Project Runway - Week Three

I need to say, right off the bat, I need to know what Heidi, Nina, and Michael Kors are smoking before they judged the fashions last night. I don’t call myself a fashion expert by a longshot, but I do know what looks good and what looks like crap. We obviously were seeing two different things last night. More on that when I get to the individual reviews below.

So here we are, third week in, and I can start to make out some favorites, (Daniel, Jerell, maybe Joe) some potentials, (Leanne & Terri) and some that have only taken those said 3 weeks to get on my last nerve. (I swear, if I hear Blayne say something is whatever-“licious” again I’m gonna scream. And Suede? Talking in the third person? Over it.)

This week’s challenge was a challenge we’ve seen before on past seasons. The designers were taken on a tour bus of New York, given cameras, and asked to take pictures of what would be their inspiration for their dress, which would be the ideal dress to go out on the town in NYC. (I remember Jay McCarroll’s dress from season one, which was inspired by the Chrysler Building;it came out simply elegant.)

Will someone please give Stella a clue? She didn’t even know how to function the camera, and she is hammering home the fact that “she loves leather, only works in leather, is rock n’ roll all the way, etc”….I’m done Stella, I get it. Though I can see you going home in the next few weeks if you don’t start adapting to the challenges. Using the same type of materials, or making the same type of dress can get only get you so far. (then again, Rami’s “draping” dresses get him into the finals…hmmm)

One final word before I move on to the individual reviews; I still think he’s annoying, but I need to give flower-pot tan Blayne props. He actually got my idol, Tim Gunn, to say “Holla at your boy!” I nearly peed myself from laughing. Thank you, Blayne.
So let’s move on to this week’s fashion hits and misses:

Blayne – How in the world was this dress any different then the prom dress horror that got auf’d? There were waaay too many colors going on, and it set up the same basic idea that Emily did; colored sash thing over a simple black dress. Granted it only looked slightly better then Emily’s and I guess that’s what kept Blayne in. But at the very least he should have been in the bottom three. Safe another week, Blayne, but let’s spend less time tanning and more time developing your skills. Three weeks in, I’m not impressed.

Daniel – Why wasn’t this in the top? I found this dress very “charming” in a sense. Elegant, with just a touch of passion and sex appeal. I thought the color suited the model very well, and the fit was perfect. Excellent execution. (and how cute was it that at the beginning of the show, he said he missed Wesley, because he was just getting to know him. Well, we all know how well that worked out, don’t we? Heh heh.)




Jerell – Where the heck did this come from?! Out of left field, I see a beautiful, elegant gown from the guy who wears a face mask to bed. I think I would have went with a different color, but the execution was superb! The ruffled bottom half of the dress perfectly accented the top half. Again, not quite sure why this wasn’t in the top, but I’m convinced the judges were on something last night. Definitely has potential this Jerell.


Joe – Another cool surprise. I thought Joe’s dress truly exemplified his inspiration, and was cute, yet sexy at the same time. I’m not that big of a fan of gold colored anything, but that top is definitely an exception. The lines work wonderfully against the gold fabric, breaking it up enough to create a simple, yet eye-catching design. I see good things from this quiet (so far, we hear almost no trash talking from him, have we?), yet skillfull designer.


Keith – I had to laugh when Michael Kors described Keith’s dress as a bunch of toilet paper flapping in the wind. Honestly, though the dress was a mess, I think I see where Keith was going with it. First off, his model had to quit, so he had to refit the dress last minute to fit the new model. I don’t think he could be faulted for it not being fitted well, since they threw him a curve ball one hour before the runway show. The idea I think was good, it was just very poorly executed. I think tighter, more shapely “pieces” would have given the look he wanted better.


Kelli – Am I blind, not liking this dress? To me, it looks like a dress a hooker might where out to pick up some business. I found it almost “trashy” in a sense, but I think that’s mostly due to that horrid sheer top. If you look at the dress, minus that top, you can see a very elegant and sexy dress. The simple top is perfect on top of the black skirt, but that extra top just pulls it right down to “trashy lane”.



Kenley – Here’s where I completely disagree with the judges. Though I think the pattern Kenley picked out matched her “inspiration” perfectly, the execution? Not so much. Did the judges not notice the HUGE, puffy side to the skirt? It made this model’s butt look as though one cheek was larger then the other. And the model is thin! Can you imagine if a heavier girl wore this type of dress? Awful. I thought the puffed out side was way too distracting, and certainly did not deserve to win. At all. Completely disagree with the judges on this one.



