Friday, February 10, 2012

PR: All-Stars: Rami Takes The Fall

As the show opens, all the designtestants are gathered around a table, laughing and playing and joking. Then Mila comes in; party over. Later in the show, Jerell dubs her Lady Mila Killjoy. It fits. From here on in, that's who she'll be......
The task this week is to do a Fashion Face/Off, by designing sportswear for each season and the designtestants are randomly put into four teams: Rami and Lady Mila Killjoy are Fall, while Michael and Jerell are the Winter queens; Austin and Kara are having a Spring fling, and Mondo and Kenley Summer together.
Let's rip......
JERELL--Winter
His first step is to make a very large, bulky winter coat, and then create an outfit to go with it.
As he and Michael work side-by-side, he notices that Michael's original design has morphed into a very similar look to his coat, and he begins to question, whine, gossip, and snark about it. I think he has reason; their color palettes are similar, and they each made a big baggy coat. It's that age old question, which came first: Jerell's coat or Michael's idea for a coat?
As Joanna Coles walks about the workroom, Jerell informs her of "The Steal" and she holds a designer seminar to discuss the issue., Most everyone agrees that Jerell's chicken came before Michael's egg, or vice versa, but agree that both men just need to put on their boy panties and continue to just do the best they can do.
On the runway, with the jacket closed, it looked a little Horse Blanket-y, but as soon as it opened, it looked cool, and trippy hippy, and not at all crazy mismatched top-and-bottom we've seen from Jerell this season. he called it a "million bucks" bohemian.
I say it needed a slight markdown. Georgina noted the similarity of the looks, and Jerell ran with his prepared statement about his design being first, and that maybe Michael was bitten by the same "creative bug." Uh huh. Georgina liked Jerell's Bohemian tribal aesthetic, and Isaac loved the coat, but not the buttons; the sweater buttons bugged him and the giant coat buttons sent him reeling. Guest judge Cynthia Rowley said it looked like a Jerell piece.
And he gets the win. For snark and design.

MICHAEL--Winter
He designs a short jacket, vest thing, very high in the back, but then instantly scrubs it and decides to try something new; or something Jerell, as some say. He switches his little vest for a bulky, wide-lapeled winter coat. He says the design came from his head, and I think he meant it came from Jerell, through his eyes, and then into his head. Now, Lady Mila Killjoy, who keeps Michael as a lapdog, doesn't believe he intentionally plagiarized-stole-copied Jerell's look, but.......
He gets all Palm Springs Pissy as Jerell wanders about the workroom whispering about stealing designs, copying ideas; this from Michael, who scurried like a rat to Lady Mila Killjoy last week to whisper about Kenley and Kara. pot. Kettle. Knockoff.
His look was interesting. It did look a little 'Jerell,' but not that much. It was more chic and urban. He called it a "stand out" and I thought, well, at least it's a "stand alone."
Isaac said Michael's girl looked "resolved" and I have no idea what that means. But he hated the leggings with the CFM pumps. He called the look nasty. He also said Michael is very good at execution, but not so much at design. Rowley said his girl looked like Jerell's model's mother, while Georgina said his look was polished and sophisticated, but worried that a Michael Show would be a hot mess.
In the end, copied or not, Michael gets a pass.


KENLEY--Summer
She's doing Kenley. Not the same shape that she's done most weeks, but something light and girly and flirty and retro. It's a polka dot onesie. It's Lucy at the pool in Hollywood. Mondo rightly tells us that she just does Kenley and does nothing else. And, Like Mondo, I wish she'd try something different. i mean, on her season she copied other, much more famous designers, and now she's copying herself. Either way, not good.
On the runway it's cute. it's polka dots. it's one-piece. it's Kenley. What's left to say?
Well, Rowley liked the simple chic aspect of it, and the fact that their were no accessories, save for the orange booties. Isaac liked that it was one piece, and Angela wanted to wear it. Georgina, who never met a polka dot she liked, pointed out that if you're gonna go polka dot, line the sons of bitches up. Maybe she didn't say it like that, but, well, I was reading her mind.
Kenley bested Mondo during the Summer.


MONDO--Summer
His winning design from last week was kind of a sportswear thing, but he doesn't want a repeat so he decides to go with pants...or a skirt...a mini-skirt. He finally settles on shorts. Like last week.
But the short fabric is very cool, and the details are so Mondo, that they're cool. But then he pulls out a polka dot fabric of his own; he and Kenley are both dotty. In the end, he decides that since it's his mother's birthday, he'll design an outfit for a girl who is attending Mama Mondo's party. Yes, it's a roundabout, big time, stretch of a story, but it sets Mondo off in the direction he needs, so, well, let it go....
The top seems like a toss-off, made at the last minute. It almost looks like it's just a piece of fabric thrown over the model's shoulders. the shorts, however, are impeccably made, with beautiful Mondo details.
I got the idea that Rowley didn't like Mondo; not his design, but she doesn't like Mondo. I mean she ranted about the hair and the earrings and the bracelet and the bag, all things Mondo did not design. When she saw the back of the shorts, she sucked air through her teeth, and muttered, "Ooooooh, oh, boy." WTF? She said they were bad fabrics, bad proportion, bad accessories, and ill-fitting. See, she don't like Mondo, and I don't much care for her. Isaac thought it looked a little junior, and I don't know what that means either. Is junior a bad thing? Georgina did say that the shorts weren't flattering, and said it was good, but not as good as last week,
Mondo gets a pass though.


