Vessigny Secondary School (SONG)

Date for Entry: (Unknown/Forgotten; JULY 2012)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 28 July 2025)

Dear Diary,

    The following relates to the works associated with achieving accomplishment on works to the works of Vessigny Secondary School. Compilation of information for this journal entry began in 2025, and many dates from 2011 to the present may not have been recorded/recalled. Not all work (either used or outdated versions) may have been saved or video recorded for the presentation.

 

MUSIC REQUEST.

**  July 2012 **

This afternoon, there was a special visit from my Uncle Ram and Aunty Annmarie. At this point in my life, I was in Form Two at Hillview College. There was a request from Uncle Ram. He has asked to “do the music for this song”. I was given a sheet of lyrics and a disc. I learned from him that this was his school’s song.

    The challenge was accepted in my mind. I hoped at the time that I would be able to fulfil the task. Just before leaving, he managed to sing me a few parts of the song he could recall. The rest of the song would come by exploring the disc’s recording provided to me. The project became a ‘Universal Challenge’. This term did not exist at the time (probably until 2018 or earlier).

 

SONG’S TRANSCRIPTION.

** Unknown/Forgotten **

The recording provided to me by Uncle Ram was a vocal piece with piano accompaniment. The voice was sung by a female. I admired the depth that she went to in the chorus. Since my main task was to play the song on the Tenor pan, I worked on transcribing the melody alone. I made sure to insert the lyrics. I used the same recording to practice the music and follow the score I created. It was ready, but I was not sure when the time was to play it.

LINK(S):

• Recording from Disc. [Disc Lost]

 

PERFORMANCE.

** Sunday 20 October 2013 **

This afternoon, Aunty and Uncle came up from Princess Town in the cooler part of the evening. It was nice to see Joshua also. Daddy had to rush me home to meet them. I was helping mommy and her coworkers set up the polling station for the Local Government elections that will be conducted tomorrow. They were situated in the Curepe Community Centre.

    I got to share with Uncle the music that I did. Mommy suggested that I go through the song first. He was only interested in getting the steelpan music. Luckily, I had the idea to use headphones to hear the recording and play the pan.

    The first two attempts to record the pan playing were still quiet. On the third attempt, Uncle sat beside the pan and held his phone just below its belly. This time, the recording was clear enough. We learned that this recording would be used for a teacher’s retirement event. He also mentioned that the teacher was very fond of steelpan music.

 

PIANO SCORE.

** Unknown/Forgotten **

From 2013 to 2018, there were about five attempts to transcribe the piano part of the school song. It was my wish to have a complete score of the work for archival purposes and for the school to keep. The final attempt was the best that I possibly could, but sadly, it remained a nightmare. I’m not sure when the next attempt will be made.

STEELBAND ARRANGEMENT.

** May 2017 **

During the summer of 2017, I completed my Certificate in music. The final semester ended with a course in the Fundamentals of Steelpan Arranging. I decided to take the knowledge gained from the course and begin a trial of transforming my previous work into a steelpan arrangement.

    Just like the attempts of the piano score, the same occurrences occurred. I would not have known how many trials there would have been needed to get to where it is today. In total, there were eight attempts made, and they were finally accomplished.

    The final attempt that brought the completion was done after my degree in music at the University of the West Indies (UWI-DCFA). There were two more steelpan arranging courses in that programme, which had me return to the song for another review. 

STEELPAN ARRANGEMENT (V1).

    Towards the early beginning of the Summer Vacation, after the completion of my Certificate program at UWI, I decided to visit the piano and voice score that I made and attempted to do a steelband version. I thought that if the school had a Steelband, maybe they might have wanted that too. The idea came after I had finally been able to get Hillview College's anthem written out for Steelpan in 2015. 

    In the case of Hillview, even though I knew the steelpan tutor said "nobody wants to have that," I saw the necessity to have it. I also received appreciation from the boys in the band when I made copies for them.

STEELPAN ARRANGEMENT (V2).

