Project Runway - Week Eight

Was I missed?

My apologies go out to all my readers on my lack of review last week. Timing and work got in the way, but I’m back this week.

To begin, a few words about last week’s challenge:
For one thing, I love the challenges where the designers need to be innovative and make a garment out of strange materials. This is one of the reasons why I enjoyed the supermarket challenge this season. The idea of making a garment made from parts of a car is…bizarre to me, but most of the designers made it work. Here are my quick, 1-3 sentence thoughts on each garment, and a pic to remind you.

Blayne – Described perfectly by Michael Kors as the “car wash” skirt. Top looked ill-fitted and poorly made. Blayne continues to get on my nerves, but has reached my breaking point with this week’s challenge.







Jerell – Not a bad little outfit per se, but I think the hair and walk from the model sold it. Wasn’t bad enough to be in the bottom, wasn’t good enough to be in the top. Good enough for a pass.







Joe – Ugh, this was awful. It looked like a cross between very ugly European sportswear and...actually that’s exactly what it was.








Keith – WOW! No swatches! And the dress turned out to be...just as bad as if he would have used them. It was Keith’s time, and this disconnected, uninspired outfit proved it. Touching that he broke down at the end, but this “auf-ing” was coming, considering his constant presence in the bottom for the last few challenges.





Kenley – I thought this outfit was cute and well-made, though that zebra print mini-skirt thing around the waist was totally out of place.








Korto – I have to say THIS surprised me. Seeing this seatbelt constructed coat on the display dummy, my first thought was, “this is gonna be a disaster”. I mean, it was so bulky and obtrusive, there was no way it could work. Well, I stood corrected once it was sent down the runway. Amazing coat, well-fitted and gorgeous. Korto is slowly gaining my respect and admiration.




Leanne – Loved it. It looked like a great cocktail dress, and not only was it well-constructed, but looked sexy, yet chic. Leanne, all of a sudden, is shocking the heck out of me. I like her work.







Stella – Is it me, or does that skirt and vest/blouse just does not go together? Even the judges pointed this out. Completely disconnected pieces, and they look it. The skirt wasn’t bad at all, it just did not go with that top.






Suede – The top wasn’t horrible, but it was poorly constructed. It wasn’t totally Suede’s fault due to the material being used, but still he should have made better choices. And that skirt? Looks like a disco ball melted all over it.






Terri – This was a pretty decent outfit, though Terri is starting to bore me. (as is proven with this week’s challenge). Great looking top, love the way it looks. And the pants fitted the model perfectly. All in all, a good pass to this week.






Those are my thoughts on last week. So how about this week? Well, first things first; Diane von Furstenberg (DVF) had a very showy, over the top introduction with her walking down this seemingly endless staircase to meet the designers. Don’t get me wrong, I think this woman is a fashion legend, but couldn't they have made her introduction a little bit less soap opera? Kenley gushing over meeting and designing for her was touching, but I’m not too sure how much of it was genuine.

The challenge this week was to design for DVF’s fall line inspired by the 1940’s, in particular, the Marlene Dietrich film, A Foreign Affair. Interesting challenge, and one I thought would really inspire some cool looking outfits. On a side note, Blayne has officially gotten on my last nerve with this challenge.

When this blond buffoon was walking through the meat packing district, and was thinking of all the fashion celebrities he could be designing for, his first thought was Mary Kate Olsen. I am left speechless of his sheer stupidity and complete lack of any other pop culture knowledge other then that of the last 10-15 years. Thank goodness there wasn’t a clip of him saying he never heard of Marlene Dietrich, or I might have wound up with a hole in my TV after I kicked it. (though I’m sure he really doesn’t know who she is). Okay, enough ranting about Blayne.

This was a great challenge, and the designers got to choose fabric from DVF’s personal fabric room. The winning design would go on to have their dress sold by American Express. (shameless, shameless product placement – but that’s usual for Runway, isn’t it? Remember, Tim’s pre-runway show mantra, “Please accessorize using the Bluefly.com wall wisely.” – Yeesh.)

Anyway, have I talked enough this week? Is it that time yet? To just get to the designs? Okay then, onward we go:

Blayne –I’ll try to put my annoyances with Blayne aside for the sake of judging fairly, but honestly, how could I justify this outfit? It basically looked the same as his business-to-casual outfit from a couple of weeks ago. I liked the jacket, but that’s about all I liked about this outfit. It didn’t fit the challenge in my opinion. I didn’t see a 40’s era spy, nor did I see 40’s era style. I’m actually really surprised he wasn’t in the bottom, but to be honest, as much as this outfit didn’t fit the needs of the challenge, it was still better looking then the horror shows that did wind up in the bottom three. Your days are numbered Mister “licious”.

Jerell - Was I the only one that thought “airline stewardess” upon first sight of this outfit walking down the runway? I don’t know what happened with Jerell, but this outfit was...off. It wasn’t horrible, but it really didn’t blow me out of the water. I like the combo of dark blue over brown, because it looked chic and elegant, but that hat threw the whole outfit out of whack for me. Good enough to make it to next week I suppose, but Jerell needs to up his game.


