October 9, 2008 at 11:15am
Last week we reached a dramatic climax, as the designers AND judges descended on spoiled brat Kenley like a pack of hungry wolves. And it was good. This week, things had to calm down, or someone would have left the runway missing an organ. Actually, I might have preferred that...
Before heading home to start their Fashion Week collections, Heidi gave the Final 4 one last task: to design a wedding dress as part of their collections. The designers universally balked at the idea, as they were looking forward to finally being able to design without constraints. But they all sucked it up. While leaving their apartments, Kenley rudely walked right out the door without saying goodbye to a single one of her fellow competitors, and hoofed it to her New York apartment.
There presumably she watched the season as it aired on Bravo and realized what a horrible bitch she's been, because when the designers all reconvened a week before Bryant Park, we were treated to a kinder, gentler Kenley. After a totally disingenuous apology, she was complimentary to Tim, jokey with the rest of the designers, and practically bubbly on the runway. Call me a cynic, but it's totally an act. Nobody likes to be painted as the villain, and I think for career preservation alone Kenley knew she had to do some groveling. Let's see how long this new Kenley can hold up, because you know that woman can't handle stress without snapping.
After returning the designers were given one OTHER last challenge, to create a bridesmaid dress to go with the wedding dresses they'd created. Leanne rocked both looks (check them out, and the other dresses, by clicking here), as her wedding gown is this amazing, tiered, hyper-structured gown that kind of resembles a car air filter or a nautilus shell, but looks totally fashionable and lux. (Her collection is inspired by waves and movement, and that was clearly put forth in the dress.) Her bridesmaid dress integrated the wave motif in the bust, and brought in the icy blues and soft greens that make up her collection's color palette. I can't wait to see what the whole thing looks like next week.
I actually loved Kenley's wedding dress, a feather-and-tulle confection that wouldn't look out of place in a production of "Swan Lake," but which was still romantic and flirty and appropriate to the task. Michael Kors dinged her for coming awfully close to a recent dress by Alexander McQueen, but the judges all loved it anyway. Her bridesmaid dress was too simple for my liking, and seemed totally separate from the wedding dress (it was a navy blue thing with a mesh top; cute, but nothing special), and she too moved on to Bryant Park.
That left Korto and Jerrel in the bottom 2, and they had similar problems. Both of their wedding gowns were totally overworked and over the top, and incidentally, pretty damn fugly. Korto's was covered in ruffles and seams and had this really unfortunate bustle that made her model's ass look ENORMOUS. It was also a sandy gold color that just...yuck. Her bridesmaid dress was dinged for being under-designed, but I thought it looked like almost everything else she's sent down the runway so far, and also fit kind of poorly.
Where to begin on Jerrel? Let's start at the bottom, a billowing pile of dirty-looking gray tulle topped by a wrinkly, draped gold fabric that peaked at the bust, looking kind of like bunny ears. Underneath that was a line of jewels right underneath the boobs, which were themselves covered by a bra made out of gaudy stones. And then he topped it off with, like, an entire tree branch worth of red petals. The model looked deranged. His braidsmaid dress was this hideous blue/green number that was sewn poorly, wrinkly as all get out, and at one point he considered sewing on a flower accessory with yellow yarn. ... Yeah.
Thankfully, Jerrel got the boot. I know he won three challenges, but I was never a fan of his work, outside of that amazing Olympics outfit he created that was so cracked out it somehow wrapped back around to being awesome. His first win for the zodiac challenge should have gone to Leanne. His second win, for the college grad challenge, was...fine. Nothing exciting. And his most recent win for the inspired-by-nature challenge still boggles my mind. That gown was hideous, I don't care what anyone says. So I'm glad he's gone; I also thought he was totally fake and completely self-scripted the entire time. Even his more "emotional" moments this episode seemed devoid of any actual feeling. I think he was a guy with some sewing talent who really wanted to be on TV. And, hey, at least he's a winner in that regard.
So despite such an awful season I think we got a decent Final 3. Kenley makes for a great villain (and the previews suggest she'll be back to her old tricks once we hit the final show), Leanne is awesome, and Korto can make some interesting looking clothes. So let's just finish this bitch already.
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Comments for ""Project Runway": Runaway, bride" (2)
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Todd Rezsnyak said on Oct. 12, 2008 at 11:13pm
I can't wait to see that hateful Kenley lose. I hate her with the power of 1,000 suns.
Bob said on Oct. 13, 2008 at 11:30pm
Kenley. Blech!
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