the winning dress is a blob of ugly green foam with ink spilled on it? OMG! horrible, no one could wear that!

This is as good a definition of 'avant garde' that I've seen - taken from this wikipedia article, the whole of which also bears reading. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avant-garde

"The term was originally used to describe the foremost part of an army advancing into battle (also called the vanguard) and now applied to any group, particularly of artists, that considers itself innovative and ahead of the majority.[3]

The vanguard, a small troop of highly skilled soldiers, explores the terrain ahead of a large advancing army and plots a course for the army to follow. This concept is applied to the work done by small collectives of intellectuals and artists as they open pathways through new cultural or political terrain for society to follow."

As far as I can see the only judge who truly understands what it means is Nina(and maybe the Duchess but I can't remember from last time). None of the designers (with the possible exception of Ra'Mon) have the first clue, which makes me wonder what they teach at design school.

I've just looked through all the dresses on the Lifetime site and they HAD to give it to Ra'Mon as he was the only designer who attempted true avant garde - in terms of exploring, however superficially, new concepts and ideas arising from the original surf culture theme. Everyone else just churned out exaggeratedly unwearable versions of the currently commercial silhouettes, which is not the same thing at all.

Brooklyn Bomber,

I did understand the challenge knowing that the only garments worn while surfing are wetsuits and bathing suits. I really couldn't see any connection with surfing for the vast majority of the outfits, chiffon dresses with trains, high heels. I saw a Top Chef challenge in which the contestents had to make breakfast for surfers and they got it. They made food that was easy to eat and would have high energy content. Surfer's outlook on sustainability is consistent beyond surfing. It's all connected. This challenge didn't have ANYTHING to do with surfing.

I'm just gonna say it. It looks like she has a boner. (model in the neoprene dress)

This whole episode was confusing. Mitchell's attitude sucked last night, and his elimination is justifiable, but Ra'mon's green ink stain dress does not deserve the win!

Also, Fatma is delusional.

QUESTION:

Was the Avant Garde piece suppose to be a tie in with the beach wear? If not why would you design a beach wear outfit and then design a avant garde outfit and have them in the same runway show? They are 2 totally different genres, aren't they?

somebody please help explain this to me!! =)

I don't think that this was the worst challenge ever (Tiki Barber). But close. Too many elements, with the more difficult time consuming one thrown in as an after thought.
An Avant-Garde look inspired by the sea, then a functional surf or beach outfit may have produced better results.
Looking forward to actually seeing what Carol/Shirin, Louise/Althea and Christopher/Logan teams actually made. They were given the bums rush and I think a few of the beach outfits were pretty good.

Yeah, I didn't understand how the avant garde look was suppose to tie in with this challenge as well.

Add me to the "Huh?!?" list of people who can't figure out how you get beach wear out of any of the stuff that was on the runway last night with the exception of the winner.
That's the only possible connection I can come up with. They do wear neoprene wetsuits to surf.
There was potential for some cut sportswear, lots of color, coverups, etc. In other words, resort wear.
Instead, High School Home Ec showed up.
I don't understand why Tim didn't point this out in the workroom walk-thru.

I forgot to say in my earlier post that my favorite moment of the show was Tim Gunn in flip-flops. Hilarious! Especially because he wore them with his tidy blazer and slacks!

I'm not laughing AT you, Tim--I'm laughing WITH you! :)

What a shame the designers didn't go with surfwear-inspired instead of boring beach/resort.

Didn't some big designer recently show neoprene jackets/coats?

Designers should've just ignored "avant garde" (whatever THAT is. lame & they didn't have enough time, anyway. Chris & Christian made a fun dress, but avant garde it was not).

Designers would've been better off concentrating on presenting a cohesive 2-part mini-collection. The second look could have a silhouette that isn't that far out there, but it's made with unexpected material (like the neoprene).

I didn't think it was that bad that Ra'mon won. He at least attempted to make a surf inspired avant garde look- even when he was working on the wet suit. The other teams just made gowns that didn't match their other outfit, weren't surf-inspired at all, and weren't particularly avant garde. At least Ra'mon tried to make something surf inspired.

In the end, does it really matter who won the challenge? Mitchell deserved to go home and he did, at least all the deserving contestants are still here. I also have to commend Mitchell for not trying to pretend he did any of the work, he gave Ra'mon all of the credit- even after the judges said it was a top 2 look. It was honest of him, I think he got in over his head and he recognized that and was ready to leave. I can't fault someone for that and I wish him all the best.

I thought it was interesting that after last week the models were so angry he didn't leave but this week one of them even exclaimed "No, he's so talented!".

Leigh said...

I thought it was interesting that after last week the models were so angry he didn't leave but this week one of them even exclaimed "No, he's so talented!".

Mitchell may well be talented. It would be hard to conclude that from what we have seen on the show, though.

JLo said...
Interestingly, Bravo's Top Chef did the exact same
thing on Wednesday night - winning team of two, one of them is the winner and one of them is out.

Not quite. The Top Chef challenge was not an "official" team challenge. Dividing into teams was the chefs' idea, and not a requirement of the challenge. There's no telling how things might have gone if the teams were officially put together by the producers through a knife draw or other means.

