Project Runway 19 - EPISODE 8: "Couch Couture"

 Date for Entry: (Saturday 25th December 2021)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 1st March 2022)

*Comfy Carla*

Dear Diary,

    The ideas for tonight’s challenge were comfy, luxurious, and something you wear at home on the couch in an effortlessly modern look. I saw some of the same reoccurrences where designers did not follow or pay close attention to the challenge coming down to the end.

    Prajje commented the night before the runway correctly said, “This challenge is a bit more confusing to me. At this point, I really do not know what page everybody is on right now. I am seeing a lot of different things. Some people go to weddings. Some people go to strip clubs. Somebody is going to get more liquor out to the store. I don’t know. It’s a lot.” I agreed too when it was time to do the rating on the scorecard.

    While some of the other designers got to detail what they wore during the pandemic, Prajje again said, “Naked is a comfy sheet.” And, I agreed again when Ms. Lauper said that it’s good to feel comfortable in your own skin.

    My design for this challenge again came very ate. It was the first time in all my Project Runway sketches that I decided to use my acrylic paints. When I thought of the episode’s title couch couture, I began to see Carla again living in the Merqueen’s Palace and she’s sitting on a couch. I took very close not of the top that she had on and the skirt at first. It was orange as her mother’s assigned colour.

    From the back of her shoulders, most likely down to her ankles, there was a cape in her assigned colour. I saw that Kereena’s assigned colour bordering the lined end of the cape. It made me wonder if this one as well was made by Lady Serra or if the Merqueen had her own seamstress. The couch was a better seat for her instead of the throne, which would have been more work. I’m not sure where Carla is sitting but she does look comfy. The rings around her are the rays of her additional power blessed onto her by God upon her oath to the Title of the Merqueen.

    Again, we see that designers are having some difficulty following the instructions of the challenge whilst others were not following or listening to Christian’s feedback in the workroom. I was very scared for Coral and Bones during the viewing of tonight’s episode.

    I’m glad the two of them made it through. It will be hard for me to see Octavio and Zayden go as well. I had some fun getting to research Cashmere and see what it is like. I’m not sure what the fabric feels like but it seemed to be scratchy but not too much on the rough scratchy side. Looking at the judges, the time of the season is heating up for difficult decisions in who will be eliminated from the competition. I wish them all the best.

SELECTIONS.

    This week some of the designers had confused about the challenge and some were not able to meet the challenge at all. This would have caused some difficulty for me in making selections for the challenge. I still made sure to do my best in picking and keeping in mind what Brandon told me after the first episode of season eighteen.

    For this challenge 6 designers were awarded hearts (Chasity, Coral, Octavio, Bones, Ana & Kristina), 2 designers were awarded (Shantall & Prajje), and 2 designers were given dislikes (Aaron & Zayden).

    The High scoring designs came from Chasity, Aaron & Kristina. Since Aaron was given a dislike, he was eliminated from the list for consideration. I decided to pick Chasity’s look as a personal favourite and Kristina’s look as a challenge selection. Kristina for sure was the winner of the challenge tonight.

    The Saved scoring designs came from Shantall, Bones & Ana. Unfortunately for Bones, when his look was placed next to Shantall’s and Ana’s looks, his design was overpowered and was eliminated one time. It reminded me of Nancy Volpe-Berringer from Season eighteen. There was a tie between Shantall and Ana for my personal selection. Ana’s design was my strongest pick out of the two and I found it perfect again to be my challenge selection.

    The Lower scoring designs came from Coral, Octavio, Prajje & Zayden. I eliminated Zayden from the list when I saw that he was given a dislike. Looking back at Prajje’s design, compared with Coral’s and Octavio’s designs, his look would have been overpowered and been eliminated from my list. These three designers being placed in the lower scores showed that in some parts the challenge was not met. When I kept that in mind, Octavio’s design became my Challenge selection because it was the closest to the ‘at home’ look the judges wanted.

    Still searching for my personal selection, I had a really big task to decide between Coral and Octavio. Octavio’s look was my strongest pick but he had the slinky feature and the wrong choice of shoes. I decided to have Coral’s look like the winner of the lower scores.

 

Link(s):

1. Project Runway 19 – Fashion Magazine & Journal.
2. Private Recording of Episode 8 - “Couch Couture”.**

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Project Runway 19 - EPISODE 6: "Fashion is Back, Baby"

Date for Entry: (Wednesday 22nd December, 2021)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 1st March 2022)

*Colourful Suzie*

Dear Diary,

    A long while has gone since my last journal entry. This week the designers were given boxes and an accessory was placed inside. They had to collaborate with a top designer who made the accessory they got to man their garments. A further surprise was that the winning designer for this challenge and the collaborator would have an equal split of twenty-five thousand dollars for their business courtesy VISA. This was the only episode so far where two stores were visited: (1) Mood for fabric and (2) Hai Trim & Feathers for materials to create accessories. I’m not very sure how much time the designers were assigned for the time in the second store or for making their sketches.

    My sketched design for this week was taken from Katie’s look. I created a mental duplication of her garment in my mind and stripped it to pieces, to make something completely new from it. My mind was only showing me the hat that “Bones” had to use for his design so it seemed as if my mind had already chosen the accessory I would have to work with. I was personally glad for this because I did not have to go through the difficult choice of selecting one of the varieties in accessories.

