Music: Eugene McGuinness

I can't stop watching Eugene McGuinness's video for his song Lion. The hair, the suit, and the unconventional good looks play a role, but I love the general uncomplicated nature of the visuals. It feels a little raw, a little rough, which is a nice reflection of the song's title. The song itself has a definite 60s go-go vibe, but it's also modern with great lyrics. Try it out, you just might like it.

Project Runway, Episode 9: The Last Challenge

This season of Project Runway really has been a bummer. Where are the Jeffreys and Seth Aarons and Mondos and Christians who are a little outrageous and take risks and actually pay off? I do really like Viktor compared to the other contestants' design and stylings, but when I compare him to designers in previous seasons I feel a little disappointed. And maybe that's why so much focus has been on the drama of the contestants' relationships this season. Maybe they producers realized that they failed in the casting and had to try and make up for it somehow.

But here we are. The finalists have been chosen (Viktor, Anya, Josh, and Kimberly) and I can't help but watch the finale. I will also watch next season. There's just no other place where I can get this kind of fashion fix. Additionally I will watch as long as Tim Gunn is on.

My favorite of the evening was definitely Viktor. His designs, even if he doesn't alway push them far enough, are always tasteful, polished, and well fit. And let's be honest, if, say, Anya or Oliver were sewing the same designes, the clothes would look like they came from Dress Barn or Wal-Mart. But it in the hands of someone who knows their craft, the clothes look polished and expensive.

Kimberly's designs were okay. But I did like, at least in concept, her orange coat. The buttons and loops look classy and the pleats in the back are delightful. But the silver dress was awfully remeniscent of the outfit Kimberly made for Nina earlier in the season.

Part of the challenge was to show a range of clothing, but Anya showed little range in my eyes. Her cocktail dress and gown looked too similar, and her rust pantsuit thingy-ma-bob was so dated and old lady. How do the esteemed judges not see it? Or am I terribly off-base?

The stinker of the night was Josh. His ill fitting vest paired with a circle skirt (shocker!) were especially disastrous. And a metallic toga? What the what? It looks like a 50s version of the future without the charm of the kitch. 

At least this season will soon stop torturing me. 

Project Runway, Episode 11: The Anya Curve

This week the contestants had to draw inspiration from birds. Like Bert, I was not inspired by this challenge (which ultimately led to his elimination). However, I thought that the way the eliminations worked this week was a great motivator (not to mention the $20,000 prize)—at least in theory. The designers were paired then each pair was assigned to one bird. Then each pair of designers competed directly with each other. The winner in the pair was in the top three and the loser was in the bottom three. They also had the designers make two looks, but only show one, which I thought was unnecessarily mean.

Bert's losing look, "inspired" by the parrot.
His styling is always so bad.

It felt like the designers were hitting both their physical and emotional plateaus. Most of the drama was focused on Kim, who seemed to be unraveling emotionally. Poor girl sewed through her finger, burned a whole in one of her looks and had to start from scratch to make a dress in three hours. Yikes. Her dress looked suspiciously similar to Viktor's (they were both assigned to a cockatiel), and she ended up winning in the head to head battle.

Kimbery's dress, made mostly of lining.

Viktor's dress with fabric feathers.

I suppose I liked Josh's the best. Meh.

Josh's parrot-inspired dress.
Lambasted for the corsage bit, but I didn't mind it.

Who won the overall challenge, you ask? Anya. Shocker. I want my life to be graded on an Anya Curve. I want to produce mediocre work and have it seen as genius because I have the least amount of experience. This sounds bitter, and maybe it is for the moment, but it led to my Project Runway epiphany this week: Anya knows how to compete and play the game and she is playing relentlessly. Maybe it's all her training as an international beauty queen contestant. So, I am compelled to respect Anya's savvy in playing the game, but I'd rather see the best talent win. Alas, life is never fair.

Anya's raven-inspired "winning" look. Bored.

What did you think of the new After the Runway Show? I personally didn't think it added much insight.

Project Runway, Episode 10: My Sweet, Southern Cherub

Yeah, so. I didn't post about Episode 9. I'm still a fledgling blogger, which is the flimsiest excuse, but I'm gonna go ahead and stick with it. The most exciting part of 9 is that Oliver left. He just wanted to design in a bubble with no client in mind, and he was getting plain mean and crabby. So on to episode 10!

First look on top, second look on bottom. From left to right: Anthony Ryan, Anya, Bert, Josh, Kimberly, Lauren, Viktor. 

This week the designers looked back to the "sophisticated" version of the 70s for inspiration to make not one, but two fashion-forward outfits; $100 for the first outfit, $50 for the second. Anya lost her $100 in the first trip to Mood and had to beg for change and scraps from the other designers to compete. I had a great deal of schadenfreude in this (I never said I was a good person) and I became hopeful that she would tank and lose. Nope, she won. With too short pants, a blah top, and a meh jumpsuit that wasn't finished properly. She just straight up cut off the excess of the bottom of the bodice of the jumpsuit (which was showing on the outside as part of the design) right before they left for the runway so it wouldn't look frayed. I just do not understand what the judges are doing/seeing this season.

What makes Anya's win even more bitter is the fact that Viktor's designs were sharp and spot-on. He referenced the 70s without being literal, which was what the challenge was all about. He's the only person who actually produced runway quality garments. The only bad thing the judges had to say about Viktor is that they wish the shirt under the jacket was a little different, even though they LOVED the shirt on its own. I know that what we see as an audience is highly edited so we don't get the full picture, but come on, people. I will comfort myself with the hope that Viktor will actually win the whole competition. If he doesn't make it to fashion week, then I will seriously yell at the TV. Hard.

On to injustice number two. My beloved, sweet, Southern cherub (or Anthony Ryan) got the boot this week. Tim cried. And he never cries. That is how sweet my Anthony Ryan is. I'll admit that his designs were kinda boring this week  (I liked the fabric in his maxi dress), but they were nothing to Josh's "handy work."

Josh's designs were such hot piles of stank mess that were terrifying to behold. The under-bust plaid pants were so atrocious that I kept covering my eyes like I was watching a horror movie. And I'm not exaggerating my reaction. Then, after Josh gets rightly criticized on the runway, he tries to defend himself to the other designers with a bunch of "I never lived in the 70s, how am I supposed to know what it looked like?" But the other designers put him in his place and told him that it is a designers individual responsibility to know the history of fashion. Word. He was so offended that he had to get up and walk away from the group. Puh-leeze. He claims confidence in his work, but he can't even take responsibility for it.

Fashion week guesses? If Josh makes it, I might boycott the show forever, and I feel like Kimberly's been slowly falling apart for a couple of episodes. It looks like fashion week will welcome Viktor and Anya, but I think the third spot is still up for grabs between Bert and Lauren; the judges seem to like/hate them equally.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love Tim Gunn? The end.