Project Runway 2, Finale Part 2
Manolo says, ayyyyyy! The winner it is the Chloe! And the Michael Kors is verklempt!
Both of these things they were completely unexpected to the Manolo, even after he had seen the collections on the runway.
Indeed, the main impression the Manolo took away from the collection of the Chloe was Aging Houston Socialite Gestalt. Yes, the dresses they were cleverly made, and the detail was very fine, but the problem for the Manolo was that he could see the same heavy, shiny, flowery material and the same poofy draping used as the window treatments in the 10,000 square foot custom MacMansion in the River Oaks.
Thus the Manolo has christened this the Ima Hogg Memorial Wannabe Collection.
As for the Santino, the Manolo thought that there were many beautiful pieces. And indeed, the Santino’s work, it was the prettiest of the three, and justified to some of the extent the Santino’s habitual preening. (As the Muhammad Ali says, it ain’t the bragging if you can do it.) Yes, there was the problem with the fitting of the garments, but at least the Manolo could see that it had the unified vision, albeit as the judges noted, it was the greatly subdued vision of the Santino.
Also the Manolo should note that he appreciated the Santino’s justification of his designs. The Chloe and the Daniel, they felt it necessary to discuss the “business” of the clothing. Bleech. Much to the preference of the Manolo was the Santino’s bold “Because I know beauty!” And although, the Manolo would perhaps disagree with the Señor Wickety-wack’s presumed knowledge of beauty, he could not find fault with the obvious passion behind such statements.
Oddly, at the end, the Manolo he felt sorry for the Santino, who seemed to earnestly believe that he was would be the winner. Such charming insouciance! And he loves his momma!
Ayyyyy! Santino all is forgiven! Now embrace the Manolo you big spiteful lug!
As for the Daniel, his collection was very much to the taste of the Manolo. (Excpet for that stupid dingly-dangly tassely thing between the breasts that left the Micheal Kors in his hibutual state of mock outrage.) 
The clothes of the Daniel were beautiful, accomplished, and very sophisticated. As the Manolo has said, the Daniel is the master of taking the familiar shape and adding the slightest, most subtle change and thus making it slightly different and better.
For the example, the beautiful cream swing coat looked like something we may have seen before, but it was in the stead fully Daniel’s. The neck, the cuffs and the placement of the buttons make this coat special. It had the beautiful movement, it flatters the shape, it flows. (And here the Manolo should note that the Santino’s clothes also had the beautiful movement, while the Chloe’s seemed stiff and overly constructed.)
To some of the extent, the Manolo thinks that the Daniel was ill-served by his inability to articulate in front of the judges his vision and motivations. He has the exceptionally refined eye, but his vocabulary has not kept pace with his substantial ability as the designer. Happily, in the real world such things do not matter; the clothes stand on their own.
Finally, the Manolo must say that the Jay McCarroll still stands out as the best of the designers to have emerged thus far from the Project Runway. His collection last year may not have been exactly to the Manolo’s personal taste but it had the powerful and unique point of view, one that still impresses the Manolo more than one year later.
Ayyyyyyyyy! Nine more long months until the Project Runway returns!
P.S. And now what shall the Manolo do with his Wednesday evenings? He looked at the Top Chef for five minutes before he decided that all twelve of the contestants, together with the Billy Joel’s wife should be locked in the shipping container and dropped into the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean.
March 9th, 2006 at 1:07 pm
As an expatriated Houstonian I am humbled and amused by the Manolo’s knowledge of Ima Hogg!
March 9th, 2006 at 1:29 pm
I was very happy that The Chloe won. With the exception of the puffy pink thing, I loved her clothes very much. I love The Daniel and I know he will live to design another day. I hope he finds something other than working for Michael Kors, however. Michael Kors, meh. And now the evil Santino can return to the minions of Satan. I will not miss him. He is an icky baby. Does he kiss his beloved mamma with that mouth?
March 9th, 2006 at 1:29 pm
Manolo, I had not seen the Project Runway, & was always somewhat puzzled by your dedication to the show. (I avidly wait for Sopranos, & have tried to avoid all other tv show addictions.)
