Kara: Under Pressure

Monday, April 09, 2007 by




Alright. Tom's gonna have to backtrack here and agree with Lorenzo. This one should have won. And he's not saying that because Lorenzo threatened to withhold sex from him. Really.


There's only one criticism: the proportions on that skirt are a little off. It looks, ironically enough, like a Christmas tree skirt.


It's just too full and too stiff, which is a shame...


...because that bodice is a goddamn work of art. Absolutely stunningly beautiful.


No, it doesn't look like a "real" dress, which is something on which the judges oddly placed a lot of importance. But that shouldn't matter. The construction, especially the raffia work and the way she placed the colored flowers, is brilliant.


Tim's little pep talk - along with the Duchess's biting comments last week - must have worked. Based both on her past work and on future work in this season, it's pretty obvious that Kara works much better under pressure. Actually, let's amend that. She falls apart under pressure but then somehow manages to turn out really beautiful work. It's a damn shame they didn't give her the win this time.



[Screencaps: projectrungay.blogspot.com]



Post a Comment

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

God this was a beautiful, beautiful piece of work, and perhaps the most original and interesting work anyone did all season long. A freakin' crime.

Anonymous said...

This is the episode that started my Daniel V dislike.

Kara had this one in the bag. I was so shocked when it didn't win, based on what the judges were saying about her dress. It was, I'll argue, way more detailed than Daniel's dress, and oh! I see flowers!

It's frustrating to relive watching that episode. :(

Anonymous said...

I loved the top, but really hated the skirt on this one. I think she just ran out of time. I do agree that it was better than Daniel's, though.

Mike B. said...

My theory is that Kara would have won were it not for the immunity prize--given her inconsistent output and lack of wins, no way were the judges going to guarantee her entry into the final four over Daniel or Chloe. Quite a shame, though, because it was far and away the best entry for this challenge.

Anonymous said...

She lost for 2 reasons:

1) I think she borrowed some of Andrae's moss fabric to make the skirt. It just looks tacked on and poorly fitted.

2) The immunity thing. Which sucks, quite frankly.

That bodice is really beautiful, tho. I was really wondering how she even got on the show before she made this.

eric3000 said...

Loved this dress and thought it should have won.

She borrowed the idea of the skirt from Andrae but I actually thought it looked much better on the runway than it does in these pictures.

The judges seemed to want something that looked like a dress and something with color and I thought this dress filled both those criteria much better than Daniel's did. It wasn't as dress-like as Chloe's but I thought it was close. And the color seemed incorporated into the design instead of just stuck on afterward, like Daniel's orchids.

Anonymous said...

I had forgotten how beautiful the bodice of this dress is/was.
Now, does anyone think that the dutchess' crush on Daniel V. may have colored his thinking on this challenge?

Anonymous said...

Hm. The problem with the immunity/inconsistency argument for me is that, although Daniel had won in the past, he'd mostly won by default (excepting the innovation challenge). Looking back at his body of work during the show, it seemed to be almost as inconsistent as Kara's. I mean, he had some real doozies.

Anonymous said...

Absolutely stunning! She should have won this challenge.

Anonymous said...

Amen, brothers!

However, I do think everything worked out the best for her. In the end.

-- desertwind

Anonymous said...

PS - I don't know whether to laff or cry that I now can't get Queen's "Under Pressure" off my brain.

Curse you boys!

Oh, well - your treatment of "Oklahoma!" should fix this problem.

loveyameanit!
-- desertwind

Roxy said...

To be brutally frank, I think Daniel's dress was much worse than Kara's, but the judges took moss skirts in dislike, for some reason. Who in their right minds would demand that a dress made up of moss, grass and flowers be 'wearable' at a garden party?

For crying out loud!

Brooklyn Bomber said...

Now that I see it again I remember liking it. And thinking Kara's and Daniel's had similar positive things going for them. Kara's skirt is perhaps too short (proportionately), but Daniel's had that damn muslin showing, which is what should have left his a notch below Kara's. It's hard to understand the judges' thinking sometimes but, then, we don't get to hear the entire discussion. I still think Chloe's was the only one that really looked like a dress and not a costume, but clearly that's not what the judges cared about.

