Project Runway - Designing For The Everyday Woman

It's a "Project Runway" night, and we're down to six - Sebastian, Hester, Jamall, Bishme, Tessa and Garo. I'm hoping the progression of episodes will be 6 to 5, 5 to 4, 4 to 3 and then the final 3. If the show actually decides to feature a Final Four instead of a Final Three, the last episode of the season may occur during my one-week "vacation", when I probably can't watch the show and when my mind is turned to my own personal creative goals instead of sharing with all of you. It's one of two times a year when I don't blog. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, but I'm just giving you a heads-up about possibilities. 

Bishme Cromartie created this gown in blue for
his client - Jaclyn, a teacher in the New York
City schools. She requested blue and flowing. I
loved the assymetric drape down the front
panel of the skirt. 

As a reminder, last week the designers were required to embrace personal causes. This week the intensity, already high, is turned up one more notch. I hope some of you clicked through my link on yesterday's blog for an examination of Christian Siriano and why he's one reason why Season 17 is "making it work". Tim Gunn may have moved on, but Siriano has stepped into his very able shoes and is doing a great job as the mentor in the Workshop. Now, on to the Runway. 

Garo Sparo designed for Debra, an employee of
the US Postal Service. He walked along her route
with her. The two of them really got along well, and
she looked dazzling in her gown. The flowing
chiffon off the back was also removable, giving
added dimension and utility to the dress. 

Today the final six are making clothing for real women - the women who "run" the city of New York. The professions are, NYPD (police), Sanitation, USPS (postal) employee, Ferry worker, a teacher and a member of the FDNY EMT (Fire Department of New York Emergency Meical Treatment unit). Each designer is partnered with one of these six women and they accompany their client to work to get a better idea of what they do and and to discuss what they want in a custom designed "Dream Dress". There are cracks already appearing in differences between what the client wants vs the designer's aesthetic. Oh dear - these real life design segments often are among the hardest because designers often just can't get past whey they want to design vs what their client actually wants to wear. (My mind quickly revs back to shades of Austin Scarlet and his short-lived custom design show.) 

Hester Sunshine's client was Dina, a police officer
with the NYPD. She's tough as nails on the job, but
wanted something for her softer side, something
that wasn't "navy blue and a gun belt". Although I
wasn't sure about the back closure on the dress,
Dina was very happy with the end result. 

I understand the difficulty in working for other people. Although I usually make my artwork for myself, when I've made commissioned art for others, I have had some serious crash and burn moments. But I've also had some amazing successes in bending my personal aesthetic in the direction needed for my end customer. Tessa has started out making pants, a top and a skirt, but it's a dream dress competition and making pants might be her ticket out of the competition, hands down. So tough! The women are due in for their fitting in a few hours, and I have a feeling there will be disappointed clients as well as disappointed designers. 

Jamall Osterholm designed for Angela, a deck worker for
the NYC Ferry. She was a dedicated person who was
totally comfortable in her body. She wanted the prom
dress she had never had. Jamall had problems designing
the appropriate structure for a larger woman, so the
design wasn't as comfortable as it should have been. She
totally rocked the look, though. One gorgeous woman! 

By the end of Day 2, the clients seemed mostly happy with what was being produced for them, and the designers were successfully merging their own personal tastes and clothing trends with the dreams of their everyday working women. Bishme's client, a fourth grade teacher, wrote a card for him that brought the designers to tears when he read it out loud after the work day. Basically it said that her dream of a unique dress changed to her desire to be inspired by him and to pass along the idea of belief in personal dreams to her students because she got to know him as a person. What a great thing to pass along to ten-year-old kids. Just another aspect of "Baltimore Blossoms" coming true. 

Sebastian Grey was designing for Nicole, a sanitation
employee of the DSNY. She totally rocked the look,
getting exactly what she had asked for - sparkly and
swirling, something she could wear to her future
engagement party. As a former pagent Queen, she
worked the Runway, but she also looked fabulous
in her Dream Dress. 

Although most of the clients seem quite happy with their new dresses, Jamall's woman, an exceptionally beautiful plus-sized woman, doesn't feel 100% secure in her strapless red gown. Originally she had asked for sheer sleeves, but there are no sleeves at all. I suspect she's not happy. On the other side, Tessa is very unhappy with how her design is coming together. I have a feeling she's going to be changing parts of it all the way up to when that dress walks down the Runway. She turned her pant into a skirt/dress, but it's still not working well. Hester's customer, a police officer, is thrilled with her dress. As she said, she normally wears navy blue and a gun belt, so a colorful dress is a complete shift for her. LOL 

Tessa Clark originally had swaths of colorful
chiffon draping from the waistline of her client's
dress. Her client, Maria, an EMT with the NYFD,
had originally stated that pink was her favorite
color, but Tessa made her something in dark
colors. She totally rocked the look, but most of
the chiffon ended up on the backstage floor
because it was fraying and falling apart just
on the walk over from the Workshop. Tessa and
her frayed edges and hems - a problem always. 

SPOILER ALERT - DON'T READ FARTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS...


Time for the Runway. Well - after the Runway, Sebastian, Bishme and Garo were on top, and the bottom were Tessa, Hester and Jamall. All of these fantastic everyday women didn't really get what they wanted, and some of the designs weren't really hitting the mark for their women. So ... who won and who was sent home? You see all six finished designs above, so what do you think? 

Hester and Bishme were declared safe, Hester as a soft bottom, and Bishme as a soft top. Tessa's gown was looked at in detail and it was declared a total fail, although the basic fabric choice was a success. With a closer look at Jamall's gown and a chat with his customer, his client actually liked her dress, but the inner support and boning to make it wearable just wasn't there. On the winning side, Garo did a great job on his dress for Debra - both beautiful and fabulous. Sebastian also hit it out of the park - it was a vintage-inspired glam rock dress and his client loved it. 

So ... it's neck to neck for the winners and the losers with each designer having supporters and detractors. Did you guess correctly? The winner ... Sebastian, although Garo was breathing down his neck. Going home ... Jamall, although it quite honestly could/should have been Tessa. But I don't disagree with the judges this week - it was a true crash and burn week. 

There you have it. Have a great Friday and enjoy your day. I'm heading back to the pool for another day in the water. Yesterday was a hard day in the pool, but I climbed that mountain once and I can do it again.