January 12, 2005
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The Challenge: Design a wedding dress for a demanding and opinionated client: your model!
The challenge was, indeed, a challenge! Each designer interviewed his/her model to learn what she wanted in a wedding dress. The process was rife with discussion and debate, and posed several potent questions. What if my model has an aesthetic that I don't share? How much of me will be in the dress versus how much of my model? Are the judges evaluating my design or my success in giving my model what she wants? What if what my model wants is horrid? Answer: Make it work.
With two major exceptions — Austin and Nora — our designers blew me away with their results. I benefit from knowing the circumstances in which they were forced to work: incredibly daunting time constraints, an extremely ambitious challenge, and the quixotic (I'm being kind) disposition of our models. That context informs my assessment, and let me assure you: they rocked!
NOTE: There have been a fairly large number of comments on the Project Runway message board about the absence of sleeves among the designs in the last four weeks. It's true, and I expect more comments this week. As I wrote in the preamble to Tim's Take, Episode 3: "Every dress in this challenge is sleeveless. Mere coincidence? No. Time constraints. Our designers had to make it work within the prescribed timeframe. The runway won't wait!"
