Project Runway Season 12 Episode 3: An Unconventional Coney Island

It's time for season 12's third episode, and our second unconventional challenge! Woot!

Check out all of my Project Runway Season 12 review posts HERE.

The episode begins at 5:30 AM with Heidi going into all of the designers' apartments and waking them up. As hilarious as this was, the thing I find ridiculous is that poor Heidi had to be awake that early to wake them up! And she did literally nothing else with them until the runway. Poor, poor Hodi! (Season 1 Jay reference, anyone? No? Just me? OK then.)

Heidi tells them they are taking a trip to Coney Island that has to do with their next challenge. Clearly much later, in the daylight, Tim meets them on the Coney Island Boardwalk. They meet a guy from Yoplait frozen yogurt. Before their challenge, begins, they have to take carts of Yoplait fro yo and give it away to people. The people they give fro yo to will give them a word to describe their experience. The designers are to choose 3 words and write them down. These will define theme and direction of design. They then discover that this is a team challenge. They'll be working in teams of 2. Tim pulls out the velvet bag to choose the teams. They are: Alexander and Justin, Alexandria and Dom, Ken and Jeremy, Braden and Karen, Kate and Helen, Sue and Sandro, and Timothy and Miranda.

At this point, I was already slightly confused by what was going on. This was possibly because I knew from previews that this was the unconventional challenge, and I couldn't quite see how this whole Fro-Yo thing fit in. Since I was typing notes as they went along, I actually had to pause the show to figure out what they were actually being told. I couldn't keep up with Tim's instructions, and I type really quickly. But more on this in a minute.

They have 15 minutes to hand out samples and get words from people. These people have to be people that Project Runway got to come onto the show, because most people would just say "delicious" or something like that. After their 15 minutes are up, Tim announces that they are not going shopping at Mood. They’re playing games and winning prizes, which will serve as their materials. They each get 100 dollars with their go bank card and 30 minutes to play games.

In my opinion, this is really 2 challenges put into one. The whole Yoplait Fro-Yo thing could be quite successful as a standalone challenge, and clearly the unconventional challenge works quite well on its own. Project Runway does a lot of promotion stuff like this, like with the HP challenges, and the Garnier challenges, but this one just seemed way too forced. I mean, I can't even remember what words the teams used, besides maybe one or two teams that were in the top/bottom. And the judges didn't even seem to factor it into their judging, which just shows how completely pointless and forced this product placement was.  

Everyone seems to be having fun and getting along. This is why carnivals are so awesome. The highlight of this whole sequence was, of course, the UNICORN moment. I know many people don't like Timothy, but I just love him, and that little segment with him finding the unicorn, freaking out, and running over to win it was just the funniest part of the whole show. And the fact that he rode it around just killed me. He's precious. I also had to laugh seeing them all standing in front of the carnival with their huge bags full of prizes. They all had SO much stuff!

We got a lot of workroom drama this week courtesy of Miranda and Timothy and Sandro and Sue. I definitely think that most of the drama between Sandro and Sue is due to Sandro just not being able to compromise on anything. He has too strong of a personality and is coming off very rude. 

FLUFF! FLUFF EVERYWHERE!

We get another segment of Timothy and his unicorns. Apparently, according to him, unicorns are not simply horses with horns. I think he also said that unicorns have cloven hooves, which, in case you were unaware, are not what horses have. Cloven hooves have points that are kinda like toes, but horses' hooves are that perfect half-oval horseshoe shape (go figure). I knew the stuff I learned in Equine science would help me someday!

... No, really, I legitimately took that class my sophomore year of high school. And I didn't learn anything, because I did horseback riding in elementary school.

But I digress. A LOT.

Timothy also says that he doesn't want to cut up the unicorn. And adds that unicorns are apparently more like hippos than horses. And unfortunately, no equine science knowledge can help me understand what in the world he was talking about there.

Miranda left the room at some point, and while she was gone, Timothy re-sketched and designed the look and she got upset. During Tim Time, Sandro and Sue started fighting again and Sandro was being really rude. Tim also sees that Miranda and Timothy’s look is not great.

