Mood:
loudTopic: Project Runway Canada II
Finally! Not only is this the moment we've been waiting for it's the one episode that hasn't been previewed to death in promos. The other episodes all had their big twists revealed in the endless promos globalTV ran constantly all the time non stop.
The show begins with a quick re-cap of last week. I ponder many things, what was Brandon smoking? What was Jason thinking? What is Kim wearing? What was up with all the horrible performances on American Idiots? Have they all just accepted the fact that Adam and Allison are the finalists and last night was their surrender? And what WAS Brandon smoking?
The is on and when we last left Jason he had a problem. Upon further review, meaning watching the endless re-running of the last episode on Slice, it seems Jason's problem was communication. He simply did not properly communicate his intentions to Brandon. the intent was to ellicit Brandon's input on the skirt while Jason executed the bodice. The problem was that it wasn't input, Jason simply said, I want your three tiered skirt. Better he should have said, "Brandon, what do you think would work? Something voluminous and tiered and..." And then Brandon would have interjected "I know! A three tiered balloon skirt similar to one I did already!" and everyone would be happy.
The controversy is cleared up in a fraction of a second after a few quick camera cuts between Jason looking upset, Brian looking concerned and Brandon's pupils slowly return to normal size. The drama is defused and the two guys go out for a stress releasing smoke. Er...didn't Jason say he would;d give up after the breast cancer/post it note challenge? Jason says Brandon was always talking and talking and telling stories and spinning yarns that no-one paid attention to because no one knew if anything he said was true. Apparently, Brandon is Meatwad from the Aqua Teens.
Jessica is still working with Kim and it's obvious that she's starting to crack from the stress. Kim is still best buddies with Jessica because it's still in Kim's best interest. She can go from zero to hero and she can make us all think she's really a nice person after all. I'm sure she is, albeit a bit of a narcissist. brain checks out Jessica and tells her not to "overdo it" She backtracks on the idea of adding chains to the Cheryl Hickey dress.
Sunny's collection is still head and shoulders above everyone else's, the more I see of it the more I think of Gauthier. Jeff continues to wield one mean needle, he really is a master of hand sewing once to pry the sharpie from his hands. Brian's concern with Sunny's 13th look is that it's maybe a bit too white. I agree, it should have been a warmer white.
Brian tells the designers they have to come up with a presentation for Winners, describing their brand style, who they hang with, their customer profile and price point. While we break for a commercial I think that the designers should know all this already, Sunny needs to make his presentation about a down-market interpretation/adaptation of his couture line, Jessica needs to point out the commercial potential of individual pieces as opposed to the entire collection and Jason needs to pull his head out of his ass,. 20 years old to 60 years old? C'mon Jason, your line is aimed squarely at cougars and you know it.
After the commercial we are greeted with sunny picking at seams, Jessica is nowhere near finished as she jabs herself with a needle, and Jason realizes that he's almost finished. They then go to make their Winner's presentation and they are all given constructive criticism. They tell Jessica she needs to re-think the price points for her target youth age demographic or aim her line at a higher age group. Jason spews about perfect for 20-60 year olds and they call him out on that. Sunny doesn't know about down-market adaptations and he's told his price point is way too high for the Winner's customer. Seeing hows he's not interested in the Winner's customer, this isn't really a problem.
They now have a fitting with Cheryl Hickey. Sunny does his best sales pitch to her. the fit is nice, the colour a bit plain, perhaps too white for September, but overall, it's nice. Next is Jason. He doesn't need a hard sell, his dress is perfect for her, the glitz and glam level of a movie festival, the red carpet occasion, and the time of year. If i were Cheryl I would pick Jason's in a heartbeat. Jessica is last and there are serious problems. Ms Hickey is quite concerned with a possible wardrobe malfunction. She doesn't want nipple slippage and she says the fit feels weird. It doesn't fit at all and it look amateur. There's no sophistication and it looks like a student project. (Wait until it's on the runway, this is a "doesn't measure up" dress for sure)
Kim gives Jessica a little pep talk and Jessica is in the "confession booth" or whatever they call it stressing out and crying some more. Brian comes for one last pep talk and one final group hug.
Into another commercial break and The conversation once again turns to Idol suckage. We all know Sunny will win, it's about as obvious as that thing on that Idol guy's forehead. We're all Adam fans and none of us are bothering to preface with any justifications or apologies. Adam's in on the joke, he knows it's all a craptacular cheese fest and he's milking it for all it's worth. It's all theatrics and not to be taken seriously. I want to see Adam slaughter Sweet Child o' mine. I want to see him fronting Velvet Revolver, I want to see him as Dr Frank N Furter. This is rock and roll, it's impossible to be too out there. Better to go out in a ball of flames (get it? Flames? Adam and Flames? Get it?) than with a mushy balladeer's whimper.
It's now the morning of the show and we have some serious hair and make up going on, there's eyeliner. mousse, ceramic straighteners...and that's just on the designers. On the runway Bidell greets them. He tells them all how fabulous he is and how fabulous his life is and how he's dressing the stars and how he made Iman's dress for the evening's show. An awkward edit send is backstage for serious crunch time as make up, hair spray, and mascara is flying everywhere. The designers are engaged in some serious needling and threading and we are sent to another round of commercials and a bathroom break, Now all of the family is watching, hubby and the boys.
