Least Favorite Challenges and Garments

[yeswedo]

Share the challenges and garments you didn't like.

 

The Sheepdogs challenge from season 9 is the first one that came to mind. I didn't like any of them!

 

[FormerMod-a1]

I agree, and I felt so bad for them.

[PinkSprinkles]

I hate any and all challenges where the designers are forced to design a look for <insert Heidi or guest judge's fashion line>. The point of PR is for potential designers to showcase their aesthetic and vision- not someone else's. 

Edited July 30, 2014 by PinkSprinkles

[Oholibamah]

Aside from the Postal Worker challenge which was somehow great, I also hate "uniform" challenges. The Susan Sarandon one in Season 11 bored me to tears.

[larapu2000]

I think the Postal worker challenge was so great because they had to work an entire day in the existing uniform, doing something as seemingly mundane as delivering the mail, but Jay made it a high form of living.  When Kara Saun said that Jay would be the kind of mailman that everyone looked forward to seeing, it was all kinds of adorable.

 

I dislike the "real woman" challenges because of the fact that some models are plus sized while others are not, which are 2 differing sets of challenges.  Either make them all plus size or all not.  

[PinkSprinkles]

The other annoying thing about the "real" woman challenges is the fact that the designer with the skinniest "real" woman usually wins. PR Epic Fail. 

[PepperMonkey]

Favourite challenge/s: almost anything from season 1, because, well, it was season 1. It was new, exciting and the designers were all awesome in their individual ways. Even if some of the ways (I'm looking at you, Wendy) were being dickish to the other designers. Also, I've NEVER seen anything as fabulous on Project Runway as Jay's fashion week show. Second favourite challenge: Thunder from Down Under in season 11. I have never laughed so hard at PR in my life and those dancers/models were probably some of the nicest people I've ever seen on reality TV. Ever.

My least favourite challenge ever is hard to determine, but I'd say the Susan Sarandon balls uniform one that someone else mentioned is pretty close. Man, I wish they would occasionally have more than 8 hours, followed by 2 hours to put something together. I know they have to think on the fly, but I'm always surprised when they STILL harp over construction from these poor designtestants.

[larapu2000]

Man, I wish they would occasionally have more than 8 hours, followed by 2 hours to put something together. I know they have to think on the fly, but I'm always surprised when they STILL harp over construction from these poor designtestants.

 

THIS.  So much THIS.  In the early seasons with Bravo, they had a lot of 2 day challenges, and it allowed designers to make impeccable pieces, more daring and challenging pieces, and it also allowed them to change directions if what they were doing wasn't quite working.  Now, a designer literally has to just make it work with whatever they were doing to begin with, and overall, it's a much less impressive runway show.

[Julia]

The other annoying thing about the "real" woman challenges is the fact that the designer with the skinniest "real" woman usually wins. PR Epic Fail. 

 

I thought it was a disgrace that Helen's real woman dress, which was derivative and made for a woman who probably would have to bulk up to be a size zero, won over Justin's adorable signature dress (for a mormon woman who demanded maximum coverage and recently lost enough weight that her excess skin was an issue).

 

He made her support garments, FFS. 

Edited July 31, 2014 by Julia

[Indy]

I hate the "design for X celebrity" challenge because it can really hurt designers whose style doesn't fit that particular celebrity's aesthetic. If they change their style completely to make something the celeb would wear, then they're accused of selling out or not being themselves but if they stick to their own style, then they often get told they're not making what the celeb wants.  In real life, a celeb isn't generally going to hire a designer to do a custom dress if the designer doesn't make clothes that they like.  Plus then if the celeb is the judge and gets to have the final say in the outcome of who is in/out things like workmanship and past performance often get ignored and a worthy designer gets the boot (i.e. Season 1 with poor Austin)

 

I also don't like the "real-woman" challenges because the designers who wind up with a model-shaped woman have more of an advantage than the ones who get a real-shaped woman. And the designers that give their woman what she wants sometimes get screwed over because what they made isn't fashiony enough, even though she loves it and feels awesome in it. Plus then you get a lot of super bitchiness towards the women who aren't super skinny just because a designer suddenly has to accommodate boobs.  

[KimberStormer]

My least favorite of all is the HP print challenge that they always do.  Not only do they always make terrible prints because they have like half an hour to do it and don't know anything about textile design.  Not only is it printed on godawful fabric that's stiff and cheap-looking.  But ever since Mondo won it should really be called the "woe is me" challenge where (even when it's not even remotely part of the design brief) they have to work in some half-assed "this represents my struggle!" nonsense into their print design.  Oh I hate it so.

 

Other challenges are so dependent on circumstance.  The "design for a celebrity" challenge, for example, is indeed usually not great, but on the other hand the Rebecca Romijn maternity challenge only worked as well as it did because it was for a gorgeous celebrity--can you imagine the bitching and joyless outfits that would have resulted if it were "real women" who were pregnant? 

[AwesomO4000]

I dislike the "design some sort of show outfit" challenge - like when the designers had to design ice-skating outfits. In that one someone I really liked (sweet, likeable Emmet) got sent home for supposedly showing too much "tooty" according to the older woman who was judging. I think they also had to design rockets outfits, and my favorite - which I thought was awesome* - got passed over for a much more traditional outfit (though it, too was cool. The rest though - ugh.) The fabric for those types of outfits is just not designed to work for short-term challenges, and unless a designer works in bridal (maybe), is usually not something they know how to work with... and usually ends up with drama when the overlock sewing machine inevitably breaks down... poor Andrae was always having to fix/thread it for everybody in season 2. The seams are bound to be bad and/or break... for me just no.

 

* it was designed by Dmitry I think.

[ratgirlagogo]

Wow.  There are so many to hate!  In general the Real Woman challenges for all the reasons given above - skinniest model always wins, usually ends up humiliating the Real Woman models ("Good god she looks like shit! Like the broad side of a barn!  Plus her boobs are saggy and uneven! What were you thinking?"), etc.

The one that leaps to mind though is  the one  designing for Heidi's workout wear line, where they not only had to design workout clothes that would be practical and yet somehow unlike any other workout clothes ever made - plus they could only use the three fabrics already being used in Heidi's line (they were gray, gray and gray, as I recall).

Edited August 1, 2014 by ratgirlagogo