Project Runway Junior: S1 E10 "Finale Part 2"

10 episodes, 13 weeks, one winner. And with that, Project Runway Junior crowns 14 year old Maya as it's first winner. There's a poetry to the fact the she show's youngest contestant becomes its first champion. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't ecstatic over this news, or that I was all that surprised by it; I've been calling for a Maya victory for months now, but there's still something magical about it. Maya had the skill, the vision, and, towards the end of the competition, the confidence to make for a solid choice of victor. Which isn't to take anything away from the others finalists who all truly deserved to have made it to this point in the competition. But Maya stated running away with this thing when she started earning multiple wins towards the end of the competition.

In truth, I was worried about the quality of the finale episode after watching last week's entry. Not that a lot of the family stuff wasn't interesting and compelling to watch. There's something innately special about seeing young LGBT kids (namely Zachary at the expense of making too bold an assumption) being loved and supported by their families. I don't know if anyone else is watching this season of American Crime, if you aren't you should be because it's been seriously amazing, but it's been a bit full of less than positive reactions to young people coming out as gay or questioning. On the one hand, it's a bit silly to think that this is still a problem in 2016, but on the other hand, it is a reality some people have to face, and it's sometimes hard to watch as a result. But that's not been the case on PRJR, and that's great.

But with that being said, the quality of the designs we saw in the workroom and on the runway simply wasn't up to snuff last time around. On top of that, there was an exceptional amount of work still to be done before the contestants would even be ready to show at NYFW. Even while watching this episode, I was struggling to remember a time when just this must scrambling and finishing was needed to get a complete collection to show. And that's with ten looks being shown, never mind the fact that these kids only had six. But they pulled it out, and I guess that's all that matter.

From the start, it was clear that Maya had the least amount of work to do to get her collection ready. She's worried about the judges' comments that maybe she should go a little harder on the yellow and add some more color to her collection, but by the time Tim is visiting later in the episode, he's assuring her that she needn't worry about that so much. It shows just how good she is at this stage of things.

Meanwhile, everyone else is scrambling to fix existing pieces and just create whole new pieces from scratch. To help them along with that, they're given an extra $250 each and a trip to Mood. This benefits the other designers much more than it does Maya who grabs some bright yellow fabric she'll end up not using. Samantha latches on to Christian's comment about needing more color, and seems to latch even more firmly onto the idea that that color should be red. She's got tunnel vision towards finding the right red fabric, and I couldn't help but to wonder if the exclusion of finding another color that could work just as well wouldn't be to the detriment of her collection. Meanwhile, Peytie and Zachary are each scraping looks and making drastic changes to other looks, so they're more in the market for fabric selection.

Back in the workroom, the only story worth really focusing on is the mountain of work ahead of Samantha. At multiple times, she checks in and lists off the sheer number of pieces she still has to complete. At one point in time, I think it was shorts, a dress, pants, and multiple crop tops in the red fabric she's only just acquired. And she's got to do all that in two days with model fittings and meeting with Tim at some point. I won't lie, I doubted she'd get it all done. I thought for sure that at multiple points in the collection she'd have no choice but to lessen her ambition and choose easier and quicker pieces to throw together.

Not to be out done, Zachary also has a number of pieces to finish and no idea how he'll go about accomplishing his task. Peytie's making changes, but other than scraping her orange and gold look for something totally new, her edits seem small and almost superficial. Maya is on a perfect pace until the model fitting when she finds that all of her models have exceptionally long midriffs and none of her shirts fit. The model fitting arrives on the last day before NYFW, so she spends all of her first day thinking she doesn't have much to do and then is hit with the reality that she's just as busy as the others by the time the second day comes around. It's a panic inducing moment, but to her credit, she keeps an even head and just moves forward with what she has to do.

By the time we're ready for the show, most everything is done and somehow they've all pulled it out. I maintain that some part of this is due to the fact that they seem to thrive under the pressure of the competition. When they go home and have time on their hands, they produce substandard work. When they're in the workroom with Tim looking over their shoulders and the other designers to hold them accountable for what they're doing, they seem to surge with energy. There's a lot of talk in this episode about how these kids represent just how strong the future of fashion is, and on the whole, I agree with that. But in the micro, I can't help but to wonder. These kids are talented as shit, but if this seeming lackadaisical attitude towards work you have to do when you have the relaxed time to do it is something that persists, should we maybe bee a bit more concerned? At the very least, their talent more than speaks for itself out on the runway.

The Runway:

Maya: WOW! Talk about a WOW factor and putting on a show. My jaw was on the floor. I think the first and fourth looks stand out the most as they aren’t in keeping with the traditional white and structured on top, black and flowy on bottom cut that she’s got throughout the collection. I love that for cohesion, but I do think I would have liked to see one look that was the inverse of it: black and structured on top, white and flowy on bottom. But with that being said, I think this collection showcases who she is, and details her theme and vision perfectly, and I love it. 

Samantha: This collection is odd to me. It starts off ridiculously strong, and then starts to fall apart with the fourth look--which I don't hate outright, but I certainly don't think it fits in with the collection at all. The same girl isn't wearing this dress as the one wearing the significantly better one before it. The fifth look isn’t bad, but it doesn’t stand out enough to rebound from the let down that the fourth look was, and I don’t find her final look to be as strong as what came before it. I think the red works wonders to break up the color palette and make it all pop more. And I think her styling is the best we'll see. That third look she sent down is 100% what I’ve been looking for from her all season long, and she whipped it out at just the right time. But I think she put her looks in the wrong order. If she had just reversed it and went from back to front, it would have been a much better show. 

