Project Runway S13 E4: "A Suitable Twist"

Unfair:

adjective

1. not fair; not conforming to approved standards, as of justice, honesty, or ethics:

an unfair law; an unfair wage policy.

2. disproportionate; undue; beyond what is proper or fitting:

an unfair share.

Someone should remind the producers of Project Runway of this fact.  Because nothing screams unfair more than an undeserving designer picking fabric for everyone else in the competition. Is my selective memory acting up, or is this the first time we've ever done that on this show? It's also possible that my extreme hatred of Sandy plays a part in my anger over this development, but I find this to be horribly problematic. In their defense, pretty much every suit to choose from was equally unappealing, but in a challenge where a significant part of the expectation is to be "inspired" by the fabric you're choosing, how does it make any sense whatsoever to have someone else choosing your suit? Speaking as an artist, it's not easy to get inspired by something you have no say in. You can't just pop up with an image and ask me to get inspired to write a story about it over the course of one day. Maybe this would have worked better with more than one day; give the designers a little more time to mull over the looks they've been unfairly assigned and find something within it they can be passionate about. But under these circumstance? I think this left the deck unfairly stacked against some designers and it left a bad taste in my mouth. 

Now that we've got the rant out of the way; welcome back Runaways! The designers start with a trip to Red Robin, Yawn Yum! I don't know if it's simply because we don't have Red Robin's here in Florida, but I couldn't bring myself to be excited about this particular piece of product placement.

We're introduced to Jason Rusk who is someone with Red Robin. I wasn't paying much attention because I was too busy cooing over how little he is. At 6'1", I tend to really like short men (who am I kidding, I like tall men too, I really don't have a "type"), and as such I just found him so adorable. I wanted to put him in my pocket... ok things just got weird, let's get back to the challenge. Jason says something about putting a spin on something "as classic as a burger," so there's that, plus men in horrible suits which have to serve as inspiration and fabric, and the finished look has to be high fashion, and Sandy gets to choose everyone's suit because she won last week, and probably about 100 other things. Has anyone else noticed how convoluted the challenges have been lately? It feels like they all have multiple layers which tend not to have anything to do with each other, and never combine to make any sense.

Anyway, that's when the man candy comes out in horrible suits. Sandy chooses suits for everyone "based on their specific design aesthetics," and then everyone goes inside to sketch and eat free fries.  Much to my disappointment, the men didn't hang around the restaurant in their underwear after having the suites ripped off of them. Talk about missed opportunities. Then it's off to Mood for Swatch! Or I mean supplemental fabric. But really, are we even watching the show for any reason other than Swatch and HMG at this point?

I normally love Tim Gunn forever, and to be honest I still do, but I have a bone to pick with him over his workroom visit this go around: I feel like he's giving very bad advice. Admittedly, the first moment of bad advice proves to be my not having a full vision of what the finished product would be. But when he tells Amanda that the increase of fringe towards the bottom was a good idea, all I could think was Car Wash Crotch." Which shouldn't be the goal for anyone. But Amanda certainly pulls it out by the end and I had to eat my words. On the other hand, however, when he meets with Sean, and sees the tragic mistakes he's making, never once does he offer any real advice that could potentially save the outfit. He tells him to go with the unfinished outside of the dress instead of the boring, but smooth, inside of it because it's more interesting. But never once does he voice a concern that this is a bad idea. I understand that Tim comes in close enough to the end of the day that scraping an entire look in favor of something new isn't feasible, and thusly he's mostly there to try and tell them how best to save or edit the looks they've already got, but we've seen him offer strong words of caution before and I don't feel like he did that here. And that he does it to my PR Crush of the season hurts my heart and had me panicking that Sean would be going home and I'd have to write the review through tears.

On to the runway: Bethany Mota is guest judge this week, take from that what you will.

Korina: I think it’s beautiful. I don’t think it’s really innovative to conflate “edge” with “leather,” I’d like to think that time is behind us, but with that being said, it’s clean cut, the color is beautiful, the slit in the skirt is sexy, I really like the belt, and it’s wearable.

