Finally, the Finale

Well my dears, Project Runway is back for another season-starting tomorrow.

I did not post my thoughts on the finale for Season 7. I didn't even watch the finale right away. I knew, I just knew Seth Aaron was going to win it. He had an even, strong viewpoint for the whole season and was the nicest guy to boot. I wasn't worried about my favorite designer of the season (wellll maybe a little bit).

Not much drama leading up to the show. The Tim Gunn visits were cute as always. Emilio didn't listen to Tim at all, in fact he argued with him, and after seeing Emilio's show, he would have done well to listen! It's no
surprise that Mila matches her black and white home decor, down to her black and white Dalmatian. How cute was it to see her goth days photo though? Seth Aaron got excited and made a ton of outfits, and Tim's advice is, he needs to try harder. Re-do the collection! Wow. Strong advice, but Seth is smart and he does take Tim's advice seriously. Tim gets his moment on the trampoline with the family, who are the cutest gosh darn family besides.

Let's skip all the in-betweens and get right to the collections!

Emilio's collection:
Tim was right, his collection is matronly, and why did he choose this color scheme? The looks are made well, they're not over-done for the most part and they are looks that many women would wear. There is nothing particularly special or new about these looks and he went too much with 3 of the colors, one of which is a split pea soup color and then his Emilio Sosa print which I never decoded during the print challenge they had.Emilio's first look shows his color scheme and his print:Yeah, exactly. Love to see the coat, but that color leaves a bad taste in my mouth. The dress design doesn't look flattering on the bottom and the overall feel is just too much together.

This look shows the blue he used and the simple, clean look he was going for. This model walked the hell out of this look, so it looked bold coming down the runway, but as you can see, it's a basic blue dress on an attractive woman. This look was pretty random, and again, basic.
Here was his show-stopping piece, which I guess he was setting up with his random metallic look above(?) The judges liked this gown. Emilio did really well during the season but he just didn't use all his talent during this runway show and I was pretty confident he wasn't going to win. Perhaps he was edited to look like the jerk, but you don't mess with Mr. Gunn!

Mila's collection:

I was pleasantly surprised by Mila's collection. Yes, we all knew it was going to be black and white. That's ok, that's her color palette and it's very Mila. I loved the progression of her collection coming out and her last look was hot. It was very Mila, but a more current style of her. I was a little worried when I saw her collection, but I still knew it was Seth Aaron's game to win.Here's her first look. Very Mila, in design and coloring-of course. I like the styling that she did for her collection, it was a little bit gritty and it really sold it for me for her looks.I loved this next look. Likin' the gloves and the dress. The leggings really make this look special.
This look was overall plain, but the back of the sweater was done really well. Overall, her looks were very simple and some of them were pretty forgettable.
Here's her final look, which closed off the show with a pop! I like the horizontal lining of the dress, which goes with the rest of her collection. This maybe would have been even better cut a little bit shorter? Nonetheless it's a strong look to close.

Seth Aaron's collection:

My favorite designer all season did not disappoint. Yes there was houndstooth, yes there was plaid, yes there was a leathery-y type of material. Perhaps not all of his looks were winners, but all of his looks made me stare. They were all very strong in some way. Although Mila had a strong showing, there was still no comparison to Seth Aaron's show.

The first look opened with this red look. Super hot, I would love to have this.This one looks simple at first glance, but after looking at it, I loved it more and more. The back is very striking. I really liked how you never knew what was coming out next during Seth Aaron's show. This looked so bright and intriguing when it came out. Was it a dress? A coat? Yellow plaid is not something I would normally think of, but one of my fave all time PR looks was Jeffrey's yellow plaid couture dress and now this look is embedded in my mind.Seth completed his look with a show-stopping piece. Static on the page this dress is a strange silhouette. It doesn't seem to go with the rest of the show. However, in motion this look I couldn't not stare at the whole way down the runway. What was going on? Such a dramatic look to end on.
Congrats to Seth Aaron! The nice guy did finish first this time, a well deserved win. One of my favorite designers in PR history!
<3
<3
<3

The Big, Top Designers

This week, their last challenge, Heidi tells the designers that they will be taken to a tent. The tent ends up being the Ringling Bros. Circus at Coney Island.

