Terrible Television » Zac Posen Kors

Project Runway, Episode 12: Jet Setting And Sewing

misslinda — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 15:45:53 +0000

Reprinted with permission from www.hautetalk.com

Last week, Polka Dots was gifted with one last chance. Tim arrives to tell them that nobody is going home, and Polka Dots got a second chance because she is talented. Translation: the judges pulled an audible, and the producers nixed the idea of filming another challenge on the fly. Layana has “mixed feelings” about Polka Dots staying because they had to work so hard for a challenge and the same five people are still there. I have “mixed feelings” about Layana—should I strangle her with charmeuse or linen?

Heidi gives them their final challenge, and it’s a doozy. Each contestant is going to a different European country. Daniel has never been outside of the United States, so he starts crying. They’re each going to a different fashion capital with a sewing assistant who will be traveling with them:

Layana: Barcelona with Samantha (so glad to see her back!)
Wind Chime: Paris with Kate
Daniel: Berlin with Amanda
Stanley: London with Hallmarq
Polka Dots: Nowhere with TuTu

Aw, this is sad. She gets one last chance, but nobody wanted to kick in for a ticket. Each designer has to create a high-end runway look with a thousand dollars for materials. They will be wandering around their cities getting inspired and buying fabric, and then return to New York to create something fabulous.

Daniel goes straight for the Berlin Wall, which is a good bit of inspiration because it is simultaneously uplifting and oppressive. The great thing about Berlin is that it’s a true mixed bag, and Daniel gets inspired by some of the newer, geometrical architecture. He finds a white vinyl fabric and decides to make a white jacket and a black dress.

Back in New York, Polka Dots feels a tad on the lonely side and is afraid that her misery will translate in her design. To snap herself out of it, she takes a double-decker bus tour in the rain and gets a new perspective of the architecture, particularly the old buildings reflected in the glass of the new skyscrapers. Polka Dots goes shopping in Mood and buys cashmere and “avant turd” leather in “diarrhea brown.”

Wind Chime experiences Paris street art, which of course is a million times more creative than anything in the United States. She’s seeing layers in the textures and wants to do the “true, gritty street Paris.” Then, she sees the Eiffel Tower and has her Paris moment. She goes over her budget in the fabric store by $250 because she’s buying a million different fabrics, but the nice Parisian tells her “no problem.”

Layana is inspired by the tile work and patterns on the architecture. She sketches from the outside of La Sagrada Familia, without realizing that all of the really good stuff is on the inside. Layana can’t find leather in Barcelona and switches to black lace which is never, ever frumpy. “After all that, I have to cut my own fabric?”

Stanley is hitting all of the main sights and is inspired by the windows of the towers, particularly Big Ben. He goes with a long and lean silhouette that is darker than his previous work. He chooses a veeeery expensive fabric and isn’t sure if he will have enough to cover his model.

The jetlagged designers and helpers return to the workroom and Polka Dots is not enjoying listening to the other designers’ travel stories. Daniel is making a pair of boots that Polka Dots calls the kind of plastic hooker boots you buy when you’re dressing up for Halloween. He’s also sewing a quilted white pleather jacket. Tim cautions that he has a lot of work to do, which is a euphemism for “it looks like crap, but maybe you can salvage it.” Stanley designed a “modest” capelet that Tim calls “monastic” which is removed to reveal a backless dress. Wind Chime is layering fabrics to make her own textile, and Tim Gunn calls it “remarkable.” But, her pieces don’t go together, and he encourages her to turn her jacket into a “top” and ditch the out-of-place shirt. Polka Dots is making a “stunning” breastplate and a hand-painted ombre dress that will resemble soot on the side of buildings. Layana is creating a coat, pants and blouse. Tim worries that she has too much work to do during the short timeframe.

Runway time! The judges this week are Zac Posen Kors, Nina Garcia, and nine-time Grammy winner John Legend. Four of the designers will go to fashion week, and one will be out.

Layana’s outfit looks like Hot Topic circa 1995. Polka Dots’ dress looks both pretty and slick, with some killer strappy detail work on the back. Stanley’s dress is morbid, even when the cape is removed. But, it’s an interesting shape and extremely well made. Wind Chime’s crafty top is…somewhere between cool and frumpy. Daniel’s white jacket is slick, and his asymmetrical dress underneath is very wearable.

Nina thinks Daniel captured the “beat of Berlin” very well, likes the jacket and boots, and she calls the dress “phenomenal.” Nina also loves Stanley’s outfit, and the glimpse of sequins on the inside. Zac Posen gives him a “bravo” for having captured the mystery of London. Oh boy. Nina is already grimacing at Layana. Zac Posen recognizing Barcelona in the materials, but Nina laughs at the pirate sleeves. “This outfit looks so old fashioned, and old fashioned coming from such a young designer is tragic.” Heidi calls the coat a housecoat. Nina is shaking her head. It’s weird that they sent Layana to Barcelona when “schadenfreude” is a German word.

