I love Project Runway and I love watching the creative talents of these designers who can whip up unbelievable creations in just one day. HOWEVER, this season I felt that they were pandering to ratings (and also were in selecting Ashley Tipton in Season 14 whose clothes were fashion backward, not forward) in order to appeal to a wider audience. The first mistake was selecting that cute little guy who wore children's clothes and designed for 5 year olds instead of for adults. Thank goddess they got rid of him right away, but why did they select him in the first place? For comic relief?
Then, the whole deal about the twins was simply for the ratings. Those cameras on on the designers all day long and you cannot convince me that if there was cheating going on, the camera men and whomever they were with did not see it or hear of it, given the fact that all the designers knew about it. I think some of the judges were genuinely shocked, although Heidi seemed somewhat disingenuous in her "shock". She is the Executive Producer and you can't tell me she wasn't aware of what was going on.
Further, they allowed this crazy situation where one twin, Shawn, made all the clothes for the other twin, Claire. This is an individual competition, so how can someone present clothing that someone else made? Other designers ask for someone else's advice, but they don't do their actual sewing for them! That should never, ever be allowed.
And, so much of the season was taken up with the antics of the twins. Again, since the camera crews were i n the workroom all the time, they (and thus everyone else) knew how disruptive it was to the other contestants, yet they did nothing about it.
I was disappointed in who won. After telling the Japonese designer that his collection wasn't cohesive and they almost knocked him out of the competition, he made some minor changes and now, all of a sudden, it was worthy of winning. Meanwhile they had given Brandon every indication that he would win and then finally didn't pick him because his clothes were too similar. Hey! They were too similar all season long! Although he is a creative designer, they let him ride as a "one trick pony" up to the end and then didn't pick him. They never forced him to do anything else differently and instead continued to praise him no matter what he did (and, by the way, coming from a cold climate, I cannot imagine anyone wearing a cropped top, along with sandals and no stockings when the temperature is zero!). And Tim Gunn came to his house and complemented him on using the same fabric for all of his collection and, again, do not, NOT, tell me that this was not communicated to anyone else, and then he didn't win because of his use of the same material for every look. Not fair to him !
I adored Margarita and think she makes very wearable clothes and I admire her aesthetic and latina spirit. But, her clothes were not high fashion.
And again, like the judges overlooked Kelli in Season 14 (a total outrage), they overlooked Ayana who should have won. She designed fashionable and innovative and WEARABLE clothing, while Katoro (I might have mispelled his name) sent a model down the runway with a huge black poof of crinoline on her stomach, almost hiding her face, looking like some weird pregnant lady going to give birth to a black crinoline. And even the nicest piece, the peach colored dress with many folds in front.... as lovely as it was, tell me, who but a size 0 can wear such a dress? Even the smallest tummy would look pregnant. The clothes he sent down the runway were not fashion forward, they were just awkward and unwearable by anyone.
So why did they pick him? Are the judges bored? Do they care who wins?