S2/E1: Congratulations, Santino!

Thursday, February 08, 2007 by
Quickie Recap: Project Runway's panel of judges (including Kara Saun, Jay and Austin) narrows the field down to sixteen semi-finalists from hundreds of applicants. Each semi-finalist is given a week to complete a garment made from muslin before arriving in New York where two designers will be eliminated.

You can read Tim's take on this episode here and listen to Tim's podcast here. As always, we ask our commenters to refrain from spoiling future episodes of Season 2.


This is going to be fun. Unlike Season 1, we haven't really seen the S2 episodes more than a couple times. We forgot how interesting Santino can be.


To be honest, the dress is kind of ugly but strangely enough, it was the only choice that made sense. In this case, it's about how much the designer was able to do with such limited resources and Santino definitely managed to do a lot and do it well.


We hate the fit in the bust and the "saddlebags" hanging off the skirt, neither of which take into consideration the actual shape of an actual woman's body.


In a way though, that's not the point. It's a masterpiece of construction and he took the opportunity to really showcase his aesthetic and boil it down to one muslin dress.


So no, it's not particularly our taste, but it effectively communicates a very strong aesthetic in as succinct a manner as possible and that's really what the judges were looking for. Kudos, gigantic flamboyant man!


[Screencaps: projectrungay.blogspot.com]


Post a Comment

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

Phew. I'm glad you boys have started on Season Two. I was having Santino withdrawls.

BigAssBelle said...

Kudos, gigantic flamboyant man!
~ heh. yes indeedy. he's a big ol boy.

i liked the work on that dress like i appreciate the work done on dresses i've seen in museums from the 1700-1800s.

but i hate that style of dress, that babydoll pajama looking silly too short, too high waisted fluffy dress. it just looks ridiculous. and it reminds me of my pink nylon jammies from 1964.

but the work's great. i actually like the color too. i really love that back braiding or whatever it is.

i do wish he'd shave or something, maybe just clip a little, tidy up.

Anonymous said...

The reason that dress won is because it's something Heidi would have worn. Did you see that pink thing she had on? Yikes!

Santino gives me the creeps. Is that a natural feeling?

And that poor blonde from Georgia. Michael Kors skewered her.

Anonymous said...

Absolutely. I agree that the dress wasn't GORGE, but it was well made and looked like it took a lot of time and effort which I think is what the judges wanted to see.

Ah the return of Franco and the Franco-shuffle. Can't wait!

Anonymous said...

Strange. I remember that dress not looking so 'deconstructed' on my TV. Not that I see the screenies I like it a lot less than I did. Aw, but it's so good to see them again!

jinxy said...

I have to agree that Santino really showed off his construction skills with this challenge. It's so constructedly deconstructed...

Does that make sense?

Anonymous said...

The braiding is gorgeous, and it does show that he has a point of view and he didn't take the project lightly (apparently the cardinal sin this episode). The saddlebags aren't gorgeous--it doesn't look like "gigantic, flamboyant" boy can stand to let anything remain simple or straightforward. I don't like the baby-doll style of dress either, but if he'd left off the saddlebags and made it a little longer & better-fitting on the top, it might have looked pretty good.

Anonymous said...

I thought it was beautifully constructed, but I was surprised that they didn't showcase one or two other good dresses when they made people step forward. I'd have liked to hear more comments on, say, Nick's dress (which I adored...haven't seen this season), PLUS it took the suspense out of the winner announcement -- Santino was the ONLY possibility once that group was pulled out.

That girl from Georgia was so sweet -- one of the best exits, on a scale of sanity and grace.

Please tell me that once you've talked about the dress you're going to snark about the S1 designers' cameos... especially Robert and his dirty-flirty narcissism. :-)

Anonymous said...

so agree with the boys' comments on the dress. I remember being wowed by it at the time but it really doesn't fit. Still, it is masterpiece of construction as you say."gigantic flamboyant man" Love it!
CP

Thombeau said...

That dress isn't so far removed from something Jeffrey Sebelia would do. Oh, but that was season 3!

Anonymous said...

this is where i learned to NEVER admit you spent less time on a project than you were given!

Donny B said...

Sorry, but Nick's was way better. His his of subtly striated stripes (how's that for alliteration?) was masterful, the fit was perfect, it obviously took a lot of time and effort to make two full separate pieces (a dress and a jacket) and the single feather was simply a brilliant accessory, just enough without being too much. He should have at least been called up to discuss it, if not won.

Tbone said...

I thought that this was Santino's best effort during his entire run on the show. It showed that given time, he really could make a beautiful dress.

It was cute,flirty and you could just tell that Heather loved wearing it.

Anonymous said...

I remember lots of babydoll in S2. I hate babydoll. And it's fun to blame Santino!

Seriously, I liked a few others better, but Santino winning the first challenge set up his ego in a big way. Bravo, this is GOOD drama, not bad drama.

DolceLorenzo said...

I hate Santino, but I have to say that this dress was my favorite. Thank you for the screenshots, boys. I love to see all the details up close.

Anonymous said...

OMG. I totally forgot this is the season of Fashion Fug Heidi. Yow. WTF is she wearing?

Love Santino. Rasputin w/ a sewing machine!

The Dress? Not so much.

Anonymous said...

I haven't seen this much braiding since I was a girl scout camp. And he's just getting warmed up! YIKES!

Anonymous said...

This does showcase Santino's point of view while at the same time showing his weak spot-poor fit.

Memo to Santino, dahling, no woman wants saddlebags!

Anonymous said...

ms place, is that you dahling? ;-)

Anonymous said...

It looks like a maternity dress. The saddlebag "wings" looks horrible. Heather is gorgeous but that dress makes her appear zaftig. Very unflattering cut and silhouette.
But I like the braiding and other details.

Vic said...

My dear Big Ass Belle, that wasn't me, but thank you for thinking it was, you sweet tanned dahling. (I hate you for your bikini lines and lovely orange skin.)

I wax and wane when I think about Santino. In fact, I LOVE Santino the outrageous man. I hate Santino's clothes.

Let's see if he acquits himself throughout the season. Ms. Place won't give the game away.

Dishes said...

Wow. I remember liking this dress when I first saw it. It's clear to me why Santino had problems in the finale, he can't fit a paperbag let alone a model.

Jenn said...

That "other Heidi" got on my last damn nerve, I'm so glad she got booted here-it only helps season 2. What a hayseed...I'm from Oklahoma and she makes ME feel sophisticated and worldly........

Jenn said...

Santino's dress was terrible, what is his problem with fitting women's breasts? It's like he hates breasts and wants to punish them for being BAD. He needs to sew CUPS into all his damn dresses to even that mess out.

But he is a spectacle, and secretly I'm a little glad he won.

Anonymous said...

just ugly.
bleh bleh bleh.

Anonymous said...

love love love SAntino - miss him - the details on this dress made it a winner - miss him and the pr 2 gang

Fnarf said...

I didn't like this at all. But the model is HAWT.

Anonymous said...

I like this dress. The extensions that everyone is calling "saddlebags" actually gave it interest. Nothing wrong with playing with the silhouette. Everything doesn't have to be skin sleek. The unusual shape echoed the organic quality of the braiding in the back and was in line with the color that was somewhere between pea and vine green.