Friday, January 05, 2007 by
Author
Before we get into it, let us just pay pictorial homage to the fabulous, otherworldly creature we lost this week:
"I would just love to sort of set an example to any dreamer, maybe not the most popular kid in school or just anyone who's different but who has a dream to always stick to that dream."
"No matter how many times people tell you to walk a certain way or to talk a certain way, act a certain way, dress a certain way, design a certain way... You can't listen to that. You have to be true to yourself. No matter what."
Brava, Princess SissyFag. Bra. Va.
Having said that...
This dress was unfortunately not very good.
You can't let the fabric dictate the design totally, beautiful though it may be. Otherwise, the fabric is doing all the work. It appears that he was so in love with the way it drapes (and it drapes beautifully) that it wound up looking like nothing more than something pinned to a dress form.
In our memory, we may have elevated this dress to heights it never reached, because looking at it again, we're noticing for the first time that there's not much "there" there.
Knowing what we know about Martinique's body, look at how thick her torso looks in this dress. Taking a light, flowy, airy fabric and twisting and layering it to such an extent that it looks heavy and bulky just isn't a good idea. Let's not even get into how sloppy it looks.
It's funny. Looking at S1 with a more critical eye than we have in the past, Austin's output for the competition wasn't nearly as good as we remembered. Hand him something that fits within his design philosophy, and he produces some great work (Banana Republic, Sarah Hudson, the bathing suit, even the cornhusk dress), but give him something that challenges him and he crumbles (the 2055 challenge, the postal uniform challenge).
As easy as it is to blame it all on Nancy O'Dell, the fact of the matter is, all of the designers dropped the ball this week. If there had been more competitive work from Jay or Kara Saun, or less competitive work from Wendy, things would have turned out differently. Yes, it might have seemed more "fair" for Austin to be in the final 3, but they would have had to auf someone for no other reason than to keep Austin in and that would have been even less fair than the outcome we got. Yes, Wendy's dress was pretty unremarkable and tacky, but it was more wearable and more in line with the client's dictates than this dress - than ANY of the other dresses, in fact.
Austin is a good designer. His post-show career is among one of the best of all PR alums. It's just that he's not a very good reality show contestant. More than anything, it was his highly distinct personal style that kept him afloat in front of the judges for so long.
"Hey, Austin, will you design my dress for the Oscars?"
"I'd love to, Nancy.
Just as soon as hell freezes over and your implants crack and fall off, you tacky bitch."
Don't we all climb up on a table to take off our shoes?
"I don't think anyone of you are hearing the last of Austin Scarlett yet."
And he was right. Good luck to you, you gorgeous creature. We miss you already.
[Screencaps: projectrungay.blogspot.com]
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58 comments:
Everything you said was true. I, too, walked away from season 1 thinking Austin was robbed, but in fact he couldn't handle anything outside of his comfort zone.
I also forgot how young he is....he and Daniel V would have been better off doing PR in a few years...
"I'd love to, Nancy.
Just as soon as hell freezes over and your implants crack and fall off, you tacky bitch."
LOL. Great post, guys! I'll miss Austin, and I'll never forget his fabulous cornhusk dress. He's very talented and he will go far.
Austin's a class act all the way. He is so young, he has so much ahead of him. His designs were exquisite, although not always appropriate to the challenge. But there is no denying his incredible talent.
Austin unfortunately had to be sacrificed so La Pepper could be publicly humiliated both at Bryant Park and on national TV. I'm confident Austin will rise above it and do fabulously.
We fell in love not so much with Austin's clothes as with the man himself. What a breath of fresh gay air he was.
Now we're stuck with La Pepper and her eccentricities. Isn't Season One just perfectly delicious?
"Question: What are your favorite TV shows?
Austin: Little House on the Prairie, I Love Lucy, The Anna Nicole Smith Show, The Golden Girls, Strangers With Candy, Bewitched."
