Project Runway Season 13

WeakAnkles · Jul 18, 2014

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the sewing room...

The next season starts July 24, and you can read a brief bio of all the sacrificial victims...I mean contestants here:

http://tomandlorenzo.com/2014/06/meet-the-project-runway-season-13-cast/

My two favorites right off the bat must be The Mitchell Perry (to distinguish himself, I guess, from all the other Mitchell Perrys on PR13) and fäde zu grau (no, I did NOT make that name up--my imagination is not that overactive!).

Looks like it's gonna be another Uber!Drama!Fest~ in the Parson's workroom...

Oh! for the days when design did not take a backseat to the producer shenanigans...

satine · Jul 18, 2014

Oh boy, PR is a big weakness for me. You get the :popcorn:

during the challenge and the :love:

+

+ :scratch: during the runway.

Glad to see it back for it's thirteenth season. I'm honestly surprised each time it comes back yet again :laugh:

skatedreamer · Jul 18, 2014

Thanks for the heads-up, WeakAnkles! I adore PR :popcorn:

although agree that drama has definitely become the top priority. Can't believe it's been 13 years... :eek:

Dee4707 · Jul 18, 2014

skatedreamer said:
Can't believe it's been 13 years...

I know, time goes by when you're having fun!! Personally, I don't like the drama all that much. I thought there was enough in the competiveness of the designers. I always like the side eye glances to view the other designers like ...you weren't' supposed to.

WA, another year to throw out our thoughts about design. If I remember correctly you & I had super great comments last year....Olympia was in there too.

skatedreamer · Jul 18, 2014

Dee4707 said:
I know, time goes by when you're having fun!! Personally, I don't like the drama all that much. I thought there was enough in the competiveness of the designers. I always like the side eye glances to view the other designers like ...you weren't' supposed to.

The drama frustrates the daylights out of me, too. If there's going to be drama, I want it to come from the sewing machines (as in gorgeous clothes), not the designers' petty squabbles!

Olympia · Jul 19, 2014

skatedreamer said:
The drama frustrates the daylights out of me, too. If there's going to be drama, I want it to come from the sewing machines (as in gorgeous clothes), not the designers' petty squabbles!

Amen! If I wanted backbiting drama, I'd watch the Real Housewives of somewhere-or-other. I want to see sewing!

satine · Jul 24, 2014

Lifetime is re-airing Part 1 & 2 of S12's Finale right now. Only an hour and a half to go! =)

skatedreamer · Jul 24, 2014

Last night I turned Lifetime on @ 9:00 PM and got all bent out of shape b/c PR wasn't on. Worked myself into a nice little snit before realizing I'd got the date confused. :slink:

Oh, well...ladies and gentlemen, start your sewing machines! :popcorn:

satine · Jul 24, 2014

oh my goodness. As soon as Carrie said she got into fashion design because of a fashion manga she read where the girl had the same name as her I automatically thought it might be Paradise Kiss. Technically Carrie in the book was given the name Caroline and sometimes called 'Carrie' & she was actually the model the fashion team recruited, but then ended up helping with the design and construction, but-

I'm not a weeaboo. I swear. :slink:

Olympia · Jul 24, 2014

I watched most of it! Murphy's Law: someone always calls me up during the "Road to the Runway" introductory hour. But I watched the entire regular episode. There are a few promising-looking people, though I don't yet know their names. Before that, it was great to see reruns of a few of the older episodes with Dom Streater, one of my favorite winners ever. The jacket and jumpsuit that she did for the show before the runway show--the one inspired by butterflies--is to my mind one of the best ensembles ever on PR. I especially liked that Dom had such an upbeat temperament.

This season, the young woman from India has an interesting viewpoint, though I don't go for all the fraying she did on her garment. The dyeing and her use of print were splendid, though.

satine · Jul 24, 2014

SPOILER ALERT FOR EPISODE 1! AVERT YOUR EYES! I thought Char should have won. And I was expecting the other man to go home..

skatedreamer · Jul 25, 2014

satine94 said:
I thought Char should have won. And I was expecting the other man to go home..

Me, too. My PR instincts are pretty good but they didn't kick in tonight.

Also loved the flame-red gown (or was it a jumpsuit?) from the middle of the pack.

WeakAnkles -- almost forgot: the Tom & Lorenzo blog is a hoot. Thanks for the link!