Similar, though.

OK, I haven't read all 200+ comments, so maybe someone else mentioned this, BUT: remember when Tim Gunn said there would be a shocking judging this season, where the one you think will be at the bottom is instead chosen as the winner? I bet this is the one. I bet Tim thought that yellow/gray abortion of a dress would put that team in the bottom and instead Ra'mon won. I know my friends and I sure thought they'd be in the bottom. We couldn't believe the judges had nothing bad to say about either of those dresses that won.

What the fresh minty hell was THAT?
This Ep was crack whack from the git go.
Can't comment on the "designs". Hated every last 1.
TLo-- Are Ra'mon & Bitchell a couple? They were awfully cute together. Ra'mon was incredibly adorable & silently long suffering like so many loving husbands (to my own-- thanks, honey!) @ Bitchell's unabashed lack of participation.

Weird challenge - surf inspired avant garde? Hmm. There were some half-decent surf looks, though nothing that really blew me away, but the avant garde dresses? No. Just no.

And then there's the judging. I mean, I felt sorry for Ramon, too, but that dress should never have won anything. I thought Jonny and Irina's were the best of a bad lot. Qristyl's days are clearly numbered, but Mitchell, oh, Mitchell. I liked him, from the moment he addressed Tim Gunn as Mr Gunn, but being a nice boy is not going to keep you on the show. He obviously wanted to leave this week, but the honest thing would have been just to say so. Couldn't sew, couldn't design, couldn't work in a team - but was cute and smiley. Three weeks was two too many.

TLo nailed it - a f'd up challenge that resulted in f'd up results. The challenge was so disjointed. Surf wear and avante garde and emphasis on the hair style? What's next - prom dresses for "real" women who didn't get to go to the prom but the dresses have to be made out of car parts? Yes, challenge the contestants but don't throw so much in that the results are laughable.

However, I can't agree with this episode producing the worst garments of the series. I still remember season one, episode one. Some of those godawful costumes are burned into my retinas. Wendy Pepper's monstrosity with chicklets and balloons glued on the models boobs - can anything be as bad as that? Well, maybe its a tie.

Maybe it's just me, but are there way too MANY designers left? I always feel like that the first couple of episodes, but even after 3 shows it seems like there are just too many of them and I can't keep them straight or remember who made which outfits Maybe its because with the model show, we now have double to people to get to know.

If this had been the first episode on Lifetime, the network would have packed Heidi and Tim on that big-ass plane they keep showing in all the promos, and they'd be gone, gone, gone -- much faster than do-nothing Bitchell. TLO has already said it best, but I just have to vent here:

BAD CONCEPT: Beachwear in LA is too predictable and it stereotypes all of California (not in a good way). Add to that the surprise 2nd piece -- something that barely worked with seasoned all-stars, certainly not with 13 very green designers. Bad, Bad, Bad.

BAD EXECUTION: As we've all said, the designs just sucked, and many of them were marginally executed (hence, the neoprene boner).

BAD JUDGING: The Duchess needs to get back in a hurry. Obviously, aliens have abducted Nina -- and the only excuse for Rachel Bilson was to try to make Lindsay Lohan look good.

There was no winner here. The judges could have called out the rare decent work on a few pieces, such as Gordana's work on the bathing suit top. But they should have declined to grant immunity to anyone for this fiasco.

I'll be Tivo'ing from now on. This crap should not cause anyone to lose any sleep.

Here was the problem with doing a team challenge - Ra'mon HAD to win because he was basically the only one who was responsible for his entire look. Even Qrystal and Epperson had some sort of overlap, despite the fact that they didn't agree. But Mitchell contributed nothing to his pair, and the only way for that to be recognized was for his team to be in the top or bottom.

Sadly, PR has reached the day when Mr. Bowling Ball Bag Belly had (IMHO) the best overall construction. Say what you will, but when time got low and shit hit the fan, there weren't any naked models walking down that runway. Normally I'd just say "enh, passable," but unfortunately there was no other way for the judges to "discover" Mitchell hadn't done a thing and boot him.

But all in all, the shit content was sky-high last night. Disappointing, confused challenge. I mean, each component of that challenge - teams, specific styles like surf, a random extra look, avant garde - is usually its own episode.

I am still pissed about this challenge. I call shenanigans!

I think Tim was talking about this episode when he said we would be shocked by the winning design; if I remember well, the "brand new thing" in PR History was a challenge and not a decision... and frankly this challenge, as delusional as it was, was not something new: we've seen the "surprise 2nd look" before... just not with such different things as surfwear and A-G.

I thought Bravo was crack pipe and Lifetime was Vicodin with a vodka chaser?

As to the latest Top Chef, yes they pulled in a chef who was paired with the winning chef's dishes (voluntarily paired up) but that chef didn't get eliminated. Pasta salad is a pretty safe bet to packing your knives and Pretti was the one auffed. I only saw Mike's placement in the loser's group much like warning someone with immunity that you're still expected to do you best.

It's also amusing all the Fonzi on waterskis references. It's the infamous shark jumping episode. The producers might want to keep that in mind the next time they get a little too heavy handed with their "producing".

Even my male, straight husband though this was the worst runway he'd ever seen.

