Thursday, January 26, 2012

PR All-Stars: Good Taste Tastes Good

Hello, PR fans! I type with weakened fingers, as I finally made it back to Zumba tonight and am now spent. Lifetime, be gentle with me. The title of this week's episode gives me some pause, given that last week we had Miss Piggy as our guest judge/client. Tonight are we going to see Charlie the Tuna?

No, but I'm not as far off as one might think. The designers' next challenge is to make an outfit inspired by the colors and flavors of gelato, and they've actually got some poor scoop jockey with a cart from "L'arte de Gelato." April points out that the board of flavor options is rather over the top, and she doesn't even know what some of these flavors are (notably, "Fruits of the Forest"). Michael is last week's winner, so he gets to pick first.  He scampers over and chooses grapefruit, and is handed a tall skinny cone from the server.  He's a little disappointed, because the ice cream is sort of pale blush-colored, not the ruby-red grapefruit color he'd hoped for.

Michael then chooses the next person to pick--Mondo. Mondo wants cantaloupe. Mila chooses "Milk and Sour Cherries." April chooses blueberry. Jerell chooses the infamous Fruits of the Forest, which turns out to be a rich red color. Kenley chooses passionfruit. Austin chooses Vanilla Madagascar (I have visions of a white gown with a Carmen Miranda hat). Anthony chooses green tea. Rami chooses kiwi, and last is Kara, who winds up with "chocolate with cayenne pepper." She's disappointed, but I don't think it's a bad pick--I'm not sure why she's so upset.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

PR All-Stars: Model Muppets

Hello, all-star readers! While I'm enjoying the season thus far, I can't say that I'm particularly excited for tonight's episode, "Patterning for Piggy." Not only has the Muppet movie come and gone, but I don't care if these designers can design for a puppet. And I don't really need to see a talking ball of foam judge the dresses.  But hey, maybe they'll surprise me.  And it's certainly ripe for a Surprise Twist, in which the designers think they're making a dress inspired by Piggy, but then at the last minute ALSO have to make a matching dress FOR Piggy! (If it happens, you totally heard it here first.)

Angela comes out and does a coy intro to the challenge, telling the designers they're to design "a flamboyant cocktail dress for one of the most famous fashionistas in the world." She also tells them that this guest has had everyone from Burberry to Prada design for her. Huh. I did not know that. Austin thinks it'll be Cher or Lady Gaga, but the designers all laugh, and a lot of them seem really psyched. The Muppets touched us all, I guess. We see a lot of Miss Piggy shots in various outfits, and there's one with straightened hair that kind of reminds me of Jill Zarin. Ah--"the winning designer's cocktail dress will be modified for Miss Piggy's figure." So they still get to build human-sized clothes, at least. (Good thing--you know how these designers all are about working with plus-sized models!)

In the workroom, Mila decides to go 60s Mod for Piggy, because it doesn't need to be costumey. Kenley tells us she loves Miss Piggy because she grew up watching the cartoon, and I immediately start grumbling that that isn't authentic Piggy. Muppet Show is where it's at! Statler & Waldorf 4eva!  Let's go to Mood and walk it off.

Austin wants a hot pink fabric, but Gordana notes that a lot of other designers are grabbing black. I also observe that this time, the designers keep their own time...no Tim (or even Swatch!) to chivvy them along. With an "All right, Mood, Imma holla atcha!" from Anthony, we're off to the workroom to sew, sew, sew!

Gordana doesn't want to do structure, like the other designers are--she feels that her vision is more free-spirited and flowing, which is beautiful on a woman (or a pig, I guess). Mondo tells us that he thinks her dress is beautiful, quiet and soft, and doesn't fit the challenge requirement of "flamboyant." I'm thinking that all this working footage would be improved if they played the theme to the Muppet Show over the top.  Here you go (here you go, here you go again...)!


Thursday, January 12, 2012

PR All-Stars: A Night at the Opera

Hello again, lovely Runway fans! I have made my peace with this new, Tim Gunn-less runway, especially because I have it on good authority that he will definitely be back for next season. Whew! (Also, for all you fans of Gunn's Golden Rules, he's working on a new book!)  I've tuned in early enough to catch the "coming up on this season," and it looks like Isaac definitely won't stay as sedate as he was this week--for good or ill.

Angela welcomes the designers and announces the guests who will deliver this week's challenge: the two men who make up Badgley Mischka! Badgley (or Mischka) demonstrates via self-tanner that orange is always in fashion. The task tonight is to design a dress for attending the opera, and it should be fabulous and creative. (I assume they're referring specifically to opening night at the Met, which I know is fancy because Alex and Simon made a big deal of it on RHONY. See how educational reality TV can be?)

The designers all retire to the workroom to sketch before heading to Mood (with $350, but only a day to make the dress), and I find it interesting to see how few of them embrace the sponsor's HP Think Pads for sketching. April tells us that on her season, she used a ton of black, so this time she's embracing color. Not, apparently, in her hair, however.  Austin tells us he was called "the king of couture" on his season of PR (was he?), and will be humiliated if he doesn't do well on this challenge.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Project Runway All-Stars: Retro Edition

I'm back, lovely blog-friends! And having just come home from seeing The Book of Mormon, I am high on life. (Don't worry, Mom, they didn't convert me--but I am still humming.)  And to quote another sacred text, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, I am breathless with antici...PATION at the prospect of seeing all (OK, some) of our favorite PR alums! Into the dressing room we go...

We begin with introductions and--whaaaaa? Where's Michael? Where's Nina? That's right, we have all new judges for this season! I am shocked...but it does eliminate the possibility of playing favorites. Interesting! We get quick clips with all the designers, but while all the faces are familiar, I'm not sure of everyone's names, so we'll wait and see.  There's also a replacement Heidi--another model I don't recognize. But what about Tim? Is there a Through-the-Looking-Glass Tim? I don't think I could handle that.