March 2012

Project Runway: Finale, Part II

The winner is announced.

The second part of the Project Runway: All-Stars finale pitted Austin’s, Mondo’s and Michael’s six-piece collections against one another. This season really was a sprint—these designers had to complete their limited collections in a mere four days, while earlier seasons gave contestants months to complete their runway-ready looks.

The Illusion of Pulled-Together

How I get by on a Daily Basis

I’ll admit that I’m not exactly very good at getting out of bed in the morning. In fact, it’s rare for me to not hit the snooze button at least three times. This is part of the reason that every day when I venture off to work, I usually look like a thrown together mess. In spite of this, there are things I like to do for myself and to convey to the general public a message of: “I swear I don’t always look like this, I am capable of pulling myself together if I want.”

Project Runway: Nanette Lepore

The designers learn to budget.

Project Runway is really coming down to the wire, so I love the completely conventional challenge that the designers have this week. I think that the emphasis on wearability and budgeting this season has been thanks to wonderful new mentor, Joanna Coles, the Editor-in-Chief of Marie Claire. She tells the designers—who are mostly gay men—that women like to wear bras with their looks or emphasized the fact that most women won’t buy dresses slit down to their navels, giving these designers a taste of the real woman consumer who they need to impress. Fashion is not only art.

When Thin is Deadly

In the aftermath of recent Fashion Week shows around the globe, I’ve been seeing numerous articles around the internet debating whether or not lawmakers need to take a stand in the “too-thin” model controversy.  Recent research speculates that by monitoring and regulating the size of runway models, many teen girls could be saved from lives of anorexia and bulimia.

Project Runway: Dress in Lights

Design a dress for the dark.

In recent seasons of Project Runway, most of the challenges have been recycled from earlier seasons in one way or another. They usually have to make some sort of outfit from a recycled material from a pet or dollar store. They almost always have to design an outfit for some celebrity or other. But this week’s challenge was in a league of its own, and is pretty cool. The designers have to make a dress that will stand out on a dark stage. That means that they’re designing dresses with LED lights, neon black light tape and big strings of lights. The outfits need to look good when lit normally, as well. Mondo makes a sort of Austin Powers Femmebot look using Missippi pearls and neon plastic.

He gives his model a space-agey helmet thing to top off his not-particularly-exciting futuristic look. The judges say his look is a little Tron-esque. Jerell makes an outfit using fiber optic lights and magnets that looks like a tribal warrior in neon blue. He’s really sticking with his “ethnic” aesthetic. He also gives her a light to wear in her mouth, which is gross, but Isaac says is sexy. They tell Jerrell that the look is a little to rave-ish. Kenley makes the same A-line dress with a flouncy skirt, but this time she’s used some neon tape to create her own plaid. I hope she finally gets dinged for being two one note. She tops the dress with a see-through, fairy-lit shrug and a pale pink, Nicki Minaj hairpiece.

Project Runway: World Pieces

The designers travel to the U.N.

Project Runway lost South African designer Kara last week, and her two biggest buddies—Kenley and Austin—are pretty upset about it. They say that Kara was more talented than Mila or Jerell, a claim which I find hard to substantiate about a woman who consistently hoped that the judges could see her aesthetic in baggy pants and shapeless shirts.