Project Runway Goes to Fashion Week

I was cruising the Getty Images site looking at the photos from the Project Runway show. I'm sure I could track down whose designs were whose, but I'll sit on my hands and wait until the finale. For now, I'm just posting a few goodies that I like (and I'll be very upset if they belong to Christian).

I'm betting that these two striped pieces belong to Jillian. They just seem like her aesthetic, particularly when given enough time to do a good job.

This dramatic although slightly ridiculous ruffled collar is either Christian or Chris, it reminds me of both of them. And there were a few dresses that looked like they were trimmed with monkey fur, which I'm assuming has to be Chris.

Why, why, why can't they get their scheduling right and show a finale at or near Fashion Week so they don't have to have ringers in the final show? Not that I mind seeing all the extra clothes, or that the also-rans got to show in Bryant Park after all, and under the banner of Project Runway, but get it together, people, this is Season 4. You should be able to schedule these things by now.

Painful plumbing date: $4500, I still don't have running water (at least, not my own - I have a hose stretched across the back yard to my next door neighbor's hose, "borrowing" his house's water), and it won't get fixed until freaking Thursday because Philadelphia has ridiculous permit requirments, and the utility companies (those highway robbers) require a 3 day period to spray paint lines on my street before the plumber can finally arrive with a backhoe and dig in betwteen them. The 3 day period doesn't begin same day as the request, doesn't operate on weekends, doesn't make any sense.

On the plus side, he's going to let me drive the backhoe. Somehow, if I'm already paying him $4500, I probably shouldn't want to do any of his work for him, but come on, it's a backhoe. How often does a girl get a chance like that?

In fashion, one day you're in, and the next day, you're . . . in

Did everyone see Project Runway Wednesday night? Don't even get me started on the "Happy Hands at Home" and "home sewn" comments – do these people not realize that (a) most of their audience probably sews, and (b) two of their sponsors are Brother and Simplicity, companies which obviously do know that the audience probably sews.

Not to mention the fact that we all know plenty of home sewers who turn out more professional looking work than the PR designers on a regular basis. I think this week's show was almost the first time that Ricky didn't produce something I couldn't have done while simultaneously watching reruns of Project Runway.

No, what has me irked this time is Tim's and the judges' swooning response to Rami's denim dress. You know, the one with the innovative, fashion-forward, zippers-as-piping trim. Which would be the same innovative, fashion-forward, zippers-as-piping trim that Jeffrey used on his green striped dress during the finale of Season 3. Which YSL used years before, and I'm sure has been done many other times that my tired brain can't think of.

This isn't a slur against Rami; I love his draping, though it gets repetitive, and I was pleased to see how well he worked with a structured fabric like denim. And I couldn't stand Jeffrey, but I did like that striped dress. At the time I thought the zippers were interesting, and for a while I tried to figure out how to use them myself on a garment, but I ditched the idea because by then it was so "last season." Who knew that "last season" would still be in this season? And that Tim Gunn would be almost unreasonably excited about it? (Michael Kors I can understand; he gets excited about the weirdest stuff, and just look at the recent butt-ruch pattern he released: I'm not blindly following that man’s sense of fashion any time soon).

So what gives, Heidi? You throw around the words "fat" and "home sewn" like you're hurling spears at your audience, and then even your tag line isn't accurate. Apparently, one day you can be in, and a year and a half later, you can still be in.

Auf wiedersehen, credibility.