S04.E01: Made In Manhattan

[Shibori]

I always felt that everything she did was so kid-crafty and trite but when wrapped in the packaging of "a celebration of ethnic heritage" was automatically shooed to the front of the line.

That perfectly sums up what I've been thinking but couldn't quite put into words. A lot of it would look at home in a Sunday school craft session.

[sleepyjean]

I don't even see where the textile manipulation would have been used on that dress...it was far too heavy for the flimsey material on top...was it going to be a neck piece? a hem decoration?

Her sketch is on the website. Her pomegranate trim was meant to edge the hem and sleeves. The sleeves got axed along with the trim. As you said the trim was very heavy looking. It would've taken all the flutter out of that dress.

[Calamity Jane]

Try and hold out for a week or two, I'm sure it'll come to pass sooner rather than later.

Promise??  Please, please, let this be so. 

[Suzy Q Where R U]

Well....here is my two cents.

I have watched every PR show and pseudo-PR show, but I'm not sure I'll be able to get through this.  Mostly because of MICHELLE!!!  I cannot put into words how much I loathe that woman.  The constant mugging and hamming up to the cameras is too freaking much.  I hate every little tiny thing about her.  Like running up to Kate to console her...so it is okay for her to hug the loserly downtrodden, but God Forbid someone hug HER when she is having one of her little temper tantrums!  And speaking of Kate, I swear I heard her whisper "My Bond girl..."as her model walked out in that stupid, ridiculous looking mermaid thing.  Why are we being subjected to her for a third time?  She is horrible.  And don't get me started on Helen, who is overly confident and underly talented.

Thank goodness we do have some good people...like Dmitri, Chris and Fabio.  Love those three, and loved Fabio's jumpsuit and I would wear Chris' skirt every day of the week if I had it.  I also loved Alexandria's outfit, but I like pretty much everything that she does.  I also adore Justin, but those shorts were way too short. I hope she kick's both Kate and Helen's ass, then wipes up the blood with Michelle's stupid haircut sprouting out of her head like a "Hipster Dipshit Chia-pet." 

Hopefully next week will be a double-elimination with Michelle and Kate ousted, and Gunner having to go due to a bizarre threading injury.

And why does Alyssa's stylist still hate her so much?  Why??

[dialyn]

Her sketch is on the website. Her pomegranate trim was meant to edge the hem and sleeves. The sleeves got axed along with the trim. As you said the trim was very heavy looking. It would've taken all the flutter out of that dress.

Ah, thank you.  I should have looked there.  Strikes me that I often like the sketches better than the finished product.  Of course it is easier for them to sketch something than it is to manipulate some of those materials. 

[leighdear]

Hated Gunnar during his season up until he redeemed himself during the real woman challenge when he treated his model so wonderfully. Now he just mildly irks me

I think he was trying initially to be a "villain", aka Josh McKinley 2.0.  But showed himself to actually be a nicer guy than Josh.  Gunnar didn't have that cold, vicious streak that Josh had, so he ultimately couldn't pull it off.  He just came off as annoying.

Edited November 4, 2014 by leighdear

[Suzy Q Where R U]

I also loved that the beautiful Georgina Chapman is now just Georgina Chapman.  I'm hoping that as the show goes on, she'll become the "fairly unattractive Georgina whats-her-face who wears those stupid frothy frou-frou gowns for no apparent reason."

[auntlada]

Of course it is easier for them to sketch something than it is to manipulate some of those materials. 

 

Or to sew it in one day.

[WicketyWack]

What was with giving her an Alice from Brady Bunch 'do? I almost feel sorry for her.

 

[RealityGal]

I thought he looked like he was lost from "Breaking Amish".

Gunnar = prolonged rumspriga!

[dialyn]

Or to sew it in one day.

Yes,  you're right, but don't they only have 30-60 minutes to do the sketches?  Seems like everything is in a tight time frame for that show.

[Former Nun]

Why are we being subjected to her for a third time?  She is horrible.

 

 

Yeah, Suzy Q, Where R U, I bet you asked, "Why are we being subjected to her for a second time?" last time...just like I did.  Sometimes I wonder who's blowing whom.

Will Project Runway et al EVER do away with the silly, dumb, unfair, and (generally) unwatchable TEAM competitions?   Why bother with auditions to see what each designer can do when you hobble him/her with those silly constrictions?  

