Wrapping 'em up: Santino and Kara

Wednesday, April 04, 2007 by




We're going to be nice to Santino because he tried really hard this week and he showed some humility to the judges, which was nice to see.

Unfortunately, this ain't working on any level.


To be honest, so the fuck what if Austin used the same fabric last year? Far too much was made of that in the judging process. Even if Santino knew it when he bought it, we still say "So what?" You take small groups of designers to the same retail fabric store over and over and over again, then yeah, there's a distinct possibility there's going to be some overlap in fabric choices. Especially when the garment most commonly made on PR is some sort of gown or party dress.


And really, based on the photograph, it was clear that he chose the fabric because it matched the colors in the picture perfectly. There's no need to assign any other reason to his choice.

By the way, while we can somewhat agree with Nina's assertion that "Everyone gets inspired by graffiti," she killed her own point when she helped hand the win to the guy who was inspired by a FLOWER.


Still, we hated the dress. The waist is way too high and sloppy, the skirt is, as Jay said "massivo" and she looks like she has toilet paper wrapped around her.


LOVE IT! It's 1994, we're still in our 20s, Clinton's in the Whitehouse and the economy is looking up!


Aside from making us pine for younger days, we hated this dress.

Actually, "hate" is too strong a word. We could barely raise any reaction past a "hunh?" Kara's work is usually so funky and original and this is SO derivative.


What's weird is, the dress manages to be entirely too literal while at the same time looking nothing like the thing that inspired it. Kara has such a great sense of color. She could have done a lot with that blue and orange.


But there's nothing we can say that can match The Duchess for sheer bitchiness: "A 45-minute explanation for a dress that could take 10 minutes to sew. Who cares? It's a tube dress with a piece of tape around it!"

Sometimes, you just have to bow to the master.


[Screencaps: projectrungay.blogspot.com]


Post a Comment

30 comments:

GothamTomato said...

...and again this week, we pose the musical question; Exactly what DOES Santino need to do to be eliminated?? All season long I kept expecting Whathisname to pop out and tell the judges they've been punked.

Two years later. Still waiting.

That dress looked like a Hefty bag. That poor model is probably still suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.

--Gotham Tomato

Anonymous said...

The waistline on Santino's gown reminds me of Junior High in the mid-60s.

Our teachers and parents were trying to make us wear our skirts touched the top of our knees. But as soon as we left the house, we would roll the skirts up at the waist to shorten them as much as we could. The result was, usually, an asymetrical, bunched up waist, with our pleated skirts turned all wavy.

Who knew how fashion forward we really were?

As for Kara, she didn't deserve that abuse.

- Barnaby

Unknown said...

If Santino had just moved down the skirt and found a prettier way to attach it to the top, his dress would have been quite nice. The top looks good and is a perfect representation of his inspiration.

Kara's dress is boring, but it certainly didn't need the beating that it got from the judges, because at least it was wearable unlike daniel's, santino's, nick's, and zuleema's.

Anonymous said...

Just goes to prove that, even when he stops adding random stuff to his clothes, Santino is just plain sloppy. This was every bit as poorly made and just as big a mess as Zulema's. Sad thing is, it may have been really nice if the skirt and waistline had been done well.

Kara's may have been too literal and boring, but it is made and fitted beautifully, and it looks flattering and attractive. Middle of the pack for me.

Anonymous said...

To be literal...is it good or bad? And, frankly, what does it mean?

Kara's dress was apparently too literal, but it didn't look like a traffic sign to me. Dan'l V's dress was "inspired" by a flower but his model looked exactly like a woman stuffed in a pot with her head sticking up as the stamen. Isn't that kind of "literal"?

Anonymous said...

Yes, another outfit that could have gotten Santino sent home. The only reason he didn't is that this time Zulema's "dress inspired by a dress" was boring and really badly made. Being inspired by graffiti is more original than a flower. I think Kara just plain cracked under the pressure. She did at least put together a garmet that was well made and looked good on her model.

Overall, Jay was just plain mean. There's deliciously bitchy and then there's being a shithead. Jay was definitely the latter. And this from a guy who has failed to capitalize on his PR fame and disses Tim Gunn.

AJ said...

"Danjah! No Trespahssing!"

Oy and vey...Kara's dress was so wrong. And damn if she didn't think it was the poo.

I had washed my hands with her at this point...until the decoy collection that is. Where was that Kara during this competition??

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry, but from the waist, including where the skirt is attached, I've seen this dress from him before. Same crinkled top that makes her boobs look saggy and weird, same weird proportions, and does the boy know how to attach a skirt to a top because it always looks so bad. And I'm sorry but it's very poorly made.

Maybe it's his point of view, but I'm so over Santino.

I liked Kara Janx's look though and if I had the body for it, I'd buy that dress in a heart beat. It's not inspired, but then again, look at Mr. Flower in a Pot. ;3

~Prism

Anonymous said...

Loved Kara's dress for exactly the reasons you stated and didn't love it for exactly the same reason.

I think the reason Jay brought up the whole fabric issue had more to do with the fact that the dress was almost the same dress Austin did with the same fabric. Did that make sense?

