Project Runway Canada Episode 11: Home Again, Home Again
Source: By BRIAN COULTON
Posted: 04/08/09 2:25PM
Filed Under: Project Runway Canada
If you're anything like us at the AOL camp (and if you're reading this, you likely are), you too have developed fashion fatigue over the tedious buildup to Sunny Fong's odds-on win during this season of PRC.
So when I learned there were still two episodes of the show after last week's whittling down to the final three, I wasn't sure I'd survive. But, not to be downcast, I decided to predict the exact events of this last night's episode before it began.
Season 2 Contestants |
Oh, come on. You knew he was going to win this one from the beginning. Sunny was like the seasoned veteran in a competition of newbies. No one else's work held a candle to his - and it showed when he won a bazillion challenges in a row. Congrats, Sunny! You earned it. |
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PHOTOS |
After Iman's usual "Ready for the runway? Tempers will flare, hemlines will fly. Because fashion isn't always (pause) pretty," I forecast the designer sendoff, Brian's visits to their homes, their trip to Toronto, a 'surprise' final challenge and a twist. Call me psychic (OK, so maybe I'm familiar with one or two seasons of the show), but the prophecies reign true, and monotony ensues.
The designers depart Ottawa for their hometowns, with six months and a budget of $8,000 to design 12 looks to show at Toronto Fashion Week. With just under two months left, Brian makes his visits to each designer to critique the work they've produced so far.
His first stop is Toronto, where he visits Jason's studio apartment. Doom and gloom distinguish the garments in his collection, that consists mostly of black, dark black, royal black and forest black. Oh yeah, and gold. Goths need bling, too. He shows Brian a (black) silk chiffon dress with a back cut to the ass and a (black) raw silk dress with a strap he stipulates has no purpose. Oh, how Jason's clothes reflect his status on the show.
Couture: Paris 2009 |
In defiance of all the doom and gloom of the world, chief Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld made a couture collection that was mostly all white. |
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PHOTOS |
Brian says he doesn't see any runway pieces, but Jason bites back and says his collection is going to be "show-stopping" (likely because the audience will begin to leave). After a party where Brian meets Jason's friends and family ("And you know what? Bailey loves a family party," quips Brian), Brian's off to meet the next designer.
Brian lands in Fergus, Ont. and visits Biffi in her family home. She tells him her collection is all about glamour meets hip-hop, meets classy 1930s. So basically Greta Garbo in a low rider wearing haute couture. Classy. Brian exercises necessary concern over how Biffi will bring the ideas together and says her only strong piece is a black jacket with shiny gold detailing around the neck and at the waist. Biffi cries. Brian leaves.
Back in Toronto, Brian checks in on Sunny, who has a surprise for the mentor - an effectively garment-less clothing rack! Brian's worried. But the few pieces Sunny does have to show wow Brian, who says he has amazing silhouettes for the runway. Fur and gold beading accent his collection, which, however sparse, already trumps his competition.
When the designers reunite in Toronto to prepare for the final runway show, Brian expresses his love of Sunny and Biffi's collections. Sunny's animalistic designs are something to marvel at - an "elephant dress" with nose, trunk and ears, a toga with peacock pleating and a skin tone snake boustier, oh my! And Jessica's zebra-lined leather pleated jumpsuit is hot.
Jason, on the other hand, has a lot of technical work to do, says Brian. But in typically combative Jason style, he keeps disagreeing with Brian. Somehow, Jason still hasn't realized that Brian is kind of a big deal in Canadian fashion. Maybe he knows what he's talking about? But in honesty, I love watching Jason fail due to his own devices, so keep on countering, J.
In a stirring turn, back on the runway, Iman and Brian tell the designers they have - dun dun dun - an additional challenge! The designers act surprised, as if it's never happened before. I die a bit inside. The challenge is to design a dress for cute ET Canada hostess Cheryl Hickey to wear to an ET lounge event at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Hickey tells the three the garment must be a cohesive part of their collection and that she likes strapless or one-shouldered dresses that are flowy and romantic, and not super-fitted.
But wait! There's more! Because the final runway show is in but two days, Iman brings out all of the eliminated designers, three of which will act as personal assistants to the final three on this challenge. The selection is random, but the picks are repulsive. Jason's helper is sh-t-eating-grin Brandon, while Sunny gets stitch-drawing cackler, Jelff. And in a worst-case scenario stroke of bad luck, Biffi gets... Kim - the b--ch is back!
Sunny and Jelff seem to work just fine together, and after Biffi exhausts the contents of her tear ducts and Kim apologizes (I know, shocking) to Biffi for her conduct throughout the show, the ladies get on just fine.
But the real rub of the episode happens when Jason tells Brandon he wants to (god knows why) mimic elements of a dress with three tiers at the bottom from Brandon's fall 2009 collection. While Brandon chuckles about it to Brian when shopping for fabric, it's no laughing matter to the mentor, who insists he must let him know if a copycat ends up being the case.
And before Brandon can make any definitive conclusion about similarity, Brian calls Jason out in the workroom on the design. After cleverly-edited shots of Jason looking guilty, the curtain drops on Brandon's confessional comment, "Oh, f--k me sideways!"
Don't despair. I've seen the final runway show and assure you, next week is worth it.
Random Noticeables:
-- This season is literally the cure for insomnia. Even the frikkin' finale doesn't provide any pep.
-- Brandon and Jason together is like an unholy pairing. Each is completely ignorant of their own inability to design.
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