Notes on Project Runway

First of all: the best way to watch this show is to have a huge feverish cell phone conversation about it with your friend Mitchell at every commercial break. Show stops, commercial starts. Phone rings. No hello, nothing like that. We just launch right in. “Kara is LOSING it, huh?” “I am not wacky about that fabric.” “Which window did you like best and why?” “Oh, it’s on again.” Hang up. No good-bye. Just hang up. Only to repeat the entire thing at the next commercial interval.

Thoughts:

— I think Tim Gunn is an absolutely riveting television personality. I love, first of all, how he talks – that voice of his – kind of clipped and precious – and yet totally eloquent. When he said “P … U …” about Santino and Nick’s window… But I also like that his comments to all the designers as they make their creations are really insightful – and he’s usually right. Like, I know nothing about fashion – but when he makes a comment, I can go: “Ohhh, uh huh … he’s totally right about that.” I LOVE HIM. Also, I love him because … to me, he is the definition of true CAMP. I don’t really know what I’m talking about, but in my mind: true camp is NOT phony, or just surface flamboyance. Camp is supposed to exist at the cellular level. Tim Gunn is CAMP at the cellular level. But it’s just who he is. Great personality.

— Santino and Nick really blew it on their Banana Republic window design. It was crap. They didn’t take it seriously and it looked awful.

— I found Kara’s emotional breakdown fascinating. Psychologically. And I loved how Zulema just kept going – and kept Kara working. “I don’t care if you cry and cut … but you better not cry and stop cutting.” hahaha

— Marla is way out of her league. And to quote Mitchell, “What I find most unforgivable about Marla is that she is wearing pink-flowered pants.” I like her – and I feel bad for her – but that’s no reason to win a contest!!

— Daniel, once again, comes through. I think he’s great. I thought their design was perfect – I loved the dress – and I also thought that the two of them worked together very well.

— Heidi Klum is radiant. I mean, yeah, she’s got the makeup and the hair and the shoes – but she’s just radiant. You can tell.

— Santino, here’s a message: Please do something about your grease-ball hair. You really have some hygiene issues. I know that you’re very talented – it’s obvious – and you should NOT be designing for regular people – that’s not your deal. You’re going to be a high-fashion designer – one of those renegade weirdos – and everyone makes fun of the clothes on the runway (“Who would wear that???”) – but eventually the trend will trickle down into the regular populace. But you have NOTHING to do with the regular populace, and you know that, and I think it’s great. Your destiny is something different. HOWEVER, I must reiterate my original point. You could definitely use some deep-conditioner with that hair, especially if you insist on keeping it long. I bet your toenails are too long, too. I just have a feeling about that. Please trim your toenails.

— I find the final comments from the judges SO interesting. Like I said – I know nothing about fashion, and I just don’t have that kind of eye. So I just love to hear their responses – which, in general, seem quite apt – and right on the money. They made the comment that it was obvious that the outfit designed by Kara and Zulema was done by two designers. They picked up on that dynamic. It’s actually all really interesting.

— Santino is a big. Fat. Baby. Whiny long-toenailed grease-bomb. But damn. He’s an awesome villain. He’s a catalyst. You NEED Santino. Because he’s dramatic. But the way he challenged Michael Kors on the runway – “I bet there are lots of women out there who don’t even know who Michael Kors is …” Hey Santino, here’s a question for you: Who brought you up? How ’bout some manners, chappie?

— Poor Nick. He was sucked into the vortex of Santino’s narcissistic gross-toenailed black hole. I think Nick is quite good – and I would love it if he won. I’m kind of rooting for Daniel, though.

— Poor Kara. She just couldn’t stop crying. She was exhausted and she experienced a psychotic break with reality. Over fashion.

Yup. Great television, folks!!!

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18 Responses to Notes on Project Runway

  1. mitchell says:

    im laughing out loud at how very right and how very serious u are about Santino! He’s gross..but great television. Even his size is sort of gross..he hovers over people like one of those angry apple trees in the Wizard of Oz..except with bad teeth,greasy-hair and long discolored toe nails. Ha. I think Daniel needs a haircut…i get it..but it doesnt flater his face..i think he’s actually pretty sexy if he would only dump the neo-Sean Cassidy thing with the hair.

  2. red says:

    Oh. My. God.

