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Project Runway recap
Okay, so, for those of you who don't know me personally, I'll be the first to admit I'm very gullible. And as I mentioned in last week's Project Runway recap, I'm easily manipulated by editing. Although I was right to assume Daniel V. wasn't going to win, I'd been telling everyone at work that I thought Santino was a shoo-in. Wrong! Anyway, to backtrack a bit, this week's finale started in medias res, with the designers still freaking out about their 13th-hour pieces; Andrae and Gay Uncle Nick seemed to have everything under control for Santino and Daniel V., but Dirty Diana was sewing with the speed of those blind nuns in Belgium who make the pretty lace. The designers were finishing up everything until 4 a.m.; they then had a 5 a.m. call at the tents; Daniel V. remarked he had slept two hours in the past four days and, yikes, could I tell (see, if he were a real fashion designer, he'd be blowing rails and be chipper as a chipmunk). Daniel went first, and while I thought he definitely showed his tailoring skills, as well as a sophistication that was beyond his 24 years, the collection seemed too tailored and too sophisticated--with the exception of his 13th-hour dress, which I loved (maybe because Gay Uncle Nick made it). Chloe went next, and her collection was gorgeous--mostly dresses and suits in satin and prints--it seemed kind of impractical to me, especially coming from "a woman who designs for women." (I kept remarking, "You can't wear a bra with that!") But based on how much camera time Chloe got and how breezily Santino's was shot, I knew it was curtains for Santino. Which is too bad, because I kind of liked his collection the best. But Santino was the first to go at judging; Heidi Klum made the very accurate point that there were breasts all over the place, and it turned out that Santinio hadn't fit his clothes on real women until he came to New York, so that explained that. Guest judge Debra Messing was obviously enamored with Chloe's collection, and everyone seemed to like Daniel's, even though there didn't seem to be a cohesive theme (I didn't buy the military-meets-Japan thing either). And even though Chloe got the dreaded "matchy" comment from Heidi (a triple-bad "matchy-matchy-matchy" at that), she was selected as the winner. And the more I think about it, the happier I am--I've liked Chloe's stuff from the start, and she's turned out consistently chic, wearable stuff. And, not to get all femininst on everyone, but there are already so many male superstar designers in the fashion industry, so I think it's cool that a woman won. Congrats to Chloe, and I'm looking forward to seeing more from her.