Thanks so much to Tbone, Jan and all who contributed to the live-posting last night. What fun! I have read all of your comments in the reaction thread too. WOW! What a surprising and delightful outcome. Congratulations to Chloe! Thanks Travis, for the new BPR Banner. Congratulations also to Daniel and Santino and to ALL of the great Season Two designers. Congratulations go out as well to Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn and to the judges, producers and editors of the show. It's been a great season.
(Of course, next season could always be improved, but we'll save those thoughts for another day... : )
Season Two may be over but that doesn't mean BPG will just fold up until the premiere of Season Three. We have lots to talk about!
We'll be posting links to the various articles and recaps as they become available. Here is one from AOL and here is one from Yahoo. Just Jared has tons of photos. I missed seeing Chloe on the Today Show (orthodontist appointment - life goes on...) but I'm sure she was happy and charming. Also,here is an ADORABLE Star Wars themed interview with the designers. (Thanks, Bonnie.)
Be sure to check out the Bravo site for a video of Kara's Show and more from Tim! Also, Santino's blog mentions that he has been busy with appearances and interviews. Please let us know if you read or hear more about these.
Of course, if any of our readers is planning to audition for Season Three, please let us know. We want to be rooting for you! Violet? Folklore? I'm talking to you! Please let us know when and where you will be. We'd love to hear the stories about what happens during the audition process.
Please continue to send me any news articles or interesting bits about any Project Runway designers. You make this easy!
Last, but not least, we are working hard behind the scenes on our BPR Tour on March 25th. It's gonna be fun and I can't wait!
ETA: Just a friendly reminder here for any newbies. We welcome ALL opinions here, of course - but please use polite language in your comments - and no links. I can't take a chance that someone might link something objectionable or a virus or something. If you want to share a link, please e-mail it to me at kluless7@cox.net. Thanks for understanding.
8 comments:
Laura, Thanks for the great blog. It was such an enrichment to an enjoyable season. Would love it if you'd gather our thoughts for improvements in hopes the producers read it (or you send them on!).
If it's ok, I'd like to post some tips/suggestions to the producers/judges for PR season 3:
1) This show comes across as a very big 'foot in the door' or 'lots of doors opening up' opportunity for all the designers, but especially (and most importantly) the winning designer.
While I'm ok with Chloe winning, I really think that Daniel or Santino could have benefited more from the Banana Republic mentorship and the $100,000 seed money more than Chloe (note I didn't say that Chloe could benefit from it, just not as much).
Perhaps the selection of designer finalists (the ones who make the show) need to take this into account more, or perhaps not. But this type of show would seem to be more beneficial to those just starting out in the fashion industry (Nick, Santino, Diana), or else those who are struggling (Andrae, with his boutique closing, etc.) Allowing someone to be on the show (and win) who owns an already successful boutique in Houston just seems a little odd, but maybe that's just me.
2) I realize that this a reality TV show as well as a design competition, and that Santino no doubt helped up the ratings for this season, but could we please see the fashion establishment practicing what it preaches?
In numerous episodes, podcasts, interviews and behind-the-scenes tidbits, we were told over and over again how the biggest thing in the fashion world is to "be nice." Fern Mallis said this. Tim Gunn said this. Even one of the guest judges (from the 'Clothes Off Your Back' challenge) said this, according to an interview I read with one of the designers.
All this talk about being nice, yet each week we're treated to catty comments by Michael Kors. Now, it's true that he's no Simon Cowell (thank goodness!) but let's be real: MK could have phrased his criticisms much more nicely than he did. And what about Santino. There can be no doubt that he said things about other designers (and the judges!) that were taken as rude and insensitive. Yet Santino was kept on - not because he made good TV - but because the judges thought he was extremely creative and talented, and wanted to see what he could do. This is, on the one hand understandable, but then it contradicts the supposed fashion industry mantra of "be nice."
3) It would perhaps be beneficial to re-structure the season in a way so that the final outcome gels a bit more with what's gone before it. In other words, in season one, Jay wins the entire season because he did well at Olympus Fashion Week, yet he hadn't won a single episodic challenge before then. In season two, Daniel Vosovic wins 5 of the 11 challenges (far more than any of his competitors), yet doesn't win the whole show because his OFW collection was judged to be weaker than Chloe's.
Ok, some of this is understandable. If the person who won the most episodic challenges went on to always win the finale, then there wouldn't be much suspense. But really... can't something better be worked out? Yes, I realize that you have to be pretty good to make it through to the OFW portion, but there just seems to be a dis-connect between the 7-month-old first batch of shows, and then the more recently-recorded OFW episodes.
A few weeks ago, I turned to a friend and said, "I think Daniel V. is this year's Kara Saun. In other words, he's won the most challenges, but probably won't win the whole show." My friend disagreed with me, but alas, we see how things turned out.
These are just some suggestions. Of course, I really, really liked the show, otherwise I wouldn't have watched it for 3 months. But now that's over, these are just some of the things that are nagging at me.
And thank YOU, Laura, for providing this wonderful blog. It's been a great time getting to know you and many of the other regulars. The PR producers owe you a debt of gratitude. I'm sure this site helped the show's ratings, if only a little.
Take care. :-)
I messed up in the last comment. Instead of writing...
"But this type of show would seem to be more beneficial to those just starting out in the fashion industry (Nick, Santino, Diana)..."
I meant to write Daniel V. instead of Nick. Sorry!
Oh here's another suggestion: Project 35D! Make it a series!
To be fair to the producers and judges of PR, I doubt that they really know the contestants well enough in the beginning to be able to say whether or not they "can win." Daniel is a classic example of how people evolve through the show: at the start of the season, he barely rated attention, either for personality or design. Midway through, he started showing up with winning challenges each week, and he was so sweet to everyone, like when he tried to comfort Kara, that we all love him now. Then at the very end the stress began to get to him. He started playing safe in his designs, and he was verbally more critical of the other designers. Looking at Daniel from the begining, who would have predicted all of that?
I only have two suggestions for the judges:
1. Make the judging process more transparent. What do the cards look like? Is there a criteria by which the contestants are judged by? 20% construction, 40% originality, etc.
2. For the last design challenge before the final three, build in more time. Whether that last challenge is supposed to show what their future collection will look like or to show their growth through the season, I think the designs would improve tremendously if the designers were given a day or two more to really think about what they want to create.
Project 35D would be fantastic!!!
I'd watch that every week!!!
Would we be able to live post here at BPR?
For more insight on how the judging really went check out Tim Gunn's podcast on the bravotv.com site. Great job, Chloe, but according to the podcast, the decision was a joint effort between the producers and the judges. Still, a great season and 3 fun months of dish, fashion and Andrae. Theme for Season 3:"Get for real, this is business!"
Thanks for linking to my starwars.com interview with the designers! It was a blast to talk to them about their Star Wars memories, as well as their thoughts about film costume design!
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