    Santino is totally an angry apple tree.

    I can’t stop laughing.

  3. mitchell says:

    his breath smells of gum disease,benson&hedges, and the everything bagel with chive cream cheese he had for lunch!

  4. mitchell says:

    oh..wait is that my breath?

  5. mitchell says:

    nope…phew.

  6. red says:

    Oh man. You just KNOW it’s true!! He’s just a sloppy mama’s boy, when you get right down to it.

    And I thought his design for this last challenge was obnoxious – I loved his wacko lingerie line and I actually really liked his Nicky Hilton party dress too – Yeah, he’s over the top, but I think it’s kind of cool.

    But this one I didn’t like.

  7. Betsy says:

    Thanks for starting this conversation – it’s so fun! And watch the first season if you get the chance – We can save it and discuss at the next deck gathering…

  8. red says:

    I wonder if it’s on DVD? I am totally addicted now.

  9. Patrick says:

    When you post things like this I wish I hadn’t cancelled my cable television.

    And you might have to add this to your wish list.

  10. brendan says:

    i have no idea what any of you are talking about.

  11. Jon F. says:

    You’re pretty much on the money with your descriptions of all of ’em. I don’t like Zulema, though. You see the first episode where she took the whole closet then said, “I don’t share?”

    I love how laid back Daniel is. I think this is his 2nd win – he’s so understated. Did you see last week when he didn’t have enough fabric? He just sat there, chilled out, but wound up doing a great job.

    Two things I love about this show: all of the designers have a certain baseline of talent. Even the crappiest design is something I couldn’t comprehend how to do. I can sing horribly for American Idol, I can dance like a drunken sailor, but give me 30 minutes to come up with a design, $150 and 30 minutes to buy materials, and 12 hours to actually create it? Amazing talent.

    The other thing is that throughout the show, many of the challenges are REAL. The winner actually GETS something out of it – Daniel and Andre’s garment will actually be SOLD by Banana Republic. Nicky Hilton is actually going to WEAR the dress.

  12. Jen says:

    EW. My toes curled at the thought of the state of Santino’s toenails. EW. I went berserk, yelling at the TV, when he dared to question MICHAEL FUCKING KORS and said no one knew him.

    But then, my horribly fashion-challenged boyfriend was like, “Um, is he as famous as Calvin Klein or Ralph Lauren?” Well, no. But still, Santino needs to shut his greasy trap and treat these judges with a little more respect.

    I really wish Zulema had slapped Kara and screamed, “Snap outta it!”

  13. red says:

    Jon – totally. Mitchell and I were talking about that last night – We couldn’t even begin to do what these people do. It’s quite amazing.

  14. Lisa says:

    From the Fug Girls:

    Nicky Hilton’s appearance on last week’s episode of the delicious and delightful Project Runway proved that she was way less annoying than I thought she was, and also that she’s kind of low energy, which I guess isn’t that surprising since sharing a family with Paris Hilton would probably make a girl retreat deeply into herself, to a place of great silence and psychic pain.

    Hahahahahaahahaaa!

  15. Serenity says:

    A friend and I used to do that..watch a show over the phone together…the exception is that we never hung up. We talked during commercial break and then when the show came back on, would be silent. Sometimes we would ask a question or say something during the show. A lot of people thought that was a weird thing to do…but as you know, it’s actually pretty cool.

  16. Just1Beth says:

    Brendan- I am with you. I have no idea about when or what channel this program is on, but it makes me want to watch it!! I love how Sheila’s comment about how she can just tell he has long toenails morphs into Mitchell describing them as “gross and discolored”! Ha hahahahaha!!

  17. Tanya says:

    I’m standing alone. I loved Santino and Nick’s design and I think the BahNANA Republic person thing was full of it when she said it wasn’t right for BahNANA. I present my evidence-

    http://www.bananarepublic.com/browse/product.do?cid=5101&pid=324255

    Kimono sleeves are universally flattering.

    That said, Santino is a tool and I preferred the Emmett/Chloe colab the best.

    And…scene.

  18. red says:

    Tanya – I can’t stop laughing about “And … scene”

    GENIUS!

    And excellent work with the linkage – you are right – perhaps Santino was onto something when he said, “This is the direction they need to go.”

    I just feel he needs to do something with his hair.

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