S02.E08: Runway Walk

[Door County Cherry]

Airs Jan. 22, 2021: 

Quote

The artists find inspiration in high fashion as they design intricately crafted accessories, including a braided handbag and a pair of socks. 

 

[Aulty]

Great to see Sunny again, I loved him on his season of Project Runway Canada.

I wasn't quite sure if they wanted something wearable or just fashion inspired.

Oh Nao. Finishing early never bodes well on shows like this. The woven bag didn't feel very innovative and the others put a lot more work into creating structure within their glass and making choices that brought their design and material together.

Chris sacrificing his shoes - what good did that do? They are not hard enough to mound the glass unless you apply pressure from the outside. Please correct me if I am wrong.

[Michichick]

Are they fucking kidding me with this crap? How does a white sweat sock beat out the beautiful bags that Nao made? Guess I’d better prepare myself for Chris to win this show.

[scenicbyway]

I can’t figure out how Chris didn’t get eliminated in this one either.  The shoes didn’t mold the socks and as another blower noted, he should’ve known how to make feet. I loved Nao’s basket I’m guessing the short length of time counted against her?

[lynxfx]

That hat and tie were pretty baller. The yellow/black rope probably kept him from winning. 

White socks. Wow so amazing. No sob story about how Chris got socks for Christmas after his dog got hit by a car?

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Awww, Sunny! It was great to see him again and I liked the different non-glass point of view he brought as a judge.

I could not believe that Chris thought that a white sock was appropriate for a fashion challenge. I'm willing to concede that a sock is something you wear so it met the challenge parameters by the skin of his teeth, but it was the most boring thing he could have possibly chosen to make. And that's before we get into how boring the actual execution was. As Sunny said, it looked like a plain white gym sock. On top of that, the socks did not look sock shaped. Katherine was generous in saying they looked like boots. The foot portion was so grossly out of proportion that these socks would only be worn by someone with some kind of extreme medical condition. Just terrible. Can you imagine how bad a melting burning shoe smells in the hot shop? And can you imagine how much worse a stinky sweaty used shoe that's melting and burning must smell? GROSS.

Sunny definitely brought his Project Runway point of view when he said that Nao should have made the first bag bigger instead of also making a second smaller bag. That is the kind of thing you can say more easily about constructing clothing, but with glass once you've committed to a size and shape it's difficult to change drastically. I liked the colors she chose (and I liked that the two shades of blue were complementary but not the same). Braiding was a really ambitious thing to try with glass so I was glad when she decided to pivot to a twisting design instead.

I was surprised that Cat's collar won because although she made a lot of cane, the actual construction/assembly of her piece seemed a bit simple. I did like the boldness in the size, shape, and color.

I thought Elliott should have won this challenge. His hat was amazing. I loved the tweedy texture he was able to create and I liked the pop of yellow. The tie was also nice and I liked that he tied some of the yellow into that too.

I knew Nao would be eliminated even though I thought Chris should have been the one to go. This is the third challenge where Chris should have been cut and somehow managed to slide by. It's so frustrating to see him outlast others just because the judges don't want to let him go.

[Door County Cherry]

Wasn't one of the requirements of this challenge to use color as emphasis?  Chris's sock was not only plain white but not even a vibrant white.  The pattern was good but the shape was off.  A lot of socks have pops of color around the toe and at the top of the sock so why didn't he do that?

[Starry-Eyed]

9 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Sunny definitely brought his Project Runway point of view when he said that Nao should have made the first bag bigger instead of also making a second smaller bag. That is the kind of thing you can say more easily about constructing clothing, but with glass once you've committed to a size and shape it's difficult to change drastically.

Yes! I was thinking uhhh, how could she POSSIBLY have done that?

18 minutes ago, Door County Cherry said:

Wasn't one of the requirements of this challenge to use color as emphasis?  Chris's sock was not only plain white but not even a vibrant white.  The pattern was good but the shape was off.  A lot of socks have pops of color around the toe and at the top of the sock so why didn't he do that?

That is a really good point. I wish the judges would have brought that up. I do think the textured effect he achieved for the socks was extremely realistic.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

9 hours ago, Door County Cherry said:

Wasn't one of the requirements of this challenge to use color as emphasis?  Chris's sock was not only plain white but not even a vibrant white.  The pattern was good but the shape was off.  A lot of socks have pops of color around the toe and at the top of the sock so why didn't he do that?

Because he's a rebel! He doesn't like being constrained by rules! He likes being different! He's such a bad boy that he made WHITE SOCKS!

