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: Oh My Lord and Taylor - The Recap

Oh My Lord and Taylor is right.  This challenge was proving to be a bit rough for Elena.  She didn't want to sacrifice her design aesthetic for the sake of possibly having her design fit into a 10 piece Project Runway collection to be manufactured and sold at Lord and Taylor online (and the flagship store in NYC - not any other stores btw).

Oh - and let's talk about Sonjia's magnificent breakdown.  She was struggling with her look the whole time and it appeared that she was cutting the hem when Tim came in to gather the troops for the runway.  Not to mention Elena had to help Sonjia's poor model stuff herself into the dress.  Sonjia, your model is the thinnest girl there, stop trying to make her feel huge by making your garments TOO SMALL for her. 

I thought Melissa was going to play possum in the middle of the workroom once her tears started flowing.  She kept saying she was going to start over!

Meanwhile, in Boy Town, they were all "We're having a blast!"  We're the best!"  "No breakdowns here!"  The best exchange was between Gunnar and Fabio.
Gunnar: Fabio, when I get home, I want to design you a dress.
Fabio: Please (it was more enthusiastic than that, I swear)
Gunnar: I know you'll wear it.
Christopher had the best line of the night: Sonjia, the 80's called.  They want everything back.
You'll see why that comment is appropriate in a moment.

Onto the runway show!

Let's get Ven's out of the way so that we can enjoy the rest of the post.



I'm going to have to agree with Christopher on this one: it looks like a 13 year old would wear it to Christmas dinner. Yes. 1000 times yes. The flower - we've all been OVER it since the first two challenges, Ven. You want to sit there and criticize Christopher for his shredded look (we'll get to that in a minute) and yet you keep wanting to do this Kiss From A Rose BARF-o-rama every single chance you can get. Stop it. STOP. IT.  I can honestly say I can appreciate the effort that goes into making something as detailed as that but that shit is tired.

Simple and elegant is the best way to describe Fabio's LBD.



I love the look. It's simple. It's chic. It's fabulous.  It's versatile to the max and it's still very much Fabio's design.  The asymmetry of the skirt is just subtle enough to not be intimidating and, even though you can't see it that well, the stretch tulle over the dress is a really sweet touch.  Sounds like I want to have babies with this dress.  I just might!

I think Alicia was inspired by Sporty Spice with this look.



I think she severely hurt herself by declaring that she can't make "sexy" outfits.  I think you can, Alicia, you just have to let yourself be free!  Break away from the menswear and try something girly - like last week!  If not, then I think you'll be struggling until you get Auf'd.

I wish I could play a loop of how Dmitry says Elena.  Exasperated sigh included.  Here's the dress that made her cry to her BFF Gunnar about losing her design vision.



I'm going to say that I LOVE this dress. I love the harness thing in the middle and I love the shape. Christopher said it was sweet and then crazy bitch at the same time. The only terrible thing about it?  The fabric choice. YUCK.  It doesn't drape well and that's what's KILLING the look for me.  I'm surprised this look was in the top.  The fabric choice alone should've been enough to put her in the middle or the bottom.  I would love this dress even more if the fabric was different.  If the designers had been allowed to go to Mood, this problem wouldn't be happening.  Lots of problems probably woudn't have happened...

Elena's BFF Gunnar had the wise idea to tie the collection together by bringing in elements from other designs that are currently in the collection.



While I agree with the judges about this dress being done before, I still like it!  It's a youthful take on the LBD - especially when you put it in the Lord and Taylor store. I have always had this vision of Lord and Taylor being stuffy and only for old ladies and everyone's designs definitely break that stereotype for me.  Gunnar's is sweet and I think he was smart for trying to tie up the collection.

Dmitry took his subtle lines to another level last night!



The way this model is posing right now is totally making me love the lines even MORE.  See how it moves with her body?  It's almost like those lines are attached to her body and they're following her every move.  And those little points at the neck?  Love them!  The only thing I wasn't crazy about was the styling - I don't think a ponytail was the best choice but...

Sonjia, the 80's called.  They said that Dynasty was missing a dress for a funeral and/or office scene.



This is what made her breakdown? This is why she was freaking out?  I'm glad the peplum is in and it's cute and all but dammit Sonjia, you made it look like it should be shoved back into Fashion Hell.  You took it to a place it should never go.  Well, you took it to a place that it had been before but it should've stayed there.  I was not a fan of this look at all.