Cue cheesey circus music and Tim Gunn enters. (Tim seems a little perturbed to be in this non-fashonista tent.) The designers watch their very own circus and act like they've never seen a circus before.

The challenge is to create a high fashion look inspired by the circus.
A gay circus to be exact, much to the delight of Jay. :D

The designers get to spend 2 days on this challenge, a luxury in the Project Runway world. Most of the designers grabbed striped fabrics for this challenge. Anthony however, chose a color inspired by the twirling girl on the rope. He's hoping that's gonna work as well as the girl's moves.

In the workroom, Emilio is in love with his dress and tells everyone that he's coming hard. Ok then....let's move on to the runway....



The winning-est look this week is Emilio. Yes, Emilio is annoying. Yes, he's an ego-maniac. This week, he proved that he was the only one that understood the challenge. It was to be a high fashion look inspired by the circus, but not look exactly like a costume worn in the circus. Most of the other designers went too circus costume, I didn't feel it was high fashion. There is some great debating on the internets if this look is the best or not. First, take this dress in, and then look at the others. My vote is that he is the winner. Is it the "best of the season" as Michael Kors stated? I don't agree with that, my vote is for Seth Aaron's black and white jacket.

However, kudos to Emilio for this look and convincing the judges early on that he deserved to go to Fashion Week.


Seth Aaron.
*earmuffs time*
What in the fuckety fuck is this creation?? Where did Seth Aaron go? Is he designing for the Hamburglar? The coat seemed like an over-sized version of another jacket or combo of jackets he's done before. Michael pointed out the crotch issues on the pants; the looked like a "man needs to fill out the front of them". I understand that Seth Aaron usually uses black, and he figured he needed some circus colors so he added the yellow and red, which I don't feel works all together. That with the over-sized collar and I just don't like this look. Of course I want Seth Aaron to go to fashion week, but this final look was super disappointing to me.



Nina is not crazy about this look. I have to agree. There's too much going on at once. As the guest judge stated, there's too much shine, too much going on. It looks so costumey and just off. Something about the color combo and the fabrics she used all together kind of irk me. There's no one thing I hate, just compiled together I don't like it. I do enjoy the black part of the jacket, and I do like the high collar for some fun.


The arch enemies Mila and Jay end up tying for the last spot. This happened to Chris March and Rami Kashou in another season. It's strange that they did this (the 2 will have a design off right before fashion week to see who moves on), because both of them made it far enough to show at Fashion Week anyway, and it was obvious from the 2nd or 3rd episode that both of these designers were going to make it to the end. Why not just do Top 4 as they've done in some other seasons?


As for Jay's look, there are elements I like and elements I don't like. First of all, Jay has a thing for these pants that are low and have a wide waistband, which wouldn't be flattering on someone who has any kind of hips. From his sketching and talk in the workroom, I thought he was going to make more exaggerated pants, more like what he wears himself- wide leg and big. I don't know if that would work with such a short jacket, but nonetheless Nina seemed to like these pants. As for the jacket, I really like it...for the most part. I don't know why he makes certain tops so freaking wide apart. I don't know of any woman that would want that much space across her chest. Besides that, I love the detailing, very Michael Jackson.

If the judges were basing who goes to Fashion Week solely on these 2 final outfits, I would say that Jay deserves to go and Mila to be Out. However, if they're going on overall designs from the season, I would say it is a tie.


"Damn. Lesson learned." Anthony was brought back to us only to be taken away again. Anthony is funny, because he gets the challenges, and then goes, hmmm, I think I'll make a pretty dress. If he had been on last season, when all the challenges were "Make a Pretty Dress", then he would have made it. However, he won the 2 challenges that were to make a pretty dress for Heidi and didn't do so well in the other ones. Apparently he chose a terrible fabric to work with, and his color was an odd choice for the circus. Apart from that, to have 2 days to make a look, and come out with this, is strange. It doesn't seem fitted enough, almost too big for the model. Out of the 5 looks, this one was one I just didn't feel worked with the challenge, and it wasn't that amazing besides.


