Katherine Gerdes

Project Runway Finale Recap

23 October, 17:34 - thus far 8 insightful comments have been made

Jeffrey (WINNER): As I’m sure most of you know, I was not the biggest Jeffrey fan throughout the show, so I’m was surprised to think this at OFW, but Jeffrey’s collection was one of my favorites! After seeing all four collections, I’ll be honest and say that I was rooting for Uli (more on that later), but Jeffrey winning was well deserved. While there were a few pieces in his collection that I don’t think fit in at all (blue dresses), his designs were the most innovative and had the freshest point of view. I think he really took to heart the judges criticisms during the show about how he should be able to mix elegant and sophisticated into his grungy, rock and roll look. His collection showcased that mixture perfectly, and like the judges said, he really showed a whole “lifestyle” of clothing for his woman, not just a day look or evening look. It was hard for me to pick a favorite look from his collection. I absolutely loved his first red polka dot dress and of course his final green dress was stunning and the striped fabric was completely unexpected for a cocktail dress (very similar to his use of plaid for a couture dress), but I think I’m going with his second to last look (green striped blazer) as my favorite.

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I think this look perfectly pulls together his rock and roll esthetic while at the same time being very put together. It also manages to be casual and elegant all at the same time. Although personally I’m not a fan of skinny pants, I think those white leather pants are fantastic and really like the patches of distressing (or whatever it is he did to them). I love the mixture of the green striped blazer (which could look really preppy) with the zipper details and the silver tank. I also really like the way he used the striped fabric for a blazer in one outfit and then moved seamlessly to using it in an evening dress. All in all I thought this outfit really brought together what he was attempting to do with the collection.

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My least favorite of Jeffrey’s was that blue and silver dress. It was just awful and it didn’t fit that model well at all. Her chest looked enormous and it didn’t fit with the collection at all. I also think even had it fit well, he would have been in trouble with it, because it’s a natural reaction to compare it to Uli’s dresses and there really is no comparison there. Although I did really like the print on this dress and think it fit with his inspiration well.

One last thought on Jeffrey’s collection… I really liked how he was able to successfully mix casual separates and dresses without it looking too disjointed. Oh, and those short jackets with the open zippers in the back were fantastic! I have to hand it to Jeffrey that he really surprised me with this collection and his win was well earned.

Uli: I absolutely loved Uli’s collection and really thought she was going to win! From the first model out to the final dress, every time a girl walked around the corner the room literally gasped at how beautiful the outfit was. I completely agree with the judges when they said; “these are clothes women want to wear.” As I’m sure you can tell, I’m not exactly a dress kind of gal, but even I want to wear Uli’s clothes. They just look like they would automatically make you feel beautiful! I also really liked Uli’s use of color in the collection. I know the judges thought it wasn’t cohesive, but I liked how it started in the neutral colors (that first dress was STUNNING), and towards the end she threw in a splash of color here and there until finishing up with that amazing emerald dress that Nazri wore. I kind of think Uli was damned if she did and damned if she didn’t when it came to using color and prints. If she didn’t use any, then the judges would have called her out for “not being herself” and if she used mostly colors and prints they would have said she was a “one note.” Personally I think she put together a perfect blend of the two. Plus, like Jeffrey, I think she was really successful with combining casual and eveningwear. I adored the outfit that Amanda wore (the shorts and silver tank with the cool back). I honestly had a really hard time picking an outfit that I didn’t like in this collection and was unable to narrow down my favorite, therefore I have two favorites:

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Her first “tiger” print dress was stunning. I don’t know what else to say. It looked fantastic and moved beautifully. The jewelry at the top was amazing (as was all of the bone closures and jewelry in the collection) and while it was a printed fabric, it didn’t overwhelm the dress. Beautiful.

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My other favorite was the khaki skirt and silver halter outfit. I loved this outfit because it is completely different than Uli’s signature flowy dresses and yet it fits in with the collection really well. It showed a more tailored side of Uli while keeping her subtly sexy look. I think this outfit with a little jacket could be perfect for work and yet I could see someone wearing it out to a dinner or club.

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I had a hard time picking a least favorite, but after watching the show a few times and looking at all the photos, I think her blue/turquoise “Uli” dress didn’t do it for me. My first reaction was that it is the same (or very similar) fabric to her final challenge, but was less successful than that dress. I also thought it was much too heavy with the silver cording at the top and didn’t give the model much shape.