    I did not use the exact hat that Bones had to use. Instead, I thought of Suzie and used the hat that mommy made for her, which can be seen at the top of the model. I’m not sure about the name of the circular pattern or fabric that mommy used but that was the main idea of the entire design. I know that Katie liked to use a lot of colours and the circular detail had a really good invitation to colour. In addition, the rectangular layering below the circular lines allowed space for more colour too. It felt as if the rainbow was well shown but I had feared that the judges would name-call it as something too costumy.

    Seeing the way that the model in the design came down the runway in my mind too, I observed the small slit in the skirt to her left leg. I’ve never seen a model on Project Runway thus far from Season eighteen or nineteen that wear glasses. The girl that I saw wearing this garment had on glasses and she really looked happy and comfy in this. I look forward to hearing or reading Katie’s feedback on my colour attempt would be. This design was one dedicated to her. All that I saw on her was the glasses and the way the clothing looked. I have not been given sight of any possible necklace, bracelets, bags, shoes or anklets.

    I congratulate Coral on her personal challenge with the red fabric and high score. Her story was very interesting to hear from the show. Other things to note were the time and Zayden’s disobedience again, and Prajje and Bones’ promised trip if they won the challenge. I enjoyed Prajje’s scream when he saw the gloves for his design. Not sure why the judges would call it too costumy.

    Always a shock when some of the designers don’t pay attention or take notes when the challenge is being given. Bones was in a lot of surprises when we saw his expression preceded the instant ask or the accessory. It did look like an accessory challenge to me. I could see from other saved score designers that even they were surprised when one of the judges confirmed the question for him. Well, it seemed like he really did “bring the rain” as he said, lolz. I still am left puzzled by what was said about vision and costumy. It would be nice to have someone explain that to me.

    I’m sad to see that Kati was eliminated from the competition and that she would be able to “trust [her] inner voice” as she said upon leaving. I have a lot of hope for her and the others that left. A really good group of designers we have this season. I could see that from the selections I had to make because usually a personal selection and a challenge selection would have always made top picks and I could not pick one.

SELECTIONS.

    We are down to a total of eleven designers, after five exciting episodes of Project Runway. 3 designs were awarded hearts, 3 designers were awarded ticks and 5 designers were given dislikes.

    I would like to mention for record of the document and journal that the top selections section was revised into two groups. One group for the things I would have liked for myself and the other group for those designs that I found bet it for the challenge of the episode. They will all be selected from the same categories of High score, Saved score & Low score.

    The High scoring designers of the night were Octavio, Coral, Kristina & Prajje. I liked Kristina’s look in a way because it was something that might have looked easily marketable. Very exciting to see how she recycled the paper bag. My top two designs for this grouping came from Coral and Prajje. Coral’s look was placed under my personal selection and I placed Prajje’s design as the challenging choice. For me I found Prajje’s look to be the winner of the challenge. Still very amazed at Octavio’s design. It reminded me of a super modern and stylish take on the midnight robber in Caribbean folklore.

    The Saved scores were Shantall, Chasity & Ana. In this grouping/category, Ana’s garment was my personal choice. However, when it came to picking one of the designers for the challenge, there was serious difficulty in selecting between Ana’s and Shantall’s designs. I apologise to Chasity for not picking hers in the categories but sometimes when I see naked parts of the body on top of her, I barely pick them. It was the same for Ana in the first episode this season.

    In the Lower scores, we had Bones, Katie and Zayden. Zayden’s design was very strong to me and caught my attention. I liked it for myself a bit more than Katie’s so I took their garments for my personal selection. In the challenge’s selection, Zayden’s look was still good enough for a low score. And, when Zayden’s design was placed next to Bones’ design, there was another serious difficulty in selecting between the two.

Link(s):

• Project Runway 19 – Fashion Magazine & Journal.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Project Runway 19 - EPISODE 9: "The Last Straw"

 Date for Entry: (Tuesday 21st December 2021)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 1st March 2022)

*Madam Barista*

Dear Diary,

    The unconventional materials challenge was tonight and the collection to make the garment came from a bar. However, I am not sure if it really WAS a bar or just some empty building space created to look like a bar. My reason for this is because everyone was so secretive about the place, some of the designers said that they did not know and some said they cannot tell me it because of the ‘contract’ that puts life in a little hell sometimes. I actually had a nice chat with some of the designers through their personal Instagram accounts in an attempt to find out the name.

    The materials in mind for this sketch were black garbage bags, metal cork caps, tablecloth coverings, plastic spoons, plastic forks, and net wire. The black garbage bag was used as a cover and attached with red straws stitched together around the shoulders, and more were used as a waistband separating the top and the bottom. The blue straws worked as the straps around the arms for the actual top.

    The top and bottom of the design used single-colored tablecloth coverings. The top carried a particular style but I did not know its name. A light layering of net wire was used around the skirt to avoid having the pink look too plain. I just wish it was a bit longer to meet the red straws at the waist height. In terms of accessories, I used green and blue metal cork caps as a necklace. I’m not sure if you can hand sew these but would a glue gun work? I thought that the model would look fine with some bracelets and took the same net wire to hold them together.