Char: This feels more like high fashion to me. It’s nice, I like the dramatic neck and the bow on the hip. I’m not jumping up and down about it, but I like it. 

Fade: I think the textile is beautiful, but I also think it could be the sort of thing that’d make someone a little dizzy looking at it. It’s nice, but the entire cut of the look just screams “safe” to me.

Samantha: Who the hell is Samantha as a designer? Nothing I’ve seen from her sticks out in my memory thus far, and this look tells me nothing at all. I find this to be offensively boring.

Hernan: Very unflattering placement of the V (pun intended), and the look feels very costume. Get rid of the V (I think only a gay man would say that) and it’s at least an OK costume. I think this is purely a Taste Level issue. It's not hideous, it's just tasteless. And that's not the first time I've felt that way about his designs.

Alexander: I think Alexander has redeemed himself, though I don’t think it would have taken much for him to have done so after last week. At least this proves he has an aesthetic and is capable of design. I think the skirt is a little boring, but the design elements of the top feel High Fashion. I also really like his model’s styling. Good job.

Mitchell: The interesting this about this look to me is that I never would have guessed it came from Mitchell if I just saw it on the runway. I don’t think it’s great, it’s got a costume feel to it too, and outside of that it’s a little boring. But I don’t think it’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen either.

Sean: Oh my poor Aussie baby. This was just… no. The top is too simple (though it’s certainly better than what he had before), the skirt looks messy and unfinished, nothing about this says high fashion. I hope he’s safe, and I think I can make the argument that this is another example of a designer with the deck stacked against him doing the best he can with what he’s given, but this was just bad.

Kristine: The fit on those pants is just horrible. But she recognizes that, so I don’t feel the need to throw her under the bus much. For all the drama about her and Korina doing the same jacket (and Korina’s bitchy “nice jacket” comment is just perfect), I think they still look like two different looks. It turned out to be nbd. I do like this jacket though, the horrible fabric notwithstanding.

Amanda: Ok allow me to say that I actually do like this look, and I do think that the fringe saves it in a lot of ways. She certainly pulls it out, and I respect that. But when I look at it, it immediately puts me in mind of her Unconventional Materials look, and that makes me hate it a little bit.

Kini: I almost, kind of, mostly love this look. There’s something really odd going on with the hemline in the front. And I think there are construction issues with the skirt as well. But the design is beautiful and I really like the sleeves (I didn’t think I would) and I love the back. For having so much time given how fast he was going, you’d think he could have cleaned up the construction a little more.

Sandy: I’m so done with this woman. I don’t hate the top if I’m being honest, but I do hate the rest of it. Get the fuck off of my show!

Emily: She’s quickly becoming one of my favorite designers to be honest. I love every aspect of this: skirt, pants, top, all beautiful, well designed, and well-tailored.  

Kini, Amanda, and Alexander are in the top, and Sean, Kristine, and Hernan are in the bottom. How Emily is just safe blows my mind, and again we're set up for an episode where a deserving designer isn't going to win. But it's compounded by the possibility that my man might lose. And to be honest, his look this week is really horrible and probably deserves to lose. I also think his defense of the look is a little condescending. If he'd simply gone with more of a "I did the best I could to be innovative with a suit and a fabric that I never would have touched in my life if I could have avoided it," I think it would have made more sense. I'm sorry, but I really do feel like the designers hands were tied in a lot of ways by their "inspiration" being chosen for them. Nothing can excuse Hernan's final look, perhaps, but how do you really justify sending someone home when they were forced to work with a look that didn't speak to them and a fabric that they couldn't work with. No matter what the judges say when they touch Hernan's dress, if the fabric wasn't his choice, it wasn't his choice. All of it comes back to doing the best you can with what's handed to you; which might sound fair, and in some ways I understand that everyone's at least got some of the same restrictions, but everything about this feels wrong to me.