Feeling guilty that I'm so glad Michael Kors is gone.... :slink:

WeakAnkles · Jul 25, 2014

skatedreamer said:
Me, too. My PR instincts are pretty good but they didn't kick in tonight.

Also loved the flame-red gown (or was it a jumpsuit?) from the middle of the pack.

WeakAnkles -- almost forgot: the Tom & Lorenzo blog is a hoot. Thanks for the link!

Feeling guilty that I'm so glad Michael Kors is gone....

Tom & Lorenzo is one of my favorite sites on the web. Fans of the blog are known as Bitter Kittens, and we have quite a few BKs on this site. Two things on their blog you MUST read right away: Musical Mondays (they give their own hilariously irreverent takes on classic Hollywood musicals--you will never look at women's hats the same way again!) and their costume analyses of Mad Men episodes (absolute genius--I learned a TON about costume design from reading them).

I'm still waiting for the episode to post online, but I'll come back when I've watched. Glad to have a few new people to join our little bitchfest--I mean fan appreciation (no, I guess I really do mean bitchfest!) of PR.

louisa05 · Jul 25, 2014

satine94 said:
SPOILER ALERT FOR EPISODE 1! AVERT YOUR EYES! I thought Char should have won. And I was expecting the other man to go home..

One of the constant issues on PR seems to be whether the judges want to see ready-to-wear or something only for a runway/fashion shoot. Sandhya's is not something one would wear to lunch (or anywhere) but was creative, original and runway ready. Every other designer interpreted the challenge as a ready-to-wear challenge--which was why nearly all of them were convinced she would be in the bottom. I think this is the main issue that makes us often see challenge winners that seem like odd choices. Then (it seems like) every commenter on the web is firing up their keyboard to yell "Damn producers! It's all Lifetime's fault!" with an under chorus of "this never would have happened on Bravo!" (To the latter: really, people, Wendy Pepper happened on Bravo).

Tim Gunn noted this issue a bit the season he posted a video blog after the episodes via Facebook. What was interesting to me was that he made it clear that, 95% of the time, the instructions we see the designers get for a challenge are all of the instructions they get. And only one judge is ever aware of the exact instructions the designers get. This is a problem that needs to be corrected, but is probably left alone to try to create drama in the judging. His video blog went away after he openly criticized producers about the vague mess that the Jackie Kennedy challenge turned into where the judges had been told something else entirely from what the designers were told. Clearly, they are not interested in making it exact or understood by everyone.

Olympia · Jul 25, 2014

Louisa, that's very interesting. I think Tim feels protective toward the designers, after spending so much time with them, and he's understandably disturbed about the unfairness of it. I wish the producers would trust the audience enough to realize that we like the excitement of the design possibilities, and the manufactured drama isn't necessary. I don't like when contestants are treated arbitrarily, especially for some ulterior motive.

It's also significant that one of the producers is Heidi herself....

I have to say, though, on recalling other seasons, the person who wins the first challenge often turns out to be way off the mark in many later programs. It's as if they want someone with a certain impact the first go-round and then settle in for something else as the season progresses.

WeakAnkles · Jul 25, 2014

Welllllllllllllll...that happened.

My goodness, the mighty have fallen. Best Western, Mary Kay and Red Robin... We've come a longggggggg way down from Neiman Marcus and Lord & Taylor. And this is the first season that the winner isn't designing a mini-collection for a retail outlet. All very telling.

Hot Makeup Daddy isn't on so the season is already ruined to a certain degree for me.

In some ways, this is feeling like a bad acid flashback:
The Mitchell = Josh (season 9)
Korina = Gretchen (season 8)
Carrie = Elena (season 10)
Sandhya = Patricia (season 11)

I actually liked Angela's rack--but then I'm a fan of simple, clean design. But she's a basketcase. I can't see her lasting more than 4 or 5 episodes.

fade was better than I thought he would be.

Amanda upped her game from her previous season, but she appears to have modified her personality to be a "personality." Before she struck me as sensible, nice and, well, sweetly snarky. Looks like she's bringing out her inner beeyutch. I did like her design this week.

Keeping my eye on Sean, Char and Alexander. I see potential there. Nobody else really made an impression either way.

Oh, and Sanhya is going to be around for a while. Heidi loves "different" and ethnic quirkiness. Alas, I see Mitchell and Korina sticking around for a while too. The producers love them some beeyucky Uber! Drama!

louisa05 · Jul 25, 2014

Olympia said:
Louisa, that's very interesting. I think Tim feels protective toward the designers, after spending so much time with them, and he's understandably disturbed about the unfairness of it. I wish the producers would trust the audience enough to realize that we like the excitement of the design possibilities, and the manufactured drama isn't necessary. I don't like when contestants are treated arbitrarily, especially for some ulterior motive.

