Project Runway: In A Place Far, Far Away - the Recap!

Sorry for the EXTREMELY LATE Project Runway recap!  I've been trying to get to it but I haven't had the chance!  Ugh - and it was the big one right before Fashion Week: the always delicious Avant-Garde challenge!
I LOVED the inspiration idea: characters from a new L'Oreal Paris line of makeup (I forgot what it was called - SORRY!)  The designers / muses went as follows:
Fabio - Enchanted Queen
Sonjia - Seductive Temptress
Dmitry - Wise Mystic
Melissa - Artsy Muse
Christopher got to pick since he won the last challenge and he was the last one picked and he went with - Enchanted Queen.

I think it was the long day of traveling or maybe I was in a funky mood but I wasn't too thrilled with anyone's except for Christophers even though his looked like Michael C's evening dress.
Check it

  VS 

A little similar but Christopher took more of the costume route for this Avant-Garde challenge - which I LOVE but then again, every time I think of the Avant-Garde challenge, I think back to Christian's GORGEOUS dress



A little costumey but ALL GLAM. So Christopher's, while it was channeling Michael C's, I thought was pretty - even with the feathered arm pieces! Kors wasn't a fan but I really enjoyed the costume aspect since they all had characters as their muses.

Fabio's Enchanted Queen was a little less costumey but definitely Avant-Garde.  How?  DAT JACKET.



Fabio said he drew inspiration from when he used to wear his shirts upside down (guilty of that) so he literally turned this jacket upside down. When it's worn one way, it creates a really pretty shape but when it's worn the other way, it makes a whole different shape. I loved his explanation for how he wanted to show the dualities of a person in power - put together on the outside and falling apart on the inside. UGH - SO GOOD!  Again, it was getting into the costume arena but I like that sort of thing.

Sonjia got a tongue lashing from Tim.  He told her that she wasn't designing to the best of her abilities and that ultimately got her sent home.  Thank goodness because her designs were slipping.  Case in point - this hot mess:



Enchanting Temptress? I don't think so. Maybe the producers wanted her gone so they "stole" her gold fabric at Mood? Who knows. Either way, this was a DISASTER.  The illusion wasn't anywhere near the model's skin tone and it looked like she ripped down some curtains - and NOT in the chic Gone With The Wind way.  Sonjia's been phoning it in the last few challenges and this definitely seals that deal.

I loved Melissa's - if it had been for another challenge, I would've loved it even more.  I don't think it was quite Avant-Garde for the Artsy Muse, erm, muse but it worked.



The colours were great together and the pattern on the skirt was wonderful but as far Avant-Garde is concerned, I'm not quite sure this really fit. I mean, the structured collar was a nice touch and the red lining in the skirt was cute but nothing really stood out as different.  I guess Melissa using bright colours was the Avant-Garde part, eh?  Cute.

Dmitry took home the win with his Avant-Garde school teacher with a bejeweled collar thing.  Not to rag on my From Russia with Love BF but I was a little confused by this Wise Mystic....

 

Dracular collar? Check. Expert tailoring? Check.  Anything else?  Um...not really.  I mean, he did make a well-tailored suit and thoroughly confused everyone with the addition of the Dracula collar and the weird sleeves that you can't really see.  I don't know.  Maybe Heidi liked the subdued sex appeal of the foxy-looking cutout on the front of the top (very clever) and the super-high slit up the skirt in the back?  I don't know but at least he got props for his immaculate tailoring.  I guess that counts for a win.

Since they had characters as muses, I wish they had been able to take more of the costume route.  I think that's what was hurting everyone.  They had these wonderful fairy tale characters to work with but Tim steered them away from the costume area but I think if they were able to make Avant-Garde costumes, it would've been a little better.  I mean, imagine that!  I think I would've preferred that challenge outcome to this one because I know Fabio could've gone further into a more upscale, couture Joan of Arc-type look and Christopher's would've been CRAZY.  I just know it!  Oh well.  I guess we can't all get what we want.

Next week, our designers prep for Fashion Week and I'm super excited to see non-blurry photos of the experience!

Who are you rooting for?

Project Runway Recap - Latergram

It's countdown to Cassie and Mark's wedding and we're all cozied up in our hotel room. I'm watching Project Runway and taking my not-so-hilarious notes and I'm hoping I'll be able to post a recap but I can't guarantee anything since the next few days will be very hectic.
Maybe I'll get a rare moment one night and be able to post but if not, I promise to post a recap when we get back next week!
Until then, I'll be posting photos of our hijinks on my Instagram. Click the link on the right to follow all the fun!