And now, I caught a rerun, & it is simply too late… I must watch them all. Thankfully, I have two seasons to watch through now, but the dilemma! To read the manolo post, or not to read the manolo???????
March 9th, 2006 at 2:03 pm
Who knew I liked “Aging Houston Socialite Gestalt” styles?! I guess you learn something about yourself everyday. I wholeheartedly agree with the Manolo’s comments regarding Jay as compared to the other designers and 1000% about Top Chef. I hope the show gets pulled after another episode and the higher ups at Bravo decide to (at my friend’s suggestion) do 2 seasons of Project Runway in 1 calendar year. It may result in overkill down the road, but I think fabulous for us crazy fans.
March 9th, 2006 at 2:04 pm
Did anyone else feel like Santino really acquiesced to the judges? Nina herself asked if they had beaten him into submission. Um, yes you did. He really, really wanted to win and not live on someone’s floor anymore and be able to see his sainted mama more often. I am not worried about him, one of the Weinsteins will give him a large wad of cash to start his own gig.
I think Chloe will be very cooperative with the producers, hence avoiding a repeat of Jay with his backbone that wouldn’t permit him to become a Banana Republic puppet. She will be very, very good with marketing and does seem to be a real business woman. And she doesn’t seem to have the ego on her that spells trouble to producers. Plus, that second green dress of hers was decidedly not upholstery fabric.
And Daniel? Well, it sort of says it all when Kors offered him a job. His talent is way bigger than the $100K Bravo was offering and he will be a huge success. If Kors suddenly met an untimely demise, then I think Dan might work for him, but only in the context of Daniel V for Michael Kors…
And please, please… DEBRA MESSING? HUH? Just, just… ick.
March 9th, 2006 at 2:05 pm
I am so very pleased to read that the Manolo, he has come around to the mama lovin’ Santino. I thought his collection was just that, a colection. And those leather knickers with flowing beautiful top were fabulous! A huge kudos to Danial for some beautiful pieces (that coat!!). I am already counting down the days for season three!
March 9th, 2006 at 2:12 pm
Thanks to the Manolo for a season full of recaps - I looked forward to them as much as every new episode!
March 9th, 2006 at 2:14 pm
I was pretty blown away by Chole’s victory, too. Everything until this finale pointed toward her being a very good but not very inspiring designer as both the Manolo and many others have commented. Your christening of this as the “Ima Hogg Memorial Wannabe Collection” is priceless and accurate!
I spent this whole season disliking Santino a great deal only to walk away after it was all over thinking he’s just a goofy, really insecure guy who hides it by constantly hammering on everyone around him, at least in this season. I don’t think he was as bad as some of the garbage that he brought to the runway this season! He got to the finals thanks to the producer and director because that boy brought out some UGLY stuff over the course of the season. Had Kara been honest about the disaster that was her makeover by Santino he would have been out at that point.
Can’t wait for Season 3…
March 9th, 2006 at 2:26 pm
I’ll chime up for Chloe. Santino has only himself to blame. The judges were not just looking at talent but also at personality. Santino chose to make an obnoxious spectacle of himself to the extent giving him the prize would have made it a PR disaster. Hopefully he will learn there is a different between bragging about his abilities, which is perfectly OK, and belittling others, which is not. Jay was an outsize personality, but he was never mean and obnoxious on the show (he even managed to interact with Wendy without strangling her).
Daniel is just not ready for bigtime.
March 9th, 2006 at 2:42 pm
I think its amusing how the judges chastised Santino ALL SEASON about being too un-edited and expressive and even crazy…and *then* they have the nerve to say his collection was too “safe”. Even if the boobs were never quite in the right place, I did like his clothes. Very nice. A little caddy-whampus at times, but very nice.
Chloe may have “won”, but I think Daniel V. is the big winner here. The offer from Michael Kors is a much bigger opportunity, in my opinion. Even though I am less of a Michael Kors fan after seeing what too much self-tanner can do to a person, I will continue to buy his clothes and ESPECIALLY if I can get my hands on Daniel’s gorgeous camel dress (the 13th piece)!
That said, my fiance and I gave the Top Chef show a try…and like the Manolo, turned it off after roughly 5 minutes. Ayyyy! What a mess!
