South narrowly averts going ‘too slutty’
Andy South's little black dress, inspired by a visit to Central Park, kept him in the competition, but the judges warned him not to rely too heavily on his warrior-woman designs.
Andy South's little black dress, inspired by a visit to Central Park, kept him in the competition, but the judges warned him not to rely too heavily on his warrior-woman designs.
This close to the end, Andy South couldn’t be sent home, could he? We’ll find out who’s in the finale in Episode 13 of "Project Runway" tonight.
Last week’s competition had New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announcing the city would be the designers’ inspiration for the final challenge of the season.
That’s a lot of inspiration, and while others chose the Brooklyn Bridge, the Lower East Side and the Statue of Liberty, South chose the organic beauty of Central Park. Then he proceeded to create an LBD (little black dress) that had little to do with the park and everything to do with a sexy Asian woman he spotted there.
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The consensus of the other designers was that he’d created something like a qipao for a prostitute. Oops! The show’s co-host and designers’ mentor, Tim Gunn, warned him to "beware of going too slutty."
But South was determined to stick with his plan, and toned down the overt sexuality with his styling, which worked. On the runway, it looked more edgy than trashy.
Even so, it caused the judges to worry that he had brought out the urban warrior woman cliche too many times, and they wondered whether he might be stuck in that mode. It’s easy to fall back on sexy or pretty designs, which are within most consumers’ comfort zones, but that is not what is sought in a contest of this nature. The world of higher fashion seeks conceptual, intelligent design, which often takes years of study, immersion in art and design history, or innate talent or taste, to achieve.
In the end, it was a no-brainer to send Mondo Guerra on to the finale. His graphic lines clearly reflected his Brooklyn Bridge inspiration, without going too literal. Michael Costello and Gretchen Jones also moved on, and April Johnston was out for bringing out her same old black, cutout shtick too many times.
This brings South to the same point as fellow Honolulu Community College alumnus Jay Sario last season, into the Top 4. Can he go beyond that?
Tonight, we may even get to see a bit of Hawaii when Tim Gunn pays a house call on South.
