<p>Interesting fact - according to the blogging project runway site the dress Jessica Simpson was wearing at the finale was a Michael Kors dress - I thought at the time it was incredibly unflattering on her, had no idea it was his design.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure that during the critiques one of them mentioned Seth Aaron’s winning collection from last year, which was (I thought overly) bubbly and quite youth-oriented. Maybe they were afraid to lean in that direction twice in a row. But I don’t understand why Andy’s collection was so quickly dismissed. I was sure the final two would be Andy and Mondo, and that Gretchen was going to be the easy out.</p>
<p>Me too. I thought Andy’s collection was really pretty and classy looking. I was surprised when they seemed to almost dismiss him without much thought.</p>
<p>Poor Jessica Simpson. She didn’t seem to able to walk. Were her shoes too tight?</p>
<p>The thing is, they have had a wearable ready-to-wear collection win before - Chloe’s. Gretchen’s isn’t anywhere near the same quality.</p>
<p>Agree with most of the postings here, Mondo was seriously robbed. This is the same reason why I stopped watching American Idol years ago, when undeserving singers started winning out over the real talent. To make myself feel better I went on the Lifetime website and emailed them a piece of my mind, LOL!</p>
<p>I too would love to have some piece by Mondo. We’ll be hearing more from him, you watch and see!</p>
<p>I am still seething over Mondo’s loss. I am never going to buy a Marie Claire magazine and I might even change the entrance door I usually use at Macy’s so I don’t have to walk past the Michael Korr’s department.</p>
<p>I haven’t trusted Nina since she picked Grethen’s blue pantsuit bloomer thing for the billboard ad in Times Square. And someone please tell MK to lose the aviator sunglasses.</p>
<p>Isn’t Heidi the producer of the show? Maybe she will change it up a bit next season and get rid of those two.</p>
<p>2 or 3 times in the last couple of episodes Gretchen would tell Tim how she felt so close to him, yada, yada, yada… I am dying to know what Tim really thought of her.</p>
<p>I feel like a mother bear whose cub (Mondo) is being threatened and my instinct is to protect him.</p>
<p>I can’t wait until I can go buy Mondo’s clothes! My D loved them as well. I would buy that opening outfit purse for a Christmas present if I could find it! I also liked Andy’s collection a lot. I thought Gretchen’s clothes were hideous! Her “fabulous” jewelry looked like some items I had in my jewelry box back in the 70s. Wow - very fashion forward guys. </p>
<p>I have read several interviews with Mondo and have no doubt he will be just fine! He just needs to get that line out ASAP so we can all go shopping.</p>
<p>My H, who owns a business in the artistic line, told me Mondo has already made the $100,000 in sales. I’d like to think so.</p>
<p>I really have nothing against Gretchen. Yeah, she’s full of herself, but so are a lot of people. But Michael and Nina. Were they tripping?</p>
<p>I think there is definitely going to be some back lash for both of them.</p>
<p>As for Heidi, I think she had to bow to the fashion “experts.” Otherwise the other judges would have felt extraneous and it would have been like a private fiefdom. I give her a pass. She did all she could and even brought in Tim Gunn.</p>
<p>The judgements did seem very capricious all season. Leads me to believe that there are no fashion experts.</p>
<p>Mythmom, I agree that the judging was strange all season. From the first two Gretchen wins (Huh?) onward. That granny velvet outfit she made was uglier than a bad bathrobe, and they loved it. In the end I adored Andy’s line (tho would have liked more colors). Gretchen’s fabrics looked like the pants I made my husband throw away because they were sun bleached in some areas. All her fabric was the same brown shiny polyester looking stuff, except for the granny panties and the weird patent leather bit that looked like she peed on herself. The judges raved about those pants. Wha? </p>
<p>Only thing I can figure is they knew Mondo had made his name already on the show and wanted to give some props to poor G who had no money and used all her cookies to get to the show. </p>
<p>Emilio Sosa must be rolling in his woolies because Nina kindly explained to him that he lost last season because his clothes looked like a ready to wear collection not a show. Gretchen wins because her clothes look like a ready to wear collection. Wha?</p>
<p>The more I read these posts, the more I agree with my H. (YES he watches–as a costumer he has had friends participate)
They just wanted to shake thing up. Get the fans talking about the show for the next six months and give the show an air of unpredictability. Well played Heidi. Besides, Mondo stands to make more money as a talked about “looser” than a forgotten about “winner”.</p>
<p>My H watches, too. He also watches America’s Next Top Model. He’s a photographer. Although ANTM is a cheesier show, I agree with its wins.</p>
<p>Can someone who knows the fashion industry please explain the “granny panties?” Who wears these? They are completely ugly.</p>
<p>When April designed one, MK said it was a diaper.</p>
<p>They are not any better in knit.</p>
<p>I found the granny panty and blazer look very odd.</p>
<p>As for the patchwork pants – hm. Peed on herself might be a good description. I think the patchwork belonged on the outside, not the inside, but yes. Nina loved those pants. Huh?</p>
<p>Maybe shaking things up and scripted finales are an element, but the folks seemed pretty impassioned.</p>
<p>"Maybe shaking things up and scripted finales are an element, but the folks seemed pretty impassioned. "</p>
<p>to quote Jon Lovitz master thespian: " ACTING!!!"</p>
<p>Gretchen flunked the “inspiration” challenge completely. I would have thought that would keep her from the final 4. Yet she had an air of confidence throughout the entire season, as if she knew something no one else did. Either her confidence won over MK and Nina or she had a pre-scripted reason to be confident. I still can’t figure it out.</p>
<p>Maybe shaking things up and scripted finales are an element, but the folks seemed pretty impassioned.</p>
<p>My mom DVRs this, so I’ve managed to stay in tuned with the whole season. I was on a different level when my mom was watching the finale, but I could still hear her gasp in horror when Gretchen was announced winner. I’ll chime in.</p>
<p>What annoys me is that she was given a spot in the final three given her uninteresting designs during the challenges (the first three were good, but the rest were average at best). She and Michael C were given passes during the season due to how well they played on TV (when it came down to Gretchen vs. AJ and Michael C vs. Christopher, it was pretty obvious who was going home). Then, being on trend and making ready-to-wear clothing suddenly became super important to Michael and Nina (and as Project Rungay pointed out, there are plenty of fall collections coming out right now that are similar to Mondo’s style. Some of the pieces from Prada look like they were designed by Mondo).</p>
<p>It all seems so weird. But none of this matters now. Both of them have futures in fashion and will probably become successful.</p>
<p>Just read on Project Rungay that those in the tent (for the actual show) thought Gretchen was one of the decoy designers. LOL.</p>
<p>“It all seems so weird.”</p>
<p>Again, I do now think that we were played. Just a reminder that like most “reality” television, it is more heavily scripted and edited than we care to admit. But the drama and creativity is still fun and I will probably suckered into it next year as well.</p>
<p>Remember that ANTM contestant who went to Yale? They edited her comments so that she was always always always talking about Yale. The girl said that IRL, they asked her to talk about Yale in one interview, then they just added pieces of it every week.</p>
<p>I remember her. Yeah, it’s obvious that editing (and scripting perhaps) has a lot to do with what we see. </p>
<p>I <em>do</em> think it’s true that the young woman from Ivies (and other elite schools) have a harder time getting out of their own heads. I faced this when I started writing fiction. That little critic is not a friend.</p>
<p>
What’s a “decoy designer”? (I realize I am outing myself as a mere amateur viewer, lol.</p>