Zachary: In a contrast to Samantha’s collection, I do think that Zachary’s elevates as things go on. I find his first looks to be pretty but a little simple and not really eye popping. But the more you go on, the more that changes. Until you hit the third look which is nothing if not interesting, the fourth look which is beautiful, and the fifth look which is the best of the collection (maybe of all the collections) and the one thing that truly took my breath away. But back to the third look for a minute; this is where you see the problem with the eye glasses addition thing. On everyone before this girl, the glasses were either so natural that they didn’t stand out at all, as with Maya’s collection, or the most perfect addition to the collection, as with Samantha’s. On Zachary’s girl, they feel horribly discordant and out of place and, thusly, were too noticeable. He either needed to choose different frames, or put them on a different model. As a whole, I don’t think his collection was as strong as it could have been, but the standout pieces really do stand out in all the best ways. 

Peytie: I think the very best thing you can say about Peytie’s collection is that it’s 100% her. She and Samantha both have voices that are totally unique and particular to themselves. I don’t love this because it doesn’t fit my personal aesthetic, but I’m so very happy it exists. I do love the choice to cut up the pieces of leather her sister drew on to make the fringe; that was a smart way to make those two pieces pop while still being cohesive. I like the beaded pieces more here than I did on the last runway. I also think she chose the right piece to end on, and her fifth piece was amazing as well.

In the post runway interviews, which if I'm being honest have always been one of my favorite aspects of the finale since they seem to have such an easy time finding someone to remark on how much they favored each collection, I think it's Jaxson that says the decision is really between Maya and Samantha, and I couldn't agree with him more. Peytie and Zachary make a nice showing from themselves, but the truth is that neither of their collections are as strong as Maya and Samantha's ended up being. 

The section of the episode that was the judges and contestants chatting pales in comparison to the judge's deliberation. They talk about each collection in depth and you can see just how tough of a decision this is going to be. Hannah's redundant points about how much younger Zachary's collection ended up being annoy me. But to be honest, I find Hannah to be the most useless judge in this one. She doesn't like Maya's capes, she says this is the first time she's seen stuff from Samantha that she'd actually wear, and isn't a big fan of Peytie's aesthetic. Clearly, Hannah has very particular tastes and can't see beyond them. In the same way Heidi's constantly judging pieces by whether she'd wear them or not annoys me, Hannah's remarks annoy me here. 

Everyone else seems to get at the heart of the issues. The debates about Samantha's versatility and Maya's lack of actual yellow are fairly interesting. Pointing out that we've seen that jacket from Samantha ten times this season is what I'd been waiting for them to say all season long. It's fine since it's a nice coat and she clearly has a very specific point of view with it, but seriously, you have to have more in your arsenal than that. I'm less in agreement about the general lack of yellow in Maya's collection and feeling like her insistence on her theme of "Warrior woman in yellow flowers" somehow detracts from what the collection is, but I can at least understand what they're saying. 

In the end, Zachary goes and is quickly followed by Peytie, leaving the only real top two based on the collections. And Maya gets the well deserved victory. As I mentioned earlier, there's a lot of talk about how bright the future of fashion is based on these kids, but more importantly, I think the future of PR JR might be equally weird. This first season showcased more talent than I think anyone could have expected from the show. It showed that teenagers are mentally and physically capable of handling the stress that tends to come with this show. And it created the very best group of judges and hosts that it could. Keeping Tim Gunn on as mentor proved to be the best decision and I think will be the quintessential aspect of the show's success going forward. I think you can either take Hannah Davis or leave her, but there's something special about the combination of Kelly, Christian, and Aya that I think the other PR spinoffs simply haven't been able to tap into. If they can manage to find another group of young designers this talented and with this much personality, I don't see why this can't be the first of many seasons for Project Runway Junior.

Loose Threads:

--Tim says bye to Swatch when they leave Mood, but we don't get a shot of everyone's favorite fashion pup. Either way, at this point each mention of Swatch is a gift. 

--During the runway, the camera seemed to keep cutting to two really cute guys in the audience. One seemed to be there with Sonjia (maybe her boyfriend?) and the other was sitting next to Sean (maybe his boyfriend?) Either way, I didn't recognize them, but I couldn't help but to wonder if the camera person didn't have something of a crush on them. 

--Thanks for sitting through my blathering about this show all season to those of you that did. It turned out to be a lot more fun than I anticipated. I'll admit to low expectations heading in to this season since I've never been able to get more than an episode into a PR spinoff without wanting to shoot myself, but this turned out to be great. I won't be covering PR All Stars, so baring someone else wanting to tackle that, I'll see you all back here later this year for another season of Project Runway.

Project Runway: S14 E14 "Finale Part 2"

I honestly can't wait to hear what everyone thinks about this episode. I'm tempted to just say "Ok, Ashley won, Now go!" and have that serve as the review. Not that I don't have thoughts of my own, because I do, but because I honestly think the discussion over these last couple episodes has been stellar and I can't wait to get to it on this final episode. Because honestly is there a more rote and simple episode in Project Runway's run than the final episode? Here is where you do away with typical drama and challenges and get to the meat of it all. It's the closest thing to an all runway all the time episode that we get, and I don't know if that improves or decreases the overall appeal of the thing.

If there's one thing I feel is totally true here, it's that this final episode is honestly a solid encapsulation of what this season was, for better or worse. There's no big drama, no big personality, and the outcome isn't even surprising. The talent seen in the final collections is on par with the talent level we've seen all season, and somehow that's both gratifying and a bit sad at this stage in the competition. I think what most viewers want is a situation wherein the final collections blow us all away. This is supposed to be the best of the best. If you'll allow me to make yet another one of my patented sports analogies: the Pros of any sport is meant to be a distillation of the best talent available. Colleges and minor leagues feature a bunch of players who, ostensibly, aren't good enough for the Pros. The people who end up drafted to the Pro level tend to be the top 2% of the talent available. Thusly, they tend to turn out a better product than their lower level counterparts. Likewise, that's what we expect for the finale of PR. I've said it before and I'll say it again, these are the four best and most talented designers this season had to offer. So isn't it fair to expect that every look of each collection will be a WOW? Even if they aren't looks you'd want to wear or buy, they should be looks that move you and allow you to see why they're worthy of being at this point.

