Project Runway Fashion - SPOILERS

To recap, the designers were challenged to use only color by world famous designer Isaac Mizrahi, who assigned specific colors to each designer. I was rather amazed by how difficult many of the group found working with color. For me, color is intrinsic in my life - I embrace it and I adore it. Here, it was like pulling teeth to get the workshop group away from the white/black spectrum and deal with the rainbow. Such silly people. Well ... I have pictures, so let's review the best and worst of Episode 8 in alphabetic order of designer. 

Anthony's color was lavender, but his dress
sure looks like a lot of yellow to me. It was
an interesting design, but there were some
serious design flaws. 

Purple and yellow are classic color combinations, so pairing yellow with lavender certainly worked. One of the judges did comment that the lavender was so pale that it almost came across as grey. I would have liked more color pop for the striping too. The design, that one-shoulder drop with a wrap-around look, was nice, but construction issues caused gaps and puckers. Great idea, poor execution. 

Edmond's color was orange and he paired it
with red. The fabrics were silky and flowed
beautifully, but the design was too simple. 

Edmond actually got to use some color - his assigned color was orange. Everybody liked the dress, but it was the simplicity of it that the judges panned. It's Project Runway - the designers are supposed to do something easier than a one-hour nightgown. Georgina called it a "simple throwaway" and Isaac called it a "pajama party". Edmond handled the color beautifully, but it was a poor design choice. 

Helen is still my dark girl, even though she was
assigned purple this week. Eggplant is purple, but
it does have a lot of black in the color. 

Helen is continuing to show strong designs. Since she couldn't use black, and her assigned color was purple, she tried to find the darkest purple she could. The blue really helped this design, and with a brighter purple instead of the eggplant, she might have had higher scores. As it was, her hi/low pant with draping half-skirt was really interesting and walked the Runway well. 

Ken was having all kinds of problems with
his dress. He didn't even add his second
color until just before the Runway. 

Ken's assigned color was red, and he chose a rather insipid pink for his accent. I would have liked more of a pop of color here, but at least it saved the basic dress from being too short. The judges liked the "flattering" design, but the zipper in the back was a mess. If he had used a hidden zipper or a zipper placket, he might have won with this design, but the zipper was the negative mentioned by all of the judges. 

Merline wanted to work with triangles this week,
and was delighted that she had something walking
the runway that was so different from everyone
else's designs. Yeah, okay there, Merline. 

Merline never has an idea when she starts. She folds fabric and tries to figure out where it should go based on the geometry. Her assigned color was blue, and Isaac liked the shade she chose, but not the yellow that she chose to go with it. Georgiana told her that she needed to get a better grasp on fabrics and how they would work in her designs, and Alyssa suggested that she make a collection based on Origami. Ouch! 

Stanley actually constructed a short tied bustle
for the skirt, to encourage the flair at the
model's hips. It worked pretty well and is a
fashion item that was used in Elizabethan
times with equal success. 

Stanley's model was a stick - way too thin. I would be interested to see how this design would translate into the real world, because I really enjoyed the asymmetry of the dropped and folded turquoise top. If you look carefully at the waistline of the skirt, you can see that he made pocket gathers instead of darts, which allowed for immediate fullness of what would have otherwise been a boring and quite normal pencil skirt. I loved the color pairing of turquoise and coral too. It's a classic color combination. 


So there you have it - the six colorful designs influenced by Isaac Mizrahi and directed by him into specific colorways. Oh - and I almost forgot. The winner of this week's challenge would get an unprecedented opportunity - designing a capsule collection with Isaac Mizrahi that would be sold at Lord + Taylor. That prize was HUGE! Now ... on to the winner and loser for the week. Can you guess who won and who was sent packing? 

The winner, for the second week in a row ... Stanley! He's certainly on a roll. 

The loser, and about time ... Merline. The one-trick pony has now left the room. 

That leaves a single female in a room of males, but Helen is fierce and an excellent designer. I hope she'll make it through the next few weeks and into the finals. 

One of the cutest interactions in last night's premier episode of
MasterChef Junior was this conversation between Gordon
Ramsey and eight-year-old Trent, one of the youngest
competitors to make it to the try-outs (also, one of the
shortest - LOL). 

MasterChef Junior started last night, so I was glued to the TV watching the 40 contestants get paired down to 24 - 12 girls and 12 boys. There seem to be a lot of very talented cooks among them, so it should be a great season. Also, the Academy Awards are on Sunday. I could care less about the awards, but I'll take a quick look through the Red Carpet photos on Monday morning and see if it's worth making a fashion post. 

Have a great weekend, everyone. If you're getting hit by the snow, be safe, be careful, and stay warm.