Project Runway - Week Four

What in the world are some of these designers drinking? Some of the designers in this week’s challenge were so off the mark, their final outfits were laughable in the context of the challenge.

This week, the designers were told they need to design an outfit for all the team USA lady athletes for the opening ceremonies of the Summer Olympics. After meeting guest judge Apolo Ohno (sigh – such eye candy---but I digress), they were given 30 minutes to walk through the Summer Olympic museum to look at past opening ceremony outfits, to get inspiration and ideas for their design.

I, myself, have never been into the Olympics, nor have I have ever seen opening ceremonies. But you know what? That aside, from the brief cuts of what I was showed in the museum, I got an idea of what would be appropriate. Remember, I have no clue about design or Olympics, but I still had more of a clue then some of these designers. (I’m looking at you Jerell…and Daniel…and Kelli…or geez, might as well say it, pretty much everyone)

There were only 3-4 designers who came close to something resembling the needs of the challenge. What is it with these designers this year?

On top of that, I really really need Blayne to go home. He may have wanted to coin the term “girlicious”, but seems to be the one that’s sticking is probably not the one he wanted to be associated with: “tan-orexic”. This boy is seriously getting depressed because he’s not getting a chance to go tanning? Umm…are you serious? I mean, I know you stressed from the first show, you’re obsessed with tanning, blah, blah, blah….but seriously, are you really this superficial? And his designs haven’t exactly blown me over that I can overlook his whole tanning thing. Actually, scratch that, I CAN'T overlook the tanning thing period.

Let’s move on, shall we?
How did our designers do?

Blayne – Not sure this actually qualifies as something I would see in an Olympic ceremony. Is it me, or are the color he used not even read red or blue? The blue looked way too light to be real blue, and the red stripes looked pink. Honestly, I think I’ve sent this very outfit hanging on a mannequin in the Rainbow shop by my house. It felt uninspired to me. Oh and the fact that this orange-skinned boob didn’t know who Sgt.Pepper is? Not all young people are that stupid. This one is a special case, and I refuse to judge other young people on his ignorant idiocy.


Daniel – What happened? Yeesh, I know he said he was having trouble “getting” the challenge, but geez, even I got ideas for an outfit, and I’m not even a designer! This dress was awful awful awful. The only thing that saved him was the losing design was much worse. The color of his fabric was way too bright, and the shiny material made it distracting to look at. It really looks like a cocktail dress, as the judges pointed out. While I agree, the addition of the red cape/shawl thing would have been too “Wonder Woman”; I think he did need something else. Don’t get me wrong, nothing could save this dress from being in the bottom, but Daniel may have been able to squeak by if he added something else to the dress. Perhaps a bit of white somewhere to break up that shiny blue? Don’t know, but Daniel is very lucky to still be in after this disaster.


Jerell – I have no idea what this was supposed to be. It had nothing, and I mean nothing to do with the Olympics, athleticism, or anything else. One comment I remember hearing from one of the other designers is that it was straight out of Titanic. I get it. This reminds me of that garish outfit Rose wore in the beginning of the movie. The hat, the blouse, the weird striped skirt. NONE of it fit as an outfit appropriate outfit for the Summer Olympics ceremonies. I was sure either this one of the actual losing outfit were going home. I would have guessed this outfit as the loser, but I guess I was wrong.


Joe – One of the few designers who actually listened to the needs of the challenge. I actually liked this outfit, and thought it was going to win. One review I read on the TV Squad website said that she hated “skorts”, which is what Joe designed for the bottom half of this outfit. I actually didn’t think it looked that bad. I could definitely see the women wearing this outfit in the opening ceremonies, though I think the “USA” on the front was a bit tacky. I think the red and blue were accented just enough and subtle enough to make this one of my top choices. On a side note, I think Joe totally over-reacted to Daniel taking “his” sewing machine. I think it really did go down as Daniel said; he walked in, saw no one at the machine and used it. I don’t think there was any sabotage to it. And personally? I didn’t appreciate the “too many queens” comment from Joe. While I do agree, some of the more effeminate members do like to play up the drama, I don’t think we need to get derogatory.


Keith – I just didn’t see it. I just didn’t see “athlete” in this outfit at all. I saw what a girl would were strolling down 5th Avenue in the city, shopping with her friends. The skirt looked just too “stylish”, (though I use that term loosely) for an athlete. And I don’t like the high collar at all. Second week in a row, I’m not impressed Keith.





