(S04E07) I'm sure just about every teenage girl dreams of going to prom with Orlando Bloom and/or a custom-made dress. Bloom is a pretty busy guy, what with all of his swashbuckling and celebrity duties, so he probably doesn't have time to do proms. However, Project Runway decided to make a couple of girls' dreams (and designers' nightmares) come true by inviting a few high school girls to be clients/models in a prom dress challenge.I feel like this challenge produced some of the most interesting work we've seen this season, but it also caused a bit of viewer drama on the runway. It's as though it's part of teenage girls' nature to drag drama in their wake.
Sweet P: Wow, lady, big turn-around. Way to go, Sweet P, right? It was a much more polished and sophisticated look than her usual work, so I'm sure the judges were pleasantly surprised by it. It looked incredibly flattering on her model and I'm glad she didn't cheapen it by following that rather, um, tacky request for more rear flaunting. The champagne fabric added that extra glamorous class.
Victorya: [WI -- Ugh, it pains me to type it. Must I? Do I have to, really? All right... [WINNER] I'm sorry, it makes me sick. How is Victorya sliding by with all this terrible work? Well, I guess sliding by is one thing, but to win? It really blows my mind. Granted, her dress was probably the best for dancing, but it didn't look appropriate for prom. I honestly think that she only won because the judges have a completely skewed vision of what a normal 17 year-old wants (more on that when I talk about Rami's piece). I thought Victorya's dress was tacky and unflattering and, honestly, it didn't look like her model was too proud to wear it. She made no effort to straighten up her slouching and... she flashed a MySpace-style peace sign, for crying out loud. I guess she wasn't too excited to wear a top made with what looked like colored stones from the bottom of a fish tank.
Chris: I was blown away by this dress and, my goodness, I absolutely fell in love with it. Please note that this dress-fangirling is coming from someone that can't even look at a pair of heels without cringing with imagined pain. The fabric and color were spectacular and the detailing along the abdomen and train-like thing on the back were both stunning. Just like Sweet P, Chris rose above his negative tendencies and created something truly lovely.
Ricky: Here come the waterworks. Toughen up, Ricky! The fashion world is not a forgiving place. Speaking of unforgiving, that was a really sad looking bubble skirt. I didn't think his model looked as washed out as the judges said she did, because the fabric was glamorous enough to stand out.
Jillian: The chest area was a bit unflattering, but the color and detailing were very nice. A bit under the radar, though.
Christian: [ALMOST AUF'D] I felt so bad for Christian, getting stuck with that model. She was a bossy one, wasn't she? That said, Christian really didn't take the reigns enough. He should have killed her with kindness and beat her into submission with compliments. "The fully Bedazzled chest plate sounds like a great idea, but I think you'd look absolutely stunning with [insert much better idea here]" is what he should have said. She wouldn't have been able to turn him down. That said, I'm glad that Christian is still around. I believe he has more to offer and hopefully this near Auf-ing will knock him down a peg in ego.
Kit: Extremely flattering dress, really weird color choice.
Kevin: [AUF'D] Oh man, that was a terrible dress. No teen should look that saggy. The choice of make-up and hair was also pretty awful for his model. I was reminded of this one episode of Ugly Betty in which Betty goes to a hair and nail salon in Queens to get a makeover. What resulted was an overload of cake-y make-up and really big, unattractive hair. And I can't believe Kevin said he wanted to flatter his model's Filipina skin by using that garish red. He said "flatter", right?
Rami: Okay, this is the part that really frustrated me with the judges. They have just proven themselves to have absolutely no idea what today's youth is looking for. I am telling you, since the airing of the show, I have talked to at least a dozen people under 20 years-old that have said that they absolutely adored Rami's creation and would have loved to have worn it to their own prom. Personally, I thought the dress, from the color to the draping, was absolutely lovely and looked really high-end compared to others' creations. Even though it doesn't photograph so hot, it looked great on the runway. I have no idea what the judges were smoking when they critiqued him. They thought it was too sophisticated? Well, this may come as a surprise, but not every teenager wants to look like she stepped right out of the tacky world of My Super Sweet Sixteen. I've seen what Michael Kors and Nina Garcia think today's fashion-forward youth like and it's often an absolute joke. I swear, it's the visual equivalent of an adult stumbling over to a group of teens and saying, "What's the haps, home fries?" I would have let this go if the judges put Rami in the safe zone and may have been able to forgive them in a few weeks time for placing him in the lowest-scoring group, but please keep in mind that this is the same challenge in which Victorya's blue monster won. I feel my faith in the judges rapidly diminishing.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-10-2008 @ 12:21PM
sarah said...
i understood why Victoryia's dress won. it was very young in color and shape. those over 21 who claim to know what high schoolers want are kidding themselves. high schoolers dont even know what they want half the time. Sweet P., Chris, and Rami's dresses were very sophisticated for a 17 year old, IMO, even though i probably would have worn something like Sweet P.'s dress to my own prom.
I am sorry to see Kevin go over Ricky, but that red dress was hideous. i though Ricky's girl looked sweet in that dress, but it would have benefitted from a color tune up.
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1-10-2008 @ 1:34PM
Pinwiz said...
Sweet P was robbed.
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1-10-2008 @ 1:46PM
julie said...
Both Sweet P and Chris were robbed, IMHO. And I did like Rami's dress but not the color choice. Too reminscent of appliances from the '70's. While Chris pulled off the similar shade, it popped more because of the sheen. Had Rami chosen that lovely champagne or a satiny fabric, the judges would have had a different opinion. And perhaps if the dress had been full length....
