fashion history & project runway designers

season 3 | fall 2006 :

laura bennet & malan breton

• the runway shows of laura & malan
  
• flappers, follies & feathers 2 : collages
  
• harem pants
  
• flappers, follies & feathers 1 : contexts
  
• josephine baker (brief bio)
  
• additional historical and cultural information
  

robert best

• stuck in the past: updating jackie o
  

angela keslar and others

• the holly hobbie chronicles

repeat offenders

or, getting the old in and out

The producers' defense of the episode 10 gimmick is that they didn't know ahead of time that the two returning designers would turn out to be the two most annoying (read Andy's Blog). On the other hand, it is easy to assume that the two returning designers would be those who were most recently kicked out. Presumably they would be the next best designers. Of course they were not the best designers because the producers wanted to keep around the nut cases for "drama."

Vincent and Angela's return was pointless. Everyone knew that neither one of them would win. It was also annoying. They had already overstayed their welcome. We'd finally gotten rid of them and no one--least of all the viewers--wanted to see them darken the door of Parsons and the Atlas again.

I don't say this with malice: Angela seems like a fine person who is open minded but sticks to her own fleurchon-festooned jubilee jumbles creative vision. She has been amusing and baffling to viewers but in the end she proved to be a remarkably generous-spirited person. And she lives her life in keeping with values that are very admirable. It is too bad she is lumped together with Vincent who is truly disturbed and evokes in viewers a mix of loathing and pity. (See also "for the record.")

My point is that by the 10th episode we'd seen what they could do -- they'd had more than their fare share of chances and of lucky breaks.

Anyway, it seems like in order to be "fair" they set up a criteria that lacked the flexibility they needed to have the episode make any sense at all. And I'm not sure how fair they were either.

Just for the hell of it, here are a few of the other ways they could have approached this challenge.


THE FIRST TO GO: STACY, MALAN, KATY (KATHERINE)

Why not just pick those designers we haven't recently seen?
The ones who had the least chance to show what they could do?
The ones who didn't get the benefit of the doubt?

This also deals with the "Keith Factor" : that is, the three designers who were kicked off before Keith during the period when he was violating the rules.

(This is particularly an issue for Katy.)


STACY

Look at the two outfits to the right and you tell me which one is insanely hideous?

Enough said.

Think of all the trouble wrought by this first of a series of bad decisions.

What ever happend to the old chestnut "we're concerned about taste level"???


MALAN

Malan made the fatal error of not buying enough fabric and his gown was too short.

His dress was flawed but it was also ambitious, as opposed to a basic sheath with minimal fitting and even that was done badly. It also did not have ridiculous shoulder wings. Nor did it look like a bad prom dress project from the early eighties.

He also demonstrated that he could work collaboratively and be a team leader: it was not "the biggest nightmare of [his] life".

He also is a quirky personality who could have provided the show with a great deal of drama and personal interest and hilarity. He's odd but not creepy. Or certifiable.

Malan is a talented and experienced designer who very conceivably could have made it to the final 3. He didn't but he didn't need to. He landed on the runway at Fashion Week anyway.


KATY

There is also the matter of Katherine. In the episode when she was auffed it came down to a choice between her and Keith. Keith was soon asked to leave for violating the rules.

As it happens another set of rules that Keith felt did not apply to him were the requirements for the designers that week. Katherine did.

Her dress was considered too simple.

I thought it was adorable.

it was one of my favorite designs of this season in terms of something I would buy for myself to wear. (I want one in every color!).

She didn't have time to make the hoodie but she showed a "sample" on the dog which was a cute and funny solution to the problem. And it was adorable.

But there was another dress on the runway that was even simpler and lacked any style whatsoever and a major part of the look was leggings that the designer didn't make. The look was then topped off by a beret and sunglasses that just screamed 1983.

You could put together a whole group of people who were kicked off when Vincent should have been. That would be a solid group of designers!


ROBERT

The criteria for who was chosen to return wasn't even consistent. If Angela could get another chance then why not Robert who also worked on a winning team?

Perhaps Robert wouldn't have won without Kayne but it is also clear that Angela would not have won without the help of Laura and Michael.

