Project Runway 20 - EPISODE 04: "Coronation Night"

Date for Entry: (Wednesday 05 July 2023)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Wednesday 09 August 2023)

** The Royal Attraction **

THE EPISODE

    This week’s challenge presented the twelve remaining designers with an unsuspected team challenge (six groups of two designers). The task for this challenge was to create a royal gown. I knew that a challenge like this could present a lot of designs that could become a costume or a nightmare quickly. It was good that Christian himself could confirm this thought of mine at the same moment because it did occur in the workroom.

    The designers were given small sandwiches on a tower-like tray from Christian. The other designer with the matching sandwich would be their team partner. Each team was given thirty minutes to converse and pan their ideas out on paper before a trip to Mood with only one thousand dollars per team. It was a smart idea by Korto to use her fabric from home. It was not easy for many of them with the choice of fabric versus the cost.

    During the working period, somehow, I got a feeling of remembrance to Geoffrey and Sebastian when I saw Rami and heard him speak. Not sure if he will be the winner of the season. He is one that I hope win the competition alongside three others. It was very impressive when Rami shared his work for actual royalty during the episode’s interview. I liked the music that they played during presentations for his and Rami’s garment.

    Not sure if anyone else felt the same but somehow the second day into the runway day felt a bit off. It was as if they all walked out of the room with their things waited two seconds and then came walking back right in. There was other special music towards the second half of the show that I loved too. I will miss Victor from the show.

 

MY DESIGN

    I did not have a human partner to work with but allowed the Holy Spirit to guide me to some ideas here and there. I decided to do something short and has less cloth and still looked appropriate. Red was not a colour that I wanted to dominate the entire design. I took Victor’s opinion of purple and lavender to be one of the main colours and some red below the overskirt.

    Instead of too much red, I mixed a teal in the straps above the belly and around the neck piece, as well as the hand gloves. I thought that the crown would have caused it to look more costumy but I was happy with this design. Not sure if another design might be done to replace this first attempt. 

No matter the turnout towards my results it was still a beautiful runway presentation. I will miss Victor too. There was a short sneak peek at next week’s challenge. I hope they would be able to tell us the cost of the large roll of cloth. 

SELECTIONS BY CATEGORIES

    Designers with HIGH scores tonight were Kara Saun & Laurence, and Prajje & Korto. Kara Saun & Laurance’s design was given a dislike. Prajje and Korto’s design was given a heart and chosen as the Challenge Selection. The Personal Selection in the high category was taken from the saved category. The winners were Hester and Fabio.

    Designers with SAVED scores were Hester & Fabio, and Rami & Bishme. Both teams of two received hearts. The Challenge Selection winners for me were Hester & Fabio. I gave the Personal Selection to Rami & Bishmi.

    Designers placed in the LOW scoring category were Brittany & Anna, and Kayne & Victor. I gave my Challenge Selection to Kayne & Victor. The Personal Selection in the high category was taken from the saved category. The winners were Rami and Bishme. 

 

LINK(S):

• Images of the Challenge's Designs.

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Project Runway 20 - EPISODE 03: "Toying with Fashion"

Date for Entry: (Wednesday 05 August 2023)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Wednesday 09 August 2023)

** Toys Reality **

THE EPISODE

    Tonight, was the avant-garde challenge. I was completely surprised when I heard that this challenge would be so early in the season. The designers were taken to a store called F-A-O Schwarz where they were given the challenge and given fourth-five minutes to shop for toys. Surprisingly, this was the Avant-Garde challenge. I didn’t even expect to see this particular style of challenge so early in the season.

    As soon as the designers were allowed to run crazily into the store for materials, I saw that Laurance made a risky move that some people do, which was to gather everything they could and then think of something afterwards based on what they got. There were a lot of things that I also liked about what was shown on the show. During the working period, there were some friendly working like the play quarrel between Bishme and Brittany at the sewing area and the wonderful apology from Victor given to Korto.

    Another favourite part of the episode for me was the wine bar segment before the runway presentation the next morning. We got to see Anna’s husband and their baby son from a video call she got outside. I was looking at Anna, Laurance and Mila’s designs carefully this week as three designs that were in my insecurities for me this week. They seemed like possible designs for elimination. Probably ‘Kayne’ too since Christian had to hurry him out of the sewing area.

    The presentations were amazing including Kayne’s reveal to crown it all. I suppose the final hush was worth it all in the end? Lolz. The Guest Judge was Ms Stacy Bendet. She was a new person to me again. I did not know her from anywhere before. Mila’s piece at the end of the runway instantly reminded me of Brittany’s Christmas Avant-Garde challenge from the eighteenth season of Project Runway. This garment made me feel insecure for Mila because it was a nightmare for Brittany when she added cherries that were falling apart.

 

MY DESIGN

    I was wondering for a long while what could do for a good design. I took a sketch board form to St. George’s (temporarily hosted at Valsayn) and got something. Before sketching, I made a list of items for everything that the designers used on my data information form. I had that list as multiple options that I was only allowed to use for the sketch. This was my measure of security because I didn’t have an opportunity to visit the store and was not which kind of toys they sold, and also, I was not sure if they sold items other than toys.

