I'm still in awe of the fashion show. Stunning ...

Wendy actually impressed me, but she definitely needed more focus. Totally needed more focus on her collection. But I have to say this ... she became more human instead of a villan when her daughter was involved.

Kara's collection floored me. Wow. The shoe incident, for some unknown reason, bothered me. I wanted to smack her when she thought it wasn't a big deal with her shoes. It is! You signed a contract!! Grr!! However, I think Kara will go far. She doesn't need Banana Republic at all. I cannot wait to see her line out in stores. I do wonder what she would do for a mens' line.

Jay ... okay, I absolutely LOVED everything with his collection. The quilting on the jacket put a stamp that he should win. Seeing that he grew up in a small town just like mine gave me a little confidence boost I've been needing for quite some time. His win made smile. He is going to go far!

I think the ending was much better than the first Survivor.

[ February 24, 2005, 08:58 AM: Message edited by: Allen ]

Yay for Jay! I'm glad I was wrong with my prediction.

I thought Wendy's line was inconsistent, but there were some really good things in there. Her piece that Melissa modelled was awesome.

Kara Saun was a surprise. For someone who's been billed as "the professional", she sure acted like an immature catty bitch, didn't she? I lost most of my respect for her watching the way she interacted with Wendy - and the shoe fiasco. What the hell was she trying to pull there? C'mon, like anyone would believe that custom-designed shoes would cost $15. And refusing to talk to Wendy was just childish - I thought Jay handled himself very well on that account. He told Wendy what he didn't like and why, and moved on from there. Kara Saun just refused to talk to her until it blew up into a big fight - reminds me of junior high.

As for Kara Saun's collection, I agreed with the judges' analysis that it was well tailored, but this was about design, not who could make their clothes fit the best. I hated the first piece (that red leather/brown fur thing), and there were several others that just looked like crap. Boring.

Jay was different, unusual, and has his own style. He deserved to win. I love the way he handles setbacks - he can freak out a little, but never has a meltdown and totally loses it. I wasn't excited about his collection, but I agreed with the judges' that he is a better designer than the other two.

If they had to choose between the 3 finalists strictly based on the final piece as they were all standing on the runway, I think Wendy would've won. Melissa looked fabulous in that dress. Too bad she won't get that fashion shoot instead of Julia.

Well the person with the best collection won! Go Jay. His use of quilting and embroidery with a modern twist was truly unique.

I thought Kara Sauns collection was the worst. Sure the clothes were tailored well, but what was original about them? Many of her gowns had the exact same cut to them. I also thought her white dress looked like a Gucci knock off, Tom Ford should sue. I wonder if the shoe fiasco played into the judges decision for Kara's loss to Jay?

Wendy's collection had a few standout pieces but nothing pulled the collection together. It looked like a few dresses she had in the closet were thrown on models for the catwalk.

If I had to pick one design that was the best. It would be Wendy's leather belt buckle corset dress. That dress was Fierce! Plus Melissa worked that dress like nobodys business! You go girl!

I'm glad people seem to like Melissa as much as I did. I liked her from episode 1, and if you go back to the beginning, she completely sold every outfit she modeled during the show. She's stunning. I'm sure that Project Runway is really going to give her a big career boost too.

Of all 3 collections, I agree that Wendy's corset dress was the single most interesting design. But Jay's collection was -- by far -- the best overall. He seemed to be the only one who really got it. I mean, they were looking for the next great designer, not the next great copier. I was disappointed in Kara Saun's collection overall, if only because I maybe expected her to win.

Wow first time I think everyone is seeing the same thing I did. Jay absolutely deserved to win.
My take on the three collections.

Wendy- took it for what it was. She was in way over her head( I loved after the initial meeting when it became obvious she hadn't even considered accessories or hair and make-up)
But she was the long shot, she had nothing to lose and everything to gain. She will get tons of business from DC for her work. So from her standpoint she won! I warmed up to Wendy during the final. I loved when she called out Kara Saun.

