First, I want to thank my awesome Wabash colleagues for inviting me to a PR viewing party! I’m looking forward to their company for the rest of the season.
I think I enjoyed more of the designs this week than I did last week, but some people I was excited about did not deliver.
I’ll start with Christopher’s outfit (I just go through the designers as they’re listed at Lifetime’s PR site). I don’t like leggings, but I love the color of the top and the pleating at the top of the tunic looks very nice. I also think that it skims his model very well and that this look fits with the youthful aesthetic that we saw in his first outfit.
I liked Johnny’s outfit much better this week, but I wasn’t crazy about it. I think that the detailing on the shoulder strap reminds me of the ‘flower pin’ trend from a few years ago and it feels a bit played out; I also am not sure about the fit of the dress as it moves. I do like the piping on the dress, and it looks like a very workmanlike piece–very functional and clean, except for the detail mentioned. I don’t have a great sense of his general aesthetic yet, but in both of his looks he has used a solid color without much adornment. He seems much more concerned with cut, draping, etc.
Louise did something very smart. She listened to Tim! Tim is like Ivanova from Babylon 5; no one should ignore either of their recommendations. Look what listening got Louise–a gorgeous looking garment and a top-three finish. I think that her shoulder/flower detailing provides a nice contrast with Johnny’s dress. Louise has a smaller flower that grows out of some more controlled embellishment on the strap. The flower detail also fits with the delicacy of the lace over the bodice (which she hand-dyed–always a nice touch). The tiered skirt was a genius solution to the ‘nightgown’ problem. Louise is another designer who has shown lots of consistency from Week one to Week two–both her looks were satin dresses with detailing on the straps. However, she used radically different colors and added lace detailing in Week two, so the dresses do not look like clones of each other (and the judges have clearly demonstrated–ahem, Uli–that they will not penalize “consistency” so long as it is well down).
Irina had my favorite look last week, and while her look this week was a bit too simple to draw rave reviews from me, I think it is very pretty. The dress fits well, looks clean and I love the color. While I think that the waist detailing might look a little unflattering on a woman with enlarged breasts from pregnancy, I think it looks nice on the model. Cleanliness and a streamlined silhouette seem to be the hallmarks of her two designs. I look forward to seeing more of her work.
Nicolas put out another look that was very form fitting and played with different shades of black. I think this looked better while the model was walking than it does in the photograph, but I still had–to some extent–the same reaction I had with his first look: this looks a little unfininshed. The trim is not sewn on cleanly; if you magnify the neck area of this garment you can see some of the grey-silver fabric peeking over where it shouldn’t. The trim also looks a little heavy/flat. I’m also not sure if I like the grey-silver fabric in contrast with the black. However, that certainly seems to be part of Nicolas’s consistent aesthetic.
In retrospect, saying I was interested in seeing more from Mitchell was clearly the most embarassing thing I wrote last week. His look this week was a horror, and I think that he should have been eliminated. Where was the lovely detailing that was in evidence on the too-small dress? The embellishments on the front of the tank are like a super-cheap knock-off of the detailing from last week’s collar. All the pieces were a mess and I think that the shorts were honestly some of the worst things that I’ve ever seen on PR. Only the cardigan had any potential redeeming value. Yikes.
I haven’t read recaps for this episode yet, but I’m sure tons of people are making fun of Shirin’s voice. They call laugh at her vocal abilities all they want, but they can’t laugh at the gorgeous outfit she produced for this challenge. Her win was well-deserved and I don’t think she got nearly enough credit from the judges for being able to pull off two goregous and well-executed pieces. The coat is just fantastic; you can clearly see the relationship between the jacket and the capelet she did in Week one, but the jacket is truly finished–the print lining was a brilliant decision, rivaled only by Louise’s decision to had the tiered skirts to her dress. The dress is also lovely, but it’s almost an afterthought when compared to the coat.
I liked Gordana’s look. I thought that she provided a concise summary of the theory she used to design the garment (accentuate the arms and legs) and I think that she followed through on it. I really like the way this cardigan is cut; I think it does draw favorable attention to the model’s arms, and the fabric looks incredibly silky and comfortable. I like that she coordinated the cardigan with the second layer of the tunic–I think that’s a nice subtle touch. I’m not sure I like the color combination that she used–it’s a little somber (though I think that fits with her general aesthetic, which is more reserved)–but I like the idea. I also like the way she designed the halter top, but one of the straps is not as tight and clean as the other. I can see Gordana being somewhat like Leanne in that she designs clothes I can really appreciate, but not clothes that I would wear.
I didn’t mind the bottom of Carol Hannah’s look, but the demi-jacket was kind of messy. I think that she made some interesting draping choices around the belly. She translated the fertility concept effectively through that draping. However, the jacket is really bad. I’m not a huge fan of the teal, but it is the major color in thedress and the taupey-looking fabric up top doesn’t match its intensity. I also think there are some serious problems with the way the jacket fits over the dress; the ruffles on the dress make for too much bulkiness.
I don’t think that Ra’mon-Lawrence’s look was a bottom-three look, but once the judges said the dress looked like a bowling ball, I couldn’t get that association out of my head. There were some slight construction flaws with the dress; one of my colleagues pointed out that some of the seams didn’t match up properly. When a designer puts together a very constructed look like this one, those sorts of things have to be taken into account, and things like that, combined with the “bowling ball” visual, mean that I can’t admire this dress as much as I admired the one he made last week. I still think he’ll be a strong competitor.
Last week Logan put out a look that I found too simple, and I think his outfit this week was also probably too simple. The one embellishment on the tunic–the gold collar–looks like Star Trek in a bad way. The photograph at Lifetime’s website (which is working better than it did last week) is not particularly flattering, and the look didn’t leave enough of an impression on me for me to remember how it looked on the model while she walked.
Just because I don’t think Malvin deserved to home doesn’t mean I liked his outfit at all. One of my other colleagues remarked that Malvin reminded her a frustrated art student who went into fashion design. Indeed, his discussion of his concept was very detached and you could tell that it really did not occur to him that no woman wants to almost literally portray herself as a chicken with an egg. It was no good, but it wasn’t the worst of the week.
I loved the color that Qristyl chose for her very simple dress. (I also liked the purple she worked with last week.) I like top of the dress and I think that it skims nicely and photographs nicely from the front. However, the black underskirt was not a good choice and I think that the side photograph is really not good. There’s too much bunching and pleating there on the side. I foresee Tim having a talk with her about editing…
Oh, Epperson, how your look disappointed me! The pants look kind of like harem pants (though I will admit that they look comfortable) and the top is extraordinarily unflattering. I mean, it’s seriously not good. She looks huge, in an unnecessary way, in that top. I will admit that I like the look of the top from the black bodice ribbon on up–I always love halter tops and I think that the draping over the breasts looks nice. I hope that he redeems himself next week.
Finally, we come to Althea’s dress. I’m not sure if I would have put this as a top-three look. I agree with the judges’ views on the silhouette; it is very elegant and the color is flattering. I think that the tan detailing is nice and subtle. However, I’m not sure I can forgive the cups of the dress; they would really present problems for a pregnant woman (of course they could be fixed, but designers have been called out for similiar mistakes that could have been similarly fixed). Despite that, I think that this represents an improvement over her Week one dress, which played with a simlilar silhouette.
Next week sounds like it could be delightfully entertaining–I’ll be in Toronto for the American Political Science Association meeting, but I’ll try and find the time to watch the show while I’m there (and if not, Lord knows it will be shown on repeat).
