Project Runway?

[boopsahoy]

I rather liked Sandro. He can be loud and rather obnoxious but I also noticed he was the one Helen went to for comfort after Tim sorta gave her a bad review. I thoroughly understood his frustration with no feedback on his work, too.

 

I guess I have worked with so many people like that (advertising, creative side), emotional displays don't bother me. Sandro's portfolio was amazing -- if you like highly revealing, intricately designed outfits. He even showed Joan Rivers in one of his outfits (thankfully, not revealing).

 

But the highlight of the show was Brandon's marriage proposal. And his partner's counter proposal. I cried.

 

I didn't hate his designs but I thought his distracting obnoxious personality was annoying-to me as a viewer and I'm sure to the contestants.

 

 

I too cried at both proposals!

[cruisemom42]

I like how much they showed this week of Tim Gunn's advice -- and it was interesting to see who made good changes based on his critique and who did not.

 

I found Sandro extremely offensive. Much worse than Jeffrey, the winner from a few seasons ago (who got so much criticism in his season for the "mom" episode). I'm perfectly fine continuing without him.

[Scrapnana]

I'm really questioning Helen's ability to work under pressure. I agreed with the judges about the previous week's win being based on her teaming with Kate. Her outfits from this week and two weeks ago were poorly constructed and totally uninteresting.

[5326jan]

I'm really questioning Helen's ability to work under pressure. I agreed with the judges about the previous week's win being based on her teaming with Kate. Her outfits from this week and two weeks ago were poorly constructed and totally uninteresting.

 

Agree completely! She doesn't seem to have the skills. Maybe her ideas are good, but if you can't follow up with the talent..... buh bye!

 

She also seems sooooo young.

[SeagoingMom]

Where in Virginia are you? The only Belk near us is in Suffolk and it's a lot lower level than Kohls. We lived in Florida for a while and the Belk there was equivalent to Macy's. Guess they're either going down hill or regionally different. I think there's one in Williamsburg that is supposed to be better... I should try.

 

:)

Belk IMO is not significantly different from Target, but it is consistently more expensive. It purports to be a department store, and has a similar layout to Macy's or Kohl's. My experience is it is filled with mostly cheap jersey dresses, and the space between the overstuffed racks is so small that maneuvering around the misses clothing department is nearly impossible. Maybe it's just that our local store is smaller than most?

The dressing rooms are always a mess -- there doesn't seem to be enough staff to clean up.

We've had this Belk nearby for at least a decade, but I can't figure out why it's still in business. I think it's because it is the most convenient "department store" in our area -- the other stores (besides Target and Walmart) are all specialty stores like Coldwater Creek. Loft, and Talbot's.

 

Our Belk seems to appeal to the retirement set, in spite of the company's "youthful" ads in InStyle Magazine...

[5326jan]

Belk IMO is not significantly different from Target, but it is consistently more expensive. It purports to be a department store, and has a similar layout to Macy's or Kohl's. My experience is it is filled with mostly cheap jersey dresses, and the space between the overstuffed racks is so small that maneuvering around the misses clothing department is nearly impossible. Maybe it's just that our local store is smaller than most?

The dressing rooms are always a mess -- there doesn't seem to be enough staff to clean up.

We've had this Belk nearby for at least a decade, but I can't figure out why it's still in business. I think it's because it is the most convenient "department store" in our area -- the other stores (besides Target and Walmart) are all specialty stores like Coldwater Creek. Loft, and Talbot's.

 

Our Belk seems to appeal to the retirement set, in spite of the company's "youthful" ads in InStyle Magazine...

 

Yep, you could be describing the one in Suffolk! However the Belk in Gainesville, FL (2001-2008) was like a Macy's. Clean, well organized, spacious, etc. I don't understand how they can be so varied. :confused:

[Happy ks]

I know the show (producers) edit down to the point where all you get to see is the dramatic snippets of a conversation. I'm sure Sandro had his nice moments we didn't see and he probably became close to some of the other contestants. But I'm glad Sandro is gone and they no longer kept him around for the drama.

 

I didn't personally like his designs and I don't think he "got" it when he did get any direction or feedback, he took it all as a personal attack on him, the person. He was so emotionally immature and so very rude, so buh-bye and don't come back. His clothing was too tight, too revealing and, as Zack Posen indicated, a culmination of other designers ideas, nothing fresh and new from himself. This past weeks dress looked like a combination of Jersey Shore meets Marie Antoinette, or just a bed sheet tacked onto a cheesy mini dress.

 

I didn't have a favorite this week, I think they all missed the mark.

 

The proposal was sweet.

[SeagoingMom]

Yep, you could be describing the one in Suffolk! However the Belk in Gainesville, FL (2001-2008) was like a Macy's. Clean, well organized, spacious, etc. I don't understand how they can be so varied. :confused:

Nor I, but whatever their corporate strategy is, it isn't working for me -- wouldn't shop in one anywhere unless I had no choice.