I don't think it'll surprise anyone when I say that I don't think these collections do that, but I also don't think it was possible for them to given what we know about these designers. At the end of the episode during the judges' deliberation, Nina says something that reconceptualizes the season for me. She says that this feels like a season about identity. The question for these final collections, therefore, is who kept their identity and who lost it?

So we start where we left off with Ashley and Kelly having very small and easy things to do based on the remarks from the judges, and Candice and Edmond needing to rework most of their collections at this point. They have about two days, but also a lot of consultations and fittings to get in there as well. Tim asks everyone if they want another Mood trip. Ashley and Kelly are the only ones who bite, but both say they'd only get small things, so Tim offers to go to Mood for them and let them keep working. I was only half listening when this happened and had to rewind to see what I had missed because when Tim offered to go shopping for Kelly and Ashley I nearly jumped out of my seat and yelled about favoritism. But no, it all seems fair and on the up and up, so we can move on.

The major take away from these last couple days of work is that Candice seems to be handling her critique and tasks better than Edmond is. They're both changing a lot and creating new looks, but by the time Tim comes in to meet with them, Candice at least looks like she has a direction carved out while Edmond is still waffling on major decisions. We know he can sew like the dickens, but still. When Tim tells him these choices on where he's going should have been made already, he's right and a sense of doom encapsulates all.

I have a confession to make, Runaways: the pre-runway scramble before NYFW is one of my very favorite aspects of the show. I don't tend to like it much before each individual runway, but there's something about it on this episode that I love. We've had models showing up late, people spilling coffee on dresses, and all kinds of drama happen here. It's hardly ever very long lasting, and most often something happens off camera to resolve it, but I love it anyway. Such is the case when Ashley busts a zipper while dressing one of her models. I didn't think it was going to stop or delay her from showing, and indeed since she showed last that wasn't really an option, but it was still a remarkable moment. And the only moment of drama before the runway that we got, so I guess let's move on. Carrie Underwood was the guest judge this week, and apparently she just released her own fashion line, so good on her.

The Runway:

Kelly: Is it just me or does this look a million times better than what she showed in the last challenge? Is it just that the sparkle factor has been kicked up a few notches? I was worried it’d make a cheap collection look even cheaper, but I don’t think that’s been the outcome. I think Kelly has a very unique and specific perspective and point of view and it comes through well in her designs here. I still think the full wood panel look is a bit off. And there’s a more elegant look towards the end that strikes a discordant note too, but for the first time I can say that I fully see who she is as a designer and I can accept that there’s a legit place for her in the market. I’m far more impressed than I expected. 

Edmond: “Failure” is the only word that comes to mind here. The first look is a simple and boring black dress. And the ruffles are indeed overdone. The ninth look reminds me of toilet papered house, and the last look is nice but I felt like it was diminished by all the ruffle looks that came before it. It could have stood out and been more of a statement piece if he had allowed it to be unique. The second look in the collection becomes a silhouette that we see in the collection over and over again and it gets boring. Or maybe it's just bad in general as I hate all three of those looks. There are some stand out pieces here, but I am ultimately unimpressed. 

Candice: Good, not great. I think they did Candice a disservice by telling her to pair it down, the collection needed volume and drama. The first three or four looks I found boring and forgettable, but I think it picks up more towards the middle starting with that great jacket which I still love. The red leather look and the dress with the sparkly red skirt with all the right amounts of skin showing are statement pieces. And I like the final looks as well, though it's easy to argue they're dressing two different women. The collection reads like her in the sense of bringing her own personal style to the runway, so that’s good, but I think it’s a shame that she lost all of the bigger standout pieces which spoke more to her design aesthetic.  

Ashley: The thing to me about Ashley’s collection is that the lows are really low and I don’t know that I think the highs are quite high enough to circumvent that. There’s a full teal look that feels last minute and thrown together and way too covered up. And I don’t know what I think about the last look which is pretty and moves well, but also looks a little arts and crafts to me. But the purple look we saw last week is still really good, and the pieces that show some skin in this collection are always the best. The fact of the collection and the importance of it is never lost on me, but I’m not sure where I fall on the execution of it. 

So as is expected, the collections are too close to really call and none of them offer any kind of standout from the pack pieces that we've seen before. Compare this to last season's finale when I couldn't stop gushing over all of Sean's looks while everyone else's except Amanda's left me a bit stagnant. Granted, I was biased towards Sean for awhile, and PR has taken last season's pics down so the links in that review are dead and I don't feel like looking up all of their respective collections, but still. The fact remains that we've seen collections in the past that were clear statements about who deserved the win. We don't really have that here and I don't think we expected to. 

The judging goes along those lines we've been used to for the last few weeks. They loved some things from each contestant, and hated some things from each as well. Everyone compliments Kelly's voice and point of view and justify her place in the fashion world. This is something I agree with fully as I can totally see a number of girls excited to wear her looks. I don't think her's is a name we'll hear on red carpets too often, but her strength is clearly ready to wear, and that's where she can make an impact. 

They also commend Ashley's bravery for creating a collection that was so her. I've said it multiple times, but the sheer existence of this collection on this show is super important. And Ashley's ability and willingness to helm this ship is great and says a lot about her. Heidi points out that the dresses look expensive, and Zac points out that her girls all looked really happy and comfortable in her looks, and those things go a long way for me. In short, Kelly and Ashley are praised for keeping their identity within the challenge. 