Later, they're all sewing, and Miranda begins badmouthing Timothy and their dress. And when he walks in, Miranda badmouths him right in front of him. Poor Timmy. I like Miranda, but I’m starting to get really annoyed that she’s being so incredibly rude. Timothy is thisclose to quitting, and when he walked out of the workroom, I was almost convinced that he was leaving. But, having seen the previews, I knew he hadn't, because it showed him on the runway.

What he was actually doing was going and sitting (with his unicorn, I might add!) and reading the card that his model, Sophie, gave to him earlier that day. This girl is just the sweetest! I'm not sure why she wrote him a card, but seriously, how awesome is she! Last week, when he went on and on about her being so nice and giving him hugs and encouragement, I figured she was just doing that to be nice, but it seems like she's really a supersweet girl who genuinely cares about him. That's the model you want to have when you're on this show. One of the sweetest Project Runway moments I've seen!

The next morning, Miranda gave Timothy a tearful apology for badmouthing him, but Timothy shoots back that actions speak louder than words. Ouch. While I can appreciate that he was extremely hurt, and that yes, actions speak way louder than words, she seemed genuinely upset and sorry. I think she probably took time reflecting that night and realized that she had been very wrong, and was trying to remedy their relationship before sending the look down the runway. She didn't handle the first day well, but he didn't handle runway day well at all.

RUNWAY!

Bradon/Karen: very sculptural. I was excited to see this completed, but I don't think I like it. It looks like there's a huge green tumor coming out of her hip. I'm surprised they got away with that one.

Dom/Alexandria: It's basically just a blue dress with a domo face on it. To me, it looks very junior, which is something that usually doesn't go well with the judges. Which is why I was completely surprised that the judges liked it. Seriously, what?!

Sandro/Sue: even with all their bickering, I think they ended up with a good look, even if Sandro was completely overpowering.

Helen/Kate: I think I may have been even more impressed that Kelly Osbourne. Seriously, when that walked out, I decided that if that didn't win, then there was something wrong with this show.

Alexander/Justin: I liked the colors. I thought the top looked good when the jacket was taken off. But that's about as good as it got. 

Jeremy/Ken: For me, this was the dream team. And for the third week, they made something really impressive that got passed over for the top. I'm not sure what the judges were thinking this week.

Timothy/Miranda: When I saw it on the runway, I actually liked it! I really don't know why the judges hated it. Yeah, it may have been a little safe, but it wasn't the bad color pallete that they made it out to be!

Top 2:
Helen/Kate
Alexandria/Dom

I'm really surprised that Alexandria and Dom were in the top. Sure, it looked well-made and clean, but it looked SO junior! What are they thinking??

Bottom 2:
Timothy/Miranda
Justin/Alexander

Once again, I was surprised that Timothy and Miranda were in the bottom. I thought that in the end, they were able to pull it off, even if they didn't get along. I thought Bradon and Karen deserved it more, maybe only because I predicted Karen to be gone by now... but I like Bradon, so I'm glad he was safe. All the Timothy/Miranda drama came out on the runway, and I did think that Timothy handled it incorrectly. Sure, Miranda messed up big time, but she seemed to legitimately be upset about it. At least, in the lounge, it was pointed out to him that he was doing the same thing that Miranda did the day before. 

Helen is the winner. Kate is in. Alexandria and Dom are in. Alexander and Justin are in.
Three strikes, and you're OUT, Timothy. Miranda is in.
Timothy goes out in true Timothy style. He says that he should’ve danced more. As he cleans up his stuff, he says that he won’t ever stop believing in unicorns and takes his cute unicorn with him.

So far, if you ignore the fact that i predicted Karen to be gone first, I've done pretty well. It looks like we'll have Sandro storming off the set next episode, which probably means he's going to quit. That's great for me, because it falls right in line with my elimination order which, in case you forgot, is this:

15-Karen
14-Kahindo
13-Timothy
12-Sandro
11-Helen
10-Dom

This gap represents the talent gap that I believe exists between those above and below...

