Much ground to cover, so grab a cup.
Well, one thing's for sure. Project Runway has remained true to form. There's a certain formula that works. By the time you get to the final aufing before the finale, you can expect some major disappointment and anger on the part of the viewers. From Austin to Kara to Kayne to Chris March to Gordana, a fan favorite is going to be denied that final shot at the prize and a LOT of people are going to be angry about it. In a way, it's a testament, both to the show itself, for the ability to get the viewers that invested, and to that penultimate auf'ee, who certainly had to have demonstrated something to have gotten this far and generated this kind of emotional outcry. But let's put that aside for a second.
We were pretty damn disappointed that with an extra 30 minutes of air time, we got a much shorter and far less illuminating version of the home visits. Everything felt a little rushed and by the numbers and we can't help wondering if it's because, as reported, Tim made home visits to a majority of the designers showing collections. With such a huge roster of decoys, that's a lot of home visits to do in 6 short weeks. Yet another reason to dislike the new tendency to give more than half the designers their own runway show.
It's not at all surprising that Michael made twice as many looks as he needed. It's been his main advantage in the competition: the high volume of work he's able to churn out, editing as he goes until he finds the one that works for him. Most of the designers don't work that way and can't work that way. It's a purely instinctual approach and it's probably at least partially the reason so much snot was hurled his way this season.
Out of the four truncated home visits, Michael's seemed the least revealing. It seems he's been pretty deeply scarred by a family resistant (at best) to his identity. On top of that, we got kind of an odd vibe off the boyfriend. He outed him to his family? That's kind of hardcore, wouldn't you say? Michael seems to be pulled in a lot of directions by a lot of people in his life.As for his pieces...
There was quite a bit of assholery coming from the judging panel. There was no way he should have been sent home.
Did we love these looks? Not a chance.
But when you criticize another designer for making clothes that don't belong on a NYFW runway, it only makes sense that you keep the clothes that look like they DO belong.
Look, these aren't at all what we would consider on trend or luxurious looking.
And we certainly don't consider them innovative in any way.
Michael does have a tendency to go a little drag in the embellishments, what with the falling back on feathers and beading.
It can make for really exciting clothing, but exciting in a Bob Mackie kind of way, not a, say, Marc Jacobs kind of way.
Which isn't to say he doesn't belong on a runway. He absolutely does, at least if the question was coming down to him or Gretchen, which it should have. There's no way Andy was really in the running for an auf'ing.
Say what you will, but these are dramatic, eminently photogenic looks that have the potential to generate some excitement in the crowd and with the press.
And the criticism that the looks were too monochromatic was ridiculous. For one, the judges were only looking at 3 looks. If he showed them ten looks in the same hues, they'd have a point.
Besides, several designers have WON showing almost entirely black collections, so the criticism was particularly bullshitty.
Face it, the judges were going to send him home this week. They usually wind up pushing a designer along through the process even though they ultimately have no intention of having them in the finals. It's usually someone who makes exciting clothes, but perhaps the clothes are too quirky (Austin, Chris) or the judges have deemed it too tacky (Nick, Kayne), or ultimately just not in possession of some indefinable quality that says high fashion to them (Kara, Gordana).
Laura Bennett made a great comparison in her blog for this episode. Michael C was Carrie White. They plopped a tiara on his head only to dump a bucket of pig's blood on him.
We can't imagine the disappointment after months of work leading up to this point. Do we question the sincerity of his reaction? Not really. But we do think he got himself a bit too worked up over it. We wouldn't call it fake so much as over the top and a little histrionic. Again, we don't doubt he was crushed; but we think he was a little naive about the likelihood of his winning the entire competition. Like we said, he's Austin, Kayne, Nick or Chris March. He's the guy who makes exciting clothes that the judges, ultimately, don't consider exciting enough for Fashion Week.Tim Gunn's Workroom:
Extended judging:
Michael Costello Video Blog:
[Screencaps: projectrungay.blogspot.com - Video Credit: myLifetime.com - Photo Credit: Barbara Nitke/myLifetime.com]
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