Keeping Us In Stitches, part 1

Last week's episode of Project Runway was the reunion show. I chose not to do a recap, because:

1) it was boring and

2) I didn't actually finish watching it until last night.

If you want to read many highly entertaining recaps go here. The only part I was really interested in was the Fan Favorite award. We all knew who it was going to be, the announcement was just a formality.

The title of Season 4 Fan Favorite and a giant cardboard check for $10,000 goes to Chris...

YAY!!!!

...tian.

Are you kidding me?? Christian???? Talk about positive reinforcement for negative behavior. *sigh* I worry for the future. (Also, I wonder what kind of sauce goes good with this keyboard I now have to eat? Chocolate? Hmm...)

Anyway, let's get on with the point of today's post. All of the designers were invited to create three-piece mini collections for a side competition cleverly entitled "It's Sew Not Over" with a prize of $10,000 to the winner, which will be chosen by the viewers (go here to vote). Twelve of the fifteen participated (the "final four" included - where they found time to make three extra pieces on top of their twelve for Bryant Park, I'll never know.) After looking them all over and watching the runway show, there wasn't any one collection that I liked completely, but I found that I was split evenly between the ones I mostly liked and the ones I mostly didn't. First I'm going to look at the stinkers, and then tomorrow I'll post the ones that didn't stink so bad.

Today's installment:

Sew Knot Impressed

Carmen: I'm afraid to say anything bad about this collection because that first model's gonna kick my butt! But... sometimes you have to take one for the team, so here goes. Not only did she steal those pants in #1 from James T. Kirk, but she pinched Luke's lightsaber too. Stockings and flip-flops? Big no-no! It gives the model goat feet. Speaking of Star Wars, #2 is what all the Jedi ladies will be wearing this season. And hey!! My mother had those EXACT same pants in #3... but in that brown plaid! Back in 1974! (I also think someone must have gotten Carmen this Duct Tape calendar for Christmas. THOSE belts ain't goin' nowhere!) This is definitely my least favorite of all the mini-collections.

The only redeeming things I can say about it is that the top of the second outfit would look good with jeans, and that the three pieces at least actually LOOK like a collection.

Which is more than I can say for...Christian: Good Lord. He cleared out the remnants bin at Mood. I'm so sorry for ever suggesting in previous posts that Christian use some color - I should have included the word "correctly" in there also. And did he skip the "Working With Prints" class? (He needs to go work with Uli from last season - now there is a designer who knows how to mix prints.) As for the individual designs, #1 stepped right out of an Austin Powers "swinging 60's" dance number, #2 is that very stern elementary school teacher that everyone hated, and #3... well, let's just say that amoebas emerging from one's personal regions is not a good look. I'm curious though... let's see what they'd look like if he had used more of his signature black!

Hmm okay, he's using the wacky prints to cover up the fact that you can buy all these outfits at TJMaxx.
Jack: If you're going to pick a print to base your entire collection on, please pick a nice print. The placement of the blue flowers on #1 is, um, pointing at things, and what's with that collar? Also, either make it sleeveless or give it a sleeve; that in-between thing isn't working. I'd be pulling on them all day. The two pieces of #2 are okay, but not together. Put that jacket with a tshirt and a pair of jeans, or just wear the dress with a belt. Shapeless bags are not flattering! #3 is okay, but I'd rather it not have the trim at the bottom. At least Jack has a color story.

Jillian: We know that Jillian has time-management issues. Was she so behind on her Bryant Park collection that she ended up having to pick three random outfits from her closet and send them down the runway? Why, yes, apparently that was the basis for her collection: what does she want to wear tomorrow? These are actually not all that bad - if I had to pick one I liked best I'd say #1, but I wish it was longer. I don't care for the orange boob piping on #2, and I've never seen the appeal of vests and bare arms. I do have to give her kudos for resisting the urge to use that same pair of shoes she always uses.

Ricky: This collection would have made more sense had the runway music been The Theme to Popeye. Taking three dresses and adding a hat and gloves do not a collection make. #1 and #3 at least look similar due to the fabric, but #2 just does not fit at all. Especially that skirt - it's bunching and pulling and appears to be made out of a Hefty sack. The bottom of #1 moves very strangely on the runway, as if it was a lampshade attached to the bottom of the dress. I quite like #3 though - good color, nice shape, very flirty. I'd wear it (sans accessories of course).

You know, on second thought, I don't even think Popeye would stoop to wearing that hat.

Chris: This one pains me the most, because Chris is my favorite. But he just came unravelled in this mini-challenge. Where's the drama? Where's the show? Where's the construction? I know he kept getting told to tone it down, but now he's toned it down so much, you can't even hear it! #1 has been done before, and better, in the eighties; #2 would be really great if the top fit better and was less bulky (that fabric is beautiful though - I wish he'd taken it all the way up), and #3 adds about a foot of width to the top part of the body. Can she even put her right arm down? Or is she stuck like Randy in the snowsuit in A Christmas Story?

Tomorrow I'll post the remaining six collections, and my goal for Wednesday is to post Sweet P's Bryant Park show. Since she's not going to be on either of the remining PR shows, I feel okay in doing that.