It's also significant that one of the producers is Heidi herself....

I have to say, though, on recalling other seasons, the person who wins the first challenge often turns out to be way off the mark in many later programs. It's as if they want someone with a certain impact the first go-round and then settle in for something else as the season progresses.

And maybe one of my points was lost...I don't think the producers (obviously aside from Heidi who is a judge) are directly impacting the judging by saying (as I saw stated on another forum this morning) "Sandhya fits the Lifetime mold and must win this challenge". For one thing, the rules of game shows apply to a small degree to competitive reality (really, don't ask why, but I researched reality television for a grad class). Producers cannot legally determine the outcome directly. They can manipulate it. But that is done for drama/creating plot lines/conflict far more than it is done to create any predetermined outcomes. Producers aren't standing behind the set on Survivor saying "vote out this person", they are behind the scenes whispering in ears "do you know what so and so said about you yesterday when we were filming his talking head section?" so we all get to watch a fight that may or may not lead to one or the other of the people involved getting kicked off. Likewise, no one told them to have a certain designer win or go home. But they do make sure these designers have no idea what the hell the judges are looking for (and the judges have no idea what they are told to make) and they do cast a certain number of people who are going to go against the grain then we get to watch what happens. It has happened time and again (even on Bravo). I remember the episode years ago where they had to make something from stuff bought at floral shops. They had like $200 and all used greenery and the judges had a fit that they didn't use roses and such. The designers on the runway were trying to defend themselves that the budget did not allow that--something the judges should have known before the runway show even started.

Olympia · Jul 25, 2014

I remember that one, Louisa! I think it was the first season I watched, the one with Daniel V., Chloe, and Santino. Yes, I thought Nina was deliberately trying to be arbitrary about the flowers (if that's the episode you mean). And of course there are the innumerable times that someone comes into the workroom and gives the designers another task that complicates their work and sends them to the edge of collapse. That's the part of the show that I actually appreciate least. I like to see what they all sew. I'm probably a wimp.

On another note, I'm always amused when they introduce one of the make-up consultants as something like the "global nail expert." Imagine this gent at a party: "And what do you do?" "Well! I am a global expert on nails." The guy probably makes more money than I do by a long way.

louisa05 · Jul 25, 2014

Olympia said:
I remember that one, Louisa! I think it was the first season I watched, the one with Daniel V., Chloe, and Santino. Yes, I thought Nina was deliberately trying to be arbitrary about the flowers (if that's the episode you mean). And of course there are the innumerable times that someone comes into the workroom and gives the designers another task that complicates their work and sends them to the edge of collapse. That's the part of the show that I actually appreciate least. I like to see what they all sew. I'm probably a wimp.

On another note, I'm always amused when they introduce one of the make-up consultants as something like the "global nail expert." Imagine this gent at a party: "And what do you do?" "Well! I am a global expert on nails." The guy probably makes more money than I do by a long way.

Yep, that was the one. Chloe won that challenge--only thing she made that I liked for the whole season.

I don't like the add-a-challenge stuff either. Especially if they over do it, and it seems like they did the last couple of seasons. On the other hand, we all say we don't want the drama/conflict of the manipulation, but the reality is that it truly might get pretty boring to watch them all sew and hug each other and act calm for an hour and a half a week. I can imagine fans online complaining that it was boring in that event. I think reality shows have to walk a fine line between over manipulation and letting things actually get boring. We say we'd watch boring, but most of us probably would not.

Dee4707 · Jul 30, 2014

satine94 said:
SPOILER ALERT FOR EPISODE 1! AVERT YOUR EYES! I thought Char should have won. And I was expecting the other man to go home..

I soooooooooo agree with your assessment!!!

Project Runway Season 13

WeakAnkles

satine

v Yuki Ishikawa v

skatedreamer

Dee4707

Ice Is Slippery - Alexie Yagudin

skatedreamer

Olympia

satine

v Yuki Ishikawa v

skatedreamer

satine

v Yuki Ishikawa v

Olympia

satine

v Yuki Ishikawa v

skatedreamer

WeakAnkles

louisa05

Olympia

WeakAnkles

louisa05

Olympia

louisa05

Dee4707

Ice Is Slippery - Alexie Yagudin

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