PROJECT RUNWAY Recap: S4, Ep 1

Why hello all my little fashionistas. Are we ready for another season of PROJECT RUNWAY? Of course I must start off with many apologies for this being my first recap, and it being after the second episode. Major DVR failures (also known as my stupidity) prevented me from catching the premiere episodes last week. I actually wasn’t able to see it until just a few days ago and it was killing me to not jump online and read all about it. But since fashion is such a subjective thing, I thought it only best to see if and judge for myself. So here’s my take on the premiere episode, and stay tuned for two cents (or more like $1.87) on episode number two in just a little bit.

But let’s not be silly, I’m not really judging the fashion as much as I am the designers. And this year, I think we have enough crazies to keep it interesting. I mean come on, I’m all for creativity and individuality but I don’t get where some of these people were hatched. The tears, the drama, the bitching, the egos – and that was only in the first five minutes of episode 1.

To quickly recap the first episode – we met all the designers, each who thought they were better than all the other designers, and each who brought to the show their own signature “Look at me! Look at me!” drama. After getting settled into the condos and silently sizing up the competition, they were off to Bryant Park to meet Tim & Heidi and receive their first challenge. Mrs. Seal and Mr. Make it Work told the designers that they were to design and construct an outfit that best showed the judges who they were as designers. They didn’t have any budget constraints and had a bevvy of material to choose from. Ok, so right off the bat, this one should have been cake. I mean, what’s your signature piece? Every designer should be able to take a piece of expensive fabric, drape is beautifully over their eyes and create a piece that reflects who they are as a designer. Isn’t that what they do all the time? I refuse to believe that a group of people with egos as big as theirs haven’t ever created a piece that wasn’t all about them. Well, it seems that for this challenge that designers covered their eyes and fell asleep – or maybe that was me. Listen, I’m not saying I can do any better because I can’t. But these are professionals and the least they can do is come up with something interesting to look at.

So I was supposed to learn a little something about each of the designers? Ok so I learned that: Jillian likes Lite Brites; I want to stuff Christian is his locker and not let him out until he turns 7; Jack doesn’t have much vision of his own; Kevin is a Joey Fatone wannabe; Chris was picked on a lot as a young boy; Marion may have a girls name but has no idea how a woman would like to dress; Kit doesn’t know when enough is enough; Steven is boring; Carmen was a model in the 80’s and likes big shoulders; Sweet P’s personal style is in no way related to her design style; Ricky needs his meds; Victorya may be my early favorite to win; Elisa is from the 6th planet from the sun; Simone learned to sew in Home Ec class; Rami knows Jessica Alba and how to drape a dress so it looks like drapes. Ok, so maybe I didn’t learn all of this from their designs alone, but let’s be honest here, Project Runway isn’t just about the designs anyway.

auf Wiedersehen and Congrats (not necessarily in that order)…
In the end, Simone’s mish mash excuse for a dress went home. I’m not sure I would have sent her home because there were other, bigger disasters on the runway, but I suppose at least the other designers were a bit more ambitious with their disasters. Rami took home the top prize which comes with immunity for the next challenge and a huge bullseye on his back. I’m ok with him winning, because although I found the dress to be boring, I think it was well designed and well constructed (like I have a clue).

Kath’s Picks…
I think it’s been properly established that I know nothing of fashion. So of course, it’s only fair that I share my thoughts on the best and the worst of this week.  What do those judges know anyway.

Jennifer’s Runway…
Last season, no episode of Project Runway was complete until I could head over to MySpace and read Jennifer Eolin’s recap of each show. A comedianne by birth, Jennifer always had an interesting an hilarious take on the fashion hit or misses on the runway. A few weeks ago, right before the premiere, I asked Jennifer if I would be ok if I were to share a bit of her recap each week so that GMMR readers wouldn’t miss out. She’s all for it, so in addition to my weekly GMMR recap, I hope you’ll check Jennifer’s take on Project Runway,

So tonight was the premiere of the beloved series, Project Runway. For those of you who know me, this is my favorite show in the whole world and I’ve been looking forward to this premiere for the better part of a year. I love this show more than bacon. THAT’S RIGHT. MORE than bacon. So… that said… I’ve never been more bored in my life. I KNOW! During the fashion show the words that kept going through my head were: “Boring.” “Bleh.” “Seriously?” “BOOO!” And, “I wonder what her clothes looked like before she had a lobotomy.”

As a reality show producer (ahem… “writer”!) I know how hard it is to jam interesting content about SO many people into a short hour. Especially when you have to introduce everybody, intro the challenge, show the minutia of the challenge, get to the runway show and then show the judging/elimination. That’s like 35 of your 44 minutes right there, leaving very little time for highlighting cat fighting and conflict. I GET that first hand. So maybe it wasn’t the content as much as it was the designers. Maybe… THEY ARE BORING DESIGNERS. And I’m not talking personality here. In short – their designs were 100% uninspired. (continue reading…)