Past Contestants: Ins and Outs

[Crystal]

I thought it would be fun to have a place to discuss Jay, Christian, Mondo, Chloe, and all the other designers of seasons past.

[car54]

Lifetime is going to have a new fashion show called Threads....likened to "Chopped but with Fashion" and Christian Siriano is the host.   I'm sure it will be fierce.

[Rhetorica]

I can't remember her name. The baggy pants woman last season? Well, check out Nike's new yoga pants!

WTF?  - http://huff.to/1kwDdTb

[Julia]

Alexandria.

[Qoass]

I see those baggy leggings thingies everywhere and every time I do I feel that Alexandria wuz robbed.  I would never wear anything she made, but still...

[PaulaO]

There hasn't been much on tv lately so I've doing a PR marathon.  I own seasons 1-4 so I started from the beginning.  I never really cared for Jay's designs until I watched the show about 5 times.  Now I can see the thoughtfulness and creativity behind his designs.  I still cannot figure out Wendy Pepper.  She did crap during the season yet I think her collection was really good.  Kara Saun's collection was derivative and really more ready to wear.  Anyway, I still love the previous seasons but haven't watched the last 2.  I might tune in this time just to see a big old train wreck.

[larapu2000]

I love Jay's collection the best, even after all these years.  I also like him best as a contestant.  "If Kara and Wendy get into a fight, then I win by default!"  I loved his Banana Republic challenge dress, their futuristic challenge outfit, his postal worker outfit, and even his flaming pink "dress" for Nancy O'Dell.  I think the only other designer that I've liked as much all around that won was Seth Aaron.  

[ThatsDarling]

I see those baggy leggings thingies everywhere and every time I do I feel that Alexandria wuz robbed.  I would never wear anything she made, but still...

I always liked Alexandria; she focused on her work, was extremely passionate (her "Why I should win" speech was heartbreaking), and had a quiet dignity. I actually think that her loss to Dom was just as unfair as Mondo's to Gretchen. Her collection looked like an actual collection that you would see at New York Fashion Week...it was by far the most well made, cohesive, and modern, and nearly every review singled her work out as the best. Dom had a great concept, but I thought her execution was very unsophisticated.

 

To make matters worse, Dom, Kate, and especially Helen were so mean to her on the reunion show because she critiqued other designers' work in confessionals (which everyone did). Helen went so far as to post a picture of her father doing a mocking impersonation of Alexandria on Twitter. Dom said in a post-win interview that she didn't think A's collection merited a place at NYFW. In retrospect, I think S12's winner must have benefited from very flattering editing because she doesn't seem very nice to me.

Edited July 27, 2014 by ThatsDarling

[CherryMalotte]

I still can't watch much of Season 8 with the horrific gang up on Michael Costello.  I'm so happy he's having such a wonderful successful career now.  

 

If I never see Gretchen again, it'll still be too soon.  And that cat launcher Kenley.   

[leighdear]

I don't think there is any contestant I love as much as Santino.  Just his Tim Gunn impression alone cemented him in my heart forever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDmoQCrCUvQ

 

 Plus, I love the roadshow he did with Austin Scarlett for a season.  It was fun.

 

I will say that Dmitry is my 2nd fave contestant, and there is NO winner that I thought deserved it as much as him.  I also loved Rami.  His draping was simply to die for.   

Edited July 25, 2014 by leighdear

[LexiconDevilOne]

It was so nice seeing my "one way monkey" tonight.

 

 

 

[larapu2000]

I loved and cherished seeing him, too.  Especially the contestant that Tim Gunn kept saying "he/she HAS to be on the show.  RIGHT???"  And Dmitry nods to what I can only assume is a producer.  No emotional reaction.  Total poker face.  I love my little Belarussian.

[Mrs. P.]

I still can't watch much of Season 8 with the horrific gang up on Michael Costello. I'm so happy he's having such a wonderful successful career.

I think Michael Costello is having the most successful career of all past PR contestants, maybe even more so than Christian Siriano, and that makes me very happy.

Beyonce's tour recently played a show close to my home, and at least 2 of her outfits for the show were from Michael. According to an article in our newspaper, her "people" drop by his showroom regularly to check out his work.

Edited July 25, 2014 by Mrs. P.

