Project Runway: now with even more temper tantrums and producer-contrived drama!
Previously: Makeovers were attempted. They were not successful.
The Challenge: The designers are shipped off to the Brooklyn Navy yard and paired up in teams of two. There are five storage units, and the teams have two days to make two cohesive looks made from materials found in the storage units. For some reason, we have to watch them bid on the storage units, which all contain different random-ass materials. But they don’t even get to keep everything in there – they have to physically take out of the units whatever they want to bring back to the workroom. Wait, then what was the point of using storage units to begin with? And what sorry, underpaid PA has to pack all this shit back up to take it back to the workroom? Oh, and then halfway through the challenge, they find out they have to make a third look, mostly out of Mood fabrics. Because there was almost a chance they would have had enough time to actually make something decent, so the producers felt the need to crap all over that.
Guest Judge: The wonderful Christian Siriano. Remember, from back when this show was good? I love that they introduced him as “designer Christian Siriano” instead of “Project Runway winner Christian Siriano.” A+ for Christian, for not letting them remind the world that he used to be on this show. It took him forever to be taken seriously by the fashion world because he was tainted by reality TV, and I’m thrilled that he’s finally getting the success he deserves. (See, dear readers? Sometimes I like the guest judges! They just need to stop asking non-designer reality stars and C-list actresses to judge.)
Team Amanda & Kini
AMANDA VALENTINE
Top 2
Photos: Lifetime
Christian rightfully pointed out that whatever you might think of this outfit, this is what young starlets want to wear. This could have been plucked right out of the closet of Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, or Emma Roberts. (Or at least out of their stylists’ closets.) Kini and Amanda made a strong team, and their work was far better than what the other teams managed to tack together. It wasn’t flawless, but they deserved their top spot.
KINI ZAMORA
Winner
Photos: Lifetime
I agree with Nina that this jacket would have looked infinitely better on Amanda’s look. But the soccer ball dress was a brilliant idea. This was the only team who really utilized the unconventional materials the way the judges wanted them to – by making them wearable, without making them look like fabric. No lampshade skirts that are impossible to walk in, and no upholstery fabrics that look like upholstery fabrics. Kini won for really paying attention to the transformation from unconventional materials to fashion, and I can’t argue with that.
AMANDA and KINI
Photos: Lifetime
I thought Amanda was fucking nuts when she wanted to use that yeti painting in their design, but you know what? She REALLY made it look like fashion. This was incredible. Weird yet tasteful, unconventional but wearable. This was some of the best work we’ve seen so far this season. (Not that that’s saying much, but at least it’s something.)
Team Sean & Char
SEAN KELLY
Photos: Lifetime
The coat is fine. It’s not the greatest thing in the world, and I hate that you can see her hands poking through. Are those sheer pockets? Why? And Sean and Char should have known better than to use a done-to-death trend like sheer panelling and expect Nina’s head not to explode. Don’t get me wrong – Nina had her claws out and her fangs sharpened during this judging panel. She was ROUGH on these designers. But she wasn’t wrong to call Sean and Char out on their lack of innovation.
CHAR GLOVER
Bottom 2
Photos: Lifetime
I don’t hate this, but there’s not a whole lot of design going on. It’s not as distractingly ugly as Korina and Emily’s collection, but it’s safe, basic department store clothes, and I just can’t get excited about that. (And don’t worry, I’ll get to the Korina vs. Char showdown at the end of the post.)
SEAN and CHAR
Photos: Lifetime
You don’t get points for using unconventional materials in a way that makes it impossible for your model to move. The pop of blue in back (which was Char’s idea) really saved this look, because everything else about it was either played-out or restricted the model’s movement to one-inch shuffle-steps.
Team Emily & Korina
EMILY PAYNE
Photos: Lifetime
I thought this was terrible. I don’t know why this team chose to pair eight million different textiles together, but the result is ugly and overworked. I also don’t give a damn about their bullshit story that this woman is like, living in a very fashionable tundra, or whatever post hoc justification they invented to explain all these hideous layers. This was marginally better than Korina’s, but only because it lacked the hat and cape.