Showtime, and Sunny goes first. The first coat is dazzling, He likes his short hemlines. So far so good, I like the vintage furs, they add a luxury touch and fit his theme. The 13 look is mostly meh, he shows a skirt made of fur. The gold beaded pieces are spectacular. I know why I was thinking Gauthier, his design aesthetic is very similar to Gauthier. Iman will love this one. he gets a lot of spontaneous applause.
Jason is next and his theme is global Glamour. Wow. the first black lace look is beyond risqué, it's bit over the top. There's a pantsuit with pants so low and worn on a model with hips bones so sharp it looks like they could be used as letter openers. There's a lot of sameness, black lace, black silk and lots of gold sequins. The 13th look is really nice and I can tell Ms Hickey loves it, she's smiling and absolutely glowing in it. He gets a little spontaneous applause.
Jessica is last and she's presenting two different collections at the same time. the first coat is nice. The sheer pink boho dress is the stand out. The yellow hot-pants jumpsuit is sassy and sexy and young. The pink things don't fit with the brown things. the chain dress is a show stopper, it must have been some kind of wire working nightmare to make. The Cheryl Hickey dress is a disaster, it makes her look short and wide and the fit on top is awful. Her one arm is squeezed to her side to keep it from slipping down and giving the world a nip-slip. Embarrassing and amateur. if this were a regular challenge she's be out. She gets some applause, mostly for the chain dress, the yellow hot pants and the chiffon boho dress.
After the show we have our schmooze booze and audience reviews. Past challenge muses return, Coco Rocha is in Gareth Pugh and doesn't look any less absurd than Beyonce looked in a similar dress. She looks like she belongs on "Go Fug Yourself" or "OMG what were they thinking?". Meesha...whatever is back. She liked Jason's collection. After seeing more of her personal style on Bravo Canada I can see that his stuff is right in her style zone.
Sunny will win, no question. We have a commercial break and the designers meet with the judges. Shawn Hewson has taken an assertiveness training course and is basking in the glow from reviews of his collection. Rita Robot has frozen in that pose on her chair. She almost manages an expression on her plastic face. Bidell is there and still basking in his own fabulousness. Iman is wearing a Bidell dress, the one he designed in last years final four challenge, only it's in a springy and trendy leaf green.
Jason is first. Shawn says he took a risk with the black and gold sequins but Shawn thinks it paid off. Rita says there were some real hits and a couple misses. Iman said one skirt was so tight the model couldn't walk. She hates model torture. Bidell says a few were almost too sexy, the only place they could be worn was the Playboy mansion.
Sunny is next. Shawn loved it. Rita calls him a superstar. Bidell loved it. Iman LOVED THE COLLECTION and she want some of the pieces. Much of this season she's been wearing Gauthier and i wonder if Sunny had that fact in mind while working on his collection. Hmmm. Interesting to ponder.
Jessica is last. Bidell wasn't sure about the cowl bum skirts. He liked it...but... Shawn said it wasn't quite cohesive. he too noticed that there were two collections going one. he loved the chiffon dress. Rita thought it was okay, loved the chiffon and would have loved to see more of the sassy boho. Iman loved the chiffon dress and not much else.
The judges discuss the collections. They were disappointed with some of Jason's stuff. They also noticed there was much of the same thing going down the runway over and over. They feel he needs to clarify his vision. They though Jessica was okay, some was good, some was very good, and some was not so great at all. They all loved Sunny. They all loved his point of view. They loved his couture techniques. They loved the juxtaposition of leather versus chiffon, it was cohesive, and they loved his leather mask-hat. The winner will be announced after commercials and a weather break.
The next few days are going to be the warmest we've had this year. Yay! I plan on taking full advantage of the warm weather.
And we return to the final judging. Really, there's no question about who will win. They blather a bit to the other two and hand the crown to Sunny. Iman calls him "Sunny the Great" and says the choice was unanimous. From the first coat to the last look there wasn't a weak look in the collection.
It wasn't until the middle of the night I realized that they said nothing about the thirteenth look. Does Sunny's win mean she must wear his dress? I think Jason's was far better on her. And that's it for this year. With the troubles Canwest Global is having, there might not be a season three in spite of the international success of Season Two. I'm still debating putting together an audition video for myself. I'd need to create three super fabulous looks and make sure all my finished sketches are impeccable, and somehow work in my knowledge of pattern making and draping, convince everyone that I'm a ~~*Fabulous**~~ personality and do it all in a five minute video. I dunno.
In conclusion, the whole series gets a B+. It was difficult to watch in the middle episodes, some of the designers seemed talentless, losing two in the first half hour of the series was lame, some of the challenges were too gimmicky, and the producers seemed to pick personalities over talent. Still I enjoyed the series, and I'm looking forward to the original Project Runway season seven, if we ever get to see it here in Canada.
And now: back to our regularly scheduled blogging of squirrels, sewing, beading, fashion and stuff!
