I love Project Runway. Does anybody else love Project Runway? The new season (and final one before the show jumps ship to Lifetime) starts this Wednesday, so let’s talk about Project Runway and how much we love it.
I’ve been reading through the bios on Bravo’s site (warning! The website features “round ups” of future episodes that may be considered spoilers for some folks (for an explanation, see here) but the bio section is pretty spoiler free) and Korto is my clear early favorite:
She is inspired by rich fabrics and textures and says her designs are intended for real, full-figured women.
Heck yeah! She also appears to be the fattest designer ever on the show. And she has fantastic hair.
And if my eyes and memory do not deceive me, this is the first season that Bravo has featured two black women in the competition. Let us all say a little prayer to St. Saint Laurent that Bravo will avoid the reality TV race/sexism habit of editing Black women to appear bossy, bitchy, and mean, and then kick them off to great fanfare sometime in the first two episodes.
My early least favorite contestant has to be Suede because HE GOES BY SUEDE. And because Madonna is his biggest fashion influence. Ugh.
Okay, take it away.
24 comments
Comments feed for this article
July 15, 2008 at 8:49 am
Colleen
I’m usually super excited about a new season of PR but this one is really kind of soon after the last one. I’ll watch, though, of course. Go Korto and your fierce hair!
You know I love Madonna but using her as fashion inspiration is kind of backwards. She has all kinds of stylists and personal connections to designers, etc. Why not just be inspired by the people who manufacture her whole look?
Well, whatever, he calls himself Suede so he’s not to be trusted.
July 15, 2008 at 9:23 am
OTM
There’s nothing wrong with citing Madonna as your fashion inspiration, per se, I guess, but it’s just so predictable, especially because his name is Suede. SUEDE. God.
I mean, if the punk rock lady had picked Madonna and SUEDE had picked Vivienne Westwood, that would be something interesting.
July 15, 2008 at 10:27 am
kateharding
I haven’t even read this yet, but I just have to say I love that this came up in the feed for me two seconds after I posted about my shameful love for reality TV.
July 15, 2008 at 10:46 am
Sandy
I am soo excited about the new season! I usually don’t like reality shows…but for some reason I am addicted to this one!!!
July 15, 2008 at 11:03 am
OTM
Not to be a total snob, because I did just confess on Shapely Prose to enjoying an episode of Gossip Girl last night, but PR is the only reality show I watch, too.
I tried to watch that show about casting for a new Grease musical, because looooooooooooooooove the movie (I know, I know), but it was too awful for words and I couldn’t stick it out through the entire season. OH oh I have watched America’s Got Talent a couple of times, just to ROFL at The Hoff. Or HOFfL if you will.
But PR has a lot going for it. First, there is Tim Gunn. Second there is Nina Garcia and Top American Designer Michael Kors and Heidi Klum, who together are like the perfect storm of actual expert-level knowledge and professional experience tempered by enough capricious absurdity to make them trustworthy but then like totally puzzling and hilarious. Then there is nature of the competition, which is about creativity and talent, and not just exaggerated or wholly manufactured personality traits. I get an extra level of enjoyment out of the show because I know enough about garment construction to appreciate how crazy hard some of the challenges are. Also, so far, the editors have seemed to be more concerned with the actual creative side of the competition than manufactured drama for drama’s sake, which is something I am a little worried about given the future of the show.
Oh and finally, at least in the last couple of seasons, they have cast some really freaking talented designers, so that it becomes a joy to watch them work.
July 15, 2008 at 11:35 am
shinobi42
I don’t get Bravo, I don’t know why, and I”m so upset.
July 15, 2008 at 11:53 am
Tari
just to ROFL at The Hoff. Or HOFfL if you will.
I know nothing about PR….but you are so WRONG for this.
July 15, 2008 at 11:55 am
OTM
If HOFfLing is wrong, I don’t want to be right.
July 15, 2008 at 12:11 pm
TropicalChrome
My one reality TV addiction is Project Runway, but after the last season which was awful beyond words (not entirely its fault – it happened to coincide with a series of events in my life that were awful beyond words and they shall forever be conjoined in my head), I have been finding it very difficult to find any enthusiasm for this season. It doesn’t help that Bravo hasn’t been giving us anything to be excited about.
But I’ll be watching because as soon as they start cutting and sewing my own sewing gene kicks in, and I get all wrapped up in their techniques…
July 15, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Tari
I think I just HOFfled on my keyboard…
July 15, 2008 at 12:33 pm
OTM
Oh man, gross, Tari.
TropicalChrome, I have a similar association with Sheryl Crow’s “All I Want to Do (Is Have Some Fun).” To this day, hearing that song makes me cringe inside, and not just because the song pretty much sucks.
It’s true that Bravo is really lackluster about this season. That Jossip link up there explained a lot of the reasons why, but it makes me sad. Especially the part where Tim Gunn said he doesn’t like where the show is headed. :(((( Papa Gunn, NO! I’m still going to watch the shit out of it, though, because it is a LONG TIME until Battlestar Galactica comes back and every little bit helps.
July 15, 2008 at 12:38 pm
OTM
shinobi42, since Bravo is so half-assed about this season, maybe they will put episodes up on the web? Or I’m sure you can download them somewhere like maybe hulu.com?
July 15, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Laura
OTM!! Holy Frak I am DYING for some BSG right now!! I accidentally read a huge Starbuck spoiler and now I can’t stop thinking about it. Are you the person I ran into on the Cavil post a few months back? I don’t know enough people that are into BSG, so I get really excited every time I spot one on non-related blogs.
