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