Kenley – In between crying about designing for DVF, Kenley decided to make a standard dress, even though the book of DVF’s fashions that was given to each designer clearly shows dresses and outfits in layers; dress, coat/vest, etc. The bigger shock to me is that DVF actually liked it! I don’t get it. I didn’t see anything special about this dress. Granted, it was well-constructed, it fit very well, and I could definitely see the Asian influence. But...it had no “wow” factor. It was a simple dress, and this was a great chance for Kenley to bust out a great outfit. Again, like much of the designers this week, this dress was only good enough to get her to next week.

Leanne – I loved this outfit. Leanne is all of sudden, bursting from her shell. (I’ll forgive that ridiculous play acting of her being a spy) Even though she had immunity from winning last week’s challenge, she pulled out another win by creating a gorgeous two piece ensemble. The dress was elegant and definitely fit into the 40’s style. The short jacket accented the dress perfectly, though I have to wonder if it would have looked as good as it did if my hero, Tim Gunn, hadn’t suggested to Leanne to shorten the length. Regardless though, she did something that the other designers continually fail to do this season; listen to Tim’s suggestions. (I’m looking at you Suede...and Blayne). Well deserved win for Leanne, and congrats on winning even though she had immunity.

Suede – Ah yes, Suede is back to speaking in the third person again. Just when we thought we were done. Believe it or not, I kind of dug the pattern he picked out for the skirt. I thought it fit into DVF’s design pretty well. It was that atrocious top that ruined this outfit for me. What is it with designers mismatching tops with the bottom half of their outfits?! Talk about a disconnect, this couldn’t have been more apart. First things first, the skirt was too long. And that top was a bit too tight and ill-fitting. I’m not sure if having the buttons off-center was intentional or not, but either way, it didn't work. Suede is very lucky to have been given a pass for next week. Suede came close to leaving this week, so Suede best stop trying to leave a character impression and start trying to woo over the judges with better designs.

Terri – I was very skeptical when Terri picked out the fireworks patterned fabric. I thought it was awful, but you know what? It didn’t look half bad under that gorgeous black coat. This outfit was great, but it had no “wow” factor, just like a few of the other designs this week. It was good enough to get a pass to next week, which I do agree with. But I have to admit, Terri is starting to bore me. (and according to some reviews I read, she is boring those reviewers too). I mean, how many times can you make the same pants/blouse/jacket combo? This is basically all we’ve seen Terri produce, and though she stuns me that she can produce this in such short time, I still have to question as to whether or not this is all she has. I like Terri, but she needs to show me something different.

Korto – I am really beginning to like Korto and her design style.I will forgive that horrible salad creation from the first challenge, because almost everything she has produced since then, I’ve been impressed with. This design was no exception, and though I questioned the use of yellow up on the straps, it worked. (Someone else also mentioned the straps to her, pointing out they look like yellow bra straps). This design was beautiful, and I love the way the bottom half of the dress flows. The yellow perfectly complimented the pattern below. The short black jacket was exquisite, and a perfect addition to the outfit. I can see Korto in the finale by this point, unless of course she begins to falter.

Joe – Wow, this was awful. It was a bad outfit from top to bottom. The color choice was poor, the backless top did not work at all, and the outfit was poorly constructed. I don’t like Joe, as I’ve pointed out before, but I gave him credit when it came to his designs when he deserved it. He did not deserve any credit this time. I thought the color choice was bland, and didn’t work for the “Asian” influence he was going for. The skirt was fitted unevenly and the sleeves bothered me. It just didn’t seem to fit the 40’s style and I’m not sure what Joe was thinking when he designed this. This had “bad construction” written (and seen) all over it. I wouldn’t have been shocked if he got sent home for this monstrosity, but as it turns out, our resident loony toon was honored with Heidi’s “You are out.”

Stella – Now really, in all honesty, how much longer do you think she could have lasted? The woman has made it a mantra that she only works with leather, and given that none of the challenges up to now utilized leather, I’m very surprised she lasted as long as she did. This outfit started out a good idea, but was horribly executed. I see the vision she had, sort of like a German-inspired look, but it just went all wrong. That crotch! Oh, that crotch! Michael Kors said it perfectly when he said it was “every woman’s nightmare”. So true. But that wasn’t the only thing with this outfit. The cape was way too long, and the vest was too...sexy? What I mean is, if we’re talking 40’s style, then this blouseless vest top just did not fit into the period. (I don’t even think it fit into the current period either).
It was a great run Stella, but I think you summed it up best with your exit interview: “I'm a rock star. That's who I design for. If you like my stuff, come buy it. If you don't, keep walking. I don't care.”
Thank you, Stella, your wisdom will be missed.

So how did I do guys? Did you miss me terribly last week? Was I accurate in my assessments? Or was I way off the mark?
Chat it up!! Until next week…..auf wiedersehen!