Also- I love PR. Were is this thing where Tim Gunn says he doesn’t like where the show is going? If Christian winning is any indication- neither do I. He made the same garment every single time. An extremely fitted torso with cap sleeves of some sort. My brain exploded after every challenge because the judges NEVER mention his lack of range. They said Chloie (sp?) didn’t have range and she was able to do men’s and women’s with lots of different shapes and constructions!! Project Runway was the first reality show I ever watched (starting with the 2nd season) and I’m a huge fan, but if some asshole like Jeffrey or Christian win this time, I don’t think I’m going to be watching it much more.
July 15, 2008 at 1:02 pm
TropicalChrome
It really does seem that Bravo is intent on grinding this season under their heels, but that does create one huge opportunity for Lifetime to make Season 6 spectacular by getting back to quality and taste.
Tim seemed almost a caricature of himself last season – or maybe that was the editing? It’s so hard to tell. I just hope there’s some more fun this season – not meanness, but fun. It’s clothes. It should be fun!
July 15, 2008 at 1:08 pm
OTM
You might be in luck, Laura. Part of what TG dislikes about this season is that there is no Christian. It also sounds like they cast based on personality more so than just talent this year, so that might mean more d-r-a-m-a, which I think is too bad although I know a lot of regular viewers will like that.
AND FRACK I am half dying to know what the SB spoiler is and half terrified of it. Don’t tell me, though, or else it will be like the time I found the TI CC-40 in my mom’s closet before Christmas and she returned it to the store. Which in hindsight was probably for the best. I am not sure what Cavil post you are talking about, but I have gotten all BSG-nutty on the Fatosphere here and there.
July 15, 2008 at 1:10 pm
OTM
TC, the producers should heed the words of the immortal Santino:
Lighten up! It’s just fashion!
July 15, 2008 at 1:12 pm
OTM
LOLOLOL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S1mBlVHXNM&NR=1
July 15, 2008 at 1:59 pm
April D
I always swore that I would never “stoop” to watching reality TV. Now my hubby and I are addicted to Top Chef and Project Runway! LOL. I always roll my eyes and the very obviously editing-crafted drama that Bravo tries to cobble together but being an avid fan of sewing projects I always love seeing what the contestants have to do and how they approach each task. Ahhh for guilty pleasures :) Hope the season regains its luster when it moves to Lifetime for the next season.
I can’t wait to start rooting for Korto! Oh and that “Lighten up it’s just fashion” is brilliant ^^
July 15, 2008 at 2:46 pm
lena
project runway is my guilty pleasure and really the only show i take time out of my life to watch (instead of waiting to download it or renting the box set).
and i’m not going to visit the site! i won’t pick someone to root for until episode one. as is the tradition.
July 15, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Twistie
Tim Gunn is so my imaginary gay boyfriend! I long to bake him some scones (he seems like a scone kind of guy) and have a good gossip. Last season I desperately wanted to bring Chris March home and feed him pie and then have him create something insanely wacky and OTT fabulous to wear.
I also happen to think that Christian is going to be the first PR winner to actually turn it into a viable career beyond reality show contestant. He’s got serious skill, a flair for drama, a marketable personality, and the absolute drive to do it. In S1 I totally picked Austin Scarlett to go places, and he’s got a great career for himself in wedding gown design. In fact, I saw him on a show about bridal trends a few months ago where he was finally introduced as a wedding gown designer rather than a former reality show contestant. Go Austin and his awesome soft-serve hair!
BTW, does anyone know if Wendy Pepper has finally manged to stop making a public embarrassment of herself? For her daughter’s sake, I certainly hope so.
And whatever happened to Andre?
PR is a pleasure…but not a guilty one for me.
Call me, Tim! Tell me your favorite flavor of scone and I’ll demand sweet, sweet gossip in return.
July 18, 2008 at 7:01 am
Big Fat Deal » Best Links Ever
[...] Ottermatic and Rachel both wrote about my beloved Project Runway. Korto is my clear early favorite: “She is inspired by rich fabrics and textures and says her designs are intended for real, full-figured women.” Heck yeah! She also appears to be the fattest designer ever on the show. And she has fantastic hair. And if my eyes and memory do not deceive me, this is the first season that Bravo has featured two black women in the competition. The carrot dangling before contestants on Project Runway is the opportunity and financial means to create their own fashion line. If we go by current estimates, some 60 percent of Americans are overweight or obese, according to continuously shifting government guidelines. Wouldn’t then the designer who designs clothes for a larger subset of the demographic thus have the best chance of success with their line? Here’s hoping Korto goes far in the competition. There are three billion women who could use some fashionable clothes. [...]
July 31, 2008 at 7:52 am
plumpdumpling
It’s interesting to me that you called Korto the “fattest designer ever on the show”, since during the “Project Runway” episode last night and the “Shear Genius” episode right after, I was complaining to my boyfriend that neither of the shows have a token fat person.
I guess Korto actually IS overweight by society’s standards, but I evidently didn’t see that at all. Which makes me a little bit proud of myself.
July 31, 2008 at 8:09 am
OTM
You know what? She is clearly NOT the fattest designer on the show, which honor I think would have to go to the adorable Chris March. But I think she might be the fattest woman ever on the show???
I don’t know now that I think about it. But you’re right. She’s not all that fat. I think I am just excited at her pro-fat design philosophy.
Also, Terry should have won last night. I DO remember the 80s power bitch dress era and I have no desire to see youngsters running around looking like Joan Collins on Dynasty. Blech.
August 12, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Big Fat Deal » Who Is The Mole?: Fat On Reality TV
[...] we’ve had Mandisa and LaKisha and Jennifer Hudson. On Project Runway this season, we have Korto, who is not all that large, but who designs for plus-sized women. And that’s all that comes [...]