Project Runway Review: Pajamas and a Bedsheet

I’m a virgin to Runway, although as my previous editorials make clear, not fashion. All the who shot Johns about the show “ain’t really none of my business,” (John Legend) if you will. I’m going to give you my raw opinion of the seam, stitch, silhouette and style of the final sixteen designers who arrived in NYC, shoulders back, chests poked out proudly and feeling like they have the creative eye and best knack to be the top, new, fresh designer and have done something spectacular by making the cut.

At the top of the show, the judges had to dwindle the hopeful designers from a 20 to 16. The most interesting but obvious pick was Anya who was Miss Trinidad but who only learned to sew four months ago when she knew she’d be coming to Runway. I’m not sure if the judges’ selection of her was a political move as if we owed Trinidad a favor or an envious move as if one of the judges wished they could have been a pageant queen, but picking a designer who just recently learned to sew and who needed “a lot” of help sewing her line would have been like Simon Cowell picking a singer who’d just recently learned the scales. Anya entered the competition to unbalanced scales, and after watching the first half of the first challenge, it showed.

5 a.m. Tim awakened and escorted the designers through the city in their pajamas and one bed sheet off their beds to the design room. They were given their HP tablet and challenged to create a design using their PJs, bed sheet, and raw materials in the design room. They had until 10 p.m. to finish their creations. A few of the designers stood out either ‘cause of their design, story, or personal style.

Honestly, Rafael’s flamboyant personality juxtaposed with his contrasting feminine hair, and his kinky goatee caught my attention. Rafael’s most prominent bed wear was a leopard print head scarf. Tim all but demanded that Rafael use his headscarf in his design, and so he finally did. He used the scarf to make an accessory, specifically a necklace. My favorite piece was the panels on the back of the blouse. Sadly, while the scarf added a little pop to his ‘fit and the back panels brought the pizazz, the pants looked like fitted, comfort/work-out pants.

Anya proved to the judges and herself that she could sew when her model walked the runway in a silk, pleated gray trouser. Using the pattern from her pajama dress, she created a mid-riff top with a single back panel and impressed the judges. However, in their heart of hearts, in the back of their heads, they really were more impressed with the pattern in which Anya goes to bed and with the fact that she basically was able to sew instead of the totality of her design.

Although the judges couldn’t choose between Rafael and Josh for the worst design, Julie already had my vote. From my couch view, I could tell that the pants did not fit her model well. More so, she had a single-sided pocket that went from her midsection to the right side of the pant. The sides looked like they had just been gathered, bunched and pinned together so she could push the model down the runway. Know why that was? She used my one style faux pas – elastic in the waistband! Julie knew her model looked a good, hot mess. Josh’s design was a little better although not by much. He made a white, pleated pair of shorts, a red tank, and a gray, hooded jacket. Because the tank did not initially fit his model, he sewed a panel in the middle. It too looked like a vomitous mess of material, thread, and waste of time.

Laura a.k.a “Barbie” created one of my favorite outfits. Purple, lace blouse and jacket made out of her lace pajama pant and a tie-dyed, wide-legged pant. Bryce made another favorite ‘fit — made out of his pajama tank, a mini dress with off-the-shoulder bell sleeves. He accessorized the model nicely with a long, multi-tiered necklace. I was surprised that I liked Kimberly’s look. From her It-esque weave, I did not think she’d turn out this chic, white pant creation with a wide, teal band. Lastly, rounding out my four, Fallene pulled an E.Sosa move and used a bold, unique design to create what could become a signature design, if, in Fallene’s case, not for possible copyright infringement. Using the image of the clown vomiting a rainbow in a commode from her pajama top, she too created a chic little number. It was a black and white striped, backless dress with a gold band at the natural waist, which was taken from the rest of her pajama top. The judges’ top pick was not one of mine, so I’ll leave that surprise for those of you who have yet to see the episode.

For the designers Josh, Cecelia and Anya who created a bottom with a pleat, I had a problem. In the design room, Tim asked one of the designers a very important question: who is the mannequin, for whom are you designing? Any bottom with a pleat must at some point in the woman’s sashay not pull but fall gallantly down her stride. Every piece a woman wears should enhance her features and create the illusion that she is as beautiful and flawless as the garment. Even though the models are probably a size 2, eventually those clothes are going to be cut for a size 10, 12, or 14, and probably even replicated for plus size women. Tight pleats do not enhance a woman’s hip. It makes them look bigger, thus it does not make her look better. So, if the pleat isn’t going to gallop down the leg, leave the pant flat, lest the garment is either returned to the department store or it volunteers itself to be sent to the dreaded pile of threads headed to Goodwill.

I feel like I need a backdrop or scene behind the models as they walk the runway. Designers, answer Tim’s rhetorical question: for whom are you designing these clothes, and for what occasion? It seems like most designers created an outfit for the club or a night out on the town. Only two designers, Laura and Viktor, created something that was versatile enough to wear to work although I highly doubt it was intentional. Not that I’d expect everything to be ready-to-work wear; however, the reality is women spend 60% of their waking day at work. Our clothes need to be stylish and transferable.

Season 9, Episode 1: “Come As You Are” (originally aired July 28, 2011)

Make it work and watch Project Runway, Thursdays at 9/8c on Lifetime.

Images courtesy of Lifetime.