Project Runway – UnCANnily Ugly
There was less inspiring craziness than I usually like to see on Project Runway, but last night’s episode and its Campbell’s soup theme did make a perfectly adequate showcase for ugliness, tearfulness, and delicious judgy meanness.
The Campbell’s soup theme was less challenging than I would have liked, and the contestants were mostly interested in sending their models down the runway in enormous stop-sign colored dresses. Which I guess is okay, but my preferred techniques might have included: a dress made entirely out of Campbell’s soup cans, forcing the model to come clanking down the runway in a suit of soupy armor; a dress dyed red with Campbell’s tomato soup; a Warhol-esque application that involved sewn-on multi-colored fluorescent soup can artwork; or perhaps a dress printed with the nutrition information in enormous, serious sans serifed lettering, accompanied by a billboard-like hat that read simply, “SOUP.”
All I’m saying is, it was all right, but it could have been better.
The designers were no doubt held back in part by the presence and challenge of dressing “real” women, who required clothing that would look, you know…flattering. Despite this obstacle, a few designers managed to come up with dresses that totally ignored that request, most notably:
Jesus. (Jesus is the designer’s name, not my own exclamation of surprise. But notice how it kinda works both ways?) The best thing about this dress, beyond a shadow of a doubt, was the delicate shuddering and completely unmasked disgust it elicited from Michael Kors. “*Deep sniff* Where do I start? You basically took a checklist of everything that can turn tacky and combined it into one garment. Tight red satin, that short, plus the built in straps…” And later, “Hmm! Hmm hmm hmm… The second best thing was the look on Heidi’s face as she refrained from commentary and then asked Michael Kors to give his opinion, clearly relishing the impending avalanche of criticism.
The judges all liked this dress from Maya, but for me it was borderline fugly. Even the guest judge’s comments seemed to encompass this reaction to the dress: “I did like it, but I wasn’t sure whether I should like it.” Maybe the idea of incorporating an abstracted heart shape into the bodice was cute, but the sash cutting across the front of the dress looked a little pageanty, and the pleating and folding seemed unnecessary and sloppy.
The winner this week was Amy, who made a dress that was well constructed and also normal-looking. Even though this week was something of a flop for outrageous reality show productions, the judges’ commentary alone elevated it out of the dullness of last season. I’m just waiting for the show to take its inevitable turn when there are fewer designers left and the individual personalities stand out a little better.