Looking forward to Season 3 =)
March 9th, 2006 at 2:42 pm
I woke this morning thinking, “Chloe? They picked Chloe?” I preferred the collections of both Santino and Daniel over that of Chloe, although the fact that her poofy pink coat looked exactly like my sisters prom dress from 1981 gave me the willies and I may have judged her entire collection unfairly based on that. I did not share the distate for Santino during any of the show, although he could be “cutting” to be sure. Those designers during the reunion show who were so outraged at his behavior ALL participated in some unkind remarks during their tenure on camera as well. The pots? They call the kettles black. I found Santino’s collection to be really lovely. Some of the dresses were very swoony and cut well enough that his models didn’t trip. Ah well, on to next season!
March 9th, 2006 at 3:22 pm
I absolutely agree that they chose Chloe to avoid another Jay debacle. Santino was an ass, but his collection was by far the best. I liked Daniel V, but I recognized too many of his clothes as duplicates of my 1967 wardrobe. I had both the coat and the v necked dress. Perhaps most of you are too young to remember 1967, and I envy you that:)
March 9th, 2006 at 3:22 pm
The Manolo was too kind to the judges. Chloe? Chloe???!!! Oy. Yes, she’s a really very highly extremely competent craftswoman, but with the exception of the garden party dress, which she seemed to luck into, she never did much of anything of any originality. And her final collection was entirely unremarkable. I’m a big Santino fan, but I can understand why they wouldn’t have wanted to reward his bad behavior and risk having a misfit representing the show. But why not give it to Daniel? His collection wasn’t amazing, but it was better than Chloe’s, and he’s good-looking and amiable and all those things the producers could have wanted for their own purposes.
I really don’t get it. My brother thinks maybe they just wanted to give it to a woman this season, but that doesn’t seem reason enough to me. I think we’ll have to see what they end up doing with Chloe before we can understand their decision. Nothing that happened the entire season justified choosing Chloe.
I’m pissed.
p.s. if anyone’s interested in reading a recent column of mine on the show, it’s at http://www.valleyadvocate.com/gbase/Lifestyle/content?oid=oid:143972
March 9th, 2006 at 4:33 pm
As usual, I pretty much agree with the M, though I’m not as harsh a judge when it comes to Chole’s collection. Maybe that’s because I’m a product of the 80s. I especially loved her prints. But, still, Daniel’s was much more wearable and more to my liking in general. Too bad he could articulate his designs as well as he could construct them. It seems, though, that his new job offer will be probably a much better opportunity for him in the long run.
Now, I’d love to see follow ups on all the PR designers, from both shows. That might hold us over until next episode.
March 9th, 2006 at 4:45 pm
Sob. I think the Santino should have won. Yes, he was a creepy bad boy (what was with the “model” friend.) Yes, he said some mean things but everyone said mean things…it makes good television, hello. It keeps us watching to see what train wreck will happen. If Santino wasn’t on board, who would have been the loose cannon/ratings grabber? That gal with the bangs that ramble referenced Johnny Cash? The Heidi Klum stalker Daniel whatsis? The redneck mall bambi?
Santino’s designs I hated throughout the competition…except the final show. It was not boring/beated into submission wear. It was beautiful and complicated and lovely. The fabric was otherworldly. It was art. The poor tit fit…I dunno, not that big of a deal.
Daniel V got a little too pompous towards the end. those handbags were clunkers. Chloe was productive and professional but that pink thing looked like it was stolen from the set of that Buck Rogers 80’s TV show.
Debra Messing was a wreck. Why not a “celebrity” with better clothing sense? Why not the Manolo?
March 9th, 2006 at 4:51 pm
Manolo I could not possibly agree with you more. You hit it right on the mark with everything.
March 9th, 2006 at 5:16 pm
I had no idea that the Manolo hailed from the humble Bayou City! I am now prouder than ever to be a Houstonian!
March 9th, 2006 at 6:00 pm
What about the Hasselhoff? Will there be no comment about the alledged wife beating incident?