Auf Weidersehen Anthony! Again....

Stacked, packed and ready to attack!

Sew Not Ready

This week's episode answers a question about the designers showing at Fashion Week. It was noted that the top 10 designers got to show at Bryant Park; a lot of decoys to catch up on due to the fact that the fashion weeks are still behind due to the Lifetime/Bravo war. For some reason, although the beautiful Maya was doing even better than Top 10, she did not show at Bryant Park. Strange indeed.

This was answered last night, but it was not for any dramatic reasons; no health scare, no cheating with sewing books, etc. She simply didn't feel "ready". She just got out of fashion school and does not want to go to Fashion week and show something that's not "her". Well. How mature is that? It does feel a little like a cop out, as Emilio stated- she should have made the most outrageous piece and gone out in a fiery explosion! However, Seth Aaron sympathetically told viewers to F off if they didn't understand that they are doing 18 hour days 7 days a week under the scrutiny of cameras and judges, and to come try it themselves. Have I mentioned that I love him? <3

And then....a ray of sunshine walks in....Anthony!!! *commence little girl squeals* Our Alabama Mama-Jama comes in and it's like he never left us. I had heard another rumor that Lady Gaga was going to be a guest judge, but alas, they are designing for some non-committal red carpet look for frau Klum. Heidi wears some interesting looks on the show, but her red carpet looks are usually basic and pretty, so this shouldn't be a problem for Miss Anthony. He did win the previous Heidi challenge this season.

Mrs. Samuel nee Klum walks around with Tim Gunn this time around, which although intimidating and annoying for the contestants, is a probably a good thing.

Jonathan has the worst time with this critique, as Heidi calls his intricate cut-away technique "curtains". This drives Jon crazy and he scraps his idea and tries another look. Unsatisfied with that one....he scraps it at the 11th hour (literally-it was 11:30) and goes for a 3rd look. Sometimes, you can get away with doing this and get the safe pass, but unfortunately, we're down to 6 designers, and there's no one to hide behind. Jay has the best time with the critique, as Heidi shoes her the assets up close.



Onto the runway....

Mila "I lost my bangs-twin" Hermanovski
Mila does a really strange look. She gets gunmetal gray and gold to do a "different" look. For some reason, she picks the least red carpet look length of dress, it's neither short nor long. It doesn't fit well, and honey, when you're designing for Heidi Klum, the first area she goes to is the bust area. The straps were too wide, the length was all wrong and it was not exciting at all. I'm not hating the back, so I'm wondering why she didn't make it a floor length gown?



Jay "I like big butts" Nicolas Sario
Jay went for the second area you don't want to mess with: the butt. He tells us "I guess I just like big butts!", well you cannot lie, because you made this skinny model's ass look voluminous. I also don't like how the bust fits on her andI hate the bottom, I don't know why he likes these poofy looks.



Emilio "Judges love me" Sosa
And the first winner of this challenge is Emilio. *groan* In fairness, this IS a red carpet worthy look. The problem is that Emilio just won the last 2 challenges, and he didn't really have the best look either time, so this win is deserved, but not appreciated by moi. This did fit really wonderful in the front, it hugged the body, and I did love the fabric he used, the sparkle is the wow factor here. I did not like the little exclamation point on top. Perhaps a little something else for the embellishment I would have loved more, that little jut of fabric was more distracting for me than appealing. Interesting how much Ms. Alba knew about the building of the under gown to make this look amazing. But then again, how many red carpet looks have I worn? For the record: 0



Anthony "Stacked, packed and ready to attack" Williams
The second winner is Anthony!!! *more little girl squeals* Anthony is wishing that every week they were designing for Heidi. When this look came out I loved it, but thought the judges would think it was too plain. When Jessica Alba said she loved it, I thought, wow this really was made for Jessica, not Heidi. So it really came as no surprise that our Anthony would win the challenge for Jessica Alba. Congrats Anthony!


