Yesterday, we gave our ideas for the bottom five designers on the upcoming season of Project Runway. Using the details from their biographies, information available about their careers and previous collections, Tim Gunn’s own comments about their performances, the three looks they offered at the recent Season 4 runway show, and Season 2 finalist Daniel Vosovic’s comments about the show, we are making some best guesses as to where the fifteen new designers might fall.
One note about the ranking – although there is a spoiler floating around the internets, these rankings have been done without taking that into account, just to make it more sporting.
10. Marion Lee. Tim Gunn has said of Marion’s varied design experience, ”Designers design. If you can design a house, you can design fashion. If you can design a table setting, you can design fashion.”
Maybe so, but can you sew?
Daniel made this observation at the runway show: “I died a little on the inside when I saw the hem of these pants pinned up… poorly… very poorly.” His runway looks did have some strong elements, but bad construction has felled other Project Runway designers with great design strengths.
9. Ricky Lizalde. For no apparent reason, I was completely charmed by Ricky when I wrote his Meet the Designer, so I would like for him to go far. He’s been working most recently as a lingerie designer, and so that was what he offered on the runway at the show.
The looks were solid – the combination of feminine silhouette and menswear patterns is a nice touch – but it concerned me that he didn’t have any other looks to offer besides lingerie. Tim pointed out this gives him an excellent background in construction, so maybe his efforts on the show were more varied than this, but it got me thinking he might also not make it all the way.
8. Kevin Christiana. His look to the left shows a confident and assured hand, comfortable with offering a different proportion and working with detailed construction. This also got a lot of positive comments from individuals viewing the photos from the runway show.
But his look to the right…not so successful. The dress itself looks like a homemade version of a Jessica McClintock prom dress from the early 90’s. It also is not particularly flattering to the waist and hips of the model. I like the concept of the rocker leggings contrasting the sweet dress, but due to the underwhelming dress itself, it isn’t as successful as I think it could have been. His third look tended more on this side of things than the other, so I think he might not make it all the way to the top if his performance on the show is similar.
7. Chris March. For a man whose career has included an assignment to make not one, but several dresses out of salad fixings, Chris’s offerings on the runway were surprisingly tame. I had assumed he might be one of those designers – like Santino Rice or Kayne Gillaspie – whom the judges were constantly having to rein in from their tendencies towards excess.
However, his looks were much more subdued than I had anticipated. They are also, however, not particularly exciting to me. This might just be a personal style issue, but I just didn’t see a level of innovation that would indicate he might go farther in the competition.
6. Jack Mackenroth. Jack’s designs appear to be well-constructed, flattering to the body and styles women would want to wear. The black dress is especially charming – Blogging Project Runway pointed out that the “belt” is actually a trompe l’oeil creation that has been stitched on. Too cute!
However, don’t these designs remind you of something? His black dress reminds me of many looks Laura Bennett might have created, and the flowing print dress, while gorgeous, looks like any of Uli Herzner’s similarly-shaped gowns. Daniel also commented on his third look (not pictured) that it was a “well fit garment, but unfortunately, I feel like I’m already seeing it on the racks.”
Tomorrow, we’ll review the picks for the top five of the new crop of designers on Project Runway.
Project Runway: Season 4 Power Ranking – Bottom 5
– Leslie Seaton, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: Bravo, Blogging Project Runway, Entertainment Weekly
(Images courtesy of Bravo)
Staff Columnist, BuddyTV