Korto – Simple. Sexy, yet basic. Those were my first thoughts when I saw Korto’s outfit. I still don’t know about Korto. Three weeks in, she hasn’t shown me anything to make her stand out. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t think her outfit this week was bad at all, but I didn’t find it “wow”. I mean, to me, it’s a basic black jumpsuit outfit I’ve seen tons of girls wear when they go out. It’s nothing I haven’t seen before. She needs to step up her game if she expects to get any further in the competition.



Leanne – What an extreme turn around from last week! Last week, she came thisclose to getting eliminated, and this week she comes back so strong, I feel gypped that she didn’t win. That skirt was…..exquisite. Beautifully contructed, the colors blended perfectly, and the simple top just took it to another level. How in the world didn’t this win? The judges chose Kenley’s mess over this beautifully constructed dress? This dress should have won, hands down.


Stella – I can tell you this much about Stella; this gal definitely doesn’t care what other people think. Which I say, good for her! But damn, I don’t know if I could possibly put up with her if I had to concentrate on designing a dress, and have her hammering in the background. But you know what? The outfit didn’t turn out to be that bad at all! I didn’t think it was a winning design, but I did agree with the judges that it definitely gave her a pass to next week. I think the style fit her style perfectly. I can see this outfit being worn by any girl going out for a night of clubbing with her gal pals or “mal pals”. (my term for straight women’s gay male friends)



Terri – Loved this dress. I agree this should have been one of the top designs, and I’m glad it was. My thoughts when I first saw this dress was “sassy, and fun”. The model really sold it for me, because her attitude totally fit the style of the dress. The colors weren’t overboard, and the simple black slacks underneath were the perfect bottom half to a snazzy top half. This dress and Leanne’s should have been the top two.


Suede – Suede is really getting on Nick’s nerves. Nick doesn’t like the way Suede speaks in the third person. Nick finds it annoying and distracting. Nick thinks that Suede’s third person speak doesn’t add to making his dresses memorable. Nick thinks Suede’s creation was a bit drab and boring. The cut off top didn’t look right, and the neckline could have been a bit more open. Nick doesn’t think the color was a great choice either. Nick thinks that, much like Blayne, perhaps Suede needs to better fine tune his skill, as opposed to trying to make some gimmick “stick” about himself.



Jennifer – I think it was Nina that said it, but I thought the same thing when this dress walked down the runway; matronly. It seemed very “suburb mom” to me. It was uninspired, and the construction was poor. The hemline on the bottom of the skirt looked unfinished, and to me, didn’t seem to fit right at all. Perhaps a low neckline would have given this dress some spark, but as is, not so much. "Drab and boring" are the words that come to mind.


Emily – This dress was a horror show. It looked as though a corsage threw up all over a beautiful black cocktail dress. The judges were correct in picking out this one as the worst of the bunch. (at least we agreed on something about this challenge). The way the ruffle thing went across the bust of the dress was completely distracting. And what kills me is Tim Gunn warned her in advance! He warned her! She chose not to listen. Have you even watched the show before Emily? When Tim speaks and gives you a crucial piece of advice to improve your garment, you listen! The man has never steered a designer wrong, so I don’t see how you could accept that this dress was your best.


So we come to another week ended, and another designer going home.
Like last time, I would love to hear what you guys thought. Do you agree with my assessments? Am I off the mark? Would some of my female readers wear some of these designs? Let me know! Chat it up!! Until next week…..auf wiedersehen!

Project Runway - Week Two

I swear, if I hear Blayne saying “girlicious” one more episode, I’m personally gonna find where he works now and beat him to death with a dress mannequin. Give it up already Blayne, you are not Christian!! Yeesh.

Anyway, this episode of Runway centered on “green” fabrics, and for a change, my idol, Tim Gunn asked the models to go out and shop for the designers. Wow, what a bad idea. Don’t get me wrong, the models are beautiful, but most of them aren’t known for their knowledge in designing. So as expected, the materials they brought back were either too little, or a horrible color choice. The designers definitely had their work cut out for them.

So what is with Stella?! She was whining almost through the entire design process that she wants to work with leather. She boasted on what she could do with leather, and what type of outfit she could make with leather, and what accessories she could add, blah blah blah. Leather, leather, leather. Stella, guess what? Have you ever watched the show? There’s a very good chance you will never even USE leather as material, so why did you even bother to apply for the show? As for Suede, he’s growing on me, but still he needs to stop talking to himself in the third person. That’s gonna start grating on my nerves.

