BPR Live Play-By-Play: Episode 5

It's a jungle here at Blogging Project Runway and we're bananas about welcoming a very special guest to provide our play-by-play coverage. Anthony Cady, Fashion Professor at FIT and our 'Ask the Fashion Prof' featured columnist will describe Episode 5 for everyone without Bravo and those west coasters who can't wait for the show to air. Comments under this post are for you to read and Anthony to post. If you have something to say, see the party post above!

From The Mailbox

Nick Verreos is casting season six in Chicago. Click here for details.

More Project Barbie. I love the at-home challenges - especially from young designers. Please send in your photos.

Christian Siriano chooses the "Ten fiercest Olympic Fashions" for NY Daily News.

Daniel Vosovic is among the judges for a new fashion blogging contest on MyItThings. Click here for more info. Thanks Yuli.

Thank you to Professor Anthony Cady for volunteering to helm the play-by-play tonight!

Ask The Fashion Professor

Dear Professor,

Is there a discernible difference between the clothing designed by straight male designers and gay male designers?

Can this be measured in any way?

Is there a prejudice toward or against one or the other in the Fashion Industry?

Just Wondering.

Click here for the answer.

Ask The Fashion Professor

Dear Professor,
Could you please explain "wearability"? It seems to have nothing to do with actually being able to wear an item - for example, in the last episode Jillian's dress, which was made of Twizzlers and looked very stiff and uncomfortable, was deemed wearable but Victorya's fabric dress was not.

Thank you!
Jill

Dear Jill,

Wearability - an odd term. It seems to pop up during the more unusual challenges when the materials the designers are using is non-traditional - candy, plant matter, odds and ends from a drug store...

I think you are originally correct - it means can it really be worn? Or is it torture to wear - but still looks great? That the judges are calling out the designers on the issue is interesting - a purely creative challenge but not creative to the point that you can avoid fit and some degree of function. I think it is an important consideration - did the designer have respect for the materials selected, use them well, and consider the body that they would ultimately hang from?

Note that when the models are walking out onto the runway in the finished product they may have had pained expressions, unusual posture or walk - something in the dress or the way it is constructed is rubbing them the wrong way - so to speak. I seem to remember judges in previous and similar challenges asking the model about the comfort of the dress while making an icky face...

I love these purely creative challenges. If you know some recent fashion history there are some really memorable - and important - totally unwearable dresses - Gaultier, McQueen, Issey Miyake, Hussein Chalayan... plastic, metal, wood, molded leather. I think of them more as sculpture. If you aren't familiar with the names look them up - very worthwhile.

Thanks for the question!

Anthony

Send your questions to Ask the Fashion Professor. Thank you Anthony!

Ask The Fashion Professor

Dear Professor Cady,

I'm intrigued to watch the designers draping on the mannequins. As a person trained in flat pattern (commercial) construction, I want to know more.

I own a couple of mannequins, but I've gained 20 pounds or so and they're adjusted to the max. What's the best way to alter the dress form to more closely match my pleasant but chubby shape? I was thinking of wrapping fleece around it, but that doesn't sound exact enough to achieve good fit.

Margaret

Dear Margaret,

Precision and accuracy are essential in patternmaking either on the form or in the flat - so your intuition about padding the form is correct - probably not the best way to proceed.

However you have some skills so - give it a shot and see what results you get. If things don't work out - trade up to a form that will adjust to your size - craigslist or eBay may work.

Thanks for the question and good luck!

A Very Happy New Year to fans of the site - I'm looking forward to an exciting, star studded, glamorous, bitchy and creative finale to season 4!

Best,

Anthony

BPRs, if you have a question for Anthony, please write to Ask the Fashion Professor.

Ask The Fashion Professor

Dear Professor Cady

Thank you for taking questions from Project Runway viewers. My question is this:

How realistic is it to expect designers to be able to make flawless samples of their designs? Is this common in the fashion world? Or, are there sample makers associated with most designers and design houses that perform the execution?

Secondly, what value is added to the competition through the designers on Project Runway executing their own designs rather than directing professional sample makers? I understand the need to know construction, etc. but, it seems like the show spends more time on sewing and time limits than on the actual design process.

The reason for my question is that I work in the world of product design (home decor and furniture) and never make samples myself. I present detailed plans and technical drawings to manufacturers who produce samples. I then critique the samples and have corrections/improvements made. Does the fashion world work in this manner?

Thanks again and happy holidays.

Best regards,
Wayne

Wayne!

Oh Boy! This is a very interesting series of questions!

First - I am a fan of the show - at its best it is highly entertaining. Is it an accurate vision of life as a fashion designer? Not really.

In as much as the competition requires the competitors to produce finished work quickly - they really must understand construction and how to make a finished garment.

And in the Real World? Assuming they return to a day job in a mid or large fashion business they will never touch a machine again. Nor will they have to produce anything within 24 hours. Is their knowledge of finishing and construction useful? Yes - very. Any design job will require being highly detailed when communicating with factories - typically Asian.

All fashion designers, houses have sample makers or use factories that provide the sample making.