Jay- He just is so cool to me. I loved his reaction when Wendy and Kara Saun got into in the hallway and he says. If they hit each other do I automatically win? And the cigarette break with Wendy's mother on the terrace! Classic.
He put great effort and thought into his collection and won. He'll do great!

Kara Saun- Poor Poor Kara Saun- I felt like I was watching Invasion of the Body Snatcher's. She was a totally different person. She had everything to lose and she did.
KS had been one of my favorites during the series. She always worked great under pressure and her talent speaks for itself. I think the 5 months off hurt her. She put herself in a position where she had to win! The shoe debacle killed it for her. I'll bet there was talk amoung the producers of cutting her out. The budget was $6,000. Her shoes alone would have cost that. But I was gonna be upset if she won. Anyone else notice that every long dress was tripping the models like crazy! Not just the first one every floor length dress.

I'm really sad we didn't get to see Austin's show. You would think someone would show it.

The only negative about Jay winning is the worst model gets the spread in Elle. I hated Julia from the beginning. I can promise you if she pulls that no show routine with real designers she is finished. There are a million girls they can use. I wonder if Jay is really superstitious and that's why he kept using her?

Have they put any info out on a second season? How cool would it be to do a men's line next time. Then we have the same drama with designers along with eye candy of male models!

The have Austin's collection under the bonus video section on the website.

Austin's Collection

Yay for Jay. He really did deserve to win. And Wendy got really tiresome over the life of the series, so I can't blame Kara for not wanting to interact with her.

I had been rooting for Kara, since she seemed like she had been working in the trenches of the fashion industry for a while. But Jay's designs were a bit more original, and his use of knits was pretty cool. Jay seems like he should have his own line, whereas Kara seems like a good fit within an existing fashion firm. Michael Kors was right about her designs looking very Gucci. Since she does it so well, she might as well work for Gucci, or Chloe, or Louis Vuitton. Since she really understands fit, and seems beter adept at transforming an idea than coming up with a new one.

Oh poor Austin. He should have named that collection, Oklahoma- The Runway! He had everything from Paul Revere to Miss Kitty from Gunsmoke.
I think it sucked they only gave him a month.
I just wonder if he would have done any different with more time?

I liked Austin's collection, especially given the fact he had little time to complete it. It wouldn't have beaten Jay or Kara Saun's but it was certainly better than Wendy's misguided mess.

And if Austin was the one who picked the music, I have to say it was flawless.

Austin needs his own Bravo show. I could probably just sit for an hour each week and watch him sew. He's that entertaining to me. Actually I would like Bravo to follow Austin, Kara Saun and Jay for the next year with behind the scenes footage of them moving on in their careers.

With the glut of reality shows on TV now, it's rare to find such interesting people as the ones on this season of Project Runway. Whoever did the casting did a fantastic job.

I'm not a fan of reality shows, but I did watch most of last night and snipets over the past few months. What attracted me to this reality show is that the participants had to actually possess some talent rather than just fill a scripted part like they obviously do on other reality shows.

And I'm no expert on women's fashion, so I don't know about the clothes, but heck they all looked nice and creative to me. I buy my dress shirts at Mervyn's for $14.99, so I'm very impressed with not only their creativity but the actual work they did.

Got a kick out of seeing the Queer Eye guys and James Lipton in the audience. Bravo was doing some cross-pollenation.

Parker Posey! What a riot. I've loved every one of her performances. But what was this act last night? Waving to the crowd like Queen Elizabeth and hiding behind sunglasses and a massive scarf like Jackie O? hahahhaa And then when the judges were chatting, it was edited to look like she didn't have anything to add.

As another poster said, they need to do another season for men's fashions. And seems like an obvious combo to put Project Runway and Manhunt together!!!!!

I agree that Wendy's last dress was the best piece of the three collections. But, Jay's was overall the most interesting, inspired and best put together.

I was rooting for Kara Saun until the shoe incident. I thought she should have been disqualified on the spot, or, at best, had her models go out without shoes. That showed more about her lack if integrity than anything Wendy ever did on the show.