Also, revealed this week, Wesley admits to a budding romance with fellow designer on the show, Daniel. They didn’t play it up on the show at all, for professional reasons, and I applaud them for doing so. It should be about individual efforts, not a team. Regardless, I’m happy for them, and according to recent reports, they are still together and the romance is budding. Good show!

Let’s move on to this week’s designs, and my thoughts, shall we?

Blayne – I didn’t thing pink would be able to be pulled off properly, but I’ll give this Christian wanna-be credit, the dress actually looks cute. I like the subtle off the shoulder sleeve, and the black is the perfect accent to break up the deep pink color. All in all, it looks like a cute “Sunday afternoon” cocktail party dress.





Daniel – I was concerned about timing for what Daniel had in mind, and when I saw certain clips of him sewing last minute, etc, I thought it would turn into one of those horrible dresses we’ve seen on seasons past, where the designer uses safety pins last minute to put their dress together. He pulled off a very cute black dress, which to me seems perfect for a quick night out for drinks, or a party or small event. Not sure about the way the neckline drops, but all in all a decent effort.



Emily – Too short. That was my first thought as I saw this frock walk down the runway. I thought the top of it made the model’s chest seem non-existent. (and maybe it was, but this top only accentuated it.) It seemed uneven too, but that was minor compared to the way the short short took all the focus away from the dress as a whole.





Jennifer – I understand, the designer didn’t have a say in the color choices, but this awful baby blue color was just made more of an eye-sore by that completely revealed cleavage center. I’m not a woman, but I have to wonder what woman would chance wearing something like that, when it’s so easy for things to…umm…slip out. I’m not sure about the black fringe below, but I can definitely tell you, that’s not where the eyes go first when first seeing this dress.



Jerell – What happened to the peacock feathers his model brought back? Or am I getting him mixed up with another designer? Whatever the case, this dress didn’t nearly come off as awesome as Jerell would like you to think, but it was a nice dress overall. My first thought was “summer dress” when the model first walked out. It seems like the perfect choice to wear when attending a summer outdoor party, or hobnobbing with guests on a private yacht. (Wow, my descriptions are getting as good as Michael Kors’!) Good dress, well thought out, and it was executed well.




Joe – I really liked this dress, but the whole time I kept thinking “God, I wish it was different color!” The style, execution and fit was perfect, but the color made it so “Ech!”, it just bothered me. Granted the color choice wasn’t Joe’s fault, but he made the best of what he had. The hole in the center seemed a bit out of place though, but all in all great looking dress, drab color.




Keith – Ok, I officially have a crush on Keith. But that has nothing to do with how I’ll judge his stuff. This champagne colored dress could have been a lot better if it was longer. Again, not the designer’s fault, but still doesn’t change the fact. I like the ruffled look of the skirt, but I think the top was a bit too low cut. (still better then the blue dress though)





Kelli – I’m torn on this dress. I like the overall look and style, but I find the colors too distracting. Ugh, I really hate the fact the models pretty much bought the same exact colors, but with a different color, this would have been a very cute dress. The skirt wasn’t too short, and I liked the vest like sleeves covering the shoulders. I wouldn’t say elegant, but I would definitely say “sexy cocktail dress”.




Kenley – I like this girl’s style. One of the judges described her as stepping out of the 1940’s, and I’d have to agree. This is the way a champagne colored dress should be pulled off. The black belt perfectly broke up the dress and accentuated the elegance of the overall style of the dress. The high collar, while a great addition to the top of the dress, was too high, and seemed very constraining to the wearer. If Kenley would have pulled back a little and made the collar a bit smaller, I think she would have pulled off a win. Elegant and classy is the best way to describe this piece.



Korto – Oh dear Lord, where do I begin with this one? The dress looked inside out, even when it was being designed! Tim Gunn thought it was inside out too! I’m sorry, but when Tim talks, you should listen. On top of that, you are given a drab, boring yellow color, and you add “wings” to the skirt? Are you kidding? What possessed you to add wings. This would have been a decent dress, if all the “folds” weren’t all over it. As it stands it looks like a dress that a woman accidentally put on backwards when hastily getting dressed after a night of drunken “naughty”, and about to make that “walk of shame” in the early morning hours……wow, I really got specific didn’t I?