[auntlada]

I just watched the first episode of season eight on Lifetime's Roku channel. I've never seen the season before, but knew some of the people were definitely making it through the final audition thing because I've heard of them and some of them were on an all-stars season (quite a few of them actually). Anyway, I couldn't believe Gretchen won the first challenge with a boring dress that barely used anything from the garment they were supposed to be incorporating. I know most people think she shouldn't have won the season, but does she at least get better?

[LexiconDevilOne]

NO!

 

She gets far worse. She did nothing to deserve her 'win', and it hurt Project Runways credibility afterward.

 

 

Her collection of 'diaper apparel' was a travesty. As much as I've come to dislike Mondo, he did deserve to win that season.

Edited July 27, 2014 by LexiconDevilOne

[KimberStormer]

I've never seen the Mondo/Gretchen season but it's an interesting question how things would be different if he'd won it.  All-Stars might have been a legitimate competition, instead of being such an utterly transparent coronation!  But on the other hand, maybe All-Stars wouldn't have happened at all.  The other question is, would Mondo have been such a jackass as he is now?  I feel like somehow having the Internet in an uproar that you didn't win, followed by the face-saving farce that was All-Stars, would have a much bigger head-puffening effect than just a simple win.  Just winning makes you the same as all the other winners; but having time and space and Harvey Weinstein bend for you to 'get what you deserve' must feel like a much bigger deal.

Edited July 27, 2014 by KimberStormer

[ThatsDarling]

NO!

 

She gets far worse. She did nothing to deserve her 'win', and it hurt Project Runways credibility afterward.

 

 

Her collection of 'diaper apparel' was a travesty. As much as I've come to dislike Mondo, he did deserve to win that season.

 

I'm by no means a Gretchen fan and agree that her win was undeserved, but I think she was a better designer than most PR viewers do. She had an easily identifiable customer and knowledge of what was relevant in the industry at the time of her season. Her jumpsuit for the Marie Claire billboard photographed beautifully, and the look she made out of garlands and paper bags for the third challenge is one of my favorites of her season. She really did stumble after that, though, and the bulk of her finale collection was very catalogue. Ironically, those granny panties probably helped her win because they were on trend for the runway.      

I've never seen the Mondo/Gretchen season but it's an interesting question how things would be different if he'd won it.  All-Stars might have been a legitimate competition, instead of being such an utterly transparent coronation!  But on the other hand, maybe All-Stars wouldn't have happened at all.  The other question is, would Mondo have been such a jackass as he is now?  I feel like somehow having the Internet in an uproar that you didn't win, followed by the face-saving farce that was All-Stars, would have a much bigger head-puffening effect than just a simple win.  Just winning makes you the same as all the other winners; but having time and space and Harvey Weinstein bend for you to 'get what you deserve' must feel like a much bigger deal.

I definitely think that the uproar over Mondo's loss and his predetermined All Stars win gave him a big head and, consequently, stunted his growth as a designer. There was a lot of nonsense coming out of the judges' mouths during the S8 finale, but I remember Nina astutely observing that Mondo had a tendency to over-embellish and that his work could skew junior. Having Tim Gunn and the audience refer to the panel as "crack smokers" in the wake of his loss, combined with the excessive praise he received on All Stars, likely made Mondo think that he's a gift to the fashion industry with no need to evolve or be self-critical.  

[RealityGal]

I can't remember her name. The baggy pants woman last season? Well, check out Nike's new yoga pants!

WTF?  - http://huff.to/1kwDdTb

 

OMG!  The dangers of groupthink!  Its like the emperors new clothes, I can't believe anyone is working out in drop crotch pants...where they do that at?

I don't think there is any contestant I love as much as Santino.  Just his Tim Gunn impression alone cemented him in my heart forever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDmoQCrCUvQ

 

 Plus, I love the roadshow he did with Austin Scarlett for a season.  It was fun.

 

I will say that Dmitry is my 2nd fave contestant, and there is NO winner that I thought deserved it as much as him.  I also loved Rami.  His draping was simply to die for.   

 

I love Santino, but 99% of that is based on RuPauls Drag Race.  I also loved Michael, loved Dom (but didn't watch the reunion, so maybe I would have hated her), loved Dimitry, and loved Sandro (I'm all about that crazy little Russian!)

