Bring it, Bitch!

Okay, here's a shocker: we didn't hate this.

We didn't exactly love it, but it followed the dictates of the collection to the letter and you can tell she made the effort to make the piece look like the rest of the collection (as it was explained to her).

Granted, it doesn't look like she actually did anything but shred existing clothes and the fringe on the skirt brings it dangerously close to a Pocahontas costume, but all in all, it looks like what it was supposed to look like, a deconstructed, futuristic outfit.

Ann Slowey overreacted (as usual) and for some reason, tore into Wendy and passed right over designers who should have had their asses kicked by her.

For once, we would have loved to see Wendy pull out all the stops on her bitchery.

"Quite frankly it looks like my cat chewed up a ball of yarn and spit it out an hour later."

"Yeah? Quite frankly, that top makes you look like a Christmas ornament. An old Christmas ornament."

"Who did your makeup, Wendy? Ronald McDonald?"

"Who did your hair, Ann? Clorox?"

"I'm gazing into my crystal ball, Wendy. I see a lifetime of mediocrity in your future."

"Yeah, well I'm gazing at your forehead and I see hair plugs in yours."


[Screencaps: projectrungay.blogspot.com]


Post a Comment

The Scarlett Letter: F

Did you ever watch a fish flapping around out of water or a turtle on its back trying to right itself? That was Austin this week.

Poor thing. This challenge was not only not up his alley, it's pretty much antithetical to his entire aesthetic. Austin doesn't "do" deconstruction. Austin doesn't "do" bizarre costume challenges.

Those sleeves are really weird.

What Austin does very well is make beautiful clothing for real-world women. You hand him a challenge that's purely conceptual and he flounders.

Bottom line: this was absolutely ugly. He tried his damnedest, though. That much is evident.

It looks like he stripped the upholstery off an old couch. Frankly, all his fabric choices were pretty ugly.

We're assuming the multiple rough hems were his attempt at deconstruction but putting them on such a tailored piece just makes it look unfinished.

It looks well-tailored for the most part. We'll give him that. Of course that flies in the face of what the whole collection was about, but then again the team leader went even further against the grain than he did. It could just be that Austin was following Kevin's lead.

Naah. That's not entirely fair. The fact of the matter is, he was responsible for his own design and on almost every level the design failed. We've seen too much of Austin's work to claim he's a bad designer. He's an excellent designer. It's just that this is something he never would have attempted in the real word because it's so not him.



[Screencaps: projectrungay.blogspot.com]


Post a Comment

Whorin' It Up for Fashion

Well, we guess it's somewhat comforting to know that we'll still have street urchins in 2055. We wonder if they'll still have a tendency to break into song, the plucky little moptops.

Seriously, what the fuck? This is hideous. Somewhere along the line, Robert must have misunderstood the challenge and assumed it was "Buy a lot of thrift store clothes and rip them up." That's about the only plausible explanation for this monstrosity.

Sure, he at least went for a deconstructed look, which puts him ahead of some of the other designers, but it was supposed to be, y'know, a good deconstructed look.

We do kinda like the way he did the quilting though.

That about sums up Robert's design philosophy right there. "How do I use my looks and charm to bullshit my way out of this?"

The sad part is, it worked.

Concerned Fashion Editor: Robert, what's going on?

Self-proclaimed Studly Fashion Designer: Blah blah blah...energy...coffee...solar panels...

uh...

A WOMAN IS LIKE A SPORTS CAR. WITH SOLAR PANELS. Or maybe that's a sunroof.

...

*big cheesy smile*

Giggly Teenage Girl: Oh! Okay, then! Could you turn around so I can see the back?

No, not you. Him.

Reality Television Show Hostess: My spangled top is burning holes in my face, but Robert? You're in. Ann will meet you backstage so you can "thank" her.


[Screencaps: projectrungay.blogspot.com]


Post a Comment

There's no "I" in "team" but there is one in "bitch."

This was the one where Wendy showed her true colors. After this, there was no one left to defend her or think the best of her. Poor Kevin. Yeah, he was a lousy team leader but he clearly didn't want the position.

"Ha. Kevin. Sucks to be you, dude."

Although we'll give the other designers (sans Wendy) credit for at least trying to put their game faces on.

"Bitches...GO!"

But man, that bitch had it in for him the minute he was named team leader. She knew going into it that he wasn't going to be good at it (as witnessed by his last go-round as a TL), but unlike Jay, who tried to just plow his way through a bad situation or Kara Saun, who tried to take over in a bad situation, Wendy's first and only thought was "How can I make this bad situation work to my advantage?"

"Wendy, we're such great friends!"

"Haha. Yes, that's right. Wendy will never hurt you, Kevin. Do you hear me? Wendy. Will. Never. Hurt. You."

Just look at her. "You will be mine, Kevin Johnn. Oh yes, you will be mine."

Bitch, you're not plotting for shares in Denver Carrington, you're making a dress. Get to work and stop acting like you're starring in your own personal soap opera.

"Kevin sucks."