9-Alexander
8-Alexandria
7-Justin
6-Kate
5-Jeremy
4-Ken
3-Sue
2-Bradon
1-Miranda

Right now, I'm thinking that I might re-do this just a touch. I feel like Sue probably won't make it as far as I originally guessed. Helen will probably make it farther than I thought. So, here's a new, top 13 order:

13-Sandro
12-Karen
11-Dom
10-Alexander
9- Helen
8-Alexandria
7-Justin
6-Sue
5-Kate
4-Miranda
3-Ken
2-Jeremy
1-Bradon

So, there you go! I'm really curious if Sandro leaving means that a previous designer returns. Maybe Timothy??? I doubt it, but we'll have to see! Also, Saturday, I'll be posting the first section of my list of Project Runway designers from best to worst! So make sure you check that out! See you then!

Construction on From Kristen's Brain...

Hey, y'all! Just wanted to quickly update you on some changes that will be going on later. These aren't going to effect your ability to read my blog in any way, BUT it should improve your experience on my blog. I decided that I need to fiddle around with colors and layouts, because, in my opinion, there's a bit too much black. Which makes sense, because I love me some black! But, I digress. Today, the blog is going to have a major overhaul, and hopefully it'll look totally different tomorrow when you read my Project Runway review.

ALSO!

OK, pseudo blogging schedule for the next few weeks.

MONDAYS: Whodunnit? review. I believe we have 3 episodes left, so it should get interesting!
THURSDAYS: This will *hopefully* be when I post my weekly Project Runway designers list. I'm working on the first one now, and it'll be done probably by Saturday, so I'll probably post the first one this Saturday, but every one after that will be on Thursdays.
FRIDAYS: Project Runway review. It'll be on time from now on :)

I also write a blog called "The CDs On My Shelf," which is basically a review of all the CDs I own. I've never set a schedule for this, but I do plan on setting one. Most likely, once I get back to school, I'll get a schedule for this one, since I'll have a better idea on when I will and won't be able to write blogs. If you want to check out The CDs On My Shelf, just click here. I have a pretty interesting and odd taste in music, so you never know what might pop up on there.

Once Whodunnit? finishes for the season (and possibly forever, if it has continued not getting many viewers), Mondays will probably be dedicated to random posts that I've been wanting to do. Currently, I'm working on a laundry list review of all the horror movies I've seen. It'll probably have to be broken up into a few posts.

Also, once Project Runway wraps for the season (a few months from now, I know!), would anyone like to see me review past seasons? I posted about this the other day and didn't get any feedback. I love comments, I promise! It gives me this warm fuzzy feeling when I know someone likes what I'm doing!!!

So, that's my little mini update for today. Check back tomorrow for my review of Project Runway Season 12's 3rd episode! Looks like it's going to be a fun, crazy, unconventional episode, full of more of Timothy's favorite UNICORNS! See y'all tomorrow!

Project Runway Season 12 PREMIERE: UNICORNS!

Ok, so maaaaaybe the episode wasn't titled UNICORNS! but it totally should've been. At the very least, it was our Project Runway word of the week.

So... I made a thing. I think it's clever, but I'm probably the only one.

Welcome to my Project Runway review! First off, sorry this review is so late. I meant to post this like 2 days ago. Anyway, I was so extremely excited for this season to finally get here. It's my favorite show, and during the summertime, I actually have time to watch it the night it's on! Hopefully, I'll be able to keep this up when school gets back, but for now, let's jump right in!

Rather than simply recap the "Road To The Runway" episode, I'll just briefly give my opinions about the designers. Before every season, I go onto the Project Runway site and go through every single designer's page and try to feel out who my favorites are going to be. Being my nerdy self, I actually have a scoring system for different aspects... mostly their personality. Upon doing that, my top scorers going into the episode were : Alexander, Alexandria, Angela, Justin, Miranda, Sandro, and Timothy. My opinions about everyone have changed slightly, so I'll go through them one by one.

