My Hats Off To.....

Who knew designing an outfit to showcase a hat could be so challenging? Legendary Mad-hatter Phillip Treacy was this week's guest judge and with a twist, provided the inspiration to be followed by each designer as his head-adorning creations became the muse for the designer's look this week--leaving most of the designers perplexed in this challenge. More confused, though, was myself after the judging table had its way with the designers.

To start, those who were excused as safe should have been anything but! Peach, you are sweet and all, but you have to start being a little more creative because I keep forgetting you exist each week when I sit down to contemplate the episode. Can we please see a different color than pink? You had the coolest hat of the whole collection--a whirlwind of black and white feathers, and you chose pink and cream upholstery fabric, AGAIN. A.J, where did you get polka-dots from that amazing hat? And, to quote past PR contestant Nick Verreos, "Gretchen's design looks very Zara...on sale." Mondo, I just love you so I'm find with you being safe, but your color pallett reminded me of the ugly color scheme Tully's chose to paint the old Rainer building in Georgetown.

Now to get to the winner-happy Father's day Micheal C, but you did NOT deserve to win this week! Did the judges feel bad for snubbing your fab red dress last week and decide to just hand over the top spot this week? Or did they perhaps confuse you with Michael D who did an amazing job and whose color scheme actually MATCHED his hat? Michael D, your use of shape and color was impeccable and truly inspired!

Now back to the winner Michael's golden gypsy dres--the whole handkerchief hemline is too small town Shakespear int he Park "Midsummer Night's Dream' for my taste. I have to assume that something was lost in translation from runway to tv because I don't see where the color of the dress complimented the hat--nor did the shape seem appealing to me. I don't get it.

As for Valerie, still a bridesmaid! Come on, Valerie you are due for a win! Your outfit was cute and managed to work with the mask quite well. And last but not least, Christopher. Christopher, I agree with every other designer back stage--you were a winner in my book. I thought for sure you, Michael D, and Valerie would have been in the top 3. As for your outfit making Heidi sad?! What? Heidi, where does that hat look any sort of happy? Huh? I thought he did a great job and at least deserved to be in the safe cateogry as opposed to the bottom 3.

As for our losers this week: April. Why did you choose white for the diaper shorts? WHY?! And Kristin, we are sad to see you go, you were wacky and nice but that Orchid dress was a mess.

I'm looking forward to the large group challenge next week! Tempers are sure to fly! Bless the souls who get stuck with Gretchen--It is sure to be an entertaining episode!

-Caitlin

It's My Party

Greetings everyone! Well, today it is MY PARTY because I am the guest blogger for Week 3 of Project Runway!

I love Betsey Johnson and hate Gretchen, so frankly I couldn't have had better luck this week. *Caitlin

I think this was the best "after the runway" segment in the history of PR. I've never witnessed so many deserved eye-rolls as were directed at Gretchen after her ego-rampage this episode. While her outfit was very normal and "cool", as Nina mentioned, it was not creatvie AT ALL. Come on, it isn't THAT HARD to make what Gretchen kept boasting to Tim as "hand-cut cheverons" into tinsel material--BORING. While the "leather" jacket was cool, the undershirt did look like paper.

Besides the ever-aggravating Gretchen showing her true colors this episode (those being tan, black, grey and conceited) I think there were a lot of standouts that went un-noticed. Christopher's beautiful brown dress was stunning, as was Michael C.'s red dress. It was a CRIME, a CRIME I tell you that Michael was not in the top two when he clearly deserved to be a winner along with Andy's stunner of a little black dress. The "always a bridesmaid" Valerie also created an awesome dress made of 600 napkins--I believe Betsey when she said she would wear it AND use it to freshen up at a party if needed.

God Bless the ever adorable Betsey Johnson for not completely smashing A.J's dreams. That dress was a cotton candy nightmare. While Sarah's dress was the least finished and professional looking (thanks to Gretchen steering her astray) I don't think she should have gone before Casanova. When are the judges going to wake up and realize he will never produce a nice piece of clothing?

What will happen next week?! Will Gretchen continue to villain-ize herself? Will Valrie finally take top honors?

70's trump 80's

I imagine the internet is a flutter with hoo-ha over Gretchen winning again, but gosh darn it, she deserved it. Lovely as Valerie's dress was - I loved the neck line and pockets - that stupid zipper did her in, in my opinion. You may recall my aversion to most things 80's retro (see post: A Little Help) so this shouldn't come as a surprise. I would not have been exactly outraged had Valerie took top honors. But to my sensibility, the pant suit was better. And believe me, that is a sentence I never thought I would type.

As for the rest of the crybabies (seriously, what is up this season?), there was a lot of misplaced confidence rolling down the runway. I have to hand it to AJ for being one of the few to admit his garment looked not-so-hot. Peach, of course, took the mea culpa cake. I'm still not sure what she's about design-wise, but god bless her Midwest accent. I'm just waiting for her to go to Moods or run to Paneras for a quick bite. Or is the random pluralisation of names just a Michigan thing?

Taking self-delusion to grand new heights, however, was the also semi-creepy Jason. Holy jeebus, that man would annoy the CRAP out of me in real life. He is one of those people that would make me want to quit my job if I had to work with him. Or punch him in the face. The man will never suffer from self confidence issues, that's for sure. So kick him to the curb and let him get on with his life while I watch Project Runway in peace and without the need for blood pressure medication.

