Under the Gunn, or "Real Women" Challenges Just Aren't the Same

Look, I cringed just as much as everyone else when they would have the "real women" challenge and some designer was an asshat to whoever. But for several seasons there hasn't been any drama at all because everyone got genre savvy and quit doing it. So now...I guess we focus on someone's allergy to the fabric. (click for more)



I'm not saying that woman was faking her hives or something. But in 15 seasons of "Project Runway" no one ever was physically allergic to anything. And no one is going to be a jerk, so they need some drama somewhere. I don't trust the producers and neither do you.

Unrelated to the episode: I guess everyone is catching a lot of flak for how they had treated Natalia. I know last week Kitty commented about Mondo's blog, that his fight with Nick didn't show his apology and that when he and Anya stood on the runway and said Natalia should have gone home, that was in response to the judges' questions. Which totally makes sense. I can see the editors spinning it like that. But then Tim got on Facebook and basically said that Natalia was a horrible person who deserved everyone's anger. That she wasted time at Mood and that meant everyone had less time to work, and she constantly asked everyone for help and so forth. Somehow, though, people found plenty of things to say about her that didn't mention any of that. Plus you know I love Tim Gunn but he tried to say last season that the judging is NOT rigged by the producers, and you and I both know that's total crap.

OK! On to the episode! Which started with some burlesque dancers for some reason. No one cares, female burlesque dancers. Maybe Shan cares. And then they weren't even relevant to the challenge so what is the damn point? Your audience doesn't care either! This is the "real women" challenge they always have so that you can watch people have to deal with clients. Nothing much happens with the initial consults or sewing aside from Shan's girl saying she's allergic to his top. Shan also messes with Oscar and tells him to put a bunch of crap on his gown as a joke. It's actually pretty entertaining and no one is upset about it. That's the kind of workroom interaction I like.

When the clients come in, Mondo and Asha double team Asha's poor client to convince her she doesn't want to do what she wants to do. As always happens on this challenge, if you listen to your client you will be in trouble. This happens to Sam at first. Also people get slammed for being boring, which is weird because actual wearable clothes for actual people can't be that crazy.

Asha's outfit is...maybe a little bit tacky. I think Asha's designs can skew that way and she got a client who wouldn't mind. Blake's print is terrible. I know one of the judges said she liked the metallic sheen to it but it's ugly. The cut of the dress itself is fine though. Not sure how Oscar's gown aged his client, as opposed to her hair which I didn't like, but whatever. Sam's look is a perfect example of how the judges don't always seem to get this challenge. This woman wanted a body-conscious dress. He gave her a perfect lovely dress. But it's "boring". She has to wear this in public places. She isn't going to wear something crazy. I didn't like Shan's dress, especially the mullet hem. It was cut strangely and flowed strangely and I thought he was overpraised just because he'd thrown it together that morning.

Blake is sent home, and his dress had a really jacked up unfinished hem with loose threads hanging off it, so sending him home over Sam makes sense. When they made up a random money award from the product placement, and Shan won it, I figured the producers wanted to praise him for not being able to use his original design. And then he won the challenge too which was dumb. It was slim pickings though. And Mondo at some point is all "Maybe I need to give out some 'tough love'" but they consistently show his most negative comments in confessional and also when he's talking to his designers. He'll be talking and just basically say "This is terrible, this is terrible, I don't like this." Even if he's tempering that with praise that we're not seeing, he certainly is not shying away from being negative.

How did you feel? Also, how do you feel about knowing I saw a commercial for casting Project Runway season 13?