KORINA EMMERICH
Eliminated
Photos: Lifetime
Korina should have been eliminated for her attitude problem alone. There are a few hard-and-fast rules that apply to every single reality competition. The first one is, DON’T PISS OFF THE JUDGES. Don’t talk back. Don’t interrupt them. Don’t refuse to accept their constructive criticisms. These people aren’t reality TV judges because they’re actually the best in their fields – they’re judges because they want to constantly be told that they’re actually the best in their fields. Feed into their massive egos, or don’t bother auditioning. This is reality television, and you can either play the game or go the fuck home.
Yes, the judges were bitchy and borderline racist to call Korina out for going back to the southwestern well too many times. Um, do they even remember the season that they crowned Gretchen the winner? But Korina was an idiot to call them out on that insanity. If you want to make it to the finals, your job is to nod and smile, no matter what horseshit the judges throw at you.
Attitude issues aside, this cape is the ugliest effing thing I’ve ever seen. Korina’s biggest problem has always been that she chooses truly terrible fabrics. They’re always hideous, too difficult to work with in a short amount of time, or both. That problem was more of an issue here than ever before, and I’m not sorry to see her designs or her personality go.
EMILY and KORINA
Photos: Lifetime
Whatever, judges – I love this sweater. I thought this was the only look of their mini-collection that had even a chance of being worn by an actual human being. Don’t get me wrong – there’s not much design involved in a draped sweater and a pair of leggings, but at least I understood what Korina and Emily were trying to do here and who they were trying to design for. The same cannot be said for their prior two looks.
Char vs. Korina Showdown
CHAR GLOVER
Bottom 2
Photos: Lifetime
The bottom two designers were pitted against each other and forced to make a look – any look – in a single hour. This was clearly strategically planned to make Korina’s overly-inflated head explode, and it worked. Char’s dress wasn’t innovative or particularly modern. But Char knew she had only an hour, and planned accordingly. She didn’t bite off more than she could chew, and she knew that what would matter here was not construction or even design, but color and general vibe. She picked a fantastic color, and made (with some serious help from Sean, without whom she probably couldn’t have achieved much) a dress with attitude. Korina picked shitty fabrics (like always), and channeled all of her anger into an uninspired dress.
KORINA EMMERICH
Eliminated
Photos: Lifetime
Listen, I understand where Korina is coming from. The Tim Gunn save has been used only to protect darling personalities instead of strong designers, and that extra ten minutes just for Char last week was a big bag of bullshit. But the fact that this is a highly manipulative, increasingly contrived reality TV show is NOT CHAR’S FAULT. Korina spent the entire episode shit-talking the only contestant whom I’ve liked since day one, because Char refused to stoop to the level of constant bitchy sound-bites required by this show. Korina was definitely not going to win any points for that, nor for basically telling the judges that she doesn’t give a fuck what they think because she knows she’s better than Char.
To Char’s credit, she kept a professional demeanor and a smile on her face during the world’s most uncomfortable judging session. She let Korina roll her eyes, laugh, interrupt Heidi, and throw a temper tantrum. And when Char burst into tears the moment she got back to the designers’ lounge and just started scream-sobbing, “That was horrible,” that was the most raw and real moment this show has had in years. I got a little teary at that, and I stopped having emotions about any of these people sometime around Season 7. When Korina came back in and basically yelled at Char for already having gotten eliminated, Char still didn’t stoop to her level and wouldn’t allow herself to be blamed for Korina’s own mistakes. Of course, as soon as Tim came back into the room, Korina was all, “this is not about you, Char, please stop,” to make it sound like Char was the one being unreasonable, when actually Korina was just being a sociopath.
All of this was already more drama than I could stomach, but when the scenes from next week showed them bringing back eliminated designers are sewing assistants, AND Korina getting paired with Char, AND Korina (after agreeing to do this) yelling about how this is wrong and storming off the set… Let’s just say I have never been less excited for an episode of television, ever. Expect my next recap to have an ungodly amount of capslock and swearing.
Judges’ Top 2: Kini and Amanda
Diva’s Top 2: Kini and Amanda
Judges’ Bottom 2: Char and Korina
Diva’s Bottom 2: Emily and Korina
Next time: Contrived, producer-manipulated bullshit will make all of our heads explode in S13 E12 – Fashion Week: Who’s In and Who’s Out.
