PR Finale Collections: Christopher, Dmitry, Elena

I like Christopher’s second dress. 

forgot to mention that chartreuse jacket and skirt combo of Elena’s is actually very cute and surprisingly commercial

The only place Elena’s collection belongs is on Cirque de Soleil performers.

Elena’s garments are all kinds of crazy and cool, but that horrible yellow lipstick just distracts. I love wacky makeup as much as the next girl, but it makes it impossible to focus on the damn clothes.

Elena is serving up some updated Jay McCarroll realness. 

Serious Duckface.

It’s astounding what they can do given enough time. Just proves how crummy B-M/Lifetime are to cut the regular competition time down to nothing — the work and thus, the show, really suffer. 

I wasn’t looking forward to seeing a “Christopher” collection. This is what I expected . Nothing new or exciting or even anything that distinctive enough to identify it as his.

I would have liked to seen a few sportswear pieces from Dmitry. That’s were his talents lie. I think I like the dresses that he did quickly better than most of these. Although the white one has promise (I can’t see the front).

Elena’s is the best by far. She has used some of her ideas from the season and refined them very skillfully. I see the first one is a remake of the L and T dress with chiffon fabric for the under dress, very pretty. And the two coats look a bit like the Taking Heads one, from day to evening, and the one she did for the Fall Collection challenge. Both cleaned up and presented as they should have been with more time to rework. My pick for the win.

I’ve seen far too many 1970′s sci-fi movies to appreciate Elena’s.  Seriously, I expect to see really bad special effects and men in silly alien monster outfits right behind the models.  It is a cohesive collection, though, gotta give her that.  Hate the lipstick, but not as much as I hate the eyebrows on Dmitry’s models.  Fugly.

The goofy, matchy-matchy lipstick on Elena’s models is just a deal breaker for me. Dmitry–wow, what a disappointment. And Christopher’s shades of gray gown is stunning.

Christopher’s is a bit…slutty, no?  Lot of thigh, nipple, leather booty shorts etc.  

Dmitri’s doesn’t seem to have much cohesion.  You have drapery, tailored construction, sheers…the only thread that ties them all together is the color black. 

Elena’s tribute to Tron is pretty cool.  Well styled, highly cohesive, if a bit repetitive.  My only real complaint is a lack of diversity: where’s the gown?  A suit?  Maybe those pictures will be uploaded shortly and if so…well, I’m wrong.

Elena = TRON
Dmitry = the styling makes me question your taste level, but the dress with the sheer panel in the center is made for Zoe Saldana.
Christopher = most wearable, i like

I have no idea what Elena’s designs look like because of the crazypants lips. They’re all I see.

Okay elena’s? WTF? I get the point of view to a degree but totally boring and one note all the way. the designs on the dresses are virtually all the same. I say no way she is a finalist in my opinion.

I like Christophers and I also like Dimitry’s as a whole. Good job by those two. Christopher’s color palette is a little weird to me but overall i like the designs.

Elana + awesome! I hope she’s not a decoy!

These are the thoughts that I audibly said about the first two looks. And I’m at work.

“oh, wow!”
“OH, WOW!”
“She’s naked!”

Then I got to the eyebrows and lips in the last 2 and I’m just…holy shit, what the HELL?

Okay.  I scrolled so that I couldn’t see the heads on Dmitry’s girls, and there are some pretty things in there.

Never thought I’d say this but…Elena FTW. By far the best collection here.

Christopher has some nice pieces, though others are bland or derivative.

Dmitry has one or two bland pieces, but most are visually interesting. I wish he had fewer sheer fabrics, though, particularly over bellybuttons. Nothing says “tacky” like false modesty. Either go bare midriff or put that thing away. Sheesh.

Elena’s are visually powerful, but not original. “Costumey” is fine on the runway, but not when it says “I watched a lot of schlock SF in the late 70s and early 80s.”

All of you who are loving Elena’s must be under age 30, or never liked science fiction. There are some cool pieces, but the overall aesthetic could only be more “this is what people wear in the future!” if they were jumpsuits. It’s what happens when schlock TV and movies have no costume budget.

LOVE Elena’s collection – given what we’ve seen from her, I was not expecting anything near that strong. It’s very memorable and exciting, and it takes the “point of view” Elena has been struggling to express on the show and actually applies it in a way that is pleasant to look at. Perhaps Elena is one of those designers who is struggles in the Project Runway format, but can create strong work in the real world. Given her trajectory on the show right now though, I don’t see her making it far enough in the competition for this to be anything but a decoy. She’d have to have a huge improvement in the quality of her work. It’s a shame though if this is a decoy, since it’s my favorite of the bunch and I could see it winning if it were eligible.

Omg, Elena’s models they look like they have beaks. SO DISTRACTING.