In any event, Amanda wins, which gives us 2 different winners over the course of 4 episodes, and I mean, really judges? Are you even fucking trying anymore? And Hernan goes home allowing Sean one more shot to redeem himself. Sean's look is easily the worst of the night, but typically when it's just poor construction vs bad taste, poor construction tends to win out. I only hope he can have an Alexander type turn it around moment next week and rocket to the top where he belongs. (Insert joke about him being a top here)

Stray Observations:

--This is also another place where I think Angela holding her team back in the unconventional challenge hurts everyone. The judges say something about never seeing any imagination from Sean, but I feel like had they been able to talk to him and Fade during that week, they wouldn't feel that way. But instead they were judged as a group and we're still feeling the aftermath of that. 

--I'm sad that Hernan went home because this felt like the first time we got to see fully bitchy Hernan, and I loved every minute of it! His calling everyone a bitch, and his catty behavior, which I thought was more friendly to at least everyone who wasn't Sandy, was just so much fun! I laughed so much and wanted more of him. 

--Do we really honestly think Sandy picked those suits trying to match up contestants aesthetics as best she could, or is that just the company line? I tend to think intention matters in most places, but I don't know if it does here. If she really does think that that's the suits most of them would have chosen themselves, then she's insane. And if she doesn't feel that way, then she's a jerk. 

--I know most people hate Korina, but I think I love her. Her "Great jacket" snide to Kristine and the look on her face when everyone in the greenroom was saying they loved that jacket were just priceless. Shade 101.

--What's the over/under on how long we can all stomach watching this season if the judging doesn't get better?

--Also, I almost forgot to draw attention to Jack Mackenroth (he was a contestant way back in season 4) and the awesome work he's been doing with HIV awareness.

--And also, I fully expect Julius to let us know what the designer vote break down was for this episode. I'm very curious about these developments every week. Not having cable sucks, but downloading the episodes and watching them sans commercials and over the course of like an hour 15 minutes really does make them far more enjoyable.

Project Runway S13 E2: "Unconventional Movie Nite"

Well I'll say this much for them, that at least felt like a real episode of Project Runway. Jury's still out on whether or not that's a good thing, but there you have it. Plus HMG is back, so that's always a pleasure.

The designers wake up the morning after their first challenge to see the very welcome site of a bucket of popcorn on the counter. The guys wake up to the slightly less welcomed sight of Mitchell in skimpy underwear.... so yeah that happened.... We'll move on. Tim invites everyone out to the movies where they sit through what looks like the worst trailer for the worst movie imaginable (literally it looks like Michael Bay directed a fashion show) before Tim pops up on the screen to tell them it's an Unconventional Materials challenge. And to make matters worse, it's also a Team Challenge. You can hear the PR producers laughing maniacally in the background at just how perfectly they've screwed these guys over. Using film based material (which, surprisingly enough includes a lot of Film itself), the groups will be designing three cohesive looks. There will be one winning team and one losing team from which the winner and the loser of the challenge will be selected respectively. People run around, grab a bunch of shit, and we head back to the workroom.

The workroom section of this episode is a lot of fun because it's basically a long stretch of "Hey look at all the immigrants!" By fun, I mean head scratchingly confusing, and slightly uncomfortable. I may not agree that this season is full of reality TV character tropes and racial stereotypes, per se, but after this week I certainly think the PR producers feel very accomplished for having so few Americans on the show. Here's the thing, on the one hand, I find the racial and ethnic diversity of this season to be commendable. I find the contestant's respect and appreciation for their own backgrounds to be fun and fascinating. On the other hand, when you cram in everyone's immigrant story into one episode, it feels exploitative and phony. I don't feel like we're in stereotype territory just yet, but I certainly think there's something reductive about looking at these people as little more than their races. If this were some kind of multicultural themed challenge (which even as I say it sounds like a total shit show that I don't want this series to ever even think about touching), then I think the interview segments would have made more sense. But against the backdrop of film and Unconventional Materials? I don't get it.

But whatever, back to the challenge. It wouldn't be a team challenge if someone didn't break down in tears over feeling picked on and having their artistic vision disrespected. This week that person is Sandhya. Allow me to say for the record that I seriously hate Sandhya! I know Korina is the setting herself up to be the villain this season, but I'll take three of her in place of this one Sandhya any day. I'll say one thing in Sandy's defense (and yes I shall be calling her Sandy from this point forward, get used to it), her main point seems to be that they don't need to create the same dress three times for their collection to have cohesion. But she's clearly the outcast on this group. Hernan and Carrie (who are the only two designers fighting for their lives on this team since Sandy has immunity) clearly have a similar and cohesive vision. Sandy doesn't agree with that vision and, thusly, doesn't want to design anything towards it. Tim points out that the futuristic feel of Hernan and Carrie's looks verges on being too costume-y, but I'm betting if they had stuck with what they had started to do instead of changing their design, they would have been safe in the end. Either way, Tim leaves them all feeling a bit discombobulated: Hernan and Carrie panic a little since if this falls through it'll be one of them going home, and Hernan tries (maybe a little forcefully) to get Sandy to understand what she needs to change in order to fall in line with the group's aesthetic. As a result she cries and runs off to Tim to tell him she feels bullied and like she needs a little encouragement. Every single aspect of her time with Tim leaves a bad taste in my mouth. After seeing certain designers get attacked last season in group challenges, I can't help but to think that Sandy has nothing to complain about and she needs to suck it up and get her ass back to work. If those kid gloves she was handled with drive her to tears, then I'm guessing this isn't the place for her.

The other emotional wreck this season is Angela. It was mentioned in the comments on the last episode that watching her stress out every week is going to be stressful, and I couldn't agree more. Granted, for me it'll be less about the stress and more about the overt anger I feel watching her moan and cry for an hour each week, but you know; it's the same difference. She doesn't agree with Sean and Fade's idea about drawing from movie fashion villains so she kind of wants to do her own thing. Her own thing seems to entail cutting up movie scripts and gluing them onto a dress form. *Insert laugh track here*

Tim talks to other people who are doing other things, the models come in for a highly uneventful fitting, and then everyone goes to bed. Then it's runway time, and the best part of the episode happens: The Return of HMG!!!!! Which really should have been the title of the episode, don't you think?

Ok so the Rate the Runway site has the looks in a different order than they were in on the episode, but they're still collected by teams, so I'm going to go through the looks in the order the site has them in instead of the order the walked out in.

Green Team:

Alexander: I found this look to be weird and heavy. Just watching it walk down the runway made me feel like I was suffocating under the weight of it. It's just all too much. The neckline and the weird fly away hemline both seem to be fighting for your attention and it all just feels like too much is going on. I like the way he used the film in alternating colors to make it look a bit more like fabric, but I would have loved for him to take this down a notch or two.

Emily: I think I might have liked this look if it weren't for the saddle bag hip bulges. It's an attempt at being artistic and special that just ends up looking forced and stupid. With that being said, I like the top. I don't know how much I want to forgive it for its odd fit issues, but it's not like she was using a material that would perfectly conform to the model's body, so hey.

Samantha: I find Samantha's look to be simple, straight forward, and lovely. The key word in unconventional materials challenges to me is movement. I always respond way more to materials that aren’t fabric but move a bit like fabric. And that’s what this look had. Even the top, made from those stiff CDs, had more movement to it than I expected. I don't think it's a look worthy of the top three or anything, but I certainly think it was the best look from this team.

Silver Team:

Amanda: This look screams “Everything and the kitchen sink!” I will say that it came together a bit more by the end than I anticipated when I was watching her work in the workroom, but the end result is messy and craftsy to me. It feels like it lacks a clear vision and artistic voice. I honestly hate it.

