I was DEVASTATED by this decision. Not joking. I was up until 1:00am reeling in shock! Over a reality tv show!
For the past 6 seasons I have, without fail, been able to predict the winner. This should have been the easiest prediction yet! To quote Tim, what crack are these judges smoking?!
For the first time I was seeing a designer that creates real fashion--not just clothes--that women can still relate to. God help us all when Heidi becomes the voice of reason, but she was absolutely right: IT'S A RUNWAY SHOW. You're not supposed to wear the clothes as-is. They're called "separates" for a reason. Nina and MK were behaving as though they have never been to a fashion show in their lives.
On that note I'd love to see Nina prancing around in Gretchen's booty shorts and MIchael Jackson getup. She apparently finds them much more wearable and age appropriate. Let's have her put her money where her mouth is.
Mondo's collection was ABSOLUTELY on trend too. The colors he used were spot on for Spring 2011 and he incorporated several trends like flared pants, just re-working them Mondo style. For Gretchen it's just a happy coincidence that her "lady of the canyon" aesthetic happens to be hip right now, but it's living on borrowed time.
It was just insulting that Nina dismissed him Seth Aaron's cousin. All they had in common was a taste for graphic prints.
What this final judgment was really about:
-Mondo stuck to his guns and didn't listen to Nina and Michael Kors about the (fabulous) polkadot dress and styling. Gretchen listened and therefore stroked their egos. Tim was the one who encouraged him to use that dress, instead of the dull black one he made to suit the judges, and I trust Tim's judgment by a mile.
-Michael Kors sees himself in Gretchen. His collection this year definitely echoed her aesthetic. Put Betsey Johnson in as a judge and the results would have been very different. I don't even agree that she does "classic American sportswear" though. She appeals to a narrow subset of the population that was once a hippie but has now settled in the southwest.
To add insult to injury, Nina described Gretchen as the second coming of Christian Siriano. What the...? Christian deserves better. And talk about OTT--does she even remember his collection?
Nina and Michael have totally lost credibility as far as I'm concerned. Everything they ever criticized in the past--too old, too dull, lacking showmanship, too commercial, not enough color, etc--suddenly became worthy of a win when it came from their beloved Gretchen, who singlehandedely brought back PR's ratings with her crazy antics. They didn't find Gretchen's hideous Renaissance Fair fortune teller schmatta "costumey," but they found Mondo's exuberant bubble dress to be too much. What a joke.
To be fair I didn't find Gretchen's collection as awful as everyone else. It's certainly about as far from my personal taste as can be, but it was on trend and there were some nice pieces. Still, this is Project Runway! The quest to find the next great American designer! Does anyone remember last season when they criticized Emilio for making a line instead of a collection? What happened to that? The hypocrisy in every statement they made last night was astonishing. Do they think we're THAT stupid?
They didn't show what ultimately swayed Heidi and Jessica S. I'm curious to know because I have a feeling it was something other than design.
Whatever. I feel sorry for Gretchen in a way. She won, the prize but things don't bode well for her long term. This decision has left such a bad taste in the mouths of the viewers that people are naturally going to react to her in a hostile way, even if her clothes aren't bad. Mondo, OTOH, will easily get funding elsewhere (if he hasn't already) and I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of success from him. I just wanted that success to happen now, because I would absolutely save my pennies and buy his clothes NOW. That skull bag? I wanted to rip it out of the model's hand.
Even my dad, who has no interest in fashion or in PR, and has no knowledge of anything that happened prior to tonight said "What is wrong with those cranky old people (Nina and Michael)?" EVEN MY DAD was pulling for Mondo! That says volumes.