Leanne – How did this mess of a dress make it down the runway? I agreed with the judges when they said this dress was all over the place. It had pockets, it had pieces, it had loops….where did it end? Let’s forget about the color for a moment, and just look at the design itself. There were far too many pieces attached to the dress to begin. On top of that, the pockets in the front were completely out of place. She honestly looked like a drunken flapper from the 1920’s. (lots of drunken analogies I notice….hmm…) She was one of the bottom two, but of the two, I think her dress was the bigger mess. She should have been the one to be “auf’d”.



Stella – Yes, Stella we get it. After you said it for the tenth time, we all knew this isn’t “what you do”. But isn’t that the point of the show, to step outside your design comfort zone, and use your design skills? Apparently Stella didn’t read the guidelines to the show. But, you know what, darn it….she churned out a pretty decent dress. Like guest judge Natalie Portman said (not sure why she’s a judge, but whatever…and what is with those lips? Eeewww.), it isn’t my style either. I’m not a fan of the long/short look of dresses of this type. True, it does showcase the type of designer Stella is, but I thought the sleeve was a bit too long. I will give her props for creating a decent design with what little she was given, and with all the whining she gave us.



Terri – I actually liked this dress a lot. The color choice was the best in the whole bunch, and the dress designed was executed beautifully. It wasn’t too short, and just elegant enough for a night out on the town, or an afternoon dinner party. I think the model made the dress though, because she was gorgeous. Should have been one of the top three in my opinion.





Wesley – Well, besides being a horrid color (that awful shiny brown again), the dress was VERY ill-fitting. But Wesley knew it from the time he first saw the materials he had to work with. You could tell he was worried, and he had good reason. The model didn’t buy enough fabric, and what little of it she did, was a material that was very hard to make form fitting. I felt bad for the very soft-spoken Wesley, who I didn’t think was given enough of a chance to show his skills. Let’s try to forget about his own poor fashion choices (school boy shorts and shoes? REALLY?). His dress was a mess, but except for it being very ill-fitted, it was still better looking then Leanne’s schlock frock. Wesley, alas, was “auf’d”, for his design, but hey, at least he got a boyfriend out of his experience on the show. (Daniel)



Suede – Besides being annoying with his talking to himself in the third person, I really didn’t know where Suede was going with his design, while he was putting it together. Then I saw what he was planning for the skirt, and I was already picturing him in the bottom three. But you know what? He pulled it off. A very very cute, short dress, which actually used the horrible champagne color, but turned out to look elegant, yet fun. He really did “make it work”, because all the effort showed in his design. While not flawless, it still impressed the judges (and Natalie Portman) enough to win this challenge. I have to say I agree with the judge’s choice for the winner. Suede’s dress was different, utilized a different design pattern, and it came off as fun and hip.


So what did you guys think? Agree with my assessments? Am I off the mark? Would some of my female readers wear some of these designs? Let me know! Chat it up!! Until next week…..auf wiedersehen!

Project Runway - Week One

I was very happy to hear some of my readers specifically requested for me to blog/review Project Runway. And I'll try to do as good as a job as I do on American Idol. Thanks again to all!! So shall I begin the breakdown?

First off, let me just say the more I hear about this move to Los Angeles and to the Lifetime channel, the more I'm dreading the direction the show is taking. One of the things that draws me to the show was that it takes place in New York, visiting locales and sites that are most recognizable to me. Not sure I would feel the same way with the show being based in L.A. Secondly....LIFETIME?! Really? I mean, this smells of a bad move, and I can only hope the things we like about the show are not changed to drastically or I can tell you the show will tank by end of next season.
Ok so enough about that, let's get to this season's crop of designers. I have to say, it's definitely not the the "more of the same" scenario going on. There seems to be a nice spread of different designers, from the rock-influenced (Stella) to the completely bizarre (Blayne?). All in all this should give us a pretty good last season (on Bravo).

This first challenge was one of my favorite challenges from Season One. I still to this day can't believe Austin Scarlett (I still can't believe that's his real name - sounds like a character on a southern soap opera.) won that challenge with CORN HUSKS! Needless to say, it was appropriate for them to ask him back to judge the challenge in which he won originally.



Since there were a lot of designers, and a lot to remember, I'm only gonna say something brief about each designer and their creation. As the season moves on, I'll expand on each designer and their creation, but for now, let's stick with the basics, because let's face it, none of you really remember all of their names. (do you?)

Kenley - Don't remember what made her stand out - she used dodgeballs and lawn chairs - Seen it done before on Season One, but all in all not a bad fitting dress.

