Fashion Week ***MAJOR SPOILERS***

[-ANTM-]

Kara and Jay are tied in my mind. Jay's only faux pas was his first design, and Kara's bikini was also boring. Kara is professional, but Jay is the one with a raw vision which over time will become harnessed into something spectacular.

Austin, in my opinion, is farrr behind Jay. I liked his corn-dress, his wedding dress (which everyone else hated, I should point out), and his bathing suit. I was on the fence about his charmeuse dress and his future dress (it was nice but not future), and I really didn't like his Envy, his Costume, or his Postal thing. I dunno. He's definately better than Wendy though.

[corprip]

Attention Queer Eye fans! Carson Kressley quote.

Article:

'Project Runway' takes off at New York Fashion Week

By Samantha Critchell
ASSOCIATED PRESS
9:51 a.m. February 5, 2005

NEW YORK – The four finalists on Bravo's fashion reality show, "Project Runway," staged presentations on the same catwalk used by Richard Tyler and Joseph Abboud during New York Fashion Week.

But before the first model stepped onto the runway Friday, supermodel-host Heidi Klum explained that only three of the four aspiring designers would be seen when the show's finale airs Feb. 23.

Klum didn't want the media to be the spoiler for next week's episode, during which one of the four – Jay McCarroll, Wendy Pepper, Austin Scarlett and Kara Saun – will be sent packing. "Project Runway" airs on Wednesday nights.

McCarroll's "stereotype" collection, which featured models wearing headphones dyed to match their outfits, seemed to be the favorite of fashion fans in the audience.

The flamboyant 29-year-old from Lehman, Pa., showed a gold quilted wrap with a gold sequined skirt with a patchwork applique and a turquoise cardigan with an oversized collar, a wood bead chestpiece, an obi belt and a miniskirt paired with leggings.

"I hate to pick favorites, but Jay's collection was far and away the best," said Carson Kressley, the fashion expert on "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy." "A fashion show is all about point of view. ... His show told a story."

Pepper, 39, from Middleburg, Va., explained that her collection was inspired by the annual rite of the harvest. Her looks included a brown cashmere cocktail dress with lace trim and a green charmeuse evening dress with darker green feathers at the bust.

When it was Scarlett's turn, models strutted to a jazzed-up version of "Yankee Doodle Dandy" in Americana clothes, such as a tweed day dress with fringe and buttons, a matching bolero jacket and ruffled front blouse.

The 23-year-old from Eugene, Ore., said the clothes were made with a patriotic theme: "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

Saun, 37, who describes her hometown as "the world," created a collection that embraces the things she loves most: luxury, sexiness, strength and passion.

Her designs included a fuchsia cracked patent leather aviator jacket with rust chinchilla trim and a white double-silk gown with a plunging V front, a jeweled buckle and fox fur wrap.

The winner of "Project Runway" will receive $100,000 in seed money to help launch his or her own fashion line and a mentorship from the Banana Republic design team, according to the show's Web site.

Fashion Week opened Friday and continues through Feb. 11.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/f...ectrunway.html

[Closet Fan]

Closet Fan, you are inspired. Your points about Wendy will likely hold true. I feel a bit sorry for her; I try to imagine that she was taken out-of-context, but it seems impossible. I really didn't know people her age ever acted so unashamedly nasty. If you're going to scheme your way to the top, at least keep it to yourself!

I *might* be able to feel sorry for her, or think her comments or behavior were taken out of context, (1) if there wasn't so much of it, its pretty consistently there on film; and (2) all of her competitors, even the "above the fray" Kara Saun whose opinion I would trust the most, thought she was just despicable and manipulative and dare I say, cockroachish. I might put down some of it as jealousy or resentment, but jealousy of what? She clearly has very little talent, so there's no professional rivalry to fuel the dislike, and Robert as well had success inordinately out of proportion to his actual talents or output, and the other designers loved and embraced him. No resentment there. And as someone posted on another thread, she has continued her stabs at her competitors and her attempts to justify her behavior on her website, further demonstrating a certain kind of resentful and petty personality. The kind of anti-social behavior I can forgive even if I don't condone in a 19 year old, I can't find excuse for in a woman a year older than I am. We're both old enough to know and behave better, and she's got the added incentive of having a daughter to be an example for. Nope, to my mind, its Wendy they disliked and distrusted, and for good reason.

I have to agree with you Closet Fan. Although Jay and Kara are better than Austin, I think during the show he performed far better than Wendy. His designs were consistently better than hers.
He deserved to go to Fashion Week as the final three...sadly, I don't think he did.
In the end however, if Wendy was in the final three with Jay and Kara that means Wendy won the battle but lost the war.

Wendy reminds me of the old saying "be careful what you wish for, you may get it."