Speaking of shape, I think that is one of Uli’s strongest talents. She is able to create all these flowy dresses that manage to look effortless and yet still be body conscious and shapely, which is so hard to do and could easily turn out to look mu-mu like and sloppy.

Laura: I agree with the judges on Laura’s collection, while it was beautiful and well constructed, it was a fairly limited point of view. Although the more I think about it (and Fern Malice put it perfectly), she doesn’t really need to expand that much, the women who want to buy that style will buy and buy and buy… well, you get the picture. If a designer is going to have such a definitive point of view, then they need to do that perfectly and, well, that’s what Laura does! Plus, I don’t know how she put together such an amazing collection and did all the hand beading while being pregnant AND taking care of 5 kids. I think hidden under that little black dress she must have her “superwoman” costume on somehow.

While I really liked Laura’s final dress (did you see how the acid green belt wove through the back of the dress?!), it was a little too heavy on the beading for me, so I picked her first outfit as my favorite.

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I loved the simple shape of this dress and secretly hope that Laura sent out a turtleneck style first as a sign to the judges saying; “see! I can do sexy cocktail dress without a plunging neck!” I really liked how neutral this dress was and how it worked with the pale skin and red hair of her model. I also liked the way it was almost like a casual shirt-dress at first glance and then you get hit with the beading growing up the hems.

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The gold jacket with the high-waist hot pants was my least favorite design and I think the least successful in the collection. For me it seemed to come out of nowhere and didn’t really fit with the rest of the collection, but I’m guessing Laura was trying to put more variety in. I’m not opposed to the idea of this outfit, but the proportions seemed to be off to me. The shorts were way too high up the waist and the jacket was too short. I think had the jacket been longer (hit at the hips?), the shorts might have worked better and it might not have looked so matronly (hard to make hot pants matronly huh?).

Overall I think Laura did a fantastic job and really stayed true to herself and her design. I do think the judges were a little harsh on her about the lack of variety. I felt like she did a pretty good job at expanding what we saw during the season and showing us new styles and new ideas.

Michael: I absolutely hate saying this, but by now we all know that Michael’s collection was a bit disappointing. I was fully backing him going into OFW and from the cheers and applause it seemed like most of the audience was as well. It’s not that I think his collection was all that bad, but compared to what the other 3 showed it just wasn’t up to that level, plus, on top of that he had to deal with being America’s sweetheart and try to live up to all the hype that was surrounding him. Considering that this was Michael’s first collection ever, he didn’t do too badly, but it did seem that he reverted back to more of his style from his audition than what he was showing during the season. I liked his concept of a women finding herself and figuring out who she is and how this related to his Project Runway experience, but the safari theme seemed a bit overdone for me. I love when a designer has a concept for a collection, but I’m not such a big fan of it when it is done so blatantly.

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His favorite piece for me was the white wrap top and shorts in the beginning, but I did like his final printed dress as well. It reminded me of a more successful version of his final challenge gown. Personally I didn’t agree with the judges when they said it was “too much.” I loved the white top and shorts because I think Michael does sportswear so well and this was a great showcase for being sexy and sporty, but not trashy. There was just enough skin showing with the outfit and the top looked like something you could easily wear to any occasion. I also liked it a lot, because a lot of the collection seemed so belted and ridge whereas this outfit seemed very relaxed and casual, yet still clean and elegant.

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My least favorite outfit from Michael’s collection was the green printed halter dress. The overall design wasn’t that bad, but it was not flattering on his model (Alexandra I think?) at all. The keyhole was too big and made her chest seem really far apart, plus the empire waist and full short skirt was unflattering and made me feel like she was trying to hide a tummy or big hips. While I liked the color, I didn’t understand how this dress and the orange one that followed fit into the collection.

Overall I have to say I was so impressed with all four collections and personally think it was the strongest group of final collections throughout all 3 seasons of PR (although Jay still tops them all). I’m really happy that they let all four compete for the prize rather than have a decoy designer and I think it’s pretty obvious that all of them have a fantastic future in design. Plus I had a fantastic time at fashion week and it totally made up for having to sit through the train wreck that we call “reunion show.”

One last thought…what do you guys think about having people with established businesses competing for the prize? While I think Jeffrey’s collection was fantastic, part of me really wishes that one of the other three had won because Jeffrey already had a good business set up and same thing with Chloe last year. I don’t really have an answer to this and I’m not saying I wouldn’t let them in the competition, it’s just a thought and I wanted to throw it out there and see what everyone else thinks?