Austin Scarlett - Q & A
Austin is one of the most interesting and unique creatures to be found on this planet. I want to move to Scarlettland.
Beautiful creature. Piss poor reality tv contestant. Poor thing only sent eight completed looks down the runway at Fashion Week for his dummy collection.
Anyway...looking back at the dress for the thousandth time, it is not well constructed at all- and I'm a stickler for innovation when it comes to those fucking ubiquitous column dresses. The fabric saves it from theatre geek prom dress...but just barely. Still, I could see where he was going with it and thought he made a good effort to straddle the line between "provacative" and "prostitute."
Ultimately, I think he failed because he tried, the dear, to make something that wasn't classically glamourous and foundered. That hemline was a tragedy. A true tragedy.
Oh, Austin, my love, how I miss thee. At any rate, before I go off on another tangent, I did think that Jay and Austin Love were two of the more "body conscious"...scratch that..."curve aware" contestents on the show. As someone with a classic hourglass figure- I found myself wanting to wear a whole bunch of their clothes. And, Duchess, Please! The BR tea dress was lovely. What woman with a fabulous ass doesn't want to make her ass more fabulous. I know bustles were so last season-but, damn did they make for an exciting fall. Vive la whimsy!
I was sorry to see Austin go but I do think he should've paid attention to what the client said: "It's not the Oscars."
It's OK to have a vision and stick to it to a certain extent, but in the end, you have to please your customer.
I like what Tim had to say about vision:
"Lesson 18: Vision versus Versatility
Vision is driven by a personal design philosophy and point-of-view that will typically evolve as a designer grows and matures. Vision can't be taught, but experience informs vision.
The ability to be versatile is an enormous enhancement to a designer's career; that is, with vision alone one is boxed in and limited. Versatility allows one to embrace a myriad of design problems and solve them by harnessing one's vision and directing it towards an appointed goal. Owing to the beauty and seduction of Austin's work (sans the wedding dress!), Austin demonstrated longer staying power than Starr and Alexandra, for example, our other one-notes. Sure, there are designers who enjoyed success largely because of their intractable vision (Balenciaga and Schiaparelli come to mind) but designers who incorporate versatility into their work have a larger impact upon the industry — Donna Karan and Alexander McQueen (and there are scores of others).
Success in this challenge required that Austin stray far from his milieu, his comfort zone; regrettably he wasn't prepared to demonstrate the versatility it required. I'm reminded of the words of a dear colleague who, when presented with circumstances such as these, remarks, "The poor thing can't help himself." Austin, she's right."
he's a fabulous wedding dress designer now. so happy he's found his niche.
I loved Austin Scarlett. So delightful and delicate and cute!
This is the reason why I don't think it is a good idea to have a guest judge right before they decide who goes to Bryant
sorry...
who goes to Bryant Park.
The image of Austin on the table while he exchanges his shoes, carefully inserting shoe trees, is one of my favorite of Season 1.
I think that Austin had no idea who Nancy O'Dell is and he designed a dress that he imagined would be perfect for a fantasy celebrity that belongs to the Gown of the Week Club. IMO, it wasn't bad enough to get him auf ... it's just that he had no idea of the taste level of his client; by that I mean that he assumed (wrongly) that his client actually had taste.
I love him. He's as beautiful in real life as you could ever imagine and he's even nicer than someone that pretty has a right to be.
That first picture of him behind the fabric is gorgeous.
Austin is beautiful, fabulous, and really knows how to put on his makeup. And that dress WAS beautiful, despite a few design flaws. But I think I love him most for being true to himself, and I can only imagine what he went through from others to reach the point in his life where we saw him. Growing up Austin Scarlett must have been a real bummer at times, especially with the cruelty of kids in school toward someone different, but he rose above it and embraced his life. I wish I was glamorous enough to wear his clothes. I love that he has been quite successful since the show. Gone from PR, but definitely never forgotten.
It's unfortunate that I've seen that tucking and gathering done better elsewhere and it reminds me of Michael's last challenge in Season 3. Almost like they were overreaching or trying to hard.