 

ETA: ahh, that video reminds me of the halcyon days when Banana Republic, or PiperLime, or BlueFly sponsored the accessory wall.  We are very close to having a Claires accessory wall....I feel it coming.

Edited July 28, 2014 by RealityGal

[Lamb18]

Gretchen wasn't so bad as a person until that team competition episode.  Michael Costello was on that team, too.  Everyone was putting him down and saying he couldn't sew.  Gretchen anointed herself team leader.  Before the judging she was saying how proud she was of the team and that they made a great collection and that they should stick together, etc., etc.  Then . . . the judges liked the other team better!  And during the judges' question, Gretchen at first said how they had such a great collection, etc., then after the judges started criticizing the collection, turned tail on her team and was saying that she could see they were failing and things going wrong, etc.  A complete turnabout.  Then watching Michael Costello's face during the judging - while Gretchen was saying how they were such a great team, etc., he was looking at her with shining eyes, almost adoring.  And (if I remember correctly) she blamed Michael for the team failure, or said he should be the one to go home, he was so disillusioned.  Ivy and others also said the failure was Michael's fault.  But ironicially (ha!), the judges said they liked Michael's work the best!

 

It really was an epic episode from a good vs. evil perspective.

[PinkSprinkles]

I just rewatched season 8 (it's on YouTube) and I'm even more outraged the second time around. Michael clearly had the winning dress at the final challenge and deserved a guaranteed spot at Fashion Week. Instead, the judges only cut April instead of ousting April and Gretchen, and then cut Michael at final four before the final three showed at Fashion Week. It was so blatant that they wanted him gone at the final five, but had no justification to do so with April and Gretchen's ugly creations. I felt awful for him all over again sobbing when he was cut right before the finale. He didn't deserve that after all the crap he went through. 

 

What really kills me is when they did this same scenario the next season, but kept all four designers because their precious pet Anya would have been rightfully ousted if they had not. Then, they had the audacity to give Viktor third place when his collection was coherent and skillfully created unlike Josh's neoprene nightmare and Anya's sarongs.  Since the show's move to Lifetime the only winner I have actually liked is Dmitry and I was pleasantly shocked by his win. 

[CherryMalotte]

Don't want to see Ivy ever again either.  I found her to be totally vile, as well as that special snowflake Helen from the last season.     

 

Still love Dmitry - he is as Michael Kors called him 'A Gentleman'.  

[Oholibamah]

Then, they had the audacity to give Viktor third place when his collection was coherent and skillfully created

 

I hated Viktor's collection. It was like two collections smooshed together: one full of hideous cliche "ink blots" and the other from an S&M nightclub. Faint praise though it may be, I actually think Kimberly had the best collection in S9 (after Bert and Laura, who weren't actually finalists). But there's no way in hell the judges were going to reward a distinctly black collection. Anya was a fine default choice.

 

My top 5 personalities are Elena, Diana, Jonathan, Christian and Seth Aaron.

 

Top 5 based on designs would be Jillian, Seth Aaron, Michelle (begrudgingly), Mondo and Leanne.

[PinkSprinkles]

I agree that Bert and Laura had the best collections hands-down and would have blown any of the four finalists out of the water. If the judges had given Kim the win I would have respected the decision because at least she had a customer in mind when creating her line. That's something the judges constantly harp on during every season (Who's your girl? What is she doing? Why would she wear this?) and one of the key factors in Gretchen's win and then Kim gets fourth following the same advice. I thought for sure she'd be at least second. 

 

I also found it funny how they changed the rules after this season to punish designers who use glue guns and stitch their models in. At least Anya's poor skills forced the show to change how they do things. 

[auntlada]

Who's your girl? What is she doing? Why would she wear this?

 

Just once, I'd like someone to start the answer with, "My girl is a woman."

[PinkSprinkles]

I'd take the Casanova approach and say I make clothes for sluts, flamenco dancers, and old ladies. ;-)

[Oholibamah]

(Who's your girl? What is she doing? Why would she wear this?) and one of the key factors in Gretchen's win and then Kim gets fourth following the same advice. I thought for sure she'd be at least second.

 

Kim's answer to this question doesn't start with the words "she's white", so unfortunately the judges (particularly Nina and Michael) weren't going to view it the same way as they did Gretchen's. I hesitate to throw Heidi into this group because she makes an effort to appreciate diversity, but she was still part of the chorus line who stressed that "no woman wants her butt to look bigger".

