“One Day You’re In…”
Completely against my will or better judgement, I've found myself curiously absorbed by Project Runway (fifteen amateur designers compete against each other for a chance to win a photoshoot in Elle magazine, plus have their line of clothes sold, a car, and some cash). And look, I know: It's fashion. It's the least consequential subject in the entire world with the possible/probable exception of its Bravo stablemate Make Me A Supermodel (which is just people wearing the clothes that designers have at least had to put some thought and creativity into - highlight of the three minutes of that I inadvertently caught: "My back hurts from this really heavy necklace I'm wearing!" That's a man talking, by the way.). But it(Runway)'s oddly entertaining.
It's in its latter stages now (there are six of them left), and I'm beginning to realise why I've been watching it (apart from the fact that there's not another thing on worth having burbling away in the background of an evening) . Of all this type of programme, it's the one that does the best job of actually making a rollercoaster of the event. Because each of the designers has a different approach or experience, some of them do better at certain challenges than others, but each week's elimination is only based on that week's challenge, so someone could win five weeks out of six and then be ousted because they fuck up their 'Avant Garde look based on your model's hairstyle' (no, I'm not kidding). And because the decisions are made entirely by the judges, not the audience, there's none of that thing where someone crap but likeable can unexpectedly keep getting through. Plus, it's designers, so there's loads of scope for people to get into "what was s/he thinking????" mode, which is always good for a laugh. Check out the episode summaries on the Bravo site: "The crew bids a farewell to Chris March, whose mistake with shoulder-pads sends him home from the competition." You couldn't make it up.
Actually, there's another reason to watch Runway, and it's Tim Gunn. I don't know where they found him, but he's brilliant. He's the mentor, and calm voice of wisdom and authority while the contestants are working on their projects, and he's just a STAR. The devastated looks on their faces when he eyes what they've proudly done and says "It worries me" in his sincere, slightly odd, slightly fey drawl can reduce me to hysterics. And it's clearly not just me, as his Wikipedia entry relates that he was voted the reason why people watch Project Runway (and let's face it, it was never going to be for the drab, personality-free zone that is 'host' Heidi Klum).
He also has quite the way with words: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uP7zGF6orAI
I think Tim Gunn is my new hero.
January 26th, 2008 - 21:56
Project Runway is a guilty pleasure of mine. I don’t go to the television specifically to watch it, but if I’m in a mood to watch television, I will look for it.
I believe many of the contestants are professionals in the industry, in one form or other. I don’t think it’s like college athletics in the U.S. where they are prohibited from having lived off their previous design work.
I do agree that the work of the week weighs heavily (unfairly so sometimes) on eliminations, I remember judges weighing a contestant’s previous work during their decision making process. A consistently boring designer, for example, is much more likely to be kicked off then someone who was merely boring for one challenge.
You may be interested to know that this show gave me such a fascination for women’s clothes that I created a transvestite character in my current role-playing game (a Mage variant).
January 27th, 2008 - 12:41
I am interested to know that, thanks Chad. It all adds to your mystique.