I'm sad for Austin, because I would have liked to see what he would have created if he had made it to the final three with his confidence and the potential to possibly win. I'm sad for Austin because he seems like a nice young man. I'm sad for Austin because in spite of his excesses, his determination to put frills on just about everything, in my mind, he really did have a good sense of line and shape and how to cut and drape the fabric. OK, the postal uniform was completely inappropriate for anyone but Doris Day playing a postal worker as Michael Kors said, but it was cute. I could see a whole lot of young girls at the Gap wanting to wear the basic top and pants, sans postal coloring and insignia, and losing the rain cape. His bathing suit had a great cut, a great look, and I for one would wear it if I had the figure for it (and it covered the behind a little more). Who cares if its nostalgic, it was elegant and beautiful. Lots of the women on this board drooled over his tea party dress, even though one judge thought no woman would want to wear it (Wrongo, I would, if I had a good figure) If his tastes ran a little more to the Vera Wang side of things, or he could cultivate a "less is more philosophy", I think he could be fabulous.

Austin, even if eliminated, has enough charm and raw talent to continue designing. Sure, Austin may not make it now but give him a couple of years to grow.

I'm thinking (and hoping) this too. He's so awfully young, after all. He's bound to grow out of his ideas that everyone wants to dress as flamboyantly as he does, and heck even if he doesn't, I looked at some of the haute couture fashion show pictures from the last show, and his designs aren't completely over the top compared with some of THEM, not that I think anybody actually wears any of THOSE, either. But what he needs is a serious designer for a mentor, someone he'll actually listen to and heed their advice. If you want an amateur's advice, Austin, for your next collection, forget everything from the colonial period through empire waistlines through bustles and flappers, don't ever go see Les Miz or La Cage again, think Katherine Hepburn, the 30s and 40s, and go to it! Not only could you make a fantastic collection, but you might start a retro trend!

BTW, Austin looks so cute without makeup at Fashion Weelk standing with his models. Someone needs to tell that kid that if he lays off the lipgloss he actually becomes a handsome young fellow.

Funny you should say this, before I saw the articles which suggested he didn't make it to the final three, I saw those pictures of him on the runway, sans makeup, sans dramatic hair, in his sheepskin jacket and glasses, and I thought he looked so much more relaxed and happy, less like he was on stage. Austin, I lived in San Francisco for 15 years, so I have absolutely no problem seeing men wearing makeup, but the nerdy intellectual look suits you so much better!

[busilis32]

I guess next Wednesday is the last episode I'm watching. I just can't stand the thought of Pepe Le Pew's evil cousin being rewarded for his skankiness. I know the real world is like that, but this is Reality TV. If I wanted to get depressed about the devolution of the human race, I would watch the news, or a TV program with people with real talent. My fear is that if there is another season, we are going to get overrun by Wendys and what made this show such a refreshing alternative would be lost. Oh well, I have plenty of books to read anyway. But if we are going to get villains, I hope they are more entertaining than this car wreck of a human being.

[corprip]

So it looks like Martinique, Melissa, and Julia are all at Fashion Week. Does this mean Olga is a goner this week?

[Closet Fan]

Olga is a goner this next week, however, I'm all but certain I saw her modelling some of the Project Runway clothes at Fashion Week anyway...

[corprip]

Olga is a goner this next week, however, I'm all but certain I saw her modelling some of the Project Runway clothes at Fashion Week anyway...

Do you think that because her biggest supporters (Kevin & Robert) are gone? I think Jay will forgive Julia, Kara will stick with Jenny, and Wendy and Austin will have a slapmatch over Martinique and Melissa.

[busilis32]

You just know Austin is the one who get eliminated tomorrow because if he had made it to fashion week as a true finalist, he probably would have dressed as Marie Antoinette. He really looks nice in regular clothes though.

[corprip]

WaPo is wonderfully catty in this piece about new designers. It's kind of a long article, so I'm going to quote the relevant parts and anyone else interested in the rest can follow the link.

Perhaps the most famous unknowns of the week are the designers from the Bravo series "Project Runway." They have been vying for a $100,000 prize and a Banana Republic mentorship. The show taped its finale Friday morning, with four designers presenting collections. One designer was a red herring; there are only three finalists. An educated guess would have Jay McCarroll, Kara Saun and Wendy Pepper in the runway showdown. One must assume that Austin Scarlett will be eliminated, unless the judges decide that dressing women like a drag version of Mae West is a commercially viable idea.

Pepper, for those who have been following the dressmaking drama, continues to struggle with a dowdy sensibility. Saun's work, inspired by "The Aviator," is remarkably detailed but often too self-conscious. McCarroll mixes musical inspiration into a pastiche of colors and textures to create the strongest blend of originality, salesmanship and aesthetic coherence. It is also hard not to find perverse amusement in the fact that McCarroll worked for about two years in the porn industry, an experience that seems to have given him a unique advantage in stirring up the kind of sexual provocation on which the fashion industry thrives.

Washington Post

[VeronicaBelle27]

Until there's concrete evidence to the contrary, I refuse to believe Wendy's goshawful bright orange monstrosity made it past anything Jay has ever designed. And if she did, obviously, its proof there's no such thing as karma. Or integrity amongst the judges. Or the existence of an almighty, even.

Exactly!!! I mean the judges were literally called on the carpet by one of their own saying that Wendy doesn't belong there (or something like it). They won't be embarrassed in Fashion Week, I hope.