The fourth season of one of my very favorite television shows, Project Runway, premiered tonight on Bravo. In case you're not familiar, it's a competition among 15 up-and-coming designers who have to butt heads in seemingly impossible challenges for a chance to show at New York fashion week, a fashion spread in Elle magazine and $100K to start their own line. Examples of past challenges include: design a garden party dress out of flowers and leaves, or design a figure-skating costume for Sasha Cohen when the sewing machine is broken. Tough stuff. This season brings us 15 new designers, all of whom are startlingly qualified- almost all of them have prior professioanl design experience, whether from their own line or someone else's. Because my opinion obviously matters a lot, I'm going to grace you all with my top 5 picks for this season.
5. Jillian.
Jillian looks really sweet, but she is ruthless. She's a designer and illustrator for Ralph Lauren (impressive!), so she's fluent in the classy, All-American sensibility that's going to score her points with judge Michael Kors. Her traffic-cone dress left me cold in the first episode, but she's hip, fresh and has a great eye.
4. Carmen.
In doing research for this post, I discovered that Carmen is actually the head designer for Lacoste. This actually makes me question what she's doing on the show, because she's obviously successful on her own. In addition, she's a former model and I don't see how knowing both sides of clothing design could hurt. Having modeled and designed for some of the top dogs in the US and Paris, Carmen seems pretty foolproof.
3. Chris.
Yeah, his leopard-print shurban (a shirt that you can wear as a turban, dur) and lime-green tie look more dressed-in-the-dark than designer. It's this out-of-the-box aesthetic, however, that's going to serve him well in this competition. Chris is a costume designer for outrageous clients like Cirque du Soleil and Madonna and, apparently, has executed things like a giant pincushion built on a wig and a dress made of salad trimmings. I'm pretty sure that any challenge they throw at this guy will pale in comparison to his experience.
2. Christian.
Christian is an arrogant bitch. In his interview, he calls himself "young, raw talent" and "kind of a big deal." Usually this Anchorman reference makes me want to punch puppy dogs in the Adam's apple, but we get the feeling that Christian is conceited for a
reason. The structured, hot-librarian ensemble he put together was perfectly made and, at the tender age of 21, he's already worked with Alexander McQueen and (the f*ing legendary) Vivienne Westwood. I feel like his abrasive confidence is also going to help him own the asses of his more mild-mannered colleagues.
1. Marion.
Possibly the most soft-spoken of the contestants, I have a feeling that Marion's going to be a sleeping giant of sorts in this competition. In the commercial for the season, he says his personal style is "Oliver, with a little twist." If the clothes he makes are as engaging as the clothes he wears (and, if the first challenge is any indication, they will be), he's destined for Project Runway greatness. I know that I, for one, will be running out to buy a newsboy cap as soon as I possibly can.
Altogether, I think this is the strongest crew of designers yet and I'm really excited to see what they come up with as the season progresses. Of course, it will be hard to watch any of them go home, but you know the competition's gonna be fierce. Just the way I like it.
YMHOS
♠
