Project Runway Review: Life Imitates Avant-Garde

Often times in pop culture, art imitates life.  In this week’s Project Runway, life imitated art.  The designers arrived at The Harlem School of the Arts and were challenged with the task to collaborate on an art project with one of the students and create an avant-garde look inspired by artwork that will walk the runway. Once the designers had finished their paintings with the students and purchased their fabrics from Mood, the million-dollar question arose: what is avant-garde? At Bert’s request, Tim Gunn clarified his previous instructions about the challenge. “This is not a red-carpet challenge. This is an avant-garde challenge.” In his interview, Bert said, “Avant garde doesn’t have to be costume-y, doesn’t have to be exaggerated.  It just has to have a forward-thinking feel to it.” Laura summed it best by saying, “Avant garde really can’t be worn in real life…like Lady Gaga.”

Returning designer Josh C. used faux fur in his initial design to achieve the wolf effect that his artistic partner/student Sasha created in the Harlem art room.  On day two, the students brought their paintings to the designers in the design room and actually helped some of their with the design ideas.  A few days earlier when Viktor first met Skyy in the Harlem art school, Viktor thought she was too loquacious for such a young girl.  However, he appreciated her ability to speak her mind when she sold his design idea to Tim (maybe Skyy should replace the next eliminated designer).  At one point, Tim told the designers not to do a literal translation of the paintings. Bert and Josh C.’s design, especially Josh’s wolf design, thus far were literal translations of the painting.  Running out of time, Laura used a hot glue gun to tack her design.  Olivier ran out of time by spending too much time on the bodice of his garment. Since he was running out of time, he attempted to glue the top to the model so it wouldn’t flap as the model walked the runway. Tim walked in, saw what he was doing, and reminded him that that was against the rules.

Zanna Roberts Rassi, senior fashion editor for Marie Claire, filled in for Nina Garcia and joined Michael Kors, Heidi Klum, and guest judge and fashion designer Kenneth Cole on the judging panel. Inspired by Claudette’s painting of a red and green hawk, Kimberly designed a short crimson and black mini dress with an asymmetrical hem and feathers. Inspired by Maris’s painting of the cosmos, Becky designed a black dress with an asymmetrical train on one side and green bulbs cascading down the right shoulder. Inspired by Tonyalee’s yellow, red, and green abstract painting, Olivier’s finished design was a off-white chiffon off-the-shoulder dress with blue and yellow strips of chiffon underneath and a split up the right thigh.  Inspired by Patrice’s painting of a red tree with green roots, Joshua McKinley designed a two-piece mud-colored, monogrammed skirt and red and yellow, backless top mimicking burning flames.  Inspired by Antonio’s red, yellow, purple, and green geometric-shaped painting, Bert created a gray, balloon high-waist pant accented with three-dimensional shapes and colors mimicking those from the painting.  Inspired by Skyy’s green, blue, yellow, and red swirl painting, Viktor designed a one-arm turquoise and white dress where the turquoise mimicked water flowing as the model walked the runway.  Inspired by Kai’s red and green abstract rose painting, Laura’s designed an orange-yellow dress to achieve the look of a “dusted fairy.” Inspired by Audry’s painting that mimicked “The Screaming Man,” Bryce designed a mermaid dress with a red bodice and a black skirt where the sleeves were constrained almost like a strait-jacket.  Inspired by Sasha’s wolf painting, Josh C. created a short, high-waist skirt with a white top under a peak-a-boo vest.  Inspired by Wu Qing’s self portrait of her and him, Anthony designed a long, sleeveless high-colored dress with a train where the lines and designs mimicked the lines in the painting. Inspired by A.J.’s desert painting, Anya used a patterned fabric to create a dress with a feathered, low-strung collar that ballooned at the waist and whose skirt split in the middle to expose a shorter skirt underneath.

Anya, Kimberly, Becky, Viktor, and Bryce were safe.  Anthony Ryan won the challenge and received immunity for next week.  Josh. C. and Olivier were left in the bottom two, and for the second time this season, Josh. C. was out and sent home.

Season 9, Episode 6: “The Art of the Matter” (originally aired September 1, 2011)

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