PROJECT RUNWAY: Episode 1, New York, I Love You

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PROJECT RUNWAY: Episode 1, New York, I Love You

POSTED: Friday, January 15, 2010, 6:45 PM

Filed Under: TV | Fashion | ProjRun Watch

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Emilio's winning design

For season 7, Project Runway is back where it belongs in New York City. It's time to make it work, bitches.

While L.A. may be high-end and not totally clueless about fashion, New York is where the show belongs. And what comes with shooting the great ProjRun in New York? The return of Bitchmasters Michael Kors and Nina Garcia. Together they will mold seamstresses/seamsters into designers, and artists into fashion know-it-alls. With a few tears along the way, of course.

Meet the newest cast of ambitious little divas: Seth, Janeane, Ping, Ben, Anthony (who I think I'm going to love for ever and ever, no matter what cattiness he may pull out later), Jay, Pamela, Anna, Jonathan, Jesse, Mila, Maya, Christiane, Jesus, Emilio, and Amy. It's a lot to remember — but you won't have to remember one of them. More on that later.

The first challenge — shockingly — was for the crew to create an ensemble that represents each of them as a designer. The purpose is so we, and the judges, can understand each designer as artists, but it's within the process of the whole thing that we get a little glimpse into the more interesting characters. Janeane is going to be that girl who cries about everything (see: Ricky Lizalde from Season 4), which, in the end, will probably break her.

Ping is the misunderstood artist that people perceive as plain old weirdo (see: Ari Fish, Malvin Vien from Season 6). Crazy or not, this woman put together a piece that was striking, bold and certainly left an impression on the judges, even if the judges weren't entirely sure what that impression was. Ping said that she makes clothes that move with the body, and you can tell with her red and black-draped ensemble, but will she be able to incorporate her ideals into the specific challenges that the judges present?

And then there's Anthony, the black gay guy from the south toting plenty of fun sass and possibly a good sense of humor (see: Philly's own Jay McCarroll from Season 1, Santino Rice from Season 2, anyone you like to watch more than you like their designs). But girl, you need to step it up a bit. Kors said that Anthony's peculiar black-printed mini halter would be great if the model was trying to steal bottles of champagne. I want to see Anthony stick around if not for his designs but at least for his hilarious presence.

Christiane was out after making a blue and yellow-printed hodepodge mess dress that had God knows what going on all over it. And the girl left a sloppy hem, too. What? You think the judges won't notice that? The messy and boring design wasn't what the judges (and guest judge/coat hanger Nicole Richie) were looking for, so they sent Ms. Christiane home before she could get too comfy at Parsons.

Emilio's intricate weaving of fabrics, including those large polka dots that can be peeked above, paired with "a fun yet sexy full skirt," as we heard Richie say a few too many times, won the challenge. Now Emilio has some serious bragging rights for being the first winner and setting the bar for where everyone else should be in the weeks to follow.

Sossy

Posted 2010-02-15 21:35:22

Coming late to this party.  I thought Ping's design for the first week looked like it was thrown together and hung on the model, with no real plan or concept. But the judges loved it. What a shame that it took a few weeks for them to figure out she DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO SEW!  How in the H*!! did she even get on this show?  It pains me to think of the young designers across the country who would kill for this type of opportunity. Only the judges' gushing compliments the first week kept her from being nuked when the bare-butt disaster came later. Why they didn't nuke her then is beyond me.  I wonder what some of the designers who were eliminated (while Ping was kept) would have shown us, had they stuck around for a few more weeks.

If the producers want to overcome the double whammy the show took from being off the air for a while, followed by the LA disaster, they need to pay more attention to whether prospective candidates for the show have any true skill and talent. Sloppy doesn't equate to 'edgy.'

Rodney Anonymous

Posted 2010-01-15 17:38:53

Project Runway Lives! Last night episode was like the old episodes, in that it was entertaining and I didn't hurl anything at my TV. Maybe we should all just pretend that last season was a terrible dream, like they did with Dallas?

Tim Gunn and Ping Wu in 2012!

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