Absolutely terrible. Let's hope that was a one off.

Gotham Tomato wrote:
"Color, or rather, the inability to use it or choose it or have any taste for it whatsoever, has been the most consistent issue plaguing designers across every season of PR. Apparently design schools have given up on teaching color theory altogether."

When I was in design school, the first year was focused on color theory, composition, positive/negative space. I didn't even do anything related to Fashion Design until the second year.


The reason Ra'mon won was because his surf wear look embodies Max Azria's design aesthetic. There are some fashion designers out there who cannot judge other designer's work because they cannot be objective. I experienced this firsthand when a well-known fashion designer was judging my thesis collection.

I wasn't a diehard Mitchell hater, but I was glad to see him go home. He barely did any sewing and "Project Runway" is a sewing competition. I think a lack of working under a strict time limit and functioning on only three hours of sleep per night (you could see the bags under his eyes and he looked physically drained) was ultimately his downfall.

Overall, the worst challenge in "Project Runway" history, almost as bad as the menswear challenge (if that wasn't so comical).

Oy! This was an enormously crappy episode. I agree with Lorenzo, though; the yellow dress is okay, probably the most okay thing on the runway. But it was just okay.

I was just wandering now who the hell will bid on this week's PR outfits...

Neoprene and Draping are two things that should not be together.

I think Mitchell fell on his sword. Maybe he was overwhelmed by challenge #3 and decided to do everything he could to get auf'ed than just up and quite. I'd like to see his portfolio because he has to have talent to be cast on the show, right?

I was actually looking forward to the results of the surfwear challenge, as I live by the beach, and for me at least, it seemed pretty relevant. But was any of that really surfwear in the end? MMmmnope.

What buggered me out was the avant garde challenge. While there has been some wackness regarding avant garde in PR, it has also turned out some amazing looks. But tacked on, as a secondary, last minute look for a surfwear challenge? It was pratically a given that none of it would be really avant garde (or even really good, for that matter). I wish they had made the second look a swimsuit or something. That would at least have been relevant.

Oh, and while the dress was meh, I think there's an interesting idea in Ramon's neoprene outfit...and I rather liked the colors.

The most "ass-tastic"? That's a tremendous stretch! Most of what was sent down the runway was at least wearable. No one was pooping fabric, at least. Was any of it exceptional? Not really. It was all pretty basic, department store wear but horrible it was not.

The "avante garde" was some BS if I ever heard it. It made no sense whatsoever.

Just totally mystified as to this week's judging.

My favorite garment (which the judges shreddded) was probably Nicolas's beach pants, because they look like they could be worn, you know, on a BEACH.

Apparently, Shirin and Althea both think "Avant Garde" is French for "deranged bridesmaid."

I really miss Austin Scarlett, Chris March, and Kanebow. Now they each had a true sense for the dramatic. (Which isn't the same thing as Avant Garde, but at least they were creative and entertaining.) That green neoprene number was just sad, sad, sad.

And Johnny??? WTF? The judges were drooling over his sloppy brown pullover and ecru tent skirt.

I haven't been this nonplussed since Jeffrey won with that yellow plaid monstrosity.

I'm confused at the definition of "nice" and "sweet" that some commenters are using. Does it mean someone who is pleasant to be around but is an asshole? Because that is our Mitchell. First, he picks somebody to "carry" him (imo because he knew Ra'Mon WOULD do it because of their friendship), a horribly cynical thing to say. Then he sticks Ra'Mon with all the work, exploiting his friend while slacking off. And then tries to take credit for part of the design "the bathing suit." Only when confronted did he admit he had done nothing, and wasn't remorseful about it at all. He never would have gotten away with NOT owning up to it; if Ra'Mon didn't out him, I'm pretty sure Nicolas would have. That's not my definition of nice or sweet. It's my definition of a famewhore who wanted to get on TV so badly he didn't care how it affected other people.

What were the designers supposed to do as "surfwear"? Board shorts and a bikini top? A t-shirt and jams? Were they supposed to know what surfwear is like the Fashion Show folks were supposed to know what B-girls wear?

And avant-garde WITH surfwear? I'll defend the designers here: they had so little time to do an avant garde look, I'm not surprised that most of them couldn't come up with anything very interesting. Avant garde is such a vague term anyway that I think they needed more to go on. It doesn't necessarily mean couture or evening wear.

I think Shirin and Carol Hannah should have won. Shirin's beach look was Uli-esque and CH's avant garde look was quite impressive for the time she had.

BTW whoever mentioned that someone should do a 360 degree collar like Christian/Chris's: Christian did that in his PR runway show. It was a huge, voluminous foofy thing that, along with her gigantic hat, covered the model's face.

Does Fatma have a really big face?

Robin; you obviously don't follow fashion. That sort of "sloppy" draping is right on-trend, as was Jeffrey's couture gown (which I LOVED). Ra'mon deserved the win if for nothing else than for using beach-related materials.

I haven't gotten around to watching the episode in its entirety (yeah..I don't mind spoilers); however, I feel pretty confident in saying only a brain surgeon could have come up with something even remotely runway appropriate in this truly kitschy and cringe-worthy challenge. And he did. I love his creation. I think everything about it is/was brilliant and I'm quite shocked that Tom finds it so unpalatable. Genius piece from a genius!