"Would you be willing to say that to the judges?"

"Listen, I want to win. I'll tell the judges he's been shooting up in the sewing room if I have to."

"Good. Carry on!"

What's so exasperating about the whole thing is that Wendy's observations about the team were for the most part, dead-on. She's not a bitch for pointing out problems; she's a bitch for not doing so until she was in front of a judge. If she had just voiced some of her concerns early in the process - and she was well aware of what was going wrong early in the process - she could have made the attempt to offer suggestions or corrections. She could have come out of this looking really good. Wendy's problem is, she approaches the competition not with the thought of "How do I make myself look good here?" but with the thought of "How do I make someone else look really bad here?" Classic low self esteem.

Dunh-dunh-DUNH!!!!!!!

Oh please. Wendy's good at the soap-operatic threats. Hell, it's the only way she knows how to think. When Kevin makes them they're about as threatening as a toothless poodle.



[Screencaps: projectrungay.blogspot.com]


Post a Comment

Polly Poddie

Jaysus was way too hard on himself. We loved this. The logo, the way he used the lace, the belt, the masterful skirt - it all looked like old done new, which, since that was pretty much exactly the idea behind the collection, made him a contender for the win as far as we're concerned.

He kept characterizing this as a Holly Hobbie look but it's way more sophisticated than that. He has a gorgeous sense of how to do deconstruction, which made him perfectly suited for the challenge.

Loved the idea of the mood patch.

In fact, he was one of the few designers who actually followed the dictates of the collection. This is earthy, deconstructed and futuristic-looking. Exactly what it was supposed to be. It's something of a testament to how off-course the team was when one of the few people who was doing exactly what they were supposed to was the one freaking out and questioning himself the most.



[Screencaps: projectrungay.blogspot.com]


Post a Comment

Seeya, Kevin!

We don't get this one at all. In another collection, this look might have worked, except there's so many problems with it that we're stuck scratching our heads and trying to figure it out. The biggest mystery of course, is what the hell he was thinking producing such a tailored piece when the designers had all agreed to less constructed pieces.

We kinda like the overall design and some of the elements - the colors, the quilted bodice, the somewhat extreme tailoring - but it just doesn't seem to come together somehow. It seems pretty clear that Kevin simply couldn't handle being both a team leader and a designer at the same time.

There just seems to be all this weird and unnecessary frippery, like the goofy stuff he did with the sleeves...

...And that mega-goofy collar thing which just sticks out at a weird angle. We can't tell if that was a deliberate design element or just a construction issue. And what's with that extra flap of quilting on the top? And that skirt is fitted terribly.

All in all, Kevin's something of a mystery to us. We can see that he has talent but it was always hard to find things we liked about his work. Sometimes designers get aufed because they just don't have what it takes to be a designer and sometimes they get aufed because they just don't have what it takes to survive in a reality television competition. We suspect Kevin is an instance of the latter.



[Screencaps: projectrungay.blogspot.com]


Post a Comment

The End of an Era

And so, the reign of Empress Morgan the First came to a quiet and appropriately bizarre end.

That is pure concentrated evil coming out of those eyeballs. What some people don't realize is that after she left the show, Morgan moved to the Swiss Alps and built a house out of gingerbread where she spends her time luring unsuspecting children to their death.

We're kidding, of course. It's a gumdrop house.

"I obviously have a very special relationship with you, dear. And you and I are gonna go above and beyond.

[Pause]

I choose Melissa."

Heidi: "That speech makes no sense."

Morgan: "I'm peeing on the runway, assholes. How do you like THAT?"

"MWkillyouallinyoursleepWAHH!"

One last moment on the Drama Couch.

And so, the show becomes a little less interesting. Sure, we ragged on her, but in the long run, she made great television. And we're not just saying that because we're scared of her.

Okay, well a little.



[Screencaps: projectrungay.blogspot.com]


Post a Comment

S1/E7: Congratulations Kara Saun (again)!

Working as a team (with Kevin as team leader), the designers have to create a collection for the year 2055. To make it more interesting, all their materials need to be purchased at Cheap Jack's vintage clothing store. You can read Tim's Take on this episode here.

Go, girl! This was gorgeous.

Imaginative, well-thought-out, and believable. None of which is particularly surprising because Kara Saun is a costume designer. This kind of challenge is right up her alley.

We absolutely love the use of the leather jacket to make the bodice. Less crazy about the lace. She needed something to soften the tailoring in the coat, since the through-line for the collection was supposed to be deconstruction, but we don't think the lace really adds anything.

Clearly, most of the group chafed under the deconstruction mandate, so why the hell did everyone choose it?

Gorgeous and dramatic. The beauty is, it works as a costume for 2055 while at the same time, you could see this walking down a runway today.

Lovelovelove all the little leather details. Hatehatehate the lace the more we look at it. And it pains us to say this, but there are some construction issues with this piece. There's puckering all over the place. Granted, some of it looks intentional, but the back does look a little messy.



[Screencaps: projectrungay.blogspot.com]


Post a Comment