Seth Aaron "I lost my model to Donna Karan" Henderson
And the third winner is Seth Aaron for his red carpet look for Miss Q! Seriously, why did they not like this look? Am I as blinded for my appreciation of Seth as the judges are for Emilio? I know it's dark, but Heidi's dossier showed black gowns, it's a red carpet look with fine detailing and it looked impeccably tailored. I could see her wearing this, or even better-Dita Von Teese. I know Heidi also wears a lot of red, so perhaps if this had been a more vibrant color they would have seen the detail in this and had more of a "wow" moment? I thought he did a good job of editing himself too. I also didn't appreciate that they wanted more drama in the bust area. Hello, then don't have a 100 lb. model showing off the gown with no bra on. You want a wow moment, put someone with a wow curvaceous body in it!!!



Jonathan "Eleventh hour drapey project" Peters
Jonathan. What a rough week for Jonny boy. His Amy left, then Maya, and he got ripped a new one on the last challenge. And then he goes for the opposite effect of making something he "hates that the judges will probably love" and it just failed. Poor guy. This dress is clearly not red carpet, although I could see Heidi wearing this somewhere else, due to the shortness of it. The front is just so bad, I'm sure he knew he was going home as soon as it turned the corner. The judges loved the back drapy effect. Of course the hem was atrocious, he made it in 30 minutes.

Jonathan was a designer with such a big heart and a real passion for doing something different with his clothes. As overworked as his looks could sometimes be, he did do some amazing looks. We will miss you Jonathan!


Check out Maya's interview with Tom and Lorenzo: http://tomandlorenzo2.blogspot.com/2010/04/t-lo-interviews-maya.html

Hey, that's my fabric

The Magnificent 7 get the latest "challenge of a lifetime" this week as they get to design their own fabric print (using HP computers, of course).

The designers design their print, and shop at Mood for some supplemental pieces. Once they get their fabric the next day, they need some alone time with their fabrics.....

Now that the alone time is out of the way, the designers carry on. I got very worried this episode, because my favorite, Seth Aaron, did the imminent going home phone call home! Was it going to be Seth Aaron, Emilio or Anthony in the top? Which one would be going home? Let's move on to the runway and see....


Jay is the only safe designer this week. I like where Jay was going with this design. His print is not that innovative but he used it in a smart way. It's interesting that Jay makes pants a lot, but I'm not sure he is the best at tailoring them. I do like the straps on the jacket.


Seth Aaron was not sent home, nor was he the winner this week. His print seemed Betsey Johnson-ish and although he makes a lot of jackets and pants looks, he does them well. He makes pants in a different way, that Jay can only dream of doing. Overall, this look has a little too much going on, like they usually do, but his looks definitely make you look. If he can keep up this work, and then stand back and edit a la Tim Gunn, he will be the winner.

Check out how he lined up his print in the back, just beautiful.



Maya had a great overall look, with the styling, how she used her print and even down to her print, which Michael Kors called electric. For someone who was scared to design and use a print, she did a fierce job. I could see Rihanna working this with some more intense shoes and maybe some metal jewelry on her forearms.


Emilio got the winning look this week. I'm sure he expects to win every week, so this just adds to his over-inflated ego. When this first walked down the runway, I thought it looked a little too bulky and not what I was expecting him to do with his print.

Then the jacket came off, and you can see his print, (which made no sense). I did like how the initials made a wave like pattern. How SASE means Emilio Sosa, I couldn't understand, no matter how many times they edited it to explain. (I did love how Tim Gunn thought it was SA for Seth Aaron) Emilio made a chic look with a cute print, but I don't know if it was worthy of another win.


Onto the unsuccessful designers:


The judges have a love/hate relationship with Mila. They were not impressed with her "70's mom" beach look. I thought her print was very boring, but still Mila-like. There's nothing much to say about this look, it's large and not that interesting.
Did she mean for the print to wrap around and meet like that? With just a little more time and planning, it seems (to my untrained eye) that she could have met them up, like my dad lines up the wrapping paper print when he wraps presents.

