(S06E03) Early episodes of Project Runway throw me off. There are too many contestants, and a lot of them get lost in the shuffle. A lot of the designers have five seconds here and there, but the editing team chooses which ones we get to know.
This week was a team challenge where everyone was paired up in a school-yard pick. Who is Irina anyway? The designers had the chance to talk to locals, but the information they gave was useless. If someone didn't know beach wear was influenced by tropical colors, comfort, and functionality, they deserve to lose the challenge.
Mitchell decided to make a smart move and pick a designer that can design. He chose the guy who made a bowling ball bag, and was made fun of for it. Did Mitchell really think he would pair up well with Ra'mon? It could have been worse: he could have picked Epperson.
Since the beachwear challenge wasn't hard enough, Tim gave the teams a twist: a second avant-garde look. On paper, the project was the reverse of season four's avant-garde challenge, but the problem was that unlike the season four challenge, all the avant-garde pieces ended up half-assed because of time constraints. The ready-to-wear was easier to think about in season four when the over-the-top avant-garde piece was already made. Most of the clothes in this challenge didn't match.
One theme continued this week: when you can't find the right color, you dye. It's an interesting concept that contestants haven't used until this season. I don't see why more contestants don't just buy a certain shade of white and dye, along with their other fabrics. Then if they need something to boost their outfit, they have the dyed piece.
Our high scoring outfits were from Johnny/Ireana and Ra'mon/Mitchell. I was only convinced by Johnny's outfits when the models stood there. Their beachwear outfit was very accessible and commercial. I'm in the minority that thinks the avant-garde piece looked like cross-hatched poop. On the other side, Ra'mon's avant-garde piece looked like she peed herself. It was a cool idea, but the color stains were in the wrong places.
The low scoring pieces came from Nicolas/Gordana and Qrystal/Epperson. It's never good when both Nicolas and Gordana look like they have never seen the sun. Their avant-garde piece has merit, but looked like a hooker on the bottom half. If it channeled more of a mermaid and the fabrics weren't so sheer, it may have worked. Epperson overpowered Qrystal, and both pieces ended up weak. When is a swimsuit considered avant-garde? According to Epperson: when you add a ruffle jacket.
As for the rest of the people, I was a little nervous about Logan's piece because the gold on the inside of a white pair of pants looked like pee. Luckily, the dress walked off the stage before I could gawk too much. Did you think that Ra'mon's win and Mitchell's loss was justified? Leave comments below.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-04-2009 @ 11:55AM
Sarah said...
in earlier seasons, contestants did a lot of dying. actually, i believe in season one, they all had plain t-shirts to work with, so everyone ended up dying white shirts and making dresses out of them. i think its smart that they don't dye garments because of the time constraints. besides, have you seen the color array in Mood?! its so vast that you should always find the right color/print.
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9-04-2009 @ 11:55AM
clinton said...
The funny thing about Mitchell being completely incompetent is it doesn't really prevent me from liking him. He is probably very fun in real life. I do wonder, who's work his pawned off as his own to get on the show because he doesn't seem able to produce anything when anyone else is around. Maybe he has Rumplestillskin in a basement at home spinning fabric and creating garments.
Your right about the early rounds of this show having too many contestants. On RR and Top Chef both I have seen a contestant I swear I had never seen this week.
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9-04-2009 @ 11:19AM
Gian said...
Wow. That may have been the worst written review of any episode of any show I've ever read. Did you just fast forward thru your taped episode about 2 minutes before this had to be posted? You didn't even get the winning team names right (Ra'mon/Nick?). Here's an actual recap if anyone's interested. I really don't mean to be insulting but c'mon, I think we loyal readers deserve a little better.
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20302533,00.html
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9-04-2009 @ 12:09PM
Diana said...
I really didn't get this episode at all. Like the reviewer said, what's the point of doing an avant garde look as a secondary challenge. It's avant garde, you should be able to go all out, put time and effort into the creation not just whip up something fast.
Most of the outfits were not beach friendly at all and looked pretty bad. What's the point of making a swimsuit if nobody is going to see it? Who would wear tight skin pants to the beach, like Logan's team presented? And with a few exceptions, there wasn't really anything avant about the avant garde looks presented.
The biggest shocker to me was Ra'Mon/Mitchell making it to the top two. The looks had absolutely nothing in common, like Tim noticed, and when the judges did speak to them, they were more interested in picking a fight between Ra'Mon and Mitchell than actually praising the looks.
I had hopes for season 6 but this episode was a major let down. Nothing really made sense, and is it me or is Garnier product placement more agressive and in your face than l'Oreal's product placements used to be on the show.
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9-04-2009 @ 12:12PM
Michael Pascua said...
If I ever walked into the Garnier consulting room, I'd get such a bad headache. Who's bright idea was it to paint the walls neon yellow with Garnier green accents?
I think the thing I'm missing from the past two episodes is the lack of Michael Kors. He would have seen that some of the pieces were hot messes and said it. I have a feeling he would have auff'ed Mitchell after seeing his pregnancy outfit and would have given Malvin some credit for thinking of a concept.
I'm crossing my fingers that the fodder contestants leave soon and we could get to some real competition.
9-04-2009 @ 5:41PM
Mikey Mike said...
I thought the elitism of the judges also lacked the foundation of Michael Koors (for the second straight week). This whole show just looked like an excuse to rid us all of Mitchell. The vampiness of the Models of the Runway is worth checking out.
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9-10-2009 @ 4:20PM
Janelle Bonifacio said...
I gotta say, I liked Rachel Bilson as a judge (and it's not just because The OC is probably the guiltiest pleasure TV show I've ever fully indulged in). She at least had positive but constructive criticism for the contestants rather than Lindsay Lohan that only gave a negative vibe and comments to ruin the designer's self-esteem.
Not so much a satisfying result but Ra'mon deserved some recognition at least.
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