PROJECT RUNWAY.....Season 11 Project Runway Episode 10: "The Art of Fashion"

 Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NYC

This week on Lifetime's Season 11 Project Runway, the challenge was to create an Avant Grade piece of  "wearable art" and a companion, more ready-to-wear piece inspired piece, after a visit to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in NYC. The remaining six designers were paired up in boy-girl teams and used the HP Touchsmart Desktop to create a textile/print design.
This was the highly anticipated "HP Intel Challenge". It is always one of the most fab episodes on Project Runway since the designers get to create a print and then--by "magic"!--it arrives the next day.

Back in February, during NYC Fashion Week, I had the pleasure of attending the HP Project Runway Designer Reunion bash where lots of the HP prints--designed by Project Runway designers were featured--alongside the HP and Intel Touchsmart technology.

Now, let's Photo-Discuss this Episode and the Designs:

Stanley Hudson and Michelle Lesniak Franklin--were paired up and from the beginning, they were "the Dream Team", working well together with much cohesiveness, no drama, and a general, let's "make it work" and create something FAB-u-lous attitude.

Layana Aguilar and Daniel Esquivel--CRY-ana--as one of my Tweet peeps @LisaMacNewton coined (LOVE HER!), was all things a mess in last night's episode--whining, crying, mad at not getting her way, bitter about Daniel getting all the praise...I really wanted to say "GURL! Here's a life lesson: you don't ALWAYS get everything mija!"

Patricia Michaels and Richard Hallmarq--Patricia "The Artsy One" of the season was "made" for this challenge and very excited about it. What she wasn't excited about was working with "It's EVERYYYYYTHING" Richard. He, for some reason, was uncooperative and even Tim Gunn suggested and questioned whether Richard was deliberately trying to make their pairing fail.

The Runway:

The Winning Creations--(left) Michelle Lesniak Franklin's design and Stanley Hudson's (right)--they created a "screaming" macabre woman print that worked well with these creations. Michelle's khaki coat with exaggerated train was grand and the addition of the painted bubble wrap, tiered ball gown underneath added the "avant garde" to it. It was a little "arts-&-craft-y" and would have rather seen something more in line with this:

 Alexander McQueen by Sarah Burton Fall 2012 Collection--now, that would have been great!

But Stanley's exaggerated baby doll creation (above)--which won--and rightly so--kind of reminded me of this:

Shalom Harlow getting spray painted by robots in the now-infamous Alexander McQueen Spring/Summer 1999 Collection

Daniel Esquivel--Daniel created the more ready-to-wear ensemble in "Team Layana and Daniel". I liked this look. The jacket was well-executed and the skirt was modern and young. The entire look was very Barneys New York, the "Designer Floor".

Layana Aquilar--This is a MESS. The judges said that it reminded them of a "Period" piece (from the Belle Époque I presume?) gone wrong. They also said it looked as if she "threw in everything AND the kitchen sink". Poor thing looked as if she got caught in a wind tunnel or tornado.

Belle Époque Good

On a good note--I loved the print Daniel and Layana created using the HP Touchsmart Technology--I want this for a rug, pillow or a painting for my house!!

Patricia Michaels--I liked the look Patricia created--when the model came down the runway, I was like "At-a-Girl!". The print was very modern and loved the hand-painted/washed out effect Patricia did. The white veil was a great soft angelic counterpoint to the geometric silhouette. The entire ensemble reminded me of a 15th Century woman I could see being depicted in a Van Eyck painting:

Jan van Eyck's The Arnolfini Marriage (1434)

Richard Hallmarq--I think Richard just lost his supposed "design mojo" after so many stressful weeks on the show. This outfit looked a little like "student work" and had construction issues. On a good note, it had hints of a Mary Quant 60's look to it, but I bet that wasn't even intentional. This was supposed to be ready-to-wear, but FOR THIS DECADE! Poor model is like "Yep, my designer is going home today...for sure!".

And now...here's my Project Runway Blog RECAP for this week:

HP Objets d’art

Art and Fashion. Some people argue that Fashion is Art; and others, tend to believe the opposite. This week’s "HP and Avant-Garde" episode was about the combination of both highlighting the artsy, inspirational and creative elements of making fashion.

Sold Out Michelle
In case you didn’t get the "Michelle Is Back memo, our dear Season 11 voice of reason designer Michelle Lesniak Franklin won last week’s Lord & Taylor Challenge, with the prize being that her dress would be manufactured and sold at Lord & Taylor. According to the web, her dress SOLD OUT by 8:45 am the morning following last week’s episode (I wonder if she got any profits from that!?). I’m excited that Michelle is no longer "Bad Luck Michelle" but "I Might Win This Entire Show" Michelle. Her positive design karma continued onto this week’s episode as well. Speaking of, let’s get to it…

Why Are You Not Smiling???
The remaining six designers are very tired and visibly stressed. I know exactly how they feel. Been there. Done that. When Heidi Klum opens the episode with her traditional, "Hellooo," and follows with a, "Why are you not smiling?" I wanted to shout at the TV and say to her, "Because they all hate each other, have had three hours of sleep and…THEY. ARE. OVER. IT!"

Guggenheim Fab
After Heidi’s niceties, the designers meet Tim Gunn at the Guggenheim Museum where he is to announce their next challenge. But before that, the producers, I mean judges, would like to "re-work" the teams. The designers are paired up in boy-girl fashion: Stanley with Michelle; Patricia and Richard, and Layana with Daniel. Once that’s done, Gunn tells the designers that this is the HP Intel Challenge: to create a piece of wearable art...

Click HERE to read the rest of my RECAP