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Just so we’re all on the same page: Yes, I am watching Project Runway instead of the debate. Whatever, no one’s going to spoiler the debate before I watch it on Hulu.
And yes, I am on Team Leanne. GO LEANNE GO. Now let the liveblog begin!
21:02: Leanne was selling a vest from ep 5 on her Etsy site earlier, but I would much prefer if she put up that jacket.
21:04: Kenley. Shut. The. Hell. Up.
21:05: See, Korto has a much better approach. She isn’t stubbornly rejecting Tim’s opinion – she’s taking it into consideration, even if she doesn’t ultimately follow it. You don’t have to follow everything someone says to still be respectful of them.
21:07: She follows Tim’s advice… and still comes off kind of an asshole. It’s a gift.
21:10: I must disagree with Leanne here, despite my strong reaction against her personality, I like some of Kenley’s dresses. MUCH AS IT PAINS ME.
21:17: NO TIA NO, do NOT get dog shit on Leanne’s clothes!
21:20: I have liked some of Kenley’s feather and flower hair accessories before, but now she’s just got something sprouting from her head and it’s not good.
21:27: Heidi totally calls bullshit on Jennifer Lopez’s “foot injury.”
21:28: Kenley: “Maybe I should have improved my attitude!” upon seeing Tim Gunn is the guest judge. YEAH, KENLEY, MAYBE.
21:34: I did not love Korto’s collection in pictures as much as I did seeing it on PR just now. It really is beautiful, and though I am STILL FIRMLY ON TEAM LEANNE, I would not be sad if Korto won. The fans were a cute touch.
21:36: That said, Leanne’s collection is. gorgeous. I would wear every piece from it (except maybe the Y-shaped top). It looks like waves, it moves like waves, it sounds like waves, each piece is its own individual, beautiful thing yet so clearly part of the same collection.
21:44: Thank you, Michael Kors et al, for calling Kenley on her continued copycatting. Intentional? Probably not. A result of her being totally egotistical and refusing to pay attention to other designers/other peoples’ opinions? Yes.
21:46: Aw, Heidi says “idears!”
21:48: Half of Leanne’s collection was sustainable textiles. GO LEANNE. She’s also the only one who keeps her shit together.
21:51: Oh God, we are going to cut to commercial and I need to know who wins now!
21:56: VICTORY. Kenley is not the runner up! My wishes are realized. And her graceful exiting interview? “It’s bullshit.”
21:57: LEANNE! LEANNE WINS! VICTORY!
21:58: And as a parting gift, Korto is both the runner-up and fan favorite, so she gets $10,000. Not as good as winning, but nothing to sneeze at, people.
This was a crazy season, Project Runway, but I’m glad you discarded all your nonsensical nonsense in the end and picked the right designer. I am really looking forward to Leanne’s work in the future – not to mention the change I hope she can inspire in others, to be more conscious of what they use and where it comes from in their fashion. Best of luck to Leanne in all her future endeavors!
Can we all just agree that Leanne and Tim Gunn riding a tandem bicycle is the cutest thing ever?
Also, Project Runway needs to stop ripping off Project Runway: Australia. The designers were told to make a wedding dress for their final challenge – and when they returned from their two months of work, told to whip out a bridesmaid’s dress, too. Aside from giving them a more merciful two months to work on the dress (and the rest of their collection), this is an exact replica of Australia’s final challenge. I’m not sure the monkey in the back room (the producers?) who comes up with these challenges is even trying anymore.
A few days ago I saw an episode of What Not to Wear from 2007, featuring Erin, the Florida vegan with a funky art school style. She got some pretty sweet shoes, not to mention a great short haircut, so I tried to track down some info on her purchases and maybe more photos of her haircut in order to replicate it.
In my search, I found her MySpace page. As this is one person on one episode of What Not to Wear, and there were also some pictures only someone who was actually Erin (or knew Erin) could have taken, I was fairly convinced it was really her. So I sent her a message. And she replied!
People on the TV are real!