Anonymous said...

Still liked Chloe's better, but as I noted in Danny V's post (IIRC), the raffia work, indeed the entire bodice was just beautiful.

What puzzled me is how Kara basically fell asleep on the skirt. She could have used the time to construct something more imaginative, but instead we saw her helping Chloe glue leaves. Had she done ANYTHING with the skirt, this was her challenge to lose.

It does tell a lot about Kara as a person that she helped Chloe at all. Kudos, grrlfriend. It may have won the whole shebang for her and lost it for Chloe had she not helped out.

Both seem to be doing just fine right now and maintain a friendship, so all's well that ends well.

Operakatz said...

Yup...liked this much better than Daniel's and during the judging, I really thought they were gonna give it to her. I would have put either hers or Chloe's over Daniel's...both more inspired and beautiful.

Anonymous said...

This was the best. And one of the few times over the three series where I didn't pick the same winner (and loser) as the judges.

As impractical and silly as it was, I enjoyed the results the designers produced for this challenge.

- Barnaby

Anonymous said...

Definite inconsistent judging in this ep, IMHO. I was 100% sure this dress was the winner; I guess I have no taste when it comes to topiary party dresses.

Anonymous said...

This absolutely should have won. The detail alone was amazing. I couldn't believe Daniel's won over this one. I mean, his was beautiful, but this one was gorgeous. And she even spent time helping Chloe, and still put this out. I wasn't a Kara fan all season, but this time, she was robbed.
kath

Sewhat? said...

Loved the dress...hated the judging. This bodice and the sort of floral peplum could have been worn with a beautiful taffeta skirt. Too bad they had to go wall to wall vegetation.

finding the filth said...

seriously - this was the nicest piece that kara made during her whole run on the show. just gorgeous. it doesnt make any sense why daniel won. the judges really over-inflated his ego. kara was robbed.

Anonymous said...

This was the episode where I realized why Kara lasted as long as she did. I loved this dress, and especially the bodice - God was that gorgeous.

Plus, as other posters pointed out, it had COLOR! It had a variety of textures, and I loved the back of the bodice as well. Go Kara!

Jenn said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jenn said...

That lattice work on the back looks SO GOOD, especially in the screen caps. I like this dress a lot more now, looking up close at the front and back than I did on the runway. At the time, I thought Chloe's should have won, but seeing this up close changes my mind.

I would rather have a poofy skirt than Daniel's tacky muslin showing...that was so white trash!

Heidi said...

I think the bodice is breathtakeing and the skirt really reminds me of a 50's starched cocktail dress - or a french maid...

Anonymous said...

I love the back of the dress even more than the front. That to me is the mark of a really good designer, thinking in three dimension.

Anonymous said...

This bodice was on a much higher level than anything done by anyone else--judges were nuts. I remember on first watching (I watched the first half of the season before the second half), I was so impressed with Daniel and all his wins. But when you really look at each challenge, I'm not sure he actually deserved any of the wins--certainly not this one.

Suzanne said...

Kara redeemed herself to me with this dress. I remember stamping my feet and throwing a shit fit when she didn't get eliminated for her shiteous tube dress with the yellow stripe. Then she made this and I let her live.

Anonymous said...

I loved this dress. She did an amazing job!

Anonymous said...

This is really a work of art considering the amount of time she had to make this dress. Congrats, Kara!

Anonymous said...

Kara deserved to win, but they had to give it Miss Sunshine....AGAIN!

Anonymous said...

and, another thing -- look at the fit on that bodice! Perfect.

Gah! This makes me angry.

-- desertwind

Anonymous said...

Totally agree. Daniel's dress was pretty enough (I almost typed "petty" there, which means SOMETHING), but Kara's dress was genius. The raffia work was incredible.

Mike B. said:

My theory is that Kara would have won were it not for the immunity prize--given her inconsistent output and lack of wins, no way were the judges going to guarantee her entry into the final four over Daniel or Chloe. Quite a shame, though, because it was far and away the best entry for this challenge.

What you said. :)