Suede - UGH, I hate , HATE the designers who feel they need to have a "name"...Suede is the one with the blonde streak, with his name sequined across the back of a denim jacket I saw -- he used a tablecloth, which in the end, his dress still pretty much looked like a tablecloth with some stuff stapled on. Not impressed.

Blayne - Ugh, where do I begin. This wanna-be Christian (winner from last season), by his own admission, has a obsessive problem with tanning. And it shows. This orange-skinned designer is trying desperately to coin a new phrase, "girlicious", and it's already getting on my nerves. Blayne, sweetie, if that dress is the kind of work you're gonna put out, then you won't even come close to the finals. Instead of trying to create the new "fierce" (catchphrase from last season, thanks to Christian), let's concentrate on giving me great designs to look at. His outfit looked like what a hooker's housekeeper would wear. Where would you wear that?

Daniel - I remember him because he said he was from Brooklyn and his creation looked....well....good. IT took a lot of work to form shape those blue plastic cups into a bodice (not sure I spelled that right). The dress looked pretty darn good, for being made out of plastic cups. I liked his effort, so I give him lots of props.

Stella - the rocker chick - the one who designs for rock stars, etc. - What. A. Mess.
And I mean BOTH her and her outfit. First off, if what she was wearing is any indication, we're in for a really weird creations from her. Second, YES, you got screwed and the trash bags you got were the thin, rip-easy ones. So what? I'm no designer, but as Tim Gunn says (by the way, I would follow this man to ANY network. LOVE him) "Make it work!" She didn't. As Austin suggested, there were other ways of making the dress stand out, besides just adding in the stitching. She's very lucky she wasn't "auf'd".

Korto - She's the woman from Africa, and I cannot BELIEVE the judges liked this one! I'm sorry, maybe it's because I'm not a designer, but I think my friends can attest I'm pretty decent at judging what looks good or not. This, to me, looked like a big yellow tablecloth in which somebody spilled a salad on. I didn't think this was looking good at all. The only thing I'll give her is that it looked better then a few of the others by comparison.

Kelli - she was the winner of this challenge - I'm actually curious why she won this challenge. Though her dress was not horrific per se, I didn't think it was good enough to actually win. The skirt was "ok", but seemed a bit too stiff. I liked the marble design, but those coffee filters on the top half? DID NOT WORK. They were distracting! they were just these two big circles covering her goodies. I think it would have worked better if she made them half-circles, or anything else.

Jennifer - nothing I remember about her specifically, but she was the one with the dress made from paper towels. I was really surprised how good this came out, though I have to admit, one pail of water or one match would have made quite a different runway walk.

Terri - was the black girl who (to me) looks like a sane Whitney Houston, and used the mop tops to create a top for her dress. I will give this girl credit, the mops looked good as a top, though I thought it was a bit too little. (then again the time factor was an issue)

Jerell - this is the black dude who used very strange color choices in his design. Don't remember much else about the design (or him for that matter)

Wesley - this is the cutie pie that turned me off when I saw him wearing a white dress shirt with short-shorts and red shoes. Ugh. Ew. He designed the short yellow dress which he boasted you could not tell what it was made of. Well, true enough, but for me, the dress was a bit TOO yellow. I would have liked maybe a splash of some other color, just so it broke up the brightness of the color. All in all, not a bad dress, though his personal style is lacking.

Keith - guy with the glasses, and the tattoo---kind of hot actually - anyway, he had one of the "tablecloth" dresses, which did not seem that bad, but it didn't impress me either. I think if he has used something else instead of a tablecloth, he would have stood out.

Emily - I call her the "nice chick", dunno why -- her dress was one of the first ones out on the runway, the one with the huge collar. I hate these type of dresses, because I don't see how in the world they could be comfortable. It looked too "fancy" to me, if that makes any sense.

Joe - this is the father of 2 girls who used pasta on his dress. PASTA. All he did was repeat what maybe his little girls did in kindergarten, and pasted some macaroni to some poster board. Not impressed so far Joe.

Leanne - she made the dress that looked like it was designed by the makers of the Candyland game. Horrid, and I'm very surprised she wasn't one of the bottom three.

Jerry - this is the guy that was "auf'd".His outfit looked like one big shower curtain draped over some tissue paper. Oh wait, that's exactly what it was! They were not kidding when they described it as what a serial killer would use to start his/her spree.

So what did you guys think? What outfits stood out for you?
Sorry I didn't go into too much detail on each designer, but there are a LOT of designers!
Give me feedback my dear readers!
Until next week....auf wiedersehen!!