Alexander: While I do like him about as much as I thought I would, right now he's just at the mid-top of the pack for me. He seems like a pretty cool guy, so I'll be interested to see where he eventually falls on my favorites list.

Alexandria: For me, she seems very contradictory. She seems very soft spoken, but also seemed to bash everyone in her confessionals! I don't get it! She seems really cool, though and I really love both her personal style and her aesthetic, so for now I like her. If we start getting a Gretchen personality, I will ditch her.

Angela: She seemed to show quite a bit of promise. On her page, she described her design as similar to Michelle, the winner of teams. I really liked Michelle's design, so that, plus the fact that she was in a rock band, really interested me!

Bradon: He seems to be pretty chill and really friendly. He's definitely among my favorites, because he seems to have a great personality, coupled with lots of talent! Right now, he seems pretty humble. Let's just hope he doesn't turn sour.

Dom: When I saw on her page that she loved Jay from season 1 and my boy Jeffrey from season 3, I got excited. But I'm not so sure right now. I have yet to fully grasp her aesthetic, as well as her personality. So, we'll see!

Helen: When I first saw her, I thought Helen would be my girl. Edgy, tattooed, recipe for cool designer, right? (at least, in the eyes of me, the girl who ADORES Seth Aaron Henderson). But when I watched her tour videos, she seemed way timid. Then, on the show, she was totally BAM, in your face catty. I'm so confused. Time will tell if she ends up being someone I support.

Jeremy: I didn't have much of an opinion on him when I first sat down to watch, and I actually spent way too much time trying to figure out where his accent is from. I don't know if it's the accent, but something intrigued me, and although he's middle of the pack for me right now, I'd say he's more on the likeable side.

Justin: He had one of my highest scores going into the show, and he certainly didn't disappoint. I could talk on and on about how he's an inspiration (because he truly is), but I feel like no one with any sort of physical disability really wants to be coddled and patted on the back for doing something in life. And he seems to have a great sense of humor about it, joking that if people are bothering him, he can simply just shut everyone off. That being said, I think it's really cool to see technology like that in action. I've seen videos of people getting to hear for the first time using those and I find it so interesting that even though they speak English, the first words they hear probably don't actually make sense, because they've never heard them. Anyway, I TOTALLY digress. I think he's a really talented designer, and I can't wait to see more of him.

Kahindo: She's probably the most middle of the line designer for me. I don't like her, I don't dislike her, I just kinda have a meh feeling toward her.

Karen: I think I'm going to end up liking her, but it seems like she can get annoying. She seems very happy and genuine and down to earth, but maybe a bit TOO happy smiley rainbows for me.

Ken: He scored pretty low before the show, but I'm not so sure about that. I just don't know yet. We didn't get to see a lot of him.

Miranda: She actually scored highest on my pre-show scoring. Now, it was by only a single point, and there wasn't a ton of deviation, but I do like her. I think she's going to do really well in the competition.

Sandro: At first, he seemed interesting, but by the end of the premiere, I wanted to get rid of him. It seems like they're trying to make him this season's Casanova. But he's not anywhere near as likeable as Casanova... Really, he isn't likeable at all.

Sue: At first, I wasn't so sure about her, but immediately upon seeing her aesthetic, I started warming up to her. By the end of the premiere, I decided that I like her. Hopefully, she turns out some great work!

Timothy: I think Timothy is absolutely ridiculous. So far, he doesn't seem like a great designer, and his "sustainable clothing" thing is going to get old really... wait. It has already gotten old. But I don't want him to ever go away. He brought such a humor to the first episode! Even when the skydivers jumped from the plane and he exclaimed that they were puppies falling from the sky!(At that point, I thought he was precious, not craycray... but he's definitely the latter) I don't expect him to last long, but he MIGHT, just because although HE is cuckoo crazy, his designs don't seem to be.

