I've Always Been Here, But I'm No Longer Invisible

             It feels like it was just yesterday that I was rooting for Patricia Michaels a.k.a. Waterlily to win season eleven of Project Runway. I was unaware that there are two seasons per year, but it was cool to tune into Lifetime and get “introduced” to a new group of designers with whom I’ll be attempting to spend my Thursday nights with.

            I feel that Bunim/Murray did a great job casting this season because most of the contestants have really interesting backgrounds. To throw out some of the examples that stood out the most to me, there’s a veteran, a guy with a hearing disability (who actually requires an interpreter), a costume designer for Broadway shows, a guy who makes his clothing out of recycled materials, lots of foreigners, and Kate from season eleven. Also, it seems like there will be lots of drama between some of the designers, which is great, because that makes for great reality television. There are two rivals from Milwaukee, Helen from Jersey seems to not like Kate at all, and Sandro seems to have an anger issue. Based on the trailers, I can tell it will be crazy on that aspect.

            Some of the changes that were made are good for spicing up the show. The designers will now have to manage their challenge budgets for the entire season and will be using a Gobank account. About time for an upgrade from cash to a credit card!

It’s a clever idea that Tim Gunn now gets to sit with the panel during the runway show, but more importantly that he can exercise a save; however, he can only use this privilege once. (The same tactic is used on Idol). In the words of Tim, “I’ve always been here, but I’m no longer invisible.”

Also, an “anonymous” runway show adds excitement, but even cooler for the contestants, the winner of this season will take home the biggest prize in Project Runway history. A package worth over half a million dollars consisting of $150,000 dollars in cash, $50,000 dollars on technology, a fashion spread on Marie Claire magazine, the all-new 2014 Lexus IS 350, a $50,000 dollar styling contract with L’Oreal, and much more.

            If you haven’t seen the episode, I must warn you there are spoilers (not that I haven’t given out facts above. Anyway, read at your own risk).

            The parachute challenge was a cool way to kick off the season and the fan interaction vehicle through playrunway.com is a great idea to get fans more involved with the show; it’s a smart way of taking advantage of social media and technology. 

It was sad to see Angela leave because she seemed promising, her story was appealing, and in all honesty, Sandro should have been the one to go home. His outfit was outrageous and his attitude isn't the best; however, it was an intelligent move to keep him in the show, at least from a producer’s perspective.

            It looks like it will be an exciting season. I’ll have to try to keep up by watching the episodes online starting in August since I’ll be relocating to Los Angeles and more than likely won’t have cable. If you watched tonight’s episode, feel free to share who is your favorite contestant so far as a designer but also as a character. And by the way, congrats to the team behind the show for receiving five Emmy nominations this morning.