 

I guess folks who have a nice Belk have a good impression.

 

It's sort of like Ross -- some great stores, some terrible. We have one of each type of Ross store in our area.

Edited August 10, 2013 by SeagoingMom

[cruisemom42]

 

I guess folks who have a nice Belk have a good impression.

 

It's sort of like Ross -- some great stores, some terrible. We have one of each type of Ross store in our area.

 

We have what I guess you could call a Belk "flagship store" near me, and it is very nice -- nicer than Macys for sure. I haven't shopped at a Lord & Taylor store recently (none near me) but I think it would be comparable. They have top brands and designers there.

 

On the other hand, another Belk (in the suburbs) is not good at all. You would find barely any of the same merchandise there.

[SeaBunny]

I'm really questioning Helen's ability to work under pressure. I agreed with the judges about the previous week's win being based on her teaming with Kate. Her outfits from this week and two weeks ago were poorly constructed and totally uninteresting.

 

I agree, too. Plus, the smallest thing seems to throw her off. When Tim removed that bow tie from her mannequin, she seemed to just crumble. I didn't even see that as a criticism -- just a little help -- and she acted like she had gotten the worst review in the world.

 

Or did I miss something important in his critique?

[Scrapnana]

I agree, too. Plus, the smallest thing seems to throw her off. When Tim removed that bow tie from her mannequin, she seemed to just crumble. I didn't even see that as a criticism -- just a little help -- and she acted like she had gotten the worst review in the world.

 

Or did I miss something important in his critique?

 

She does not seem to take any advice or criticism well. She spends a great deal of time crying and frustrated. If next week were not a team challenge, I would make her the frontrunner to leave next. With a team she might be able to make it another week.

 

From the previews they are showing, it looks like the judges are unhappy with all the creations. We'll see if that is true or creative editing.

Edited August 11, 2013 by Scrapnana

[vjmatty]

From the previews they are showing, it looks like the judges are unhappy with all the creations. We'll see if that is true or creative editing.

 

I am sure it is creative editing.... it is a trick they have used before where the previews just run through all the negative comments, some of which aren't even said to the designers and take place when the judges are talking among themselves.

 

I remember during the last All-Stars, they showed a preview of Isaac saying to Austin Scarlett "Oh, did I say "'Starlet'?" when getting his name wrong. Out of context it made it seem like he was being snarky and calling him out as a diva, but when seeing the show in its entirety it was a simple mis-speak. They do little stunts like that all the time to make it seem like there is more drama than there is.

[SeagoingMom]

I agree, too. Plus, the smallest thing seems to throw her off. When Tim removed that bow tie from her mannequin, she seemed to just crumble. I didn't even see that as a criticism -- just a little help -- and she acted like she had gotten the worst review in the world.

 

Or did I miss something important in his critique?

I wondered about that myself, but then on reconsidering it, I think she was completely thrown off because she had lost her "theme," which was "menswear." When Tim took the tie off and said the dress didn't look like menswear, she had no "idea" left from which to keep working. I wondered if the final result -- the original dress with the swath of brown gauze wrapped around it -- was in her thinking from the beginning. It certainly didn't look like menswear to me -- it was a mess, IMO.

 

I think it is just these sorts of situations that separate the really creative and quick-thinking designers from the others. There are many that have been on the show who, after such a critique, would have stuck with their original idea and improved upon it, or started over entirely and made something totally different but fabulous. She did not seem to be capable of either.

[cooki801]

Yep quick thinking is a real divider! LOL

I have to believe that all those that are chosen are probably very creative and have at least SOME skills but having to work at such a fast pass and under the pressure of time, $$$ and all the drama really hurts the more fragile personalities.

[SeagoingMom]

Yep quick thinking is a real divider! LOL

I have to believe that all those that are chosen are probably very creative and have at least SOME skills but having to work at such a fast pass and under the pressure of time, $$$ and all the drama really hurts the more fragile personalities.

That seems to be the point of the show (other than profit) -- to force the designers to experience the types of pressures typical in the "real" world of fashion design, and see if they can survive and thrive. Personalities which seem to require working entirely alone (because they are too sensitive, too temperatmental or too hard-headed -- read "Sandro" ) don't succeed on this show, ultimately, as they probably wouldn't survive or thrive in the business -- beyond possibly having their own one-man hometown dress shop, which is, of course, not what Project Runway is about.

[5326jan]

That seems to be the point of the show (other than profit) -- to force the designers to experience the types of pressures typical in the "real" world of fashion design, and see if they can survive and thrive. Personalities which seem to require working entirely alone (because they are too sensitive, too temperatmental or too hard-headed -- read "Sandro" ) don't succeed on this show, ultimately, as they probably wouldn't survive or thrive in the business -- beyond possibly having their own one-man hometown dress shop, which is, of course, not what Project Runway is about.

