Congratulations!

Uh-oh! Pocahontas won the challenge and the commenters are PISSED.

Last night couldn't have offered a better primer in the ways this show screws with the judging process. The most common judging fuck-up is one where the designers are given a challenge and then the judges decided to base their decisions on criteria that were never even mentioned to the designers. Were they supposed to design a workable costume for a film or were they merely supposed to be inspired by a genre? Who knows? The judges sure didn't!


In Nicolas' case, they judged him based on his costuming skills, discussing his dress in terms of how it would look on film and praising him for "working with" hair and makeup to create a look. Fine. No arguments there. But then they turned around and praised other designers for going off on flights of fancy and criticized still more designers for doing practical work. Color us two very confused bitches.

Model: Celine Chua

Which isn't to say we didn't like this entry. In fact, we have no problem with him winning it.


Oh sure, our sense of drama would have relished a smackdown since he spends so much time telling us how wonderful he is, but for once, he backed it up. This is a look that tells you a ton about the character at one glance and what more can you ask from a movie costume?


It wasn't shockingly beautiful or outrageously technical, but it did the job it was supposed to do.


To be honest, we can't point to any one thing and say "That, we love." It's all just alright. If anything, those feathers or whatever they are, look a little cheap and sloppy.


But it was the overall effect that won the judges over and like we said, that's something with which we agree. It DOES have an impact when you first see it.


Would it have been our choice? Maybe. Probably. There were looks on the runway that we felt were a lot more fabulous and better executed, but they failed on certain levels as movie costumes. Of course, some of those looks got high praise from the judges, so we're not entirely sure that even they knew what the hell they were looking for.

Let's say this: IF the challenge was to produce a movie costume, THEN this one is probably a clear winner. It's just kind of stupid that we don't even know exactly what the challenge was a day later.


Extended Judging:


[Photos: Mike Yarish/myLifetime.com - Video: myLifetime.com - Screencaps: Projectrungay.blogspot.com]


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