    I will cherish the look on Brandon’s and Elaine’s faces for some of the designs tonight coming down the runway. A lot of speechless looks tonight by judges. A very special moment to see and hear Nina speaking Spanish. Bones and Ana took on a lot of singing in the workroom. It reminded me of Chelsey and Marquise during season eighteen. In terms of music, I really loved the music with the singing lady at the start of the runway presentations. That was amazing and really colourful. 

    Next week we will see what’s next for the top seven designers. As Bones said, “It looked like we got our own tables.” It is “amazing” as Chasity, but I hope that it will be enough space for each person to work with. The intensity somehow is not building for me as yet but I know the ‘game’ is getting tighter. I saw where Ana was sad to see Octavio go from the last challenge when she shared her background story about families in China. Congratulations again to Shantall on the win. She has proven that the ‘Siriano Save’ was really worth it.

SELECTIONS.

    This week there were no designers being given dislikes. Five designers were awarded hearts (Shantall, Bones, Coral, Aaron & Kristina) and three designers were awarded ticks (Ana, Chasity & Prajje).

    The High scoring designs came from Shantall, Aaron & Kristina. Out of the three designs, Aaron’s piece was one of my personal selections. Even though Shantall was the winner of the night, which was well deserved, I really could not pick between her design and Kristina’s. So, I had a tie for the challenge selection.

    The Saved scoring designs came from only Bones & Coral. Reviewing their work for the selections, since they are the only two, I chose both of their pieces for personal selection. I had to keep back from bias again. I ended up picking Bones’ look for the challenge selection. If it was going to be a tie then his look would have been the same.

    The Lower scoring designs came from Ana, Chasity & Prajje. In the process of elimination to find a personal selection, Prajje’s design was scraped from the list first. It was only Ana against Chasity and I chose to pick Ana as the winning designer in the low-scoring category for both selections. My biggest fear was for Chasity this week.

 

Link(s):

1. Fashion Magazine & Journal.
2. Private Recording of Episode 9 - “The Last Straw”.**

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Project Runway 19 - EPISODE 7: "Are You Fur Real"

 Date for Entry: (Monday 20th December 2021)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 1st March 2022)

*Here Comes Covid-19*

Dear Diary,

    Tonight, the designers were given several yards of faux fur from Sorona, which is a plant-based and recyclable set of fur. Each of the designers was sent into five teams of two to create an avant-garde look. They were guest judges by Billy Porter and Esteban Cortazar. I could see from the looks on the faces of the designers that they were looking to do the challenge as an individual one.

    My look for this episode came very late because nothing was coming to me. I decided to do something that was going on to make the time that we are in and Covid-19 came to mind. It was such a hot topic and the possibility was super high. When I went to Google, I used microscopic examples of the virus to gather ideas for the sketch. Even though some of them were made up or animated, they were still helpful in putting this creation together. Some of the pictures I used can be found on the first page of this chapter.

    I used a long skirt this time to show more of the circular-triangular formation of the virus in the images along with the DNA spirals on the right, as well as matching spirals descending around each arm. In another image, there was a very pulpy look in the particle that looked like a flower. I tried my best to represent that on the shoulder top. Some of the particles came with triangular patterns while others came as circular dots. Most of it was placed on the top.

    The earrings were taken from another image that came with balls as triplets together. I think the judges again will call this too costumy. This is my feeling about the sketch and it doesn’t make me feel like I can do this god at all. I’m still glad that I got something on paper and to be able to have some kind of drawing like other children in school when I could not.

    Because of having no saved score category, my personal selection, if I was to make one, would be the design by Zayden and Coral. Zayden’s part in the show with his mom was a very special moment. He gave very courageous and treasured comments on the show including some of his background stories like Coral’s. They were a really good team.

    I think that Kristina was very lucky with her immunity for this challenge when Shantall was declared the eliminated designer. Christin said that he “doesn’t know if it was a flower but it's something.” I agreed but I did not want to write it on my score sheet again.

    There was a lot of talk about Bones and Aaron’s argument. I wondered if there was anyone in particular, he would have liked to work with. As the episode went into commercial, I thought that maybe his first little argument with Bones of episode one was part of the reason he did not want to work with Bones. The little drink session that they had or the designers was still lovely. It felt weird that the bartender had to have on a full-face mask. We couldn’t see him or her.

    I’m still worried about Ana and the incident that occurred. The scaffolding that fell down on the road really damaged the side of the car. She was in shock a bit and the ambulance had to come for her. It may have been a distraction/disadvantage for her during the rest of her working with Octavio as we saw in the show. Still trying my best to get Facebook Live to record the show. 

SELECTIONS.

    This week’s results by the judges gave us three high scores and two low scores. There were no saved scoring designs. It was a very scary feeling came when that was announced on the show. In terms of my ratings, it continued as usual where two designs were awarded hearts (Chasity and Prajje & Bones and Aaron), one tick was awarded to Zayden and Coral, and two dislikes were given (Kristina and Shantall & Ana and Octavio).

