AS4, S12: Justin LeBlanc

[yeswedo]

Raleigh, NC, Season 12

 

 

[Ms Blue Jay]

It would be great if he had more confidence this round.  Every time he was criticized in S12 it was like a knife in my heart!  He was just so vulnerable.  Project Runway never made me feel so much and so deeply, and honestly, it was hard for me (Boo hoo right?  LOL!)   So for my own sanity, it would be great if he's gained confidence through S12.

[heythere]

Everything he did during the season was pretty blah but I personally loved his final collection (and think he should have come in 2nd over Alexandria). I recognize he had a lot more time work on stuff for the final collection than during the show, but I hope we see more like that this round.  He's got real potential.

 

I also love how drama free he is.

[BathKol]

I'm not sure he can handle real fashion. He's a sweet person but the Cujos that hang out in fashion shows, magazines, and galleries will eat him for lunch...

[dialyn]

It strikes me that Justin is probably pretty tough.  It cannot be easy to grow up deaf in a hearing world....people love to make fun and bully others who are seen as "different" and that's as true now as it has ever been. 

 

“Just growing up being a deaf person and having people constantly tell me that I’m not capable of doing things I want to do, that’s definitely something that’s scarring. ‘Project Runway’ has given me the opportunity so I can prove these people wrong.”

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/10/29/5275628/raleigh-designer-justin-leblanc.html#storylink=cpy

Justin has coping mechanisms (such as turning off his equipment) but I don't think he is by any means a pushover.   Should he quit doing what he loves because he might run into a few bullies along the way? The mean-spirited lurk in every profession, at every level.  I suspect he can tough them out.  I hope he does and proves the naysayers wrong.

[auntlada]

He can always just not listen.

[BathKol]

Yeah, but people in fashion are totally different from your typical bullies. I couldn't even hang around them. I wanted to intern for Vogue but just couldn't stomach all the cat fighting and extreme clique behavior on the sets.

And I know it sounds harsh, but those rats that fetch lattes and sew hemlines would probably steal Justin's hearing aids or something equally disgusting. They go way too far - like putting hot glue on your shoes...

[dialyn]

 They go way too far - like putting hot glue on your shoes...

I hope not while you're wearing them.

[BathKol]

I hope not while you're wearing them.

Unfortunately, haha. And then you get blamed for ruining them since glue is used as a quick fix for wardrobe malfunctions and everyone has access to it...

[Julia]

From what Justin said in his first season, growing up gay in North Carolina wasn't a bowl of cherries either.

[glowlights]

BathKol, I totally get where you're coming from. Unless his personality is completely different off camera. Please note I'm talking about his disposition, not his hearing disability. Although I'm sure the latter had a hand in shaping the former, as all our life experiences do. He doesn't want to be coddled or treated differently, so I won't temper my opinion or walk on eggshells anymore than I would with other contestants who I feel aren't suited (no pun intended) for the big leagues based on what we see filmed. Frankly I think a lot of the past discussion about Justin - on other boards, not here - is condescending.

 

There. Now he can prove me wrong. :)

[BathKol]

BathKol, I totally get where you're coming from. Unless his personality is completely different off camera. Please note I'm talking about his disposition, not his hearing disability. Although I'm sure the latter had a hand in shaping the former, as all our life experiences do. He doesn't want to be coddled or treated differently, so I won't temper my opinion or walk on eggshells anymore than I would with other contestants who I feel aren't suited (no pun intended) for the big leagues based on what we see filmed. Frankly I think a lot of the past discussion about Justin - on other boards, not here - is condescending.

There. Now he can prove me wrong. :)

Thank you glow lights.

I don't want to push anyone's ringer. I just am being strictly honest. I like Justin. I like him more than Dom and the other idiots of his season (looking at you Helen, Ken, Jeremy or whatever), a hell of a lot more than them for sure. I just...wondered, that's all. Fashion is a beautiful world, but it has a great deal of ugliness and sometimes even perversion that can more or less turn people off. Just look up the whole Terry Richardson scandal - ew. I'm just going to leave it at that, cause I think I dragged this out enough.

[RedheadZombie]

I could not watch the runway part, link kept crashing, will have to google the links. But I am glad, as I can't stand it when Justin wins. If they are going for the sympathy factor with him, it is not working on me. I find him annoying, not very creative, and I assume it is safe to imagine he cried??

 

I can understand why his emotions can be irritating, but I just love him.  When he tears up - I tear up.  And I'm not the only one.  When he received the Tim Gunn save in his season, everyone was crying at his impending departure, including Tim.  Alyssa was very choked up telling him that he wasn't eliminated.  And yes, I think she teared up over Justin, and not Helen.  He must just be that likeable.  And when he said he never thought he would have a partner and fall in love because he worried he'd be a burden - it just crushed me.  And my feelings have nothing to do with his disability.  In fact, I have a deaf cousin that I absolutely despise.  In part, I may love Justin because I see in him what I never saw in my deaf cousin - independence, a willingness to be vulnerable, striking out in a world filled with hearing people, the desire to have a career and earn his own way.  It's admirable to me.

[TudorQueen]

I have enormous affection for Justin and, above all, his design aesthetic speaks to me. Some of the items in his final collection for his first season took my breath away. Yes, he seems like a lovely person, which never hurts, and yes, he seems to deal with his disability more or less in stride, allowing for some understandable insecurities in his personal life. But I watch the show more for the designing, and he delivered, more often than not.

So I'm very sorry he's gone, especially for the avant-garde challenge, which is very hard to judge, IMO, and where I did not think he had the 'worst' or 'least avant-garde' design. But I think, in the long run, he'll be okay. He's done himself a lot of good in both his PRuns.

 

[jackjill89]

I will miss Justin. He seems like a really good guy. I think a lot of what he designs is beautiful.