Project Runway 8, Episode 12: New Yawn City

The Challenge
I don't like the NYC challenges. Yawn. With all of NYC at your feet, you end up with 4 black dresses??? It'd be more interesting if someone picked something more arcane to be inspired by, like the parking lot at La Guardia or the bathrooms at Penn Station. Even something less literal, like Ground Zero or the doorstep where John Lennon was shot. I'll give Gretchen props for going to a neighborhood at least. And Heidi, this was not a "do whatever you want" challenge. They still had to be "inspired by NYC". Gretchen, I think, wanted to be inspired by what inspires Gretchen, not what the game-show dictated.

The Loser
I don't know. I think it's kind of bull-shit to eliminate April for making the same dress over and over again when you've never given her that feedback before. To me a "Wow Us" challenge doesn't inherently mean step out of your comfort zone and show us something new, as Heidi seemed to think. It means take what you do further and "wow us". And why exactly was it unforgivable for April to be repetitive, but not for Andy to make the Warrior-Bitch Dress yet again? I'm perplexed.

Beyond that, we have yet another example of how the show's tagline "one day you're in and the next day you're out" is equally bull-shit. Maybe there was some genius in the LA season having different judges every week. Based solely on those designs, Gretchen should have been out. No contest. Just look at her confusing, off-the-rack, Bad-Biker-Jacket-with-School-Teacher-Skirt Ensemble next to April's Pregnant-Witch Dress. I mean COME ON. That dress is awesome. Did you just look at the photos I linked to? Do you see how much better April's photographed? Do you remember how much better it moved?

Not to mention the fact that the producer's missed a huge boat denying us what would certainly be April's lunatic asylum, witch coven inspired final collection in a finale airing just DAYS BEFORE HALLOWEEN.

The Enigma
I don't know what to think about Michael Costello anymore. I've gone from hating him to rooting for him to hating him so many times. On the one hand, he's the poor kid everyone picks on. On the other hand, he's so damned annoying most of the time. Everyone on the show has had such strong opinions about him, and the way the show's been edited the show has had such strong opinions about him that I don't think it's possible for me to have my own.

I mean, that was one funny Michael Kors impersonation he was doing (he and Santino should get together and do a radio play version of the show), but that Boring-Black-Blah Dress seemed so ordinary. It must have been better in person for THAT to have wowed the judges. As he was making it, Diana kept saying "It's the same dress that Gretchen is wearing". Ok, it wasn't EXACTLY the same, but the NECKLINE WAS THE SAME. Look at the pictures I just linked to.

Rungay
Normally, I don't read Project Rungay until after I've written these. I guess I didn't this time either since I've only looked at it just now after writing all of the above. I just had to take a peak at their post about Michael C's dress "PR: ConCRACKulations". Read the whole thing, but my favorite line was this: "The praise this very standard garment received from the judges was absurd and embarrassing for all involved."

And then of course I read their post on April's Dress. It's vindicating to be of like mind:

But no, the producers wanted an outcome and the judges mouthed the words that would make that outcome happen, overly praising other garments that were either equally as repetitive, considering the designer's previous work, or nowhere near as designed as this garment was.

"Bottom line: there are designers going on to the finals who SIMPLY DON'T DESIGN INTERESTING CLOTHES. At all." Couldn't agree more.