[GaT]

On 1/23/2021 at 5:59 PM, lynxfx said:

That hat and tie were pretty baller. The yellow/black rope probably kept him from winning. 

I thought the hat & tie should have won, yellow & black are a great color combo.

On 1/24/2021 at 11:48 AM, Door County Cherry said:

Wasn't one of the requirements of this challenge to use color as emphasis?  Chris's sock was not only plain white but not even a vibrant white.  The pattern was good but the shape was off.  A lot of socks have pops of color around the toe and at the top of the sock so why didn't he do that?

They should have just called this season "Season 2: We Love Chris"

[ElectricBoogaloo]

On 1/24/2021 at 11:48 AM, Door County Cherry said:

A lot of socks have pops of color around the toe and at the top of the sock so why didn't he do that?

And let's be real - lots of socks are colorful from the top to the toe! He could have made the same design with a color or alternated rows of white and another color, but he wanted to make a statement about how he's above doing something fashion related.

[leocadia]

On 1/23/2021 at 8:59 PM, lynxfx said:

White socks. Wow so amazing. No sob story about how Chris got socks for Christmas after his dog got hit by a car?

I was absolutely going to comment about how surprised I was that Chris didn't start talking about his dead dog's favorite sock when the critiquing started.  Great minds...

I was really surprised with the outcome, I thought Elliot would win and (because Chris is untouchable) Cat would go home.  Her piece was definitely the most "fashion"-centric, but I thought it looked a little clunky.

[chaifan]

19 hours ago, GaT said:

They should have just called this season "Season 2: We Love Chris"

I was thinking Season 2: Who Did Chris Blow?

Yes, a sock is an item of clothing.  It doesn't mean it is fashion.  Once again, he does what he wants, not what the judges called for.  But yet, he stays in the game. 

Loved Cat's concept, but not really hot on the execution.  I would have preferred to see it displayed on a mannequin - maybe that would have given better perspective. 

[dleighg]

I really liked the ribbed effect in Chris's socks, but agree that despite the sacrifice of his sneakers, the foot portion looked clunky. (And why didn't his piece have all sorts of rubber and burnt canvas stuck to it?) I think it would have been much more effective if he had created stockings, and displayed them as "puddled" on the pedestal and maybe dripping off the side like Elliot's tie. That would have made us focus more on the texture which was cool. 

I loved Elliot's work and thought it should have won (agree that Cat's looked rather messy). I REALLY would have liked to see how Chris and Elliot created those effects of texture in their work. We didn't really see Elliot do the hat portion much at all, did we?

I was pretty sure that Nao was going home once they were presented. It just wasn't really "special" as glass-work. And a basket handbag isn't terribly inspired. (Yeah I know, "socks")

 

[HurricaneVal]

On 1/25/2021 at 11:34 PM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

but he wanted to make a statement about how he's above doing something fashion related.

I have disliked Chris and his giant ego from the beginning.  But....he does have fantastic technique and knowledge of glass.  When the camera zoomed in on his stockings and you could see the fine details of the tiny white strands in the glass it was amazing.  I think that's what saved him, he was the most successful at making fabric--light and airy stocking fabric at that.  HOWEVER, I think @ElectricBoogaloo completely nailed it with that assessment.  Chris thinks fashion is beneath him.  He thinks it is superficial and girly and too literal and nothing a great glass artist such as himself should bother with.  Hence the ugly and clunky implementation of an exquisitely executed technique. 

This--and the other episodes, really--where Chris demonstrates an amazing technique like that makes me wonder what he is like as a teacher.  Is he generous?  Does he give that knowledge out freely so his students really grok the feel and the lore of these techniques?  Or does he jealously horde his specialized understanding of glass arcana, making his students earn each nugget of knowledge and beg for his attention and favors?

His students who have been on the show as judges, and the other competitor artist (I forget who) seemed to like him, but in a wary sort of way.  I suspect he is somewhat of a mercurial teacher, invested in teaching, but when it comes to his own art very, very tetchy.  At least there wasn't any whiff of "Dude was a jerk to me, so now is my chance to get even, bwahahahahahahahaha....Sayonara, Chris!"

[dbell1]

Judges can stuff a sock in it. 🙄

[TVbitch]

That sock was hideous and did not even look like a sock. Maybe a sock for a half man half cloven foot creature. Chris (again) should have been, as Heidi Klum would say, "out." He likes to remind us each episode how he is doing super advanced techniques, risking life and limb, overcoming tragic mishaps, and even sacrificing his shoes! He's kind of like the Great Oz, does all this splashy stuff to get attention, but then the pieces rarely pay off.