Project Runway Season 11 has begun!

Another year, another season. Project Runway Season 11 has begun, folks! They have decided to do the dreaded "teams season" this time around. All this talk of "this is how it is in the real world" kinda wears me out. Of course, designers are not doing it all on their own in the real world. Yet, here, they are not privy to seamstress' and such. So, yeah, I prefer the individual challenges over the team ones. Especially when it comes to judging. This will not be apparent this early on, but will as it progresses.

My intro may have seemed initially like I am down on the season. Actually, it is quite the opposite. I am excited! I feel like there are some pretty solid designers on this season. I will not even pretend like I am not rooting for the southerners again this season. Especially since one of them calls Nashville home! Amanda Valentine is from Nebraska, but now lives in Nashville, Tenn. Her work has been on television and on many musicians and artists. Yours truly had the chance to catch her showing at Nashville Fashion Week. You can read my review at the time. She tends to make fabric choices that are not my taste, but that makes them nonetheless wonderful. I will be cheering her on! Matthew Arthur is from New Orleans and seems to be the sweet guy in the group. He calls his aesthetic "street style with a casual edge".

Now, let's dig into episode one! Let's start with the fact that Michael Kors is no longer on the show. We now have Zac Posen. Okay, okay, I do have a bit of a crush on lil Zac! Adorable! Now that we have that out of the way...

The Top 3 are:

Daniel Esquivel was the winner this week! He made an impressively made suit, especially in the amount of time he was given. There was actually nothing at all wrong with his design (other than I am not a peplum fan), except that it is nothing new. It was on nearly every designer's runway show a few months ago. Richard Hallmarq made a very cool, urban dress this week. I think for a NYC challenge I would have picked this one as my winner. It is effortless (which, as Christian S. pointed out, is not easy) and still has a sophistication to it. Patricia Michaels rounded out the top 3. She, by far, had the most creative look and I liked it. I loved the artistry of the hand-painted fabric and I like the peek-a-boo of cobalt blue. My only issue was with the shape, which is just kinda boring. None of these three looks were wrongly in the top 3! 

 Then the bottom 3:

James Martinez made a very simple not-so-bad outfit. The top was the real issue. If you are making a simple pencil skirt, the top has to WOW people. He fell short! Cindy Marlatt had a nice dress with bad fabric choices. The silhouette was fine and very popular right now, but those fabrics. I mean, that checkered belt thing. YIKES! Then we have this "hot mess" of a thing by Emily Pollard. They kept going on about her "idea" but it came out as nothing but a craft project gone wrong! Needless to say we said good by to Emily this week.

 Our Southern Contestants:

Amanda Valentine is already being portrayed as the "bitchy" one on the show. I chalk that up to editing at this point. She was able to send down a very cute and chic look. The pants are interesting, without being tacky, and the top is simple, yet does the job. Matthew Arthur produced a very cutesy lil number. It was nice, and made well, but was nothing new or exciting.

I am looking forward to the rest of the season.... Stay tuned!




Photos by: Barbara Nitke for Lifetime