 

However, this train of thought gets at precisely why I always defend Anya. Hers moreso than any other collection in the show's history had a clear client, a clear destination, and a clear revenue stream. Any ethnicity could wear her clothes, be it to the beach, a luncheon, or on vacation; the general shapes could be adapted to larger sizes and cuts, and the ideas can be easily scaled down to RTW or lower price points. And unlike Gretchen or Michelle, who have a clear customer in mind, Anya's collection wasn't subject to a passing fad (leather diapers and metal jewelry) or niche market (steampunk).

 

Anya also represents her own brand, which sounds like a thinly veiled attempt at justifying her win with her beauty, but even if she had the face of a dog it would be true: she is from the climate where you would wear her clothes and has the edgy/cool vibe to go along with it, which does a lot to further a designer's image. Her construction skills were obviously questionable, but intact enough to produce a sample of what she would sell, which is all a mass market designer really needs to do. Her strength lies in her eye for color, patterns and flattering shapes, which is far more than I can say for seamstress Viktor with his clashing prints and Josh's hideous lime green bicycle shorts.

 

She placed in the top in 7 out of 12 challenges, won 4, and only landed in the bottom on a (completely ridiculous) menswear challenge. You can argue that these were largely undeserved (although I think she undoubtedly owned the Print and Bird wins), but with such a weak field of designers it's still an impressive resume to enter fashion week with. I do think the reprieve they gave her at Final 4 stinks of producer manipulation, but the other 3 collections were also in such horrendous shape at that point that production essentially had to bail all four out or make PR the laughing stock of Fashion Week.

 

I do realistically believe that the producers thought "gee, she sure is pretty and hasn't bullied anybody. We need to save face after Mondo lost to Gretchen. Just give her the damn win." But at the same time, I just can't get that butthurt about it, because I think she did enough to earn it, especially against the opponents she had. (And because they were never going to give Kimberly the win, which is a shame.)

[leighdear]

I could never shake the feeling that Anya's looks referenced Uli's too much....I ADORED Uli's long, flowy dresses with wrapped & braided straps in beautiful gauzy prints.  Then Anya came along and brought the same types of garments.  But while I felt Anya's were created as the easiest and most technique-free designs, I felt Uli's were created from her heart & soul.  Sounds sappy, I know.....*LOL*

[PaulaO]

I lost all interest in this show when Anya won.  I've always suspected there was producer bias and her win proved it.

 

So what have been your favorite designs that didn't win their challenge?  Season One Jay and his Chrysler building dress is my first pick.  Second was Season Four Jillian and Victorya's avant garde coat.  I covet that coat.

[KimberStormer]

It's a funny thing--I'm not speaking of anyone specifically--but in the past a lot of people have expressed annoyance with the contestants, when asked "why should you go to fashion week" saying "I want this so much, I've been on such a journey to get here!" because it's supposedly irrelevant.  "It's a job interview," people have said, "They should be professional and say what they can provide to their 'employer', not talk about themselves."  Now I don't personally agree with this--PR is a TV show, not a fashion business, and what they are selling is precisely personalities and 'personal journeys', not clothes--but I think there is some wisdom to it.  And by that mercenary measure, Anya's lack of technique is also completely irrelevant.  She made clothes that looked good, and that's all that matters.  Even people like me who are impressed by nice sewing aren't going to say "well, I was going to buy this beautiful dress until I realized the designer doesn't make sleeves!"  In fact, in the real world of today's fashion, the simpler the better--every detail costs money, so the less sewing the better.  Making something nice with limited means is a creative skill in itself, too. 

 

The 'soulless' critique on the other hand I think is perfectly fair.  That's something that makes sense, as a critique, whether it's in the PR context or the commercial context or just from an art-appreciation standpoint.

 

Most of the clothes on the show vanish quickly from my mind, but in addition to the other two non-winners that have been mentioned, I have always thought Leanne should have had her 3rd win in a row with her avant-garde astrology Cancer dress, which to my mind was way, way above all the others, and which they shuffled off the scene as fast as they could, I presume to keep people from noticing that fact.  Or maybe I just have weird taste.