OK, so since our first episode was so insanely long with Road To The Runway, I'm going to try to keep this short. On Road To The Runway, I loved getting to see some of my all time fave designers, like Anthony Ryan and Mondo- as well as Mr. Verreos, of course! While I didn't watch a TON of season 11 (busy college student!) I did watch enough to decide that I like Michelle's aesthetic, so it was nice to hear her feedback as well.

This season, we have some new twists, which were gradually introduced to us throughout the show.
-During the runway shows, the judges do not know who designed each look. They don't find out until scores are tabulated. This is probably to keep it fair and unbiased.
-Tim will be present, but not judging, at the runway show.
-After the runway show and the initial judging, the judges get a close up look at the top and bottom looks.
-A single time in the season, Tim is allowed to save a designer if he feels the judges made an incorrect decision. This is done after the contestant has been eliminated and has returned to the designers lounge. So basically, Tim can either give them their usual hug goodbye and tell them to head to the workroom to clean up their space, or he can save them at that point.
-The prize package has practically quadrupled. I don't remember all the details, but they get more than 500,000 worth of stuff. I was seriously wondering when Heidi's laundry list of prizes was going to end!

Did I forget anything? It seemed like there were so many changes! So, the episode begins at a small airport. The designers gather together with Heidi and Tim and are told that a past designer will be joining them. The fans got to vote between 3: R'amon from season 6, Valerie from season 8, or Kate from season 11. I definitely support Valerie the most of those, and I liked R'amon as well, even though he seemed like a random choice. Although I watched little of season 11, I knew Kate was the rude one, so I was hoping it wouldn't be her. I knew R'amon wouldn't get it. Season 6 was far too forgettable and he didn't last THAT long. While I felt it was between Kate and Val, I knew it was much more likely that Kate would get it, since she was on the show most recently. Unfortunately, I was right. She popped out of the airplane and joined her fellow designers.

The designers find out that they are supposed to make an outfit out of parachute fabric, and make a mad dash to get the parachute they want. I thought it was absolutely hilarious when Kate totally wiped out! I won't bore you with workroom details, but I will touch on Timothy. I'm sure he made his model feel completely uncomfortable by asking her how she felt about acting. Then he spent a super long time coaching her on how he wanted her to... walk?... down the runway. He wanted it to be like she was being pulled by the handcuffs that bound her hands together. Then, in hair and makeup, he basically told them not to use any styling products at all, be it a straightener or hairspray. So they just braided her hair and were done. And for makeup, he didn't have them do... ANYTHING! The best part for me was that the model didn't even do the crazy moves down the runway! She just posed like one of the moves he coached her on. I'm sure he wasn't happy about that. Also, can we mention how crazy high his heels were? SERIOUSLY. And his model was barefoot. Oh, and he talked about unicorns constantly. I'm legitimately concerned that he believes that unicorns are real.

Moving on to the Runway!
Alexander: I really liked his design, but the fact that it was riding up in the front probably kept him from being in the top. I actually forgot his was parachute!
Alexandria: I thought hers was OK. There was certainly no reason for her to be so cocky, though!
Angela: This was just really unfortunate. It was really ill fitting and just looked like some huge, cheap raincoat.
Bradon:I really loved this. It was probably my favorite thing that walked the runway.
Dom: I'm surprised this avoided the bottom. It was boring and unflattering. Hoodies usually aren't PR material.
Helen: I liked her dress. I wasn't wowed, but it was OK. I was kinda confused though, because the whole dress was white and blue, but there was this hint of reddish brown on the chest. On purpose? Accident? Who knows!
Jeremy: I actually really liked his look! I liked the contrast of the really busy pant and the basic white top.
Justin: I thought his dress was really cute. It was as if she was wearing a tie!
Kahindo: I wasn't sure of the point of the pleats, but I liked her color blocking. 
Karen: I would have liked this... if it had fit! It was way huge and like a bag on her model! The unfortunate thing is that I think she meant to do that! She seems to like things that are too baggy. That concerns me!
Kate: I thought it was cute. Simple, and not the most original thing I've ever seen, but cute.
Ken: His construction of that collar was fabulous. I'm not sure it was a good idea to have two ruffles though. The inner one didn't seem as wow. He's clearly really talented though!
Miranda: I'm actually not totally sure why this wound up in the top in the first place. It wasn't THAT great. Sure, it was well made, and OK, but not a wow. And she broke the rules quite a bit.
Sandro: His poor model had to use those random ropes he threw on her JUST to cover up her good china, since it was completely popping out of the bathing suit! I'm having flashbacks to season 7's "hardwear" (see my pun there?) challenge and Emilio's washer and string bathing suit. Just NO.
Sue: That rouching was really great, and the color and the way that the dress fell were also amazing. 
Timothy: I thought that bits and pieces of both the back and front were good, but it was like they were two different dresses!

