Can't Polish a Turd

OK. I've been really, really into Season 2 of Project Runway. Molly and Sarah got me into the show over the break. And I love it, love it, love it. I should've written this entry a few weeks ago, because the designers are dwindling by the week. Project Runway is most artful in its pacing and presentation, reassuringly unfolding according to sensible prediction, and then, just when we get too comfortable, pulling the rug out from us and making us outraged. Either way, you want to tune in next week.

Since the designers are judged challenge by challenge, and not on their cumulative body of work, it's really anyone's game. Promising people have gotten cut just because they happened to stumble (hello, Nick!!!), or maybe because their strengths weren't suited to a particular challenge.

The show is so good that I'm not the least bit ashamed that it contravenes my stauch no-reality- show policy. (I'm becoming more and more convinced, though, that this reality show is more "scripted" than we'd like to think. Duh, you may be saying. More on that below) Project Runway has it all. There are a lot of tensions running through the show - class divisions, high art versus low art, form versus function, art versus commerce, innovation versus safety, and on and on and on.

This week, Kara got cut. She won't be a part of the final three (however, in a strange bit of reality show serendipity, she got to design and show a collection for Olympus fashion week, which took place before this episode aired, to preserve the identities of the final three). Kara, despite having won a challenge or two, is mostly undistinguished, I think, so this makes sense. Her dress just wasn't up to snuff. Sadly, she was grilled by the runway judges (who dropped all pretense of being nice for brutal honesty), who asked her why the dress she was wearing was nicer than the dress she made for the challenge.

The biggest runway shocker was that everyone turned on Chloe. Granted, she had groused earlier in the episode about whether she really "wanted it," but I don't think that's any reason to sell someone out. Santino Rice is criticized for his cattiness, but everyone else takes the opposite tack - fishing for compliments. "Oh, gosh, I hate my dress," etc. I think this is what Chloe was doing, and it was a bit disingenuous of her. After the last episode, when Nick got cut, Santino, sitting backstage, wouldn't even look at any of the other designers. You ended that episode knowing that Santino would at least make it to the final three, but that it wouldn't be pretty. In the beginning of this episode - the one where Kara got cut - Daniel layed into Santino, saying that he felt Nick shouldn't have gotten cut. Later in the episode, Santino told Daniel that he thought it was funny that Daniel and Chloe were playing it so safe, and then said that either Kara or Daniel would get cut (Daniel ended up winning this challenge - in yo' face, General Zod!) So why, then, when asked on the runway which of the two designers he would take with him to Olympus Fashion Week, did Daniel say he'd choose Kara and Santino?

Argh! This is what I don't get. A dramatist, scripting a non-reality show, would have to explain such a turn of character. This is when the blatantly obvious - oh, duh, this an edited reality show - came to the foremost of my mind. It makes me wonder what they are not showing us. Surely Santino has had moments of sensitivity that must make him endearing to someone. Knowing his pragmatic attitude, though, I'm sure it doesn't bother him the slightest that he's edited to emphasize his cattiness. And this, too, is where "reality" differs from regular TV- we understand human foibles. Everyone knows someone who did something inexplicable, an abrupt about face, a kiss-off, an outburst, etc. And, unlike fiction, where a motive is clearly outlined, you never know the whys and wherefores behind this action - even should you ask the person. Reality shows seize upon this to advance their plots forward. After all, minus commercials, this show only has some forty-odd minutes to get everything in.

I'm beginning to think Daniel will win Project Runway this season. Even though I agree with Santino that Daniel is a little too "safe," when he's good, he's good. Daniel forgoes the flourishes and the innovations, and does strong, simple work. His work seems to be about the presentation of a bold, single idea with minimal ornamentation. Nothing is wrong with classic when it's done well. When he's faltered, he's just plain with nothing to distinguish him. I didn't even notice him at first, and wouldn't have thought he'd come this far.

Chloe is good, too. Her dress last time was a little weird, but her work so far has been strong. She, too, has been less innovative and more about strong, simple. She has a little more of an eighties thing to her, I think. Some of her dresses look like they could use about 30 arm bracelets as accessories. She tends to do really well on garment construction to complement her designs. Simple, elegant, to-the-point.

Santino . . . is a guy I really respect. Personally, I think going all out and falling on your face as often as you soar is admirable. Santino's problem is that he really needs an editor. He won the first challenge, charging out the gate right from the get-go. His first dress was muslin dyed purple with lovely ornamental design work. His philosophy appealed to me immediately - aesthetically-pleasing dresses in bold designs with careful, handcrafted texture and detail. It's like the same thrill you get when someone goes the extra mile - the devil's in the details, but so is God. It's like the movie Blade Runner. It would be just as good without all the detail in every scene, but it really makes the movie come alive, be more personal. And, like Blade Runner, Santino's little details threaten to overcome the main story. His main weakness is that he needs an editor. The dress Tim Gunn, and the audience, sees emerging midway through the challenge is overtaken by his mad compulsion to layer and ornament, and keep adding. His last dress could have won, but, as Iman said, it wasn't elegant. He spent too much time gluing crap on it when it would've looked fine with no crap, great with some. Santino has ranged from being outright defiant to the judges to trying to listen to them. They send him mixed signals, though. The one episode where he really tried to reign himself in, he was lambasted. Damned if he does, damned if he don't.

I'd be really surprised if Santino wins. He just seems not mature enough yet as a desinger. If he was able to really focus and edit himself, he could win hands down. The reality, though, is that his hubris will get the better of him. Oh well, at least he made it to the final three.

I guess you can tell how much I love the show. Project Runway - a reason for living since December, 2005.