Project Runway: Season 4 Premiere
So last night was the premiere of the fourth season of “Project Runway”. There are 15 new designers to hate on (don’t lie, you know you do it), and most of them actually bring real talent to the table. No, really. I can’t remember a season when so many of them had real experience. I also can’t remember a season where the waterworks were turned on quite so soon. Yup, Ricky Lizalde has to hold the record for the earliest crier ever. He turned on the waterworks seven minutes and 38 seconds in: “It’s not just a game—it’s my life!”
Anyway, here are the six I’m keeping an eye on—some because they’re good, some because they’re good entertainment!
1. Christian Siriano, the cocky young gun fresh out of design school who proclaims that he’d “rather buy clothes than buy a bed.”2. Carmen A. Webber, the edgy former model with the Kelis haircut (minus the nasty rat tail thing, but plus a few puzzling feathers).3. Jillian Lewis, a former designer and illustrator for Ralph Lauren who looks like she’s going to be a handful in the bitch department.
4. Kit “Pistol” Scarbo, the stylist and designer who does the whole edgy/girly thing and lives by the mantra “Life is too short to have on a bad outfit.”
5. Rami Kashon, who has not only dressed Penelope Cruz and designed Jessica Alba’s dress for the VMAs in 2005, but now has the distinction of getting the season’s first, “It’s stunning,” out of Tim. My fave so far.
6. Elisa Jimenez. Okay, it’s hard to sum her up in one sentence. She’s, um…creative. She calls herself an accidental multimedia artist—she creates “three-inch to thirty-foot marionettes” and started making costumes to perform with them. Still don’t get her? This is what she said when she picked her fabric for her first design: “I decided I would imbue it with a natural element and use grass stains.” Oh, and Vogue named her as one of the designers at the forefront of the new avant-garde.
Okay, on to the challenge. The designers were taken to Bryant Park and told to pick from the $50,000 worth of Mood Fabrics that were being hosed in three rinky-dink tents on the lawn. They were given 13 hours to create outfits that spoke to their identity of a designer. Chris, Kevin, Sweet P, Jillian, Jack,
Ricky constructed a black and silver babydoll dress that, while quite well made, was simple and safe, according to the judges.
Christian’s outfit consisted of a great tan, black and white jacket with voluminous sleeves and a beige skirt with an asymmetrical hem. Very European, very tailored, halfway couture. Kors called it “quirky tailored” and Nina praised the silhouette.
Victorya did a simple black, flapper-inspired dress with a huge, beautiful silver flower. The judges thought it was sweet.
Rami did a gorgeous, gray, Grecian gown with near immaculate draping. The judges called it “sophisticated” and “chic.” Kors would have dropped the flower on the right shoulder.
Drumroll, please: Rami won and I expect great things from him. Until next time, I am…
—Kenrya M. Rankin