I love the first four of Christopher’s, save for that leather skirt.   That gown is gorgeous, but I’d like the brown shirred blouse better if it wasn’t so sheer. 
Dimitri — I am so disappointed.  I like the 1st and 7th the best, but that manly eyebrow and slicked hair are downright scary — I thought the one model in the black trousers was a man at first!  And wow, he finally used a color — if a sickly yellow, but I was hoping for better.   I know the man can tailor, but these are all so hard!  The sheer top with the bandeau is hiddy.
Elena — The first thing I see is the lipstick -ugh!  But I do appreciate the color and structure of the garments.  They’re all cohesive to the unity of the collection,  although they all look like they’re off the back lot of the original Star Trek. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and I’m glad she broke away somewhat from her original boxy tops with endless quilted rows of fabric.  And thank you Elena for the pretty COLORS!  I suspect she is a finalist with these. Her attitude may be nasty, but these are better than I expected.

Elena’s in the final 3, isn’t she? And Dmitry’s styling… THE BROWS AGHHHHHH. Reminds me of Olivier.

Elena’s collection is the real surprise of the season.   Whether she makes it to the final or not, for me this group of clothes more than justifies my watching.   Her use of color is sharp and humorous, and she never loses sight of the human form with her color blocking.   There’s something about these outfits that brings to mind the costumes for Natalya Bondarchuk (by Nelli Fomina) in Tarkovsky’s Solaris.   They’re that beautiful.   It’s hard to choose any one that stands out because they work so well together, but I guess I like the purple and grey dress with the yellow straps best.

Dimitry’s collection is the biggest disappointment because he’s genuinely talented.   I expected nothing from Christopher and that’s what he delivered.

I never would have guessed that I would like anything Insane in the Ukraine created. But I do. 

What the???  Why are Dmitry’s models all made up to look like Leonid Brezhnev?  And Oh Lord, the Clown Mouths!  Can there even be an explanation? 

The styling of both Elena’s and Dmitry’s models is HORRIFIC. What is up with the heavy, masculine eyebrows on Dmitry’s girls? I don’t get how that is supposed to relate to his sleek, glam-with-a-bit-of-a-twist aesthetic. Maybe that’s his idea of a “twist”, but it looks really bad. 

Palu – nothing innovative, but current.  I could see some of these on the red carpet with someone like Kristen Stewart.  (But maybe I’m just making associations between lots of leg and bad hair and make up).
Dimitry – hideous proportions on some of these.  Lots of unnessary crap tacked on.
Elena – gives PR a bad name. It looks like over-eager and clueless art school project. Fail.

After reading many positive responses to the Shrieking Marmoset’s collection (here and on another site) I felt compelled to take a second and then a third look. Nope. Still not feeling it. I still think it’s as ugly as her personality. Comrade Snape really let us down here – judging by what he’s been turning out on the show, I was surprised that I like so few pieces here. I like Christopher’s gown, even though it’s not exactly innovative, and one or two other pieces, but overall I’m not impressed.

Christopher’s definitely a finalist just for being the season’s pet. But his collection…. it’s just so underwhelming. You can tell he has a sophistication in his aesthetic, but it’s undermined by how slutty and juvenile most of these designs are. And the ones that ARE good are just pretty and nothing special. So over this collection. If he wins, he’s going down in history with Gretchen and Anya.

Dmitry’s is so so so disappointing. His signature jersey dresses are so chic and impeccably made, but once he amps up the drama for Fashion Week, he shows some real taste issues. Feathers everywhere. Fringe everywhere. And when it’s not tacky and overdesigned, it’s frumpy and underdesigned.

Elena’s is ah-MAZING. I knew that once she escaped the stress of team challenges and one-day looks she would truly shine. Still, looking at her portfolio, this collection is completely unexpected. Simple, adorable, chic, sellable and with a clear point of view. And who knew that Elena had an eye for color?! Wow! A lot of these designs remind me of her L&T dress. Obviously she’s learned that she’s able to tone things down and still have them look good. The lipstick only works when it doesn’t blend into their skin tone, but it’s a cool high-fashion touch.