Ok Mitchell deserved to be auf'ed, but am I the only one to think that Ra'mon's attitude was almost as inexcusable as Mitchell's laziness? I mean he was able to produce a bowling bag pregnancy dress that was just CRAP and he has to worship Tim FOREVER for talking him out of that DREADFUL wetsuit! And he also won?!

Ellen M wrote:
"...He never would have gotten away with NOT owning up to it; if Ra'Mon didn't out him, I'm pretty sure Nicolas would have. That's not my definition of nice or sweet. It's my definition of a famewhore who wanted to get on TV so badly he didn't care how it affected other people."

If he was a "famewhore" he would've auditioned for "Big Brother" or one of those VH1 reality shows. I think he wanted to promote his fashion label but he didn't understand that "Project Runway" is not as easy as it appears on TV.

Mohub said -
>Also, the problem with the avant garde was that it was actually après garde,<

The way I understood the challenge - the ONLY way I CAN understand the challenge to have the results make sense - is that the first look was to be fashion inspired by surfwear. The second look was to be avant garde fashion for a surfer.

So, taking the surfer as inspiration, you design both ways: make ready-to-wear with a surfer look, and fashion-forward surf couture. All the other teams had it backwards: they made questionable beach/day-wear for surfers and then used surfwear as an inspiration for questionable runway couture.

Last season's Blayne would have given up tanning for a year to get a challenge like this.

Of course, if the challenge had actually been explained at some point during the epi, that would have been a big help.

I don't see producer manipulation of the judging. Just piss-poor editing that maximizes the angst and conflict at the expense of the actual competition.

Why was hairstyle important? Did anyone tell the judges? Why were swimsuits made if the judges weren't even going to ask to see them? Capital WTF.

robin-m said:
I haven't been this nonplussed since Jeffrey won with that yellow plaid monstrosity.

9/4/09 6:36 PM

-------------
OMG...thank you!! I think we may be in the minority for despising that awful dress.

This episode was so disappointing!

Most of the designers don't seem to know what avant garde means. And they're supposed to be designers! Being asked to do an avant garde look should result in some of the most fantastic and interesting pieces, but most of these were at best boring and at worst just plain awful.

So glad Mitchell is gone though. As soon as he said he wanted someone who could get him through the round he deserved to go. There was no point in him even being on the show. What a waste!

And annoyingly, I would actually have liked to have seen what Malvin would have done for this challenge. His conceptual thought process may have lent itself well to an avant garde look.

It certainly would have been an improvement on the nothing that Mitchell did in this show.

The way Mitchell's eyes were bouncing around I thought he was on drugs. He couldn't stay still and kept touching his hair. He talked so fast sometimes I couldn't understand what he was saying.

I wasn't disappointed by the episode at all.

I was just confused a bit because I liked the challenge.

It was a *good* concept for a challenge. And the designers should have looked at the surfers and first thing in their mind should have been "well... no one's wearing shoes. No shoes for judging and let's image these clothes on an actual beach."

If they would have used that simple idea, I'm sure their designs would have been more in keeping with the actual looks 'cause I sure don't see flipflops, espadrilles or vans sitting on the Halston wall. So go with what's at least authentic and go shoeless.

And... brown? A whole lotta, too mucha... brown? As in "one or two all-brown outfits"? Really. *That's* surfer beachwear, huh? Brown, brown and more brown. Too much brown.

But the macrame ideas were good (if too much brownish) and if 'Foufoune de plume' had actually fitted those pants better and not ever thought of the stripperwear, that team's first outfit would have been terrific.

And neoprene. Makes a lot of very good sense.

paola typed:

Vivienne Westwood did that with punk, she took what the kids were wearing on the streets and then ran with the ideas and turned them inside out to create dangerous, conceptual fashion. The differences being that a) Westwood is a genius and b)she was completely immersed in the street culture she ended up reworking.

When I heard the stupid 2nd outfit constraints, the very first thought I had was "the '80's are in again, apparently and that means punk and Vivienne and wetsuits and surfing gears' made of neoprene and big obvious zippers like the typical punk pants so, surely, someone will come up with fitted neoprene pants with the appropriate zippers and some fantastical top."

Kudos for Ra'mon for at least getting the fabric choice right. And the colour (the dye doesn't make the outfit scream '80's Madonna neon').

I couldn't care less about Mitchell... . Nice guy, but, whatever. Buh-bye!!

Anon@5:36pm
"The way Mitchell's eyes were bouncing around I thought he was on drugs. He couldn't stay still and kept touching his hair. He talked so fast sometimes I couldn't understand what he was saying."


No, it's just sleep deprivation. The typical filming schedule is 6am-midnight and confessionals are filmed between midnight-3am. An average of three hours of sleep per night. Some people react differently without sleep; it can look like being on drugs when adrenaline and stress hormones are active.

oh dear. Just found Mitchell's twitter account: http://twitter.com/MitcHalls

(sheesh. found it, even!)

Y'know? I am a mom with two young children and therefore very little free time. But I plan on sacrificing what little sleep I get to stay up and watch the extended judging clip. I NEED to see that.

