Oh boy! Project Runway is back! And it's in New York with Tim Gunn and all that sort of thing. This is the episode that introduces us to the cast, and we're skipping the unsuccessful auditions. Which is an idea I'm pretty happy about.
This season, Tim is one of the three judges who got to pick the contestants. Yay! Unlike certain "real" judges I could name, Tim seems to have impeccable taste. The judges pick fifteen contestants, and the sixteenth was picked by the Internet. Which is obviously a great idea, right? Well, they got to choose from three contestants on seasons: Ra'mon-Lawrence Coleman from Season 6, Valerie Mayen from Season 8 and Kate Pankoke from Season 11. I don't remember any of them, but we'll find out who's in later on.
Michelle Lesniak (last season's winner) and Nick Verreos ("alumnus") will be helping us out. But I might not write down anything they say, because it's mostly just, "I loved their clothes! That's why they're on the show now!"
Timothy Westbrook lives in Milwaukee and does cartwheels. He's animated and, frankly, tiring.. He has a unicorn necklace. He works in repurposed materials, so he's good at making clothes out of bed sheets. That'll be helpful, I guess. He'll be good at the junk challenges, but he won't have any idea what to do in Mood. We see a garment that was made out of old cassette tapes and it's gorgeous. And there's the umbrella garment and so on. He has a wooden loom that he uses pretty efficiently. His plan for Mood is to go to the remnants box and pick out stuff from there. Also, he has a furry tail he can clip onto the back of his trousers.
Alexandria Von Bromssen is from San Mateo. She tells us that she's funny and crazy, which you're usually not to say about yourself. She was a teenage model, but she hated it so she got a Masters at NYU. She runs a sewing camp, which should mean that she's an expert at operating and maintaining sewing machines. Her point of view is "edgy, modern, strong." I'm not sure that means anything. She also says she loves "strong jackets," which is at least a thing. She seems nice, although she forgets what season she's in. It's Season 12.
Karen Batts is from Queens. She has red hair and says that she likes color and prints. One of her audition judges is Anthony Ryan! She explains that she's studied photography, which informed the way she makes prints. She also has cats, which I don't think is strictly relevant to the show. She has a "submarine coat" that I think looks ridiculous.
Bradon McDonald says he's from New York, but his Chyron says "Los Angeles." He used to be a modern dancer, and he says he was fantastic. He also mentions his "amazing fine arts background." He's not shy about how great he thinks he is. He's got a very fancy piece that was all hand-stitched. His workroom is a little messy, but that's to be expected. He also has a peacock-themed outfit that's exceedingly peacock-y.
Justin LeBlanc is from Raleigh. And he's deaf, although he's got some hearing now thanks to a doohickey in his ear. He has a dress with pennies sewed into the felt. Michelle is delighted by felt. Nick loves a dress that's covered in pins that look like spikes. The judges are delighted by his clothes.
"My work is gonna make you go home and cry. Like, it's gonna destroy you." Helen Castillo is from Union City, NJ, and she has an odd idea of what people are looking for in their clothes. Her degree is in "Special Occasion Design," which I choose to interpret as meaning that she's an expert in designing the occasions themselves. Her first dress is so see-through that Tim is scandalized. She likes netting and appliques, which don't provide a lot of covering. I like her sewing machine a lot. It's pretty! Her character on the show is "person who is brash and outspoken," which concerns Tim. Incidentally, she brought along a really tall model. She doesn't even fit in the screen with Helen. It's like Helen is standing to Al from Police Squad. Tim comments, "Well she's a scrappy one." He does not approve!
Angela Bacskocky, from Richmond, tells us that she doesn't intend to be mean, but she's very blunt and honest. She was in a band with her husband at seventeen, then she tried out lesbianism and anyway here are her clothes. They're not blowing me away. She says she likes tailoring and is a genius pattern-maker. Well, that sounds like a useful skill.
Dom Streater is from Philadelphia and says that her personal style is flirtatious and edgy. She's into outerwear and has a neat chiffon duster. Either her segment was very short or nothing at all interesting happened in it.
