Group Projects are Sew-Sew: Project Runway Teams

[aftershocks]

Yep, Amanda knew she should have been the one to go for this challenge. Benjamin's dress had problems but the color was right for his client whom he got along with well (she certainly stood up for him). Amanda picked the wrong fabric and then was clueless about how to make it work.

Daniel's dress from last week was much worse than what Benjamin did this week. PR Teams is a catchy concept but it definitely helps save some designers who deserve to go home and sends others packing before they should be auf'ed.

[Nomad]

Amanda definitely should have been auf'ed for that confused mess she ended up with. Nothing about it was right. I'm trying to remember what she's made in past episodes but can't even remember what she sent down the runway last week.

[skatesindreams]

I can't believe that Rachel described that turquoise and black sack as the "most youthful"!

I didn't love Benjamin's dress; but, Amanda's was worse.
I think that it's extremely difficult to execute a completely finished design in one day.

I really wonder about Heidi's "taste"; most of the things she "likes"/would wear, make me go "?????".

[skatemomaz]

I feel really pissed off. Amanda's dress was just a complete and utter disaster, which you could safely predict from the start given her attitude. I strongly feel that it's the producers that forced the decision to keep her in. She's opinionated, bitchy and provides great drama with her meltdowns. Benjamin's dress was badly fitted but it was nowhere near as much of a disaster as Amanda's.

I felt sorry for Tu. His design aesthetic is amazing but his idea was too ambitious and he ended up not having enough time to fit it properly. I love the chemistry between him and Kate. They really support each other. She showed how insecure she is when she said that her team didn't respect her but he does.

Good work from Daniel. Solid construction and some creative ideas. A big comeback.

I am glad Stanley won. Great design, very well made. Yes, there were some finishing issues but they had just one day so give him a break. Based on what they have made so far, I think he's the best designer this season. He has a sophisticated style and his garments are always impeccably constructed.

Definitely best season ever, the bitchiness is just .


I especially 'love' all of Michelle's bitchy put downs given everything she's created has been a piece of crap.

Amanda definitely should have gone over Benjamin.

Michelle hasn't impressed me but she wasn't wrong with her bitchy comments about Patricia. Patricia has produced utter crap, especially the last two challenges. I am glad Heidi at least addressed this by calling her out for that utterly hideous shredded disaster. I felt sorry for her poor model.

[PDilemma]

I'm not sure Amanda designed that dress so much as that dress accidentally happened. Worst train wreck I've ever seen on this show in that there was no coherent plan involved. A lot of other train wrecks have been sent down the runway, but normally they are a) plans gone awry or b) exactly what the designer wanted in the first place.

She should have gone.

[Lainerb]

Haven't seen the last two episodes, but I have to wonder about the overt racism towards Patricia, would this be tolerated against any other minority by the show producers or the audience?

[Aceon6]

Haven't seen the last two episodes, but I have to wonder about the overt racism towards Patricia, would this be tolerated against any other minority by the show producers or the audience?

I'm not seeing what you're seeing. The producers play it up and Patricia is happy to oblige. In name, PR is about being able to design many things, not just things that play to a specific theme. I can see why the other designers are perplexed that her less than successful stuff gets through, while better designs have been auf'd. IME, that's not racism.

[Lainerb]

That's not what I am talking about. I am talking about people asking if she practices voodoo when she blesses herself with a feather, or when she uses her calls as many Tiwa women do. It's down right disrespectful and off putting.

[Ziggy]

The 'next week' segment where Kate said 'Michelle and Amanda are bitches' explained well why the producers decided to keep Amanda in.

[duane]

Amanda's outfit was not only the clear train wreck among the group, but the hair and makeup chosen for the woman were equally bad. She made a very attractive mature woman downright ugly.

[shan]

I don't know if I can watch another "I'm Amanda, woe is me" episode.

[duane]

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. Still, Tu and Kate were penalized for designing a long dress (which was a nice dress, but simply a boring color). And, the students' vote didn't seem to matter. They chose Patricia/Samantha's prom dress as their top choice, and tho the judges had nothing but praise for it, they voted Michelle/Amanda's dress as the winner (and the students didn't seem to like that dress at all).

I actually liked all the dresses! I thought Daniel/RIchard's dress was actually sexy, and the girl's hair and makeup were awesome. She looked the most stunning on the runway. I understood why the students liked Patricia/Sam's unique outfit. Again, I thought the color was boring, but liked Tu/Kate's old-Hollywood-glamour dress. I would have chosen Stanley/Layana as the winner, and the winning dress as the loser. I can see a quirky, rocker chick wearing it, but NO one else.

