Collar Blind

Explain something to us, poodles.

We keep reading these wildly negative comments about Sweet P - some going so far as to say she's a bitch - and we honestly don't get why. She seems to be getting along with her fellow designers fairly well so we're not sure what so many others are talking about when they talk about how nasty she supposedly is.

Anyway.

If the crotch on Carmen's pants was "insane," then what do you call this collar? A severe neurological disorder? If Picasso designed menswear, it would look something like this.

Not that we thought Sweet P should have gone home. We don't. The only thing really wrong with the outfit is the collar. Had she aced that, or even if she'd just made a serviceable one, she might have floated by without a problem. The judges liked it; they just didn't like how it was executed.

We have to say, we agree. It's not great, but it's no less innovative than Jack's. The pants are a little on the crazy side, though. She managed to give that skinny white boy some child-bearing hips and somehow, we doubt that was her intention.

Of course we're resigned to the no-belt thing. We can only spend so much time railing against it.

Dig that American Psycho styling.

Yeah, it was poorly executed but the overall look had a "throw me on the desk and take me" vibe to it and darlings, we are ALL about that. Of course, that could have something to do with the fact that her model was scorching and we're only now just noticing him. The clothes were so crazy that we didn't even see the hotness occupying them.

To rectify that, here are some reminders for your Friday afternoon viewing:

[Photo: Bravotv.com - Screencaps: Project RunGay]


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Previews, Poodles!

Well, in case you were dying to know what happened in the last episode, this preview doesn't really tell you much except that there's a slight twist in the model elimination.

On the other hand, we have this picture from the upcoming episode:

There's some mighty '80s-looking fashion in those pictures on the table. Commence bitchy, fact-free speculation... NOW!

[Photo/Video: Crew Creative/ Bravotv.com]


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Kit Got Fleeced!

We have to say, this design is growing on us. So much so that we're prepared to go along with what seems to be the majority opinion that this outfit should have won.

Let's get one thing out of the way right off: that is some wonky tailoring going on there in the jacket. The pants seem to fit very well, but that jacket looks hung-up-wet to us.

Let's talk about Kit for a second, since we haven't really said much about her. As we all know, first impressions mean a lot and our first impression wasn't kind. We took one look at her Baby Jane drag and assumed that she'd be a bitch and an untalented one at that.

Hey, we have opinions. It's why you love us.

But so far, she's been fairly low-key and professional throughout the competition and we thought it was cute how well she got along with her adorable model. We reserve the right to say we were right all along about her potential bitchiness because that can change at any time, but untalented? No way.

She's got the goods to go to the end of this thing. She has that all-important "point of view," she has technical skills, she can style a look and she can - wonder of wonders - blend the innovative with the classic.

A fleece sports coat - even if the tailoring's not so great - is such a fantastic idea that we're a little blown away by it. We can't help but applaud her attempt to do something appropriate for the client's rather conservative needs, while also providing a look with a little twist.

The only difference between her shirt and Jack's is that Jack apparently used all the starch alloted to the designers. It's "just" a shirt, but it looks like it's put together well and unlike the fabric Jack used, it's telegenic. Of course it's almost exactly the shirt Tiki was wearing when he met them, but how far can you go in shirt designs for TV personalities?

Seriously, we're not sure why her presentation is so sloppy-looking but if she could have cleaned things up a bit, we think she could have easily walked away with the win on this one.

And PUT BELTS ON THESE GUYS, DESIGNERS. Seriously, was Tim asleep when he walked Ginny Barber through the room? He should have been all over the beltlessness going on this week. Bluefly does sell belts, right?

[Photo: Bravotv.com - Screencaps: Project RunGay]


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Seeya Carmen!

"Don't go home too soon...Don't go home too soon."

Bitch, don't go taunting your fellow designers in the sewing room when it's your ass on the line. Karma's not enough of a bitch in reality, but it's a HUGE bitch in reality television.

Y'know, looking at the still photo, it's really not that bad. The parts that are actual pieces of clothing and not fabric swatches, of course. We really love the colors she chose and we like the proportions on the jacket and pants.

Yeah, Ginny Barber in her cheapass-looking discount mall dress said the jacket looked like Members Only but then again ... cheapass-looking discount mall dress, y'know?

And granted, the Duchess was correct in pointing out how "insane" that crotch is, but then again, she's the Duchess. She probably spends most of her free time in insane crotches.

But yes, nothing is done and what is done doesn't look well made. No argument there.