Now we know that Austin is doing well for himself so the tears we shed at the time weren't wasted.
Slightly off topic, but I think it's really interesting that in blogging Season 1 you have rarely had to resort to using screen captures of Heidi, the Dutchess or NinaGarcia in order to make a point or go for a laugh. I think that shows just how awesome the cast of Season 1 was! The perfect combination of crazy and funny and drama! And it just gets better as the Season goes on! They should have been nominated for Best Ensemble Cast at the Golden Globes!
Brian
Austin is quite possibly my most favorite person/designer to ever be on PR. I remember the first time I saw the show with the bathing suit challenge and I just couldn't not love him.
So sad when he was booted from the show, but I don't think anyone could have topped Jay's final show. That was Project Runway MAGIC!
It isn't so much that Wendy won this competition by creating the only dress Nancy O'Dell would consider wearing (though when you look at the picture of what she wore, it is nothing close to Wendy's dress), it's that Wendy was around at all this late in the competition.
Austin always seemed to be designing for a movie star from the 40s, 50s or 60s (wouldn't Audrey Hepburn have looked great in his postal uniform?) And of course, at his best, he was always committed to pretty.
That's why his current career doing wedding dresses suits him so well. It's the one day a woman has to look classic (don't want to look ridiculous in those photos 25 years hence) and pretty and in this age of videography, often is a movie star!
Austin and Malan getting auf'd. Two of the saddest moments in PR history. *snerfle* I'm gonna go cry into my pillow now!!! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!
Austin is truly an inspiration. He is amazingly talented. Project Runway was just one of his first stepping stones into stardom.
He definitely has his own aesthetic and I think that's the true sign of a great designer. Maybe not everyone in the world would get it or like it, but thats what makes him so unique.
I agree that looking back at the dress a couple of years later, it didn't look as good as I had remembered, but I think you have to watch the dress as it moves to give it a totally fair critique, because then you see the dress while it is moving, it is WAY more beautiful than when you look at it in still frames. But that is a by-product of the fabric he chose, and you guys were right: A dress cannot be successful based on a fabric choice alone.
"Don't we all climb up on a table to take off our shoes?"
Only the fabulous ones, dears! And don't forget the shoe trees he put in them. But Austin has landed in a very happy place, I think. I love his wedding gowns, and they suit his aesthetic. I'm sure he will have a long and industrious career (I certainly hope so!).
That said, after looking at the dress again, and thanks for doing that for us! You're right. It was meh. Technically there was a lot wrong with it, but I think it just didn't work. The torso thickening issue is the same one that killed our poor Malan. Maybe they'll learn....
Oh, darn you both for your sensible logic and truthful analysis. You're right. Austin deserved the auf based on this challenge. :-(
la glitterati "Poor thing only sent eight completed looks down the runway at Fashion Week for his dummy collection."
In Season One, the idea of a decoy collection was not in the original plan - and presumably not in the original contract. Austin was given significantly less time and less money to toss a collection together at the last minute to provide the decoy when it was realized that the final three surprise would be spoiled. The Fashion Week show (as in subsequent years) occurred before the airing of the final 4-down-to-3 show.
Given the constraints, I think his final show was well done.
Sigh.
I still remember screaming obscenities when I first saw Austin auf'd. And it seems no more just this time around.
While you boys are right that, on closer inspection, you find more faults in what he produced for the challenges, at least he had a vision. He was producing from withing his own unique vision, as opposed to Wendy, who was clearly just 'appropriating' whatever she could to scrounge from week to week.
Austin deserved to be in the top 3.
Sigh.
If they ever do a PR allstars edition, Austin would be the top pick.
--Gotham Tomato
You've said it all. So I say: dear God, is it just me or where the models in S1 so much more beautiful on the whole? Martinique is drop-dead gorgeous as is Melissa. Jenny is lovely and Julia does have a Darryl Hannah vibe. Geez, I hope they are all still working.