This is obviously an idea that many of us only partially grasp, if grasp at all, given the sort of faceless internet commentary on peoples’ personalities, skills, looks, and so on. Case in point, all my Project Runway raving in Kenley’s general direction. She’s a real person. But because she’s on TV, and maybe a little crazy, and has definitely been edited, that makes it okay – and easy – to pretend she’s not.
And before, I really wouldn’t have cared, because I didn’t believe in a million years (and really, still don’t) that she or anyone she knew would ever read this blog and be affected by what I said. Also, because I knew in my head I was commenting on limited-in-scope and carefully-crafted-portrayal-TV-Kenley, not the real person who existed in the real world, it was okay.
But tonight, Petrova Hammond may have commented on my blog. I am not sure if it was really Petrova Hammond or an (extremely bored) internet impersonator, but if there is even a chance that a designer from Australia could come across my American blog (which, to be fair, comes up 7th if you Google “petrova hammond lady”) then anybody could. The internet works in mysterious ways.
So I’m sorry, Kenley, or friends or family of Kenley, if you ever in a million years actually read what I wrote. I know nothing about you as a human being. I am just commenting on how you’re shown on TV, which, after editing, may or may not remotely resemble you. I have a personal preference that is not in line with some of your work. Also, you shouldn’t give a damn about me.
So all that aside.
Petrova Hammond (might have!) commented on my blog.
:D
There are no other words.
Oh Project Runway, how it hurts me to see my love for you wane. But you’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel this season, and it’s becoming increasingly obvious that Kenley survived the zodiac challenge purely because she brings the drama. I only hope you have the decency to make the final three Korto, Jerell and Leanne, and not give that shrieking crazywoman a shot at something she has not earned.
And now, the two greatest moments of the episode:
#1 Leanne rapping: “Yo Kenley’s gonna make an outfit for me, she’d better not make it look like it’s from 1950.”
#2 Tim, saying ‘Kenley, you are insane, and not to anyone’s benefit’ in his own special way: “I’m just trying to follow your thinking. And you led me off a precipice.”
If PR has taken such a downward turn already, I can only imagine the horrors in store when it moves to Lifetime. Be strong, everyone, be strong.
Really, Kenley? You didn’t understand why you were in the bottom?
Korto saying “leatha” was the best part of this episode. Otherwise I was still reeling from Terri being eliminated last week, ready to smack Kenley, and really, really jealous of the girls who got new outfits and makeovers as they went out into the job market. Seriously, when was the casting call for this? Why didn’t I hear about it?
Sorry, that’s all I’ve got today. Project Runway is just too much gratuitous disappointment and crazytown for me to handle.
SPOILER AT THE VERY TIPPY TOP ALERT.
Can we all just agree that Terri being voted off is a joke? She was one of the best designers on this show, and to see Kenley’s Minnie Mouse dress and Suede’s blah whatever the hell it was get a pass instead of hers – which, frankly, I liked, and did not get the criticisms for – was an idiotic move. Dear Terri, please show those motherfuckers what they just passed on.
Now, onto the episode itself.
Two quality moments within the first minute: Terri doing a little dance and singing “The witch is dead, the witch is dead,” and Suede, describing his dream, “We all have to make sweet heart dresses out of chiffon and pop tarts.”
I’m really not sure if the American producers are consciously ripping off their Australian counterparts or if the broadcast schedule just makes it seem that way – but the car challenge (Fiat for the Aussies, Saturn for the Americans) followed by old designers coming back? To be fair, neither are new in the history of PR, and it may just be Australia ripping off America and America recycling itself. It is, however, refreshing that in this particular iteration the old designers don’t have a shot at getting back in – I feel like all the prior eliminations are more than justified. Now I’m just not sure why they’d come back, after being spurned. I guess any TV face time is better than nothing.
The defining characteristic of these season seems to be less outright drama and more quiet snark. The one-on-ones with the camera, the critical remarks about other designers – once in a while to their face, but much more often in the illusion of privacy that the camera interviews provide. The editing does pretty much the same thing: splicing Leanne’s “I don’t want to do something ridiculous like a scale [for Libra]” immediately before Blayne’s “I want to do scales.”
