Group Projects are Sew-Sew: Project Runway Teams

[Lucy25]

If you read the blogs by past contestants they mention producer interference all the time. It seems like it is not a secret that goes on. Personally I absolutely hated the "winning"
dress and was fully expecting those two to be in the bottom. I teach in a high school, and no girls I know would have been caught dead in that thing. Kate & Tu should not have been sent home, but rather the two guys who did the gold dress should have. Girls here in the midwest love wearing gowns to prom. Nina needs to get out more. The "jiffy pop" dress was pretty garish, too. I am pretty frustrated with the judging this season. At this point I have no idea who is going to make it to the final.

On a superficial note, Michelle's tattoos are some of the ugliest I have ever seen. Why would she brand herself with black circles up the insides of both arms??

[madm]

Why have a prom dress challenge when the judges know nothing about what girls today wear to the prom? Nina said girls no longer wear long dresses, which is not true and she had to be corrected by the guest judge.

I helped my daughter put on the first ever prom fashion show at her high school in Colorado 5 years ago, and I'd say 80% of the dresses were long. Nina is soooo wrong. Girls love to dress up and look formal and wear corsages. Our dresses were on loan from David's Bridal and another local small boutique. The guys tuxes and suits were on loan from Al's Formalwear. Since these shops cater to bridal events, it's no wonder that many of the guys and girls choose to look more formal. They just buy or rent something they can dance in.

[Vagabond]

Girls here in the midwest love wearing gowns to prom. Nina needs to get out more.

I love the idea of Nina Garcia "getting out" and spending time with high school girls in the Midwest.

[PDilemma]

I helped my daughter put on the first ever prom fashion show at her high school in Colorado 5 years ago, and I'd say 80% of the dresses were long. Nina is soooo wrong. Girls love to dress up and look formal and wear corsages. Our dresses were on loan from David's Bridal and another local small boutique. The guys tuxes and suits were on loan from Al's Formalwear. Since these shops cater to bridal events, it's no wonder that many of the guys and girls choose to look more formal. They just buy or rent something they can dance in.

Prom is long gowns. Homecoming is when they wear the short cute dresses. Nina seems to think that girls under 18 who are not models are all dressing like 12 year olds. I've noticed that on any challenge that involves younger looks. But I also think all the judges tend to have a myopic New York high fashion viewpoint that becomes a detriment when a challenge is at all related to people outside that narrow world.

[Matryeshka]

I didn't understand the long dress comment either. When I was in high school, I never considered a short dress. The highest the dress was an inch below the knee. During prom season, there aren't too many short dresses even offered because girls don't want them.

IME, Homecoming/Valentine's Day/Winter Formal/other formal occasion dresses follow trends, but prom is CLASSIC. It's long dresses, it's flowy, and for many schools in the South, the senior girl dresses are white. It's most girls' only chance to live out a red-carpet fantasy and you do not look like the Quee of Hearts on the red carpet unless you're Helena Bonham Carter. For the most part, senior girls want to look older and done up and adult.

I did not see a single look that an actual 17/18 year old girl would want to wear to prom. I don't even think they would be appropriate for Winter Formal in a lot of schools. Most of them looked like something the drama kids would wear for five minutes to Homecoming; it's not a bad look, but it's not what's going to appeal to most senior girls. It was telling when they admitted they did not go to prom. PR should stop with the "everyman" challenges since they're all clearly out of touch with what every day people want and consider appropriate/practical.

[shan]

I was confused about the whole short/long dress debate. I will say that the length of Kate/Tu's dress didn't sink it for me. I just found it ultra boring. I wasn't sad to see Kate go home this week either. She came across as extremely annoying and superior.

[Ziggy]

This result was just total bullshit.

Daniel and Richard keep making cheesy, tacky, drag queen clothes yet they are still in? Obviously it's the producers' choice. They wanted to keep them in because they are camp, funny and OTT which makes good TV.

Whilst I feel a bit sorry for Kate being so insecure, her aesthetic was not up to this level and it wasn't wrong to see her go.

I feel really sad for Tu, though.

I thought he was the strongest designer here, by far, and he could have possibly won the whole thing if not for Kate turning him into her puppet.

Having said that, it's a tough world out there. He has to be able to stand up for himself.

I also think that Patricia should have been the winner of this challenge. Their dress was different, innovative and the fabric manipulation was awesome (this is what makes Patricia stand out). And the students liked it the most.

Michelle and Amanda's dress wasn't bad but it too much like a costume, for me. As Tu said, it's prom and not Halloween.

[aftershocks]

Yeah, I pretty much agree with what everyone has said. It didn't help Kate that she admitted during the broadcast that she didn't want to work with anyone but Tu. Therefore, once Tu was auf'ed, I guess the producers felt they should just send her packing as well. Tu was very talented and sweet but not assertive and somewhat indecisive. I think many of the designers need an extra day for most of these challenges. The duck tape selection/ color seems to be what majorly hurt Tu and Kate in the end.

After all the angst, Patricia and Samantha came up with a cool and different outfit. I like how Stanley and Layana pulled their design together. Daniel and Richard hogging the gold duck tape did them no favors. Michelle and Amanda had fun and worked well together, but their dress was not for the prom. Michelle has a strange aesthetic. Patricia vibes to the tune of her own drummer and isn't much appreciated by the other designers, but she manages to pull things out that seem dicey in the beginning, altho' she's had a couple of misses too.

The top three and who wins is anyone's guess at this point. But maybe it'll be Stanley, Layana and Patricia who'll be the final three left standing. It's generally all over the place with team challenges. There are 8 left, so it'll be interesting to see how the team concept will be handled as the designers are further weeded out.