The judges really ganged up on Jonathan this week. Jon does have a lot going on with his designs, and he could usually do with some editing, but was this look really that bad? I do agree that his print came out quite bland and would have done better in a bolder style, so that the circles on there didn't look like grease spots. However, the judges have praised his muted tones in the past. And yes, the jacket was like a strait jacket...but I felt the judges were particularly vicious to him. Shame on you judges for being bullies this week!
And he did stay true to his style aesthetic.


Friends, I love me some Anthony to death. He's so fun, and you can tell he enjoys making clothes for women. You could tell early on that he was not going to make it to the top, but stayed around more for entertainment factor. I just really can't justify this outfit he made. As soon as it walked out, I just knew he was going to get the Auf. Poor Anthony! At least he has bragging rights with his Marie Clare win.

Anthony, I'm sure this won't be the last we see of you. Your personality brightened up that dull workroom. If there had been a prom challenge this season, you would have killed it! Mwah!

Takin it to the streets....of fug

It's down to the Top 8 designers, and there's no more squeaking by at this point. Go big, or go home! This weeks' challenge is a New York challenge and a team challenge to boot....which means...uncomfortable drama.

Well, yawn this week, as most of the designers got along and their designs were nothing to write home about.

As Tim explained the challenge, everyone prayed that they would not get Mila as a partner. $300 to create a day look and evening look based on various parts of New York. And blah blah Collier Strong will do makeup. Actually, I like Collier Strong on the show, but the makeup is not a big deal for me when they have fun designs happening.


Starting with the Top 2 teams, here they are.

Team Anthony/Maya got Chinatown and made these 2 looks. Maya worked on this well made day look. I can see the structure in the top, it's got that pagoda style look. I think the skirt could have been more interesting, since the top is a muted color, maybe they could have done some more red cutouts and made it look a bit more like a chinese lantern?


Anthony was in charge of the night look, and it's just "eh" for me here. I like how he started with the basic dress and a plunging neckline, however I don't like the 3D look on top. It's distracting and is not so attractive. Nina liked how it looked like a dragon shape, so they were fine this week, but not quite the winners.


The winning team ended up being Emilio/Seth Aaron's Harlem looks. We all know that Seth can sew and tailor very fast, and this week was no different. I love, love this look. Love this denim high waist with the spots of color and bold lines.
Emilio was in charge of this night look, and it's really because of how amazing the day look is, and how bad the other ones are that they were the winning team. This look is cute, but pretty safe. How crazy is Emilio getting? What a crazy ass laugh that man has.


The bottom teams:

Mila's look is pretty cool actually. I love the black and white here for a change. The red really makes it pop, and it's a bold look, and I love the hint of black and white fabric that's poking through there. I really wonder what a Mila/Seth Aaron team would have produced... Here are their East Village looks.



Jay brings out some pants with the volume on the thighs, so you know it's not gonna fly. However, had he done the pants in a dark navy or black look with a prettier top or a hot jacket, this could have been a hit. Instead he did this insult of a tank top (Nina was apalled), and foldover tabbed waist line. Egad, wasn't he noticing how bad last week's pants went over? Quite possibly, the partner he was not happy to have, could have been his saving grace this week.

The over-work-a-look twins Jonathan and Amy get paired up and they seemed to be off to a nice start. They visited the Upper East Side, and Jonathan showed her around the drab, quiet area. However, they just didn't know how to stop themselves, or each other. Tim gave them a warning, but it was too late, they were on a cut-out, pleating technique train and couldn't stop. Jonathan did this night look.



However, this day look was the auf'd look. The judges did not like the colors of the top, which, we know by know that Amy is not good at picking rich colors. Lucky for Amy we didn't hear Michael Kors' disdain for leggings again. Unfortunately, Amy has made some poor choices and this week's didn't help that. I didn't feel it was as ugly as the judges thought, but it really wasn't doing anything, it was just a random look in a bland orange. It's not quite a top, not quite a dress, so lets throw leggings under it and hope for the best?

Goodbye our Oakland girl! You're beautiful and you're not afraid to take risks! I'm sure Amy will do great out there, but she needs a little more learning to get everything just right.

Amy, we're sorry, but you're Out.