 

Can you imagine Sandro's reaction if a client told him she didn't like the dress he had made for her!!!:eek: Also, Helen... she'd just cry. The designers definitely need to have a stronger temperament to work with paying customers! :rolleyes:

[Scrapnana]

Yes, indeed, it was creative editing.

 

I completely agree with the judges.

 

I didn't quite see Sandro's apology as real sincere. There were too many excuses.

 

Ken did not sit well with me when he made that snide comment of not designing for 40 year old women.

[vjmatty]

Ken did not sit well with me when he made that snide comment of not designing for 40 year old women.

 

I kind of wish that had come out during the critiques...... I don't think Heidi or Nina would have appreciated that at all ;)

[boopsahoy]

Were really starting to see the weak designers now.

[Happy ks]

Backhanded apologies!!!

 

Whiney, tantrum prone designers!!!

 

Duct tape!!!

 

Unfinished garments!!!

 

This is the Project Runway we've all come to love over the years ;)

 

Please, please, please...no more unconventional materials.:rolleyes: What's next? Cooked spaghetti noodles and feminine products?

[SeaBunny]

The winning team was my least favorite team. The winning outfit my least favorite on the winning team. However, Jeremy seems very nice. Or is it seduction by accent? haha

 

Obviously I didn't see what the judges did.

 

Ken is officially the new designated bad guy.:rolleyes:

[Scrapnana]

I really liked all three looks by the Bradon, Alexander, Miranda team. I really expected them to be the top team. I do like Jeremy, however, and was glad he won a competition.

[cruisemom42]

I really liked all three looks by the Bradon, Alexander, Miranda team. I really expected them to be the top team. I do like Jeremy, however, and was glad he won a competition.

 

That was my favorite team as well. Again, I suspect the producers are playing games and trying to avoid having certain front-runners come out too early on (by winning every challenge). But the team that did win had some good looks too.

 

Speaking of Project Runway, has anyone read any of Nina Garcia's style books? I was just reading a blog that called them to my attention as worthwhile but I don't have any bookstore nearby that carries them.

[SeagoingMom]

That was my favorite team as well. Again, I suspect the producers are playing games and trying to avoid having certain front-runners come out too early on (by winning every challenge). But the team that did win had some good looks too.

 

Speaking of Project Runway, has anyone read any of Nina Garcia's style books? I was just reading a blog that called them to my attention as worthwhile but I don't have any bookstore nearby that carries them.

I have read her books -- I got them at my local library. They are pretty basic, and what I did not care for was that the illustrations are all paintings -- cartoons, actually -- of unrealistically shaped female forms. I like photos of actual clothes, on actual people, even if they are models, who certainly have what many consider unrealistic female forms, too, but that is another matter...

 

Much of what Garcia writes someone with common sense and an eye for personal style probably already knows, and the problem with fashion books, in my opinion, is how quickly they can become obsolete. In spite of Garcia's attempt to write "timeless" books, they definitely seem dated.

 

Of course you know you can get a good feel for the books by using the "look inside" feature on Amazon. If you like what you see, I would suggest borrowing them or buying them used, for cheap.

 

Personally, I would recommend Kelly and London's Dress your Best, in which they recommend various outfits for people of all shapes and sizes (men, too.) A really fun, helpful book that is a pleasure to look at, as they do a bang-up job in virtually every case, and though the book is not new, it does not feel dated yet, to me. It was published in 2005; I bought it used years ago, and I still consult it today.

 

Sam Saboura's Real Style is pretty good, too, because he dresses real women with "real" bodies, and real body issues. I also really enjoy Trinny Woodall and Susanna Constantine's books, especially What Not to Wear and What You Wear can Change your Life. They are funny and quite helpful -- again, "real" women, real issues.

 

None of these books is about high fashion -- just good style for everyday life.

 

Don't read Clinton Kelly's snarky solo books, especially Oh no She Didn't, nor Tim Gunn's effete Guide to Quality -- not if you want to continue to like watching these guys on TV, where they put forth quite different personae....

[vjmatty]

 

Don't read Clinton Kelly's snarky solo books, especially Oh no She Didn't, nor Tim Gunn's effete Guide to Quality -- not if you want to continue to like watching these guys on TV, where they put forth quite different personae....

 

"Oh No She Didn't" was horrible, not just in how mean and snarky it was, but I disagreed with some of what was said. For example, no French manicures because that is what the girls at Hustler are wearing. Really? So if Hustler girls start wearing business suits I should stop wearing those too? Also I thought "no colored suits" was too far reaching. I agree that suits with pants should be neutral tones like blue, black or gray, but a skirt suit can look very nice in burgundy red, dark purple or jade green.

 

It almost seemed like it was written by a different person. I was really disappointed.