Hello Designers! Project Runway Season 8 is finally here and Heidi (with a questionable new shag 'do') and the gang are back with a new crop of aspiring attention grabbers (most of them over 12 years old this season which pleases me greatly) and a load of new 'Twists'! Our new group of 17 designers gather at NYC's newly minted Fashion stage Lincoln Center for their first challenge where Heidi and Tim confess that it was nearly impossible to narrow down the group to 16 because they were all so darn good. So their first challenge actually becomes the final stage of the audition process! No one is safe! And that's Twist #1.Let me just note one designer who already stands out: Casanova and his impossibly tight red pants who is "taking New Jork by the balls..." I love him already and so will the producers when they make sure he sticks around for many episodes to come...
And now for the first challenge each designer must go hunting in their tightly packed suitcases for one item of clothing which they will incorporate into their first garment. Twist #2: they must pass their beloved item to the person on the right. Darn! There goes Casanova's very very expensive pair of Dolce & Gabbana pants. Twist #3: They only have 5 hours to complete their garment. Back at the Parsons ranch we are all surprised to see that MOOD fabrics is in the house!! No need for the traditional field trip to MOOD which will save time and presumably money (I didn't notice anyone actually paying for their yardage so I'm guessing it was on the house). Tim arrives in his familiar wise mentor fashion which always sends a warm feeling spreading across my chest. Among Tim's workroom progress comments are some gems: Gaah "Good heavens!", "Is it sexy or is it vulgar?", and the winner of the week:"The cap sleeve worries me"...
Like a creepy doctor, Jason (with cocky hat in tow) is distracted by his model's unusually large bust, Peach's garment looks like it's out to lunch rather than fit for a lady who lunches, and Casanova's model is almost completely nude save for a bikini and a sarong hanging by a thread...
This could only be Tim laughing out loud at Casanova's lack of fabric yardage
Mondo concentrates on sketching. Love his spotted bandana btwAnd now it's Runway time and it's sure good to see Michael Kors and Nina Garcia back with fresh tans and pedicures, sitting alongside guest judge Selma Blair, sometime actress and permanent surly face (although she does know a thing or two about fashion).
Coming down the runway I am loving Andy South's pants outfit which looks pretty amazing, and I LOVE sustainably green Gretchen's beautiful and effortlessly flowy black dress with beaded cap sleeves. Everything else was a blur of garbage bags and cheap taste, most notable being Jason's 'deconstructed' backwards kimono which was stapled and pinned into a drab mess of one ugly bathrobe. Nina's nose couldn't help but flare disapprovingly at the enormous amount of messes coming down the runway. Meanwhile we aren't yet sure how many designers are going home tonight, but according to my calculations for awfulness it must be at least 9... and yep! Heidi announces that the entire group of 6 designers still standing after the first 11 leave the runway, are ALL in the bottom. No one is safe. So who's design is the least offensive tonight?Let's try and guess via some of the judges' comments:
"She looks like an '80's streetwalker"- Nina on April's Deconstructed (aka unfinished) Tux
"That is Butt ugly"- an eloquent Heidi on McKell's cute but tastefully questionable dress
"She's a pole dancer in Dubai"-Michael Kors on Casanova's scantily clad model. Brilliant. Love it!
Twist #4: Nina blurts out some perfectly sexy Spanish in her smooth Colombian accent, and I can tell this is going to be a very different season of Project Runway. Twist #5: The judges are curiously united in appreciation for Casanova's 'fascinatingly bizarre' (aka trashtastic) look, and its clear the producers were buzzing in the judges' earpieces as they too are bizarrely fascinated with Casanova (as I had predicted), and so his awful nostalgic ode to Jennifer Lopez and that green Versace dress from 2000 is, against all common fashion sense, safe. Someone please explaaaaaaaaaaaiiin......!!!Thankfully the judges were also unanimous in crowning Gretchen the clear winner! The Portland, OR native clearly deserved it.
So until next week, stay tuned for more RedPoppy Recaps, thought, and twists on the next episode of Project Runway...xo
Photo source: Mylifetime.com