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

“Deadly Pandemic: Coronavirus”

 Date for Entry: (Friday 14th August 2020)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 29th August 2022)

Dear Diary,

    This was a composition made from the inspiration of the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic. Unfortunately, the computer lost a copy of the score. I believe it was over twelve pages. There was not much planning as to what this piece was supposed to do apart from describing the fear and seriousness of the infection.

    The painting was done within a day on Thursday 13 August 2020. Six hours in total were required to do the full colouring. In this illustration, I used the flowers in the ground as the coronavirus, and when the pollen and petal blow through the air it spreads the virus.

    The girl holding the flower in her hand would represent a person carrying the virus and being unaware that they were infected. It seemed to me that the same girl ended up looking like Carla from my “Magical Creatures” novel. However, the design for the dress came from thinking of our country’s president Ms. Paula-Mae Weekes.

    Listening to the recording, my mind was suggesting that what was presented should have been a beginning or introduction for the composition but too late now since the score was lost.

 

Link(s):

• “Deadly Pandemic: Coronavirus” –Full Score.
• Hand Drawing & Completed Painting.
• “Deadly Pandemic: Coronavirus” – YouTube Recording.

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Agar Tum Na Hote

 Date for Entry: (Thursday 6th August 2020)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Wednesday 23rd March 2022)

Dear Diary,

    My friend Brandon Poonwassie from DCFA degree program was getting married around this time. He made a YouTube video playing the song “Agar Tum Na Hote” on the keyboard and was accompanied by two other gentlemen. One of the two men played drums in the studio.

    I decided that I would listen to the recording and notate it for steelpan like I usually would for the Indian Classical Ensemble on Monday nights. It came up to three pages and a portion of one day to complete this exercise. It was emailed and I hope it is useful.

    Unfortunately, when looking for the video on YouTube I was not sure I it was set as a private or unlisted one. I can only provide a recording of the score from Musescore.

Link(s):

1. “Agar Tum Na Hote” - (Score).
2. “Agar Tum Na Hote” (Recording).**

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

“Fountain in the Desert” – (Raag Bhairav)

 Date for Entry: (Thursday 23rd July 2020)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 29th August 2022)

Dear Diary,

    Here is another piece of Classical Indian music. I decided to use Raag Bhairavi which is another scale: the second and sixth degrees of the scale are lowered by a semitone. This is also illustrated at the beginning of the video. Again, the tonic (or ‘Sa’) was C.

    I used flute and harmonium as the major source of melody. The tambourine and tabla were given independent rhythmic patterns and were assigned as ostinati. However, the loud gong and bowl gong was replaced by a harp that was used to mimic the sound/feel of a swarmandal.

    As much as I wished, the software could not do the andolan or swing. Hence, use of more acciaccaturas was used as a substitution apart from instances where the true acciaccaturas were required.

    The drawing and painting were both done on Thursday 23 July 2020 in the afternoon at home number two. The full colouring took approximately two and a half hours long.

 

Link(s):

• Hand Drawing & Completed Painting.
• “Fountain in the Desert” – YouTube Recording.

Daryl Zion M. Ali

“Elephant Circus” – (Raag Bhairavi)

 Date for Entry: (Friday 29th May 2020)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 29th August 2022)

Dear Diary,

    This was my first attempt at creating a piece of Classical Indian music. The raag of choice was Bhairavi with the scale's second, third, sixth and seventh degrees lowered by a semitone. I tried to illustrate this with the notation at the very beginning of the video. The tonic (or ‘Sa’) is C.

    The two main instruments were the flute and the sitar. A tambourine was added to create a rhythmic pattern and this pattern was used as an ostinato. Since I did not know how to write for the tabla, I made an independent rhythmic pattern for the tambourine that gave the difference between the sound of the big drum and the smaller drum.

    Since Musescore does not operate under the Indian Classical style of music, there was no way to create a tanpura effect. Instead, a loud gong was used to indicate the beginning of a new cycle in teen taal. A bowl gong in between would also be heard.

    During the composition at 0:47 in the video, the use of call and response, or question and the answer was utilised. I did not want the two instruments doing the same melody. I wanted them interdependent like some sort of conversation. Most likely it felt like Trinis talking and finishing what the other person was saying.

    The dates of the drawing and the painting were not recorded. The painting was done on a night immediately after the day of the drawing. The next day after painting the elephant I saw a very gruesome and hurting story from CNN about people killing elephants in a foreign land. A mommy elephant and the young children were killed. I wished I had inserted the little baby elephant when I saw it in my mind but I did not know how to draw it.

Link(s):

• Hand Drawing & Completed Painting.
• “Elephant Circus” – YouTube Recording.

Daryl Zion M. Ali