Conversely, Candice and Edmond are chided for not doing so. Candice admits later on that she allowed the judges to strip her identity out of the collection in an effort to give them what she thought (and what they said) they wanted. Meanwhile, Edmond is kind of scrambling to explain that what he wanted to convey with some of his looks, the toilet paper dress for example, which Heidi hates as much as I do, is that he wants you to feel something when you see it. Whether that something is love or hate doesn't matter to him so long as he's brought on a response. I want to say that I think that ideology is perfectly valid for a piece of art that might hang on a wall or sit on a pedestal; it is not, however, acceptable for a piece of fashion that an amateur (because let's be honest, that's what PR contestants are) designer is going to send down the runway at NYFW. There's been a lot of talk about whether you should keep the identity you've had all season long to this point, or ditch it and show the judges something new, but I think what most of us should be able to agree with is that you don't send something down you know people might hate and be OK with the fact that they might hate it. That's not winning anyone the PR crown. 

I like Nina's statements about this season being about identity because they harken back to the very first episode to me. Remember my cute Ginger Bear and that draped gown he sent down the runway? I loved it, but the judges sent it home because they felt it didn't tell them anything about who he was as a designer. When they questioned him, he didn't seem to have much of an answer about who he was yet, and said he's still trying to figure it out. Nina's statements pull us back to that moment and to the possibility of a season long arc for these contestants. Kelly found a strong identity and point of view in the later weeks and rode that to more wins than anyone else, as Heidi points out. Candice and Edmond found some amount of success and then lost their identities at the end either because the judges didn't like what they saw in their mini-collections, or because they tried to get too artsy and lost an essential part of themselves. 

But Ashley's is the story of a girl who starts out with an identity and a point of view that she maybe doesn't know she has, or at least doesn't fully know if she believes in. It's there though, and it propels her to a win in the first episode with this breathtaking look. She gets another win later on before she starts to falter and lose faith in herself in the face of some Mean Girls bullshit from the other designers. But then she rallies, finds herself again, and turns out a collection that marks a great first for Project Runway, and earns her the ultimate win. I don't think the entire season was edited in such a way that it could get at the heart of this story, or this theme of identity. Indeed, every season of Project Runway can be said to be about identity in some way or another. But I think this season featured the least talented group of designers we've seen in awhile, and therefore it lends itself to this reading more than past seasons might. These people had to go about finding themselves over the course of this competition, and acknowledging that journey and the stumbles along the way (and the stumbles at the end here) somehow makes this entire season feel a lot more purposeful and generally better than it felt in the middle of it. 

Loose Threads:

--OK I've been holding this in for a long time but I have to say it: Guys, I'm REALLY REALLY excited for PR Junior. I'll detail all the reasons why in the first comment, but yeah, I'm in!

--Kelly's tears and disappointment at the end make perfect sense as she made it to the top two and really wanted to win. She even says that she's happy for Ashley and these are mostly happy tears. But given the Mean Girls behavior from her all the way up until the last freaking episode, I'm calling bull shit. I think she was mad that Ashley, whom she has no faith in, beat her. Prior to the episode, I said I'd be happy with any win other than Kelly, then I saw her collection and changed my mind, and then I saw her reaction to losing and changed it back. Sorry, but Kelly can go fuck herself!

--Looking at Candice's pieces all laid out at the beginning of the episode as she decided what to keep, scrap, and edit, was heart braking to me. 

--Thanks to everyone for joining in for another year with Project Runaways. It's be a pleasure writing up these episodes and engaging with you guys in the comments as always. I might actually watch the reunion episode this year, which I don't generally do. But if I do, I doubt I'll write it up for the blog. Instead, if you watch it, and want to say something about it, feel free to come back to this post and leave a comment and we can get a thread started there. Other than that, I'm thinking we'll certainly be back next year for another season, so be sure to check back in, and I might even keep going and writing up PR JR when that get's started, so maybe we can spend even more time together.

Project Runway: S13 E14: "Finale Part 2"

What's the ultimate "point" of Project Runway? I think this is an interesting question that PR can be asked that other reality competition shows don't have to. The "point" of Survivor is mostly entertainment these days since the more social experiment element of the show passed within the first few seasons. How people survive and interact within the confines of that game is a subject that's been exhausted. We really haven't seen a new way to play the game in a long time no matter how many new wrinkles the producers toss in to the rules. But Project Runway exists in a different kind of space. The winners have the ability to really effect the future of fashion in a manner that the winners of other shows simply don't. Can you name the title of a single album from an American Idol winner since Clarkson? Have you seen any of the dancers from So You Think You Can Dance anywhere? Chances are unless you're deeply into those worlds, you probably haven't, but one only need be aware on a basic level of the world around them to have seen something from Mondo or Christian Siriano around somewhere. So in that sense, PR is uniquely placed to seriously effect the general outcome or trajectory of the fashion industry as a whole. As such, do we watch PR thinking primarily that we need drastic amounts of entertainment, and the rest can be damned? Is it the show's job to find the next great fashion talent and reward them? Or maybe it's just the show's job to shine a light on aspects of the design process within the fashion industry? I'm not sure the answer is any one of these things. It's more likely that the show should be striving to hit each at some point in time, but I also think that this fact makes PR into something of a mixed bag from season to season. Specifically, since this show has the ability to do all of these things, it sometimes has identity issues because we can't be sure which of these aims we're watching at any given moment.

Along those lines, let me introduce this final competition episode of the 13th season. The first portion of this episode seems mostly dedicated to providing both drama (read entertainment) and something of an insight into the design process. Kini is still reeling from his horrible critique, and trying to figure out how to remake his entire collection in two days. Tim comes in to offer his notes on what just happened. He tells everyone what they should do, and his points to Kini are mostly about just mixing and matching pieces from the collection instead of redoing everything. I don't think Kini really was listening though. This sit down wraps up with another trip to Mood for anyone who wants to go and get fabric for another look.

