Hey guys, Marjorie’s on vacation so I’m covering Project Runway again.
There is no way Gretchen’s experience this week could’ve matched last week’s nightmare. When Tim Gunn gives you a tongue-lashing that has to hurt. People all over the internet are loving the villain role she has fallen into (she is seriously getting more hate than Season 1’s Wendy Pepper) but I’m not buying it. Like Christopher said on tonight’s show, Gretchen appears to be the type of person who falls into a leadership role without realizing it. There’s a difference between strong-willed and bossy (I won’t defend last week’s runway show, though. That was a mess no matter how you slice it).
However you wanna look at her, Gretchen was pretty classy this episode. She faced Tim professionally and courteously and kept herself from saying too many things and giving too many sour looks that the editors could paint her new portrait with.
Winners and losers after the jump.
Lifetime is trotting out all the Project classic challenges this season. I love the real-people clothes-altering challenges. Ugly clothes! Different body types! Oh the drama!
Here’s Gretchen’s finished look this week. It’s cute, tasteful and hand-painted if not totally breathtaking:
Michael D was thoroughly chastised for creating this monstrosity and rightly so:
The shape and the fabric both put his model’s original bridesmaid’s dress in a favorable light. I thought it was clearly the worst, but his model did like it and the editors were making a huge deal about how she’s not a size six and yadda yadda so I knew he wasn’t going home.
In the end it was Peach who got the axe. For the record I love Peach and I assume anyone on the fence about her came around to my side with her gracious exit this week. I wasn’t in love with her dress but I didn’t think it merited the volley of sass Kors threw out, calling the top “Holly Hobby” and mocking the “avocado dinner-napkins/goiters” along the hips. Nina Garcia seemed at a loss for words, just calling it “weird and old.”
Eh, whatever. Peach had a good run and Michael D is very talented, so I’m glad he’s sticking around.
Mondo, my personal fav, deserved the win this time out. He has that wonderful mix of a distinct personal touch and a mutable style that can fit each challenge as they come. His awesome mod dress even got the most buttons from John and Jane Everyman during the awkward little exhibition the designers were forced to put on.
But nooooooo, the judges continue their unwarranted praise of Michael Costello. I would like to say that, like the designers, I think his tailoring is poor and he can’t sew. That would be disingenuous because I am not informed enough about fashion and tailoring to really say. From my luddite perspective, I think his finished looks are ugly and that he acts like a penis. I’m really at a loss as to how this look won:
The only thing I can think of is that the producers and editors just love the little story arc of everyone “throwing [Michael] under the bus” only to have him emerge victorious the next week. People who know more about fashion and tailoring than me: what is your take on Michael C?
If they would have sent Michael D home for that dress – I may have had to stop watching. Despite their fashion credentials, none of those judges have ever designed for or had to dress an actual plus-size woman before, and just don’t get that the rules are completely different.
No, the dress wasn’t great, the materials he used over the top was kinda ugly and the little jacket was boring – but girls that size don’t look good in dresses period. You really need two pieces to break the body line and create a waist. To say that the original dress was better was completely ridiculous. The original dress had no waist and no decolletage – what Michael created at least gave her those. He designed something styled for a girl her size, rather than designing something for a smaller girl constructed in a larger size. He by no means should have won, but he shouldn’t have been bottom two either.
“I’m really at a loss as to how this look won:”
Probably ’cause it looks like something that Heidi Klum would wear – super short and just plain fugly. I think she has horrible taste in clothing.
Michael Kors shouldn’t use big words like “goiter” without actually knowing what a goiter is and that you wouldn’t find one on a woman’s hips.
Oh, and Michael C. effing sucks. This show is bonkers.