Topic: Project Runway Canada II
This is it for our remaining four designers, the Final Challenge. The theme, which has been previewed over and over, is business suits, and of course, a twist, which has also been previewed to death, which is that they must also make lingerie to go with the suit.
The designer's mansion is quiet this morning, the same type of quiet one feels the morning after a tornado has roared through. Sure, there's debris strewn everywhere and it will take weeks to repair the damage, but there is calm in knowing that the tornado has passes and Kim is gone. Every one is visibly breathing huge sighs of relief, even Jason.
The fearless foursome arrive at the studio for the new challenge, which is bogus, next morning is actually filmed the day before, after the previous elimination and the designers change into their "tomorrow morning" clothes. Iman enters, she's resplendent in a purple sheer blouse, purple skinnies and killer black boots. She gives the designers their challenge, the business suit for the modern woman, it must be tailored, appropriate for the boardroom, and represent their vision as a designer.
Tailored suits are the ultimate expression of the designer's art. The fit, the finish, the details must all be perfect. A designer should be able to make a suit from scratch by hem/her self without any help at any phase of the construction process. Lagerfeld of Chanel. is a master of women's dressmaking and tailoring, so was the original Coco Chanel. Gianni Versace was a master tailor who, along with contemporary Giorgio Armani, discovered new methods of making tailored clothes without the hard edges. Alexander McQueen began as a hand tailor in London's Saville Row. Vera Wang, Anna Sui, Michael Kors and alice+olivia are all American designers who have talked extensively about their experiences in learning not only quality design, but quality construction. As one of the first two ladies said, "If I don't know how to do it myself, how will I be able to tell anyone else how to do it?" I just wish i could find the exact quote.
Back to our designers, only Jason seems to have any real experience with suits. Jessica hasn't done any since design school, Genevieve admits she's a draper and tailoring is not her strong suit. Get it? Strong suit?
Off to the fabric store and the designers are given 225$ and thirty minutes to shop. Genevieve decides to do a pencil skirt rather than a bubble skirt, and wants a clean 1930's art deco modern look. Good for her, but it's difficult to execute a clean finish when you have little experience tailoring Sunny wanders around like a little lost puppy dog and says he has no idea where to start. Don't let us down Sunny! Jessica is shown rolling fabric of a bolt, and then we see Jason unrolling some more of the hideous post it note bright pink. a bright pink chiffon suit? they don't show anyone buying interfacings, linings or structural elements that are almost more important than the outer fabric. This saddens the part of me that loves good construction.
The return to the workroom and they have two days to complete the challenge. That's not a lot of time for a suit, but if fusibles are used for structure rather than hand pad-stitching, it can be done. I;ve made a few things with hair canvas hand stitched to the outer fabric, it's called pad stitching and you can build shape and structure using this method. It's what many people associate with true fine tailoring. I used this method for the suit I made for Dave, it's become his favourite "go-to" suit for dressing up.
Jason works hard and seems the least stymied by the challenge.Sunny is trying the shorts on himself. No! No shorts in the boardroom! No Capri's either! Ignore what fashion magazines say, and keep a boring wood panelled bank uppermost in your mind. Jessica wants a look that's sexy and feminine. Genevieve is hung up on a sleeve and trying to get it perfect. Sunny discusses that he's self taught and learned sewing from his Mom. If he wins it all that will be two self taught designers taking it all home, which is quite intriguing and brings up a fascinating sub-text. Which we won't explore, but we will keep in mind. Jason is enjoying his underdog status. The first day ends, and we've gone through one day of work in ten mionutes of TV time. no whining, no drama...no Kimmy!
Commericals...and didn't Adam totally BRING IT to American Idol? He is like American Idol's Sunny, he's head and shoulders above everyone else. And have you noticed that Kara is so hot for Adam that she loses her ability to count? Last week she had six words for him, and spoke an eight word sentence and this week she said something about studio 57. Was that the far gayer place across the street from studio 54? Oh yeah...Project runway...it back on:
At the start of day two Jason is almost finished. Brian arrives for some wise mentoring and I realize that Brian does have a buzz phrase it's "I'm concerned" "I'm concerned is his "make it work" He uses this when ever he wants to say, "It's ugly" "it's horrible" "it's a mess of dangly threads" or "are you bat shit insane? What is that thing?"
The visits goes thus: Jessica is scared of sleeves. She hasn't done a sleeve since design school, and where ever she went I want to avoid. Sleeves are tubes with a part that goes up to the shoulder. It's not advanced engineering. She's also scared of pants. biting my tongue about my reaction to her leggings...
Genevieve has picked the 1930's which she keeps repeating over and over and Brian is concerned that there's not enough power in her power suit. She tries to listen but she admits that it's difficult when you are as stubborn and naturally talented as her.
Jason has a bustier, a pair of sleeves and a pink jellyfish strangling the dress form. Brian Baily tries to smack some sense into Jason's head. Jason looks critically at his hot mess and wisely decides he needs a jacket. Good for you!
Sunny is just beginning and Brian does his best to build Sunny's ego. C'mon Sunny...we're all rooting for you. You and Adam Lambert.
two more hours go by and once again, no whining, no drama, and no Kimmy Pie. again they all sigh with relief.
Morning arrives without a commercial break. Brian gives them two surprises one nice, the other not so nice. Nice surprise, they have ten extra hours to work. The not so nice surprise: They need to come up with a second look "From boardroom to bed room" a lingerie look. The final four all make that yakking noise my cats make when a hairball is about to come up. Then there's one more surprise, the designers will get some help. the doors open aaaaannnnnddddd: In walk the models. Everyone sighs in relief that it wasn't the return of Kim.