But we really like the pairing of the dark brown jacket (with the lining) with the lighter brown pants and the brilliant blue of the imaginary shirt. That hat is total ass, though.

We have to say, we liked her bold new direction for Project Runway contestants. In the future, they won't have to actually make the clothes, they can just wrap fabric around the models and say "I envisioned this as a beaded cocktail dress" or "This fabric represents resortwear."

This represents "sewing."

We also liked her introduction of the possibility of eyeball-gouging the judges on the way out.

"Auf wieders-AAAAHHHH! Sheisse! My eye! You almost poked my eye out with that doorknocker thing on your neck! Get off my runway, bitch!"

Check out Carmen's exit interview:




[Photo: Bravotv.com - Screencaps: Project RunGay]


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Poking the Shark

With regards to shark-jumping, Project Runway skated right up to that tank last night and almost...almost made the jump before pulling away.


Last night's episode encapsulated everything we feared about Season 4. It's a standard rule with most television shows - and definitely with most reality television shows - that the more popular a show gets, the harder it is for the show to sustain a certain level of quality over time. Things get too self-referential or self-congratulatory (witness the designers bursting into applause during episode 1 when Tim said "Make it work." for the first time of the season. Lorenzo threatened to vomit on the couch over that one).

Maybe it wouldn't have been so groan-inducing if we hadn't just come off a really great episode with one of the best guest judges the show ever had. Going from dream judge Sarah Jessica Parker directly to Tiki Barber of all people, was more than a little bit of a letdown. Ignoring the comedy of watching a bunch of fashion designers trying to feign shock and awe over two guests in whom they had zero interest ("*gasp!* It's ... some Black guy!" "*gasp!* It's ... some Asian woman!"), the fact of the matter is, designing an outfit for ANYONE on the Today Show is ...whatever word is appropriate to denote the complete opposite of "fabulous."

By its very nature, the Today Show is meant to appeal to the broadest possible demographic, which means the people who populate these shows tend toward bland personalities in bland clothing. To ask the designers to design something to be worn by such a person is basically handing them an assignment that says "Boil it down to the lowest common denominator you can." And let's face it, it showed in the judges' pick for the winner. Jack did a nice enough job, but it wasn't anything you wouldn't see on a well-dressed high school algebra teacher. The more interesting looks were shuffled off the runway quickly and never even referred to by the judges so that all the time could be spent bitching at the designers who don't have menswear skills or praising the designers who made your standard Suburban-Dad-on-Sunday uniform. Given their propensity for normally raking any designer over the coals for being "safe" and for spewing their moistness at any designer who shows a "point of view," it just stinks of "sellout" to us.

It's not like the show has ever been - or even needs to be - cutting edge. It's just that even designing a dress for the supreme blandness that is Nancy O'Dell to wear on the red carpet is more interesting to watch and yielded more telegenic results than the walking JC Penney catalog we got last night.

And then there's the whole menswear issue. Sorry, but while it may be fun to watch the designers struggle mightily in a near-impossible challenge, so is watching them mud wrestle. Sure, the show touched on menswear a couple times in the past when the designers had to design for themselves or each other, but basing an entire challenge on menswear when it's such a specific skillset, and when said skillset isn't really a criterion for gaining entry into the competition, it just felt like deliberate rug-pulling on the producers' parts. Of course so many of the looks sucked. That was the whole point. To make the designers run around like crazy and make shit-ugly clothes in the process. Or, as Sweet P put it "I'm embarrassed in front of my peers." We love watching the designers being put through their paces. We didn't really love watching them freak out like headless chickens over a challenge they had no reason to expect.

On the other hand, cute boys. So it all balances out in the end.









[Screencaps: Project RunGay]


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Congratulations, Jack!

Feh. The first sucky episode of the new season. We've been waiting so long for new episodes that we actually forgot that sometimes they suck. Whatevs, bitches. We'll have a post later today wherein we expound on the suckitude on display last night. For now, let's all take a moment and Jack off.

It's...just alright. Call us crazy, but the judges went on and on about how well-fitted this was and it doesn't really look it to us. The shirt is weirdly tight in strange areas and the pants are weirdly loose in some.

See? It's not us, is it? Doesn't that outfit give a lithe young studmodel a weird blocky shape? What's going on around his zipper there?

It looks like the waist is too loose or something and he pinned the pants on the model to keep them up. Plus, that shirt gives him no shape at all, which is odd because you'd think Jack of all people, if he's capable of making menswear, would make it a little form-fitting.

