Tim Gunn’s tour of taking down fashion failures took a new turn to the Kardashian Klan, who the ‘Project Runway’ host feels perpetuate an “aura of yuck.” He objects to their “distasteful” style picks, which I can only guess includes excessive body-con dresses, followed by over-the-top accentuating of their gigantic, plumped up asses.Gunn goes on to suggest that with all their resources, it’s bad to suggest that “you too can dress this way.” Watch the very funny video below.
“I’m telling you — and I haven’t said this very much — I hated season 14,” Tim Gunn tells EW. “I hated it. I felt that other than a couple of designers, they weren’t working up to their potential. The whole thing was lackluster . . . . I have a theory about it, which is that they just weren’t hungry.. Their audition videos from home, you know, they’re sitting by a pool, they’re taking us into their closet with all their designer clothes, and I just thought, they’re not hungry! Most of them. And I think that was largely the issue. I wasn’t at the auditions [this] season for the first time ever, and I blame myself, because I wouldn’t have put up with a lot of it.” Tim Gunn, on his disappointment with the most recent season of Project Runway contestants.
For twelve season’s, it’s been consistently clear that Tim Gunn is the star of Project Runway. Until now, the show has minimized its most-important player. Sure he appears in the workroom, but his coveted critiques are edited down to a short screen time, leaving the viewers always wanting more. This season, things changed. Gunn now gets to “save” an ousted designer when he disagrees with the judges. It’s brilliant — and its shocking it didn’t happen sooner. As for the season’s other changes, the jury’s out on the post-runway garment talk, but one thing’s for sure. Zac Posen must go. Yes he’s talented, but he’s extremely difficult to watch. He seems like a self-important prick with no personality. He lacks Michael Kors’ sense of humor, and he has zero chemistry with Klum, whose personality is so far on the other end of the likability spectrum I naturally assume tension between the two. And last but not least, I’m completely aghast at this season’s contenders. They all seem mentally unstable, making this more of a clown contest than a designer showcase. If they’re choosing the best in the country, can’t they find talent and normalcy?
In what can only be described as confusing, Heidi Klum has joined America’s Got Talent as its fourth judge. The fourth judge format is completely lost on me. When America’s biggest talent show began with a three-judge format (see American Idol), you’d think every other talent show would duplicate the choice. In fact, even American Idol has violated its original vision.
As soon as the fourth judge is added, the show becomes more about the panel than the talent. Time gets taken, bickering begins, and the contestants fade away into an unmemorable existence. The only explanation for this perpetual failing has to be that the creative teams are insecure about their judge selections, and they hope to assuage a backlash by providing the audience with additional options. If there’s any other reason, I’d like someone to explain it. As for Heidi Klum — though I like her on Project Runway, I’m shocked that she’s not bound to an exclusive deal. Doing this show waters down her brand. Perhaps Lifetime consented because they think exposing Klum to a larger audience will boost their own. Who knows.
When guest judges appear on Project Runway, I question their credentials, especially when those guest judges are actors and not fashion designers. So when I saw Zoe Saldana, I was immediately skeptical. Surprisingly, she was better than the regular judges, who, to quote Tim Gunn, often seem to be “smoking crack.” Watch her criticism below.
If you watched the Project Runway finale, you might have noticed, as Tim Gunn says, the judges were “smoking crack.” Nine Garcia and Michael Kors chose the wrong winner, despite Heidi Klum’s protests. As part of their deliberation, Garcia and Kors accused Mondo’s clothing of being “unwearable,” and Heidi insisted that she would wear the polka dot dress. Michael Kors then told Heidi that Mondo didn’t listen to his suggestion by “cutting off the sleeves” to avoid the model looking like a “polka dot sausage.” At the time I heard this, I thought Michael Kors was out of his mind. The dress was incredible, and Heidi kept her word by wearing it to an event. The problem? She cut the sleeves off!! Did Michael Kors successfully bully her twice? I realize that Mondo must adhere to Heidi’s request, but this ruined the dress. Look at the two pictures below, and tell me if you agree.
I have never been so stunned by a Project Runway decision in my the eight seasons of the show. Weeks ago, when I saw Gretchen’s collection, I assumed she was actually a decoy, and I was shocked to discover she made it to the finale. Then, after watching the final show, and seeing the originality of Mondo Guerra’s collection, I figured it would be a very easy choice. Instead, the four judges (including Jessica Simpson) were divided down the middle, and Nina Garcia and Michael Kors somehow bullied Heidi Klum and Jessica Simpson into picking Gretchen. Jessica Simpson surprised me most, because she had the simplest, yet most poignant critique of Gretchen’s collection, saying, “everything looks loose,” and later responding to Nina Garcia and Michael Kors’ excessive rambling by simply saying, “I’m still going with Mondo.” Michael Kors and Nina Garcia picked Gretchen because “she’s what’s happening now in fashion,” despite Heidi’s insistence that this is a high fashion show, and it shouldn’t be about what’s most “wearable.” I imagine that Michael Kors picked the “ready-to-wear” collection, because that’s most aligned with his own aesthetic, given that Michael Kors doesn’t specialize in high-fashion. I’m pissed. I’m pissed that I continued to waste my time watching this season even though the judges made terrible decisions every episode. I’m also pissed that my favorite part of the show was watching Tim Gunn’s facebook video blogs, and Tim Gunn stopped recording the blogs after “hurting a Producer from Lifetime.” And finally, I’m pissed because Mondo deserved to win the finale, and I hate to see someone robbed of their title.
UPDATE: Apparently, Tim Gunn agrees with me. Watch the video below.
I must confess that I really like Heidi Klum. She’s completely ridiculous on Project Runway with her faux-serious statements, such as, “one day you’re in, and one day you’re out,” but every so often you’ll catch her real personality, and she’s very funny. During a Project Runway reunion, Heidi once turned to Tim Gunn after a designer barely answered her question, and she said, “she’s a little weird, no?” She also turned to the judges during one of their deliberations and couldn’t resist gossiping about a designer, saying, “why does she always look so angry on the runway?” She followed that up with a very funny imitation of the designer’s angry-face. So it doesn’t surprise me that Heidi loves to dress up for Halloween, given her sense of humor. I’ve attached some of her costumes below, and the first picture is from this year. Apparently, Seal didn’t want to wear stilts, so he opted for a wider frame instead. Enjoy!
The top ten designers from Season 8 of Project Runway showed their designs at Bryant Park, and I’ve compiled pictures from their collections below. Click the “more” link to see everyone’s designs. Seven of the designers below are actually “decoys,” because only the collections of the top three designers are aired. The show is taped on delay, and using decoys is the only way to maintain the surprise. In fact, one of my favorite designers from last season’s Project Runway, Anthony Williams, was a decoy. Look below, and see if you think you can spot the decoys.
Project Runway winner Christian Siriano has a lot to celebrate. Melania Trump chose him to design her dress for for the Met ball, which she referred to as the “Oscars of fashion.” She chose Siriano because he is “fierce, young, glamorous, elegant, sexy, big, and beautiful.” That’s quite the compliment. This year’s Gala will be sponsored by the Gap, which will also be dressing some celebrities. All dresses will be auctioned off the following day, with proceeds going to the Costume Institute. Other designers include Kenneth Cole, Ralph Lauren, and Michael Kors. Isn’t it interesting that Michael Kors used to judge Christian Siriano on ‘Project Runway,’ and now they will be designing for the same event?
