Thursday, July 24, 2008

Project Runway's green experiment

Last night on Project Runway, they gave the designers a challenge of designing a cocktail dress to be made out of "green" fabric (environmentally responsible, not the color green).

I think the color green might have been more interesting.

It would have been really great to see the designers shopping for eco-fabrics, then turn them into high fashion. That would have shown us all that eco-fabrics will fill the bill just fine!

Unfortunately, the producers decided to throw another twist in there, and have the models do the fabric shopping.

As you can imagine, the models didn't have the same eye for colors and textures. The designers' reactions to the fabrics they brought back were not enthusiastic. In fact, they complained a lot about the fabrics, and several models bought the same fabrics, resulting in kind of a boring palette in the runway show.

So that means that the eco-fabric challenge was the one episode where the designers bitched about the fabrics, when it would have been great to get excited about eco-fabrics!

Disappointing.


So. Pictures from the Bravo website and comments from my idle brain:


This one was my favorite, I think. I didn't think I would like it as "Suede" (yes, this designer calls himself "Suede." Must gag now.) was making it - it looked like a mess. But he pulled it off and it's pretty and arty. He made the bodice out of intricately placed thin strips of fabric. And he was named the winner! The prize this time was that Bluefly.com would sell the winning design. I have no idea how they are going to produce this garment. It seems very difficult to make.

Oh, by the way, FIVE models bought this champagne silk (I think) for their designers!


See? The second-place finisher was made out of the same stuff! It's too tight through the chest, but it is really elegant and pretty. I like this one. I think I like this model the best - she definitely makes things look good. Her skin is a gorgeous tone!


Now, this design was one of the "safe" ones. They have the runway show, where the models all come out wearing the designs, one by one, and the judges assign a numerical score. Then the scores are tallied and the top three and bottom three are asked to stay on stage to talk about their designs. All of the others are "safe" and we don't hear anything about those. It's too bad (although the show would be too long, I do realize), because sometimes you really want to hear the judges' opinions. Take this one, for example. I think the blue fabric that the model chose doesn't really grab you, and that's why this dress flew under the radar. The shape and neckline are nice, I think. It would be better if it were an inch or so shorter.


This was another "safe" one. This one is nuts. I'm sorry, I just think it is UG-LY. Good grief, there is too much going on here! He even gave her peacock-feather earrings. It's a hot mess.


This one was in the bottom two. Three designers got this brown fabric, and all had some trouble with it. Both of the bottom two designs had this brown fabric. The judges said there was too much going on with this dress. Hello? Did you see the peacock blue one I put just above? How can you even go there with the brown one and let that peacock thing go right on by?


This was the design that they auf'd. I was very sorry to see this designer go. I didn't know which of the bottom two they would get rid of... I'm still undecided if they made the right choice. What do you think?

3 comments:

smalltownme said...

I don't watch this show but maybe I should.

Confession: I own a pair of peacock feather earrings.

Pretty Things said...

Satin doesn't look good on anyone -- especially if they plan to sit in it! Shiny lap wrinkles!

Amy said...

I miss Santino.

Suede must go, the whole bit with speaking in third person is VERY annoying.

And what's up with putting little pockets in cocktail dresses? I need pockets in skirts, but I don't get the concept in a cocktail dress.