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© Democracy Diva, 2014.
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The Democracy Diva 
[…] Next time: It’s a Korina vs. Char showdown in S13 E11 – The Highest Bidder. […]
Far from defending Korina too much (who has more talent than Char but sadly thinks too highly of her own abilities): I get it. She was overtired, and she did keep raging at the Jury for their BS and rightfully so. We all know that this is not the right way to stay in the competition, but it was obvious that they wanted to keep Char in, no matter what. The game was rigged, and I can understand Korina’s frustration, even if Char got unfairly caught in the crossfire (which Korina new herself). Let’s not forget that Sean basically said that he was helping Char out so that she would be canon fodder later on. The other designers might have more self control than Korina, but they are thinking exactly the same she does (and maybe even voiced it, but it was never edited into the show).
I couldn’t stomach this episode, and it has little to do with Korina or Char and a lot with the show loosing the last bit of integrity. The truth is that Char has been dragged through the competition on the merit of her being a “nice person”. She first got a save for a well deserved auf and has since then shown nothing which would merit her rescue. She got extra ten minutes the other designers didn’t get and Tim Gun throw Alexander under the bus and tried to gloss over the special treatment she got to ensure that she was allowed to stay. And now she was allowed a face-off despite having easily designed the most underwhelming dress on the runway, and to add insult to injury, she was not even required to do it alone, but she got the help of Sean, who did the sewing she would never have managed to finish alone AND steered her away from her original idea to something more tasteful. That was not Char’s work which kept her in, it was mainly Sean’s.
I am done with this shit. I am really done. For all the reality TV nonsense, this show still used to be about fashion, and while sometimes a designer fell through the cracks, at least one or two of the best did make it to fashion week (provided that there even was talent to begin with). But this time around they have systematically eliminated all the designers who had at least a little bit talent, so that the only thing left are the “fast sewers” and “nice persons”.
BTW: I do disagree strongly with Kini’s win. The whole concept behind the collection was Amanda’s, the jacket might have impressive based on the material he used but it still read “hooker” to me, especially paired with this dress, which to me looked exactly what it was, and wouldn’t even qualify to be sold in a fanshop….because the designer for fan articles have more taste than that. (I am serious, fashion for football fans is a thing over here, and I am not just talking about tricots). In any case, Amanda was the one who masterminded this collection, and the win should go to the best designer, not the best sewer.
But that’s just another sign that something is really wrong with PR.
It was a really rough episode to get through, for all the reasons you mentioned. I don’t disagree, and I do understand Korina’s frustration with the system being so absurdly rigged. But she still needed to keep her head down and her attitude to herself if she wanted to stay in the competition. I hate that Tim Gunn’s Save has become just another way to manipulate the competition, instead of a way to save designers who were the victims of producer manipulation. But to mistreat Char for that – even if Korina was also shit-talking the producers and that got edited out – was unacceptable.
I was FURIOUS when I saw the previews for next week. As if the drama in this episode wasn’t painful enough to watch, they’re setting us up for some serious reality TV nonsense next week. I hate it. And it’s the reason I’m not recapping the next season of PR All Stars or their terrible-looking kids’ competition show. There’s only so much of this I can take.
[ETA: Still recapping the regular seasons of the show – just giving up on All Stars. Just wanted to clarify.]
Understandable….the only thing I am still looking forward to is your review of the collections (especially the decoys) and what will most likely be a very bitchy post form Tom and Lorenzo concerning whoever will end up being the very questionable winner. Which, I guess, will be either Sean or Amanda. I don’t think that Jury will manage to sell Kini’s snooze feast as remotely good.
I’m always looking forward to TLo’s posts. And I’d be shocked if Amanda doesn’t win the whole thing. The love for her has taken a backseat for the second half of the season, but I still (unfortunately) think she’ll land on top.
I have been eagerly waiting for this recap ever since I finished watching the episode – which, frankly, was this morning because my current traineeship doesn’t even let me have time to breathe, let alone watching shows the evening after like I usually do. And, as usual, you have been spot-on with your comments, DD 🙂
I know there is a side of me that totally gets where Korina is coming from, and I totally agreed last week with all the stuff regarding the ZipperGate AND I was even less than happy with Char, though super nice in general, blaming her muse for said ZipperGate. I can’t ignore the always fabulous and spot-on TLo and their assessment on how she’s basically blaming the producers’ shenanigans and on how we get edited version of that ´’cause God forbid if they ever allow contestants to smack-talk them or call them out on their bullshit.
BUT…………………………
There is simply no excuse for the way she treated Char and bullied her throughout the whole thing. Yes, this isn’t a personality competition (or shouldn’t be, in a perfect world), but the little that I know about the fashion industry tells me you won’t go very far if you at least don’t treat others with respect. And Korina did everything but to Char and to everyone else this season – Sandhya (even if I agree with some her comments), Amanda (even if I’m definitely not a drinker of the Amanda Kool-Aid), Char and basically every single other designer was at one point trash-talked by Korina in such a way that whatever talent she might possess is far from enough to back up such an inflated ego. It speaks LOADS about Char and Sean – whether we like their aesthetic or not, whether we think they should be there or not – that they took the only high road possible (laughing it off) on that runway while Korina was ONCE AGAIN belittling someone else to make her designs look better. I’ll repeat: LOADS. VOLUMES. GAZILLIONS. Too many caps, I know, but that’s how highly I value class and good conduct in public.
Char had every right to fight back when Korina started being a total jackass in the lounge, and she didn’t. She stood her ground, behaved like the adult she is and gave Korina the best and only answer such a petulant kid deserved (you’re still sulking about something that happened 5 weeks ago and that I had no input on, and yet I’m still here so your sulking , for the argument you chose to make, is pointless). When Korina spat the “it’s not about you, but me” argument I got reminded for a second of Leyanna (sp?) from Michelle’s season, when the judges praised her partner Daniel(?) for a dress he made and she cried about how she felt so “betraded” (I still use that one at home for laughs when I’m on full-faux-drama queen mode) and it was NOT just him, “it was you AND ME, Daniel. You AND MEEEEEE”. *Sigh* Kids these days…
Having said this, next week’s episode is gonna be the most cringe-worthy episode ever, up there with Sandro’s camera-smack, Ken’s “YOU BETTER GET SOMEBODY UP HERE” momentum (I do use that one sometimes too, but not in a good, goofy way like Leyanna’s quip), and Jeffrey’s horrible treatment of Angela’s mum. I really feel bad for Char, because she probably knows she is being used by the producers to fuel drama and I felt mortified when she started crying. I totally agree with you that was a rare moment of genuine drama and tears in this ever more concocted show… except that I have to admit I did cry my eyeballs out with Justin’s save last season (yes I’m an easy one 😛 ).
PS – Sorry for the lengthy post but I really doubt I’ll be the only one doing so this week :p also I’m sorry for any mistakes or typos but this episode got me so worked up that, combined with my English-is-not-my-native-language status, it made it probably unavoidable…
First of all, never apologize for too many caps (I love abusing my capslock button), long comments, or spelling errors. All I need to hear is that you like my recaps, and I will love you forever. 😛
And you’re right, next episode is going to bring us some utterly humiliating over-dramatic moments reminiscent of the ones you mentioned. For the love of god, JUST SHOW ME FASHION. That’s what I’m here to see, and more drama almost guarantees less interesting fashion. Or at least, we don’t get to SEE the fashion as much, because the 90 minute episodes are devoted entirely to soundbites and commercials.
Also, I didn’t mention this in the post because it happens every season, but I am beyond exhausted with the “I just wish I got to show at fashion week!” line. ALL OF YOU WILL SHOW AT FASHION WEEK. Plus like a thousand other decoys. This is common, public knowledge, readily available on all kinds of social media during NYFW. How is it possible that the show is STILL pretending that only the contestants in the final episode actually show at fashion week? Before fashion week was immediately viewable on twitter and instagram, I understand wanting to keep up the charade. But after 13 seasons, and with the instant access we have to the runway shows, WHY ARE WE STILL PRETENDING? Sigh. (See, I told you I abuse the capslock button.)