Project Runway: It's All About Me - The Recap! (Semi-NSFW)

Last night was a tough night for TV!  Let's just say that Glee won out over Project Runway (sorry!) and I only caught the last half hour.  Oh, and I was doing my nails.  I think I'm getting the hang of the gradient look!

Please excuse my messy cuticles - I was a little rough on them last night and this morning...

Anyways - last night was the long awaited textile challenge and I was so happy to see Mondo's adorable little face!


I was able to briefly watch the first 10 minutes or so so I know that the moms / boyfriends / best friends / sisters came into the work room.  I was also trying to do the switch back and forth thing - where I saw Sonjia say something about how she didn't want to be thinking about her mom the whole time and at first I was like, "Uh - don't be a bitch about your mom Sonjia" but that seemed to be the order of the evening.  I get it - you're distracted by your mom / friends / boyfriends / sisters / etc but holy crap!  My second thing about Sonjia is that this lipstick isn't working:



I know I'm all about the pale pinks (my mani y'all!) but I don't think it's working for her.  It's too weird on camera.  Maybe it looks better in person?  I hope so.  And since I'm on the Sonjia train, let's start with her.

   

I'm not gonna lie - all I kept thinking was Sonjia was trying to steal Mondo's steeze on the wide pants front for the textile challenge. While I liked that the pattern didn't end up looking like Pac-Man eating her crotch - an MK critique - I felt like it was too close to Mondo's.  And Mondo's fit was so much better AND he is STILL the reigning master of prints and print mixing.  I will say this about Sonjia's pants - they're nice and even though she was worried about the fit, they fit well and they looked good.  Those shoes are killing me though.  I know I've been in love with them since Michael C used a variation of them in the Godspell challenge but dare I say it, I'm kinda sick of them since I've seen them EVERY.  SINGLE.  RUNWAY DAY.

MOVING ON.

I'm glad Ven finally got the talking to he needed about his stupid fucking flowers.

 

I liked how Heidi said she looked like a Hawaiian Airline hostess. YES GIRL. That was so terrible!! And even though I missed Tim Gunn say this in the workroom, he said this was the "Ode to a menstrual cycle" dress.  How do I know he said that?  Oh, you know, during deliberations, Heidi called him out to ask him if he had told Ven not to keep doing his flower technique.  HEIDI.  You know Tim is all over that shit!  He's a mentor.  He knows a thing or two about telling people to think outside their "norm".  Don't you think Tim would have enough sense to tell Ven to not do this shit?!  Yes.  And he has - many times!  Ven has the disease of Gretchen - you win the first challenge and then you get stuck with your giant ego.  I'm not really worried about him anymore so I'm just going to try and move past this.

Fabio was super excited to be a part of this challenge but...I don't know about this look...

 

This looks straight out of the 80's - right down to the hair.  His super cute boyfriend came to visit and I'm not exactly sure if that was a good thing since I wasn't too impressed with the textile and its use.  Sorry Fabio!  But the look is still very Fabio and I totally knew that was his while I was switching between the commercials.

I expected a little more from Elena.  And I really just want her and Dmitry to hook up already!  The way they were bitching about how they were going to go out of their way to avoid each other was so cute.  Come you guys!  You know you're being mean to each other because you really like each other!  Okay - back to the clothes.

 

I saw when she was like "This looks like a grandma coat" between commercials and I think it still looks like a grandma coat.  What is the pattern anyway?  Looks a little phallic to me.  With some boobs.  The pink strips look like bleeding vaginas to me.  Or maybe a raw penis about to be squished between a pair of boobs.  OKAY - this post just got NSFW.  Sorry folks.

I'm going to derail that train and head over to Christopher and his ladybug things.

 

His look wasn't terrible but I definitely wished he had turned it out a bit more. Just a tiny bit. I liked it but, yes it was a bit Prom-ish and all that but it was still cute and at this stage in the game, cute isn't going to cut it anymore.

Can I just say this about Gunnar and his mom?  I love how they're besties but I have mixed emotions about Gunnar's comment to buy his mom a boob job if he had won Project Runway.  Um - WHAT?  Okay, you guys are so cute.