[WicketyWack]

I disagree.  I'd rather see her "heinous" textiles (or even Sandhya's pinwheels) than a whole lot of the repetitive crap that strolls down most Project Runway runways.   Wouldn't it be nice if the designers shot for the moon and occasionally failed spectacularly rather than sending another damn jumpsuit with a plunging neckline out for judging?   

While we saw Patricia's efforts, the judges didn't. The judges should not be taking something into consideration that is not on the garment on display.  And they didn't. What they saw was a poorly constructed dress and that's all Patricia gave them.  If they didn't take her textile manipulation into consideration, in this episode it was her own fault that they couldn't (they certainly gave her allowances in the past for vision over technique). 

 

I get what you're saying, terrymct, but as pointed out, Patricia's textile never made it to her garment. She spent too much time on her trim and not enough on constructing the actual garment, and didn't have time in the end to even use that trim because she had to finish her pieces. So she sent out a shapeless, ill-constructed, boring shift. For me, a good designer starts with the design, not the trim. A good designer will create a solid garment and then add the embellishments, not the other way around. 

[Beden]

 

Of course it is easier for them to sketch something than it is to manipulate some of those materials.

 

Or to sew it in one day.

Bullseye. IMO this is the real problem with this show. Couple that with serious sleep depreciation and you have the perfect recipe for , well, not much...

[terrymct]

I get what you're saying, terrymct, but as pointed out, Patricia's textile never made it to her garment. She spent too much time on her trim and not enough on constructing the actual garment, and didn't have time in the end to even use that trim because she had to finish her pieces. So she sent out a shapeless, ill-constructed, boring shift. For me, a good designer starts with the design, not the trim. A good designer will create a solid garment and then add the embellishments, not the other way around. 

 

I wish she had gotten some of those wackadoodle folded things on the garment, but she didn't.   I agree that it was boring, other than the fluttery back.   I still believe that even given that, it was better than the badly made mermaid wedding dress that Kate sent down the runway.   That was horrible.   Kate should go home next.   It's just that the auffing order was reversed: Kate, then Patricia rather than Patricia then Kate.  There is no way either of them could keep up with the better designers in this group or with the pressure.

[pasdetrois]

 

It would've taken all the flutter out of that dress.

 

This shall be my new lament when I get the vapors. "You've taken all the flutter outta me."

[kelslamu]

Wished it had been all three women to go.  Alyssa looked liked someone's grandma.  The dress was an old bubble.  She needed a tiny, ugly, black, square purse to top off the look.

[Oholibamah]

Will Project Runway et al EVER do away with the silly, dumb, unfair, and (generally) unwatchable TEAM competitions?   Why bother with auditions to see what each designer can do when you hobble him/her with those silly constrictions?  

 

Working as part of a design team is such a common thing in the fashion world that I don't mind it. It certainly doesn't require an entire "edition" dedicated to it, and they often come across as heavyhanded attempts at stirring the pot, but they make sense in theory. I loved the Storage War challenge in Season 13, and the "design a line" based on something as wide open as "uptown" or "downtown" is a pretty straight-forward, bullshit-free challenge.

 

I get that people don't need to see Kate every other season, but I find the vitriol directed at her personality ridiculous. She is one of the most benign people they've had on this show, and I'll need a little more than whatever she did at the reunion as evidence otherwise.

[RealityGal]

 

I get that people don't need to see Kate every other season, but I find the vitriol directed at her personality ridiculous. She is one of the most benign people they've had on this show, and I'll need a little more than whatever she did at the reunion as evidence otherwise.

 

I don't know that I really hate Kate, but my feeling is that its just too much of her.  I don't know if she is the first one to respond when they send out a group email asking who wants to come back, or if she has a really good relationship with someone who casts for PR, or if people love her stuff so much that they feel like they must bring her back, but I don't know that she really has anything new to offer, or if her point of view has really evolved in the two years since I saw her last.  There are other designers I would have preferred to see again, or even a third time before Kate.  Maybe its that I don't love her stuff as much as I love the stuff from other designers, I think if it was a designer whose work I really enjoyed, like Seth Aaron, I wouldn't be bothered seeing them on every iteration of PR.  It might also be that her personality doesn't really do it for me, even though I don't hate her, but I don't really care for Seth Aaron's personality either I just really like his stuff.