Speaking of editing, I’m wondering if Kenley has always been this crazy, or if her unbounded confidence has only just gestated in the previous challenge and emerged with her crazy Glinda the Good Witch dress/costume/monstrosity.
Keith continues to show himself to be a sad little whiny man. Yes, Terri is mean. Guess what, she’s probably nicer to you than most of the people in the fashion industry would be, if your runway critiques are any indication. Go cry about it. Oh wait, you already did.
Former designer appearances abound! It’s sort of cruel to have a runway show when, apparently, the winner was already decided by the past designers at the party people weren’t ready for. But what is PR if not cruel?
Case in point, Terri is out. I will not stop watching, Project Runway, because you still have Leanne, but come on. That was a bullshit decision and you know it.
Terri ‘08! Vote Terri for fan favorite! The woman deserved that PR prize, the least we can do is get her $10,000 through some interactive audience nonsense.
EDIT: Terri speaks! She is not as “Bitches, I’m going to show you” as I would have thought, but nonetheless seems to know she was robbed as much as the rest of us do. Seriously, if someone out there has some startup money to loan her, this woman is going to go far.
(SOMEHOW I FORGOT TO POST THIS. It was gathering dust in my ‘drafts’ folder.)
In case you were unaware from the sort of sabotagey revealing ‘Next week!’ previews, Diane von Furstenburg was on this week’s Project Runway. The challenge was to design a look for Marlene Dietrich’s character in A Foreign Affair, while also fitting in with Diane’s fall line.
The highlight of the episode was Stella’s delusional tendencies. Her secrecy when asked about her design, her argument for the horrible, disjointed outfit she made last episode that should’ve gotten her out, and her “She’s from Paris, right?” “Berlin.” “Whatever” exchange with Tim Gunn. Because really, Stella, people are dying to see what you’re going to do with leather and lace-ups this time. I’m sure it will be much different than the 8 times before. And that outfit looked great. And there’s no difference between Paris and Berlin.
Kenley’s constant crying (okay, it was probably just the same tape spliced throughout the episode, so it was just one continuous cry broken up) was also pretty good. I have no desire to take delight in her pain, I think she’s a talented designer and has been a reasonably un-crazy, un-deluded individual. But they just kept cutting her in so it seemed like she was crying anew every time. Her minor freakout on the runway was strange as she kept interrupting Heidi in her panic, only to have the judges turn around and compliment her – I’m not sure if they were backing off because she seemed on the verge of a nervous breakdown, or if they would have said those things sooner had she hushed.
Better still that Michael Kors loved her “Asian …. influence,” trying to neatly skirt commenting on the model being, well, Asian.
Leann got a much-deserved win. I will now try to track down people with American Express cards so I can get her look.
I am officially disgusted with Project Runway: Australia. And it had been going so well! They got rid of Helen, albeit a little late, they brought back Petrova, all was well – until, in the final challenge before fashion week, Lee won.
Okay, the dress was gorgeous. Much to my chagrin he, despite his long history of mediocre design, pulled it out in the final challenge and made a great dress. But the man was rewarded for not taking a risk, or, as one of the judges put it in her critique, “taking a risk by showing us something traditional.” Because remaining inside the box is a risk, now? I’m so very lost.
On the plus side, this does mean Lee’s model Yumi will be in Melbourne Fashion Week, putting the minority model count at at least one.
But it also meant that I had to see my two favorite designers, the two people who I thought would be the stand-outs of Fashion Week, on the chopping block. With Lui’s history of strong design, and the judges’ harsher criticism for Petrova’s work, I was really surprised to see Lui go. If Petrova’s stunned response to Lui of “But you’re a genius!” was any indication, so was she.
Never fear, Lui. One day a pile of money will drop into my lap, and I will buy enough dresses to keep you living comfortably.
Or not. But we can dream.
