Runway Rundown

As you may gather from my site name I love Peter Pan stories so of course I’ve seen Finding Neverland — though not on Broadway with Matthew Morrison but an earlier version of the show in Boston with Jeremy Jordan.

But for the second week in a row it was a challenge I was not only interested in/excited for, but one I felt I could do (if I had any skill/talent in construction which I sadly do not). Well done, PR!

The Challenge: Create a look based on your experience watching Finding Neverland on Broadway.

Read moreRunway Rundown: Project Runway 14.8

This episode made me so happy! First of all the challenge was MY CHALLENGE. Witness my box of old tech parts collected over the years for Fashion Reasons:

Don’t throw away your old computer innards and broken gaming controllers…give them to me. Second, we lost the last two boooooooorrrrrriiiiiiiiinnnnnnnng white guys: Joe lost and Jake quit to be with his dying dog. There was no way either was going to win, or probably even place they were SO BORING,  but I’m thrilled to see cookie cutter bland white men as cannon fodder in place of the parade of quirky we’re left with.  Third, my girl won!

The Challenge: Fill a shopping cart with old tech stuff you found in a dumpster and then turn it into a fashion forward look a la Cinderella’s mice (they take what the stepsisters discard to make Cinderelly’s pink gown).

Read moreRunway Rundown: Project Runway 14.7

The Project Runway finale show took place Friday so everybody going forward after this one got to show. Hashtag poor Blakey.

I found it strange that they had a 17 year old guest judge (Bella Thorne) for the lingerie challenge, particularly after Heidi critiqued one of the bras as “too sixteen year old” — but Bella was actually a really good guest judge, giving out actual advice to the designers. Though her go to comment “I could wear this under a t-shirt” did show her age/aesthetic.

Anyway, it was a hard challenge for nearly everyone.

The Challenge: Create a bra and panty set for Heidi’s Intimates collection. Halfway thru they added a cover-up component as a ‘twist’. Winner gets immunity and their design mass produced for the web store.

Read moreRunway Rundown: Project Runway 14.6

Another Team Challenge brings more Team Drama. Teh Dramz is what Reality TV/Project Runway is all about so I must roll my eyes when Heidi acts all shocked that treating the designers like kids in high school makes them act like kids in high school. The designers divided themselves into teams by choosing each other one by one until Ashley was left alone on the bench. The two women of color were next to last picked also. The boys said the girls were picking their friends “like girls do” but the truth is wunderkind weirdo Blake is the only one who didn’t make a choice right out of a high school clique (he chose Swapnil who has been consistently strong and it’s not like they’re friends), which is super ironic since at 17 he was basically in high school yesterday. So the teams ended up Girls and Boys + Merline because amazingly the girls outnumber the boys at this moment.

Then they played a completely ridiculous game of paintball where one team ran around grabbing fabric rolls and carrying them back to base while the other team shot and threw paint at them. Allegedly they only got to keep the fabric they got thru the barrier with but a)  both teams seemed to collect all of their designated fabric and b) it turned out the jumpsuits they were wearing while playing were to be the REAL source of fashion fabric and c) AND they got more white fabric + paintballs to make their own supplemental fabrics.

The Challenge: Create a cohesive six look mini collection with the paint splattered fabric.

Read moreRunway Rundown: Project Runway 14.5

Well, it’s the fourth episode and I’m already frustrated and fatigued. But then so are the designers. Anybody out there watch the short-lived artistic competition Work of Art? It only lasted 2 seasons and it was ill conceived and absolutely absurd but also AMAZING and I LOVED it and it remains my favourite competitive reality series of all time.

Mainly because it represents the secret that sits in the middle and points out how completely arbitrary and orchestrated competitive reality series really are. In the second episode of season one a contestant took a nap during the gallery show (their equivalent of a runway show) and that ‘innovation’ won the challenge. And the artist went all the way to the finals. Something remarkably similar happened in this week’s episode of Project Runway.

The Challenge: Create a new spin on a classic look, inspired by the New York City skyline. The winner receives not only immunity but $5,000 and have the look featured in an ad for Mary Kay Cosmetics.

Read moreRunway Rundown: Project Runway 14.4

Ah the dreaded team challenge. It takes a certain amount of narcissism to be on a reality TV series and pairing up all these divas is guaranteed dramaz. Ngl, I love the chaos and this episode had plenty of chaos. But also mean-spiritedness and that’s a lot less fun. At the end of the hour I was more sad and disgusted than entertained and inspired — and it’s only the third episode of the season. Not a good sign.

Two person teams on Project Runway go one of four ways: besties who succeed, besties who fail, enemies who fail, and enemies who succeed. We got examples of all four here. Sort of. Let’s discuss.

The Challenge: Working in teams of two, create a day-to-evening look inspired by a Celebrity Cruise destinations.

Read moreRunway Rundown: Project Runway 14.3

Unconventional materials challenge everybody! One of Heidi’s favorites, and one of mine. I hope this isn’t the only one of the season because a) it’s so early and b) it wasn’t that unconventional.

The Challenge: Create a look with Hallmark Signature greeting cards.

Paper isn’t fabric but it’s not vegetables or trash or candy. Plus some of these cards included fabric, as well as baubles and gems and ribbons and a lot of glitter (shout out to the editors cutting from Amanda rolling her eyes at glitter to Amanda dancing around the workshop wearing a shirt in support of glitter:

Srs, editors on point.) I guess my point is this was a pretty tame unconventional materials challenge and generally disappointing in the creativity department. Now for specifics:

Read moreRunway Rundown: Project Runway 14.2

It’s time for another season of Project Runway and Runway Rundown, where I babble about the highs and lows of fashion and reality TV! I always start out so excited for this show and I always end up so disillusioned. C’est la vie! Anyway with sixteen contestants we have a lot of ground to cover so let’s get to it:

The Challenge: Fabric is draped across the seats at Madison Square Garden; run around for 3 minutes to pick 4 and make a look that tells the judges who you are.

Read moreRunway Rundown: Project Runway 14.1