Amanda stays and chooses to just edit her looks. Sean goes to buy some great orange fabric in order to get in one non-fringe based look. Kini and Char buy a lot of fabric in order to make a lot of looks, and the divide between the remaining designers is established. The amount of work that needs to be done on Char and Kini's collection seems to ensure that they won't be in the running. Or at least that Kini will rush through and pull a collection together in two days and achieve this Rocky style come back in the 11th hour that will make this the single most dramatic PR finale ever. Which is clearly what the judges and producers are hoping for. We'll see how well it plays out.

Everyone gets to work and Tim comes in to consult once more. When he's meeting with Kini, he says to him, “That’s already looking youthful.” And Kini responds with “And that’s what they want to see.”This brings up another possibility for what the show could (but certainly shouldn't) be, which is just a vehicle for the judges to get what they want to see and wear placed into collections and onto the runway at NYFW. The judges' comments to Kini weren't about trying to get him to create the best looks he was capable of within the scope of his own personal vision; they were about shifting his collection to fit a set of circumstances that they themselves would prefer. Or at least I think that that's true. The result is a collection that I don't feel as though he fully believes in. It's cute and sexy but some of the looks don't scream Kini to me. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Tim tells Char everything she does should be done in an hour. It reminds me of the one hour run off she had against Korina and I said much the same thing after that moment; she’s better off working in one hour than she is over the course of an entire challenge.And it's an accurate point as I think the two brand new looks are the best in the collection. They still seem to butt heads over some of the earlier looks that Tim thinks should be scraped all together and she ends up using one of them anyway because if she didn't, she wouldn't have a full collection. Not surprising since she doesn't really deserve to be here at this point, but hey. That ship is sailed, I guess. 

Another moment in trying to bring the best NYFW runway that they can is found in Kini and Char having to have new consultations with hair and makeup. Don't get me wrong, I think this would have been an element either way, but when Tim tells the group that they're doing so, he specifies that Char and Kini will need this because of how unhappy the judges were with their styling. So it left me wondering if this is more about PR trying to protect its brand than it is about getting these designers' visions out there in a pure form. If that was really what the show wanted to be about, they'd allow the first time the judges see any of the clothes to be during the NYFW runway. So you get to the point where you see that after 13 seasons, PR is used to putting on good shows at fashion week and they aren't going to risk that streak by putting down a collection they haven't vetted first. I'm not a fan of this. 

So onto Fashion Week where the point of the show tends to be about the chaos of putting on a show like this. It's about shining a light on the dark aspects of the fashion industry and the kinds of drama that happen in the background. We've seen it all at this point, so the major drama of one of Amanda's models having changed shoes on her own rings a bit light. No one spills anything on a dress, no article of clothing is lost, the best they could come up with is a model wearing different shoes. It turns out the shoes Amanda gave her to wear were too small and she just went with her own. After a quick swap with a pair that fits, the crisis is averted and we're back to being a bit bored. In a lot of ways, this is the perfect microcosm of the season as a whole: when there's nothing there from the designers to give us drama, we'll make something small and basic into something huge and melodramatic. So good job on that one guys. 

New York Fashion Week:

Amanda's Collection: I will say that the only look where I think the jewelry is front and center and really noticeable is the last one. But that doesn’t take anything away from the rest of the collection. Perfectly cohesive, the use of color is jaw dropping, the cut outs and the amount of skin is always tasteful and sexy and worth it, and the pattern looks are all great as well. It feels original and beautiful. The looks I don’t care for are the shorts looks. Although I recognize that it’s good to mix things up and not have dresses or skirts on everything, the shorts just didn’t work for me much. Everything else is just great. 

Char’s Collection: Her third look is great. I like the forth look too. Both of these are the looks she threw together last minute. The last look is something I think rides the line. It’s almost tasteless, but it’s also almost elegant. I want to like it, but I don't. Overall I think we can see the cohesion better in the full collection than we could in the mini collection she sent down last time, but it’s still not very good. And the look that she calls the most “Char” is really simple and right-off-the-rack-boring. She shouldn’t be here, but what more can we say that hasn’t been said thus far? Also each look with that expensive Rome fabric was horrible. 

Kini’s Collection: I want to like the second look so much, but I hate it. The open back details are nice and the cut of them is unique. The shoulder pads look is way way better in this version than it was with the coat. But overall, I do not like this collection. And he used the umbrella cut of his rainway skirt a lot more often here to mixed results. The one look that had it on the top was really just…no I hated it. I’m not a fan of this.

Sean’s Collection: I don’t know what to say about this. To start off with that stark white look which is so crisp and clean and just wonderful, the transitions are just perfect, the dart of fringe on the back of that white look that I didn’t like in the mini collection out of context works so much better here as you see it transition into the the full orange look. I still don’t care for the first fringed black pants look, but there’s a much better version of that dress later on in the collection that has fringe all around instead of just on the front. The full orange look that he created after going to Mood is just sheer perfection; it perfectly matches the wonderfully draped white look from earlier. And the final look is breathtaking and perfect. It is still a lot of fringe, but I’m not going to fault him for that. Sean’s my clear winner after these collections. 

 Emily Rossum is my all time favorite guest judge on this show, and she actually has the remark that gets at the heart of what I think the show should be about. She says, in talking about why she thinks Sean should win, that for her this show is about finding the next great voice in fashion. So you should be looking for someone innovative and unique. The judges comments make it pretty clear that this is between Amanda and Sean. The judges compliment him on his fun and unique vision, and they compliment her for her brand ambitions. To those ends, I do think Amanda is great for that. If we've ever seen anyone with an aesthetic that could be brand marketing ready, it's Amanda.

The judges have polite things to say about Char's use of color and how fun her own personal style is, and by extension how fun her clothes can be when she brings that personal style into her designs. They praise the hoodie and black and white looks as the two best in the collection, reaffirming the way she seems to thrive under the pressure of time constraints, but that's about it. 

