S17.E06: Power Play

[kirklandia]

Video game character does not = superhero.

[dleighg]

I'd love to know how the game designers did the characters. I doubt they were coding in java, etc. There must be some quick-draw type things but that's completely out of my league as a sw engineer.

[gorgy]

I found the challenge too open-ended yet pretty limiting, which left me muddled as to how to feel about most of the looks. Video games can be about pretty much anything, not even involving humans, yet the judging standards were pretty rigid. It can't be too sexy, or too costumey, or too editorial, or this, that, or the other. IDK no one's outfit seemed very video game inspired to me.  It just wasn't my cup of tea. On a side note, I'm not the biggest video game person, but for some reason, I always thought Kara Saun from season 1 made clothes that reminded me of Final Fantasy. I can't put my finger on why.

[dshgr]

On 4/18/2019 at 10:57 PM, carrps said:

You're old? I started programming in COBOL.

Fortran here.  I'm really old.

[SuprSuprElevated]

This episode for me, was an example of a challenge that has little to do with fashion design.  I'm not an industry insider, but I am a consumer, and nothing that was presented here has much to do with fashion consumption, at least from where I stand.  So far, I'm not seeing much difference between Lifetime PR and Bravo PR, at least where the challenges/sucking up for commercial revenue is concerned.  I'm not deluded into thinking that I am the target demographic of this show, but would it kill them to have the designers actually design clothing that appeals to the people actually buying fashion?  This was basically a cosplay episode imo, and that doesn't seem to be anywhere near appealing to enough people to prop up an industry, let alone a television show.

[Pepper Mostly]

21 hours ago, shksabelle said:

 Last week we had “18th century Elizabethan” fashion, and this week we have the super edgy S&M designer, Garo, who doesn’t know that “editrix” is ACTUALLY the female form of editor, albeit rarely used. 

When he said "editrix" I immediately thought of a blog I follow, the owner of which is always referred to "your editrix". 

Garo tries a tad too hard. He wants to be shocking. He's mostly-not. 

[violet and green]

Well... even though I am deeply disturbed by the sheer number of quirky hats with stuff like 'bite me' appliqued on the front (part of me hopes it's just a few hats with cunning stick-on letters made of fuzzy felt, because that is just too many hats), I am quite the fan of Hester's work!

Wouldn't wear it - but realistically, no-one on that show is designing anything that would ever be faintly suitable for me to wear, at all.

I thought, of the top three, Tessa's was more tasteful, but a little dull; and Garo's was as usual tacky and rather dated.

The judging is strange, in that they say one thing and then give the win to the person who did what they said not to do, or didn't do the thing they said was a main part of the challenge. Don't go costumey! And the winner is...! Or in that survival camping challenge, giving literal-rendition-Renee's the win...

But Hester's was not a tacky costume like all the caped things that appeared this runway. And her work is fresh, as opposed to stale. There's a lot of stale bread this season! And some truly dire color palettes.

[Ilovepie]

On 4/20/2019 at 2:47 PM, kirklandia said:

Video game character does not = superhero.

Thank you! That’s all I could think because every single one of them went there, except Tessa, who I thought had the winning look. I mean, these characters could have been literally ANYTHING, and all of them went super hero. I don’t get it.

 I would have sent Jamal home. He made a suit. What!?! At least Rakan tried to do something interesting. He needs to go next.

And even though Venny’s was hideous, I thought he should have been sent to safety first just on the strength of his prior work alone. It pisses me off when someone has one bad week, and Nina starts “questioning their taste level”. It’s even more bullshit coming from the same woman who loved Hester’s plastic pants and juvenile top. I question YOUR taste, Nina.

I think this challenge was tricky because once they sketched it and the programmers animated it, they were kind of stuck. Not a lot of room to change your idea, for instance Jamall - the judges were all over him bc his model didn’t look like the animation. Maybe Venny could have improvised something else when he saw how wrong it was going, but he was locked in because of the animation.

I feel like Renee is turning into a one way monkey. All her stuff is starting to look the same to me. Well made, but similar.

CRANBERRY LYCRA!!!

[Wandering Snark]

On 4/20/2019 at 1:14 PM, carrps said:

You and me, both. Glottal stops. Ugh. And don't get me started on people who pronounce "Manhattan" as Ma Ha Uh. 

My "favorite" is people that drop the ending k from New York... and not related but I had a friend that would pronounce both 't's in mittens. Most say 'middens' with she would say Mitt-tens. Language is funny.

Anyhow, back to this week I did love Christian talking about these people that have contracted 'limited color palette fever'. There's a LOT of them represented here. This is the only reason I'd have allowed the church lady to have a pass, at least he didn't use black and white or a muted color.

[SuprSuprElevated]

On 4/20/2019 at 2:14 PM, carrps said:

You and me, both. Glottal stops. Ugh. And don't get me started on people who pronounce "Manhattan" as Ma Ha Uh.

Quick anecdote (don't taze me mods) - Had a server nearly stroke out and fall backwards saying "swee-unned or unswee-unned" when attempting to determine our ice tea preference.  My DH needed an interpreter.

[djsunyc]

On 4/20/2019 at 5:47 PM, kirklandia said:

Video game character does not = superhero.

while true - the premise of the episode was having empowering women and how women need to be creating these video game characters and making them positive influences.  i think the designers were nudged to the superhero direction.

with that said, i'm really not feeling these gimmicky challenges b/c ultimately, the finale winner is there b/c of their collection, not gimmicky costumes.  i understand they have to keep the show fresh but the way to do that is to introduce more REAL people and have the designers design for them.

one episode can be to design for the 50+ year old woman.  another for a mid 20's world traveller.  another is for a 30's business woman.  have one for a male client.  this is how you keep things interesting and the audience engaged so they can relate to the client and fashion.

[djsunyc]

another possible challenge - design an outfit for one of your competitors on the show.  this mixes up both male and female designs for people of a variety of shapes and sizes.

like imagine tessa having to design an outfit for rakan or hester having to design one for renee and vice versa and then seeing them walk down the runway in those outfits.

Edited April 22, 2019 by djsunyc

[VintageJ]

41 minutes ago, djsunyc said:

another possible challenge - design an outfit for one of your competitors on the show.  this mixes up both male and female designs for people of a variety of shapes and sizes.

like imagine tessa having to design an outfit for rakan or hester having to design one for renee and vice versa and then seeing them walk down the runway in those outfits.

They did that one season.  It was great to see them strut the runway!  Can’t remember the season, though.

[cinsays]

Wow.... I would love to see someone design an outfit for Hester that would have her looking like a normal young lady without all the gimmicky stuff!

[RedbirdNelly]

like a lot of other people, I was hoping Tess would win. I thought she showed a lot of guts sticking to her vision when everyone else was doing something more "future world character."  It was also just different from the obvious, so it got my vote despite being a bit drab.

If I were a judge, I would ding Hester whenever she heavily matches her model and/or for allowing herself to take focus away from her design. When she matches so much it just seems like she's not really designing for the challenge but just to match what she wants to wear on the runway.

I loved the ferry runway. I like it when it looks like the contestants enjoy each other.

[ichbin]

On 4/20/2019 at 2:14 PM, carrps said:

On 4/19/2019 at 8:24 PM, KLovestoShop said:

This has been a huge complaint of mine for a long time.  What the heck is it with these younger women and their inability to pronounce the letter “T” in the middle of words?  Tessa just can’t say cotton——she says ca-in.   Drives me nuts.  Mountain is mow-in.  Button is bu-in.  Where did this crapola start?  

You and me, both. Glottal stops. Ugh. And don't get me started on people who pronounce "Manhattan" as Ma Ha Uh.

Not really an inability and not necessarily an affectation or lazy speech. T-Glottalization pops up in regional accents in different parts of the USA (and the UK too). Considering contestants come from all over it is no surprise that some of them will have grown up in areas where T-Glottalization is prevalent. When everyone around you speaks the same way you don't even realize you are doing it...speaking from experience.  I wasn't aware I spoke that way until I was far into adulthood.   Even now when I attempt to correct myself I feel like I am trying to form words in a foreign language. 

On 4/20/2019 at 1:12 PM, buttersister said:

Is the finale already in the can because back away from Hester, judges! She will make you look foolish, not relevant. No kind of cool. Here’s hoping Christian’s eyes  don’t roll out of his head.

Couldn't agree more!  It's shaping up to be another season of ignoring the real talent and focusing on a a designer creating clothing few would actually be willing to wear.  The quality of Project Runway which resulted in a Christian Siriano win seems to have disappeared a long time ago.

Poor choice of both winner and loser this week.

[Pepper Mostly]

3 hours ago, VintageJ said:

They did that one season.  It was great to see them strut the runway!  Can’t remember the season, though.

Season 2.

[AG921]

On 4/20/2019 at 3:17 PM, SemiCharmedLife said:

I agree that I love Christian and he brings a lot of personality to the show.  That said, I'm not sure how I feel about his "mentoring" the contestants.  I hear the criticism, but not the constructive advice or questions to evoke new ideas.  What do you all think?

I agree and have soured on Christian a little bit unlike many people here (at least posts that I've seen.) 

I can understand how designers with bad time management skills can be frustrating especially when he's trying to motivate them to get to work but with Jamal this week, I felt like Christian was mostly being snarky and judgmental (in an "I told you so" kind of way) when Jamal wasn't able to finish his look. I don't think that's necessarily helpful from a mentor. 

Just my little nitpick

[carrps]

12 hours ago, Wandering Snark said:

Anyhow, back to this week I did love Christian talking about these people that have contracted 'limited color palette fever'. There's a LOT of them represented here. This is the only reason I'd have allowed the church lady to have a pass, at least he didn't use black and white or a muted color.

Thank you. I love color. If you find the right colors for your own coloring, you can do miraculous things. Make your skin, your eyes, your hair come alive. Neutrals have their place, but are just so dull. And working with color takes real skill. Blah colors can be a cop-out.

[meep.meep]

On 4/22/2019 at 6:07 AM, VintageJ said:

They did that one season.  It was great to see them strut the runway!  Can’t remember the season, though.

Season 2 - they did makeovers on each other.  Santino made a jankey jumpsuit for Kara.

Season 5? - with Kotto and Leanne.  They did themed outfits.  Kotto had to wear something country and western.  And Kenley made a tragic hip hop outfit for Leanne.

[LeoLady]

I also dont understand all the Hester love from the judges. I am wondering if the producers want a shock finale so they are letting Hester think she has it locked up and then tear her finale collection to shreds like they did with Brandon. Just because it's a different network doesnt mean the leopard has changed all its spots.

Edited April 24, 2019 by LeoLady
Typos

[guilfoyleatpp]

Garo is SO FUCKING BORING.

How many guys have we seen just like Garo on PR? He's sooooo "edgy." He likes black. He likes leather. He likes dominatrix looks. Yawn. And he's way too fucking young to be a "club kid." I don't know what the hell his thing is, but there are 1,000 guys like him. He doesn't do anything different or special. And yeah, dude, strong woman does not equal dominatrix. Eye roll.

Venney's outfit was 100% Brady Bunch "Sunshine Day." Ouch.

I find Hester's personal looks to be totally cringey, the hats, the centered forelock (there was a little girl who had a little curl...), and yet her designs are growing on me. The model's styling and makeup were completely predictable, and yet it wasn't a bad outfit. 

Tessa's outfit looked way more like a video game character and it was also really well done, much better execution than Hester, if I'm honest. 

[OldButHappy]

On 4/18/2019 at 10:57 PM, carrps said:

You're old? I started programming in COBOL.

We had to bring stacks of cards to the university's main frame(!), leave them there, and pick up the printout later, to see if the program ran......I'm very old!!

[mightysparrow]

11 hours ago, guilfoyleatpp said:

Garo is SO FUCKING BORING.

How many guys have we seen just like Garo on PR? He's sooooo "edgy." He likes black. He likes leather. He likes dominatrix looks. Yawn. And he's way too fucking young to be a "club kid." I don't know what the hell his thing is, but there are 1,000 guys like him. He doesn't do anything different or special. And yeah, dude, strong woman does not equal dominatrix. Eye roll.

Venney's outfit was 100% Brady Bunch "Sunshine Day." Ouch.

I find Hester's personal looks to be totally cringey, the hats, the centered forelock (there was a little girl who had a little curl...), and yet her designs are growing on me. The model's styling and makeup were completely predictable, and yet it wasn't a bad outfit. 

Tessa's outfit looked way more like a video game character and it was also really well done, much better execution than Hester, if I'm honest. 

I don't think Garo's young.  I read him to be in his mid to late 40s, which would put him in club-kid territory.

[carrps]

13 hours ago, OldButHappy said:

We had to bring stacks of cards to the university's main frame(!), leave them there, and pick up the printout later, to see if the program ran......I'm very old!!

I can still remember a printer we had that we could only re-boot with a card deck. Those cards got progressively thinner and softer over the years and were difficult to feed. They finally had to replace the printer. Of course that was just the local printer. To get output from the giant IBM printers in the "backroom" we had to have a courier who brought us our "sysouts." Ah, the days of waiting for the hardcopy to debug your code. Meeeemm'rieeeeees.

[carrps]

18 hours ago, meep.meep said:

Season 2 - they did makeovers on each other.  Santino made a jankey jumpsuit for Kara.

Man, I think I laughed hysterically for 15 mins when I saw poor Kara in that jumpsuit. Tragic and jankey.

14 hours ago, guilfoyleatpp said:

I find Hester's personal looks to be totally cringey, the hats, the centered forelock (there was a little girl who had a little curl...)

Remember the Mae West version of that rhyme?

There was a girl with a curl right in the middle of her forehead, And when she was good she was very good, but when she was bad she was better.

The original had "horrid" instead of "better." 😉

Edited April 24, 2019 by carrps
Edited to add: as a girl with curly hair, I heard that verse a LOT.

[kirklandia]

16 hours ago, OldButHappy said:

We had to bring stacks of cards to the university's main frame(!), leave them there, and pick up the printout later, to see if the program ran......I'm very old!!

I worked at the computing center in college (1970) - my job  was to run those stacks of cards through and deliver the printouts.

[Ashforth]

3 hours ago, kirklandia said:

I worked at the computing center in college (1970) - my job  was to run those stacks of cards through and deliver the printouts.

And now we all carry tiny computers that are a zillion times more powerful than the ones that were miraculous way back then. We are living in the sci-fi future of our youth! (at least we oldsters are)

Topic? ummm... Hester should not have won this challenge.

[Stats Queen]

3 hours ago, kirklandia said:

I worked at the computing center in college (1970) - my job  was to run those stacks of cards through and deliver the printouts.

In 1988, I worked in a data center and some computers were so old that you had to boot them with 8.5 inch floppy drives. Other computers (PDP 1170s) you had to boot with toggle switches.

Now when my devices don’t automatically sync I am annoyed - well, how spoiled am I now 🤪

[bitchin camaro]

I swear I'm not a no-fun-buzzkill, but I thought it was really inappropriate to point the Domin-edi-trix stuff at Nina. Yes, it's a tv show, but she's at freaking work - don't smack her with a whip or demand that she wield the whip herself. It's gross. 

"Hester" is ridiculous and that outfit was the love child of Punky Brewster and Rainbow Brite. I can see how Tessa can be grating, but she does know what she's doing and is getting a seriously rotten edit. There's no way she's the only one who called out that plastic neon Lisa Frank nonsense.

[Stats Queen]

53 minutes ago, bitchin camaro said:

Hester" is ridiculous and that outfit was the love child of Punky Brewster and Rainbow Brite

So true, and now I know my dreams tonight are going to be terrifying😜

[ElectricBoogaloo]

15 hours ago, mightysparrow said:

I don't think Garo's young.  I read him to be in his mid to late 40s, which would put him in club-kid territory.

According to the internet, Garo is 45.

Thanks to the internet, I also learned that his real name is Gary Spampinato.

[mightysparrow]

7 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

According to the internet, Garo is 45.

Thanks to the internet, I also learned that his real name is Gary Spampinato.

I was right!

Being 45 doesn't mean you can't be hip or cool or fashionable but he is definitely resting on his club-kid laurels a little too much.  Are the club-kids relevant these days?

[Wandering Snark]

13 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Thanks to the internet, I also learned that his real name is Gary Spampinato.

Okay now I will forever picture him as the Spam Piñata...