It is ridiculous, indeed. I still don’t understand WHY they don’t schedule the damn runway show a bit better and have only one, two decoys maximum and just to be on the safe safe in case shit happens. I read someone on TLo saying it has something to do with Nina’s schedule but I’m not sure I buy that one – she has been there since the very start, if it did work before why not now?
I forgot to make a mention to Korina’s model who also behaved unprofessionally. If I was one of the remaining designers I’d be sure not to pick her after that Mean Girls moment with Korina. If anything, her behaviour was worse than Korina’s – I get that you end up building a rapport with your designer, especially if you’ve been with them since the very beginning (and, if memory doesn’t fail me, she has), but if I could at least get where Korina’s attitude was coming from, I couldn’t with her model. She had no business to engage in Korina’s vitriol. She’s not there to trash-talk anyone – she’s there to model a garment and sell the clothes on the runway, PERIOD.
The more I think about that “knives out” moment, the more I think I need a Sean’s GIF ASAP…
Yeah, that Mean Girls moment was awful. The model’s behavior didn’t bother me as much, because unlike Korina, her comments weren’t made to Char/where Char could hear them. But it was still wildly unprofessional, as you sad.
And yes. That gif needs to happen ASAP.
Not only are they still pretending only three or four designers go to Fashion Week, it was even more ridiculous this year, since for a change, all the designers were identified with their collections. In the past, the final eight or nine collections walked anonymously, and the designers later recorded their intros and exits for later splicing.
However, from reading too many message boards, I’m finding that there are still viewers out there who are shocked when I mention how many designers actually make collections for FW, and many of them react in disbelief. On top of that, I’ve been accused of leaking spoilers by pointing out the obvious.
Lifetime and B/M seem bent on perpetuating their belief that their viewers are idiots, and while this may be true for the viewers of the watchers of the majority of Lifetime programming, It doesn’t apply to those of us who were treated as intelligent back in the Bravo days.
There are so many things that were better about the Bravo days, but you hit the nail on the head with the intelligence of the viewer argument. On Lifetime, this show treats us like we’re idiots, and it’s one of the many things I’ve grown to hate about this show being on this network.
*safe side. The need for a Kiwi GIF is getting the best of me :p
The GIF gods heard my prayer 🙂
PERFECT GIF IS PERFECT. I’m so saving that to use in the future!
Part of being on a game show – because let’s get real, that’s what this is – is knowing how to play the game. Korina was an egocentric player who relied on her own exaggerated beliefs of her skills to carry her to the win. That’s not how games are played.
The crap with the zipper… Tim asked if it was ok with everyone and no one said no. Just like when Sandya thought to approach every single designer to get loads of cash that episode a few weeks ago on the return trip to mood. It was part of the game. You don’t like the game? Don’t play.
At the end of the show, Korina was yelling at Char about how she was already eliminated once and then screams at her, “This isn’t about YOU, Char!” Bitch, please. You just made it about her by making that comment! Then suddenly she can’t handle Char talking back to her?! Now she’s not only an egomaniac, she’s a childish sore loser.
Blue-haired-girl-whose-name-I-would-remember-if-I-liked-her-design-aesthetic put it best when she said that Korina’s resentment in the workroom will be evident in the product. It was.
And while I agree that Korina’s design was more ambitious, it was a design that couldn’t be accomplished in an hour. Char knew the limitations she had to work with and made wise decisions accordingly. She is a smart player. Do I think she’ll win? No. But she knows how to play the game.
Yes to all of this. 13 seasons in, there’s no excuse for not knowing how/refusing to play the game.
Yeah, right…Tim basically steamrolled them. He should have at the very least the designers a moment to discuss it/think about it. If he had, they might have demanded themselves that they also get ten minutes.
And what Korina most likely meant with the totally out of context “This is not about you” was that she was not really angry with Char, she was angry with the Jury for jerking her around. It was not nice what he said about Char’s abilities to design, but Korina knew that the whole thing was not Char’s fault.
Look, I don’t like Korina either. I especially didn’t like her overinflated opinion of her own abilities, and that she tends to be very judgemental. But on the other hand, I think her ego is one thing, her temper is another. Temper is not just a matter of character – I should know, because I inherited the tendency to be “Jähzorning” or like the English say so overly clinical “intermittent explosive disorder” from my father. Does that mean that I am walking around screaming at people all the time? No, certainly not, because I normally have a firm grip on my temper. But if I get pushed enough, sooner or later I WILL react exactly like Korina did. And this has nothing to do with being a bitch, or childish, or mentally ill. It has something to do with the fact that every person has some sort of breaking point, and will react differently if said breaking point is reached. Char somehow managed to hold it together and then cried. Korina vented. She vented because the alternative would have been not to lash out verbally, but physically. That doesn’t make her a bad person. People who are overtired and under a lot of stress often lash out verbally, and decent people don’t make a big deal out of it but wait until they have calmed down and in a better frame of mind before discussing the issue at hand.
Bottom line: I am not sad that Korina had to eat a little bit of humble pie, because she obviously really needed the experience to fail. It might help her to reassess her own abilities…or not. I think the piece of humble pie would have been much better if she had gotten it in a situation in which she can’t rightfully claim that the game was rigged.
But I can’t really fault her to be human and having feelings. I think most of the people now condemning her would react very similar if they hadn’t slept in two weeks, worked all the time and put under additional stress. Korina did what she did not because she wanted to systematically tear Char down (we have seen designers try exactly that to other designers in the past), but simply because she was pushed over the edge and Char happened to be the one to be there.
Just to put the whole thing in perspective.
Well said.
Agreed. I still think part of the job is to keep yourself professional – at least in front of the judges – but I agree. If I were as sleep-deprived and stressed as these designers, everybody would absolutely hate me for the horrible crap I’d be doing too!
Emiily—the blue-haired designer—is more mature and insightful than anyone else there. She both “got” Sandhya and saw right through Korina. It’s unfortunate that her design development stopped 20 years ago, as is evident not only from her output on PR, but from her final collection as well—in spades.
I would love to be friends with Emily, but I wouldn’t let her dress me.
I was impressed with Amanda this week and both her work ethic and her willing attitude. She zeroed in on that painting and knew exactly what she would do with it. She was the most creative in my eyes with fabric choices Kini.s dress was interesting but did not particularly speak to me. The fur jacket looked like a hooker’s wrap, although the quilting was a nice touch. Give me overdone over boring any day of the week. Sean and Char’s collection was beyond boring. Lampshades were not their friends. Perhaps I’ve moved to many times and I’m too familiar with disgusting blue packing blankets to remotely enjoy the idea of a coat being made of one. Why kini’s jacket was overlooked for the judging and Karina’s cape wasn’t was a shame to me. Emily’s vest creeped me out and I hated it. It seem like everybody styling was off. The problem with this episode is that it was disjointed. undoubtably a ridiculously late night put everybody over the edge – especially Korina. I make no excuses for her behavior but I can understand her frustration.
I would love to see an episode where everyone is given gorgeous fabrics to work with. I would love to see a lace and embroidery episode from fabrics that Georgina Chapman uses. Challenges like this truly can separate the wheat from the chaff. In fact, I wanted to see something so beautiful today that I went out and bought a white lace dress just to lounge around in. There is so much ugliness in the world why can’t we just see something beautiful and inspiring?
I’m sad that you’re not going to be recapping after this season. Believe it or not, I’m looking forward to All-Stars. I love the interesting work and ideas of Patricia Michaels. Through happenstance she and I have become friends and she is just as sincere and lovely in person as she was in her season.
I’ll still be recapping after this season! Just not All Stars. They just don’t have enough talented/memorable people to warrant any more seasons of it, and I think it’s embarrassing that they include people who have already won the competition. I know winning PR doesn’t mean career success, but I sort of wish they still pretended it did, when they make such a damn big deal about it in the regular seasons.
That’s awesome that you’re friends with Patricia! I wasn’t her biggest fan but she definitely has a creative mind.
I wish you’d recap All Stars 4, if only for Chris March. However, I, too am not looking forward to it, especially as there are far too many previous winners involved. I’d prefer to see an all-winners competition on its own. Even without Christian Siriano—who has moved beyond his PR associations—there would still be a solid field of 12, and I’d love to see non-sewing Anya up against skilled seamsters like Chloe and Leanne. And it would make my day to see Gretchen competing with others at or above her skill level.