[ThatsDarling]

I hated Viktor's collection. It was like two collections smooshed together: one full of hideous cliche "ink blots" and the other from an S&M nightclub. Faint praise though it may be, I actually think Kimberly had the best collection in S9 (after Bert and Laura, who weren't actually finalists). But there's no way in hell the judges were going to reward a distinctly black collection. Anya was a fine default choice.

 

My top 5 personalities are Elena, Diana, Jonathan, Christian and Seth Aaron.

 

Top 5 based on designs would be Jillian, Seth Aaron, Michelle (begrudgingly), Mondo and Leanne.

I love that you mentioned Jillian as one of your favorite designers. She's incredibly talented and I always thought it was a shame she was on season 4, as there was no way the judges were ever going to give the win to anyone other than Christian that year (although I much preferred Jillian's collection to his McQueen and Westwood emulations).   

 

I would be interested to hear how other fans of the show rate the winning collections. Jay's and Leanne's stand out as the best to me, but I also loved Irina's and Michelle's. Seth Aaron's was bold and editorial, but some of the pieces were too referential and dated looking for my liking. I loved the concept behind Dom's collection and the styling was fun, but the execution was very unsophisticated. She had many issues with fit and print placement, and it was difficult for me to envision her customer. I found Dmitry's collection to be a bit cheap looking, and thought Chloe's suffered from a poor color story and fabric choices. While Anya was no master of construction, she did, as Oholibamah pointed out, produce a cohesive collection with a thoroughly distinct point of view. Gretchen displayed a strong understanding of her customer and was on trend with the look and styling of her collection, but I disliked her fabric choices and thought several of the garments lacked impact on the runway. Christian's was far too derivative and repetitive for me, but Jeffrey's remains my least favorite. Terrible fabric choices and styling, strange proportions, and too many extraneous details.                 

[RealityGal]

Of the seasons that I've seen, I enjoyed Dom's, and I've only seen Seth Aaron on All Stars, but I loved his collection.  Knowing full well I couldn't wear any of it.  I can't remember Dimitry's collection, but I really loved his clothes so I'm sure it was all good.  

[PinkSprinkles]

Winning Collections (excluding All-Stars)

 

Loved:

Jay. Christian. Leanne. Seth-Aaron.

 

Liked:

Jeffrey. Irina. Dmitry. 

 

Meh:

Chloe. Dom. 

 

Hated:

Gretchen. Anya. Michelle. 

 

I think Chloe ended up the default winner in season 2 because both Santino and Daniel V's collections had major issues. Santino had fit issues due to almost none of his models showing up for fittings, which I don't think was brought up on the show and was a major reason he lost. From what I remember of Daniel's, his collection was just uninspiring and phoned in. 

 

I remember loving Jillian on season 4. I think if Jillian had been on season 3 or 5 she would have easily won. Same goes for Rami (he's still the hottest contestant they have ever had). 

[ThatsDarling]

I think Chloe ended up the default winner in season 2 because both Santino and Daniel V's collections had major issues. 

Absolutely. It's a shame that Kara Janx was the last person eliminated before the finale. Had she been eligible, I think she would have easily won for her fabulous collection. 

[HyeChaps]

I will always, always love Robert Best.  IMO he was wrongly aufed instead of Jeffrey in the dress the relative challenge.

[PinkSprinkles]

Robert had so much potential! The first two challenges he was outstanding and then went boring on us. I expected more from someone who designs Barbie clothes. 

[Oholibamah]

And by that mercenary measure, Anya's lack of technique is also completely irrelevant.  She made clothes that looked good, and that's all that matters.

 

I find this approach interesting - I wonder how Anya would be received if the runway was the only segment of the episode that they aired. I personally liked every single thing she put on the runway except her Sheepdogs outfit.

 

I could never shake the feeling that Anya's looks referenced Uli's too much....I ADORED Uli's long, flowy dresses with wrapped & braided straps in beautiful gauzy prints.

 

The aesthetic itself is referential to begin with and extremely canon, so I can't get on board with thinking Uli somehow has a monopoly on flowy dresses or that anybody would be referencing a reality contestant from 6 years earlier.

 

That said, it's unquestionable that Uli > Anya. But as often happens with this show, a fabulous designer gets passed over for the win, only to have a similar designer take the prize years later because now that look is "in".

 

I love that you mentioned Jillian as one of your favorite designers. She's incredibly talented and I always thought it was a shame she was on season 4

 

Not only that, but my lists are loosely ranked: Jillian's Avante Garde and Museum garments are both in my Top 5 all-time Project Runway designs. Leanne has 3 in my Top 20, Mondo 2 in the Top 10, and Emilio/Seth Aaron two each in the Top 20. But Jillian obviously takes the cake.

 

Also, it's unfortunate that Seasons 4, 5, 7 and 10 had such stellar Final Fours, and then seasons like 6, 8, 9, 11, 12 are pretty "meh". Can't we spread that shit around a little?

 

I would be interested to hear how other fans of the show rate the winning collections.

 

Made of Win:

Leanne, Jay, Michelle, Seth Aaron, Christian (I love it, referential or not)

 

Defensible:

Dom, Irina (if we remove the morally suspect t-shirts)

 

Commercially Viable: (and thus completely acceptable as collections, but lacking a wow-factor that I personally prefer on PR)

Anya, Chloe

 

Weak: (but still deserved to win based on his body of work)
Dmitry

 

Blah: (and I feel pretty confident that I am not factoring in personality here... much.)

Jeffrey, Gretchen

 

Rami (he's still the hottest contestant they have ever had).

 

Speaking of which, this calls for a Top 5 Eyecandy: Rami, Jeremy, Ra'mon, Jesse and Anthony Ryan.

[KimberStormer]

I remember loving Jillian on season 4. I think if Jillian had been on season 3 or 5 she would have easily won. Same goes for Rami (he's still the hottest contestant they have ever had). 

 

I thought Jillian's was by far the best of a strong field in Season 4, but to me as a dressmaker, Leanne was on a completely different level from any other Project Runway contestant and there is no way I would put Jillian over her.  (I do think it's a terrible shame that Jillian is pretty much completely forgotten when she was definitely one of the very best designers to come on the show.)  She's the only person whose work made me say to myself, I couldn't do it without having seen it done, if that makes sense.  I mean that everyone else is drawing from a well of techniques that are fairly standard, but Leanne, like my designer heroes such as Madeleine Vionnet and Vivienne Westwood and Issey Miyake, was making clothes in a way I hadn't seen them made before.  Of course she's not on that exalted level, but still it's something I never thought I'd see on PR.

 

It makes me sad to think of how much time they used to get and how much better the collections used to be.  Any of the recent seasons' collections are pretty pathetic compared to the days of Jay and Kara Saun, Christian and Rami and Jillian,  Leanne and Korto...not the designers' fault, but the producers'.  Of recent collections the only one I remember liking much at all was Elena's decoy collection.  Sad.

[Lnmop]

I maintain that Christian and Chris March's avant garde creation was and will always be the #1 design EVER on PR.

And I loved Laura Bennet's garments.

[Lillybee]

My favorite moment of all time was when Austin Scarlett walked the runway when Jay's model went awol during the USPS challenge.

[Fostersmom]

I just watched the first episode of season eight on Lifetime's Roku channel. I've never seen the season before, but knew some of the people were definitely making it through the final audition thing because I've heard of them and some of them were on an all-stars season (quite a few of them actually). Anyway, I couldn't believe Gretchen won the first challenge with a boring dress that barely used anything from the garment they were supposed to be incorporating. I know most people think she shouldn't have won the season, but does she at least get better?

 

This calls for the most fabulous PR post i've ever seen. It's still a thing of beauty. http://tomandlorenzo2.blogspot.com/2010/08/pr-thirty-three-faces-of-gretchen.html

Read it after you watch the disaster group project episode. 

[AwesomO4000]

So what have been your favorite designs that didn't win their challenge?

 

My first pick... and I'll have to come back with a second, because this one stands out in my mind the most: Andrae's oily mud puddle inspired dress from the inspiration challenge in season 2. I'm still not sure how he didn't win this challenge. Daniel's potted lily inspired blouse and skirt was pretty and flower-like, but a flower is pretty. Andrae managed to make a dress that looked like an oily mud puddle, but was still also beautiful. It even appeared to flow like water in a mud puddle when the model walked down the runway.

 

Not sure it counts as a challenge per se, but if so, second I would pick the skirt that Chris March made entirely from safety pins... that was impressive, but it did not get him into the finale.

 

My favorite personalities so far... and I can't choose only five here. Maybe not even just 10...

 

Austin, Jay, Andrae, Santino ("I want your soooooul!"), Christian, Robert Best (I agree with you @HyeChaps - over on TWoP I used to have a great time quoting Robert over on the quotes thread. He had a dry, but witty sense of humor), Michael Costello, Dmitri, and Laura Bennett, Uli, and even Kayne (of Many Colors). Honorable mentions: Uncle Nick, Bradley the squid without an ocean, even Joshua, who was a diva, but owned it, and redeemed himself for me in the All-Stars show. And I too, liked Sandro (and even generally liked his clothing style). It can likely be seen from this list that I generally favor the personalities of the earlier seasons.

Edited August 1, 2014 by AwesomO4000

[HyeChaps]

Oh, yes, Kayne, "Our Sunshine!"

[ratgirlagogo]

My favorite contestant ever was Chris March, and I love his avant-garde design with Christian Siriano.  I adore Jillian and Victorya's coat from the same challenge, but I felt like it wasn't really avant-garde.  It was the just the most amazing coat anyone ever made in the history of the show.  It should have gotten some kind of prize for that.

Beyond that I loved Seth Aaron just generally.  Loved Jay's runway show (still the best one, IMO), Leanne's runway show, Austin's corn husk dress and his Godspell costume, Jillian's twizzler dress, Jeffrey's yellow couture dress (even though I didn't care for Jeffrey), Kara Saun's post office outfit, Santino's reindeer leiderhosen, Mondo's finale Day of the Dead collection and his unconventional challenge dress with the cedar shavings, oh, I'll think of more later.

 

 

I can't believe anyone is working out in drop crotch pants...where they do that at?

All over New York, for one.  And they were when Alexandria's season was on.  That was the stupid part.  They may not be for everyone but the judges must have known there was a target market for them right in NYC.

Edited August 1, 2014 by ratgirlagogo

[ub40fan]

Kara Saun made a beautiful backless short green dress that I loved.  And Leeanne's blue wedding dress was amazing.  And I loved all of Mondo's clothes in his final collection on his first season but damn! he turned to a real shit, didn't he?  And Laura Bennet's short evening dresses were to die for.  Who did I hate the most?  That's easy...Gretchen.

 

 

[Former Nun]

I'm always amazed that posters remember so many designer names AND the things they created in long-past seasons.  Good for you.  I have to just sit back, read, and enjoy.

[PaulaO]

I've started re-watching Season 5 and cannot believe the level of stupidity.  The first challenge was the unconventional materials challenge (they shopped at Gristedes just like S1E1) and most designers took tablecloths and shower curtains, then expressed incredulity when Tim said the judges will penalize you for using something similar to fabric.   Suede actually said "I never thought about what I would use in an unconventional materials challenge."  Have you never watched the show????  You had 4 seasons to figure this out.  Blayne and Stella were the most untalented designers ever.  Blayne because he came up with cr@p and Stella because she couldn't see outside her leatha box. 

[Oldernowiser]

Oh, Suede. SUEDE. Always talking about himself in the third person? He actually said, "I never thought, " instead of "Suede never thought?" Hated that pretentious little shit. Although Blayne with his "-licious" suffix was equally annoying.

I actually liked Stella because she was quite authentic, especially compared to the others that season. But you're right, it was gonna be LEATHA no matter what.

It's all coming back to me...Kenley's voice. Gawdamighty.

You're one brave soul to be able to handle re-watching that season--although Leanne's designs actually gave me goosebumps, they were so gorgeous.

[leighdear]

 

Oh, Suede. SUEDE.

Wasn't he the one that got Tim Gunn hooked on the phrase "Holla atcha boy"?  *LOL*

[Oldernowiser]

Wasn't he the one that got Tim Gunn hooked on the phrase "Holla atcha boy"?  *LOL*

It pains me deeply that I know this...and knew it instantly...but I believe that it was Blayne aka "Ridiculicious," who was trying to teach Tim Street Speak.

[leighdear]

Those guys all just kind of blur together for me in a hipsterish-street-kinda-brodude-style mass of wannabe.  Which one was a tan addict & always wore a hoodie?