Project Runway Season 9--Episode 1--Nick Verreos MyLifetime.com Recap!!!

A Crotch KRAZEE Pajama Party!

This:

Equals This:

Dress from designer/contestant Bert Keeter, Project Runway Season 9--First Challenge

Last night was the Season 9 Premiere of Project Runway on Lifetime. It featured the MOST EVER contestants EVAAAH (!!) on any Project Runway season: Twenty. But then, after a "Showdown of Designer Musical Chairs Judging" by Miss Heidi Klum, Tim Gunn, Miss Nina Garcia and Michael Kors, 4 were sent home (or back to their "Hotel Hiding Place" to wait it out and be sequestered for a month of doing nothing).

Then the official 16 Designers got off-and-running very early the next morning with a 5AM Wake Up from Gunn. The Challenge was to create a look using what they slept in plus a bed sheet from their Atlas digs. The results of the Project Runway Pajama Party were lots of KRAZEE Crotch pant ensembles (somehow they all drank the Bad Crotch Pant Kool-Aid!) and yes, some decent looks. But, nothing extraordinary. Huney, give me a bed sheet and silk pajamas from China Town and I'll give you a one shoulder Grecian-Goddess draped gown!!!! Besides my favorite from the winner Bert Keeter--here were some that I also liked:

Fallene Wells: Such a cute, fun quirky dress. And so well made! Nice side invisible zipper darling and LOVE the drawstring hem!

Becky Ross: Well made, well fitted one shoulder dress. Love the baby blue color (I'm sure it was "too pastel-y" for the judges) and the details and styling (Gosh this model is GA-GA-Gorgeous!).

Olivier Green: I LOVED the suiting he showed in the "Road To Runway Special"! Incredible. And this jacket and skirt look were consistent with that. This look is very Alexander Wang-meets-Calvin Klein. Very New York City! The only thing I fear is the all-gray-all-monochromatic-simple chic aesthetic might end up "Too One Note" for the show and the judges. Time will tell...

But, now, let's go back to those CRAZY CROTCHES:

Designer Julie Tierney's outfit of a printed & color-blocked top with "Parachute"-looking wide-legged pants was a bad look strewn together from a Goodwill Store. The pants were a MESS. Julie showed some AMAZING outerwear during the "Casting Special" and so I assumed she would have done a FAB Cocoon coat out of all that poly-cotton bed sheet fabric...but nope, she did some FUGLY pants!

Next up on the Bad Crotch Alert: Joshua Christensen. Huney, those shorts were three sizes too small. Exhibits A and B: Notice the pulling "whiskers" on the crotch and the side pulling opening up the pockets and rising the outseam of the short. Classic Pant 101 signs that it is TOO DAMN TIGHT.

Someone who called in sick during "Pant Making Week" of Fashion College, was Laura Kathleen. Boy oh boy oh boy! First off, those pants are a NASTY shade of "Day After a Nuclear Explosion Gray". And then, again, we have a KRAZEE Crotch and too-tight waist. When you can make a size 2 model look "hippy" you know you've done something wrong! Notice the pulling of the darts and upper hip area. I'm getting the feeling that I may need to give a Fit Class to incoming Project Runway contestants. For a BIG fee!

Just-learned-how-to-sew Miss Trinidad and Tobago 2008 Anya Ayoung Chee's look, which was one of the judges faves (still don't know why), also was a victim of amateur pattern-and-fit education. Michael, Nina, Heidi--they all LOVED her pants but look above: I want to grab about FOUR inches off that saggy crotch!

Finally, skirts were not immune to fit problems last night. How designer Cecilia Motwani slipped past the judges "Worst List" is beyond me. If that model took one more step, we would have seen her BRITNEY! Not cute.

But the Worst Offender was Rafael Cox, who became the first official Season 9 Casualty (technically the FIFTH!). His was pretty BAAAD. Just for the plain fact that those gray leggings made the model look like a homeless Tranny going to the liquor store at 1:58am is enough to get the Auf Wiedersehen !!

Here's the "Intro" to My Recap of the First "Premiere" Episode:


Fashion Grand-Daddy Is BACK!

Gather your friends, uncork the red wine, get some crudités and put your best skinny jeans on. Why? HELLO: Season 9 of "Project Runway" is finally upon us! (Gosh, we missed you, Tim!) When we last left the "Grand-daddy" of Fashion Reality Shows, there was MAJAH drama: In case you forgot, the favorite of last season, Mondo Guerra, didn't win and instead the crown went to Gretchen Jones, who quickly gained the moniker of “America's Most Despised Woman on Reality TV."

Before you knew it, there were rioters with pattern shears demonstrating in front of Parsons and the Lifetime headquarters. OK, not so much. (I love to exaggerate!) Cut to nine months later, and the anger has subsided, and now, we're moving forward. New season and (I'm sure) new "characters" to love and hate. Oh, and yeah, there's the FASHION!

To Read my entire Recap--Click HERE on MyLifetime.com "Project Runway Blogs" and of course, PLEASE let me know your "Two Cents"!!! I LOVE reading all the comments!