Initially when Ra'mon was working with the neoprene skirt, I liked it...then he decided it wasn't 'avante-garde' enough (which it wasn't), and dyed it. I didn't object to the dying, but what happened to the cute initial shape of the skirt? And what on God's green earth is going on with that top?

Yuck. No more episodes like this, please.

My cat Gossamer hacking up a furball at the end of the show= appropriate response.

The initial challenge was idiotic as the premise was unclear.
The "surprise" challenge was just ass.

I though they were adding stress to get more drama because for the most part, the designers get along, they are quite kumbaya (esp. as compares to MOTW).

Taste issues abounded.
Using the neoprene--it was ugly but really, since he made it within 2 hours of Runway --I think the design was not well thought out and could have been done much much better as neoprene (as many have pointed out) does not drape. And ugly draping is ugly draping no matter how "on trend" that may be and isn't Avant Garde supposed to be ahead of trend? I don't know that Ramon should have won, but he should have maybe won the Atlas award for sprinting to the runway with deadweight Mitchell on his back.

At any rate, we are rid of twitchell who brought everyone else down with his mediocrity. I really think Malvin should have stayed over Mitchell, Hell-- Ari should have stayed over him. They at least put work, thought and design into their efforts, that they were wickety wack or avant garde....I think that is subjective. The fact they designed sewed and completed things; a predicate to sending a design down the runway puts them both way ahead of towel boy.

I kind of liked Epperson until he revealed his inner misogynistic control freak bully. Honestly, redoing your teammate's work? Girl needs to grow a backbone and learn to push back... hard.

ok - bitchell going home - good. finally. he deserved it. he didnt even make an effort to stay.

but ra'mon winning? na-uh. ok - i get it. the guy did a ton of work, all on his own, with no help whatsoever. but i dont think what he came up with merited a win. it was just passable enough to squeak through. it didnt even deserve top 2 status.

clear producer manipulation. -.-

Crack? Crack doesn't make one hallucinate. Let's try HEROIN. Did anyone check for track marks on the judges' arms?

I didn't get this challenge. I'm no surfer or beach chick, but most of the rags that walked the runway weren't even remotely about surfer-inspired anything. Wasn't that the challenge? A surfer-inspired look? That doesn't mean make a bathing suit with a coverup. Ugh.

And then the avant garde look? WTF???? Why not get some fiberglass and make a box with appendage holes? And wax up that hair with board wax since the hair was SUPPOSED to be so fucking important that they didn't even MENTION it in the judging. Or was it that there was so much ass on the runway that it became immaterial to mention it?

Bitchell, adios fool boy. I thought him annoying, especially after his "carrying" remark, but now dislike him for saying Ra'mon threw him "under the bus". Bullshit, baby. You suck as a fashion designer. Poor Ra'mon was wiping your butt throughout that whole challenge. Man up.

As far as the "winning" design, it truly was the only one that had anything surfer-inspired in it. Yes, it was fug and I want Rachel Bilson (who???) or Nina to have to wear it on a prominent red carpet. Oh, my poor Tim! What a bs episode to have to coach. He must have been doing shooters in his hotel bar every night just to relieve the misery.

And yes, where is La Dama, the Dutchess?!! He missed a great opportunity for a "slutty, slutty, slutty" at Peppermint Patty.

As far as Epperson and Ms. Q, I think the whole point of her being "weak", at least from the jumpy weird editing we saw, was that she didn't just lay down the law with Epperson as captain and tell him regardless of what he wanted, she appreciated his opinion but she was large and in charge. She just reacted to his critiques instead of acknowledging and continuing on with her vision, which makes me think, as Epp said, she didn't have one.

And please, please, just have a 10 minute MOTR show. I really don't want to watch 15 minutes of commercials for nothing. After all the drama about how the models hated Mitchell, they were all so so sad he was going home. HUH?

Gleaned from quick look at twitterin' Mitchell/Arti/CH/Althaea/Louise: looks like they're filming a reunion during upcoming fashion week? But maybe not all will go?

This was an absolutely wretched competition. Everything looked like crap. My husband asked, "how many designers can they eliminate on one show?"

Not nearly enough.

Neoprene is the stuff wetsuits are made of.

Louise and Althea were robbed. Ra'mons's dress although an interesting (and appropriate for the challenge) fabric choice was just heinous.

Call me a dork, but I liked the neoprene a lot. It has interesting folds and texture, and I like the splotch too.

It was actually closer to something you might see on a beach than any of the beachwear was. What was wrong with those people? As soon as I saw them running around with bolts of solid color -- BLACK! -- I knew they were all going to fail. Where were the bright, sunny, floral patterns? At least the neoprene was bright.

I think they got the winner and loser right.

Wasn't Heidi the one who said she would be willing to wear the Neoprene dress with some tweaking? I'd like to see Tim Gunn try to wrestle her into that.

Fuck it, I would've given it to Ra'mon, too.

He may have been the first designer to win for making two outfits simutaneously.


Anonymous said...
What is "neoprene", anyway? It looks like craft foam.

9/4/09 8:12 AM


Neoprene is synthetic rubber, first formulated before WWII as an alternative to isoprene(aka natural rubber) as a substituent for automobile tires.