    The three high-scoring designers were: (1) Chasity and Prajje, (2) Zayden and Coral, and (3) Bones and Aaron. Out of the three, my personal selection was the design made by Bone and Aaron. Even though a conflict and argument was occurring, I’m glad that they were able to work things out and finish the design. Chasity and Prajje’s design would be the winning look of the challenge. The moment that came down the runway, you really could tell it would have been a win. Very proud of Coral and Zayden for their finished project, friendship, and their continuation to moving forward.

    The two lower-scoring designs were: (1) Kristina and Shantall, and (2) Ana and Octavio. Having two designs alone made it an easy selection. I chose Ana and Octavio’s look as the personal selection and challenge selection. In a way it made me feel like something related to the home in the Caribbean.

Link(s):

1. Fashion Magazine & Journal.
2. Private Recording of Episode 7 - "Are You Fur Real".**

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Project Runway 19 - EPISODE 5: "Go for the Golden Sequin"

 Date for Entry: (Saturday 13th November, 2021)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 1st March 2022)

*2022 Olympic Winter*

Dear Diary,

    This week the designers were sent to sit by the runway venue to meet Mr. Johnny Weir and Ms. Tara Lipinski who are both decorated skaters and not commentators on television. They brought a challenge for the designers to make the clothing for the 2022 Winter Olympics in February (on NBC) as they go to comment on the performances. The model cards were coloured as Johnny handed them out, they learned that they had to team up with a designer having the same colour.

    My decision for this challenge this week was to continue doing something for the looks of Johnny and Tara. The look for Johnny was done first because the idea was coming faster. I wanted to use colours for the flag of Trinidad and Tobago. The flappy or flurry part at the bottom of the jacket was already coloured in green and having the rest in red was too weird for me. I continued to fill the entire jacket in green. The pants would be boring in black so I filled them in red and put the shoes in brown that match the buttons.

    The look for Tara was done on Saturday during my weekend stay at aunty Zida’s home. I could not get everything I saw in my mind for Tara’s look on paper but it was satisfactory to me. From her neck would be a mini-chain of the Olympic logo like Johnny’s. A very thin and red sheer net before light and fluffy brown material. Blue beads are hung from the brown material as the bottom of the red top of the garment. The skirt is black and white as the rest of the national flag with even layering. I’m not sure what they call that type of dress but it would be fun to find out.

SELECTIONS.

    This week there were 8 designers awarded hearts, 3 designers awarded ticks and only Kristina was given disliked.

    The Higher scoring teams were: (1) Aaron and Bones, the winning team; and (2) Shantall and Aaron. For a winning team, it would be Bones and Anna from me for this category for the challenge. Shantall’s piece was the reason why I couldn’t pick Aaron’s look. They would also win based on an individual team selection overall.

    The Saved scoring teams were: (1) Kristina and Coral; and (2) Chasity and Zayden. It was super tough to make a pick for this one. I would select the second team because Chasity’s look for Tara was not naked or slightly revealing as seen from Kristina’s look.

    The Lower scoring teams were: (1) Prajje and Sabrina; and (2) Octavio and Katie. I would select Prajje and Sabrina for the Challenge. After all the stuff that happened with Octavio doing to Katie, I would pick theirs outside because it makes me feel special in a way. I wondered what the judges would have said about their looks if they were submitted for the Halloween challenge.

    This week the challenge was hard to pick a winner individually as I was accustomed to. I just had to as opposed to what I did in these paragraphs above. The team looks that I liked overall, was the top Johnny look and the top Tara look. The top team for me was Chasity and Zayden. As usual, I could not pick one.

    There was a fight for the Tara look between Chasity and Prajje. I decided to not be nice and think of the challenge and pick Chasity’s piece.

    The Johnny look was a fight between Coral, Sabrina, and Aaron. I decided to forget about Bones’ piece although I loved it a lot for myself. I couldn’t take Zayden’s piece as my top two. I had to study the photographs read between Coral and Aaron. I chose Aaron on wild pick because he showed his love for skating. Coral always got a heart from me and I would have a high bias for Sabrina to get it.

    Seeing how the challenge went Anna did get the win that she wanted to have. She said that she wanted to win because she was from China and that is where the Winer Olympics would be held. Anna and Bones’ garments were the last and the only ones I got to see on television. There was a show I was watching earlier and I missed a lot of this week’s episode.

    A lot of other things happened from Prajje and Octavio all in that one episode. Prajje might have found it hard and difficult but he did not know about Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) that Sabrina suffered from. It was depressing to see her go this week. A lot of talk on Facebook groups about Prajje on the way he treated Sabrina.

    Apart from Sabrina, I was very scared of Katie. She is one I have become to admire because she listens to what everyone has to say and she does ask herself “what does Katie want” as I keep shouting at the television screen. There were a lot of written quotes from her in this one episode but seeing that Octavio was “the more dominant one” she could have tried to ask him about what she taught. I know that on his side he was “trying to push [Katie]…. Since she is a weaker one” but his push went too much. He even made Katie’s look become so Avant-guard as he liked to do his work and Katie's top on her garment was not acceptable. This could have been a good Halloween pair.