 

Kudos for Gunnar for going out on a limb and taking a more personal approach. While I LOVE the textile itself, I'm not crazy about this look. And neither were the judges. Anya was being super mean (surprise surprise) and I get that it's a little blah but that textile is so fab, even though it came from a dark place.  I wouldn't mind seeing it inverted.  I'd like a tank top or a shirt out of that.  Better yet - I'd LOVE it as-is for a t-shirt but with a red heart on it somewhere.  Typical, I know, but I think it could work as an anti-bullying campaign piece!  I'd LOVE that!  Sorry it got you sent home, Gunnar.  I'm gonna miss you!!

Melissa really stepped it up.  Her pattern was pretty but her dress was lovely.

 

It was such a chic combination with her graphic lines in her clothing and the way she worked those graphic lines of her pattern together.  Ugh - so pretty.  I wouldn't mind seeing this textile for a cropped jacket or something.  Maybe a short skirt or some short shorts with contrast piping?  The possibilities are endless!  Love it!

We have now arrived at the Dmitry Sholokhov Appreciation portion of this post.


bb Dmitry - ADORBS
 
 
Rocking the man-cleave almost better than Joshua? WHAT!! 

  VS   
You be the judge.  I love the both of them so much, it's not fair.


Being super cute in the work room as per usual.

Oh Dmitry.  I cheered when you won last night.  I wiped away my Glee tears and cheered so much for you!  You deserved this win!  The cutouts on the jacket were INSANE!  Wait - what am I talking about?  Here you go:

 

YES! Give me more of that!  I loved how those geometric shapes were "floating" over that really wonderful graphic print.  It worked so well!  AND, you crazy kid you, you made separates!  And you WON!  And they were FABS!  Keep this momentum going, Dmitry.  We all know you can flawlessly execute the perfect dress but I love when you mix it up!

I plan on watching this entire episode shortly (between long exports) or maybe over the weekend.  Hopefully I won't have anything extra to add to my comments.

Next week is the Rockettes Challenge I kept hearing about.  DAMMIT!  Gunnar would've had so much fun with this one!  Oh well.  I can't wait to see what the designers turn out.  That should be interesting...

Project Runway: Starving Artist - The Recap!

Can Dmitry and Elena get married and have babies already?  I mean, come on!  There no shortage of drama and antics with these two.  How did we get here?  Why...another team challenge!  The dreaded Button Bag reared its ugly head and Dmitry and Elena subjected poor Alicia to their couple-style arguing but more on that later.

This week our designers had to dabble in the arts and crafts world.  I was kind of expecting to hear, "Ermahgerd, I'm a high fashion designer, not an art teacher" but there was more scoffing and groaning than sweeping declarations.  The designers were sent out to the streets of New York armed with their custom made totes, tees and stuff to raise the money they would take with them to Mood for materials for a two-piece Fall collection.
The teams were as follows:
Christopher (immunity) / Sonjia / Gunnar
Dmitry / Elena / Alicia
Ven / Melissa / Fabio

I thought pairing Melissa and Fabio was smart because their style is a little similar and their different points of view mesh really well together.  Ven was a disaster up in there.  He was cramping their street style aesthetic.





While I thought this collab was cute, I wasn't crazy about the shirt and Ven's ugly skirt.  I know what you're thinking: What happened to the petals?  Oh, Tim Gunn himself shot that shit down.  He advised Ven turn off the petals because it was cramping Fabio and Melissa's street style look.  I definitely was happy to hear that.  This collection looked okay but the colour choice was a little too Spring for me.  I know they were trying to bring Summer colours to help it transition into Fall but it didn't quite work out.  I did enjoy the styling of the model on the left with the socks and heels.  I wish I could pull that off because the girl looks FABS.


Dmitry and Elena's love-fest didn't really help their team out and poor Alicia was in the middle of that mess and she ultimately paid the price by getting Auf'd.