Speaking of breakdowns, let's see what caused Melissa to breakdown.



Okay. I can see why Melissa would have conflicting feelings over this dress. While the neckline is cute and different, I think it might be a little too vampy for the Lord and Taylor crowd.  I think the fabric choice was perfect though.  It was cute with just enough shimmer to stay comfortably on the Classy side of things.  The asymmetric hem was a little too aggro for the judges and I have to agree.  I think the neck line would look more dramatic if the dress was gown or a mini skirt.

It seems as though Christopher had a lot to say about everyone else's looks but what about his?



Shredding technique aside, it was a pretty dress. Excuse me, it was a pretty gown.  That pale rose, light pink colour was perfect on his model and the whole look ended up coming together nicely.  I think it's funny how he totally knew he would get scolded for doing his signature technique but he stayed true to his vision all the way to the win.  The concept was cute.  Kors pointed out that he liked the separates look for a gown and I have to agree.  I think that aspect of it definitely brings the youthfulness into it.  BUT I'd like to see this technique, along with some others - I'm looking at you, Ven and Elena - go on the back burner until New York Fashion Week.

So who was eliminated?  NO ONE.  Poor Gunnar was the last one standing on the runway and I had a very sad Tweet ready to send to @gunnDEATH but I was glad to delete it!  But you know what that means?  DOUBLE ELIMINATION!  Next week probably.  They'll be on teams of 3.  And Dmitry is on a team with his most favourite designer EVER: Elena!  You know it's going to be awesome . . . ly terrible.  I feel a nuclear meltdown coming.  And maybe my dream of them cussing each other out in their native tongues will come true!  I guess we'll have to wait!

Project Runway: Welcome Back (or not) to the Runway - The Recap

For one night only: KENLEY COLLINS WAS BACK BITCHES!  Our *fave* runway loudmouth was back to be a client for the infamous Team Challenge.  I was kinda hoping Gunnar would draw her, you know, for the extra craziness in the workroom but Ven and Fabio drew her instead.
OH!  Let's talk about the teams...
Ven and Fabio drew Mizz Collins
Melissa and Dmitry (how appropriate) drew April
Sonjia and Nathan drew the lovely Valerie
Gunnar and Kooan got stuck with Mean-a Irina
Christopher and Andrea got stuck with Anya (she's baaaack)
Alicia and Raul had to endure Mila
Aaaaaand Buffi and Elena had to catastrophically deal with Laura

Oh Elena...Oh Andrea...Oh Irina...Oh the DRAMA.  First of all let me just say that Irina was the reason I stopped watching Project Runway for a spell.  That's right.  I dealt with horrible Gretchen AND horrible Anya but I could NOT endure Irina.  And I almost threw my remote at the TV many a time because of her.  Luckily Gunnar is a master bitch wrangler and he wrangled that little whiner into some sort of submission - but we can get to that a li'l later.  Let's talk about my fave European girls.

Elena and Buffi were quite the pair last night.  And if Buffi said "babe" one more time, I would've strangled her.  If we were live-blogging that would've been a drinking game.  We learned that Elena is a strong, independent woman from Ukraine and she's got no time for crybabies but we also learned that Buffi hates conflict and that she makes her words sound really lazy.  Anyways - I thought Elena was going to storm out of there because Buffi spent too long on some pleats but she stayed, Elena got over herself and they created this for their client Laura



It's not terrible. I think they should be proud of themselves for working that out. Nice job ladies.  Hopefully Elena will calm down a bit and realize what kind of show she's on because the fact that she keeps talking about the lack of time for these projects is ridiculous.  Girl, you know what you signed up for.

I had MAJOR hair envy with April.  Ugh.  Her hair colour was a DREAM.  Too bad it didn't compliment the pretty colour of her dress.  Melissa and Dmitry worked it out very nicely and they didn't take the Michael C approach to silk charmeuse: drape, drape and more drape.  I thought they would (because I wrote it down lol).  Instead, they made this pretty number.



So pretty! BUT - I think they could've cut the sleeves up a little higher because I felt like that material was swallowing her and washing her out A LOT.  She looked totally fierce though!  WERK.