The all-winners competition is definitely an interesting idea. At least I’m interested in watching that, whereas no part of me actually wants to watch All Stars 4. (But I do love Chris March.)
Can you please just recap on what Sonjia makes on all-stars!! She’s the only one I like and when her fabric went ‘missing’ last time and lost to the other designers more ‘avant grade’ designs, I nearly killed myself
Haha, I’m not going to be watching the show in general, but I now fully expect Sonjia updates from you. God, I almost forgot about that missing fabric thing. That was the worst.
I loved Sonjia and have never forgiven the judges for not giving her the win on the Dylan’s Candy Bar challenge.
It’s just another example of how designers show up unprepared. Korina didn’t think it was necessary to play the game. The game has always been “blow Nina’s socks off.” Korina probably does have more talent than Char, but IRL, fashion doesn’t happen in ten hours from fabric purchase to runway walk. In fact, my impression has always been that designers have teams so they get input from other designers before the garment walks. I suspect that Char may do better in the old days when they had two-day challenges.
Two things really struck me. No, three. One. Season two, and the semifinalists were consulting with Fern Mallis about creating a runway look. (For those who forget, Fern Mallis invented Fashion Week in New York.) And Fern said, “Being nice to people. You have to be nice to people.” And everyone turned to look at Santino. Two. The makeover another contestant challenge, which they also did in Season 5. Chloe designed and made a suit for Nick Verreos that wasn’t perfect, but damn it looked good- and it was her first try at making a man’s suit. Korina could never have done that in a million years, because even though she has talent, she can’t work that fast or that well.
And three, Gretchen. People hated Gretchen and her sycophantic little friend Ivy. And despite all that Heidi could say, even enlisting Tim Gunn, Nina and Michael Kors insisted on awarding the prize to Gretchen. Well, there was a reason people hated Gretchen. She was full of herself and she wasn’t as talented as she thought she was, and she may not have said the other designers weren’t as talented as she was but she certainly tried to throw Michael Costello under the bus even though he had immunity. (I actually recently rewatched that season to see if it was as awful as I remember it. It was.) And there was a huge backlash about giving Gretchen the win, because by that time people were so over her. I think the judges realized that was a huge mistake, and don’t want to repeat it by giving Korina the win.
I’m actually looking forward to next week’s episode. Really. I think it’s going to be craptastic. Why, oh why, don’t these designers realize that they are, as Tom Colicchio of Top Chef has said, on a season-long job interview?
Yes, yes, yes to that Tom Colicchio quote! That’s exactly what it is, and anyone who forgets that is in for some trouble.
I started out watching *every* season, *every* special…and last season I just gave up. I just come here for the recaps and that’s enough. Plus it reminds me why I stopped watching. These past two weeks I made the horrible mistake of watching, though. WRONG. Wrong wrong wrong.
I would like to see some reaction to the judge’s comments to Char about how her looks were for a “woman knows how to twerk”. C’mon, that’s just code for “low class colored hoe”. That was racist as heck. The “hoochie” was unnecessary too. I know they love to tell us things don’t look classy, and they love to say “hoochie” and “walk of shame” but it’s time they learned a better way to do it. Yeah, the black and blue looks were bad, but can we stop with the whole sexist, racist thing?
Sorry, didn’t mean to go all crazy on you this early in the morning, but my husband was behind me as I watched it and HE was insulted. And if you can offend a big ol’ English/German white guy, you’re doing it wrong.
That last sentence is maybe the funniest thing I’ve ever heard. I forgot about the “twerk” comment – that was racist as shit. And yeah, the judges have a very narrow-minded view of what “hoochie” is. Heidi loves the shortest, tightest dresses possible, but when someone designs something revealing that a poor girl might where, out come the racist/sexist terminology. They’ve spent the last few seasons operating exclusively in sound-bites, so it doesn’t surprise me that they constantly veer back to offensive, outdated, or just plain stupid terms. But it’s definitely exhausting and insulting.
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I hate hate HATE Korina. Watching the reunion show. She is such a blubbering phoney. STILL HATE HER!
I can’t believe you were able to sit through the reunion show! Ugh, I bet it was a NIGHTMARE.