I've been going back and forth about Kevin's dress all day and upon m 4th look, it's really just not good at all. That being said, Ricky deserved to go - his dress was awful and did nothing for the poor girl's figure! Christian's dress - what can I say? There must have been some saving grace that the judges could see closer up (when will this show go HD???) but yuck overall. If anything was matronly, THAT was the combo! Just almost looked Mother of the Bride for an evening wedding...
The judges are losing me but that's not the reason we tune in - it's to see the creative process and the (mostly) divine outfits! I see Rami and Jillian going far with Chris the dark horse - apparently he's been listening to Tim...
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1-10-2008 @ 2:15PM
Europa said...
Sweet P. should have won and I like Rami's dress as well. The only thing is, IMO, it should have been long.
Victorya's (I wonder if that's really how it's splet on her birth certificate or if she's just tyring to be hip) dress looked like crap. If those stones looked that cheap and tacky on TV how bad did they look in person? And did you see the look on Tim's face when he saw them? lol.
The judges, especially Nina, are completely clueless about what teenages want, and are getting, for prom dresses! They really need to get a clue on this one. How can they be so off the mark?
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1-10-2008 @ 3:38PM
Ria said...
Victorya's dress was fugly. Its unbelievable that those those judges try to act like they know what a 17 year old girl would want. They were completely clueless. They kept going on and on about how Chris and Sweet P's dresses were too sophisticated and too old looking. Are you kidding me? Girls want to look "too sophisticated" on prom night. They want to look older and mature looking. They want to look like a movie star and elegant. They don't want to look like a 12 year old girl. No 17 or 18 year old girl would want to wear Victorya's dress. 12 year old girls would probably love that dress but that kind of dress for prom? What??!!
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1-10-2008 @ 3:54PM
Ria said...
Actually, I made a mistake the judges said that Rami's dress was too sophisticated, which in my opinion wasn't true. I thought his dress was decent.
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1-10-2008 @ 3:57PM
schoolmarm1 said...
I was watching the show with my daughters who are 16 and 18. The 18year old who is in the prom dress market right now LOVED Chris's dress. She would have worn Sweet P's too but she rejected all of the rest because "prom dresses are supposed to be long," besides the fact that she thought that several of them were ugly. Maybe in the east they're different, but here in the Midwest, girls just don't wear short dresses to prom, only Homecoming or whatever winter dance a school has. I wondered why they didn't have a representative from some teen magazine like "Seventeen" as the 3rd judge. That would have lent some credibility to the decision. Nina and Michael may be up to date on lots of things, but prom dresses? I don't think so!
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1-11-2008 @ 8:58AM
horsenbuggy said...
I agree that the guest judge should have been someone who knows that segment of the industry better. I was sure they were going to introduce someone from Jessica McClintock (that was the reigning prom dress label in my day). They really got it wrong by not including a judge from that industry.
Victorya's dress? Puh-lease! As soon as I saw it, I yelled out, "Judy Jetson!" How do the judges confuse "modern" with "futuristic cartoonish"? Seriously, contrast and compare:
Judy Jetson
Victorya's dress
I didn't personally like Rami's dress. I understood what the judges didn't like about it. It was borderline for me. But I accept that some girl somewhere may like it enough to wear it to prom. I loved Chris' color choice. I adore green. Sweet P's dress was lovely. She did very well to overrule the inappropriate demands of her client.
I thought Kit's dress was horrible. I could see Tess from "Working Girl" wearing it. [icky shivers]
Jillian's dress needed help in the top - or maybe it would have looked better on a different girl. Very 70s.
I thought Ricky's dress was adorable. Someone should have schooled Victorya that THAT is how you apply glass beads/jewels in a tasteful manner.
I don't know what to say about Christian's dress. He was NOT the right person to work with that client. Anyone who thinks he could have steered her in a different direction is kidding themselves. She saw her participation on this show as her 15 minutes. I wouldn't be surprised if she even thinks she's going to get on the show in a couple of years based on her appearance this season. I come from a long line of dominate, opinionated people. Trust me, you can't change their minds once they are set on something. Resisting them only cements their resolve, even if they secretly think you're right. However, he should not have thrown a hissy fit about her on the catwalk. He should have explained in a reasonable way that they had very different visions and he had difficulty meshing them. Pointing fingers at a client never works...oh wait, it worked for Jeffery last season.
Whew. I'm done.
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1-11-2008 @ 9:00AM
horsenbuggy said...
Huh. No html links?
Judy Jetson dress:
http://jetdoll.blogspot.com/2007_10_01_archive.html
Victorya's dress:
http://www.tvsquad.com/photos/project-runway-episode-7/572373/
1-14-2008 @ 2:04PM
I miss my stars! said...
I finally caught up with this episode over the weekend. Sweet P and Chris were the clear winners. Victorya's - ug. The color was great, but the neckline and that crap all over it was horrible. Her model had the worst posture on top. I couldn't stand the way she schlumped down the runway.
Rami's was good on the top, but way too old lady on the bottom. I agree she looked like a grand dame on the way to tea. Not the way I would want to look at the prom.
If Christian had managed to make a well made garment I would have suggested he tell the judges he did the best he could considering his client's taste. However, he didn't make a good dress, (did he forget to measure the size of her butt?) the back was too high. The color also did nothing for her.
Kevin deserved to go. Anyone that designs a dress that makes a teenager's boobs look droopy needs to go. I sure don't want him designing for adult women!
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