PR ep. 6

Righteo, let's get on with it, shall we?
It always seems like right after I say something, PR gets there. So, when I was ready for group collections, bam. When I was ready for the unconventional materials, bam. Maybe a LITTLE late, but close. I probably would have switched the two. This week's candy challenge was fun--it didn't quite force everyone to work outside the comfort zone (witness how many people chose to work with fabric) but it did reveal who was willing to. I give major props to Jillian, but also to Jillian's model, who was open to the experience and participated in the creation of the garment by handsewing Twizzlers. Good on ya, Lauren. She is a model who seems to have a personality, which I appreciate (she was also Jillian's bib model from ep. 4)
Has anyone besides me noticed how much more scared this year's designers are? I think back to the grocery store challenge of season 1 and how everyone just sort of leapt in, some reluctant and some freaking out, but everyone his or her own private tornado. Now so many seem to just be in a corner rocking back and forth mentally.
Anyway. About our winner, Daniel V. in his blog writes: "She looks like [a] perky, little robot that would be stationed at the front of a candy store in the year 2046, handing out free Chiclets and pinching little kids['] cheeks." And I agree with that. In a good way (as Daniel in fact meant it). Rami's dress is pretty adorable, it showed innovation, and it was dangerous, being made mostly of paper. I wouldn't call it super wearable, and I thought it was interesting that the judges disregarded that when they called others out on it, but I had no regrets about it being named the winner. I felt that Chris's dress represented more a personal triumph; it was tasteful, a little undercooked I thought, but for him I think that is a remarkable achievement. Next to others, not as grand, but for him a great job. I've already commented on Jillian--I think she like Rami caught the purpose of the challenge and I admired her guts. Tim, in his blog, indicates that she won for him, and I was definitely torn between her and Rami. I'd really like to see those two in the finale.
Christian...Christian's dress reminded me of Mario's dress in season one...the shower curtain thing. It was pretty, but he himself seemed to point to his unwrapping of hundreds of candies to be his major achievement. I liked that he had a little hat with his garment, and his piece was certainly attractive, but...I really question whether it had enough difficulty to it. I also wondered if those candies had foil wrapping as well...wouldn't an accent of that gold foil somehow have been stunning? Tim Gunn mentions in his blog that he thinks Christian will be very polarizing, and I think he's dead center with that. He has so much to offer, and some gravitate towards his attitude, while others want to punch him. I cannot stand it when people are high on themselves to that degree, and I feel like I probably would not be friends with him. And he wouldn't care.
And the rest of our cavalcade: Not a fan of Victorya (not confectionary enough, or ice princessy), Elisa (good concept, but execution not so much), or Sweet P (who was not really a fan of her own work, either, this challenge). Ricky's garment seemed slick, but I am sick to death of bubble skirts, and frankly I think they're grotesque when used outside of the costume world. I liked Kit's garment more than the judges seemed to, but mostly because I really liked the bustier, and because I love KitKats. Kevin's garment was well put together, but I was disappointed that he didn't select any more challenging materials. It was cute, but safe.
I still don't feel like I know the designers well enough to pick favorites; often I do, and then they do or say something horrible, and I can't stand them anymore. Jillian is my frontrunner on average at this point. I think Rami is skilled, though I don't always like his style. Ditto for Kevin and Kit.
Next three weeks are going to be pretty crucial as we get down to less than half of the original set of designers. I have to count on major mistakes being made, and I think the judges will too, because I believe we have a larger than usual set of talents here.