Althouse: "Whether you love to hate me or hate to love me, I'm not just good TV..."

March 8, 2006

"Whether you love to hate me or hate to love me, I'm not just good TV..."

I couldn't be more frazzled. But I'm also really excited about the "Project Runway" finale. That quote in the title is from Santino, but he is the first to be eliminated. He didn't show enough of himself. And, in fact, as we saw, he made a strategic decision to rein himself in on this collection. And they blamed him for that.

So it's between Daniel and Chloe. And it's Chloe! She really understands women. I think that cool thing with the pockets that Diana helped her do made the difference.

15 comments:

brian said...: I must say, after watching the final episode I feel sort of, well, let down. Santino had such a fresh and unique viewpoint, and Daniel had such amazing taste that was evident throughout the entire series, challenge after challenge. While Chloe was a great designer, I can't say that I was ever drawn into her work. Was Chloe anybody's favorite designer going into Fashion Week? Or, was anybody cheering for her to win? I cannot say that I fit in either category.; 3/8/06, 10:48 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Yeah, I feel that letdown. It just seems like Chloe was the one left after they rejected the other two. Nobody, really, was good enough. I'd like to see designers make things that real women could wear on normal days. Chloe's stuff seems to be all about events that never happen for normal women. We really need things to wear, and you are irrelevant. Could any of these people make something I could wear to work? Or on a Saturday? What are these clothes? At least Daniel tried to make something real.; 3/8/06, 10:52 PM
Adam said...: Ann, it's about Fashion, which is something other than What People Actually Wear.

Quite honestly, none of the designers' collections were on the level of Jay's or Kara Saun's from last season, both of which had better coherence and detail.

That said, if you want a reason why Chloe deserve to win it all, remember the leaf dress.; 3/8/06, 11:10 PM
Jen Bradford said...: This is bound to sound snarky, but why would America's "best new designer" devote herself to clothing normal women would wear to work? I don't get that as a criteria at all. That's like going to the Whitney and complaining that nothing would look right in your living room.

Daniel was too clever by half, Chloe's were much uglier than anything she produced during the show (olive and fuscia? blech), whereas Santino's were some of the most beautiful things I've seen yet. Palette, fabrics, cohesion - I think he blew them out of the water.

Even using Ann's criteria, if I had to choose something to wear from any of their collections, Santino would win by a mile.; 3/8/06, 11:15 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Adam: I still think that making a lot of evening wear is a cop out. Daniel at least gave the impression of making real clothes. And they gave Chloe credit for somehow understanding women. So where is the logic?; 3/8/06, 11:16 PM
Jen Bradford said...: Ann, you're answering your own question. The fact that you already recognize what Daniel is doing isn't in his favor.; 3/8/06, 11:20 PM
Adam said...: Oh, I wasn't clear: I still thought Daniel *should have* won; just that Chloe has also done some quite lovely things.; 3/8/06, 11:38 PM
Joan said...: (Haven't seen it yet, so just a brief comment) I think also there may be a sense that both Daniel and Santino have made enough of an impression on the viewing public that they will be successful in fashion even without winning the top prize. Obviously they are talented -- did they really need the big boost that winning would give them, after all the publicity they've already had? Are we really supposed to believe that they'll have a tough time making their way after the work they've done?; 3/8/06, 11:53 PM
Matt Brown said...: Was it bad of me for chuckling when Rebecca almost tripped on the runway while wearing Daniel's very-long brown dress?; 3/9/06, 12:26 AM
knox said...: HOLY ****!

Forgot to watch. Dammit!; 3/9/06, 6:29 AM
Jinnmabe said...: The "understand women" comment is based, IMO, on the fact that her clothes fit well and complement the woman wearing them (this was true throughout the competition). Santino, on the other hand, admitted he hadn't fitted his garments to a woman, and it showed. I did think he got the raw end of the deal when they dump on his extravagance and creativity the whole competition and then dismiss him at the end for being "safe." It's such a stupid thing to say. It means, "you didn't live up to my personal expectations of you" not "your clothes aren't beautiful" and it doesn't matter if Nina's personal expectations of "what Santino will make" are wildly deluded. Honestly, if Daniel had switched lines with Santino, Daniel would've won, because they would've loved them. It just seems a little arbitrary to yell "calm down, calm down" the whole time and at the end say "that's too calm."

Last time there were two girls and a guy, and the guy won. This time, two guys and a girl, and the girl won. Interesting.; 3/9/06, 1:55 PM
David A. Carlson said...: None of them compared to last years finalists, including the "evil" finalist; 3/9/06, 2:40 PM
Jen Bradford said...: David - I agree about season one being better. The runway show felt like great theater last year. They all managed to create a mood, whatever one happened to think of it.

I still think Daniel V. was the weakest. When Tim visited, he made a big point of mentioning that steps 1-9 are a breeze, but the kicker was the detail work of step 10. Daniel left that all dangling. I would have been really annoyed if he had won. The dress they liked best was thanks to Nick, after all. (I also can't help but wonder how many hems and button holes Nick sewed for him.)

Chloe was able to be articulate about her collection, whereas Daniel just kept telling us how much he loved his work. He's been to school - he's got to know that doesn't cut it. The bags were neither Japanese nor military - he just thought they were neat, so they went in the show. (Or did rivet=military?) It's as if they all needed one more hardcore crit when they still had time to use the input.; 3/9/06, 4:19 PM
Bad Penny said...: Both of the male finalists made dresses that trip the wearer, and that didn't fit. It was like they were little boys dressing up dolls.

Fashion may be art, but it's a businiess, and when I was watching the collections come down the runway, Chloe's were the only ones that seemed buyable to me.; 3/9/06, 6:48 PM
Ann Althouse said...: I rewatched the finale, which I was too tired to watch very well on Wednesday night, and I'm reminded again how awful I though many of Chloe's dresses were. I listened to Tim's podcasts about the finale, and he puts it well. She had this weirdly stiff, heavy silk that seemed welded together. I really disliked the first one, that puffy pink thing. Didn't Santino say something like "it's like a couch is coming at you"? I liked Daniel best in part because he wasn't lost in evening fantasy-wear. I like to see some relation to real life -- wearability. Chloe got a lot of credit in the end for "understanding women" or "understanding women's bodies," but I think that really only referred to the fact that her clothes were more competently fitted, not that they were things women could or would wear. Santino's clothes seemed like negligees. They looked comfortable but in a way that is so easy to achieve that it proves nothing about him.; 3/10/06, 5:57 AM