Project Runway at Fashion Week
Project Runway has been winding down, leaving only four
designers to go (Chloe Dao, Kara Janx, Santino Rice, and Daniel Vosovic), but the big finale of Project Runway
is the actual runway show at Olympus Fashion Week, which took place between the 3rd and the 10th. What they did at
Fashion Week was have all four contenders present collections so that none of the spectators could give away who had
been booted (they did the same thing last season when poor Austin Scarlett was Auf Wiedersehen-ed)... The actual top
three finalists of Runway will not be announced until next week's episode, and only those three collections
will be televised.Do you like spoilers? C'mon. I bet you're dying to see what the designers have created... If you'd prefer to find out on your own, look away. If you'd like to be sneaky, check out this brief recap from Yahoo! (thanks, Martha!). Or, you can come look at some pictures I dug up from Fashion Week and take a real peek at the collections that they presented...
Things might look a little different on the show (hell, the designers might even give an explanation that will render my current opinions irrelevant)... What I'm saying here are strictly observations from previous episodes and these pictures.
Chloe Dao: The first thing I notice is the shininess of these fabrics (and that dreadful tan-line of that model in the blue, backless dress). Floral, lace, and shiny fabrics. I know it's probably just me, but I think of sofas and cushions when I look at these pictures (the puffy-sleeved, pink dress is pretty much a wearable loveseat). The floral fabric seems a little awkward for a dress (especially a full-length one). The execution is beautiful, though. Usually, I find Chloe's designs a little too simple (well-done, but simple) so it's nice to see a little drama in the folds this time.
Kara Janx: Honestly, I don't know how she got this far. There's no doubt that she has some interesting ideas, but is she really better than someone like Nick? I guess she's been lucky, doing well when it matters most (like during the last competition). If she ends up bumping Daniel out of the top three, I will absolutely flip out and probably strangle the first person I see. My emotions cannot handle another Wendy Pepper/Austin Scarlett fiasco again. Anyway, it's no surprise that her collection is the brightest of the four. She's got a lot of clashing colors that definitely give off a fun vibe. It looks like she took Season One Winner Jay's route by giving a bunch of the models something to wear on their heads to keep a hipster-theme running through the whole show. As always, the judges are unpredictable, so I don't know if they'll perceive this collection as fun or obnoxious. We'll just have to see...
Santino Rice: I was truly surprised by his collection. I was expecting to see colors burning my retinas but, instead, faced a lot (lot lot lot) of softer, muted colors. The execution wasn't as crazy as I expected either. He clearly took the advices from the judges and toned down a lot of his ideas (remember the figure-skating outfit?). There is one really strange piece that doesn't really make sense to me, though. It looks like a leather top and a sheer, metallic skirt? It's like a dominatrix musketeer meets... um... a sheer, metallic skirt. Overall, the pieces are well-made (and I love those flowy, muted green-and-coral dresses that he made) but, to me, it doesn't look like a total collection. How does the red dress fit in with the green-and-coral? And how does that fit in with the dominatrix musketeer?
Daniel Vosovic: While Kara had the most playful collection of the four, I think Daniel made the most mature. I don't want to say it looks boring... but, well, I just did. I mean, the sophistication is definitely there and the silohuettes are beautiful and elegant, so maybe I only feel that it's a little bland in comparison to the other three designers' stuff. Often, outfits need to be seen in motion to get the full effect... Hopefully, this is the case for Daniel's collection. I don't want to think too much about whether or not he had enough time to design because I'll get really worried about his placement in the top three (I remember Austin Scarlett presented a collection that looked a little unfinished last year; he said that he had to rush because Runway called him up after he got kicked off and asked him to create a last-minute collection to throw off the press). According to the Yahoo! article, Daniel was considered to be the favorite at the show (I guess the outfits really did have a bigger effect in person). This is good news for me because Daniel has long been my favorite. Go Team Vosovic!
I'm definitely anxious to see who wins. It's so difficult for me to even guess right now because there are equal pros and cons to each collection. What do you think?

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