Saturday, February 18, 2012

PR: All-Stars: God! What A Spell Of Bad Taste

This week is all about Broadway. The glitz! The glam! The show! The biz! The scenery! The lights! The...
Okay, I'll stop. It's about designing a costume for the rich bitch in Godspell, who loves money, to wear. It's about separates because the woman will don the costume onstage.
Mostly, though, it was about Austin's propensity for over-dramatization, eye-rolling, and hair-tossing as he rhapsodized about Broadway. And, apparently, finally cracked open that Thesaurus.
Let's rip...


JERELL
It's gold lamé! It's silver lamé! It's all lamé, all the time.
I just hope it isn't lame.
He says he loves texture, so texture it will be. And without any accessories because the jacket is the jewel, the jacket is the statement. Or, so he says.
On the catwalk, my first impression was Ladies Who Lunch--as sung by Broadway legend Elaine Stitch. Or, maybe it said, Ladies Who Go To Matinees At The Theater, not Ladies Whop Star In Matinees At The Theater.
Jerell gets the lone save this week and no critique from the judges. Jerell is lucky. His outfit was lame, not just lamé.


KENLEY
She's less polka dot, but still girly, flirty Kenley. A fabulous--her word--brocade coat will be the centerpiece of her design. It's signature Thrift Store. It's Kenley!
Her look seems too Thrift store, and I had hoped the feathered collar would have stood up; that would have given it the kind of crazy rock opera vibe it needed. The coat is cool, but the skirt and blouse don't gel.
And, as she tells us, "I don't make mediocre, half-assed pieces. I do every piece beautifully with a wow factor...so it must be annoying for those other designers."
Yeah, I'm not so sure that's what annoys them about you, Kenley.
Isaac said the outfit needed tweaking, and that the girl didn't look so much like she lived in the East Village, but rather she looked like she lived in a doorway in the East Village. Georgina thought the coat was fabulous, but that there was too much--feathers and dots and weird shoes--going on. Guest judge, two-time Tony winner Sutton Foster, wanted the coat for everyday life, but said it wasn't applicable to the stage, while Angela dubbed it eccentric, yet not rich enough.
Kenley goes Bottom Three, but Safe.


LADY MILA KILLJOY
She is all business. In monotone. "Okay, let's go to Mood." And she is still playing the I Hate Kenley and Kara Because They Like Each Other card. I mean, she practically scowls at the 2K's while they are playing in the workroom. Apparently, she was never asked to join in any 2K games. She dubs them "unnecessarily over-complimentary." I dub her green with envy.
Not as green as that wacky print she'll use for a pencil skirt. or that white bathmat looking fake fur jacket. I will, however, give Lady Mila props for staying away from the blacks and the grays for, at least, one week.
This week she's all about white fur and neon green and every single piece of gold jewelry she can rip off the Nieman Marcus accessory wall. I'm thinking she's thinking that with enough gold, it won't look so tacky. Wrong!
Jerell calls Milka's dress the "girl who couldn't get into the club." I called it the most hideous thing on the runway. That weird asymmetrical skirt actually looked like it was falling off the model, and that cheesy fur made me literally gag. She said it was filled with "fun" and "humor" and I will admit that it did make me laugh. Which isn't good.
Isaac liked top. And he liked the bottom. He just didn't like them when worn together at the same time on the same person. He said she looked like a drug addict, and not the kind on the good drugs. Georgina simply shuddered at the skirt and how wrong it was for the challenge. Sutton Foster wasn't so sure if it read rich party girl or whore, which is never good, unless you're designing for Sweet Charity.
Lady Mila Killjoy would have gone home this week if it wasn't for....


KARA
She seems to sway from dancing queen to Lady Macbeth. She's up; she's down; she's all over the place, like her designs. There will be fur, and a red maxi skirt, because that screams eccentric rich woman. She calls it simple and chic, but simple and chic does not say Godspell, a rock opera.
Kara's mood spirals out of control when Joanna Coles visits and questions whether she has the ambition and imagination to be an All-Star. Forgive me, Project Runway, but isn't that a question you should have asked yourselves before casting Kara?
Mondo calls it right when he says her model looks like a tube of lipstick, and adding, "She pushed it all the way to the edge, but she didn't push it over."
Kara provided this weeks WTF Moment® when her model appeared wearing a huge silver bow on her belly. She called it "rich bitch" I called it skinny model squeezed into a too-tight skirt. Angela loved the red, but felt the bow as too bulky. Isaac said it was Kara's best work yet, but, after she left the stage, he added that he didn't like it at all. Her best ain't so good, eh, Isaac?  Georgina said it needed some tweaks and that crazy ass skirt was off-kilter. Angela gave Kara props for pushing herself.....
Right out of the competition.