KARA--Spring
Why is she still here? every week she gets the invisible edit. we see her at the beginning, and then she reappears on the runway with an outfit, but we see very little of her in the between time. Maybe it's because her designs are boring, maybe it's because she's boring. At any rate, her woman is headed to Palm Beach with the kids, and she's going simple, chic and easy.
In other words, invisible.
And dull. And boring,. The completed look seems straight off the sale rack at Target; you know, the rack in the corner, by the dressing room, where things aren't hung on it, but thrown over it. And grimy-handed housewives paw through it looking for something to wear while mopping the floor. Like that. Only, in Kara's mind, it's "simple and chic" with a "strong color sensibility."
Angela thought it wearable and comfortable, while Rowley dubbed it unoriginal. Isaac said, "Gray, purple and white? Really?" He also said it lacked style. Georgina liked the fabrics but said it was just perfectly okay.
Which, in the end, was apparently enough to best Austin's Desperate Sisterwife outfit, but not enough to win the prize.
Safe.


AUSTIN--Spring
His gal is a high society New York dame who travels to her country house to check her garden. But, um, if she's so high class, wouldn't she have a gardener? At any rate, he spies his competition, Kara's, design, and tells her to go with it, because he'll win in the end.,
Ruh-roh.
He goes all khaki, high-waisted, Capri pants with a cute little top, and sweater combination.
Ruh-roh.
On the runway his pants look very high-waisted; like Ed Grimley high-waisted [Google it and see]. Plus, the fact that they are Capri pants and so high-waisted, makes it look like the model tugged them up too high. And that top; that oh-so-cute it looks like something my Grandmother wore, top.
Ruh-roh.
Austin calls in "wearable" and "classic" as in, it's been in the back of my closet since '47. Rowley called i so dorky, it's cool, while Isaac thought the trousers were perfect. [Note to self: have Isaac's eyes checked.] But then he dubbed the outfit boring and said he wouldn't be seen with that girl. Georgina Chapman thought it not modern enough, and not something the every day girl would wear. Angela capped it off by saying it looked like a small town church outfit.
Austin fades in Kara's half-light, but he gets a save at the end.


LADY MILA KILLJOY--Fall
Her design is for a New York woman headed to Texas for an art festival. it's a little too specific, and, really, a New Yorker goes to Texas to see art? I mean, if she means Art the bootlegger, then i get it. If it's something else, then the Killjoy is in.
Her outfit is skinny jeans with a cape, because that screams New Yorker. or crossing guard on a rainy day. It's dullsville, man, like Lady Mila Killjoy. But at least she used some color--red and tan--and not just her usual black, white and gray. Still, she has the chutzpah to mutter that she has done "a silhouette they haven't seen before....a cape."
Um, Lady Killjoy? Batman did a cape. Dracula practically invented the cape. Yours is no Dracula cape.
Georgina liked the use of red, but called it unexciting, and said the jeans were a mistake. Isaac griped about bad fabrics, and not looking expensive. Angela liked the cape because she's a super-hero-model, I think, but in the end called it boring. Rowley called it chic and liked the geometry of the cape. Huh? So, no one really liked it, except Rowley, and I question her Lack Of Taste Level, but she gets the best of Rami and is safe.


RAMI--Fall
He's not threatened by Lady Mila Killjoy because their aesthetic is so very different; her colors are muted and his are, well, kinda loud. A blue sent through a time machine from the 1980s and an almost neon lime green. I like his design, but the colors have me flummoxed. Lady Mila Killjoy also hates the colors--this from a Black-and-White woman--and hates the volume--this from a woman designing a cape.
His design on the runway is the usual Rami. it's extremely well-made and beautifully draped. But those colors. And the silhouette. Y'all know how I feel about Beefcake Rami, but, seriously, my first thought was that this was a costume for Bette Midler when she did Ruthless People back in the 80s and her character had lost all that weight.
Georgina loved the back of the coat, and if they'd only left it closed.....Isaac hated the green color of the blouse, and the weird, too much fabric draping at the neck. Rowley loathed the diagonal cut on the green top because it made the model's breastiges look lopsided; and that is apparently not good. Angela said the colors actually made her sick, but Georgina did like the jacket.
If only it was kept closed.
Rami gets Auf'd.
Rami.
Auf'd.
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
That's all.........
I just can't.......

6 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:24 PM

    The Frankenstein stitching on Rami's blouse was a mess. I thought it would have been Austin's time to go home but not this time.

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  2. Okay, being a reluctant housewife (damn you economy!) who mops floors? I just let the dogs at the floor and twa-dwa! it's clean!

    Spot on as always! Both Daughter and I are in mourning with the auf-ing of Rami.

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  3. My household will miss Rami, too. But that awful green/blue mess was by far the worst thing on that runway. Let's hope Kara goes next week.

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  4. Anonymous1:57 PM

    Mila just needed to add bell hat and she would have had Nanny and the Professor!

    Yeah - Romi in a tank again but that green thing reminded me more of Frankenstein than high fashion.

    The comments on the runway seemed very different from those after and I thought (by the comments) that Kenley was a lock.

    Michael may have been inspired by Jerell's look but he got the fabric way before that.

    I really thought that they just picked names out of a hat last night.

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  5. Devastated about Rami. Hated Cynthia Rowley and how mean she was to Mondo. Still don't like Jerrell. Even if he did win...

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  6. Fabulous recap! Couldn't agree with you more. Kara and her 'designs' are boring, and I'm sorry to see Rami go. If they hadn't done that stupid face/off judging, Rami would still be in the running.

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