Elena’s collection is reminscent of Ben Chmura’s finale decoy collection.

every piece of this stuff is better than last seasons stuff. considerably more professional, down to whatever rings around the bottom. still, though. still, here:

elena’s work is okay but it’s not good enough to offset the lipstick–which brings it down by, i dunno, five thousand percent. she really shouldve left it out. cos her work is good. but not so good that something ruinous wouldnt ruin its reception. & the lipstick just throws it off, concentrates one’s focus badly. the second & the fourth outfits have enough charm & panache to work against whats working against her work but the rest of it, oh, it’s a battle.

christopher hairboy palu’s stuff is better than i’d expected. still, it’s mostly high end department store clothes–like the store brand somewhere between nordstrom & barneys–w/ a bit of pretension.

i am very very saddened by dmitry’s. his final dress here is, of course, totally smashing but all of the others are forgettable. the one a few pics up from the final that echos the final, eh, it’s just what i mean. it’s just not quite there. i’d say it was a misatch between the dress & the model if the whole rest of the collection werent giving off the same low level vibes. damn. he was my pick to win too.

actually i am pretty sad anyway. crazyspouse died. he really did. i didnt believe it would happen–he was so ridiculously sturdy–but, yeah. yeah.

Christopher: Love the gown and the blue trench. The rest is pure shit.
Dmitry: Killed it! I LOATHE the heavy eyebrows, however. 
Elena: I wanted to hate her collection because she’s SUCH a shrew, but man, she brought it. This is really cool. I’m thinking she’s got a brilliant future as a sportswear designer, which is weird because I initially thought of her as a designer for cyborgs. 

Not blown away with anyone’s designs.  Hopefully the actual show will be better.

Elana looks like she watched to much Lost in Space and is recreating the costumes from the TV show.

Christopher’s fourth look is LITERALLY a bandage dress.

I don’t know what I find more terrifying, the lipstick on Elena’s models or the eyebrows on Dmitri’s!
I’m rather impressed with everything here, though. No train wrecks. I’m really rooting for Dmitri but I have to say, I think Elena nailed it here!

Melissa for the win; the others collection are SO bad. Why?????

I love Elena’s collection, as much as it pains me to say. Say what you will in reference to styling, color scheme, the sci-fi feel, etc., but it is a runway show (emphasis on SHOW). There needs to be a sense of showmanship and artistic expression while still leaving room for the pieces to mentally scaled down or edited, and that is 100% accomplished.

Elena’s collection looks just like her, bat shit crazy.

Christopher had a nice gown.  Nothing too original, but very nice. Elena’s seems one-trick pony to me.  What was the funny expression they used? Wierd shaped color blocking. Hideous styling with the yellow lips and Frida brows.

Elina’s collection is the only one that looks cohesive with a definite POV.

I love Dimitri’s work.  Elena’s is too similar, skeletal, whatever.   Christopher’s work is consistently nice.   Although one of those leather skirts is kinda not right. 

Are there clothes in this post? All I can see are LIPS and BROWS.

Dmitry & Elena’s collections both make a lot of sense in light of the print challenge now. The colour scheme is really close to Elena’s print, while Dmitry has repeatedly used that laser cutout effect here. I’m so curious as to whether either of the made the finale…Dmitry may have based on the fact he stretched himself and showed more separates here than he has on the show to date.

Elena I’m torn on. That styling looks like it should have been previewed and torn apart by the judges, but we all can’t be that lucky I guess – perhaps she was one of the unfortunate ones to proceed to fashion week without judging critiques. Also a lot of her outfits look askew / imbalanced, upon a second viewing.  That kind of symmetry demands, well, symmetry.

I wouldn’t necessarily wear Elena’s clothing, but she certainly has a perspective and sees fashion in a specific way. I think she has potential to establish herself in the fashion industry, if only Project Runway didn’t show how difficult she can be to work with when she’s stressed

I think that, for someone who is highly creative, passionate, and a bit insecure, Elena behaved incredibly well under the circumstances: 3-4 hours of sleep per night, 20 hours of work per day, no access to one’s personal inspirations such as music or gardening, cut off from all of one’s friends and family, everyone around you (except Tim) a threat, and too little time in each challenge (really, only 12 hours of actual design and execution) to perform quality work. I don’t think the industry should expect PR designers to behave the same way in real life that they did while being abused (and perhaps cheated) by the PR production team.

Elena was quite harsh in team challenges, but she wasn’t gratuitously insulting — she was often just being too blunt (under stress and exhaustion) about stating the truth.

As for her collection, I think it isn’t quite as cohesive as it is repetitive. It’s more daring and thematic than the other collections, but it repeats several tops with minor variations. And for old-timers like me, it is reminiscent of an old sci-fi TV show, Space:1999. Futuristic, yes — but futuristic from the perspective of 1975. The repetition of similar tops and sheer leg stripes creates the effect of a line of uniforms, not a high-fashion line. However, if in fact Elena was inspired by something like Space:1999, she did update the look; she made it newer, colorful and, at times, a bit sexy. But also flat: the silhouettes tend to be rather boxy. 

I would have liked to have seen edgier silhouettes and colors, shapelier shoulders and hips, and a variety of different fabrics in the tops.

We all know Elena can be edgier than this collection suggests.

Still, I agree it’s one of the better presentations this season.