S01.E04: Pop Star

[dialyn]

From the Lifetime site: "....three young designers fashion looks suitable for their favorite pop stars in a challenge complicated by an unexpected twist

(unconventional materials for a second look)

. Zendaya serves as guest judge.” 

[dialyn]

I keep watching, though I might be the only one.  Actually the three contestants this time were pretty nice kids (at least they seemed genuinely pleased at the winner).  I thought Matt was going to be obnoxious but I think, if Project Runway survives, he'll show up on the adult version one of these days.  He got Lady Gaga, and had the odd direction from the judges to make his garment less sexy.  For Lady Gaga.  Yeah, okay.  He had problems with his second dress because he didn't choose the materials (his assistant did) and he didn't have much in the way of choices.  Claire did a dress Katy Perry actually might wear for her first fashion. The second garment was also impacted by the assistant (Mom) not buying the materials Claire wanted.  Then we have Brianna whose first look greatly resembled the look she created on her own before the show started, but then she did something marvelous for her second look (her mother made good choices picking the materials), and there was really no comparison between her second look and the second looks of the other two, as talented as they are.

 

Not helpful:  hostess Vanessa and her comments in the workroom. 

 

Helpful: Christian Seriano continues to be the bright spot among the judges.

 

Very helpful:  fashion students stepping in as assistants for the children to direct.

 

Apologies to the haters, but this show actually is growing on me.  I like the enthusiasm of the young people.  Angst and sophistication and endless snarkiness is all very well in its place (though tiresome over time), but seeing someone work for the pure joy of doing something is refreshing.   If it's on next week, I'll probably be watching.

Edited November 14, 2014 by dialyn

[Bebecat]

I skip a lot of this as I tape it, but watched the beginning and end. I love the girl who won, she was adorable and so were her clothing. I loved both outfits. Did not much care for the second outfits especially of the other two but then I am so not a fan of Gaga or KP. I am right there with little Rhianna and her designs. Can't stand the judges except for Christian, they are filler. He is the only one who matters. Love him.

[aradia22]

My recap is up on trashtalktv. The first time I watched it on the DVR this morning it felt blandly inoffensive. There were no big personalities this episode. The clothes weren't great. The judges felt like they were bringing their B or C game with the commentary. But it flew by pretty quickly. It felt like the kind of thing you watch when you're kind of zoned out. Writing the recap I found it more irritating. Last week kind of felt like a high point so this week was more annoying in comparison. I was hoping that it would be smooth sailing from here. Matt's gold lame dress wasn't that bad, cheap materials and insistence on studs aside. His Surprise Door Challenge dress was incredibly stupid. I get that you sometimes have to glue a bunch of things on the dress with the time constraints. I don't get any of the choices he made. They weren't flattering. It felt like he wasn't taking it seriously. Claire took Katy Perry who's tacky in a kind of fabulous way and just made it tacky by making knockoff Halloween costumes. The fit on the Dark Horse one seemed good though. With Claire and Matt both turning out embarrassing second looks it was easy for Brianna to sweep in and take it. Matt had the better challenge dress but if you compare her challenge dress to their second dresses, then both of her looks beat their combined looks. 

 

I'm about to pass out from exhaustion. Glad some other people are hanging in there with me.

[blaase]

Thought it was rather unfair to pair up a 16 year old with two 13 year olds.  That's a big age gap. Why couldn't they put the 16 year old against the 15 year olds they have had in previous weeks?? Though a 13 year old did pull off the much deserved win in the end.

Edited November 14, 2014 by blaase

[dialyn]

Thought it was rather unfair to pair up a 16 year old with two 13 year olds.  That's a big age gap. Why couldn't they put the 16 year old against the 15 year olds they have had in previous weeks?? Though a 13 year old did pull off the much deserved win in the end.

In Masterchef Junior, they have an eight and nine year olds going against 12 year olds, which seems an equally challenging gap.  Or it would if the eight year old wasn't an amazing cook (so far, but she may trip up at some point) and actually so are the nine year olds.   In Threads, the 16 year old might seem too old but the girls didn't seem particularly intimidated by him.  At first I wondered about having relatives as assistants (especially those who seem a little less than helpful) but I can see where having them around would be reassuring.  I was dubious because every time my mother tried to teach me anything, including driving and sewing, it was a failure--shows me not to draw on personal experience to guide me in these things.  In Masterchef Junior I've been rather impressed by how the children rally around each other....there is little of the bitter in-fighting one sees among the adults...and I was glad, in this episode of Threads that there was some support between the three.  The best thing about the winner is that I think she really didn't expect it.  No self-entitlement there, at least not yet.  Her mom just beamed, and who could blame her?  Now she doesn't have to worry about her child scavenging all the clothes out of her closet (at least not for awhile). I am a person without children so I never know what to expect from them, but some of these kids seem awfully promising in whatever they decided to pursue. 

Edited November 15, 2014 by dialyn

[aradia22]

Maybe they look at experience/quality of work more than age? Regardless of how I feel about the designs the skill it took for Claire and Matt to put together their looks seems on par with the other. Brianna seems to be the weak link in terms of construction but as we know, that doesn't even stop people on regular Project Runway.

[PepperMonkey]

I'm there with you, dialyn. I usually end up just giving in and watching this because I miss PRAS on the first run and have to wade through Threads to get to the replay of All Stars.

 

I liked the show last night. I thought the designers were cute and I loved how thrilled they seemed for the winner. I was actually rooting for her, too, because my heart broke when she said she has never been able to buy new fabric, ever. I really liked her peacock feather dress. Her mom (?) did a nice job picking her materials.

 

There's not much to feel good about on any part of the PR franchise lately, and even though I really dislike (not on a personal level) the hostess and the other judges besides Christian, that little girl winning made me smile. And the other little girl cried, she was so happy for her. Maybe there's hope for the future, after all.

Edited November 15, 2014 by PepperMonkey

[leighdear]

I'm still here too!  It was a nice show, with nice kids.  None of them seemed to be so overly egotistical or bratty and none of them referred to themselves in the 3rd person!  *LOL*

 

Good designs, some solid skills there and pretty good communications between the kids and their helpers.  I also liked seeing the fashion students participate.  I wonder if they get paid for the gig, or academic credit?  It's certainly good experience for them, even if they just get to say they were there. 

 

It was really sweet to see the winner, Brianna, so appreciative and humble.  And it takes a lot of creativity and vision to be able to re-purpose existing clothing into something unique.  Kudos to her mom for raising such a gracious young lady.   

[Pepper Mostly]

I was pleased for her, too. They said early on that they didn't have much money and that Brianna goes to thrift shops or through her mother's closet looking for things to tear apart and re-use. So having the access to lots of fabric (even Jo-ann fabric!) and a good sewing machine will really be a benefit to her.

 

I wish with all my heart that they would get rid of the stupid "twists" and the absolutely terrible host. then they might have a nice little show. Sigh.

[leighdear]

I think if they told them at the beginning of the show that there was going to be a twist, involving embellishing a pre-made, 2nd garment, it might make things a little less stressful for the kids.  

 

They wouldn't know what kind of garment it would be or if it would have to relate to their main look, but it would at least give them a little heads-up that something additional was coming.  

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Two huge improvements in this episode: (1)  instead of the winner of the first challenge getting to take something away from the other two, she got an advantage. I'm fine with 15 extra minutes and first choice at fabrics because it rewards her rather than punishing the other two (I hated in a previous episode when the winner got to take away someone else's assistant for half an hour). (2) they all got FIDM assistants! I know that Tim Gunn nixed having seamstresses on PR but I think it's fair for kids to have competent sewing assistants (as opposed to moms who can't sew well).

 

I still hate the last minute second challenge because it's unnecessary stress for these kids, and the way that they have been structured, the kids are doomed to create crap that looks like an arts and craft project. I can't decide what's worse: having them paint muslin dresses as they did in the previous episodes or having them glue crap to the muslin dresses as they did in this episode.

 

Was this the first episode where there was such a big age difference? Both girls were 13 and the boy was 16. I think he might have been the oldest contestant we've seen on the show so far too. The oldest I recall seeing before this episode was 15 but I might have already forgotten the details.

 

Based on the "show us your style" looks, I was sure that Brianna had no chance in hell of winning because her look was so simple (in terms of both construction and design) and very casual. When they were assigned their pop stars, I again thought that Brianna would lose by default because Florence Welch is much more understated than Lady Gaga and Katy Perry who are both very over the top in their costumes.

 

Matt did the right thing by listening to the judges' critiques about showing too much skin and he managed to work in the giant leaves that his grandmother brought back, so he gets credit for both of those things (even if that second look was both unflattering and too simple).

 

Claire dealt really well with her mom not bringing the requested burlap back so she too gets bonus points from me (oh, Project Runway, you have set the standards so low that I am awarding bonus points to people for not having temper tantrums!). She went from a jungle inspired "Roar" concept to a cute but simple birthday present outfit without screaming at her mom or whining about how her mom had ruuuuuuuuuined everything. The criticism that she had too much of the white dress showing in her second look was valid but it was also true of Matt's second look. He glued a handful of flowers to the front and some leaves to the shoulders so most of his white dress was still showing too.

 

Brianna's first look was definitely very similar to her original look due to the long skirt, but I liked that it showed she listened to the judges. That pink outfit showed what a difference it can make to choose different fabrics. The striped skirt and grey top she originally showed was very blah and wallflower to me (although knowing that most of the fabric she uses is upcycled does mean that she is very limited in her choices so I will cut her some slack for that) while the pink version looked much more youthful and fun. The black dress with the peacock feathers was fun. I completely forgot that she was using a white dress as a base because I didn't see any of it.

 

It was very nice to see Claire and Matt seem genuinely happy for Brianna when they congratulated her, and it was so sweet to see her mom's reaction. I hate drama queens so I would prefer they have kids like this who seem like normal kids, not attention whores dreaming of becoming reality tv stars.