The real twist is that the models will go fabric shopping for the designers. The designers make detailed lists and give the models swatches of fabric. This will be fun! Jason comes out and says he's never made lingerie. There's a far more dramatic coming out from Jason in ten minutes! The models go to Rockland with 75$ They are all quite lost a clueless. The one asks for Char-mousse, which she says sounds like a desert. Another model sighs and looks for something moose, isn't that an animal? Another says she needs nine meters of lace because her designer is making a little pair of booty shorts...that's one huge booty he's covering! This is the funniest scene all year. this scene is for teh LULZ
Commercials, and the weather for the next three weeks is April showers. I'd love to see ADAM LAMBERT do "singing in the rain"
Commercials are over and they begin their lingerie. Most opt to do a set of undies, Genevieve does a little slip. I would do a sexy little thing with french knickers and a lace trimmed cami and have the cami peek out from the neck line of the jacket. And now, the moment we've been waiting for: Jason confirms everyone's suspicions and comes out of the totally straight woman loving closet. He's hetero, no more questions about it. And he most certainly was flirting with Kim. The only thing that concerns me is that with so much emphasis on Jason, does this mean he's the loser?
Morning dawns and Brian comes in again, there's two hours left to go yadda yadda His last critiques:
Genevieve has twisty wavy seams. She describes them as wonky, I describe them as poorly cut with no regard to grainline.
Jason's lingerie look is too small so he's adding to the centre back. Good call Jason! quick and easy and it will work. Jason is impressing me with his level of skill, where was that in the rest of the series?
And I don't see Sunny or Jessica because or television is having weak signal issues.
They are in makeup and hair and there's the usual flurry of shoes, curling irons, clothes irons, sewing needles and make up brushes. Jason works up to the last minute. and we have some commercials before it's show time!
Iman, in delightful red, introduces the judges: We meet Shawn, curled up in a fetal ball because no one listens to him; rigid plastic Rita the mannequin is introduced and doesn't move, and the guest judge is David Dixon, who has small shop in Waterloo Town Square. his stuff is sophisticated and bit too old looking for me. the mayor shops there, she was trying on suits when I checked the place out. The show begins:
Sunny's model wears a jacket and wide legged pants in pale shiny grey silk tweed. Some seam edges are frayed out on the jacket, and it looks nice. The lingerie look is a bra and panties that did not take nine meters on lace. the fit of the lingerie is excellent, considering it's his very first bra.
Genevieve presents a green-grey suit with black piping, The piping lines of the skirt don't line up with the lines of the jacket and it throws the whole look off. Her little black slip for the lingerie look is far stronger, but in her typical draped bunchy look.
Jessica goes for a sportier look, and it's only partially successful. The fit of the wide legged pants is off a bit at the crotch and the sleeve is ridiculous nd not in a good way. Her lingerie look is awful, it's a far too sporty tank and panty set.
Jason's model makes me say OLÉ! She's wearing tight cropped pants and a killer fitted jacket. I love the jacket, it's the stand out of this group. It makes the pink thing vanish and it almost forgives the capri pants. For lingerie he presents a sexy little cami set.
The designers face the judges. Sunny:Of course they love Sunny. They find the lingerie a little too basic, but considering he's never done lingerie before, he did what he know he could accomplish successfully. Shawn tries to speak but Iman cuts him off. He returns to his fetal ball and whimpers.
Genevieve: Rita doesn't like it. She can see the seams don't line up and it throws everything off. David Dixon says she over-designed the suit but he loved the slip. Shawn uncurls long enough to say he loved the slip.
Jason: They love the Jacket, wish he would have done a pencil skirt instead of shorts. They all hate whatever the pink thing is. They love the fabric and fit of the jacket and all four can't say enough about how much they love the jacket. The lingerie might have been a bit too basic. He has some story about how him mom influenced the suit, but not the lingerie, which makes everyone laugh uncomfortably.
Jessica: They liked the pants, but thee were problems with the jacket and the details. I think the jacket is too sportswear and not sophisticated, my main complaint against Jessica is her lack of design sophistication. They all point out problems in the fit of the sleeve, the neck is a bit too low and it didn't really work. The lingerie was too boring, not sexy at all and not sophisticated, more for watching TV in bedroom rather than seducing the CEO in the boardroom.
The judges deliberate and they take thee designer's entire season's output into consideration for the final results. They think Jason is very versatile and would like to see a collection from him. the jacket was such a stand out that it negated everything else from this challenge. They like Jason and it's obvious that he's going to fashion week. Sunny, needless to say will be going on. they loved the sheen of the fabric and the details, they have no doubt that he's versatile and will produce a good collection. They think Jessica either goes too far, or not far enough. In this challenge neither look was successful. They think she has a good range, but notice she lacks a clear artistic design vision. They wonder if she can produce 12 strong looks. That comes from being fresh out design school and having little to no real world experience. They think Genevieve has better real world experience and would probably make a better collection. Her suit was heavy and clunky, but her lingerie was the best of the bunch. They think she has a clear design aesthetic and a clear artistic point of view, but they question if they want to see 12 draped skirts.
The designers are called back and the winner and loser announced. To the surprise of absolutely no one, Sunny wins and is off to fashion week. In second place is Jason. Yay! the jacket was brilliant. The final two are Jessica and Genevieve. Jessica goes on, she told to develop a better range, and Genevieve is out because when you've seen one draped bubble skirts, you've seen them all.
Brain consoles Genevieve and we get a preview of next week. The designers work on their collections and they are told they need a 13th look. Brian is very concerned about a couple collections, one he says he sees nothing runway worthy. Brian is concerned, and the preview is over!
I can hardly wait for next week! My sketch will be up later, I seem to have misplaced it. it's a little jacket with a bias skirt that has a bit of a flare at the back, and the lingerie is a lace trimmed cami and French knickers.