[skatesindreams]

They chose Patricia/Samantha's prom dress as their top choice, and tho the judges had nothing but praise for it, they voted Michelle/Amanda's dress as the winner (and the students didn't seem to like that dress at all).

Michelle/Amanda's dress wasn't a "Prom" dress at all.
The "judges" ignored the challenge, IMO.

Some girls view and use Prom as their first opportunity to dress in "evening"/red carpet dresses.
It's why you see a fair number of long gowns there, Nina!

[dbell1]

Not happy about the judging last night. They're still blinded by Daniel's early success. He's this season's Ven - a 'one way monkey' (tm Dimitry). That gold mess was crap. No clue how Layana and Stanley skated by either. I was hoping no one would go home, but it seemed Nina hated Kate & Tu's creation. Pretty stunned here at the double elimination.

I HATE the team concept. If they're going to do teams, then bring in pairs with matching aesthetics so we get decent designs with both points of view recommended. There are very successful designing duos out there and this show could find the next Marchesa (or those hillbilly guys from a few seasons ago).

[centerstage01]

I agree with Tom and Lorenzo that two non-American women who've never even been to a prom really shouldn't be voting on a prom challenge. I really liked Kate and Tu's dress and would have worn that at my own prom.

[duane]

I'm curious how the students ranked the other dresses. We were only told their top choice. I suspect Kate and Tu's ranked high.

[danceronice]

I disliked the losing dress and was fine with it losing, but mostly because it's kind of a blah "formal/wedding" silhouette every designer of formalwear ever has done three hundred times (of course I think mermaids and trumpets should just be banned on principle as being generally unflattering and overused) and they had a every color duct tape comes in to pick from and picked a really blah blue? That was not teal. Also not a fan of the gold one as the combination of the color/shine, length, and questionable fit of the bodice (which wasn't really their fault as it's freakin' duct tape) made it come across as what trashy girls from the "Gypsies" and Jersey shows would wear out. A different color/s and oh, I don't know, producers A LITTLE MORE TIME and it would have been fine.

I don't HATE the "winning" dress, except the "cutouts", and whether it's good for "prom" or not, whatever, what gets put out in the juniors' section for prom seasons is mostly crap anyway so at least it was different, a decent shape, and I think red and black is nice, but it wasn't as nice or as innovative or as REALLY a challenging use of the "fabric" as Patricia and Samantha's dress. The only possible problem I could see with that would be the shape/length in front might not be allowed at some proms but it's not like half the panel knew that. The more I saw it, the more I liked it. The use of the duct tape "ombre" was really neat, not to mention a lot of work--yeah, by comparison the top wasn't exciting, but it kept the dress from being too busy. And as said, the students liked it best, the judges praised it to no end, it fit the model better than the "winner"....so......producer interference? That's my only guess.

[PDilemma]

And as said, the students liked it best, the judges praised it to no end, it fit the model better than the "winner"....so......producer interference? That's my only guess.

I think it is often less "producer interference" than "editing interference". When Tim did his video blog one season, he often would say that the judges had praised or dissed something much more than what we saw. I think they often show them praising one more than the winner and dissing one more than the loser in order to keep the results a "surprise" for the viewers. I always assume anything getting completely trashed by the judges will not lose and anything getting over the top praised will not win. Remember the judging discussions go on much longer than the tiny bit we get to see.

[danceronice]

I think it is often less "producer interference" than "editing interference". When Tim did his video blog one season, he often would say that the judges had praised or dissed something much more than what we saw. I think they often show them praising one more than the winner and dissing one more than the loser in order to keep the results a "surprise" for the viewers. I always assume anything getting completely trashed by the judges will not lose and anything getting over the top praised will not win. Remember the judging discussions go on much longer than the tiny bit we get to see.

Except that means...the producers (who make those editing decisions) really want us to hate the judges? That's about all that kind of "surprise" is ultimately going to accomplish. And given the winning team includes one, arguably two, people who are here for producer-interference reasons when they could have been easily eliminated already...yeah, I'm suspicious, that or they fudged which ones were popular with the students.

[PDilemma]

Yes. They do want you to hate the judges or at least one or two of them. (See also, Idol, American and Cowell, Simon).

Tim's vlogs the one season he did them and some info in his books really indicate that the producers manipulate the challenges much more than the judging. And that is very much how reality television generally operates. Fan cries of "the producers chose" are a reaction to results they don't like but are a bit naive as producer manipulation is primarily focused elsewhere. If they can manipulate everything else, they don't have to manipulate the actual results. That takes care of itself.