Raul and Alicia were doomed with Mila.  I say that because while the judges were all "Mila's so chic and cool and hip" and all that, she's really kinda boring.  Her look is so severe and so basic that she might as well have been paired with Dmitry and Melissa instead.  But then we would've had yet ANOTHER all black errything look from Melissa.  But I guess Mila just really looks good in black and red so Raul dug deep into his vampy bangs and got Alicia to abandon her drop crotch for a dress.



Not terrible but not great either.  I like Raul but come on, the side pony with extensions?  Really?  Have you seen Project Runway before?  Did you watch Mila's season at all?  Maybe he tried to punish her with a side pony because her wacky bangs didn't lend themselves to vamp styling.  Sorry Raul.  And sorry Alicia.  You guys totally should've stuck to your menswear guns (sans drop crotch). But someone had to go and so Raul packed his goth kit and left.  Sorry buddy.  I'm sure you'll be back soon (they always come back)

Speaking of - GUNNAR FREAKING DEATHERAGE and Kawaii Kooan got stuck with the awful pleasure of dealing with the always irritating Irina.  I don't know much about her except that she's a terrible person.  So terrible that I abandoned Project Runway.  Yes, she's that awful.  Poor Gunnar had to shut her down quite a few times and poor Kooan almost had a nervous breakdown from all of Irina's terribleness and the fact that he had to make something serious.  Come on Kooan, you knew it was coming!  Breakdowns and bitches aside, they turned this out.



Not gonna lie, I totally wrote down "Mondo's cocktail dress". Don't remember? Here you go


I know, I know - it's not the same but it did remind me of it. I'm not hating!  In fact, I love it!  The only reason I didn't want this look to win was because that would've meant that Irina would've gone to the Emmys and I did NOT want that.  This look was killer.  Too bad the client was not deserving.  I liked how Gunnar was serving Irina when she was yelling at poor Kooan!  I mean, did she feel like she was entitled to be an even bigger bitch than normal because she has gone through the process before?  Yuck.  Not cute.

Surprisingly Anya didn't irritate me like she normally does because she didn't have much to say.  Andrea, on the other hand, had A LOT to say and poor Christopher had a meltodwn - Katzi-style.  Andrea was shuffling around the workroom in her grandma ways and she kept laughing every time she made a mistake and every time they cut to Christopher, he had this look.  You know the one where you're suppressing your rage deep down inside because you don't want to lose it completely.  And on TV at that!  I've had many a moment like that (just not on TV of course) and I felt his pain.  I felt his pain so much that I felt terrible for him - especially when Andrea totally LIED on the runway about how she didn't say she didn't care if she left and Christopher called her out on it.  Twitter was all "Christopher threw her under the bus" but let me tell you something: he didn't throw her under zee bus, Andrea deserved to be called out on that because she fucking said that shit and she needed to own it.  I don't particularly enjoy when folks are all "I don't really care if I'm here blah blah blah" because plenty of other more deserving folks got rejected because of you being cast.  Thanks a lot Producers of PR, Andrea is going to give me a coronary.



Seriously tho - Raul should've stayed and Andrea should've gotten the boot.  She's a freaking teacher!  I'm sure her students were watching like "Wow, Ms. Katz doesn't even know how to do the stuff she's supposed to be teaching us.  I'm transferring teachers next semester".  But in the preview for next week's episode, it looks like she'll be taking herself out of the competition.  We'll see...

My little pixie angel Valerie was back and paired up with Sonjia and Nathan.  While I love Sonjia's style and what she did with those candy sharks (yeah, I caught up) I don't know much about Nathan. So while they flew under the drama radar, they turned out this gorgeous look for darling Val.


My notes say "Val looks like an awards statue." "The hair!" "The boobs!"  "LOOOOOVE!!!"  Yes, I loved this look maybe a little too much but dammit, she looked GOOD.  But sadly, this wasn't in the top 2.  *Sad Panda*

So.  Who won?  There are only two names left and my girl Kenley got the win, y'all.  Ven and Fabio won.  How?  I have no idea.  Sonjia called the dress a church dress and she is totally right.  I thought for sure Kenley was going to request polka dots and a Peter Pan collar but she let the designers do their thing.