Nick Verreos Project Runway Season 8 Recaps on MyLifetime.com: Episode 12: The Big Apple!

The "Dress To A Chic NY Funeral Challenge"?

The Funeral Brigade: Designs by (L-R) Mondo Guerra, Gretchen Jones, Andy South, Michael Costello, and April Johnston

This past Thursday was the 12Th (!) Episode of Season 8 of Project Runway...and the Theme was "The Big Apple". They had 2 days and $500...and all they came up with was a sea of BLACK!

Yes, New York City was the remaining designers' muse and they were "allowed" by the Honorable Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Distinguished Tim Gunn to use specific Landmarks: The Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park and the Lower East Side as their inspiration.

Instead of a celebration of NYC and all its Landmarks, it became a FUNERAL. A very Chic one at that! (I never would have imagined I would have used BOTH a coffin AND a funeral reference when writing about Project Runway). If you had tuned in mid-way through, you probably would have thought that yes, in fact, the Challenge for this week was "Create a Look for a Very Chic Funeral". The designs the contestants created reminded me a lot of...

These looks that very chic and famous women (L-R: Supermodel Naomi Campbell, French actress Ariel Dombasle, Heiress Fashionista Daphne Guinness, and designer Stella McCartney) wore at recent high-profile funerals of Alexander McQueen and Yves Saint Laurent. Actually, I like these outfits BETTER than the ones I saw on Thursday night!

Here are some suggestions of what I would have rather seen--as creations inspired by some of those NYC Landmarks:

Central Park:

Andy South did an all BLACK (yep, no surprise) mini dress that was supposed to have been inspired by Central Park. There was NOTHING in it that said Central Park. I would have loved to have seen something with COLOR! Those gorgeous greens, something with texture. How about something along the lines of...

This Jean Paul Gaultier Haute Couture hand-woven dress from his "Mexico" Collection. I know, maybe take out the leaves on the hair but at least, it's A) Creative, B) Looks like it cost money and took a lot of work, and C) It has COLOR. Or maybe something like...

This colorful printed dress from Diane Von Furstenberg's Spring 2010 Collection. It may not be Andy's "aesthetic" but hey, it might be nice to see the more "softer/feminine" side of him.

Lower East Side:

Not-so-nice "Miss Critique Corner" designer Gretchen Jones picked the Lower East Side and created my LEAST favorite look of the night. It was a mess, looked off-the-rack, and didn't even go together. She was still safe, of course. Reality TV loves a villain, kids...But I wished I would have seen something more along the lines of...

This Balenciaga by Nicolas Ghesquière denim-blue skinny pant and hoodie jacket ensemble with colored tank from his Spring 2010. Hot, edgy, and oh so "fashion girl living in the Lower East Side". But oh well, no such luck.

Statue of Liberty:

Michael Costello chose the fabulous Statue of Liberty and made a BLACK halter gown with a VERY HIGH side-front slit and VERY LOW back. There's a rule in design when it comes to these details: One but NOT both! Unless it's the Miss Universe Pageant! I would have been happier seeing a gown like...

This one above from Stephane Rolland Fall 2010 Haute Couture. It's got the one shoulder silhouette, the draping and even a bit of detail at the hem to suggest a bit of weight the you attribute to such a grand statue. Well, irregardless, Michael C. still won with this design leaving lots of people thinking "Say What??". Speaking of What the H***? , when asked what fabric was his dress, he didn't know. HE DIDN'T KNOW!!! It's not even cute.

Michael, I love ya, but I may have to give you an extensive course on Textiles in my Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising/FIDM classroom, but first you have to register and enroll!

In the end, it was April Johnston who got the boot this week, with her almost-all BLACK asymmetrical dress with zippered corseted bustier. In my blog for MyLifetime.com, I admitted I kinda liked.
It reminded me of something along the lines of a Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci , dark, Gothic, yet still feminine. However, the judges--and especially Michael Kors--thought it looked more like this:

Yep, a Witch! A pregnant one at that. Oh well, with that, April got on a broom and left the Parsons Workroom, sad but privately happy knowing that she still would show at NY Fashion Week--along with like 22 other "Auf'ed" designers...

Here's a Sneak Peak of my MyLifetime.com Recap of this Episode:

Witchy Vs. Bitchy
Gretchen should have been OUT. There, I said it. But she wasn't. I knew she was going to be in the "Final Four" since … well, since she uttered her first "I think EVERYONE ELSE'S designs SUCK!" critique. PLEASE, I'm too jaded. But still … What the heck did I just witness last night?: An uninspiring, off-the-rack outfit got put through by the judges, on "Project Runway." Do I sound frustrated? Yes. That's because I am. Last night's episode — and challenge — had such potential, yet I was — to quote Michael Kors — underwhelmed (by all the black) and unusually mad! What were the judges thinking? Well, let's find out …

Click HERE to read the ENTIRE Recap!!! And make sure to leave your Thoughts! I love reading them!