Fashion Week Notebook | Project Runway
February 13th, 2006
Photo Credit: NY Metro
Key Takeaways: The final four designers of the popular reality show for fashion groupies each showcased a collection – but only three of them will be accounted for on the season’s finale. The standouts for each designer are as follows: Santino Rice: unexpected clean looks from the over-the-top designer; Daniel Vosovic: frosty looks of femininity; Kara Janx: suburban granola-eating bohemian; Chloe Dao: sexy society girl who actual has a career.
Color Palette: Santino Rice: Heavy use of browns accented with the occasional autumnal reds and blues; Daniel Vosovic: Blacks, whites, browns and grays glossed with subdued light blues; Kara Janx: very fall, but lighter: fun reds, oranges, browns kissed with sky blues; Chloe Dao: besides the regular use of neutrals – deep greens, endearing blues, and confident pinks.
Silhouettes: With all designers, there was an ongoing theme of high waists. Other than that…Santino Rice: the use of delicate fabrics accentuates the very feminine outlines, but still, there is a very dormant edge. Daniel Vosovic: a balanced look of straight lines and curvy forms – strong shouldered jackets reflect off of perfectly formed skirts, while the casual wear is smoothly straight. Kara Janx: very thoughtful use of the high waist – a nice mix of informal whimsy and feminine flowiness. The dresses and skirts cascade down the body, and her slim cut pant suits shadow the body to a tee. Chloe Dao: a wonderful mix of puffy sleeves and diversified tailoring emphasizes different body parts in the most endearing ways.
Accessories Report: Santino, despite using a cape here and a coat there, barely accessorized. On the other hand, Daniel V. included a quirky, yet stylish, figure 8-handled handbag with one of his pieces. Chloe didn’t have anything, but her pieces were strong. Kara had a topical beanie-hat thing with each piece that looked like an everlasting gobstopper.
What’s Wearable: Each designer brought something to the table – Santino’s dresses are luxurious pieces for day parties and cocktail soirees. Daniel clearly designed for the working woman. His coats stand out as key pieces – very technical, yet creative. He also showed this exquisite pleated white skirt that was like vanilla pudding – simply delicious. Kara had a good handful of mix and match, street-friendly pieces of blazers and slacks that weren’t over the top. Chloe’s nice prints and fine tailoring give women great day-to-evening wear. One of her best pieces was a pinkish skirt with a detailed pleat adorned on the bottom – very chic.
What’s Not Wearable: For the most part, nearly all the pieces in the collection are wearable – and that may pose a problem. There wasn’t a real sense of fashion-forwardness woven into these collections – Kara’s collection may be the closest thing. Nonetheless, Santino had this corset, puffy sleeved thing that looked like a Victorian S&M costume. Many of Daniel’s pieces were too Banana Republic and even though Kara’s was pretty forward, there was this layered dress that made the model look like a pregnant cupcake. As for Chloe (my money is on her for the win), she made this unflattering, baggy debutant dress – it was very pre-glamorous drug-addicted Courtney Love.
Entry Filed under: Runway Reviews,Runway Reviews,Trend,Women
2 Comments
1. Omiru.com: Style for All&hellip | February 17th, 2006 at 10:17 am
[…] All photos courtesy of BravoTV.com Fans of the fashionista reality show can rest a little bit easier now that the final three have been announced: Daniel V., Santino and Chloe. This past Wednesday, the final four designers (the three, plus Kara) had to design an evening gown suitable for the majestic supermodel/diva/wife-of-David Bowie. With such a daunting challenge before the honorable opportunity to show at fashion week, you’d think the designers would pull out all the stops – but think again.I have to agree with the judges when they said they were “underwhelmed.†The pieces they showed were flat out boring. Take a look: Chloe’s Dress: Yawn… Santino’s Dress: Didn’t they already do the figure skating costume challenge? Kara’s Dress: Double yawn. I understand why she was eliminated.Daniel V’s Dress: I guess it’s a "winner."Out of all of them, Santino (although it was a bit horrendous) had the most interesting gown. Everyone else had pretty designs, but as Santino said, they were “safe.†They were as exciting as watching curling on the Olympics. It’s as though the designers thought too inside of the box, and they put all their focus on the schematics of tailoring rather than vehicular creativity. Nonetheless, there HAD to be a winner. Daniel V. took the golden pin cushion on this challenge. After seeing the Project Runway collections at fashion week, I am sure a lot of people are going to be a little bit disappointed. We shouldn’t compare them to those of last season, but after seeing ingenious collections by Jay McCarroll and Kara Saun, it’s kind of hard not to.The outcome will certainly be interesting. Daniel, Santino and Chloe’s collections shown last week all managed to stay in the same vein. But if I had to choose a winner, I am going to go with Daniel…or Chloe…or maybe Santino. I have no idea. Stay tuned for the winner! […]
2. Omiru.com: Style for All&hellip | March 8th, 2006 at 9:05 pm
[…] A couple of weeks before the show’s finale, many people had the opportunity to check out pics of the Project Runway show at Olympus Fashion Week (check out my take on the show here.) I, like Michael Kors, was a bit underwhelmed. The most compelling “twist†to the show’s finale was that they had to make a 13th piece to add to their collection. Without a doubt, this added a ton of stress to the already burnt-out designers. But, they pulled it off, and all three of them showed collections that were decent, but not necessarily fashion-forward and interesting. […]