Austin >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Wendy
N'uff said.
I don't blame Nancy O'Dell for not picking Austin's dress, but I do take issue with her not telling the designers that she did not want sequins. She liked Kara Saun's but thought the sequins would look bad on camera. Perhaps she could have said this earlier.
" Anonymous said...
I don't blame Nancy O'Dell for not picking Austin's dress, but I do take issue with her not telling the designers that she did not want sequins. She liked Kara Saun's but thought the sequins would look bad on camera. Perhaps she could have said this earlier. "
That bothered me too. She didn't say anything about not wanting sequins.
That first picture is priceless. Austin and the fabric of his life.
Beautiful creature is right. I can never tear my eyes from this lucious man. Also, I loved his dress this week. LOVED it.
While the execution wasn't perfect, I could see where he was heading with the dress--and I liked it. It just had too much fabric in the bodice (as you noted, lol), and needed a little tweaking. I'm willing to forgive the glitches because I LOVE the fabric. And I adore Austin. :-)
The dress did have its flaws, and no, it wasn't what the client requested, but damn, it was still so. much. better than Wendy's. I still question the wisdom of having a guest judge effectively decide who would go to Bryant Park. Yes, Austin's choices here made it clear that he has trouble adapting his designs to the needs of clients who live too far away from Scarlettland, and that handicaps him. But, but, but! Wendy has NO VISION AT ALL. None. Nada. Zipola. And that is a far more serious issue.
Ah, well. What's done is done. Pity there wasn't a "fan favorite" contest first season -- I think Austin would have taken that prize easily. But all's well that ends well -- he's doing great, his wedding dresses are divine, and Wendy is doing...what? Do we care? No, we do not.
When Austin gets angry he looks like Lady Elaine Fairchld from Mr Rogers. Kinds scarry really
hmm.
what? his design for sarah hudson? that is GREAT work?
that's horrible and hell-oh-no awwwful.
come on, Austin really WASN'T good as people imagined.
People like Austin because he IS AUSTIN. He is the AUSTIN who is cute and lovely.
but if you see the works altogether without connecting them to the name AUSTIN(but it's hard, you know), you will find lots of them hideous.
AND-he likes to ignore what clients want.
in this century, whatever business you are in, are you still ignoring what clients like?
After all ,I think nancy should have picked Jay's, and chnaged some of it, then it will be so special and beautiful.
but it IS going to be Austin. that dress is all about the print only. I didn't think this ugly at very first when I saw it in the bravo-website, but then i saw it again, i found it a failure. indeed.
no, wendy should have been out for like many episodes ago, but austin? he just was not suitable for the final 3. Come on!
Austin was always my favorite. I agree that his dress wasn't appropriate for the occasion, but it was a beautiful dress, very Austin-esque.
Austin is compulsively watchable, but I was afraid that his designs were over the top and eventually that would hurt him, like it did. Best wishes, Austin!
I can't look at Austin without thinking of a young Yves Saint Laurent. Austin is extremely talented and doing very well working for Amsale. Now what the fuck is Wendy doing? Nothing!
Oh yeah, she's selling lollipops because she surely sucks!
Check out some of Austin's dresses here:
Aria Wedding Dress designed by Project Runway star Austin Scarlett
I love him!!!
Hi Bettie,
Thank you for all the links, darling. You're a doll!
XO
T&L
Austin, you are just one example of why there are so damn many fag hags out there like me. Others include Jay, Danny V., Andrae, Uncle Nick & Kaynebow.
And T&L, of course!!
Airkiss to all you fabulous fags! We love you!!!
I love this dress, but not for the Grammys. I can't get over how gorgeous Martinique is. I hope she's still modeling. She is fabulous!
How ironic that Austin is now working with bridezillas. I guess that dealing with Wendy was good training for dealing with that particular brand of delusional and manipulative idiot/girl.
