Ripping the Collections: Leanne, Part 2

This would have to be the look we like the least. Dramatic, certainly but not particularly pretty or flattering. It's more of an intellectual piece than a practical look. Still, kudos to her for the shorts and jacket.

Gorge. This is a reworked bridesmaid dress and we may just like this more than the original version. The highly structured origami-like top serves as a counterpoint to the soft waves of the skirt. Love it.

Pretty, but we think it works better in theory than in practice. The pleats on the top go in the opposite direction from the pleats on the bottom and all of the pleats are blue on one side and white on the other. She went for a looser pleat on the bottom and we commend that but it looks too sloppy and limp.

Stunning. And completely noodle-free! That bust could be fitted better, though.

And we've said all that needs to be said about this dress. In our opinion, it was the best look out of all the PR runway shows this season as well as one of the most beautiful garments ever produced for the show.

In the end, Leanne gave us a collection that was both stunningly beautiful and highly creative. We simply don't agree with people when they say that she just does one kind of clothing. Pleating is a detail and it's not at all uncommon for designers to go through periods where they return to the same detail again and again. It's to her credit that she obviously worked very hard to make that detail different in every single garment. No two looks had the same pleating. The fact that she is the only designer this season to show such a wide range of looks also puts to rest any idea that she does only one look over and over again.

Watch the runway show:



[Photos: Getty Images - Video: YouTube/Taxiplasm]


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Ripping the Collections: Leanne, Part 1

Darlings, this is easily one of our all-time favorite Project Runway collections. We said we hadn't been this happy for a PR winner since Jay McCarroll won it in Season 1. There's a reason for that: like Jay's, this collection demonstrated an explosive, unique creativity that seemingly came out of nowhere; a pure expression of aesthetic.

She's been criticized for showing a boring collection that lacked differentiation between the pieces but because she's such an intellectual designer, you really have to get in there to look at things. Each piece was unique and different from the other pieces. The pleats were a unifying element as was the color scheme, but she clearly thought long and hard about each piece and made sure they were all different in their own way. Plus, she's the only designer out of the finalists to show such a wide range of pieces: skirts, tops, pants, shorts, dresses and jackets.

Let's start the show.

A great opening look. This is definitely one of our favorite looks from all of the shows combined. Sure, the top is a little floppy, but we lovelovelove that skirt. Some people have criticized her clothes for looking heavy and unwearable but looking at it up close that skirt looks light and airy and no less wearable than any other pleated skirt.

To us, these look like great separates that would look better separated. The wide hips on that skirt seem to be fighting with the boob waves on the top. We like both pieces but we're not crazy about both pieces together.

Gorgeous and unique. A lot of people seemed to dislike that top but we loved it, although it's a shame about the flap being in the wrong place. Love the high-waisted pants with the button detail too.

Love that top but this was the only skirt that we didn't like at all. All of the other skirts had pleats that looks natural and organic but these look tacked on. It's kind of an unflattering look.

Love it. She's been criticized for sending pieces down that looked too similar, but if you really look at them, you see that all of the pieces have a different pleat pattern. These are large and dramatic while others are smaller and more subtle. Unlike the previous skirt, these pleats looks organic. We can get behind the criticism that this skirt would be tough to wear, though.

Love the bustier and belt too.

[Photos: Getty Images]


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Ripping the Collections: Korto, Part 2

A very pretty, if somewhat simple dress. Love the pleating on the bodice. Not all that crazy about the fact that she needs both hands to walk in the dress but maybe that's just us.

This is one of our favorite looks in the collection. All the proportions are just right. Love the pin-tucking in the bodice and lovelove the collar treatment.

Another favorite look. This is absolutely gorgeous. We assumed at the time that this was her wedding dress. There's a lot going on with this look but the fact that it's all rendered in stark white plays down what could have been a little too much. The trim on the ruffles is kind of brilliant because it allows them to stand out in relief against all that whiteness without making them look overwhelming.

Gorgeous. Another look where the proportions are just right. We would have liked to see this color pop up a little more in the collection because first off, it's a beautiful, sophisticated shade but also it works well with the brilliant green while also serving as a counterpoint to it. Love that bodice and the treatment with the straps.

This one just didn't work for us. First, at this stage we think the green had become a little overwhelming. Second, that skirt was slit right up to her hoo-haa and third, we really don't like the little trick she did there with the bust. The jewelry is stunning, but using it that way gives her a major titscrepancy and looks like she put her arm in the wrong hole.

In the end, she put on a vibrant, exciting show that seemed to please the crowd. Evoking an ethnic feel without going over the top on ethnic elements is a difficult trick to pull off and she does it so well that we think she should continue to pursue that aesthetic in her work. Despite what we consider some uneven parts, it was an incredibly strong collection. It was just her bad luck that Leanne pulled out a stronger collection for the win. Under any other circumstances, she probably would have been the clear winner.

We also think she should pursue a jewelry collection because those pieces were drop-dead gorgeous. In fact, we asked her about it and this is what she had to say:

hey guys...it's your favorite pouty mouth designer...lol. my jewelry right now is custom made.. however with the growing response i most likely will start a line for the general public. i'll be sure to let you know when it's out......you guys be nice.....love ya.

korto
ps: i'm gonna send pics of me smiling to prove down that myth! lol

Who doesn't love her?

Watch the runway show:



[Photos: Getty Images - Video: YouTube/Taxiplasm]


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Ripping the Collections: Korto, Part 1

We honestly assumed that Korto was going to win based on the editing of the last episode and we're going to admit that we would have been a little upset if she had. We think her collection was beautiful and dramatic but we also felt it suffered from some problems that in our opinion disqualified her from the win. We felt it was second place, but a very close second place.

One area where she was head and shoulders above the others was in the styling. The tight buns and colorful fans, along with the absolutely gorgeous jewelry combined with the best music out of all the shows served as a perfect complement to her vibrant, colorful clothes.

Let's start the show.

This is a stunnngly beautiful dress in a gorgeous color. It's also perfectly fitted; look at the way it hugs her body like a second skin. It is, however, as basic as a design gets. There's nothing wrong with doing simple and sleek but when you've only got ten looks to show, we wonder if this was the best idea. Still, it was nice to see something so simple when a lot of her looks were more complicated.

Speaking of complicated...we don't like this dress at all. For one, the color looks terrible against Amanda's pale skin. She would have been better off putting this on a darker-skinned model. It's also terribly overworked. That fabric looks exhausted. To top it off, we're not crazy about the silhouette.

We absolutely love the top of this dress, but something goes wrong about halfway down. We're not sure if it's just a case of it being a bad fit on the model or what, but it gets weirdly loose right around her stomach and then very tight below that. Plus it's just too short. Love the sleeves and the pleating on the bust, though.

This look is absolutely gorgeous. We love the collar and the pleating at the top. Nothing else to add, really. Just a stunning, dramatic look.

We love this dress too. That's a beautiful print and it perfectly works in all the colors from the rest of the collection. At first we thought it felt like this model had wandered in from another show but the more we look at it, the more we think it fits with the rest of the looks. As we said, the colors sum up her entire collection and the silhouette and beading at the collar fit right in with the rest of them. It would have been nice to see this print show up somewhere else - like in a belt or sash - just to tie it in a little better.

[Photos: Getty Images]


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