Tuesday, September 16, 2008

PR: One of my new worst episodes ever

There is so much dreadful stuff happening "out there" right now, touched on by my other dear friends in their blogs. But I just spent two days in the company of my beloved niece (and sister and brother and parents, of course), and am relishing those memories as my week gets busier, and I'm going to try to keep a glow for at least another day and a half.
So, business as usual, about PR last week...
Boo. It's well known that I hate episodes where designers come back. There is literally no point to it except to create artificial drama, and I don't like that one bit. As an additional problem, I don't "get" much about avant garde fashion. For me, avant garde is French for "trying to hard" or "self-conscious," which I also don't like. Now, sometimes I enjoy learning about what avant garde is. Last year's avant garde team challenge was actually pretty interesting. This year, it just bothered me. So much so that I saw only part of the episode, caught up on what the challenge actually was with a quick view of the beginning, and feel no need to watch the whole thing.
First, let me say that Suede should have gone home. I know that Terri didn't work well with Keith. I know that there were some problems with her garment, and I learned from Tim's Take that Terri's outfit looked worse at the party, which I didn't watch (somehow it makes me even more mad, since she did some editing that showed she was listening to criticism). But Suede has been a consistently weak performer, this week included. It made no sense. It's one of those times when credibility is lost.
Blayne: He deserved to go. The design was hideous, and if anyone has ever had questionable taste at any moment on the show, it is Blayne with this outfit. My eyes! My eyes!
Jerell: For me, Jerell is just a little too tied to shiny fabrics. Many of his designs look like they are employing lame', and despite certain of my perferences as a teen, I'm not that fond of the look now. I respected Jerell's skirt, am ambivalent about the sweater, and am not at all fond of the blouse.
Joe: I actually liked the look of Joe's outfit, though Tim says that Daniel had a very large role in its execution. It looked a little couture and wearable, and I liked the color story. Put a pair of wings on it, and it might be an Amy Brown fairy picture. Things said about the "team" dynamic turn me off, though.
Kenley: No one seemed to understand Kenley's design. While I don't get the Aquarian angle, I do see what she was going for with the dress. I'm not sure what that says about me, but I see a power struggle between sweetly feminine and uber-strong and severe. Tim called it cartoonish, but I prefer to think of it as caricature, maybe even of Kenley herself. I don't care much for the color story, and I'm enormously tired of bubble skirts, but I as I said I "got" what she was after and could interpret it in my own way. The fact that no one else seems to be able to is perplexing, to say the least. I was sitting there thinking people were being prejudiced against "getting" Kenley or didn't want to see the look. I just don't know.
Korto: I'm not really a fan of this design. Normally I'm all about blues, but sometimes I feel like Korto's color choices are not refined enough. On my TV (and computer screen) at least, they end up looking a little less expensive than I feel they ought (same trouble with the yellow last week). The look had some interest, but not enough.
Leanne: I didn't "get" Leanne's look. Tim and Daniel loved it, so I'm guessing there is something about it that doesn't translate on TV. Maybe if I'd seen the construction, I might have seen better how the thing came together, but I just wasn't with it onscreen. I like the dark red and the black together for Scorpio, and I like the thought of an exoskeleton, and I like that Leanne and Emily got to work together, but in the end...I just don't know. Can anyone help me? It certainly wasn't my pick to be auf'd, but I didn't fully understand.
Suede: I felt like Suede was designing for Aladdin's bride. The look was costumey, the proportions were strange, and the back piece was incomprehensible. Suede should have gone home.
Terri: Editing was a problem for Terri in this challenge, and the color story here was also a little weird. Unlike Suede, though, I could see what Terri was after, and I liked some of the structural elements.
As you can see, this episode bothered me on multiple levels, and left me confused in a manner similar to Blayne's design. I can't even talk about it anymore, I'm so annoyed.

So, based on who is left, I want Leanne and Korto in the finale and don't really care about the last spot or two.

2 comments:

Mrs. White said...

Like you, I really didn't get why Terri went home. Blayne's outfit was completely inappropriate (I think. What the hell is avant garde, anyway?) and fugly as all get out. Terri's was at least reasonably good looking and made a certain sort of sense. And I'm probably in the minority here, but I think it looked better at the party. She had this fur collar thing on it that everyone hated, but I think made sense. Leo's a lion, after all. What's so crazy about fur?

Anyway, I thought Leanne's was gorgeous. I'm not sure I get why it's Scorpio, but that little lady can put together a interesting and yet beautiful piece. Love her.

Carrie said...

At first, I really didn't mind that Terri went home, but then I realized I don't like most people left, so it really doesn't matter to me. Terri's attitude bugs the hell out of me and I did think that dress was tacky. Kenley bugs the HELL out of me, and I hated her dress. Her attitude on the runway is really inappropriate.

I really liked Joe's dress, and I don't think it mattered who worked on the design more, because he's the only one left. Leanne's was my favorite, and that girl better win. I could not figure out Jerrell's dress at all, and am still confused as to why he won.