I'd also like to point out that Robert's design for Jackie O -- for which he took so much heat -- is really not so off base as everyone seemed to think.

Click here for more.


ALISON

Alison was the viewers choice for who to bring back. She had the most controversial "auffing." There is little question that she was one of the most talented and promising of all the designers.

If they wanted to scare the bejesus out of the remaining designers they should have brought back Malan and Alison.

Perhaps the criteria could have been to bring back the two designers who clearly had the talent and skill to be in the final three but they were cut before they had a chance to really show themselves.

In both cases they were also cut instead of Vincent and Angela -- choices that were debatable if not completely wrong-headed.


NOBODY - or - AVOIDING THE SHARK

The problem with these sorts of gimmicks is that they look desperate and run the risk of being a "jumping the shark" moment. This whole season may turn out to be the "jump the shark" year, given that it is when PR moved from being different from other reality shows to being just like them : focused on annoying dysfunctional people bickering and sniping. One might even say that the decision to have someone like Vincent on the show was a shark jump in and of itself.

One shark jump rule might be that it a reality show has jumped the shark when it reaches down to the ethical dregs and casts a person who is seriously in need of medical attention for psychotic symptoms: e.g., hearing voices, manic activity that includes comments -- or worse -- that are sexually inappropriate, and possessing delusional, exaggerated and paranoidal beliefs that are profoundly and visibly incommesurate with reality.

Just a thought.

the return of the repressed

Just when we thought we were safe . . . .

they're baaack!

The worst part about bringing back Vincent and Angela was that it was boring. It added nothing of interest to the show.

Speaking of which, Vincent didn't make his usual e-z kwiky sheath dress. He made something even easier:

Can we please move on to real fashion design now?

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a commentary by
Insouciance & Apéritif
two lovely french models and kih fashion critics

- Mon Dieu! Zay late zee cahrayzee man back in?
- Zat lunatic?
- Plus zee madame de beaucoup fleurchons.
- Quelle horreur!
- I don't like zees at all.
- Mais qui. C'est une idée idiote.

NOTE: Insouciance & Apéritif highly recommend the french department, a new language resource for non-french speakers available in kih | letters.
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"the biggest nightmare . . . "

Was [working with Angela] as horrible as you said?
"It was totally the biggest nightmare of my life."

Here are a few highlights -- with some editorial commentary -- from the Entertainment Weekly interview with Vincent:

Regarding his role in the group:

"I was more of the older guy who would help everybody. I grounded the rest of the guys and let them see reality. . . .

If you think about it, he's quite functional for someone who is that insane.

. . . I said, ''Let's all hang in there.'' . . .

Except for the time that his dry cleaning was screwed up and a producer had to convince him not to quit.

. . . I was kind of the elder statesman. I brought out a lot of camaraderie."

He's a uniter, not a divider. Of course we know that everyone could agree on one thing: that Vincent was barking mad.

[note -- I moved my discussion of the boat trip to its own entry. See Part II above.

EW: Among the designers who are left on the show, which one do you think is worthy of winning?
"Myself. I love the truth, and I'll say this: If you look at the show and you know anything about design, you can see clearly who the designer was. They are amateurs. This show is full of amateur designers. I think one was way, way above and alone on the show. But I don't do the ego thing. It's not my style. But I love the truth."

What?! He makes less sense than Lupe. (See Season 2 reunion if you don't know what I'm talking about.) Knowing about the "Dunning-Kruger Effect" may be a way of understanding what is going on here.

Regarding the judges' criticism of his work:

"When judges see something new, they get intimidated themselves. With Catherine [Malandrino] and Michael Kors, I think there was a little bit of intimidation. I might frighten other designers."

Indeed.

