Gotta love Chloe

I just gotta congratulate Chloe Dao for winning Project Runway season 2. My sister did not believe in you, and called most of your final runway stuff fugly. But at least: 1. Your clothes fit the models and 2. They looked professionally done and finished.

Actually, before I saw the finale, when my sister was describing what all three finalists did at Olympus Fashion Week (and from my readings in a preview in the Seattle Times), I was thinking Santino might win, without looking at the fashions going down the runway.

When Daniel Vosivic’s collection came out, I was at first saddened by the tragedy of the “boob flaps” seen on some of his dresses. I’m sure that they could be ignored in the print media, but when the models were going down the runway, they were all I could stare at. That and the unfortunate little tumble that his last model suffered, because the bottom of the dress didn’t know where it wanted to go. I think his best and most sophisticated look was a kimono sweater look that suffered from an alienesque looking Asian model.

Santino, as much as I hate to like him, played it WAAAAYYYYYY too safe for the finale. It didn’t even look like a line created by him. I think that he wanted to win so bad that he stifled his creativity and just churned out pretty dresses that looks like half the things you can buy at Forever 21. Well, except for that leather corset with puffy sleeves fiasco. What was up with that? Actually, that was what I was expecting from Santino.

And then there’s Chloe. I do admit that there were some points of contention with some of her choices. She really overdid the shawl/jacket thing by doing too many, and then using the exact same fabric as the main dress. It got a little repetitive. But the fabrics that she used were great, and she did flex some creative muscle, creating outfits that fit the body, and had drama and personality. Granted, poofy sleeves aren’t for everyone (but I can really see many of those outfits on Allison Goldfrapp), but then again, neither is most of what haute couture puts out (not everyone can pull off Alexander McQueen or John Galliano). Her worst dress though was that 13th outfit, that was worked on by her and Diana. The baby doll thing is overdone, and adding pockets to it on top of that? Travesty! Pockets are meant for pants only; please do not put them on formal dresses. But then again, Debra Messing (Grace of Will & Grace) did like it. It’s very "Grace," a touch of ugly mixed with a splash of laziness by not having to carry a purse, since you have a pocket to hide your wallet in now.
Anyway, I’m glad a woman won the second season, as there is not enough female designers out there (Donatella Versace doesn’t count, as I still think she might have been a man before). And a minority Asian too! Her mother would be so proud. Well, after having no belief in her little “playing with fabric” phase when she was younger.

One last thing, could the models be any less appealing? For some strange reason, almost every model this season was either bony looking, didn’t know how to walk properly, or just generally looked like an alien on the verge of death. Tim Gunn was right when he described one model as looking like “an elongated marshmallow”. God I love Tim Gunn.

choitoy's Note: I finally got the pictures to show up, but they are a little humungoid! Again, I'll work on this tomorrow after a full night of sleep.