Anonymous said...

Kara's is so basic it makes me like Donna Karan.
Santino's is a mess and poorly executed. The bust line is always insane.

ToddFieldNY
(For some reason I can't log in; damn blogger)

Anonymous said...

Was Santino doing a producer or something? He sure wasn't applying himself to sewing things that looked like clothing. Way to make a beautiful fabric look like trash, Snidley!

Anonymous said...

"The Duchess for sheer bitchiness: "A 45-minute explanation for a dress that could take 10 minutes to sew. Who cares? It's a tube dress with a piece of tape around it!"

Sometimes, you just have to bow to the master."


LOL. I know, right? The Duchess always comes up with a funny line, juts like you bitches.

Anonymous said...

There is absolutely nothing to Kara's dress. Terrible.

Anonymous said...

FUGLY!
Santino's model looks like she's ready to start a potato sack race.

Fnarf said...

Please don't give away future episodes. Thanks!

Santino's model looks so sad, because he mistreats her so. I swear, he's all "Well, I don't care, I'm going to treat your body as if it looked like mine; boobs? You have boobs? Fine. I'll wrap them in toilet paper."

Sewhat? said...

Of all of the enormous pieces of crap that Santino produced, how did this one not get him booted?

This would have gotten an F in the most slovenly Home Ec or Sewing class in the last century. It is far worse construction than Zulema's. Why did this talentless hack get so many passes? The only good thing about him was his Tim Gunn impersonations, but this is not a "show biz" talent show, it is a "design and SEWING" talent show. The importance of the latter should not be minimized, because plenty of other people got booted for poor construction.

I loved what you said about Kara Janx. And the big Orange Guy's comments made coffee come out of my nose. But. I actually liked her dress. It made the model look great, which could not be said for many, if any of the other dresses.

Sewhat? said...

P.S.:

Gothamtomato, I look forward to your comments as much as the ones from T & L. You absolutely hit the spot time and again. Pithy, insightful and funny as hell. Thanks.

Sewhat? said...

I just went back and compared Zulema's dress to Santino's dress. Just slide the thing on the right up and down...it is kind of dizzying.

Which would you rather wear in public?

Don't ever say that the producers did not have a hand in Santino staying.

Anonymous said...

I love the fabric but Santino ruined it.

Anonymous said...

Sewhat, I think I made that dress in my home ec class. The teacher quickly reassigned me to planning the Fashion School instead.

Anonymous said...

I mean Fashion show.

Anonymous said...

I actually like Kara's. Probably not the best dress for a competition, but it was well executed.

Anonymous said...

Santino's dress was FUG. but atleast he took direction.

Marianne said...

I HATED Santino's. And sewhat?'s idea of juxtaposing his with Zulema's is good. As bad as hers was, I'd pick it to stay over Santino's mess.

People are saying that if he just fixed the skirt and top that it would make a pretty dress - that's because it would be a completely different dress. Fix what on the skirt? Un-pucker the seam down the middle? Get rid of that hideous curtainrod? Or move it under her ribcage? Make Heather's boobs NOT look like beanbags? Adjust the toilet paper straps? Come on now.

Jenn said...

The Duchess can be so deliciously bitchy, can't she? MERCY!

Anonymous said...

I actually liked Santino's. It was certainly better that what he's shown the past 3 weeks.

Anonymous said...

Yikes!!! Yet again... another Santino DISASTER. Is he giving blow jobs to the producers? WHY IS HE STILL HERE???? His "designs" are awful. His construction skills are horrible. His attitude is terrible.

Worst. Designer. Ever.

Yes, even worse than La Pepper.

Brandenburg3rd said...

While I hated Santino's dress (it was beyond messy), I still love the fabric. I loved it when Austin used it, I didn't care that it was a repeat when Santino used it--I cared more that he sent an unholy mess down the runway.

I could be a happy camper if the Easter Bunny left a bolt of that on my doorstep tonight.

Sewhat: but this is not a "show biz" talent show, it is a "design and SEWING" talent show.

While the application for the show makes it sound like they're looking for straight (no pun intended) designers, if you listen to anyone who has auditioned or been on the show (even comments from Tim), they're looking at everyone with an eye toward TV Personality. Hence the Santinos and Jeffreys of the show.

Anonymous said...

LOVE Michael Kor's comment on Kara's. One of his best lines!

Tessie and Sara said...

I didn't think Santino's dress should have gotten him eliminated but I certainly didn't love it. Things I have a problem with:

1.) hate the toilet paper around the boobs (was he trying to match the actual graffiti design? If it's supposed to be obvious, the point missed me and it just came off as ugly)

2.) the ripped him for using the same fabric as austin? Are you kidding me? Santino is clearly many things, but an Austin Scarlett wannabe he is not. Seriously, who cares?

3.) Just hate it when designers make it clear they are changing what they would normally because of the judges. Note: listening to the judges and designing for the judges are two different things. Wheneve someone designs FOR them (as santino did here I feel) it flops. Just a pet peeve.

Ok, done