The statements above are amusing but I am most interested in his assertion that working with Angela was: "totally the biggest nightmare of my life." I have a few things to say about this. And that means it is time for another installment of "bloody hell" (i.e., kora's rants):

A couple of days working with someone you don't like is "the biggest nightmare" you have ever experienced?! When I first heard Vincent say this I thought, "Well, how nice for him. I guess he's led a pretty easy life." I also reasoned that he said this immediately after he worked with Angela when he was still upset so he made this crazy exaggeration. Of course it is possible that he was using it in some ironic fashion (e.g., see the title of the previous posting) but he doesn't seem to have much capacity for irony. It has been months now and he is still saying that this was his biggest nightmare and I suspect that he actually means it. And that is scary. There is something profoundly wrong with a guy who has reached the age of 50 and thinks that having to make a dress with someone who isn't being helpful enough was "totally" his biggest nightmare. This is what takes him to the brink? Get a grip. It was an annoyance. At worst it was an unpleasant experience. You didn't work well together. Your personalities didn't mix. This is not a nightmare. And I seriously doubt that Angela was the most annoying person to work with. Ahem. PR is a glorified game show. It simply lacks the depth needed to create a "worst nightmare." A bad dream, maybe. For the viewers. Or perhaps some indigestion. He always looked rather dispeptic. It probably just gave him some bad gas.

Note: Deleted parts of this entry have been reworked into another piece called "The Nightmare" (click the title to read) which has been posted in the arts section of this blog. The changes do not affect the general meaning of the entry and therefore should not invalidate any of the comments that were made prior to these changes.

the hobbien mysteries

"Doesn't this kinda look Holly Hobbie?" -- Tim Gunn

Oh, Tim Gunn. You are wise in many ways, but there are some mysteries of which you do not know. Beware Tim Gunn. Do not scoff at a power higher than even your own. You have tread upon the sacred territory of American femininity. The Way of Holly Hobbie takes many forms and wields great power over many worlds. And yes, Tim Gunn, it is even woven (to be more accurate I should say it is quilted) into the fabric of the world of fashion. But more importantly, The Way of Holly Hobbie is a journey of the soul.

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the way of holly hobbie: her return

her arrival is welcomed by multitudes.

American Greetings Corporation first introduced Holly Hobbie in 1967. She reached her peak in the late 1970s. Just last year (2005) they brought the "classic" image of HH back into production.

You can find out about the history of Holly Hobbie here:
http://www.hollyhobbie.com/HollyHobbie/history.do

This site includes information about the new incarnation of HH: her great-granddaughter, who has long blond hair and instead of a bonnet she wears what I call a "Fat Albert" hat (not to be confused with a Mush Mouth hat).
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Angela seems to be more into the look of the great-granddaughter rather than the original Holly Hobbie, given her fondness for the Fat Albert Hat:

2006










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the way of holly hobbie: rituals and mores

Sewing was a significant aspect of the Holly Hobbie world. Making dolls and quilting were two a popular projects. You could even buy a HH child's toy sewing machine.































"Traditional home crafts" were an important aspect of Holly Hobbie. It was all about the hand-made. These practices instilled the domestic object with the aura of its maker. Objects were created with care -- often made together as a socially bonding activity -- and were usually intended as a gifts. They were endowed with the power to strengthen relationships, especially women's and girls' friendships and mother/daughter bonds.

This is a world without fathers, without adult men. The only males that appear in the imagery are usually younger brothers or non-sexual but romantic boys.

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Like "Little House on the Prairie" HH romanticized the time and place and life of early pioneers. (Like that was a great time to be female in America.) The aesthetic was sentimental and nostalgic for the "simple joys of childhood." Puppies and kittens frolicked. All children were well-behaved, rosy-cheeked, productive, and white and pure as the clouds of glory that they trailed.

Of course, this romantic nostalgia for childhood and the idealized past is hardly new.

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the way of holly hobbie: wait . . . what?

The renewal of interest in Holly Hobbie is a nostalgia for the already nostalgic. (Note to self: that could be a future topic for kih | letters.) I'm curious about why she is being re-introduced now. What is the current fascination all about?

I also think Holly Hobbie may have also been a reaction to the non-traditional career woman that was voicing itself in American culture. At the same time, and paradoxically, Holly Hobbie was a translation of the seventies, living-with-nature, post-hippy independent natural-woman into an image that appealed to middle American suburban girls.

Laura Ingalls Wilder. Macrame. Fern Bars. Knee Socks. Carol King.

I'm sure it all made sense at the time.

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