    I think that at the end of my Steelpan Arranging 1 course (in the degree programme), I decided to revise and fix the entire score I did in version one. The second version brought a huge improvement. The song still remained incomplete in my view. I found it not pleasing enough to be shared. 

    I was still satisfied to some small percentage, knowing that the song was one step closer to completion. I was not going to give up that easily. I knew that someday it would be reviewed again. 

STEELPAN ARRANGEMENT (V4).

** Monday 11th October 2021. **

At this period in my life, I completed with Degree program at UWI. It was on Thursday 3rd of June 2021 that a plan was made to review the Vessigny Song again for the fourth time. My mind was not so focused on the project, and the ideas for tackling this fourth review were unfortunately not so numerous as I had hoped, resulting in a longer completion date. 

    One morning, I sat down from 12:00 AM until 5:00 AM and got the entire fourth version completed. I must admit Sections C and E were super challenging. I was now proud of myself for being able to accomplish them, along with the entire arrangement. 

    There were still a few insecurities (about less than five), which may have left me feeling as the first version. However, it was good to share with aunty Anmarie and Uncle Ram.

    On the Wednesday of that same week, I was able to send an email to Uncle copies of the separate parts. Getting pitch names levelled was a challenge. It was my first time using the inspector feature in Musescore to do this. Thanks to the kind people in the Musescore Facebook group for their assistance.

    In case the school chooses to use this arrangement, I hope that it brings them enjoyment and the proud, amazing feeling that I would have gotten when singing Hillview's anthem at the school. Version four was the same as version three. Minor changes were made to the ending.

STEELPAN ARANGEMENT (V5).

** Thursday 8th December 2022 **

A matter with the school’s logo was difficult. We did not have an electronic logo to work with. I was only able to find one on their school’s website and use it. This created the steelband arrangement and all of its accompanying parts to become version five.

    I saw that the shape of the ‘shield’ was not shown properly, but was darkened out to the lower portion. It was inserted and sent over by email. For some reason, I still found myself not feeling satisfied with the work. 

 

STEELPAN ARANGEMENT (V6).

** Monday 19th December 2022 **

    I saw another version of the same Vessigny logo given to me by Aunty. It was pixelated lightly, but I believed it was workable. However, the image was stained with a grey colour. The shape of the symbol in the lower portion had to be edited.

    It took about two and a half hours in total to clean the image and fix the shape of the ‘shield’. My biggest insecurity was spoiling the image in the process of trying to fix it. Because of this new change to the score, all separate parts had to be regenerated and relabelled.

 

SONG BOOKLETS.

** Thursday 16 December 2021 **

At that time, the COVID-19 pandemic was causing terror around the world. It may have been nearing its end around the date mentioned. On that day, I was visited again by Aunty Annmarie and Uncle Ram during the Christmas holiday from their trip up north. I had already prepared copies of the song booklets to bring to the school.

    There were twelve copies in total: one for myself and another for my aunty and uncle. The remaining booklets were copies that would be shared around the school’s compound. It was sad that I could not go with them to meet the Principal, and also to play the music myself at the school. I hope that in time these gifts from me will become useful to the students.

    Just as my working on anthems for other schools, the song needed a title. This was the only time that a person who was credited for creating a song was still alive. I was able to ask Miss County-Henry, through Uncle, to provide a name for the song. Within a few days, she named it “Our Very Own”. I was pleased that I did not have to decide on naming the song myself, as with all the other songs I previously worked on.

YOUTUBE VIDEO.

** Monday 28 July 2025 **

A few years of waiting had passed after the completion of the steelpan arrangement. I was requested by Miss County-Henry to wait until certain arrangements could be achieved before the video could be uploaded to YouTube.

    After waiting three years, I decided to move ahead with the YouTube video, which would then complete the work and finally bring an end to this project. The only difficulty at first was sourcing a workable logo and editing.

    Usually, at the end of the video, I liked inserting a picture of the school and its name printed clearly, but it was not provided. Instead of that image, the logo with a white background was used. I pray that after all these years of work, the video will be a beneficial teaching resource to the school and its students.

Daryl Zion M. Ali

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