Project Runway, Season 4

Another season of Project Runway has come and gone.

My love affair with Project Runway began only recently, in October, one day while I was home sick. My choices of inevitable midday rerun marathon were Law and Order (the original) and Project Runway, Season 3. Had SVU or Criminal Intent been playing, things might have turned out differently. Luckily too, the episode that was playing was the haute couture challenge, and Jeffrey designed that amazing dress.

I've ignored fashion these 20-odd years because its never seemed to make sense; so idiocyncratic and drifting in the vagaries of its own hot air. 'Who wears that stuff?' I'd ask. 'That's not the point' was the reply, which of course didn't make any sense - it's clothing, what is the point if not to wear it?

Of course, Jeffrey's yellow- and red-plaid confection was the least 'wearable' of the lot (altho I totally would, and the fact that I look horrible in yellow be damned), but that's why it's fashion: it is not mere clothing, but a reinterpretation of clothing. What is clothing? Why do we wear it? Why do we cut and drape certain articles of clothing in certain ways? What does it mean to cover our bodies this way? How else can we design clothing? These were the questions I found myself asking while watching the model float down the runway in both Paris and New York.

In answering these questions, I had to think about more than simply the cloth creation; I also had to think about the verb to clothe. Merriam Webster's defininition:

1a: to cover with or as if with cloth
2: to express or enhance by suitably significant language
3: to endow especially with power or a quality

Clothing can be so much more than covering from the elements, or for modesty. Project Runway (via Saturn)'s goal is 'rethinking design'. True fashion does the same. It makes a statement, expresses a point of view. At its best it reinterprets our understanding of our bodies, and of their presentation to society.

Put another way, true fashion is the cubism of clothing.

I used to, if not actively dislike, at least disregard, Pablo Picasso and the Cubists. Their art just didn't make any sense (a bad habit, I know). But then a few years ago, I was reading a book on string theory or space-time continuums (possibly The Elegant Universe, included in this year's List). The author was trying to explain the concept of multiple dimensions, and how we would perceive them, if we were able to. To do so, he brought up Picasso, and the Cubists; explaining that they would take a familiar subject - fruit, a woman, a guitar - and reimagine it as if it was shifting through space and time, and then paint that shift onto the canvas. That clicked; suddenly, Picasso made sense (multi-dimensional space I was actually already on board with - I read Flatland in high school. What does it say about me that a beyond 3-d world is easy to understand, but one of the greates artists of the 20th century bewilders me?).

I had a similar 'ah ha!' moment on my couch that day in October 2007. True story - Picasso's Portrait of Dora Maar popped into my head while I was thinking about Jeffrey's dress. I'm not sure if it was the similarity in colors and patterns, the flirty coyness, the lighthearted celebration, or what, but the two are indelibly linked in my mind.

I still pay very little attention to fashion (no subscription to Vogue yet!), but I'm learning to appreciate it. It still seems incredibly arbitrary, and I really don't understand why so much of it is so expensive; I get fine attention to detail and only the highest quality goods, but when so much of it seems only to say 'I've got more money than you', I realize that I have far more important things to spend my time thinking about (like alleviating poverty. Maybe we could jobs handcrafting Prada bags to starving orphans in Bangladesh - is it still considered a sweatshop if only the finest Italian leather is used?)

I'm also disappointed by the lack of importance of men's fashion - and I know this is something that upsets Sean as well. Ancient history, and Greek and Roman sculptures, tell us that the male form was highly celebrated. Why not now? Is it only appreciated in its nude form? Surely there is a way to design clothing for men that makes them look like the heros and gods we all want them to be. Now it's the women who wear armor. (Not that I'm sure I'd really want to see this, and I know no guy friend of mine would consider wearing any of it, but I dare a designer to create a feminined outfit for men - if women are wearing menswear-inspired clothing, what would the reverse look like?)

But these concerns will probably not end my new-found interest in fashion. I love Project Runway too much. Each year the designers are better, Tim is always witty and understated, Heidi, gorgeous. My plan for surviving the 'auf' season (ha ha) is to track the designers I like, and save money to buy their designs. Of the three finalists, I'm most excited about Jillian Lewis. I love her clothes. They are so strong and innovative. She somehow turns menswear-inspired design (a hot trend) on its head; instead of simply imitating the boys, her designs use masculine cuts and styles to compliment and emphasize the wearer's femininity, perfect for today's woman. The judges worried that she doesn't yet have a distinctive identity yet, but I'm not sure I agree, or at least it doesn't bother me. I think her clothes will fit my many moods.

Christian is also an incredibly talented designer, and I'm happy with his win, but his is not my style. I appreciate his 'fierceness' just as I appreciated Jeffrey's punk sensibility, but I don't think that I have the laissez-faire attitude those looks require. Rami is only good for evening wear. His gowns are always beautifully crafted, but I disagree with the judges in thinking he can put together more than a one-note collection. Whenever he steps away from evening gowns, his designs lack real innovation. The weaving in his tops didn't impress me so much as remind me of those seatbelt bags, which is cool in an accessory, but eww in a shirt (sorry for the lack of links; Bravo plays the photo gallery in Flash, so saving individual pictures is difficult). As a final gripe, the colors he uses are INCREDIBLY hard to wear.

It will be interesting to see where all three of this year's finalists end up. Christian wants to start his own studio, and I know Jillian already has, but I'm not sure about Rami. I guess this is how Bravo gets people to read the blogs and watch videos the rest of the year.