PR: April

D-R-E-S-S.

We realize April's so young she's practically fetal, but her mom looks like her sister.

No wonder she favors black so much. Childhood color trauma.


She was one of the few designers who seemed to grasp what the challenge was all about; not "memory bubbles" or "water," or "sunbonnets," but a true representation of her feelings regarding childhood and family. Sure, it's a bit of a cliche to get all dark and angsty when talking about your parents' divorce, but she's 21 years old. She's allowed to be a little cliched when working through her issues at that age.

Besides...

Model: Milana

She can haul out as many cliches as she wants to if this is the result.

Is this perfect? No, not by a long shot.

But it's designed (which is more than you can say about a lot of the entries this week) and it was a true representation both of her aesthetic and the feeling she was trying to convey.

At first we thought she used too little of the print, but looking at the pictures now, we changed our minds. She used just enough.

And we like the way she used it, running down the arm like that. It's eye-catching and unique.

It gets a little wonky and sloppy in the bodice, though.

We love the skirt as well. It's kind of funny how she made a cute little cocktail dress inspired by her parents' divorce.

But that's the whole point of challenges like these; to find inspiration from anywhere in your life and to turn that into a beautiful garment. If Little Lamb Andre could make a beautiful dress inspired by gutter water that people still refer to years later, then we propose that April's "divorce dress" is no less beautiful and no less inspired. We're not claiming she should have won it, especially because the execution was a little problematic and the design is a too similar to many of her other entries this season, but we remain impressed by her ability to mine her life and her feelings in order to produce something beautiful and interesting.

Tim Gunn's Workroom:


Extended Judging:

[Screencaps: projectrungay.blogspot.com - Video Credit: myLifetime.com - Photo Credit: Barbara Nitke/myLifetime.com]


Post a Comment

Labels: April Johnston, Project Runway, Project Runway Season 8, Project Runway Season 8 Episode 10