    This episode showed a lot of history in resemblance to Season eighteen: (1) We saw Prajje beginning to act out “when fired up” as Brittany later in that season and I question if it is a rub-off from Meagan in episode two of this season; (2) Octavio showing more jacket error like Nancy; (3) the Siriano save was declared activated, and (4) we have some designers still not wanting to listen to Christian during the mentoring sessions.

    Since the last of the designers, I saw might go home early, I hope that she can be able to see something that will be able to help her understand what she needs to do. Five episodes have gone so far and no unconventional challenge seen. I hope that this will be somewhere down in the season if it is to come. After trying to get ideas for this double-garmented design, I feel like I need a recess. Unfortunately, that could only be given to me when this entire book is completed.

 

Link(s):

1. Fashion Magazine & Journal.

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Project Runway 19 - EPISODE 4: "Flower Power"

 Date for Entry: (Saturday 6th November, 2021)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 1st March 2022)

*Easy Lovely Flower Girl*

Dear Diary,

    The power of flowers and their colour. The designers had to create their own textile designs to make their garments this week. Many of them did photography from their tablets to get the images they wanted while others did colour sketches. They also got an hour and a half to work with a graphic artist who will take their image and have it printed. Miss Elaine was the challenge distributor for this week and she had a lovely friend named Mr. Lewis Miller who spoke to the designers about floral design and some of his works (images seen in the memories section).

    Thinking about the design for this week, I did not have a clue what to do. I felt like I had run out of ideas and it was super scary. It made me feel like one of the designers that could not pull off their design. It gave me one of those scares as if you were on the low scores and hoping not to have to pack up and go home. The first I had from Thursday night of the episode to Friday evening was to do something on Mother Laxmi since it was Divali but that idea was a complete failure.

    My design for this week came from the idea of a robe. I’m not sure why my mind was thinking of Japan for some reason so I continued in that direction. I ended up using certain types of flowers I knew by sight. Did not know their names. I also wanted to use flowers being carried by birds somewhere and it worked lovely on the top with the green background. The skirt part was purple in my mind. Most of the colors for the flowers and other elements came from experimentation. Looking at it at the end of the colouring it had the view of a dress.

    The persons that gave me inspiration for this design this evening were Senator Jayanti Lutchmedial and Member of Parliament (MP) Michelle Benjamin. Around the neck of the lady in the drawing would be a flower mimicking the rising sun of the United National Congress (UNC). Surprising how politics can help influence and aid the designs. There may not have been a lot of yellow but I used the orange strips to substitute. Special thanks to Ms. Donna Cox (Minister of Social Development and Family Services) of the People’s National Movement (PNM) for the wonderful idea of the hair.

 

SELECTIONS.

    This week the scorecard showed a small number of loved garments. Three garments were awarded three hearts. Five garments were awarded likes and five designs were given dislikes.

    This week’s top three High scores were Shantall, Prajje, and Kristina. I was not too much for Kristina’s piece that got and so it eliminated her immediately. The hardest choice was between Shantall who won the challenge versus Prajje. There has been some ‘argue’ about Shantall winning because of the whisper that Miss Elaine said about the flower in her design. I learned a little more about the design the judges chose for the winning garments. It was supposed to be something finished that you sell and can also be used by the fashion industry for editorial pieces. I had to agree with some of the arguments because another person was mentioning that if Shantall's piece was a win, Mr. Miller’s visit was a waste of time. I can see what Ms. Garcia liked in Shantall’s piece but I had to choose Prajje’s look because it provided the flowers and it or I was suiting the challenge given to everyone.

    The Saved scores were seven in total. Within that group, Bones and Coral were my top two for that winning spot was Bones. Seems as if Bones had win placed in my selections in all three categories thus far. Coral usually has the win for this category. I ended up making a second pick in the saved scores and gave it to coral’s piece. I was very happy with Octavio’s piece which finally got something other than mine. I liked his creation this week and awarded him a tick.

    The Low scores were Darren, Sabrina, and Katie. I unfortunately and sadly could not pick one from this group. Just like Chasity from the first episode, I could not take Darren’s garment because of the skirt that looked unfinished. I loved the fabric that he made. It was sad to see him go as he too was one of six, I was curious about eliminations from this competition. Sabrina’s piece seemed like a lot of things happened that spoiled itself. When I was looking at her clothing, I was hoping that she did not stick to the way the burka was from the episode’s photograph (see memories section). I really wanted her to do something different and make it look interesting. Something that would be interesting and more amazing than the original for the female to wear. Just by thinking about this challenge and seeing the preview at the end of last week’s episode, I had a strong feeling that since it was going to be with colour, I thought this was Katie’s turn to have a win. I was wrong and I felt sad for her coming down to the low scores

 

Link(s):

1. Fashion Magazine & Journal.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Project Runway 19 - EPISODE 3: "If You Got It, Haunt It"

 Date for Entry: (Saturday 30th October 2021)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 1st March 2022)

*La Diablesse*

Dear Diary, 

    Halloween is coming up in a few days and so came the challenge of the night. The designers were all seated in the lounge when current went and they were sent by Christian over to a place called Bartow-Pell Mansion where they would be given a place to stay for the night and receive the challenge for this week’s third challenge. More images of the lace can be found in the memories section of the chapter. Christian said that the challenge was to “create a dress for a masquerade ball and it must have a mask.” He also added, “No costumes! Real Fashion!”