Top:

Sue

Bradon

Sue: The judges loved her rouching and the effortless-looking draping
Bradon: The judges loved the train in the back, and although a couple questioned the strings in the front, they showered praise on him.

Top/Bottom

Miranda

Miranda: At first, Miranda was in the top, but when the judges realized how little of her fabric was actually parachute fabric (but really, how did they not realize this earlier?), they decided to make an example of her and put her in the bottom for not really following the instructions.

Bottom 3:

Angela

Timothy

Sandro

Timothy: They didn't understand any of his reasoning, and thought he was contradicting himself.

Angela: They also thought it seemed like some sad, ill fitting coat.

Sandro: They felt like although the taste just WAS NOT there, that the construction skills were. Because although it showed the good china, it was intricately designed.

Bradon is declared the winner. With as much as they praised him, it would be ridiculous for them to give the win to anyone else.

Sue is in. Miranda is given a slap on the wrist, but is safe. To my annoyance, Sandro is also in. The bottom two is Timothy and Angela, but it is Angela who is declared out.

Just for fun, I figured I would give y'all my ridiculously early predictions for order of elimination. Although my own bias will probably play a small part, the majority of this will be how talented they appear to be/ their character.

15-Karen- because her baggy dress was SO bad
14-Kahindo- because so far, she seems pretty forgetable
13-Timothy- because he has a big personality, but that can't get him far
12-Sandro- because eventually, bad taste catches up with you
11-Helen- because the mean girl never wins. And she doesn't seem that great
10-Dom- because she doesn't seem as unique and at top 10, that will become obvious

This gap represents the talent gap that I believe exists between those above and below...

9-Alexander- because I like him, but I'm not sure the judges will.
8-Alexandria- because she's over-confident, without QUITE the chops to back it up
7-Justin- because of potential sympathy card, fairly ok designer. I want him to go further though.
6-Kate- because the comeback kid never wins
5-Jeremy- because he seems talented, but not quite finale material
4-Ken- because of his amazing construction skills and drive to win
3-Sue- because of her talent, construction, and aesthetic
2-Bradon- because he's proved to be a force to be reckoned with, but remained humble
1-Miranda- because she has a strong point of view and pushes boundaries.

Honestly, in my opinion, anyone between 3-9 could be shaken up and moved around. But I feel like those in 10-15 need to be weeded out. Also, I think either Bradon or Miranda could win. Or even someone else from 9 down. And I actually just realized that I chose this episode's top 3 as my 3 finalists. WOW haha! Anyway, I don't think this is necessarily who I WANT it to be. I really like Bradon and Miranda, but I think I'd rather see Justin in the finale than Sue. But that's just because he's really funny and seems to be a great guy. But I also am liking Jeremy and Sue. Ken wouldn't be anywhere near as high if I was ranking solely on where I want people to land. Also, Timothy would be a lot higher, because I want to laugh at him for as long as possible!

Also, I'll make a post just dedicated to this, but would anyone be interested in reading a blog about past Project Runway seasons? I've seen pretty much every episode 5 times, and re-watch constantly, so I could definitely blog a season at a time if anyone wanted to read it. Project Throwback, anyone? Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my super-late review. I'll hopefully see you back here MUCH sooner after Episode 2!