Korina: It's certainly a bit sexy and slinky in a way I like, and I also really like the green which is strung throughout this collection, but there's something about this dress that doesn't really do it for me. The black strips kind of put me in mind of grass. Not like you walk out side and that's what grass looks like, but more like the first grade class is making a field out of construction paper to put up on the cork board and they take the green sheets of paper and cut slits in them to make it look like grass. So that's a no from me, but I do love the top of the dress. It looks like a lot of thought and design went into creating it, so I'll give her credit there.

Kristine: The extent to which I hate this dress is a bit staggering. I like the idea a lot, but I think the execution is horrid. The top of the skirt portion is way too high, the braided top is horribly ill-fitting, and everything looks uncomfortable. I'm perfectly aware that I may be in the minority on this, but I really really hate it!

Blue Team:

Angela: .................................. I think Tim's look says it better than I could, so I'll let him convey it for me.

Fade: I really like this. I like the mix of hard and soft, but I also worry that the top might be a little bit too hard. It's so immovable that it feels a little affronting at times. But that's a small critique on an otherwise great dress.

My future husband Sean: I love love love love love love love this look. I have two very tiny problems with it: 1) I would have liked to see a few less straws on the shoulders in favor of something a little more streamlined. I thought the straws on the shoulder area made it look a little more costume-y. 2) I wish the black spots felt like they had been placed with a little more attention to detail. It looked very random. For me, random is the kind of thing I only like when it looks purposeful, which I understand is an odd contradiction, but there you have it. But again, I find those to be very small nit picky problems that I don't think anyone other than me would have.

Red Team:

Carrie: The sad thing is that I neither like nor dislike this dress. I feel like this team's failings are the failings of a team more so than an individual. By which I mean the pieces aren't horrible until you look at them together. I don't hate this, I certainly can see a rhyme and a reason behind it, and I like the way the film is arranged to give the illusion of fabric. I even like the cut of the dress and the way it works around the bust line and comes down to a point in the back of the skirt. But then you look at it against

Hernan: and things start to fall apart. Again, this dress isn't bad in and of itself, but it's really no different than Carrie's. The cut and shape are altered, but that doesn't do anything to eliminate the feel of looking at the same thing over and over again.

And then there's Sandy: She really should be taken outback and shot for this look. Everything about this screams petulant jerk who couldn't get her way so she's just going to begrudgingly pretend to go along with the leader's wishes and throw some BS together in the last minute. There's no rhyme or reason to it. It looks like she just tossed some film reel onto the model and called it a day. I'm honestly a bit offended by the presence of this on the show.

Purple Team:

Char: If I've learned one thing after years of Unconventional Materials challenges, it's that paper always just looks like paper. It never moves or fits like some of the other materials people choose. But with that being said, I love this look. It's cute and fun and the back is sleek and simple. I do think there's a slightly arts and crafts feel to it, which knocks it down a level or two, but ultimately I like it a lot.

Kini: This is a look I love in spite of myself. Looking at it in the photographs, I think the point could be made that there's a little much going on in the front. The crumpled up popcorn bags tend to look a little cheap and almost like a pinata, but I still really really love it. It bounces when it walks down the runway, and the braiding of the top is just exquisite. I do wish he'd gotten rid of the popcorn bunching on the top and just left that to the bottom portion of the dress; that way the top could have been nothing but the braided pieces, but I still love this look.

Mitchell: This is another one I love in spite of myself. I fully recognize I might be in the minority here, but I freakin love Purple Team. This look sparkles and shimmers in a way that could cause a seizure, but I really love it. The shimmering purple matched with the iridescent CD pieces, coupled with the open back, and the jagged edges of the whole thing is just beautiful to me. I may be the only one, but Purple Team are the winners of the night to me.

