Thoughts about and deriving from Project Runway

So not last week, but the week before, there was a really nice episode of Project Runway. It was the Hershey's challenge, which I expected would be lame, but was quite fun. It also pointed out what I have decided is the fatal flaw of competitive reality tv: eliminations. Let me set the stage: Zac Posen critiqued Chris's dress as not being exuberant enough. And Nina and Michael Kors kind of corrected him, saying that Chris had actually reigned in his design in a really interesting way. Now, for those of you who don't watch, Chris had been voted off earlier for being too exuberant. Then through a series of bizarre events, he was brought back and since then has seemed to take earlier critiques to heart and create much better pieces. This was a nice dress. So that leads me to ask, WHY do competitive reality shows insist on voting people off week by week? Why? It's unnecessary. It can still be competitive even if everyone stays the whole time. Someone can still win based on points or total portfolio or even just the final project. But I think you can't really tell who will excel over time as opposed to being strong from the start. Some of the early frontrunners turn out not great (ie Wendy from season 1). People pointed to the non-elimination factor as one of the best features of Kid Nation this past summer. I'd like to see a reality tv show that just allows various designers/models/cooks/etc. to develop over time, and see what happens.

That said, it was nice to have Zac Posen on Project Runway, especially since I recently read that Zac Posen's spring 2008 collection was based on another of my all-time favorite movies, Days of Heaven. This collection was really nice. There are some stunning pieces in there, but I'm struck by the collection not necessarily as clothes so much as for really evoking Malick bizarrely enough. Some of the clothes look like Abby's clothes, others look like Bill's or the Farmer's. But then there's some pieces with literal wheat on them or other clothes that look like wheat fields. It's just all really nice.

It also involves a lot of bonnets. I've been wanting to knit a bonnet for winter, but I could also have joined Angry Chicken's mail order club way back in the day. In the second set, the surprise sewing project was a bonnet. The mail order subscription is one of the coolest products I've seen for sale online, though I've never managed to justify the $. Anyway, see here: http://www.kingpod.com/

And finally, Zac Posen also uses amazing music in his Spring 2008 show, including "The Movers and Shakers" by Herbert and the Beach Boys. You too can listen and watch the models model Days of Heaven, the fashion show: http://www.zacposen.com/

(photos courtesy of http://www.eskimo.com/~toates/malick/days/index.html, the Project Runway website, and http://nymag.com/fashion/fashionshows/2008/spring/main/newyork/womenrunway/zacposen/)