    Since we don’t celebrate Halloween in Trinidad and Tobago my mind went to our culture again last week because of the folklore and Caribbean stories. I made sure to keep note again that it was supposed to be a gown and not a costume. This was a challenge but I had to do my research, which was done on Friday night. I had a lot of fun reading up on the characters but there was one in particular that I wanted to work on. Only by doing the reading, I was able to find the name of the demon creature and source inspiration from the paintings available online.

    The name of my chosen folklore character this week is called the La Diablesse (pronounced La Jah-bless). Bissessarsingh states that “The La Diablesse looms tall in the annals of our mythology. She is the devil woman, the temptress, and seductress whose wiles would entrap any man whose ill luck led him into her path.”

    He also adds, “She is both the paragon of womanly beauty and the image of demonic lust. La Diablesse is well known to all who cherish the stories of yesteryear. Almost every village in Trinidad (particularly in the hamlets of the Northern Range) has a yarn to weave about the beautiful woman in the Martiniquan dress–voluminous skirts, head-tie, hat perched jauntily on her head–who waits along the lonely paths for heedless menfolk who would digress from their courses to accommodate a pretty face. Those skirts veil, however, the sinister feature for which La Diablesse is infamous, namely the cloven hoof; the cow-foot which distinguishes her from mortal women.”

    In the design, I did not want to use black and red as the main colours. Even Christian knew everyone was going to be selecting those. I chose brown for the skirt and the blue was a suggestion by Christian to the others while they were shopping at Mood. The blue would not signify day but the depth of the river within the forest that the man under the spell of the La Diablesse, would fall in and die. Other persons online say that the man would be hunted and attacked by wild hogs.

    The mask was to cover half of the model’s face on the right. I was not sure which colour to use for this at all. Blue and brown would have been too much. The other side of the face would be the reveal of La Diablesse’s face that hides beneath the hat. I did not want to put on a purse for the creature so I left bracelets and a leaf (‘sohari’) as something to cover her lower naked body in the light and her face. The neck part was a bit empty for me so I decided to use ‘print from the fabric’.

    Looking back through the episode, I was happy for Bones, Octavio, and Zayden for taking a first attempt at making gowns. I liked Katie’s clothing this week. It was not too much colour as child-like but was still something really good. She was able to use a little bit of black in the design and it wasn’t too bad. Music for the runway at first was amazing in setting the mood but as usual, they had to do some sort of change and move into something bumpy.

    There was a lot that happened in the Bartow-Pell Mansion where Darren was concerned. Some of them said that he could speak to the dead and sleep with them. I found it super weird too with Kenneth when he said that he owned over forty rats as his pet. I will never forget Kenneth’s comments when he said, “Oo, these photos are creepy. The paintings are like following you” and Anna talking about the wooden dolls in the bedroom. I loved the spiral stairs case and the way everyone was given candelabras to go around the house in the dark. It made a really interesting older feeling to the whole experience.

SELECTIONS.

    The presentations for this week were ABSOLUTELY amazing. There was a total of nine out of the fourteen remaining designers who earned hearts from me. Two designers got dislikes and four received likes.

    The High scores were Octavio, Chasity, and Anna. It was down to Anna and Chasity for the wins from me and the same for the judges. They chose Chasity’s piece for drama, sophistication, and story. I was glad that she was able to win and enjoy it. She might not like me now for saying that I found Anna’s piece to be a win. In a way, Anna’s piece was a win because it looked like the product of the challenge. Everything about it had a scary, slight creepy feeling and dark side as the Halloween theme one would expect. The only problem with Anna’s piece was that it did not come with a mask but with a headpiece or some scarf. I ended up choosing Chasity’s piece.

    I’m sure a lot of others were surprised when they found out that Bones’ piece was one of the Low score designs. He was joined by Kenneth who was eliminated and Zayden. I did not have a problem with Bones’ piece. Listening to Brandon in my mind from season eighteen, I would piece his look like something I would wear if female. Zayden’s problem was that he did not heed the warning Christian gave him about the zero percent stretch in the fabric. I know the problem was going to happen as it did in season eighteen and the model could not walk for both runways. And, it did! Kenneth’s piece seemed to be unfinished by the judges and in some way, I was forced to agree. I still loved the flowing train-like part in the back. My choice of this category was Bones. I still am not sure why the judges found it to be too much of a costume.

    The Saved scores group was a large group of designers and would be a large pool of hearts to select from. Those six designers were Coral, Prajje, Sabrina, Aaron, Darren, and Katie. I slip them up into two teams. The team with Coral, Prajje, and Aaron was the winning team of my selections. If I had to listen to Brandon and pick based on what I would wear if a female would be Aaron, Coral, and Katie. I decided to leave this section of the category empty since the answer will be undecided for a long time. However, in picking a top two, the answer will most likely be Aaron Vs. Coral.

