I don't know how it happened (*cough* BSG *cough*), but somewhere along the line I stopped having glee about regular TV shows that had, you know, fictional stories. Now, most of my TV glee is buoyed along by Project Runway. I have so much glee about this show that I've downloaded episodes from the previous season and the current season of the British/Sky One counterpart, Project Catwalk.
Eleven episodes into the season, we're down to four designers: cocky couturier Santino Rice, hipster Daniel Vosovic (check out that fly hair), skilled pro Chloe Dao, and "granola hippie" Kara Janx. (Might I say, they all have great designer names. That is very gleeful, because no one wants to wear a Dorlene Pocock original or anything.) This week's challenge is to design an evening gown for $300 that encapsulates all that they are as a designer. A lot's rollin' on that, because the three 1 who do best will present their collections during New York Fashion Week.
The gleeful things about this episode included:
Heidi Klum continues to look like the hottest, beautifullest pregnant woman ever to walk the earth. When people say, "Wow, she has that glow" about pregnant ladies, I usually just nod and wonder when they'd seen their ankles last. But Die Klum really does glow; beatifically, even. She seems so nice. Plus, she's hilariously and randomly married to Seal, and her house plants are shiny and dust-free. I love Heidi.
The guest judge this week is Iman! How old is she? Fifties, probably, right? She looks great. She's aged really gracefully. The winner of this challenge will get to have Iman wear his or her gown at a red carpet event.
Tim, the Silver Fox himself, said "gigantic ass" while making a comment about Chloe's garment. Or maybe it was "huge ass." Something along those lines. If you've seen and heard Tim Gunn, you'll understand how gleeful this is.
The designers got to meet the Project Runway 1 designers! Well, the three that mattered and that gave me the most glee: Jay, Austin (who was wearing a woman's halter!), and Kara Saun. They all mingled at a cocktail party where it was hammered home that P-Run is a life- and career-changing event. And also Jay said to Santino, "I hope you get canned." I love Jay. He's crazy, but he's candid.
I wonder about Santino and how he's being edited. A lot of the times he comes off as a cocky jerk of dubious talents and skillz (his clothes often look all to' up) and who likes to pick on the other designers. And then sometimes that bravado cracks, and it seems like he's really insecure and kind of a baby. I'd probably kill him if I had to work with him, but I do understand the bravado/terror thing, that's just par for the course (...that is Life -- I'm wise like a fortune cookie). Anyway, I have glee that the producers show his uncrazy moments, too.
The gowns themselves were, er, not very gleeful. (And I'm usually a fashion victim à la Amber from Clueless, so it's not like I'm overly picky, you know?) Chloe, Daniel V., and Kara played it safe with ice blue (I swear, it looked bluer on TV!), navy blue, and black satin gowns, respectively. Santino was all, "I am the most originallest and edgiest" all through the episode, but basically he made the same gown, only in a butter gold satin (okay, okay, they used things like silk charmeuse and stretch satin and blah blah fabrics I don't remember, but they all looked like satin) and then he added hella2 gold "pailletes" (normal people would call them "big sequins") to... everywhere. It was very Arabian Nights. Daniel V.'s navy blue gown won even though Iman thought it was pretty boring, but it was the better made of the other two boring gowns.
Chloe expressed that she had doubts about whether or not she wanted the prize of winning Project Runway and/or showing at Fashion Week. The other designers expressed varying levels of indignation about this. I felt like the whole thing was slanted for the viewer to feel like this lack of psycho-hunger in Chloe was going to be her downfall, or that it was kind of wrong for her to be there because of her doubts. But I liked it, and have philosophical glee about how Chloe reacted. Apparently she'd already done her time in New York, had worked in the industry, and at some point decided that she wanted a "balanced life" and moved back to Houston, where she owns her own shop, has a line, and is basically a modest success story. And now she's realized that this thing will be another sweeping change and she's thoughtful and hesitant about reaching it. By the end of the episode she seems to have really decided that, yes, she WANTS this, and I respect her a lot more for her moment of doubt. I think the other ones, who are so intent on having this career in an industry that they don't really have practical experience in, don't really understand this.
ANYWAY, get down with your carefully-thought-out self, Chloe.
Kara gets kicked off. I have glee about this, not because I disliked her (I think she's the kind of person I'd hang out with), but because she had the least developed voice of the designers remaining. So good luck with everything, Kara Janx, with your awesome name.
Next week, the FINALE of Project Runway 2, plus the reunion/post-season bitch session, and the premiere of Top Chef. I love reality TV that's based on people's actual talents. I love Bravo again.
1. Fashion Week actually happened, er, a while ago, so to throw off the press all four designers actually showed at Fashion Week, but through the magic of editing only the three who officially made it will be shown on the final episode.
2. I lived in Northern California for a while. I'm entitled to say "hella."
Romeo spends the night and fucks Mom and Daughter