In the end, Heidi compliments Sean and Fade before telling Angela that her horrid POS kept her team away from the top spot. So instead, Silver Team is in the top and Red Team is in the bottom. This marks the second week in a row where I think the selection of the bottom makes perfect sense but the top looks are just baffling. I honestly don't know what the judges are seeing this season. If you want to tell me that Angela keeps her team from winning, I'm ok with that because her look really is pathetic, but I have a hard time thinking that the next best team out there is Silver.

But whatever, the judges praise Silver's cohesion and their use of color, and condemn Red for producing the same dress over and over again. Carrie tries her best to defend them by way of pointing out what they were doing before they decided to listen to Tim's advice, but as Zac correctly points out, that's pointless since they aren't being judged on what could have walked down the runway. When asked who should go home, it's clear that both Hernan and Carrie think it should be Sandy, and to their credit it should be Sandy. Everyone points out that her dress is the worst of the three. But Sandy has immunity, so her name really isn't on the table here. Which brings up the point that had the judges been smart last week and chosen a look that actually did deserve to win, the outcome of this week would have been more understandable and satisfying. But in a moment of brain damage they picked Sandy to win last week and as a result Carrie is sent home this week. She storms off in a well deserved furry, I thought, and isn't shy about letting Sandy have it when she gets back to the green room before Tim comes back and sends her to clean out her space. Oh yeah, and Amanda wins for some reason.

In the end, I'm left feeling a little torn. On the one hand, this is exactly the kind of episode I expect from PR at this point. It was paced well, the challenge was interesting and just difficult enough to keep the designers on their toes, and even if I didn't really appreciate the subject matter of the interview segments during the workroom section, I at least understand the need to allow us to get to know these designers a bit better, and I certainly think they did a better job of that this week than they did last week. But on the other hand, this judging just feels really really off. I agree with Carrie that she didn't deserve to go home. Sadly, the rules of the challenge were what they were which kind of tied everyone hands. But it's those rules that I think I have a problem with. Is this really the stage in the competition to keep the judging along these group lines? I agree that we should have been looking for cohesion, but I would have much rather had them choose three top and bottom looks irrespective of teams and grant a win and loss to the person that deserved it. If that had been done, I'm guessing we could have spoken to Sean, Fade and Angela and rightfully sent Angela home while still (maybe) giving Fade or Sean a well deserved win. And maybe given Sandy a typical warning that they'd honestly love to send her home but can't because of her immunity. But if we've learned anything from Zac, it's that we have to engage with what we were given and not what we wanted to see.

Stray Observations:

--First off, next week Thursday is my birthday and I'm going to be super busy on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights. I can write the review Saturday morning or so if you guys don't mind waiting. But if that's too late, then someone else might want to take up the task of the write up. I should be good to go with the write ups again the following week. Julius, let me know what you want and we can go from there.

--I honestly didn't want to say anything because I really do think the Tim Gunn reaction shot speaks for us all, but Angela's dress looks like a child glued paper strips to a dress from. It really was just pathetic.

--Say what you will about Mitchell, but he was really great this episode with the comforting others thing. He was there with a hug for Sandy after her pointless freak out, and also had words of comfort for Angela after Heidi called her out in front of everyone. I don't find his typical Too Gay to Function personality appealing, but he honestly does seem like a really nice guy.

--The moment when Sandy was about to cry on the runway and Zac just overtly stopped her is my favorite moment of the night.

--Speaking of the lovely and adorable Zac Posen, just how much do you think it'd cost me to get him and Sean to make a sex tape together?

--I noticed that Amanda's look was one that I found myself hating more and more as the judges praised it. I felt the same way about Sandy's look last week, so there's that I guess.

--There's a part of me that's wondering how much of Sandy's mini break down might have been about cultural differences. I don't feel like I know these guys well enough to say this, and thusly it sounds a little stereotypical in my head, but maybe Sandy's just not used to dealing with someone a little more forceful, outspoken, and fiery as Hernan? So what she takes as being bullied and disrespected is really just him expressing his point in more typically Latin fashion? I think the argument for that could be made, but I don't know that I want to be the one to make it.