Dear Jenny,
So. The second part of the weird Paris field trip on Project Runway felt more organic and less gimmicky. I actually got a little jealous of the designers, this time around, because Paris looked so beautiful. Of course, the designer's life is no kind of life. It looks like they spent maybe an hour or two sight-seeing and the rest of their stay hand-sewing and -beading for our entertainment.
I didn't entirely understand the whole couture thing. What I mean is that I was never clear about how the couture restrictions were being applied to this challenge. It doesn't seem like there were any negative consequences for machine-sewing the dresses and in fact there were negative consequences for hand-sewing: our poor Michael's hand-ruched bodice almost got him kicked off the show. I also didn't understand all the couturier-than-thou stuff that was being thrown around the work room. Jeffrey claimed to be the couturiest, because he was the only one hand-sewing his gown (even though we saw everyone else working away with needle and thread). Vincent insisted that he was the couturiest, but then, it turns out, glued everything together (although that apparently didn't have anything to do with his ouster).
I guess I should feel bad about Vincent getting eliminated, right? He cashed out his 401K for this. His dress was far and away the worst, though, and, again, maybe it's prudish of me, but he was at it again with the "get me off" talk. Is it wrong that I thought that all the nons Catherine Malandrino wrote on Vincent's scorecard were responses not to his dress but to what looked like (but I'm sure wasn't) a crazy attempt at seduction on his part?
More importantly, with Jeffrey holding immunity from the last challenge, Vincent was, for me, the one designer who was really expendable this week. I am gradually resigning myself to the likelihood that Kayne and Laura will be eliminated within the next few weeks: Kayne's "taste level is not there" and I think the judges have tired of Laura's classic (but beautiful!) clothes. I don't want to see either one go, though. I'm rooting for Uli, as well, because I like her, but I'm starting to feel that she is the most limited of the designers. How many times is she going to make that empire waist halter dress? Then there's Michael: shitty ruching aside, I'm starting to feel like he's going to Fashion Week. He has the talent and, more and more, I feel like the editing is on his side, too. Clearly Jeffrey, this season's villain, is in it until the end. Michael, then, is clearly our hero. I still can't figure out why we saw so little of him during the first few weeks. (Similarly, we barely saw anything of Daniel Vosovich the first few episodes of last season.) Maybe there just wasn't room with all the other personalities -- Keith, Malan -- jockeying for attention, but come on! Michael is obscenely talented, charismatic and seemingly ego-free.
What do you think? Are my predictions about right?
Love,
-- Pete
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