As for Kini, they are at least happy with how much sexier the collection is, and everyone's impressed with how quickly he pulled these looks together, but they're still split on a lot of the looks. They seem to think he's not editorial enough and allows his designs to get away from him. Emily at least likes the coffee filter top look, but no matter how much she compliments it, I hate it. The key comments that I responded to here were about how much he needs an editing eye. I think if they had said that during the mini collection more than "It isn't sexy enough" I would have been on their side a little bit more. 

So the debate after the designers leave the runway is about does the Brand Ready designer get the win, or does the designer with the most refreshing and interesting voice get the win? And the fun part about it to me was that there wasn't really a wrong answer. If you're judging based on these collections, Sean and Amanda both equally deserve to win. If we judge by the competition as a whole, then I think it's more between Sean and Kini, but that's neither here nor there. In the end, Sean is crowned the champ of PR season 13, and I'm happy with it. Granted I'm happy because I think he's cute and I'm far more interested in jumping his bones after he wins than after he comes in second place, I mean who wants to sleep with a loser, amirite? But this was one season where I honestly think PR did well to leave themselves in a position where either outcome could have been celebrated. This won't go down as the best season in Runway history. There was a serious lack of talent that we talked about often enough in these threads. But I do think that the three most talented people from the season found themselves in the finale, and I think the winner was chosen with an emphasis on effecting the future of fashion and the design world, and that's certainly something I think we can all be proud of. 

Final Thoughts:

--In case anyone was wondering, I won't be watching the reunion episode. i never do and have no interest in starting now with these boring people. If anyone else wants to do so and wants to writeup a review of it, I'd say let Julius know and that could be worked out? 

--Speaking of things that won't be watched, we had a discussion about PR Threads last week, where did everyone fall on that? Will you watch it, won't you? If you do watch it, is it something we should should be reviewed on here? I haven't fully decided yet, but I'm thinking I might at least check out the first episode. Maybe we can write it up and see what kind of response it gets to determine if we keep going?

--The Mood cashier asks Sean, “No fringe today, huh?” He really has become Fringe Man hasn’t he? In my Mood based fanfiction, there's a constant office pool going on each day about how much fringe Sean is going to but during his next visit. 

--Within the episode there were a lot of contestant retrospectives as they looked back over their time on the show. It all felt like a cheap way to fill out the time. 

--The overall theme from Heidi's responses to everyone was "I liked some things, but didn't like some others." I was like, yeah, no shit, it's a 10 piece collection. When was the expectation that every single piece would be loved start, because I don't recall that ever really happening.

Project Runway S12 E14: "Finale Part 2"

Fashion, deconstructed

Editor
Hey guys!  WE MADE IT.  This is Project Runaway's first finale!  YAYAYAY! And, really, we wouldn't have done it without you. Thanks to you commenters, we saw insights that we've tried to incorporate into the reviews, and we like communicating with you.  Hopefully you enjoy us too. Thank you for reading!

Adrian had the brilliant idea to tag team the finale, and I thought it was a great idea. Unfortunately, we're on different coasts, and that three hour difference made it a challenge that we will probably work on.  And, unfortunately, I got a little verbose *blush*  Sorry Adrian, if I dominated the intro.  I couldn't figure out a good way to transition from finishing up the episode to going back through the series.  I'm sorry.  *meep*  Anyways, enough with the disclaimers...on with the show!

Julius
I discovered Project Runway has an official coffee table book.  I didn't know this, and don't remember it being advertised all that much when it came out a couple years ago.  I learned a bit about why the new seasons feel so rushed compared to seasons of old.  Project Runway is filmed only in the summer after Parsons finally gets out of school.  Given that they now do 3 seasons a year, they have to film all three seasons over summer. They basically do have 3 weeks to film the whole series. The perception that the designers are basically being worked at a breakneck pace compared to the pace of yesteryear is actually accurate.

Looking back, we see a lot of talent in the old seasons, but there's something interesting about Project Runway.  According to Desiree Gruber, originally it was conceived as having seamstresses with the designers.  But, the seamstresses would have cost $30,000 per seamstress, totally $360,000.  Given that this was one of the first talent-based reality shows, they didn't have the budget for that.  And, since it started like that, it probably would have been a cheat if the later seasons had recieved a seamstress when PR finally got those big bucks rolling in (especially if they were spending money wrecking apartments in the first episode!).

In light of that, this is part Project Seamstress, and I think that has hindered their selection a bit. I'm also reading the bio of trash filmmaker Andy Milligan, who started his career as a dress maker in New York in 1960.  Even Andy had a stitch bitch as part of his crew, and he only owned a single dress shop. Now, there are a lot of designers who actually are the whole package. But, designers frequently get a stitch bitch fairly quickly if they're designing out of the gate.

In the past, we've had designers of varying talent where designers had strong points of view and they all felt like they would be great winners.  And, there were some seriously bitter loses in those days.  The loss I'm still bitter over is Chris March's amazing modern goth collection didn't get shown on television.  That was all the way back on Season 4.  And, he lost to Rami and Christian.  It's hard to get bitter over that.

This season has been made up of a wide variety of talent, you guys,  For the first time, there were two losses that felt sincerely bitter.  The two losses that I thought were rather extreme were Jeremy (aka London), and Kate (who was a 2nd chancer).  Jeremy, especially, started out oh so London chic then slowly devolved into this matronly style that seemed like he was designing for a soccer mom.  Kate was at the top of her game all season until, somehow, she made an outfit that...um...did the producers drug her drink that week?  What the flying fuck was that?

