As I was saying...

I am having a really hard time with Christian winning Project Runway--but considering I've hated most of this season, I suppose it's just on par for the course that I hate who they chose as the winner. I feel this is the natural conclusion to a debate that has been raging since Chloe won Season 2 over Santino. Is this show entertainment, or is it actually trying to foster creativity among up and coming designers?

At the heart of the matter is the definition of what fashion should be. I firmly believe women's fashion can be split into two categories: Wearable and Wonderful. The Wearable clothes--designed by Chloe, Rami, Uli, even Laura B despite her plunging necklines--are designed with the female form in mind. These designers are creating clothes FOR the body, and are constantly thinking of that body when they decide what to create. They are not doing it for the 'show' but instead for the client. Wonderful clothes, however, evoke emotions from people. These are fantastic creations that are more reminiscent of Dali or Louie XVI than what you'd actually see on the street. Couture collections are not designed for women to necessarily wear them--in fact who could wear any couture on a daily basis? These lines are create for the 'art' of fashion and not for the practicality. Designers like Santino and Christian are most definitely in this category. You could tell that by the way Christian didn't seem to care how comfortable his shoes were on the model---all he cared about was how it looked. Couture designers are artists--they use a woman's body as their canvas, but have no qualms about changing that canvas to whatever shape (or lack there of) that will fit their vision.

I'm not making an argument against couture collections, nor am I trying to take away from Christian's obvious skill as an artist. The clothes he created were magnificent to watch walking down the runway and they most definitely had his 'fierce' attitude. I'm just making a point that the items that made his collection stand out--the crazy ones with all the poofs and feathers--are not in any means wearable, while the rest are some variation on a black jacket with skinny jean. I won't try to sway people toward Rami's collection and vision--what is the point after the fact--but I do think it's important to bring up the similarities between Season 2 and Season 4. Chloe won Season 2, and while I cheered for her and loved it that she won, she has been critiqued on the Web at least as a 'boring' winner. There was no 'fierceness' in her clothes, and I think the producers and judges realized that for Project Runway to succeed as entertainment they must award the couture, the flash and the fierce designers like Christian over talent like Rami's at the end of the day. c'est la vie. Until next season!