Zac Posen Kors calls Wind Chime’s outfit “trash couture,” and “lumpy and dumpy.” Nina is underwhelmed because she doesn’t feel Paris in it at all, and calls it “cotton candy gone wrong.” As Heidi calls the top “special,” Nina forces her face to make a frown. The judges react well to Polka Dots’ design and the story of the slick glass buildings combined with the older materials. But, Heidi does not like the painted ombre bottom because it looks like “a dirty horse blankie.”

To the judges! They’re loving Stanley and Polka Dots. The judges are nervous about Daniel’s taste level, but are impressed the way that he tuned into the Berlin underground look. Nina thinks that Layana has commercial taste, so she struggles with high fashion. John Legend doesn’t see the taste level necessary to be one of the top designers. Heidi is intrigued by Wind Chime, but Nina doesn’t think she is ready to put on a show and calls her work “artsy fartsy.” Basically, Heidi is fighting for her and Nina yells the words “arts and crafts horror.”

In the end, the judges send Stanley, Daniel (I just placed his accent—Dustin Hoffman as Dorothy Michaels in Tootsie), Polka Dots, and…yes!!! Wind Chime is showing at Fashion Week! Layana is out! Aw, her face is what it looks like when dreams are crushed.

Next week, the designers get $10,000 to create a twelve look collection.

Project Runway Episode 8: Tearing Away and Cracking Up

misslinda — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 15:37:04 +0000

Reprinted with permission from www.hautetalk.com

Okay there’s a lot that happens on the runway this week, so we’re going to just zip on through the whole making of the clothes thing and get right down to business. The contestants are split up into two teams of four, and the judges decide who will be working together. The designers give themselves cringeworthy names:

Team Hip and Slick

Layana, Hallmarq, Amanda, and Samantha

Team Fifty Shades Of Grey

Daniel, Wind Chime, Stanley, and Polka Dots

The teams have only one day to create three performance outfits for the cast of Thunder From Down Under, which is a male strip show comprised of oiled up Australian muscley men. Or so I’ve heard. The performers will also be the models, so the clothes must fit their bulging bodies. Oh, and did I mention that they need to be tear away clothes?

So there’s sewing, there’s stitching, there’s velcroing, there are naked men all over the workroom, and welcome to the runway!

The judges this week are Zac Posen Kors, Nina Garcia, actress and singer and star of Shameless Emmy Rossum. Two designers from the winning team will be the winners of this challenge, and one designer from the losing team will be out.

First up is the horribly named Slick and Hip. Hallmarq and Samantha made a tuxedoish shirt and black pants. The vest is too short, but the pants at least fit reasonably well. Hallmara and Amanda made a mess of a white shirt that’s way too long with a too-short tie and…weird pants. Layana, Hallmarq and Amanda made a jacket that is too tight in all the wrong places, and it’s basically the worst suit ever.

I’m embarrassed for this team. But wait—do the clothes tear away? No. It’s a dance routine. Oh, what? They lost their shirts! AND THEIR PANTS!!! Heidi forgot to vote and Nina is battling Zac for the smelling salts.

Next is Team Shades Of Grey. Daniel and Wind Chime made a baggy, boring trench coat and a decent pair of pants. Stanley designed a forgettable suit that’s a little sloppy. Polka Dots’ outfit is a weird angular vest that’s too short here and too pointy there, with shiny pants that do very kind things to the performer’s posterior.

And it’s show time! Dancing! Tear away shirts! Almost tear away pants! Oh man, this is not good. The dancers are stuck in their pants! Nina, go help them out of their pants!

So, how’d they all do? Heidi would like to vote them all out. Shades Of Grey is the winning team, but only because Slick And Hip sent an absolute disaster down the runway

The judges talk to Fifty Shades Of Grey first. Nina’s annoyed that they didn’t bother doing anything creative, and Zac Posen Kors thinks the performers look like the weirdest office ever. Polka Dots made the most “palatable” look, but that’s not saying much at all. Heidi calls Stanley’s suit a “rental suit,” and Zac Posen Kors says “the middle shirt is just terrifying for me.” If this is the winning team, I can’t wait to get to the losing team.

Slick and Hip offers excuses, excuses, excuses. Layana confesses to making the jackets, Hallmarq sewed the shirts, and Amanda designed the pants. Samantha made a vest and pants that Heidi thinks is the best of the three. Hahaha, the seams in one of the model’s pants are slowly bursting and Nina is in a fit of hysterics and she cannot stop laughing.

The judges try to wrap their heads around what Team Shades Of Grey sent down the runway. Zac Posen Kors explains that it’s really not that complicated to make a man’s shirt, and it’s actually easier because there aren’t any boobs. Pant legs were different lengths, jackets were simultaneously too tight and too loose, shirt collars drooped, and Heidi suggests sending both Hallmarq and Amanda home.

The judges universally like the look Polka Dots presented the best, even if they didn’t like it at all. The only thing Zac Posen Kors would wear out of the entire runway show is that snore of a trench coat, and he would have put a belt on it, which prompts jokes about how big the belt needs to be and how the coat is “hiding the thunder,” and the judges have finished their transformation into giggling teenaged girls.