Kelli – I have no idea how this even fits into the whole them of the challenge. Much like Daniel’s, this was way off the mark. It screamed, SCREAMED, I Love Lucy. With the way the model’s hair was styled, along with the dated looking outfit, made this a true mess in every sense of the word. I didn’t see any sort of athletic style to this at all. Between the red-patterned blouse and the blue skirt, it looked like a country kitchen exploded and wrapped itself around a 50’s housewife. Ew.



Kenley – The colors were wrong. I kept thinking that to myself, because I think if she somehow would have worked in some red and blue, this outfit might have worked. (I stress, might) while I think the skirt rode up a little too high, I found the blouse too plain. More colors of the red and blue to accentuate the white would have worked well. The shade of blue Kenley chose looked definitely purple to me, so I chalk this up to colorblindness.




Korto – Out of all of the designs this is one of the two I would have chosen as the winner. (and granted, only because the rest of them were comparatively worse) It was simple design, but yet effective. I like the stitching on the pants, and the belt accented the outfit nicely. The think leather vest was a nice idea, but I would have like to see a little bit of blue thrown in there. Not much mind you, because I like the way the red plays off the shoulders. Perhaps just a thin line of blue outlining the red? Who knows, but what put this outfit over the top for me was not putting a tacky “USA” on it. I think that’s maybe what did Joe in. (or perhaps because his skort was too long?)


Leanne – I saw where Leanne was going with this outfit. I actually saw the athleticism in the design, and the shorts definitely played up that fact. It looked like a very cute tennis outfit! I think the point at which this outfit fell short were the color choices, and its lack of “pop”. I mean, it’s not a bad outfit, but as I said, it’s a tennis outfit, when it comes down to it. The red, white and blue “scarf” was a nice touch, though the blue looks more black. Maybe it would have “popped” more if she used a brighter shade of blue? Who knows? What I will say is this could have been the winner hands down if she just jazzed it up a bit. I think she phoned it in this week.


Stella – Ah, Stella. I really need to know this woman, just to see if she is just as insane and she makes herself out to be. So big shock, she goes with black material, which would not have been bad. In fact, I can tell you for sure, the outfit itself was designed perfectly for an athlete’s physique. (though I would have eliminated the belly-button hole. Talk about out of place….) The problems I have with it, are the red, white and blue pieces. For one, they are too dark. They are not bright enough to stand out on the black material. Second, is the placement of those pieces. They look too much like shoulder pads. On first sight, it looked like a superhero costume. It still looks like one to me. So kudos to Stella for making an athletic outfit, but her color choices, as usual, were off.


Suede – At least this week, we only heard him refer to himself in the third person just once. Again, much like a few of the others, at least it looked a little like it was made for an athlete, but it actually looked more like a cheerleader uniform. (Come on, tell me it doesn’t. Look at this thing!) All she needed was pom-poms and a letter on her shirt and the outfit would be complete. Suede etches by another week.




Terri – Okay, so I didn’t hate it. Wasn’t that thrilled with it either. It was a toss up for me. I like the tube top, and the pants were well constructed and looked stylish, but that jacket seems out of place for me. The weird scarf thing also looks out of place. I don’t know what constituted her being in the top 3, but it wasn’t the fact that this was a great outfit. I think she was put in because the other outfits were worse by comparison. I think if the jacket was a different color, or maybe styled different, it would have made the difference for me.


Jennifer – It was her time to go. Between last week’s matronly outfit, and this week’s similar matronly outfit, it was obvious were we seeing the most of what Jennifer was going to offer us all season. Do I begin with the completely wrong color choices for this challenge? Do I begin with the fact this does not look like something an athlete would wear to the Summer Olympics opening ceremony? Do I begin that the sweater-like vest made the model look like a mom, waiting for her kid to get out of school? (where the heck do I come up with these analogies?)I could begin at any one of those places, and it would all lead to the same conclusion; this girl reached her limit, and it was painfully obvious what the extent of her imagination was. It was her time to go, so this week, the right person went home. (count yourself lucky this time Jerell, Daniel, & Kelli!)


So what did you guys think? Did the right person go home? Was I off base on some of these outfits?
Let me hear you!! I would love to hear what you guys thought. Let me know! Chat it up!! Until next week…..auf wiedersehen!