I had a jet lagged neighbor at the house this past weekend, just back from an Italian trade show, who is a high level knitwear designer for a very big fashion brand - her design team was awaiting samples from Hong Kong. She hasn't sewed or knit a thing in 20 years since graduating from FIT. Which is not to say that her job isn't exciting, interesting, well paid...

The value behind the competitors scrambling to complete their designs? It makes it more entertaining. Having a young designer yelling into a phone at an agent in Hong Kong about samples that haven't arrived isn't entertaining. It also takes weeks. Tough to edit.

To be fair to the producers and editors, condensing a contrived fashion competition into 30 minutes, less product advertisements, must be difficult.

The description of your job in product design is pretty much identical to that of any fashion product be it a jacket, gown, bag or shoes. Again, obsessing about the minute details of a product ain't sexy.

Do I think there are ways the producers could liven up the program and make it relevant? Yes I do.

Thanks for the interesting questions,

Anthony / FIT

Ask The Fashion Professor

Today we have two questions from our readers - first, from Scotty:

Dear Professor,

What is the difference between pattern and texture in fabric? I know that, for example, corduroy is texture, but what would, say, herringbone be?

Thank you for your time!

Sincerely,
Scotty

And another from Ellen K:

Every time I hear 'silhouette' I think of shadow, which is not, I gather, what is meant in fashion terms. Is the silhouette how tightly the garment fits, viewed
from the front?
Thanks, again! you're really educating the non-fashionista crowd, here.
Best,
Ellen K.

Click here to read Professor Cady's responses.

Do you have a question for Anthony? Write to Ask the Fashion Professor.

Ask The Fashion Professor

Dear Fashion Professor,

My daughter is interested in fashion design. I already have a sewing machine. Can you recommend a couple of how-to books for beginners?

Sincerely,
Mom of Five

Dear Mom of Five,

At several Christmas parties that I managed to get invited to this has been a common question - How can I help my child, grandchild, niece/nephew, boyfriend, dog/cat learn design?

The simple answer is have them draw, read, think and sew.

You already have the machine. For those that don't have a machine, I'd suggest Amazon.com. They have a good selection of Brother machines (Wink!) with various features - read the comments carefully - both positive and negative.

A good starting book is Simply Sewing by Judy Sadler. The book introduces basic sewing techniques (hand and machine) and has directions for 12 items, including a makeup bag and a skirt made from old jeans. Also available thru Amazon.

And go from there. Helping a child or adult work thru a project can be a wonderful and rewarding experience for all involved .

Best,
Anthony

Ask The Fashion Professor

Hi Professor,

What does it mean when the judges/designers talk about 'cohesiveness' in a collection. For instance, one of the collections had similar colors(Sweet P, Steven, and Kit) but was called out as not being cohesive.

Thanks,
Ellen K

Hi Ellen,

Interesting question! Cohesiveness!

The judges were critical of some groups lack of cohesiveness - the 3 garments didn't look alike in some way. When designing a collection it is common to have some element that is consistent - a silhouette (slim), a fabric (tweed), a specific garment (pants), a trim (zippers), a color (navy), a trend (what I noted in brackets are some currrent ones that you'll see soon out in the real World).... Remember, the whole point is to sell product. So a line needs to show cohesion that a customer, editor, buyer, store will understand - and buy.

In terms of Project Runway - as much as people seem to feel group challenges are unfair - they are a very good predictor of success for a designer. A designer, no matter how talented, that can't work well with others and can't focus - McDonalds is hiring...

Makes good entertainment though!

Anthony

Ask The Fashion Professor

Dear Professor,

Is there something innately difficult in working with poly acetate / satin / lace? Why did Steven seem to dread it?

Wondering,
Derek

Dear Derek,

Here's the scoop on the whole poly acetate lace satin wedding dress thing and the dread Steven had of it.

It's a difficult fabric to run thru a machine - slippery and shifty. It is also difficult to make seams that are clean and flat. It wrinkles. It is hard to cleanly alter by hand. When pressed it smells toxic. It can get dirty easily. Put a whole bunch of it into a wedding dress and bead it and you have a mine-field.

Steven was smart to use as little of it as possible - he made that decision quickly - how he used the rest of his time is where the trouble was.

Best,

Anthony Cady / FIT

Do you have a question about something that you saw in one of the episodes? Or even a general sewing question?
Write to Ask the Fashion Professor.

Ask The Fashion Professor

Every once in a while we receive a technical question about garment construction or design that we have no idea how to answer - like this one:

dear laura,
here's a question i wish could be answered...either on project runway or on bpr.
how does a garment go from the "draping" stage to a pattern stage?
i gather from the last episode (jack vs rami) that there's a difference between draping and creating a pattern and just "tracing" something already made.
could we have a blow by blow explanation of the draping to pattern to garment process?
i think it would add to even more enjoyment of the show if we lay-people had more of a working knowledge of this obviously crucial skill.
thanks!

stacy w :-)

I thought this was something that we would all like to learn about so I asked BPR friend, Anthony Cady - Fashion Professor at FIT in New York City - if he would be willing to tackle it. Professor Cady graciously agreed.

Here is his response: