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