pr
This has been the season of challenges that I like the idea of but dislike the way they're executed. More need not be said about Everyday Women, for example, but like that one, I liked the idea of a Couture challenge in Paris -- it's a little different, it requires a higher level of skill, and a beautiful new location! But after it's been explained so carefully that couture requires hand-sewn details, custom fit, etc., why keep the challenge so abbreviated? Why not give the designers time to actually show what they can do, even just an additional day or two, and add the "pressure" that I'm sure the time constraint was meant to add by letting the designers know that the additional time would mean that the bar would really be raised and the judges would be looking for a whole new level of creativity and execution? For something like this challenge, where the impeccable nature of the garment is so important, I really would have liked to see what the designers would have come up with if they had an additional day or so. I really thought the dresses were lackluster across the board, compared to other work these same designers have done, and I really think part of that is due to adding all of the additional requirements of couture without some additional resources of time (or, hey, why not give them auf'd designers -- or perish the thought, professional seamstresses -- to help execute? Surely that would be more of a real-world experience than the idea that they'd have to create a couture dress by hand in two days.)
My other quibble was, why make them fly back to NYC? Laura's dress really suffered, I thought; the difference between Paris and NY was painful and I don't really think she's to blame. I don't think the travel helped anyone's dress, and I don't think having to re-fit the dresses on a new model helped either. And unlike the jetsetter challenge, where you could see how making the outfit travel well fit into the challenge theme (though they could have explained that better), packing up a dress willy-nilly to take it on a flight and then fitting it quickly on someone else seems the antithesis of couture. What was gained by this? They should have either had a panel of all-French guest judges (or Heidi + French judges) or flown Heidi, Michael & Nina out to judge there. Although I did love Richard Tyler as a judge -- I liked the way he just looked at the dresses as they came down the runway (while I continually yell at Jeff for the look of transcendent smugness on his face when his dress is presented, I do think that one of the hardest things about PR must be knowing that there's a camera focused on you while you're just watching something. It's like they say in acting, the hardest thing is listening, and these folks aren't actors). And I also thought Tyler not only gave good critique, but couched it in a courteous and kind way.
I can see why Jeffrey's dress won, though I wouldn't have picked it as the top but probably would have chosen Uli's. But it was nicely executed and looked good on the runway. My problem with his dress is more a problem with the judges -- how "bold" and "audacious" and "risky" is it to present a dress that McQueen et al. put out there at least five years ago? I mean, if I can look at couture and identify the design influences, it's not that obscure. This is an issue I have with how Jeffrey's being received this year, because I don't think his point of view, while distinct, is any more original than, say, Laura's (though I don't think it's less original, either). It just comes from a different, though certainly entrenched, well-known and highly praised branch of fashion, the McQueen, Westwood, Gaultier side, and at this point in time I don't think there's anything particularly edgy or risky about being influenced by their past work. For the record, I don't think this means that Jeffrey shouldn't have won, or that there's anything wrong with being influenced by those designers and showing it -- I just don't think it's any more radical than being influenced by YSL, or Balenciaga, etc. At this point, it might actually be *more* radical to be influenced by a more traditionally classic designer, like someone like Kanye going preppy. And I think that last year, the judges called Santino on his claims of edginess more overtly, telling him that they'd seen his influences before (I remember an exchange with Nina very clearly), and I don't feel like Jeffrey's getting that same questioning.
For the other designers, I really liked Laura's dress in Paris. I think she probably could have gone even bigger with the ruffle at the neck and at the sleeves, but I thought it was sleek and dramatic and looked like her style but on a higher level. It also looked different from the basic structure of the other gowns, including Jeffrey's. However, in NYC the ruffle just died and as that was the main focal point, the dress just died. Possibly this was a design flaw -- if the ruffle had been bigger (more exuberant as Tim would have it, which is a great description of it), perhaps it wouldn't have deflated so much? -- but I just don't understand why the dress had to travel.
I thought Uli's dress was lovely, and probably would have chosen it to win. The problem with something like Jeffrey's dress, I think for me, is that while well-done it wore its influences so obviously. As soon as I saw that, I thought, I've seen this plaid/tartan/deconstructed gown thing before, and could even see magazine covers. Uli I'm sure has her own influences, but they didn't jump out and slap me like Jeffrey's did. I thought her dress was beautiful, and it wasn't a print!
Kayne's skirt was beautiful, I thought, and looked fantastic on the runway. A great mix of colors, and a great flow. From a distance, his bodice looked good, but every time they did a closeup I winced. He's actually someone who might have benefited from an extra day or two to do true painstaking work -- if he'd been able to completely hand-detail the bodice it might have ended up looking more classic and less over-the-top. Although I have to say, as soon as I heard Tim, in describing couture, mention beading I was like, Are they trying to make Kayne throw himself off the cliff with this challenge? That's just unkind -- you know he can't resist that kind of temptation! Next they'll be making Jeffrey construct a dress out of heroin, or arrogance!
Michael's -- I liked his concept, the color, and the effort he put into it, but it was a mess. I thought he should have been out there in the final two with Vincent, but I do give him credit for ambition, and he's another one who I wonder what would have happened if they'd had an extra day. I think it still would have been kind of a mess, because the top of the bodice was weird (I loved when they suggested he tuck it in on the runway). I did love the interchange where they were saying it looked like it had been through the wars, and he said someone threw an egg at it, and all the judges were like, Really? That's actually egg on it? and you could practically hear Michael thinking, No, I threw the egg on it myself as a design element, because I've suddenly turned into Vincent. But were they blaming him for it getting hit with an egg? Because I don't understand at all what he should have done differently.
Vincent was a plain and simple mess, poorly poorly done in a challenge that made it clear execution was key, and he made his own execution even easier to take (celebrated by a full parade instead of just balloons) by behaving like a delusional ass and a crazy stalker. I knew he was going, because I had to watch the midnight rebroadcast and I'd been spoiled by lj (beloveds, the lj-cut doesn't really help if your post's title indicates clearly who's gone home). If it had been anybody other than Vincent, I would have been pissed, but it was so clear from the start that it was his time I didn't mind so much. Bye!
In other PR stuff, Jeffrey is just a flat out ass who can let nothing go, especially not the chance to be gratuitously mean about someone. And I'm worried about Laura for next time, and I'm starting to fear that my most dearly held hope will be dashed and Jeffrey will make it to final three.