But, if I'm going to be honest with you dear readers, what made this season totally compelling wasn't just that we had actual designers this year, but we also had some serious mental problems on screen this season.  There is an interview with a Project Runway producer over at AV Club which brings up Sandro as if he's the craziest one this season.  Somehow, in a 2 page interview, there is absolutely no mention of Captain Sassypants, nor his complete lack of a decoy collection.  And, yet, you see Sandro in the audience along with Male Portlandia.  It's like he just disappeared from existence with the hit of the iron.  Maybe the owl took him away. While I'm being totally honest in that the serious mental problems did kind of make the season compelling, I do think we need to tone down the rage.  We need more enironmental crazy people like our crazy unicorn Sustainidiot, and fewer rageaholics like Angry Warrior Freddy Merkovitch and Captain Sassypants.

Project Runway, this year, has also shown some more of the process of sewing.  In flashes, at least.  I have tried to take the time out to call out these flashes because, as a designer I want to see more of these low-drama moments that actually have more of the designers working out their problems without crying *ahem*Helen*ahem* or throwing fits.

Adrian
I hate to say it, you guys, but Project Runway has a problem. While it tends to do beginnings fairly well, I don't think it's really learned to knock the endings out of the park. The last couple episodes tend to be slow and unexciting. The visits home never really provide any drama and they tend to offer up very little reason to watch at all. The finales, which should be every show's crowning jewel, are often either predictable or just boring.

In an attempt to remedy this, the producers decided to throw a last minute challenge at the designers. I can't stress enough how much I think this was a horrible idea. We get a moodless trip to Mood, pointless scrambling to come up with a new look to replace one of the old looks, and final pieces that are nice but add nothing to anyone's overall collection. I liked the decision to give the designers one more unconventional materials challenge to end off the year (even if it was a bit extreme to have so many of those types of challenges this season), but that only worked because the designers had the entire time dedicated to their collections to come up with a material and a look for it. Bringing them back and asking for another look that simply has to be washable is lazy on the show's part, and very unfair to the competitors. I've watched just about every season of this show; as such I've said these words before and I'm sure I'll say them again before I give up on the show for good, but I'm very disappointed in this development, PR.

Julius
In all fairness, to Project Runway, the one last dress challenge has been ritual.  What I truly miss from Project Runway's first season or two, was more of a focus on the whole process of putting on a runway show.  In the first season, the designers had to hold auditions with models, and select which models would go with which dress.  It made for a completely compelling look into design and styling. Frequently, you hear about designers saying their models are their muse (especially that one season where the designers had the option to steal other designers' models), and you realize that, not only do the designers have to design for themselves, but they have to figure out what will look good on their model in terms of color, fit, proportions, and styling.  Overall, it would make a far more compelling look into the world of runway design than having the one last elimination challenge that, I believe, started with Chris March's bitter elimination.  *GRRRRRRRRRR*

Adrian:
What I'm not disappointed in, however, are the collections we're graced with. Well most of them at least. I'll leave talking about individual looks to Julius, in favor of just touching on each collection itself.

Justin
(Adrian): I can't help it, I loved it. I mentioned it last week, and I wasn't alone, but I'm really happy that Tim saved him when this is the outcome. When I think that we could have been robbed of the experience of seeing this collection, I can't help but be happy that he's still here. The opening looks were elegant in their simplicity and never crossed into boring for me. The middle section is easily my favorite. The print works amazingly, the cuts of the dresses are all sleek and interesting, and it perfectly conveys the chaos experience he intended. If I have one complaint about the collection it's that I'm not sure I saw a real transition into the third phase of the story. I think the unconventional materials look does a great job of melding the first two phases of the story into one look that conveys grace and acceptance pretty well, but I think there could have been another look or two to do the same. Either way, he's got my second place collection hands down.

(Julius): I liked this collection.  It was clean, quiet, reserved and sophisticated. As an overall effect, he had a great story that was told through the gradual fade from white to grey with full color, then back to white with the integration of an ethereal layer of sound.  Then Justin hammers it all home with the unconventional dress that managed to be elegant, metaphorical, and literal all at once.  And, the final dress really tied the whole collection together.  It was actually a moving collection, that had a story to tell.  I had one look I had a problem with.  The outfit is the transitional between the first two phases.  It was a great transition, but it had some serious issues with that neckline.  The rest of the collection was sublime in its simplicity, even if he is consistently terrible with his designs in the bust.  The dress everybody, including me, loved with the sound waves down the front had some serious issues with that.  Going into all forty looks would be a bit harsh on everybody.

Dom
(Adrian): There's no way in hell that Dom doesn't win this thing. Her collection starts with a bang and it never slows down from there. I will say I wasn't in love with the weird shower curtain jacket from the early look, but she used the effect once again later in a simpler wrap and I loved it.  Even the more muted looks speak volumes, and this has a lot to do with her use of prints and color. I know we've been saying this about her all competition long, but it works. It's her signature, and what a fucking signature to have. I even liked the swimsuit; though I did think she could have done without the bag to go with it. And her unconventional materials look was oddly integrated into the collection as a whole. Amid all that color and print, you'd think a dress of solid silver door hinge repair pieces would be out of place, but it wasn't. I can't say enough good things about this collection.

(Julius): When this collections was on, it was sublime.  When it was off, it was way off for me.  I hated hated HATED the sheer material shower curtain plastic looks that the judges seemed to fall in love with. I can't say enough about how that took me out of the collection. On the other hand, Dom is like the cross between Mondo and Anya that uses bold prints in an energetic and vibrant way that really makes me happy that she is in the world.  Outside of those plastic looks, all of her outfits were just these vibrant pieces of energetic happiness that made me smile. My favorite look was the washable look which felt like it was the adult mature stylish distillation of all this soul and happiness that Dom possesses.  Zac Posen said the most insightful thing, "She's really a sophisticated lady. I just don't think she knows that yet."  This feels like the exploding birth of an artistic soul who will be pushing out all of these looks that will be so instinctively energetic and wild, and in the next few years she'll probably reign it all in to a more mature but happy brand.  I can't wait to see what's next for her.

