For this season’s “real woman” makeover challenge, the designers are paired with some familiar behind-the-scenes faces: female crew members. They have free reign to more or less design anything they want, and have two days to do it. This twist is interesting because the “clients” are people who have been watching “Project Runway” from a different angle. In addition, the designers interact with them from time to time. For example, I recall Desiree from both Season 7 and All Stars. Talk about an alum! She was always putting our mic packs on. I wonder if this slight familiarity has some effect on the designers’ feeling additional pressure to do well, because sadly, there was an overwhelming sense of underperformance in the work this episode. Almost every single designer completely reworked his/her original design he/she started with.
That said, I remember what it was like around this point in the competition. Everyone is fried. We are tired, emotional, tapped out. When we had an eveningwear challenge around the same time (top six or seven), and I recall being so focused on the work that I didn’t pay much attention to what anyone else was doing. Then when I saw the looks walk the runway, I thought all of our designs were so underwhelming. The winning look was nothing extraordinary. It simply won because the fit was spot-on and all the other looks had problems.
Some of these women were easy going and open, and some of them were a little demanding and high maintenance. I thought it was very interesting how Jen (paired with Swapnil) was so excited at first, ready to be made over, and seemingly very open. It was almost as if there had been a 180 in her and all of a sudden she had all these requirements and a long list of things she didn’t like. Although I don’t doubt Swapnil was goofing off and that his laissez-faire attitude would piss me off as well, I do wonder how much of a pill this Jen was. Hell, there were tears shed! If you are that sensitive, perhaps you should not have volunteered for this. Just something I was aware of and wondering how much of this storyline had been manipulated, if any.
In case you are wondering, whenever there is a “real woman” (i.e. non-model) challenge, we take the person’s measurements and then producers bring in a dress form which is closer in size to her (if necessary). This is imperative to making clothes in these sizes, closer to “custom made”, or you could be a purist and build up the form with batting to imitate the client’s sizes. It would be much more difficult to start with a size 4 mannequin, for example, and make something for a size 10 person.
Am I missing something in KELLY’s look? I suppose she did a decent job constructing these leatherette overalls, but shouldn’t she be helping Ashleigh grow out of her overall trend? There was something about this that I felt was just not quite there. The tank also seemed to be an odd fabric choice, bunching up a lot. Also, who wears a sleeveless leather vest with leather overalls? Okay, maybe that’s the runway/fantasy side of things. In the end there were worse entries this week, but I just wasn’t crazy about this look enough to call it the winner. I wear black overalls sometimes too, but looser fitting! I think these would be much cooler if they had a more urban fit.
EDMOND was paired with beautiful Desiree who typically dresses very sporty and functional (in as far as we know), and had a great makeover…except for her clothes.The dress and raincoat, which she had specified, were an odd ensemble. The dress was flattering by itself on her, but the raincoat was sort of odd (admittedly, he had never made one before) in the length being shorter than the dress, the striped trim at the hem, and the mesh shoulders. It did not look special enough, unfortunately.
SWAPNIL tried several different approaches to Jen’s seemingly long list of preferences. The result fit fairly well, but was very matronly. I don’t think it was as awful as the judges and Jen made it seem–at least the skirt was flattering. That said, it was tragic and pathetic the way the top was jimmy-rigged together, especially after he dilly-dallied and didn’t really work as hard as the others. I’m not defending his design, but is it crazy that I didn’t think it was the absolute worst? Perhaps Tim swayed this one? In any event, Swapnil’s lack of work ethic seemed to be a real drag to the other designers so I’m sure they were somewhat relieved to see him go.
When CANDICE announced she was making “a corset and a pencil skirt,” I was shocked. Kidding! Candice seldom surprises me. Her work is just so predictable. A corset and pencil skirt ensemble is not particularly modern to begin with, and when you add a sweetheart neckline and an Elvira sheer black thing with raggedy pointed hem, it makes matters worse. Add a dash of blue to that black and you’re in Cosplay territory. Yikes.
One would think that ASHLEY and Nicole would be a dream team. Ashley speaks often of her dream to design great plus-size clothing, and she had her chance here. I doubt she was proud of what she made. She was creatively blocked again (this seems to be happening often, no?), and obviously things were not flowing for her. Her dress was not only ill-fitting, but extremely unflattering. Even the fabric choices were not great, but had she used all of the print or predominantly solid, it may have been a lot more complimentary. The bust (another sweetheart neckline, so dated) was wonky and I’m not a fan of peplums unless they are subtle or innovative in some way. The combination of the two, in those fabrics, just looks like an ’80s thrift store find.
MERLINE had to rework her design big time because she wasn’t listening to her client, Katie, a sassy camera operator. Funny enough, the haircut Katie got worked great with Merline’s funky sensibility. Merline went outside her comfort zone and it paid off. The outfit was well-suited for Katie. The vest had some construction issues (looking puffy at the hem, not pressed or something?), but overall the design was nice: minimal with some interest, and good proportions.