Another thing that bugs us is the lack of a belt. If you only made two pieces when everyone around you was making three, at the very least put some belt loops on that thing and give him a belt to finish the look. As it is, he looks like he's making a 7 a.m. shamewalk.

The fabrics are nice enough and we do like the bias cut trim on the shirt, which was well done. Design-wise, it's perfectly fine, if a bit on the bland side. We think there were more deserving winners, though.

As for the pretend "controversy" with the pattern-making...*shrug*. It never reached the level of stashing contraband books under your bed and besides, Jack did ask Tim ahead of time. Sure, female contestants could all come in every day wearing cocktail dresses and evening gowns and proceed to rip them apart to make patterns but you know they won't.

And yeah, he passed the pattern around to other designers but all that says is that Jack is a gracious contestant who looks out for others. The only person who really seemed to have a problem with it was Rami and he's a prissy, self-loving bitch.

UPDATE:

Tiki wears his completely-rebuilt-from-the-ground-up version of Jack's winning design on the Today show this morning. Video here.

[Photo: Bravotv.com - Screencaps: Project RunGay]


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Darlings, mark your calendars.

NOT ONLY is Emmett McCarthy hosting an event at his store EMC2 on December 9th,


NOT ONLY is Tim Gunn appearing at said event,
NOT ONLY will Tim be signing L'il Tim Bobbleheads upon request,
NOT ONLY are said bobbleheads a new design, but they TALK,
NOT ONLY will EMC2 be offering GAY GIFT WRAPPING, where, for 5 bucks, you get your purchase fabulously wrapped in what Emmett called "queen-fabulous wrapping paper,"


NOT ONLY will you be getting Gay Gift Wrapping, but your $5 goes to LIVE OUT LOUD, whose "mission is to empower, energize and enable Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Youth to live the life of their dreams through the celebration of the richness and diversity of our shared experience, the visibility of role models and the dissemination of information."

NOT ONLY THAT,

We will be there.


And if you can't drop everything to come see us just because you have "families" and "jobs" and whatever, then support Team RunGay by plugging your picks for TRESemmé's Fantasy Runway Game. Who's in and who's auf tonight, bitches?

...And the rest.

Let's wrap this up, shall we?

And speaking of wrapping things up...

This is for the chic martial artist who wants to be sassy and wear her brown belt ON HER HEAD.

These two worked well together but the simmering egos just under the surface made us think things were going to explode any minute.

We really liked the sketch but somehow it's not working as well on the model. They seemed to stick pretty close to the original design but those kimono sleeves really make it and they kind of fall flat in the final product.

In fact, those aren't kimono sleeves at all, are they?

God, it's like they shoot these models in dark alleys somewhere. Would it kill them to turn on some lights now and then?

We defended brown tights yesterday for Kit's outfit and that means our quota is used up for the next year. We can't go two days in a row defending tights or we won't be able to look at ourselves in the mirror.

It's just a flat, bleh kinda look. Not particularly flattering in real life and not nearly as chic as the sketch implied. Terrible accessories, too.

And the Jiffy Pop hair didn't help.

"Oh, Anita! It is so beautiful! Tonight is my first real dance as an AMERICAN girl!"

Ricky sez: "My intention wasn't for the dress to be pretty pretty as it was already pretty. I needed an edge to it, so I made a belt. This was the second piece."

Well Ricky, unfortunately adding a riding crop to it means it's just a pretty dress with a riding crop. We'll wait for you to finish crying before we continue.

Jack sez: "Ricky has the sickest model."

We say: "Jack, we totally agree that Lea is the best model so far this season, but we're alarmed that a 37-year-old man is trying to sound like a 16-year-old skaterat. Stop that."

He's a Muscle Mary from Chelsea!
And he's a Muscle Papi from Escondido!
Together, they fight fashion crimes on BICEPS & BIAS CUTS, a fabulous new series this fall on LOGO!

Don't get us wrong, we loved this dress. Beautiful detail on the neckline and lovely proportions on the little sleeves.

The belt's a big "enh" for us. Nothing really wrong with it and we get the idea of mixing pieces with a slight edge to them with pieces that are conventionally pretty, but for the most part the overall effect was a bit bland.

Pretty, but bland. We'll give it up for the muscleboys for working well together and producing a cute, very retailable garment.

Actually, we don't really need an excuse to give it up for muscleboys.

[Photos: Seenon.com - Screenaps: Project RunGay]


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