Christopher brought up a great point.  Wait - was it Gunnar?  Either way, one of those two brought up a great point.  They said that Dmitry has been crying to make some outerwear - which was one of the pieces they needed but what did Dmitry make?  Oh, you know, another one of his pretty dresses.  Oh wait - you can't see it because he made a last-minute old lady shawl thing to cover up his beautiful work.  Elena struggled to make a well-fitting jacket and she bossed Alicia into making the pants that got her sent home.  What was more surprising was that Elena drove the bus all over Dmitry and Alicia when Heidi asked about their looks.  Elena claimed Dmitry was the bossy one and she didn't think the work was divided evenly between them.  I don't know where all that was coming from since Elena was the one that was bossing everyone around - LIKE SHE ALWAYS DOES.  Poor Alicia, too.  She's not one for confrontation so it was obvious that this was the vehicle (no pun intended with the under zee bus comment) to get rid of her.  Sorry boo.

Christopher and Gunnar managed to bury the hatchet and they worked so well together that I was totally expecting more of a love-fest than what we saw.  They were so cute!  Even when Gunnar called Christopher's vest a "Legends of Zelda" vest.  Priceless.  I'm glad that went in another direction because I was a little concerned when I saw Christopher fitting that piece.  Or maybe it was Sonjia's.  I don't remember.  My notes say Christopher.  See - this is what happens when I can't write my recaps on Fridays!  I forget EVERYTHING!



Gunnar made both the dresses in these looks and I will say it: GUNNAR WAS ROBBED this week! Sonjia got the win for making the jacket on the left.  WHY???  That jacket would have been garbage without Gunnar's gorgeous dress.  The same goes for Christopher's jacket on the right.  That jacket is tight but the sleeves on that dress MAKE IT.



Ugh. Gunnar was SO ROBBED!  His dresses were AMAZEBALLS.  I get the whole structured thing that the judges liked about Sonjia's jacket and all but come on!  The sleeves on the dress with Christopher's jacket?!  HOT.

Okay - enough crying from me.  Next week, Mondo makes an appearance (hooray!!!!!)  for the textile challenge.  A choice soundbite from Tim Gunn: "Homage to a menstrual cycle".  Holy Mother... That ought to be good!

PS - I was checking out Valerie Mayen's Instagram feed on Friday and I came across some photos from the Project Runway show at New York Fashion Week from that morning!  According to Miss Mayen, the show was the Top 8 designers from this past week, so no spoilers!   She didn't have photos of Dmitry on her feed but I found some on good ol' Tumblr!!

 
Hey handsome.

Project Runway: Fix My Friend - The Recap!

The only way I can sum up last night's episode is: Ven, you are a fucking asshole.
There, I said it.  So did most of Twitter last night...  And speaking of Twitter - I hate that it's my temporary replacement until I can get the live-blogging back on track.  And thank goodness it's temporary because I just don't feel right.  Last night, I had some GEMS and I feel like they fell flat on their Tweet faces and I should've called out certain designers on certain Tweets but I didn't because I didn't realize they had accounts until way later in the evening.
All of that aside, Twitter was reeling from Ven's fat shaming.  There's always one for the "Real Woman / Transformation / Makeover" Challenge.  I think it's funny that what I said last week: "Ven - have you looked in the mirror, bitch?!" - definitely held true to what really happened.

Let's start by railing Ven.

Project Runway: A Times Square Anniversary Party - The Recap

I know, I know - I'm a little late with my Project Runway recap.  Okay, I'm A LOT late but I have a good reason: I'm in the final stages of getting ready for my trip so don't get mad at me okay.
I had the good sense to take some crude notes but I tried to keep them to around one sentence per thought so that I didn't miss that much but I ended up missing some stuff anyways...
I'd like to get an important part of this recap out of the way: GUNNAR DEATHERAGE IS BACK!!

I don't know why but I'm so so SO happy that he's back!  Honestly, I prefer his look from his appearance on season 9 but...

 


...He's still adorable so it doesn't matter!

Okay okay - I think I've expressed enough of my love for Gunnar...On to the task at hand: runway time!

Jump on in!

Project Runway All-Stars: The Finale Part 2 - The Recap

Last night's finale was CRAZY!  I felt like it was Heidi and guest judge Jessica Simpson fighting with Michael Kors and Nina Garcia over Mondo and Gretchen - only replace Gretchen with Michael C and you have the fight between Georgina Chapman, Isaac Mizrahi and Mr. Giggles Ken Downing vs Not-Heidi host and Tommy Hillfiger.  Tommy and Not-Heidi were really stating Michael C's case but Georgina, Heidi and Ken had a point about Mondo: he's ahead of the trends, he's more youthful and he has really great ideas.  But we already knew that, didn't we?
On to the runway show!  I'll start with Austin.