Some stuff happened afterwards, yadda, yadda, yadda its used in swimwear now. Okay?

C'mon the judging and assignments were very bad, but I don't think that most of the clothes were anywhere near as bad. In fact I thought the most were pretty good. Comparing these to Blayne and some of the freaky stuff Jarrell made? NO

People ripping on Rachel - she said that Johnny and Irina's first look was her fav. I beleive
Heidi kinds of pushed Rachel right after Rachel said the J/I look was her fav - asking her which one would she wear ---while referring to the Ramon/Mitchell looks. This is when she said she would wear a modified version of teh 2nd look.

Chris and Logan's "avant garde" look could have benefited from the use of the neoprene. The top of that dress looks like a scuba zip up top. Combining a "seaweed" tulle skirt with a scuba body suit would have be what I consider a strong contender from look 2.

Nobody mentioned that Nina explicitly praised the use of neoprene and color by Ramon; something like Thank you God?


The red bikini and wrap were at least beach wear; although I wonder how well a tube top bikini works on a surfer girl, though.

Althea's team's short, tight (?) dress made Heidi's eyes light up.

These are my ideas of how to translate the A-G challenge based on some of what the designers did
...I think the AG looks could have met the spirit of the combined challenge by either:
1. Using swim/surf materials in a non surf style
(like neoprene in a little bright dress?)

2. Made a beach/surf style look in an unexpected material.
Perhaps Nicholas's lace into a dive suit? more coverage than those, those, WTH they were :)

3. Combined a surf style piece with something incongruous
Like taking Chris and Logan's more OTT (see above) zip up sleeveless dive suit swith full tulle skirt (making it look life seaweed?

SEWING SIREN - did you have any ideas for what you'd do?

Neoprene is also used for athletic braces - ankle, knee, etc. - with and w/o velcro

I agree that the fabric choice for the neoprene dress was cool. But if I saw the producers right now, I'd smack 'em upside the head. None of the designs were great. They were all either mediocre or ugly. Disappointing much?

People! Mitchell is a 'nice guy'? In what world are you living?? He giggled and flitted his way through the whole challenge while Ra'Mon sweated blood--in what way is this the behavior of a 'nice guy'???

Noooo! This was in no way the behavior of a 'nice guy'--this was the behavior of a guy who thought he was going to coast on the work of someone else. Thank you, Frau Klum, for kicking this idiot to the well-desevrved curb.

15 minutes of shopping time, an initial $50 budget, a surprise second look, divided attention, time constraints, and clashing creative visions are just a recipe for crap design. Here's a recap of the whole episode:

"I'm not going home for this."
"Well, I'M not going home for this."
"Well, I'M not going home for this."

Can you imagine what would happen if they had to make a dress out of driftwood and seaweed?

This was a horrible episode in pure fashion terms, but very rich in opportunities in psychological deconstruction and fictional construction. Let's pretend it's a novel.

Mitchell HAD to go. That was a given from the first episode.

At the same time, let's face it, the Lifetime version so far hasn't had the gobsmacking moments of some of the earlier seasons. Pretty tame stuff. So fireworks were called for.

(Plus they had to work in heavy product placement.)

The producers (authors) decided to put all these plot points into this episode.

Unfortunately, the material (textile or fictional) in terms of design they had to work with was insufficient to use as the basis for the necessary decision and drama.

The fact is, that except for the auf'd designers so far, we've seen nothing from these designers that rises above the mall. At best, these guys could design for Carole Little. Although there are several women who might start a hip Evan Picone line. They weren't going to get a Susan Boyle gobsmack moment from these tame dweebs.

So they needed a forehead-smackingly INSANE episode, a BIG twist, a throwaway challenge that had nothing to do with the plot-required ending and even less to do with actual design. Plus a painfully obvious product placement cheeze factor. "I must get that curl enhancer ... I must get that curl enhancer ... I must *fweek* get... I *voop* must... *smoke, sparks*"

Bingo. They succeeded. I will watch anything PR, I'm a crazed addict. But no one tuning into this for the first time would see anything but ass.

That said, I didn't hate the neoprene.

Second to everything Paola & Faline said.

The hubby and I decided last night the only way they could have screwed the designers over more with a challenge concept was to say "be inspired by kayakers!" (Seriously, have you seen how so many of us kayakers dress? It costs a small fortune and yes, I'm wearing shorts over capris over a farmer jane, what's wrong with the look? You mean wool socks and water shoes are *not* appropriate for the office?) The hubby said "yes, the avant garde kayak look - where they get a ton of tulle and make it look like a kayak and the models walk down the runway sashaying like toddlers in their pretend boats!" He had a nice little sashay to go with it, but sadly, I didn't grab the video camera to capture that.

And HOORAY that Mitchell is GONE! In our house, we were thinking that he needed to work on some of his fine motor skills, like cutting and gluing. Then he could graduate to sewing. Maybe.

ASK said...



SEWING SIREN did you have any ideas for what you'd do?


Well, the Surf Chic is on my avatar right now :).