    My design for this challenge would take on a costume view. I was thinking of something appropriate at Carnival. I used kites in the back of the shoulders to mimic the wings of an angel and the flags were wrapped around the girl’s arm. The top was a kink fabric that was covered with hand fans. The skirt was a red fabric and the upper layer took the pattern of a piano/keyboard.

    I took the idea of puzzle pieces from someone’s garment in the show and transformed it into a necklace. If this design was to be made in real, the string would be doubled and its length would reach the level of the bellybutton. I did not do it on the sketch board to avoid spoiling the drawing. I tried to use at least two items that the designers may not have used, including the umbrella and badminton puck as a hat. Playing cards would be a shoulder scarf.

 

SELECTIONS BY CATEGORIES

    Designers earning HIGH scores for this challenge were Victor, Prajje, Brittany, and Kayne. Hearts were awarded to Victor, Prajje, and Kayne. Tick was given to Brittany. Challenge Selection was a tie between Prajje and Kayne. The Personal Selection was awarded to Victor.

    Designers in the SAVED category were Fabio, Hester, Anna, Korto, Bishme, and Kara. Kara’s design got a dislike. Ticks/likes were given to Fabio, Anna, and Korto. Hearts were awarded to Hester and Bishme. Challenge Selection was given to Bishme. There was a tie for the Personal Selection between Hester and Bishme.

    Designers in the LOW scoring category were Laurence, Rami and Mila. Dislikes were given to Laurence and Mila. Only Rami was given a heart. The Challenge Selection and Personal Selection were both given to Rami. 

LINK(S):

• Images of the Challenge's Designs.

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Project Runway 20 - EPISODE 02: "Project Redemption"

Date for Entry: (Wednesday 28 June 2023)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 08 August 2023)

** Mermaid to Human **

THE EPISODE

    Tonight, was the second episode for Season twenty of Project Runway. The true work for the first challenge began tonight. The designers were asked to make the design that got them eliminated to look better. For this challenge, I decided that I would go through the scrapbook of my previous designs for seasons eighteen and nineteen and select a design that I found needed more improvement.

    During the designer’s working period, we learned about the passing of Bishme’s sister and his quest to design his garment in honour of her. I found it a beautiful move and it was wonderful to see that his score was one of the highest for the night. He had a funny cheer-up request from Christian about a  kiss I’m not sure if that would go on in secret.

    Later in the working period, Christian told the designers about the ten thousand dollar prize for the winner of this first challenge. He also mentioned that his only Siriano save was still in play for the season. I wondered if he would keep it for Brittany again. As the model fitting began before the runway presentations began Victor was given a shock that his model couldn’t make it.

    The name of the Guest Judge is Alicia Silverstone. I remembered her from a Scooby Doo movie. She was the new reporter on the show. I was amazed at Brittany’s final presentation for her recreation and Victor’s design. Many of the designers did well on their upgrades. I still loved Hester’s and Rami’s previous designs more. Prajje’s design was much better, and I hope he has a better chance of getting far in the show this time.

    I found that the working period went by very quickly including the entire episode. In addition, the cost for many of the fabrics purchased by the designers was more expensive. Some designers were able to find fabric that they used in their season and gave a light reaction/comment on the difference.

 

MY DESIGN

    The design that I selected was my avant-garde design from season eighteen. I thought that it was something that I could try to make better. The inspiration for the first design in season eighteen was Ariel the Little Mermaid but as Queen under the ocean. This time around I chose the mermaid to be human. I remembered in one of the movies Ariel had the power to change from being a mermaid to a human and back whenever she wanted.

    There was an insecure feeling after the drawing. Something about the eyes made me wonder if I had spoiled the drawing. There was a nice type of fabric that I knew Kristina from season nineteen and some from Nancy in her finale presentations that I would have liked to use as the skirt. 

    I kept the same hair styling and pattern from the top but this time I continued it to the end of the top and added an arm wrap on both sides. Not sure what the name of the arm wrap would be called in the World of Fashion. While thinking of ‘Kayne’ I decided to try the grey colour. I liked the shade a lot.

 

SELECTIONS BY CATEGORIES

    Designers with HIGH scores tonight were ‘Kayne’, Fabio, and Bishme. TICKS were given to Fabio and Bishme. A HEART was given to ‘Kayne’. His design was chosen for both personal selection and challenge selection.

    Designers with SAVED scores were Anna, Prajje, Laurance, Rami, Korto, Mila, Hester and Brittany. The only designer getting a DISLIKE was Anna. Two designers were being awarded TICKS which were Prajje and Mila. The remaining five designers being awarded HEARTS were Laurance, Rami, Korto, Hester and Brittany. It was a difficult job to make selections for this category.

    Designers with LOW scores were Nora, Victor, and Kora. DISLIKES were given to Both Nora and Kara. A HEART was awarded to Victor alone. His design was automatically chosen for the Personal Selection and the Challenge Selection.

LINK(S):

• Project Runway 18 - EPISODE 12 (Entry).**

• Images of the Challenge's Designs.

Daryl Zion M. Ali