PR Judges and Meanies Make Me Sad :-(

I know I’m a little late with this Project Runway recap but I couldn’t let it go.

Last week, contestant Emily was kicked out for this design:




The main criticism being that the look was too “cliché” a term I find really rich coming from the fashion industry which is one ginormous cliche. *Sniff* One girls cliche is another's signature look I suppose.

Okay, so it wasn’t the best look of the night…but the worst, really? My response, an emphatic NO!

First, let’s talk about her cohorts also in the bottom three. There’s this thing:




Which I believe El Snarkmeister referred to as shredded toilet paper. Nice one. Actually the first thing that leapt to my mind were the Flinstones, but even a Pre Historic betty like Wilma wouldn’t be caught dead in that tattered mess. Come to think of it, the model would've been better served if she had been wrapped in the sopping wet discarded magazine that inspired it.

Then there was the “clock” dress:




Listen, as a Fine Arts grad I know a thing or two about surrealism – this dress is surreally ugly.

And don’t even get me started on this hellacious number that amazingly escaped unscathed:




Ouch. It makes my eyes bleed.

But it ain’t over until the fat lady sings, or in this case New York Magazine goes to print. They added insult to injury by completely trashing Emily’s line Smoke and Mirrors Clothing.

Here’s a sample look:




A cute little wrap dress that I think many, including myself, would wear proudly. Shucks, if it’s good enough for Diane Von Furstenberg, Nanette Lepore, Michael Kors…you get the idea.

What I want to know is, is all the hate really necessary? I swear the article was filled with so much vitriol that it makes me wonder about the writer’s motivations. Sour grapes? A Nancy Kerrigan Tanya Harding smack down perhaps? I don’t know but I do think it was uncool and uncalled for.

Way to support a fledgling designer, who is still in the nascent stages of their design aesthetic and business. Here’s hoping that for every one that gets squashed a new celeb pop-tart line gets launched.

There I said it.


(photos courtesy of Bravo & Smoke & Mirrors Clothing)