For the Avant Garde I had a surf wedding dress made out of fish net with fish, starfish, shells, and beach trash caught up in the nets. I post the pic later in the week.

bitchybitchybitchy said on 9/4/09 at9:04 AM..."I thought the combination of doing surfwear AND avant garde was way out there, and the result was the collection of wack that paraded down the runway."

BBB, I agree this avant garde was way out there BUT Uli or Mychael Knight could have not this one out of the ball park. If ever there was a time for a swimwear with beadwork and embellishment this was it.

TampaBay

Anonymous said
9/4/09 2:29 PM

TLo - maybe you could do a post about what exactly constitutes "avant garde"? I think it would clear up a lot of issues people have.

How about a little fashion primer, so when they talk about smocking, or serging we know what they are saying.

MouseAnony on 9/5/09 at 9:37 AM said...
"I personally will take Tim Gunn urging designers to use the "Macy's" accessories wall, send their models to the "Loreal" makeup room and have their hair done by "Garnier" reps any day of the week."

MouseAnony, Girl you nailed it! I agree with you!!! Personally, I woud love to shop that Macy's accessory wall (better than anything in their stores- I want that red handbag), have my makeup done by Collier Strong of Loreal and gey a "model do" or hair extensions from the guys at Garnier.

Where do I sign up for MOTR over 40?

TampaBay

s one of the worst challenges ever.
None of this was surf wear or even surf wear inspired and I really can't see why this happened? They SAW surf girls on the beach and they talked to them and then they made garments which had nothing to do with surf wear. Very disappointing.

I didn't like the winning dresses at all. Sorry, but this episode sucked. I hope we won't have more crap like this.

So many comments that Ramon was the winner because he was the only designer to make an avant guarde look inspired by surfwear.

Technically, Nicolas and Gordana did too--the lace wetsuit. Of course, it was a bit hookerish, but Ramon was not the only one who got avant guarde correct.

It would have been better if they had to design a swimsuit and then a dress to go to the beach bar--a coverup or something.

So a deal was made of how important the hairstyles were going to be [plugging Garnier, I know].

But the judges said nothing about it.

Hmmmm.

Ra'mon's dress summed up perfectly the concept of "avant garde" and "surfer." The dye job and sculptural draping were all very abstract (which, basically, when you're dealing with design in a general sense DOES mean avant garde). The colors and the fabric (neoprene is used to make wetsuits and other sports related gear)COMPLETELY tie in with the "surf" theme.

While its true the construction could have been a bit more polished, I think Ra'mon did an EXCELLENT job of keeping on task despite the time constraints. Keep in mind it was 3rd of three outfits he made with virtually no help -- the second being the discarded wetsuit look).

Personally, I think the dress is cool, and definitely was the one, out of all the designs, that fit the challenges theme to a T. He deserved to win, and Mitchell deserved to go.

None of the garments were California surfwear! There were one or two that resembled that. But honestly the surfer girls on the beach in the beginning of the episode looked better than the models on the runway.

Random Thoughts:
Why wasn't MK there, he did a surf inspired collection a couple of seasons ago?

I think the base challenge was a good one, it went off the rails when they started futzing with the parameters.

I think if they would have assigned a second look inspired by surf fashions and give more time (1/2 day perhaps) and flexibility (i.e., let the designers decide if their second look was streetwear, red carpet, clubbing, etc.), there would have been better results.

I thought some of the second looks were more couture than avant garde.

A surfer should have been one of the judges, a la the postal carrier in season 1, heck if it had to be a celebrity, then select a celebrity who surfs.

Maybe my sense of taste is gone, but I liked a lot of stuff on the runway last night. I don't agree that that was the worst runway ever. There were many good ideas mixed with some poor ideas.

I'm curious as to what you think of the other outfits.

What Ra'mon did in such a short amount of time was great, even if I don't particuarly like it.

If you just look at his idea, and the shape of the dress I like it. But the dye job could have been done more artfully to make a better dress.

Tom is right that it does look like a laundry accident, but I think it could have been done in a way to make it look chic.

I have to say something. Thanks to this cute bitch, Ari and Malvin go out to the competition.

I hope he makes a porn movie later, that will be different and nice to see.

And, BTW:

Hmhm, this is the WORST Project Runway show ever.

Next week could be create a underwear for the mormon people, and that will the END.

Ari and Malvin were sent home because they made ridiculous clothes. Mitchell had nothing to with it.

Surf Look:
The fabric selection is doing all the work and the straps are mismatched.

Avant Garde Look:
Confession - I like the creature from the sea jumpsuit, the biggest problem was its incongruity with the surf look, and that was due to the color of the fabric.

The second look is such a mess. I sympathize with the circumstances, but it is still a mess. It would have been a lot better if the blouse did not have the peplum or the skirt was straight or A-line. I think that Ramon thought that the bubble / pannier silhouette made it more fashion forward.

Having said all that, the I am not too worked up over Ramon winning, since no other coupling hit it out of the park with both looks (although I think that Recovery Johnny* and Rackalicious Irina were worthier of the win), HOWEVER random curve balls and judging shenanigans are happening with increasing frequency and the show is starting to lose credibility. I think that PR has a lot of goodwill, but probably not as much as they think they have.
---

*BTW, how cute was Johnny and his non-crying self in the last episode.