Miranda Levy is from Milwaukee, and she was in the military. She has medals for grenade-throwing and M16-shooting, which is fun. Not strictly relevant, but fun. I do not like her clothing. There's a garish cat shirt and a terrifyingly bright scarf. She says her uniform influences all of her clothing. For example, she has a dress made out of the army blanket she had during basic training. She says her aesthetic is kind of post-war Andrews Sisters, combining militant and feminine. She says she uses floral prints instead of camouflage. I look forward to her maybe not talking quite so much about having been in the army.
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Alexander Pope has hilariously tiny eyebrows. It must be on purpose, because if you accidentally sculpted them that small, you'd just draw on bigger ones. He's from New York and he's into high fashion runway couture, which means I won't understand anything he makes. And he's been working in costume construction, like Scar and Rafiki in The Lion King. Those are awesome costumes. I wonder if he's met Julie Taymor! She's probably not involved all that much at this point, I guess. My concern here is that "avant garde" and "costume" are frequently very similar, so he might get told he's "too costume-y" a lot. You want to avoid Chris March Syndrome. Tim observes that he must have experience in "engineering," which I guess he does. Alexander had to sew his own goth and punk clothes because they didn't have Hot Topics. And he has wisely brought along simple clothes. He had a sad childhood, but I just assume that's true of everyone on these shows. And he made his own drag clothes, which I approve of.
Ken Lawrence is from Birmingham and he has a bow tie tattooed just below his neck, so he'll always be well-dressed. He says he's been watching the show and competing from home the whole time. His shoes are very colorful. He knows that it's a good idea to talk up your construction when showing your clothes to the judges. Nick loves how well the vinyl is sewn. He's self-taught, and he's been homeless four times. He vows that he'll never quit.
Sandro Masmanidi is from New York. Well, really he's from Russia, but he lives in New York now. He was a model, then he got cancer, then he survived and now he makes clothes. He says that Russians have to know how to make accessories as well as clothes. As he shows off his closet, he has kind of a Freddie Mercury vibe. I think it's the mustache and the low neckline of his shirt. He also has some leather pants, which he admits are a little tacky. In one interview, he's wearing an overall with only one strap attached. I thought we were done with that. He also has a coral dress that's crocheted, and it's a little weird.
Kahindo Mateene was born in Uganda and now lives in Chicago. Her parents were Congolese and moved to Kenya. She got laid off from her marketing job and got a fashion degree. The clothes she presents have a lot of magenta patterns. She brought something from six years earlier to show how she's evolved. It's her fourth time auditioning.
Jeremy Brandrick was born in Birmingham, England and lives in New York now. He has a bridalwear business and presents some updated safariwear. A picture of him with his husband looks to me like it was taken in the Morocco section of EPCOT at Disney World. And they have children, which I don't care about. Yes, you have a picture of your twins' first ultrasound. Great. Talk more about the vents in your jackets.
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Sue Waller is from Brooklyn and claims that her lines are pure and clean. She's studied filmmaking, but her fashion was all self-taught. I'm a little worried about her. A lot of the edges look unfinished. Her clothes look good on her, but I don't know if it's going to fly on this show.
Now it's time to find out who the Internet likes. Wait, no, we'll find out at the beginning of the first competition episode. Never mind. It's time for the lightning round!
Bradon: "I'm kind of an all-or-nothing kind of guy."
Kahindo: "I just love to experience new and different cultures."
Timothy: "With using repurposed materials and sustainability, you're constantly innovating."
Karen: "I feel like my aesthetic is kind of commercially based, but I love color."
Sandro: "You see my style. You see my look. You see my signature. You deal with that. Yes or no."
Alexandria: "I play to win. I don't have time to waste."
Jeremy: "I do sexy modern sportswear with a very modern slant."
Angela: "I only accept perfection."
Alexander: "I do like minimalism, but I also like the silhouettes of the Romance eras."
Sue: "I think my work is a real mix of urban and organic."
Miranda: "I'm trying to create this post-war strong woman that's maybe a little militant but feminine too."
Ken: "I know I can win Project Runway."
Helen: "You would never expect someone like me to make something like that."
Justin: "I approach design from a conceptual side and then I bring it back to fashion."
Dom: "I like designing new lines and shapes on garments."
Okay, enough introductions. Meet me in the episode and let's see if these people can sew!
Follow Monty on Twitter at @monty_ashley and read his blog, Mysterious Exhortations.
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