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Project Runway Loses Its Head For A Skull Island Challenge
The designers head to the 'urban jungle' with their latest product-placed inspiration. Your editors discuss!
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The Talk
You know, Tara, I don't think it's that much to ask that if we sit through the infomercial of the week -- in this case, for [theme park that doesn't need my help] -- that provides the so-called framework of the challenge; and that if we endure Tim Gunn once again advising the designers to take advantage of the Brother sewing room, like they're going to stick their shit together with chewed-up Trident or something; and that if we pretend we agree that Cornelius's shady pretending to the Posenface throne is entertaining (newp!)...
...we get judging that shows any consistency at all from week to week. How is Laurence's diaper-crotch fantasia the winner when her jacket used the same techniques as, but wasn't as pretty as, the design deemed too derivative of herself to win last week?
I would love to see a statistical analysis of judges' responses to crotch fails across time, because you're right: room for a peen is either not that big a deal if the model just hikes 'em up, or the worst crime a designer can commit against a woman's body. In Laurence's case, as you note, she also delivered a dumpy butt.
As with the jumpsuit that got Laurence her first win, this is a garment that will work exclusively on the woman so skinny that she'll look like she's wearing a trash bag as a joke. Laurence's other fail? Taking the "jungle" inspiration literally, as so many of them did this week. I now have khaki blindness.
Agreed; even the look I liked best, Nathalia's, had some...color-story second-act problems? Hee. I'd also have liked to see the pants more fitted, for contrast (and maybe for Tim to have just let her fail with that too-literal fun-fur thing she initially wanted to do), but the cool girls will totally wear that capelet in NYC. And so will I! [rimshot]
I totally pictured it on you when it walked; you do love a surprising coat shape! Though maybe not so "surprising" as Dexter's. Problem 1: army green. Problem 2: gives his model exaggerated fembot shoulders.
Problem 3: Looked like Mickey Mouse ears. So glad Posen called that out. If he'd clipped the ears, I'd have liked the look, even the green -- but I was surprised they chose to take a closer look at that one over Rik's. Did you like that one? It had a Warriors cosplay thing going on, which to me is not necessarily bad.
It put me in mind of Tomb Raider, which was also not a bad reference given the challenge brief. I couldn't wear it, but the tailoring was perfect; even with the rough-edged seams, his model looked sleek -- unlike, for instance, Roberi's. I didn't really expect that one to get in the bottom because there were so many that were worse, but I wished he'd gotten judged for the sloppy proportions. Once the vest came off, it looked like jammies.
God, those shorts. Straight out of Rose's Goodwill pile on The Golden Girls. I kind of can't believe he's hung on as long as he has, but then, my notes also read, "Huh, Brik's still here?", which I assumed is what doomed him. That and not really having any design creativity, per se. He seems like a sweet man; I wouldn't mind hanging out with him. I just don't think his mind works the way PR needs it to.
As someone who has spent the past few years learning to be comfortable mixing patterns, I wanted so much to understand what Brik was going for in this challenge, because I actually didn't have a problem with either piece on its own. (...Okay, the pants were kind of a weird length. But at least they followed the line of his model's butt and crotch, LAURENCE.) I liked that he didn't go literal, and I could even almost make the argument that the print on the pants -- black and white, sort of spacey -- referenced the otherworldly sci-fi elements of the King Kong story that was supposed to have inspired them. Almost, but not quite. Bye, Brik.
I liked the top, too, though I thought he could have fit it better, but then, that was always the problem with him, wasn't it? Either he couldn't get the fit right or he only had time to do that because he had no real ambitious idea. Not something you can say about Erin, but she's flailing lately -- that, or the judges are being particularly harsh with her lately because they want to make it look like the fix isn't in.
This time I think they were right; she got stuck in her own head with that pattern, and the details just looked half-assed, not intentional. But it wasn't boring at least. ...Mah-Jing.
Erin does seem like she thinks she's safe no matter what she does, so I'm glad she got a tough critique this week. Every part of it was misbegotten -- Zac was so right to say the shorts looked like they'd been barfed on! -- and while I am with her in principle that her look probably would have come out better if she'd had more time to work on it, that is not an excuse you can offer on the runway. This is what the show's been for many a season: figure out how to work within the stupid time constraints or don't do the show.
You commented in the last podcast that the season seems to have run through the cannon fodder, and I do think that's more true than ever now that Brik is out...but based on his showing this week, I feel like Cornelius is going to be the next no-brainer cut.
You?
I don't think that's a bad bet, but I also could see Cornelius raising his game a few times when it really counts; I'm not sure Roberi and Mah-Jing can do much better than what we saw this week, and based on some foreshadowing we've gotten about Mah-Jing's emotional...readiness, let's say, my prediction is that he goes next.
I think Roberi has done enough impressive work to this point that he'll get the benefit of the doubt, Erin-style, unless he really shits the bed. Mah-Jing is not a bad bet for the next cut unless the challenge brief is a softball pitch right to his areas of strength. His carrying on after Tasha got the boot is, as you say, not encouraging.
Well, if he's going to be a baby, he should do a diaper pant. On-brand AND a judging fave!