Jay's collection was very original and Im not dissapointed that he won. Some of his pieces were brilliant, but somehow he puts it together so that it messes up the whole look. It annoyed me. You can see glimpses of something great, but the whole look was overly layered and you couldn't really make out the individual pieces.


Kara had the best balance of accessibility and design. I see her as being the most successful designer.
I still stand by Kara as the best designer even if the final collection wasn't all I'd hope. I didn't mind her going crazy because I think psycho Wendy could do that to anyone. Especially after the contestants had time off to review the tapes of the show. The shoes thing kind of annoyed me. Kara was pretty normal up to that point.

Wendy's collection was just bad. What the hell was that? I really couldnt understand where she was going. It went from 50s Chanel to cheesy Forever 21 and then to sexy Yves Saint Laurent.

I want to see a project menswear.

[ February 25, 2005, 03:05 AM: Message edited by: savvy ]

For those with Sirius satellite radio, Jay is currently being interviewed on OutQ right now!

So, what did Jay say?

I have never watched this show but I read about the winner and would be remiss if I didn't mention that Jay is from Pennsylvania and went to college in Philadelphia, so, HA! wink

Yes, but he's 27 and lives in a little podunk town with his parents. His sister was hoping he'd win so he would get a job. Not exactly a shining example of Pennsylvanian moxie.
But I do love him and am very happy he won. Too bad the Eagles couldn't do the same. wink



[ February 25, 2005, 04:05 PM: Message edited by: Weaselman ]

I only caught the final half hour of Jay on Sirius OutQ today, and I think he was on for the whole hour.

He was his usual hilarious self, but even better because he was completely uncensored. He spoke about the show, the designers and took calls from several callers. He asked people to come see his web site ( jaymccarroll.com ) and he said he'd been getting lots of nude photos of men sent to him. He was like, "And keep 'em comin', boys!"

One caller asked what kind of men he liked, and he said, "Well, it always depends on cock size." He got a couple of weird calls... one from a guy who asked, "Will you be designing clothes for the gay man?" Jay responded with, "What exactly are gay men's clothes? Do you have different apparatus than other men?" The caller was clueless and then repeated his question. Jay said (and I'm paraphrasing), "Geez, this kind of %*&!@ always bugs me. Why do gay men want different types of clothes than straight men? It's not like I design clothes for the Asian skateboarder nerd or the paraplegic African-American nursing student. I don't get THAT specific." He had no time for stupid callers... and it was very refreshing. He was hilarious and incredibly interesting. He said that he does not speak with or want to have any contact with 3 people from the show (Wendy, Vanessa and Daniel). He said he'd just seen Robert yesterday and that he was at Austin's for a party a few days ago, and that he talks to Nora daily, and is in touch with Kara Saun and Alexandra a lot.

Someone asked him about George W. Bush and Jay said he hated him. He was asked what he would design for Bush, and Jay said he would NEVER design anything for him. A caller asked what niche he thought Wendy filled, and he said he thought Wendy would do very well in designing dresses for boring, Republican women. I was literally laughing out loud. He was very real.

Someone asked a question about Heidi Klum and implied that she's dumb. Jay nipped that in the bud real quick and defended Heidi, which I thought was nice. He said Heidi was great.

He was talking about his handbags for sale on the bravo web site and said he makes each one by hand. He goes, "And I'm like 1,000 behind, so if you're ordering now, be prepared to get it in a year."

He's so incredibly down to earth. It was a great interview.

[ February 25, 2005, 11:39 PM: Message edited by: TheOtherFSU ]

Both Austin & Jay have wonderful interviews on the Advocate.com.

Great articles by both of them!!

Austin's ... and Jay's interviews.

How did I miss this thread? I think Project Runway shows on the Life Channel in Canada (I guess it's in re-runs because they're down to the final 4 now). I have no idea when it's on, I only catch it when flipping channels. I like Kara (she's a good designer and a nice person) and Jay (who's whacky and fun) and Austin (for his interesting hair and makeup )

[ May 30, 2005, 11:15 AM: Message edited by: canmark ]