Scoring: Season 8 [update: and Season 9]

These are the rules. You are either in or you're out.

How to win
Each week you will pick your favorite 3 designers and earn points based on the scoring system below. At the end of the season, the person with the most points wins! Easy!

The fine print
Every Monday around lunch time the moderator (Kelly, aka lady librarian, with Emilia and Caitlin as a back-up) will send you an email with the previous week's updated scores and a reminder to send in your picks for the next episode. You have until 5:00pm on Thursday, day of show, to send your picks. If you do not send an email, your picks from the previous week will roll over.

When the season gets down to 7 designers, you will pick only 2.
When we get down to the final 3, pick only 1 designer.

If your picks from the previous week are rolled over and one of your designers was eliminated, you will automatically get -1 for that eliminated designer.

If you rolled over 3 picks after we went down to only 2 picks, you lose one point and you do not get to get any points for that week.

The Bryant Park Fashion Week finale will have its very own special scoring (TBD).

The Scoring:
6 points
Winning a Challenge

-6 points
Eliminated

2 points
Top 2 runner-ups for winning challenge

-2 points
Lands in the bottom 2 (except for the one who is eliminated; see Eliminated)

1 point
First one saved from Elimination in the bottom three

3 points
Crying (tears or the wiping away of tears must be visible. A designer can only earn points for crying once per episode, not per scene)

4 points
Verbal Fight (w/ another Designer, per episode for same fight. Designer(s) can earn additional points for a totally different fight with another designer)

3 points
Model Trouble: No Show / Ruins garment / Late to show / Fight w/ designer

3 points

Designer starts from scratch and redoes garment for better (top 2/3)

-3 points

Designer starts from scratch and redoes garment for the worse (bottom 2/3)

1 point
Any judge except for Nina says they want to wear/own/buy your designer’s garment

2 points
Nina says she wants to wear/own/buy your designer’s garment

-2 points
Nina uses some version of the word “bore” about your designer’s garment

-1 Point
Tim says he's "concerned" or "worried" about your designer's garment (to group of 3 designers or less)

1 Point
Tim says “Make It Work/Carry On/Talk to Me” (to group of 3 designers or less)

Season 8: Electric Boogaloo

Holy cats, kids! It's time for another season of Project Runway. Which means it's go-time for another official unsanctioned state university-sponsored Project Runway Fantasy League. Consider it team building. I'm sure I read this in 365 Ways to Motivate and Reward Your Employees Every Day: With Little or No Money.

The first episode is tonight and will be a 1.5 hour commitment people. This game is not for the faint-hearted (or the socially popular, apparently). As always, we'll take the first episode to measure up the competition so there will be no picks until next week. There are some slight scoring changes this year, mostly to match the scoring of another online league because I am lazy and can't slip anything past Nate P.'s eagle-eye anyway. Hopefully this will cut down on the endless emailed revisions of the scoring sheet each week, though I wouldn't bet the farm on it. You have this week to look over this year's rules (see following post) and submit your best persuasive argument to change something. The inclusion of iTunes gift cards will only help your case. Empty promises will not.

Here's to a season that doesn't jump the shark. Now get to work already!

Seth Aaron wins!

What a great finale! All the collections had their strengths but it came down to who had the best show, and that was Mr. Henderson. The designs were pure Seth Aaron with a touch of added elegance and sophistication. Sure the purple get-up was a bit much - and a surprising inclusion given he had 24 looks to choose from - but overall, his collection was the most exciting.

I was also happy with Mila's collection. Out of all of them, hers is the one I would most want to wear. That said, there are still elements that need polishing and she would be doing herself a favor by forcing herself out of blocking if only a few times. But considering she's spent the majority of career styling and not designing, she's still working it out.

As for Emilio... meh. I loved his jackets. LOVED THEM. But the dresses were so underwhelming. Each time the judges talked about the sophistication of the collection, I wanted to throw my macbook across the room. They were basically colored versions of the Addicted to Love video. Michael Kors correctly pointed out he showed a line, not a collection, and I do believe we will see the ESOSA print in stores at some point. But you won't see it on me.

Thanks to everyone who played this year and congratulations to Sarah K for the win!

Does anyone else find it weird how darn nice the judges get at the end? Heidi, less so, but Nina looked beside herself with worry over who to choose for Mercedes Benz Bryant Park Fashion Week. And Mr. Kors was abnormally generous with his accolades. Or at least less forthcoming with the catty smackdowns. It's disconcerting.

In any event, it is going to be quite the runway show next week. Seth Aaron's collection was fantastically him, but Tim was right to advise him to push it. Project Runway history, however, shows that directive tends to result in a hot tranny mess (aw, I miss Christian). Emilio's collection was downright dreadful. Matronly doesn't even begin to describe it. So obviously his designs will be pretty amazing by the time they hit the catwalk.

As for the third runway designer, Mila was the right choice, though I think her singular vision will be her downfall. Still, given the time she had in her own studio, she actually produced clothes I would like to wear (I loooooved the jacket). Hopefully the aubergine she is gambling her dream on will pay off.

Jay Nicholas is doing interesting things, but it's still a little too interesting, if you know what I mean. I really liked the gators but there's was a whole lotta lotta going on there. Dial it back and focus, kid, and then you'll have something.

My money's on Seth Aaron. And I will pay money to make it happen just to see the sucker punch of humility hit Emilio's face. Meow ladies!