I do hope Nina will get a TLo award for pretending to adore that neoprene disaster. Girlfriend had to be channeling Meryl Streep to pull that off.

This ep reminded me of when Hepburn and Fonda won Oscars for "On Golden Pond." Until then, I actually believed in the intergrity of the Academy Awards.
There is absolutely no way Ra'mon deserved the win, and he was clearly crowned just so the winner and aufer could come from the same team. Bad, bad episode; I feel like I've lost my PR virginity.

I hate "avant garde" challenges to begin with because nothing is ever avant garde. But then to pair it with beach wear made absolutely no sense.

Has anyone mentioned the similarity between the dress the surfer girl with the afro is wearing and the beach look from the winning team?

You know what? The challenge may not have been so great, but this was FAR from the worst PR episode yet.

Remember a certain disastrous avant-garde Zodiac sign and let's meet the alum fiasco from last year?

Or worse yet, the MOM challenge?

Trust, there have been worse episodes with worse designers than this bunch.

It's only the third episode. Don't be so dramatic.

Re - the "winning" dress:

You know that chemical they put in pool water that turns the water bright blue when someone pees? That's what that ugly, thoughtless dye job looked like to me. Someone peed in the pool.

The only gallery that...thing deserves to be showcased in is "People of Wal Mart"

Hideous.

Sewing Siren - adorabel adn definitely beach - surfer ? I am not sure, but hey better than what they did

I thought Christopher & the straight white guy were going to win this one.

I thought this was a darn good runway.

Glad Mitchell was aufed. He seems like a nice guy but he is too young and not yet ready for this.

I echo the sentiment that Mitchell sucked up a spot that someone who really wanted to be there could have gotten.

Come to think of it, how does Max Azria communicate with Miley Cyrus?

So sad that Mitchell was disappointing. I'm pretty sure we would have at least passed in the hallway at SCAD- we're the same age and must have been in the fashion dept at the same time. I just must say that he never would have gotten away with that kind of thing at school, so maybe he just had some kind of head trauma between graduation and getting on the show. I'm wondering if our old professors were watching and going, wtf happened here?

^There's a difference between completing a garment in a within a week with seven hours of sleep at school versus completing it in less than a day with three hours of sleep per night on the show.

I don't think it was head trauma. He was sleep deprived and couldn't handle the stress of being on a reality TV show.

Hephaestion said...Glad Mitchell was aufed. He seems like a nice guy but he is too young and not yet ready for this.

9/5/09 8:52 PM

I agree with this. A big part of Mitchell's problem was his age. Yes there have been designers his age on the show who have performed well and behaved well, but I suspect that if he had waited a few more years to audition for the show, then he would have handled the show better and represented himself better.

I don't think this strange episode was the result of producer manipulation. I think the judges just became obsessed with disgracing Mitchell because he wasn't taking the show seriously, so they gave his partner the win, even though those dresses were okay at best.

Kind of insulting to the designers who actually DID make the effort of their lives to produce interesting garments (Christopher, while it was a version of his red carpet dress, made an absolute stunner), but there it is. Ra'mon winning this challenge means nothing in the long run, so the judges figured, 'Hey. Let's teach this Mitchell kid a lesson.'

I liked the winning dress, too. Or maybe that should be: I "liked" the winning dress. Yes, everything else was ass and nothing looked like anything a surfer would wear, ever, and certainly never ever ever to an actual BEACH

Mitchell just plain old gave up. He cowered after the first two challenges landed him in the consistently in the second-to-worst slots, so instead of facing up to the challenge, he just backed down, gave up early and stopped trying. I mean, he is enough of a nice guy to practically admit this by admitting that he basically did nothing and Ra'mon did all the work. You can't dis him for that.

I think this challenge failed so badly because there was such a disconnect between true beachwear, surfer girl style and the runway styles that the designers created. I mean, after the conversations the designers had with their surfer girl muses they met, I expected the designers to shop for more cotton fabrics, nylon, lycra, etc. at Mood. Not chiffon or silk. What surfer girl would wear that at the beach? Sure, it's a show with an emphasis on haute couture runway style, but it also emphasizes commercially relevant fashion challenges. To me, it just seemed like none of the designers answered the challenge at all. And the avant-garde afterthought challenge didn't work because it was just too much of an afterthought and no one had the time to concentrate on the design as much.

The winning dress looked like she had a dildo strapped on underneath.

I just don't think you can be very innovative with beach wear, the last great "WOW! in beachwear was when Rudy Gerich (and I know I spelled it wrong, no fragging me!) made a topless bathing suit in the 60's!
Beach wear is going to be water and sand and tropicla colors, floaty cover-ups and unwearable bathing suits. Nothing new there!

The model in the neoprene has a boner. lolz

Apparently the avant garde look was the one that tim had to force the model to wear. i'm disappointed we didn't get to see it in the episode.

http://tvwatch.people.com/2009/09/13/tim-gunn-reveals-winning-runway-dress-was-dyed-in-the-toilet/?cp=2#comments

The host should wear sport clothing because suits DO NOT become him. He has narrow shoulders and should probably wear shoulder pads or do some type of weight lifting.

thanks for a good article on Mars Rover. i like it.

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