March 9th, 2006 at 6:00 pm
Did anyone notice though that the winner had two dresses in her collection that were the same as what she did in the challenges? Her short dress (green with pink) was the same silloutte as the dress she did for sasha cohen in the skating challenge, and the dress she did for iman was very very similar to one of her gowns. To me, that alone should have made her NOT the winner.
March 9th, 2006 at 10:57 pm
Oh how I mourned the outcome! All of Chloe’s dresses, I own and I wore in the early 1990’s to various highschool proms and formals.
I wanted Santino to win, I loved so many of his clothes but thought for certain Daniel would triumph. But Chloe? I have yet to pick my jaw off of the floor.
And I TOTALLY agree, Jay is still the clear, clear, clear best of all the game.
March 9th, 2006 at 11:35 pm
I have always thought that Kors & Nina Garcia were–difficult, but their treatment of Santino at the end was ugly and crass. Complaining about his designs all season long, only to bash him for subtlety was pure evil. Offering a job to Daniel at the end was also in very poor taste.
Of the three, Santino and Chloe had collections; Daniel’s looked like a list of his finished projects from design school. All of his designs can be found at a mall in Milwaukee.
It was also disengenuous to complain about the fit of Santino’s clothes when Daniel’s model tripped over her dress.
Santino should have won. Chloe will, however, be more malleable.
March 10th, 2006 at 1:08 am
Tripping over a train is a model’s problem. The amount of trains and floor lenth extra stuff that wanders around the fashion world dictates that this is something one needs to work around, especially if, as it did in Daniel V’s case, the extra fabric looks excellent. Santino’s clothes just DID NOT FIT. If he wants to make extra avant garde outfits without thinking about women’s bodies, then let him go design for drag queens.
March 10th, 2006 at 1:09 am
OK, maybe not entirely a model’s problem, but come on…like Jennifer Garner didn’t do the same exact thing in a M. Kor’s dress at the Oscars?
March 10th, 2006 at 2:10 am
OK People, let’s put the blame where it honestly belongs. The producers kept the extravagantly obnoxious Santino on board for so long for one reason only, as I’ve stated before….RATINGS RATINGS, RATINGS. By all rights, he should have been ousted during the skating challenge, and most very definitely after the makeover challenge. He butchered Kara’s jumpsuit, but producing heads prevailed, and they set him up for ultimate failure.
Had Kara been one of the final three, I definitely think her collection(http://www.bravotv.com/Project_Runway_2/Episodes/Episode_14/Videos/bonus_1_ep14.shtml) would have won. She had an honest to goodness COLLECTION, with continuity and a true story to tell. And those quirky hats were signature, as were Jay’s earphones last season. In my mind, although I applaud Chloe’s impeccable design and Daniel’s genuine engenuity, Kara’s the true winner.
RE: Top Chef, (for which I had highest of hopes, as I’ve worked in the hospitality bidnez lo these many years)…DULL DULL DULL. I’ll have to find something else to watch on Wednesdays. BUt then again, maybe I’ll just do on-line reruns ala The Manolo. Many thanks, Mighty M!
March 10th, 2006 at 5:08 am
If the trains trip up models, who presumably are taught how to walk with them, what are the rest of us mere mortals to do? The model had to hold the skirt up, in a way which was not intended.
Top Chef has nothing on Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares, a truly super fantastic show.
March 10th, 2006 at 8:11 am
The Billy Joel’s Wife, she is a terrible actress and spoke with the monotone. So unlike the Heidi Klum, who is cute and lively.
March 10th, 2006 at 8:54 am
The Dowdydiva praises Khazarkhum’s love of the Gordon Ramsey - the Hell’s Kitchen was must-see TV in the Casa Diva this past summer. She also nominates the Manolo to excutive-produce the Odd Couple show that must star Santino and Ohn-dre.
She also wonders why it is on this site that she feels the need to talk in the third person.
March 10th, 2006 at 11:36 am
Hola to the Khazarkhum. Among the secrets of walking with the train: the wearer must make her turns in the slow and stately arc, allowing the train room to follow her; otherwise the train will coil around her feet like the playful affectionate cat, guaranteeing a near-fatal fall. If the train has coiled, the wearer must use one foot to subtly kick it free, out of the way. The militant step currently in vogue for the fashion models (lift crossover STOMP! lift crossover STOMP!) is not the best locomotion for a gown with a train, which accomodates the gentle glide, not the crossover stomp. The crossover stomp causes the gown hem to, erm, crossover. In fact, the martial-arts C-step (foot in toward the center, OUT; foot in toward the center, OUT) provides more clearance for the feets.