I think when he came out and gave his inspiration and description of his collection by saying it was "Hasidic Jew meets Victorian vampire meets Williamsburg hipster dandy friend", I could see how Ken Downing was laughing.  All I kept thinking was that that sounded like what the costumes would be if Interview with a Vampire had been filmed now instead of the 90's.  That shit cray and you know it, Austin.  Either way, he stepped out a fairly nice collection. 


I wasn't too crazy about his model choice for the 4th look because she didn't carry the dress well and I think that ruined the look for me.  As far as the styling goes, that hybrid pageant Victorian curls thing is killing the first look.  Like, murdering it.  It's not doing that look any favours and neither are those pants.  Eww.  Tommy Hilfiger wanted to have babies with look 5.  I think he was more crazy about the "rock 'n' roll" catsuit than Austin was!  And I thought it was smart for Austin to have done the wedding dress (with Anthony's touches of black accessories from the Opera challenge) but I expected a little more.  The petals were nice and the black accents were pretty with the different white textiles but I wanted a little more of the vampire element brought in to this particular look.  But, unfortunately, Austin's aesthetic is older and he caters to the suburban moms with money and it shows big time.  I think his 1st and 5th looks were his attempt to be more youthful but they didn't work with the rest of his pieces.

Michael C took us on a Gretchen-styled adventure.  Yeah, I said it.  Watching his stuff come down the runway AND hearing all the critiques about it made it feel like the Mondo / Gretchen showdown of season 8.  I was a little scared for a minute there.  Thankfully Michael spared us the granny panties and he showed some out-of-his-comfort (draping)-zone pieces.


Not gonna lie - the models in looks 1, 5 and 6 look FIERCE.  I'll even go as far as saying the model in look 5 looks like she could be a tan version of Diane von Furstenberg.  Lovely.  I will also admit that I LOVE the dress in look 6 without that damn vest.  And Lauren and I decided that Michael's best piece was look 2 because of the structure and angles and guess what - that's the one April helped him out on.  No surprise there.  The rest of the collection was too commercial-y I think.  Like he wanted to show them what he could do for the Neiman Marcus collection but that's not exactly what they wanted.  Well, maybe that's what not-Heidi and Tommy H were expecting but I think they forgot how the show actually worked.  Not a terrible collection, though.

On to the night's winner Mondo!  First of all, I love that he finally won and I'm kind of glad that he didn't win season 8 because these prizes are better.  I think Neiman Marcus and Marie Claire will both benefit from having him because his point of view is so young and fresh and modern.  He's a great choice not only because of his playful youthfulness but he's thoughtful about each piece and he really knows how to manipulate patterns to make his own.  Very clever.


While I always love everything Mondo does, I wasn't crazy about look 3 because it very distinctly has Mila's influence.  Ugh.  BUT it didn't hurt the collection, thankfully.  The inkblots were gorgeous and I was so happy to finally see them!  We just kept getting glimpses of them and I think the only full one we saw was the one in look 4 but the dress in look 5 is stunning and I would love to have that.  Ken Downing called the first piece a "wow piece" and then Tommy (I think) kept saying the buttons on look 2 were comically large - which I thought was wrong because I thought the proportions worked with the polka dots, the large buttons and the circular pockets.  It wouldn't have hurt to have made the pockets a little smaller though but at that point, they'd be purely for decoration and they'd have to question his motives on that one.  The rest of the pieces (save for look 3) was very Mondo though.  His point of view came across very well and I think the fact that he made the textiles for looks 4 and 5 with the inkblots might have sealed the deal for him. 

And can I just point out that last night, Lauren pointed it out to me that Angela was giving Georgina bitch face about her wanting Mondo over Michael C and ultimately, it was Angela's forced smile and "eat shit" bitch face look that gave it away before they even started talking to Michael that it was clear that Mondo won.  Re-watch it and you'll see it too.  There was no cutting around that Stinky McStinkface.

I want to congratulate all the contestants on Project Runway All-Stars this season because they were all great sports for coming back and they all did a great job with their newfound points of view.  This season of All-Stars kind of made up for the shitty seasons of Project Runway, I think.  But I feel like maybe season 10 will end up like season 8 and 9 where you get bitches like Anya and Gretchen taking the wins away from more deserving contestants.  We'll see how that goes.

I hope to see you again on the runway for season 10 and I hope it doesn't disappoint!