MICHAEL
His first design he felt looked too much like a dress anyone could wear so he started all over and created a skirt and blouse that anyone could wear.
Austin says Michael's design has no drama, and looks very Mother-of-the-bride. But Michael makes up for that by adding a Pebbles-and-Bam-Bam hat, replete with chartreuse feathers, to his model's head.
Still, on the runway it looks more cocktail than costume. The hat is fabulous, but it doesn't make up for the dress. And, sidenote, why, oh why, is Michael rockin' last year's Bieber haircut? Even Bieber's moved on from it. M'kay?
At any rate, Michael calls his look "whimsical and magical" and I think his bangs are obscuring his view...or at least clouding his mind. Georgina said it wasn't eccentric enough for the theater, and that the idea of that wacky hat should have been carried down to the dress. Sutton Foster said she looked like a rich party girl, even though it wasn't specific to the Godspell character. Angela added that there was some bitch in the dress, and that the girl looked like the Chiquita Banana girl. Isaac mostly liked the idea that Michael could make chartreuse look good.
Michael goes Top Three Safe.


AUSTIN
It's "illusion" and "fantasy" and a "huge honor" to be designing for "thesbians."
Um, Austin Starlet, er, Scarlett, it's thespians.
Anyhow, he was thrilled--hair toss, eyes wide open--to sit in the theater and sketch, while "absorbing the magic" of the room. His look would "speak luxury" and "opulence" through his audacious use of "baroque, rococo, brocades." It will be "conspicuous consumption" a la "Marie Antoinette." It's a lot of new words.
Like bemoan. As in, Austin bemoans the lack of time to finish a garment. As in, Austin bemoans the idea that other designers can use his sewing machine. Which causes him to mutter, "No one pushes Austin Scarlett around," though I'm guessing even Baby could put him in a corner.
To Austin, his look read "decadent aristocrat." To me, it read sad. There wasn't a wow, there was only what Austin culled from the Thesaurus as "flea market glamour." Georgina got the modern day Marie Antoinette vibe, while Sutton Foster said it would definitely draw attention on the stage. Isaac said it was wonderful, but maybe a bit too young, and made La Grande Faux Pas by calling Austin, Austin Starlet. Remember, no one pushes Austin Scarlett around!
Unless he gets the win, which he did not.


MONDO
He instantly went to a place of Lights! Sequins! Fringe!
Luckily, he only stayed there a minute and then he came back. At Mood, he goes for color and pattern, and over the top. He goes Mondo. He's one of the few that knows his outfit needs to read drama from a distance.
Up close, however, his design scares him, It looks heavy and overworked, and Mondo decides it needs a reboot' or a swift kick. He needs to get pissed off so he can grab the design by the balls and make it his bitch....or look like a bitch would wear it.
But his look gave us the Wow needed for the challenge. it ticked all the boxes: separates, eccentric, rich, bitch, crazy, rock opera.
Isaac loved the sexy crazy coat, and swooned over the dress beneath. He said it looked like it took weeks, not hours, to create. Georgina loved Mondo's use of mixed fabrics, but felt the dress fell short; literally, too short.
Still, it won because it completely filled the requirements of the challenge and it was fabulous to boot.
Mondo makes his Broadway debut!

5 comments:

  1. Kara - I could not get over that bow! Also agree that Mila was off the chart too.
    Great recap! I always notice things I didn't catch the first time around.

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  2. Fabu for Mondo! But I still think that Mila should have gone home...

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  3. Anonymous11:44 AM

    Austin's model looked so poised off. I kept hoping that she'd fall on that scowl.

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  4. Anonymous12:24 PM

    I didn't like Austin's outfit at all, and yet it nearly won? I'm no longer convinced the judges are cray cray. Based on Isaac Mizrahi's junk he sells on QVC they have no taste.

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  5. techy talk ahead - there is no comment do-whacky on the latest post! Evil-doers trying to censor Bob! I'll come back later as I have THINGS to say about Ken Hutcherson...!

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