Alexandria
(Adrian): Maybe I'm biased but I simply don't get it. It's remarkable to me that Justin also has a mostly black and white collection and yet his looks are never boring. I can't say the same thing about Alexandria's, and I honestly spent the entire show wondering why she was even there. Her collection added nothing to the mix of these other designers, and nothing about it suggested it deserved to be at Fashion Week.

(Julius): Ugh. The bases for Alexandria's collection is Pris from Blade Runner.  Only, then she got rich and became a boring tennis mom. Alexandira's second, sixth, and eighth looks really inform the shiny cyberpunky grungy roots of the collection.  But, then she blends them in with these looks of rich white people attempting to appropriate hip hop culture in the most fucking boring way ever. And, then there is the fifth look which is like a coffee shop trust fund poet wannabe. Really, her whole show pissed me off it reeked so much of money and privilege.  And, don't even get me started on the shitty message of the phone books.

Bradon
(Adrian): Oh my sweet and simple Dance Beard, how I have long loved you and how far you hath fallen. This just didn't work from the start in a lot of ways. I understood what he was going for, but I don't think he accomplished it with clothes that were appealing. And the floral print he chose didn't do him any favors either. I will say that I honestly loved the last three looks of his collection, but the rest is just a no.

(Julius): Uh...wut?  Srsly...wut?  Bradon, you opened the show with a dress that looks like an upside down beer in a pint glass.  And, it was really all down hill from there.  You followed up the pint glass with its basket weave coaster.  Your fourth look had a pair of shorts where it looks like a bunch of flowers pointing to a FUCKING CAMEL TOE!!  Most of your looks suffered from either Gold Lame, or a crappy use of a psychadelic pseudo-Asian print charmuse that could be spring, but would totally look great on an geisha girl.  And, then you realized it and, as your made the 9th look the Asian inspired look the fabric wanted to be, and put it on an Asian girl.  It seemed right at home, finally.  But, then you finished up the show with a look that was like a beachy Anya dress made with a print inspired by the cover of The Downward Spiral and was attacked by a golden caterpillar.  If only this dress was the one with spilled coffee, nobody would have noticed, or they would have thought it was intentional.  In short, you failed.  Unlike Adrian, I didn't even see what you were going for.  I saw the flower coming up from the snow, kind of...but it was ultimately a failure.  Which makes me really sad because, unlike Alexandria, I loved your style throughout the show.  It's not even that you got bit by London's old lady bug.  You just went...wut?  No.

Adrian
So Dom wins and it's really the only choice the judges could have made that would make sense. The finale never really has anything going for it beyond the Fashion Week show, and I'm starting to wonder if Project Runway shouldn't just run with that fact. Condense the last episode to an hour and spend all of that time at Fashion Week and on the judging runway itself. Watching the designers work on another (pointless) look while also having to go through model fittings, hair and makeup consultations, and the heightened emotions of even showing at Fashion Week is simply too much. Or is it just me? What did you think of the final episode as a whole, Julius? Were you fooled by the final moments of built in tension as the judges had to make the oh so difficult decision between Dom and Alexandria?

Julius
I could have gone for Justin or Dom, really.  Though, I lost hella respect for Justin when he went for the I'm deaf ploy on stage.  Ugh.  No, you shouldn't win because you're deaf.  You should win because you can design when you're not under pressure.  And, you can.  I loved your collection, and I would have been happy with you winning as well (especially if you continued making 3D printed space age jewelry).  Ultimately, I think if they got rid of the One Last Elimination in Finale Part 1 that has become a tradition, and kept in the one last design challenge.  Then, re-added in the whole process from choosing the models and pairing the dressed all the way through design, I think the finale would be a stronger more cohesive two parter.  The one last design challenge frequently inspires a look that actually pulls the whole collection together, as it did in Dom's collection.

Again, thank you readers!  We'll see you again at least for the All-Stars opener, if not the whole season.  More decisions on that to come.  Thanks!

Stray Observations:

--Dom is worried about what to put her muse model in; I guess she knows the judges don't look at anything other than the last look. (AA)

- Justin is so sweet wanting to make his washable look reversible.  That doesn't matter if you don't show off the reversibility, Justin.  And, you shouldn't. (JK)

--One of Justin's models broke her ankle right before the final runway show. Was I the only person who thought maybe the model was making a last minute bid for freedom and the producers went all Kathy Bates from Misery on her?

--In keeping with Justin's model struggles, he's stressed because his size 0 model is replaced by a size -2 alternate, and the dress just doesn't fit anymore. How hard life is. (AA)

--I have never seen a better “Cut-a-bitch” moment then when the model spilled coffee on Bradon's dress. He's a much better person than I am because I would have killed her and dragged her dead body down the runway. (AA)

- Really, who gives models coffee?  Shouldn't they be giving them like powdered speed?  Just kidding. Kind of.  But, coffee and food stains.  That should not be allowed back stage. At all. (JK)

- Did anybody notice the awesome fashion art queen that was seated behind Justin's parents?  I will associate his parents with the floral print nature of their home and how conservative and sweet they are. That memory clashed so hard with the queen behind them, it made me laugh so so hard. (JK)

- Justin's parents were so right when comforting Justin.  "You finished with integrity and America fell in love with you."  It's so true.  Justin, Dom and Bradon all finished with integrity and without irritating the viewers.  I honestly can't think of what Alexandria ever did to raise the ire of everybody, but that's just me.  (JK)

- Best line of the episode: Dom: "I'm poor.  I'm working two jobs, people." (JK)

- Also, since Adrian is probably too humble to mention it, take a look at his blog, A Storyteller's Guide To Story Telling, listed on the right.  He's just starting it, and I enjoy his writing immensely.  (JK)

- And, I'm not humble, so if you like semi-off-the-beaten-path movies, check out my blog, The Other Films.  We're currently in October's horror dedication month. (JK)