Will "Making the Cut" make the cut? "Project Runway" was a trailblazer when it debuted on Bravo in 2004. There have been many "seasons" and many iterations, most recently with Karli Kloss and Christian Siriano as host and mentor respectively.
Yesterday the originals, Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn, debuted "Making the Cut" on Amazon Prime, a glammed-up version of the original with a million dollar prize and 12 contestants who have established lines but want Worldwide Brand Recognition.
It all seems a bit desperate, with Heidi barely able to contain herself at the thought of that million and Tim having apoplexy over being in Paris (and using the word titillating in not exactly the right way). The big get is the viewer's ability to purchase the winning designer's look immediately after the show.
This was tried once before on one of the other "Runways" with not much success. The winning look was able to be ordered right after the show, with a wait time of 6-8 weeks for delivery. In other words, "slow fashion." No one wants to wait two months for anything unless it's your wedding gown, so it was no surprise that disappeared early on in the run of the season.
Back to "Making the Cut". The designers were challenged to create two looks for a fashion show—a runway, or extreme, version of their style and an aspirational, or saleable, one. The presentation was staged at night at the Eiffel Tower. That was such a small part of the episode you barely had a chance to look at the clothes.
Instead of judges examining their favorites and least favorites (so at least we could see them again), Heidi separately called four contestants to the judge's table to be grilled by her and have their fates decided by the panel. "Did you change your minds?", she asked the judges after her inquisition. Everyone always said "no". I'm surprised they didn't use the old gladiatorial thumbs-up, thumbs-down. One designer was sent home, one given a warning, one praised for her good work, one crowned the winner (but no laurel leaves).
The winner, Esther Perbandt from Germany, found the seamstress hadn't put her dress together correctly. That's another thing; designers don't actually sew because most of them use pattern makers and seamstresses in their businesses (yet another reason to unleash a horde of completely untrained fashion designers onto the world). She was forced to create a new dress in the two hours left, and this was the winner.
Actually it's a nice dress. I could see this going to a party or out to a special dinner. It looks a bit Grecian or Empire, flattering and dramatic. I was curious enough to go on the Amazon website, where I understood it would be available immediately.
I could see if I were watching a few days or weeks following the program's debut. It wasn't even midnight, and Amazon's site told me this:
What was the point? Did they not anticipate the volume of orders (which I kind of doubt there were)? Did they run into a coronavirus problem importing from China? Possible. There was no price listed, but a bit of further investigation revealed it was $64.90. I've had enough bad luck ordering from those Chinese fashion sites to imagine the quality of the fabric/how well this is made for that price. I also wonder if any designer hoping to become the next global brand was thinking "Forever 21" rather than "Armani."
So I'm on the fence about this version. Or maybe the clothesline—hanging on, but I don't know for how long.
No comments:
Post a Comment