--Gotham Tomato
Looking back at this season there really only were two designers who deserved to go to fashion week based on the work they did during the competition. There was very little depth in the quality of the designers.
Taking into account I've seen photos of Austin's work - I really don't find myself wondering about the recent work of any of the other designers.
barnaby
oh Austin and his little shoe trees. so very sweet. what a tender moment. i love this darling creature.
this killed me: "Brava, Princess SissyFag. Bra. Va." Yes, Brava!!! Austin, you precious, dainty, little angel you.
I do love me some Austin Scarlett and I actually loved this dress. It just looked like it needed to be reworked there in the middle. it didn't twist properly and was a little jumbled, as if just removed from a suitcase.
but i thought it was beautiful and who the hell is nancy o'dell anyway?
I completely agree with Suzanne's comment about his age...Austin Scarlett seems so timeless, and his garments so inextricably linked to classic ideas of form and beauty that it's nearly impossible to actually believe he's just a twenty-something guy with killer cheekbones and fastidious footwear habits.
Being right for an Austin creation is something I'd aspire to, and probably something every little girl would dream of if they knew how to articulate it. He's an enchanted princess in his world of organza and cornhusks and he could make any woman feel the same.
That is why I adore Austin Scarlett, and why PR lost a little of its sparkle when he was auffed.
Your assessments of Austin's work is way off. Sorry, guys.
Your assessments of Austin's work is way off. Sorry, guys.
And who can argue with a well-thought-out essay like that?
I wish there were more challenges that were in Austin's element. I absolutely fell in love with him for the cornhusk dress, and even more so for the Banana Republic dress.
I also may have been the only person to absolutely love the outfit he designed for Sarah Hudson. In any case, Austin has to be my favorite designer to ever be on PR, of all three seasons. :)
An update on Allison: I saw her at a bar the other day in Brooklyn and she was incredibly rude- milking her semi-PR fame by looking down on those around her. She wouldn't acknowledge anyone and she told this girl who wanted to congratulate her to leave her alone. She is incredibly cute, but still, I think if you are going to put yourself on a reality show you should be little more curtious to the show's fans.
I thought the Sara Hudson dress was fabulous. It echoed the best goth loli dresses- before they had really headed West to be coopted by convention going geeks....le sigh.
This page isnt gay enough.
Shut up bitch!
XXXOOO to the boys
Austin was clearly one of the most talented people on the show but he just bombed in too many of the challenges.
I can't believe I forgot to blog about his Mister Rogers routine of changing out of his house loafers.
Scarlet O'Hara reincarnated into Austin Scarlet.
can't help it, I love Austin, but my dislike of that fabric overshadowed everything. I can not stand ombre of any kind, there I said it...now I'll go away...
ta ta
To this day, this still sends me into rage and tears. I can't believe they did this to Austin and in my mind it's the WORST elimination and travesty in the history of the show. I have to disagree with you guys, it WAS unfair. It seems like the world was against him on this one, Wendy still hadn't been eliminated like she should have in the first few episodes, the challenge ridiculously allowed someone else to decide who went to Bryant Park by conforming to her personal (bad) style, Jay and Kara Saun didn't produce winning dresses...but it still makes no sense. In the design challenge before the end, they HAVE to look at the designers body of work. Wendy vs. Austin...clear choice there. And so what if he doesn't adapt well to other design styles? At Bryant Park, vision IS what matters and if the judges (and producers) wanted real talent to represent their show, they should have picked Austin. That IS fair to pick the best to win, one challenge aside.
Personally, I love the dress. It may not be the best dress from him in the world but it's certainly beautiful. And if Nancy had any sense at all, she'd be UNIQUE and wear it to the Grammy's anyway. Ugh I'll always hate her for this one. Next year they do finally get that giving the designers free reign in the last challenge makes more sense. Unfortunatly it's too late for my poor Austin. The only good thing about this is his beautiful ending speech that makes me cry.
In my eyes, this is the only thing that ruins Project Runway's reputation as a fair, good quality talent reality show.
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