Link(s):

1. Fashion Magazine & Journal.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Project Runway 19 - EPISODE 2: "Streetwear"

 Date for Entry: (Sunday 24th October 2021)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 1st March 2022)

*Pan Boy in Town*

Dear Diary,

    In less than half an hour after the first presentation, BOOM, a new challenge at one in the morning. Streetwear in three pieces was the challenge for this week. One thing that I suspected was the jackets. I knew for sure that something about jackets would have been the most popular thing about this challenge just by a wild thought. Seeing that a few of the other designers in the workroom decided to use things that represented their culture and where they come from, my decision for the design also took on a similar path.

    I must admit that some research on Google images had to be done just to see what streetwear would have been considered. Thinking about it closely too, I had to make sure that it would be something comfortable in the setting of Trinidad and Tobago since the results most likely would have been American. My ideas had to be new and fresh. I did not want what I saw to become ‘plagiarised’ in my sketch for this week. The first two days after the second episode did not bring anything to me until the research was done on Sunday. Parts of it came together rather quicker than expected. The drawing itself would have taken a little over fifty minutes but no more than an hour.

    This design again was to represent Trinidad and Tobago. At first in my mind, I imagined having a male model wearing a red jacket, white t-shirt, and black pants as part of the national colours. However, dressing in the red jacket in our national flowers and national birds would have brought a conflict in colour. That idea was on Saturday night. I decided to have all three colours on a t-shirt that would be easily recognisable and in the same fashion that buildings and streets would be decorated during the days leading up to our Independence Day. I loved the sight of having the pants in brown because it was not too dark and it was not an overused colour.

    I recalled Mr. Kaye in his first appearance as a guest mentioning that accessory was a key in the type of clothing style so my choice was a cap. I inserted text on it with the shortened acronym of the twin islands but changed the intended ampersand to a heart. The other text down below on the pants was from the Starlift Steel Orchestra’s motto along with their logo over on the right-hand side. I played my first panorama with them in 2012 for the large band category. The socks would have been red to match. I was not sure about the shoes by colour and design. This was probably the first attempt trying to draw a pair properly from my “Magical Creatures” novel.

    Since Zayden was not the winner of the week, I took him to be the model for my design and I find that it worked out well. I hope that there will be uploads of the designs quickly. I don’t think that all of them were shown on the show for the final presentations.

    I still saw the same type of behaviour from Meagan. Even though I was surprised to see the fight she put up and the withdrawal I am not sure if to say I am glad that she left but some things need to be resolved before television like this. I felt hurt that Prajje and Kenneth did this all in one episode. A very intense feeling came to all in the workroom.

    As a usual experience with Project Runway, whenever the sow exhibits a change or some sort of shift my book formatting has to shift and change to accommodate the information. So, this week my top three selections table has endured some serious technical work too.

SELECTIONS.

    Choices were fairly easy for this week. The high score and saved scores needed some thinking but not so much as in the first challenge. I had to remember the message Brandon gave me in my mind during the last season. If I was not advised on elections when bias was an issue it would have been tough for me to select between Darren and Kenneth.

    The lower-scoring designs were done by Darren, Kenneth, and Katie. I ended up selecting Darren’s piece as my choice for the winner of the lower scores. It was punk and had shot me right back to the Cindi Lauper challenge of season eighteen. I was wondering what Miss Lauper would have said about his one. Not sure if it was the model or the clothing that made me like it. I recall Miss Elaine saying that the creation looked a bit disorganised but I liked it still.

    The Higher scores were between Kristina, Aaron, Prajje, and Zayden. I didn’t understand Kristina’s piece as much as the judges did. Aaron’s piece was a desired win by a lot of others in the Facebook groups. For me, it would have been like that but when it was placed against the pieces done by Prajje and Zayden, it began to look a bit dated and unfinished. Bias was too strong in the selection somehow and I couldn’t pick between the two designs.

    I appreciated the history and painting done by Prajje but something about the front of the jacket I didn’t agree with. I liked the story that he told from the painting in the back about the lady that cried blood when her children were hurt. Zayden would have been my second-place choice as a high score winner that night. I liked the jacket by Zayden and the rest of the clothing. I selected him as my winner of the challenge.

    From the saved scores group there was a lot to choose from. My top four in that category were Chasity, Sabrina, Choral, and Anna’s pieces. I chose Sabrina’s piece because it was light and felt like the end product of the challenge. Chasity’s piece this week would have been a second-place or tie for that spot.

    My favourite of the chosen three for this challenge was Darren’s piece even though it was a low-scoring design. Sabrina’s was a personal favourite. I changed my mind from Prajje’s piece to Zayden as my overall winner because it wasn’t too scary and was good enough to meet the challenge in a marketable way.

Link(s):

1. Fashion Magazine & Journal.

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Project Runway 19 - EPISODE 1: "A Colourful Return"

Date for Entry: (Saturday 16th October 2021)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 1st March 2022)

*Date and a Movie*

Dear Diary,

    Tonight, was the first episode of season nineteen for Project Runway. Being forced to go through the coronavirus pandemic and the town caused a super long pause on people around the world to wait for the series to come on television. Most likely it was to be aired in December 2019 as season eighteen. The designers were sent to the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts at the beginning of the episode. Only Miss Kloss was not there for the whole episode 

    The theme for this challenge was colour. Each of the sixteen designers was split into two teams; the cool team working by night and the warm team working by day. They had to select a single colour based on their group type and create a cohesive look. Since purple is a colour that I like a lot in this current time of my life, I decided to side with the warm team. Surprisingly, this was also the winning team for the challenge.