Heidi announces that tonight, in a Project Runway first, there is no winner. Team Slick And Hip is in, and they take Samatha and Layana from Team Shades Of Grey with them to go lick their wounds. Now it’s down to Richard or Amanda, Richard or Amanda. It’s a tough decision, but the judges decide to give Hallmarq another chance and kick ol’ Amanda to the curb.

Next week, the designers are creating ready to wear looks for Lord and Taylor, and Stanley and Wind Chime are ready to kill each other.

Project Runway Recap: Flower Power

misslinda — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 02:57:31 +0000

Reprinted with permission from www.hautetalk.com

For this challenge, we’re going back to an oldie but a goodie (and Tim’s favorite challenge)—the flower shop. But, Heidi has a few ideas of her own. She liked the hardware store challenge, so the teams will have to use both flowers and hardware to make a cohesive line of six looks.

Next, Tim evens out the teams by allowing Dream Team to choose two members from Keeping It Real. Blondie chooses Stanley for them and Polka Dots wants anyone but Wind Chime so they select Layana for her sex appeal. In exchange, Keeping It Real gets to pick one member from Dream Team, and they unanimously choose Polka Dots, who is not happy about the switcheroo.

Dream Team settles on a “Christian Dior 1950s Chic” theme, and Keeping It Real is doing “RuPaul Meets Gilligan’s Island.” Okay….

At the flower shop, Blondie tries to add cohesiveness with the colors. Amanda doesn’t understand flowers because they bore her, so she chooses moss. Crazy Cat Lady is hoping his dress does not eat his model. Layana grabs a bunch of something that looks like lettuce.

But once the contestants get back to the workroom and start stretching and folding and molding their materials, it’s no longer a bed of roses. Amanda’s moss is shedding, Hallmarq and Polka Dot’s window blinds are bending like an arthritic grandmother, Kate is making something out of chicken wire, and Blondie is weaving his own fabric from string, which should take nearly forever.

It quickly dawns on Keeping It Real that their garments are practically allergic to each other. Rather than change the designs to make one cohesive collection, they try to come up with a story that will paste them all together. Yeah, good luck with that with the judges.

Tim Gunn checks in with Keeping It Real. He is not thrilled with Crazy Cat Lady’s outfit which may look blobulous and massive. He finds Amanda’s moss to be “pretty,” except for the bald spots. Kate’s voluminous dress is moving in the crafts project category, but she has immunity so she doesn’t really care what Papa Gunn thinks. Then, Tim hits them with the collection’s lack of cohesion. As Polka Dots explains, every outfit looks like it’s made by a crazy person, but each crazy person is being treated at a different mental hospital.

Dream Team boldly states that their theme is “Dior.” The camera does a bunch of quick and peppy cuts through their outfits before settling on Samantha who is studiously cutting out tiny little patterns from contact paper. She’s having time management problems and is getting the Elimination Edit despite her outfit being kind of awesome.

Time for the runway! Meet our judges, Acclaimed American Designer Zac Posen Kors, Nina Garcia Fashion Director Marie Claire Magazine, Leandra ‘The Man Repeller’ Medine in a football jersey and a “just running to the corner bodega for a thing of ice cream” messy bun, and Famed Highway Adopter Bette Midler.

Keeping It Real

Daniel’s dress is a bizarre and unflattering shape with hunks of cabbage on the hips. Crazy Cat Lady’s dress is…chunky and messy. Hallmarq and Polka Dot made a severe strappy flowery thing that was uncomfortable looking. Wind Chime’s model was wearing a burlap sack and carrying flowers on her arms. Amanda’s moss dress looked boring. Kate’s poufy dress looked more cutesy than crafts fair.

Dream Team

Matthew’s dress was elegant, in yellow, white and black, combining rope with flowers. Stanley’s dress is the couture version of Kate’s dress. TuTu’s dress is a picture of elegance in rope and lilies and I would wear that skirt to death. Blondie’s dress is very light and pretty. Samantha’s dress looks stunning with leaves captured inside of metal. Layana’s dress is a gorgeous, dreamy vine-like netting with flowers interspersed. And, it’s all one cohesive collection.

Gee, I wonder which team wins? Oh right, it’s not a mystery at all, the Drea—wait, Heidi says there is no losing team, just a winning team and an almost winning team. What next? Participation Prizes?

For Dream Team, the judges liked everything. It was whimsical, amusing, and beautifully made. The team nominates TuTu, Matt and Blondie for the win. But the judges disagree and give the prize to Samantha for her clever and stylish metal mesh ensemble.

As for Keeping It Real, the judges eventually hone in on Crazy Cat Lady’s flower and metal clumpy sweater dress as not so nice. But when asked who should go home, the team piled on Amanda for her cruddy moss dress. Because his dress was unflattering, they send Crazy Cat Lady home. We will miss his irreverence, but his cat sweaters need him.

But wait, there’s more! Tim says that there’s still business to be taken care of, so the designers must meet him and Heidi on the runway. To be continued! And next week involves a country music star that nobody’s ever heard of because really, country music? And fashion?