:

[Curt Jerome Wild]

And Kenley is "tied" for third (not aufed) with Korto (yeah right)...

And here is her "nature" inspiration...

 

And, as said before, the drag queen known as Dinah Soar is lurving that dress for her next show...

Which takes place here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-yLYz6ejqw

Because that looks like a good outfit for the Mayor's Wife there...

 

And yes, she grew up on a tugboat...

So she doesn't listen to anyone talking to her, so ends up fighting her whole life with everybody!

 

I have known girls like her (and yes, with her behavior I'm calling her a girl and not a woman) and they are socially oblivious.

Jerell and Leanne both directly said some negative things on the runway regarding Kenley (as they were asked).

Korto is the one who did not say anything negative at all, or directly about Kenley.

 

So, who does Kenley immediately go backstage and pick a fight with?

Korto! Didn't you know girls like that growing up, where you were like "What did I do to you? I never said anything, it was someone else!"

But, no, they're going to blame you no matter what.

 

So, Kenley sits and pouts off to the side

 

And refuses them all and Tim Gunn's offer of a "forgive and forget" group hug!

 

 

Awwww, Kenley! It's tough being a tugboat captain's daughter (I guess).

 

That's it for now. Comment away.

I'll save the 4th aufed designer's collection until next week (if they show it).

 

They're just trying to stretch the ratings out for this last run.

 

Have at it!

Enjoy!

[Curt Jerome Wild]

...here's the smilies for nlvc12 that I couldn't fit in that other post...

:eek::rolleyes::p;):D

 

Just so that she knows I'm just "busting her chops" and giving her a jokingly hard time.:cool: