'Project Runway' It's a jungle. Print.
This week, Project Runway decided to step out of its comfort zone by asking its designers to create a look for a high powered, glamorous woman. Oh, wait. Well, to make up for the fact that there was nothing interesting about the look itself, they used the challenge as a cross promotional tool with the Brooke Shields vehicle, Lipstick Jungle.
Which is not to say that they are deigning for Brooke herself. Rather, they are designing for her character on the show, who is apparently the wife of a musician and the head of a company. The look calls for a style that is bohemian and sophisticated and able to transcend a day to night agenda. And maybe a few more things that are complete polar opposites that I am forgetting at the moment. I can't be sure.
Just to try and throw a little more spice into the competition, they are also making them work in teams. They all get 30 minutes to sketch and then pitch their ideas to Brooke. Which goes unsettlingly smooth, as no one says anything completely inappropriate. Is it just me, or is this the most well behaved group of designers we've ever seen? True, Blayne does his usual wackiness by pitching a look that includes Bermuda shorts. But he doesn't include any hot pink in his design, so there is that.
Brooke chooses Keith, Korto, Jerell, Kelli, Terri and Blayne, with the addendum that she is a little scared of Blayne's ideas, but wants to see how he pulls it off. In turn, the chosen designers have their names pulled in order to pick the designers they want to work with. It comes down to Stella being the last designer chosen, but Jerell eases the awkwardness beautifully by saying it's a perfect match since he has leather in his design.
Right away, some problems arise in the teams. Kelli has interpreted "bohemian" as leopard print. Daniel admits to the camera that he's not a fan of her design, but when Kelli asks him for his honest opinion, he nods and says "It's pretty". Suede and Terri run into a snafu with how differently they work. He measures, she plunges in with scissors. As such, they end up with a shirt that does not have quite the fabric they wanted. Terri acts like it's the end of the world, calling Suede's work "horrible", but I fail to see what's so wrong. The best moment of the show is when Terri says, "I don't know what he's packing, balls or va-jay-jay, but he needs to work that out. I ain't got no child sucking on my *****! He needs to man up!" Which ... yeah, there are no words.
On the other teams, Kenley tells Keith his design is South-Beach-Cheesey, which he takes better then I would have expected. Meanwhile, Daniel and Kelli struggle as Daniel puts as little effort as possible into his construction. In fact, he does so far as to say that he doesn't really care about the quality, because it's not his design. Tim comments that Korto's coat looks like a sweet potato and Joe agrees - leading Korto to have a mini meltdown. She tells Joe that she has immunity and if it comes down to her design being in the bottom, he would be the one going home. She later says if turns on her on the runway, she will do likewise.
Korto & Joe - The jacket got re-cut, and it's a big improvement. Honestly, it was a bit too ... puffy before, which made it look more like a costume and far less chic. The color palette is gorgeous, as well. But it is all Korto and no Joe. Though, that could be because I am not sure what Joe's sensibility is, exactly.
Kelli & Daniel - It's dreadful. It has a sort of 1989 lingerie plus power suit sort of feel. It looks cheap, dated and poorly made all at once. But they don't give out prizes for an amazing dearth of bad choices, so it's clear this is in the bottom. The second best moment of the night happens when Michael Kors describes it as "Slutty, slutty, slutty!" Jungle prints have that effect.
Jerell & Stella - It looks surprisingly expensive. The mixing of textures, leather and satin and patterns, gives it an edginess that is appropriately channeled through a silhouette that that maintains a flirty femininity. It's young without being immature, and the styling is pitch perfect. Plus, you can clearly see the influence of both designers. It's honestly quite beautiful and strong and fits the challenge quite well.
Keith & Kenley - It's really beautiful It moves well, with a pleasing flutter overlaid on a well chosen structure. Also, the sleeves are innovative, as they can be modified as part of the day-to-night schtick. However, I am not certain that shorter sleeves make the dress appropriate for office wear. All the same, it's very classy and elegant looking.
Terri & Suede - It's cute, but there's nothing really stunning about it. It's a loose fit peasant top over skinny pants. It's almost too literal an interpretation of the challenge. And nothing about it says appropriate office wear to me.
Blayne & Leanne - Oh man. I don't even know where to begin. The Bermuda shorts - which were an awful idea to begin with - are tight through the legs and loose about the middle, so about as poorly fit as you could ask for. The rest is such a mish-mash of disparate articles that it doesn't even approach the orbit of a well thought out design. And the styling is dreadful.
The final panel consists of Jerell & Stella, Keith & Kenley, Kelli & Daniel, and Blayne & Leanne. Heidi asks Kelli and Daniel to each decides who should go home and why. Kelli points out that she has consistently turned in good work, while Daniel has not. Daniel counters that he has "impeccable, high end taste", which sends Kenley into fits of giggles as Daniel clearly has neither of those things. Heidi turns the same question to Blayne & Leanne. Blayne takes the far more diplomatic approach that since it was his design, he should leave and Leanne agrees with him. I wonder why they never ask the top scoring teams to pick who the ultimate winner should be.
In the end, I am surprised that they choose Keith's design as the winner. Which is not to say that I didn't think it was gorgeous. Just not believable as office wear. I am further surprised when they also decide to send Kelli home. While her outfit this week was pure awful, Blayne has been pure awful far more consistently. I thought Kelli at least had an interesting point of view and an impressive ability to detail her work. Well, at least when it was her doing the work.
What did you think of tonight's show? Did the judges go back to wacky-town this week (it's wackalicious)? Do we need to hear more about Terri's ideas regarding gender? Who else is ridiculously excited about next week's drag queen challenge?


TOTALLY agree - Blayne should have gone home. It was bad, bad, bad. Kelli's design seemed almost sabotaged by Daniel, but it wasn't nearly as wrong as Blayne's mess. Are we keeping a "character," Bravo? If so, BAD call, because tanerexic girl needs a wake-up call.
This is the thing, What Kelli designed and put together was just bad. It was poorly sewn and just bad bad bad. And Really Michael described it best. Blayne (who I loathe) at least turned out something wearable. Keep in mind wearable if you are a 17 year old starlet who carries a tea cup chihuaua or something.
ALSO:
Suede seems to be talking more and more like a human being and less like 'Suede feels that when he sews...' not that it didn't happen. Just that it was an improvement.
Also.. I CAN'T WAIT for next week. Daniel goes home next week I think.. because I'm sure he's going to go in the completely wrong direction. Anyone else get the giggles at Tim? It like a 'pterodactyl in a gay jur***ic park'
It happens once or twice in a season where it seems the judges keep a personality and instead, opt to boot a talent. At least there's was some connection to the criteria with Kelli's dress. Blayne's outfit looked like it was for clam digging at a beach and not for an executive.
I agree with the judges that Kelli's design was the weakest of them all, but I feel that Daniel should have gone home. He put no effort into the design at all and I am really starting to dislike him. I didn't hate Blayne's outfit I just don't think it fit the challenge very well. I think it would have looking good on someone much younger - not some much for an office look.
I am very disappointed on who the judges chose for the winner. Although I thought that Keith's design was pretty I thought Jerell's design was beautiful, it fit the challenge perfectly and he really should have been the winner.
while korto/joe's outfit was lovely, did anyone notice the poor fit on that dress? there was extra fabric pouffing in the bust area.
i loved keith/kenley's outfit. can someone get kenley's to stop giggling?
ms. terri/donna summer is a drama queen.
ultimately blayne should've been auf'd but then again, if he did, he wouldn't be making that 'pterodactyl in a gay jur***ic park' outfit that we'll see next week.
I think Keith won because his was the outfit that Brook Sheilds preferred. She said that the belt on Jerell's outfit (which was Too Fabulous) was too busy for her. Most of the time it seems as if the celebrity judges' opinions don't really factor into the final decision (e.g. Sandra Bernhard clearly preferred Terri over Kenley in the New York At Night challenge), but in this case Brooke Shields actually has to wear the garment in question, so I'm guessing her preference tipped the scales.
I much prefered Jerrell's outfit, but I'm not Brooke (I didn't understand why she didn't like the belt). The winning outfit looked too "foofy" for the office.
Kelli posed the situation I always point to during eliminations; she HAS been consistently good up to this point. Blayne's staying was clearly one of those "producers' decisions."
Every season Project Runway keeps one of the more colorful "personalities" on the show at the expense of some less dramatic (but far more talented) competitors. It seems the "Holla atcha boy" gimmick is working for Blayne, so we will probably see a couple of other more capable designers bite the dust while he remains on the show simply because he is "better TV." It's all about marketing, demographics, and ratings and little or nothing to do with talent, reality, or fairness.
Why are people always so surprised and offended that television shows are after ratings? That's why they're in business, and that's what keeps them there. If you don't like it, don't watch. It's not the end of the world if someone doesn't win, just as it's not a guarantee of success if someone does.