Friday, January 6, 2012

Project Runway All Stars: Am I Impressed?

OK, so Project Runway All Stars started last night so before you read this, please know that I will spoil what happened so if you have it DVR'd, you will be mad at me if you read further.


Model Angela Lindvall is taking over hosting duties usually regulated to Heidi Klum. Then there’s Joanna Coles (Marie Claire editor-in-chief) taking over Tim Gunn’s spot as mentor. And designers Isaac Mizrahi and Georgina Chapman will be sitting in Michael Kors and Nina Garcia’s seats. My initial thought? Not terribly excited about the change up... but I suppose it was necessary because the "all stars" do have past relationships with the judges and  it could be problematic. 


So our episode started by reintroducing us to our supposed or the most talented designers from past seasons. They do have some ranging from popular and super talented (Mondo Guerra, Austin Scarlett) to the mildly popular and mildly talented (Anthony Williams and Kara Janx) to the annoying and/or forgettable contestants (Kenley Collins and Rami Kashou). Would all of these contestants have been on my "all star" list? Probably not, but I digress. I will also make notations later in regards to who I think was brought on specifically to be cut first. Our designers put on a fashion show each with a look brought from home to represent themselves as a designer. Everything looks pretty decent and that is on the level.

Challenge time: Our first episode is, you guessed it, the unconventional item challenge! Our designers shop at a 99 cent store and their looks need to be inspired by the looks they brought from home. It's at this point where I am kind of, legitimately, over the unconventional item challenge. Dollar store, super market, junk yard... it's all the same to me. 

Our designer's commentaries are, as usual, peppered in between our shots of the action. As they are all shopping, I get the impression that the majority of them think that they are the best in this competition. I start to realize that part of what makes project runway so special is that the designers are still trying to dig in, make their own success and win it! I don't get this vibe at all... dare I say it, we have some divas in this all star cast.

I LOVE Project Runway and have been an avid watcher of all seasons and so far, I am not enjoying this episode. We go through the same motions and issues with putting together unconventional items. Gasp, Austin melts through plastic with his glue gun. Mondo isn't feeling the competition yet, Kenley is still super annoying. I found myself wishing I had recorded it so I could fast forward to the end. 

A bright spot in this ep, is Joanna Coles mentoring our designers. While she is most definitely no Tim Gunn, she brings a sophistication and seriousness to the series that I really like. That is the only change in judging/mentoring that I care for. My friend Erin calls Isaac Mizrahi b!tchy and I can't say that I disagree, Georgina Chapman is lovely but let's face it, Nina is my girl... and then there is Angela Lindvall. Who is Angela Lindvall? Apparently, she is/was a model but compare her to Hiedi Klum and this is an epic failure. Her hosting is disjointed and rehearsed , her emotions seem forced and to me, she doesn't have anything endearing that makes me like her. In short, there is nothing different about her. I am hoping that as the season goes on, that she gets into a groove because the elimination "ceremony" was almost painful.

Top 3: Mondo, Rami and Jerell. Rami wins, whoopee
Bottom 3, and here is where I think they brought people in, knowing they would be good bets as going out early*: Sweet Pea: was she that great a designer before? I like her and everything but I don't recall her being in the top often despite her making it fairly far. Gordana: I barely remember her and Elisa: also not a great designer and best known for spit marking on her fabric.

*Please add Micheal Costello to this list as he is ever the underdog and Mila Hermanovski as I feel she also falls into the forgettable category.

I will be giving this season a chance but right now, I feel like everyone is kind of full of themselves, by the looks of the previews, Isaac doesn't maintain his composure like a judge should and well, I am just plain uninspired. I plan to watch at least the next couple of episodes but unless I seem some improvements, some unexpected twists or something, I may just have to bail.

What do you think? Did you watch and were you in love? Or do you agree with me somewhat?

10 comments:

  1. Did you really expect Isaac to maintain composure though, really? He is, exactly as I described him. Yes, he may be the original Target collab, but that (IMHO) is his most recent claim to fame.

    My call, Kenley and (ugh) Michael Costello stay for the Sanjaya (Idol fame) effect. And Mondo and Scarlet will always be all stars.

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  2. I must say that I totally agree with all that you said above. I LOVE Project Runway and when I found out that they were doing "All Stars" I was excited. I didn't remember that the season was starting last night (DVR remembered for me) and when I watched the episode; I wished I hadn't. It was boring, uninspiring and completely lacked the drive that Project Runway possesses. The host was horid and the judges were stale. I don't think the show can go on without the rawness of Project Runway. It just doesn't appeal to me, but neither did Project Accessory and I watched the entire season of that. We shall see.... guess I am partial to Heidi, Michael, Nina and Tim.

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  3. Yeah, I wasn't terribly thrilled with Project Accessory at first and then I watched that badboy until the very end haha! I will probably keep updating weekly on my thoughts on PR All Stars.

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  4. I watched it and want to like it I really do, but I have to agree with you a bit. I will def record the entire season I'm sure. The judges are stale, maybe they will find their groove with time. Even though the regular crew has a history with the designers I feel they could have hosted, they are pros and would have judged the contestants fairly IMO. And the unconventional challenge, really? I get it for designers that are challenging themselves in new ways for the first time but for all stars I would much rather see new challenges and ones that let them shine with their own aesthetics and real materials so the their own true talent shines best.  

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  5. Thanks for the comment lady! Hey I use Disqus because I liked it so much on your blog. Do you find that some people comment but it doesn't show up on Disqus? I checked my spam filters for a comment and its not there and just never published on the post.

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  6. I have watched Project Runway from the beginning and the last two seasons I have been disappointed mostly with who the judges selected as winners.  So I was excited for All Stars to see some of my old favorites but I definitely don't think all of them are All Star quality.  I love Mondo and hope that he gets the win.  I am not a fan of the new judges or host but I will likely continue watching.  

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  7. ThecriminallyexpensiveJanuary 8, 2012 at 8:17 PM

    I loved Rami! I can never get some of his looks out of my head and as much of a drama queen as she is...Kenley has some real talent and is actually quite nice of a person in real life!

    xx
    krissie

    http://thecriminallyexpensive.blogspot.com

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  8. Didn´t even knew the made this revival of PR!! probably it will never be shown on argentina.. but idk.. it´s a little weird to see a talent show with people you have already seen on it. It´s like they run out of ideas for a reality show or of new contestants.
    If Austin or Rumi don´t win i´ll be dissapointed!!!!

    xx

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  9. Hmm I haven't noticed that issue. I switched to Disqus because I had 3 different people at 3 different times tell me they have trouble commenting on my blog via blogger. I stumbled on Disqus from Linda's blog, Ala Mode. I'll keep an eye out and see if I notice anything. Could it be they bypassed Disquis somehow and commented via the blogger setup? Do you see the comment on the blog post at all or did you only know you had a comment because you just got an email notification but, then don't see it on your blog?

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  10. Okay this just happened today! Maybe I wasn't paying as close attention before. I got an email about a comment and went to my blog to reply only to be unable to see it in my blog comments. I logged into Blogger and was able to see the comment in their dashboard. I wonder if sometimes it's time delayed from blogger > disqus if they sign in a certain way? The comment was placed today at 1pm so, I am going to see if the comment posts later today. Ugh that was the whole reason I switched to begin with.

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