Yes, she looks good (even though that nude lip isn't working for me) but dammit Ven! What's your obsession with your "technique"? It looks like flowers - I get that - but that's the THIRD look you've made that looks like a fucking flower. I also wrote down "Reminds me of Leanne Marshall's 'work'". Remember Leanne? Yeah, I remember her and her damn water ripples or whatevs and that shit pissed me off too. I get it, you can do all these kooky things with fabric. Hooray. Great job and all that BUT could you try to do something a little different? Fabio did something different, you know, like work with you Ven so could you get over yourself and your Kiss from a rose technique for, like, two seconds please?!  And I like how Ven's giant ego feels the need to announce that he deserves to go to the Emmys because that's his technique that he has perfected.  Ugh.  Fabio should've gone for just putting up with you.  I hope this doesn't turn into a Gretchen situation but I think it might be.  Something tells me it's coming.  Come on Ven!  Get it together!

Next week, Andrea jumps ship and it looks like meltdowns all around for the PR crew!  Huzzah!  I hope to have someplace for our live-blogging antics because with as much as I love taking notes, I'd rather shit-talk live with my friends!

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!

Tonight's the night!

Sorry for the lack of updates!  I've been busy reading The Hunger Games Trilogy and I'm HOOKED.  But I can put my books down for the Project Runway All-Stars finale, of course!
The Three Amigos are head to head TONIGHT and I'm so excited I can't stand it!


Photo credit: The super awesome Lauren

After last week, I'm just ready for Mondo to take it on home this time!  If he doesn't I might have to write off PR forever.  I know, I know - I've been saying that every season since Mondo lost buuuuuuutttt...THIS IS IT (maybe).  And secretly, I kinda want to see the wedding dress Austin was working on.  Will it end up being a wedding dress with all the time constraints or will he transform it to something else?  Hmmmm.  We'll know in just a few hours!

Join us for all the live-blogging fun!

Project Runway: Let's Get Down To Business - The Recap

I'm not going to lie - last night's episode was a bit of a dud for me.  Yes, they had to be budget friendly but who in the WORLD buys "budget friendly" clothing for the retail value of $350+?  I get it.  It's locally made.  I get that.  But DAMMIT that's just way too expensive.  I mean, last night's winning design (by Mondo of course!) is for sale for $298.  $298!!

Notice some changes to the original design?  Yep, it has some darts and some shaping in the waist.  Thank goodness because Mondo's original design was quite boxy, unfortunately.

Boxiness aside, I LOVED the fabric choices.  They went so well together and it was a very updated work-worthy outfit.

Michael C's was pretty but I felt like it was a little boxy too.

The pattern was cute, the dress was average and that poor girls' boobies were itching to pop out.  I thought that tiny bit of gathering at the front wasn't quite enough to shape it at the hips for me and even though Nanette and Joanna asked for a hook and eye closure for the front and back, he didn't give it to them.  I think Michael C is obsessed with boobies.  Yeah.  I said it.

Austin's felt very matronly AS USUAL.  The judges also beat him up a little about the fabric choice but I agree - not every fabric works well on the runway.


While the idea was there, the more I looked at it, the more I felt like this dress / swing jacket thing reminded me of a night gown on I Love Lucy.  And it wasn't helping that this ad played during the broadcast because it only heightened my feelings about how old it felt.

Maybe Austin likes to make his model look older than she actually is?

Kenley picked a pretty pattern.  She also sketched up a big bowl of Kenley Stew.  Why did she think it was going to work?  Why?  She removed the keyhole from the original sketch - which ended up being a very smart move because if you think about it, the keyhole would've had to line up with her pattern perfectly and either it would've gone south or it would've been a HUGE keyhole.

Those peacock feathers are too big to not be cut out for keyholes and if she had only cut out the center part of the design, it would've looked like a purple hairy hole.  HEEEEYYYYOOOO.  It's Project Runway All-Stars, not Drag Race!  Anyways - I think there was no winning with this pattern anyway because she didn't line up her seams and it was the same Kenley silhouette as always.  And Nanette sounded like she got her feelings hurt because Kenley didn't take her advice.  Well Nanette, that's one thing you ought to know about Street Bosses like Kenley: she does what she wants!  And with that we say BYE GURL BYE to Kenley*. 

*No cats were thrown in a fit of rage