[Ziggy]

Stanley is my only safe bet for the top 3 because he's just so solid and consistent. His designs are always stylish and he is always in full control. He never doubts himself, never breaks down, there's never any drama. He's rock solid.

[skatesindreams]

These NYC people don't know what "Prom" means.

I also think that Patricia should have been the winner of this challenge. Their dress was different, innovative and the fabric manipulation was awesome (this is what makes Patricia stand out). And the students liked it the most.

If they were going to choose something non-traditional, her dress should have been the one.

[Impromptu]

But it wasn't a Prom dress challenge, it was a Duct Tape Prom Dress Challenge. If you look at the past Duct Tape challenge outfits, most of them are really out there. They make the PR winning dress seem tame.

[skatesindreams]

However, they sent the designers to a setting where students were seeking Prom-worthy looks; and asked them for input.
The duct-tape was the material they were to use to make them.

[danceronice]

I was confused about the whole short/long dress debate. I will say that the length of Kate/Tu's dress didn't sink it for me. I just found it ultra boring. I wasn't sad to see Kate go home this week either. She came across as extremely annoying and superior.

Yep. I thought the shape was blah (again, HATE mermaids and trumpets) and of all the colors they had as options they picked Clinical-Depression Blue. And being made of duct tape just emphasized how restrictive that shape is.

I don't think Nina and Heidi are any more clueless about prom than they are about...well, anything a normal human being would wear. See Heidi's obsession with clothing so shiny and tight there are streetwalkers who'd be like "That's a bit much." Look at previous comments on things like "what a person would want to wear to a resort." It's hardly surprisingly they're not clued into prom; they're not clued into what anyone but a teeny-tiny closed subset of the population wears. At least their replacement for Kors (Zac Posen? Am I right? I'm not paying all that much attention this season) is, if not mitigating it, not jumping in like the Kors was.

Patricia wuzrobbed on this one. But I don't have a problem with Kate and Tu getting sent packing.

[Sparks]

Tu is so sweet. Too sweet to be on reality TV.

[duane]

This episode is SOOOOOO bad.

[PDilemma]

This episode is SOOOOOO bad.

YES. I believe this wins worst PR challenge ever.

[Reuven]

What an unholy mess! I agree with Heidi, they should ALL go home.

[Aceon6]

Couldn't bring myself to watch the whole thing. I fast forwarded from the challenge introduction to the auf.

I understand Bunim/Murray adding some eye candy given the audience, but this challenge was ridiculous. Who but Chris March could design for this? Gimme some men's clothing that looks like office wear (but doesn't look boring) that fits overly developed men. Oh, and by the way, it has to be tearaway.

[reckless]

Couldn't bring myself to watch the whole thing. I fast forwarded from the challenge introduction to the auf.

I understand Bunim/Murray adding some eye candy given the audience, but this challenge was ridiculous. Who but Chris March could design for this? Gimme some men's clothing that looks like office wear (but doesn't look boring) that fits overly developed men. Oh, and by the way, it has to be tearaway.

And do it in a day.

Remember when one-day challenges were the exception, not the norm? Once upon a time, Project Runway was about showing what designers could accomplish when given challenging assignments and difficult constraints. Now it seems like they are given ridiculous challenges -- design tearaway menswear for non-model sizes or design a prom (but not really!) dress -- with impossible constraints, usually of one day or less. Oh, and do it in teams where you also have to make things cohesive with people who have completely different design aesthetics and who have been paired with you at random or by judges who have done so to deliberately create conflict.

I hate how far this show has sunk. I want to see talented designers show off their talents. But we can't see what the designers can do because they never have a chance to show their skills. They get 30 minutes of "sketch" time in which they are supposed to measure models, figure out their design with their "team," and plan a design. So nothing gets thought out. Then they have to rush to buy fabric. And then they get a few hours to throw something together. So the result is an unfinished mess that the judges rip to shreds. Maybe these designers are fabulously talented and are as good as some of Project Runway's best, but I don't think we will ever know. Frankly, I don't think the best designers of the early seasons would have been able to shine in these current challenges.

Also, one of the common complaints I keep hearing about this season is that the designers are not interesting and there is too much of a "mean girl" vibe from some of the women. But I think a larger part of that is because they are even more stressed that in other seasons due to the constant one-day challenges and the team structure. Moreover, with such short challenges, we don't get that much time in the work room watching the design process. So we aren't really seeing much of the creative process, which is part of what has made past designers interesting. I also think the team structure encourages the bitchiness. It pushes the designers to talk about other designers a lot more, because: (1) their possible fate is tied to the quality of the product their teammate produces; (2) designers have to think about who they might be teamed with in the future. So where, in the past, Designer A might have only made an occasional comment about Designer B's design before a runway -- and it probably would have come across as a funny "I don't know what he/she was thinking" -- now we get weekly bits of Designer A saying: "I hope Designer B" is not on my team"; "Damn, I'm paired with Designer B"; "Designer B and I have such different aesthetics, I don't think this is working"; "If we are in the bottom because of Designer B, I will not be happy"; and scenes where Designer A appears annoyed and abrupt with Designer B during the process. The result is that Designer A looks like a bitch and Designer B looks like an incompetent mess.

[danceronice]

I can't rep reckless. Someone rep reckless, please?

I just rewatched some of season 2, with Chloe and Santino and Daniel and even Where's Andrae and...the stuff was so much better! Because THEY HAD MORE TIME. Given how recently some of the final collections, and decoy collections from losing designers, have been ten times better than anything they did on the actual show, I think the "one-day" format is absolutely causing some talented designers to look like hacks. I don't think the team format is necessarily as much at fault as just the TINY amount of time they have to go from being told their challenge to finishing the dress. It really kills 'real-person' challenges or menswear with designers who've never done it-they barely have time to fit a model with whom they're already familiar.