    When Christian asked about the idea of the designs someone mentioned something about dinner and going out. I had to make sure to pay attention to what the other designers in the group did to make sure my idea might not go off. I also recall on the first day of two when the warm team lined up their designs in the last thirty minutes of working, the leader ‘Bone’ mentioned that everyone had some kind of trap work in their design. For me, the straps would be the waist piece to the center of the sketch and around the two arms with the fluffed detail. The detail was inserted from advice made by Shantall.

    Straps again would have been the handle part of the purse that the girl in my sketch had. ‘Bones’, Darren, and another contestant had a part of their design with some sort of textile to the back or the side as extra. I thought that if I added a scarf that it would help the cohesive part and it would match something like those three designers. The scarf detail was supposed to be a very light type of fabric as sheer so that the necklace can be seen as the upper chest is covered by the scarf.

    The earring patterns me from the shape of the neck part and coloured in blue as the eyes of the model wearing the garment. The lower end of the skirt was to be a short cohesive part for the cool team. However, they decided to go with bows instead which did not work out so well again. The contestant Sabrina was the inspiration behind this week’s design. Not being able to draw that well I continued to think of her in my mind and I tried to see how to dress her. Once she was dressed it became the look on the Bristol board sheet. Not everything was done as seen because of difficulty in trying to get the image of the mind to paper. I am still very glad that this came out well as a first for the first episode.

    The guest judge for this week was Mr. Jason Wu. Another person that I do not know but I was glad that he too was able to make a nice contribution to my list of advice and important words section of the chapter. For the first episode, in particular, there were fewer of these than from the last season but I look forward to collecting them.

    The first designer to leave was Caycee Black. She reminded me of Veronica a bit from season eighteen and how sad it was to see her leave so early in the game. In the same comparison perspective, I can see Meagan and Brittany being similar alike. I hope that Meagan would not go into much as Brittany did. We have some ‘diva’ and some characters in familiar that I see are here now and look out to see how they react and interact with the there. I’m glad to see that there isn’t much difficulty in choosing between two designers as I would have between Delvin McCray and Marquise Foster. Perhaps this might be an obstacle for later on in the series? I’m still yet to see who might match Geoffrey, Dayoung, and Sergio.

    I’m no longer in the Project Runway group with Ms. Bloom again. I’m presently in two news ones. Maybe in time as well I will re-join her group. Shortfall out because of an issue with recording occurred and they didn’t want to do it again. I hope that YouTube will have the episodes throughout the rest of the season on the BravoTv page. So excited to see the rest of this season and hope that it goes well. Also looking to see if all of the designs for the following episodes become available on Google images for the rest of the book.

SELECTIONS.

    Towards the end of the presentations, there was a lot of difficulty and technical ‘thinking’ in making my selections. The easiest selection this week was the safe score pick and Coral won that from me. Her design was the one that I liked because it was not naked and it was something that I would personally wear if I was a girl.

    The winning piece was technical in a way because Darren did not do the work for his design and it was my chosen piece as the winner. ‘Bones’ did all the work and so I awarded Bones the credit selection for Darren’s garment only as my winner for this week. Hence, I agreed with the judges. There was something about Bones’ piece that I still need to understand but I still liked it and loved the colour. I loved the piece that he made for himself for the presentation to show more.

    The Lower score selection was the hardest. The only one that might have made my selection was the piece done by Chasity. The only reason why I did not pick her design was because of the huge bow on the back. I knew she regretted inserting afterward and I felt it too. The rest of it still was as beautiful as the skirt piece below.

    When I did not have a low score selection, I had to make a second saved score. I did not want another winning team’s design as part of this. Anna’s design would have been my choice. The same thing with the lower half was beautiful but was somewhat naked and it became a tie between her piece and one done by Prajje. I knew that Prajje’s piece was covered and not naked.

EXTRAS

    Some other things that I can note about the first experience, this group had a lot of people who smoke. A lot of them in the warm team in their outdoor recess were puffing everywhere. Sister ‘Poo’ somehow was very amazed at it. Everything in both groups started with no strategy. I was glad that Bones was able to help lead his warm team as he was chosen to be the leader by the members.

    For a first show, a lot of heat and medium-level panic was building too fast. This type of scare should be like in the middle of the series but it was something. In addition to that was the time. I felt as if the entire show went by in a quick zap. Even Bones had that snap attack on Christian for the first episode but I was glad that he apologized. For Bones, he truly deserved the win by doing his and Darren’s design (thirty minutes before the presentation) for the challenge. That was incredible.

    I have plenty of early suspicion about Meagan and I will be paying close attention to her since I see the potential for possible negative things that may come from her. I hope that this does not come as I’ve seen in the last season. I also hope that I would be proven wrong and that things would go smoothly for her. 

 

Link(s):

1. Fashion Magazine & Journal.

Daryl Zion M. Ali