[Bebecat]

I had hoped never to see Kate, Helen or Michelle again in any lifetime. Especially Michelle, if I had to pick one. And maybe poor Alyssa just has bad taste, poor thing. Or she is a pushover and allows them to dress her. I don't remember a single flattering look for her on this show. And we know she can look great from other projects.

In fact, i am not sure I can tolerate any of the women on this season...not a fan of Zara, The Beautiful Georgianna, or the most guest judges either.

I am here only for the runway portion of these shows, for the past several years. I DVR it and FF through the talking parts...except for Dmitri....:)

[Pepper Mostly]

I think he was trying initially to be a "villain", aka Josh McKinley 2.0.  But showed himself to actually be a nicer guy than Josh.

 

a rabid weasel with no sleep and a migraine is a nicer guy than Josh.

[LBFilmBuff]

I can't do quotes (so sue me), but the below is an earlier set of quotes. I'll use quote marks:

"I actually teared up a bit during Kini's aunt's chant. I felt like a tool tearing up over something on PR, but I agree that it really was quite moving! But yeah, Isaac was pretty rude about Patricia. I don't really like him much in general. I feel like he wants to be Michael Kors-esque in his "judging personality," but he's not good at it.

My goodness yes to this. I tried to find the right words, but I think you've said it as best as anyone could. MK was a bitch, but it was (to me) almost always funny, and it never seemed truly mean spirited, and there was always a truth in it (at least for me). To me, cringing or making faces at something from someone's culture like a warcry is a little personal, it has almost nothing to do with their clothing and everything in saying "this person is just a weirdo!" and that seems so mean to me, and not mean in the way MK was.

I don't mind Issac, but I think he tries to be MK in the way I think Zac is trying to be more MK. But it just doesn't work, and I wish that little orange man would find his way back, because I miss him."

Now I'm back. My thing is that in my memory at least, Michael Kors only made fun of the designs or the styling on occasion. He'd say she looks like an orange pumpkin disco ball. But he always seemed to be making fun of (in a funny way) the designs. He didn't attack the models or even really the designers, and certainly not for something that couldn't be changed. So he'd attack a hemline that showed buttcheek, but not the buttcheeks themselves. Does that make sense? To me it's the difference between Isaac and Michael.

To those who don't remember Jay, I do remember him and fondly. He made an outfit out of garbage that I thought was really cool. Or I mean garbage bags, not garbage. I'll see if I can find it... Oh, yeah, you probably don't remember it because of Emilio's eye-searing washers and pink rubberbands bathing suit from the same challenge:

http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/12637/project-runway-nuts-and-bolts/page/all

[sinkwriter]

How much time did they have for that hardware store challenge, do you remember?

[WearyTraveler]

How much time did they have for that hardware store challenge, do you remember?

3 days, IIRC.  That was back when the unconventional materials challenges were considered extra hard and they gave the designers extra time.  If it wasn't 3 days, it was 2, for sure.  The whole "you have ONE day for this challenge" didn't become a constant until recently

[sinkwriter]

3 days! Or even 2... what a luxury. See, producers, what can be created with a little more time? One day is ridiculous; that kind of rapid fire challenge should be reserved to add pressure, not put make the competition in a constant state of pressure making it impossible to be creative.

[Julia]

I wonder if it isn't just that as the years go on, Heidi and Tim get more expensive, and there's less and less revenue. Pretty much the only way to keep the golden goose producing is to stop feeding it, to force a metaphor, and it'll keep everyone getting paid until the goose dies of starvation.

[Tahitigirl]

When I saw the "girls" team walk the runway, I thought for a moment that I had tuned in to Project Runway: Threads. What a letdown.

[Beden]

 

I wonder if it isn't just that as the years go on, Heidi and Tim get more expensive, and there's less and less revenue. Pretty much the only way to keep the golden goose producing is to stop feeding it, to force a metaphor, and it'll keep everyone getting paid until the goose dies of starvation.

That could be part of the problem. Also, as previously mentioned, Heidi is so over-scheduled that the producers (yes, she's one of the producers) have to schedule the taping around her. Add to that my personal belief that as the show slides down the inevitable slippery slope, there's less incentive to spend more $ on the thing--longer time for the challengers means more rental time in the apartments the contestants are housed in, more meals, more $ paid to the crews/camera people/lighting and all the rest.

 

It looks like the show is basically running on it's own inertia until it runs out of steam.

 

Snookie & Jwwowww?

 

I rest my case.

Edited November 9, 2014 by Beden