In addition, for the wearer of the gown, as opposed to the model, it is the Good Idea to have the loop sewn to the underside of the train (either in the matching ribbon or the clear elastic), at a point where she can easily grasp the loop and slip it over the wrist, so there is the graceful ripple of fabric that cascades downward if the hall, it gets very crowded, or if she wishes to dance, or if the long-lost love of her life, he appears on the train platform, and she must run to catch him before he disappears from her life forever.
March 10th, 2006 at 12:56 pm
I was underwhelmed by all of the collections. I could not tell who was going to be the winner at the end, because none of them stood out from the rest. Flip a coin – Chloe? Sure, what the hell? Last season, Jay was clearly the winner, from the moment his first piece walked down the runway.
On a side note, Project Jay was a scream! Why oh why did they decide not to run his story as a full season? Condensing it into hour was not nearly enough.
March 10th, 2006 at 1:45 pm
The Chloe, she knows how to fit a dress, but her products were too shiny! Shiny, shiny! The Daniel’s handbags should have remained lost. His military looks were good, but his sportswear was dull.
The Santino, his collection was full of pretty things. I would refer him to the Calvin & Hobbes, especially the strips emphasizing that the making of the things because you like them is more important, and integral to one’s validity as a person, than the marketability of the copies of everything everyone else does.
I want the more Project Jay! And the Santino and Andre (sp) show!
March 10th, 2006 at 1:55 pm
The Belladonna, she is most correct. As one who in her youth, made a few strolls down the catwalk, I can verify that indeed the current penchant for the more martial step would indeed make it most difficult to accommodate the gown with the train in a truly graceful fashion. Or at least one that would be non lethal to the wearer of the gown.
Alas, the verdict of the judges brought much shock. The beloved daughter went into denial. Stating she would pretend the Daniel indeed won for a few more days, in order to avoid the aneurysm of the brain. The Chloe is indeed a craftswoman of talent, and a few of the pieces were indeed beautiful. But mostly they reminded me of the dresses of the debutante balls of the late seventies. Ohh, talk about the bad fashion flashback **shudder** The Daniel’s clothing was more to the personal tastes of the Dora, but a cohesive collection it sadly was not. In truth the Santino showed the only real creativity, and as I spent an entire season loving to hate him, it pains me to admit he deserved to win it. But I expect unlike many of the others who were aufed.. The Daniel and the Santino will be heard from again. It seemed not a real best effort from any of them. Flashes here and there, but too little. I however would very much love to know precisely why the Debra Messing was chosen for the final and most important judging? She is qualified for this how? With every person in the upper echelon of fashion in Bryant Park at the same time, this can be the best the producers could come up with?? One expects they could have trotted out to the sidewalk and easily snagged a passerby that was far more qualified.
March 10th, 2006 at 4:53 pm
Wait…it’s OVER!?!?!?
March 10th, 2006 at 5:36 pm
Thank you Dora Long for attempting to answer the unanswerable question I posed yesterday, which was,
“DEBRA MESSING? HUH?”
Of the cast members of “Will & Grace” it is she from whom I would last solicit fashion opinion or expertise. I would ask the one who plays Rosario in the Members Only jacket before I asked Debra Messing.
March 10th, 2006 at 6:31 pm
Alas, poor Manolo, you know your Houston. Just had to stop and say how much I enjoy your (writing) style.
March 11th, 2006 at 1:12 am
Mr. Manolo has made the most egregious error! I hope you are still reading the comments for this post as I must enlighten you!
I, too, am a Houstonian, and I must correct you about Miss Ima Hogg. She was never a tacky aging socialite! She was the founder of the Houston Symphony, an art lover and connossieur of American antiques (at a time when American furniture was not at all the fashion among fancy people). When she died, having never married, she left her home and her collections to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston [her home, along with its beautiful gardens, is now open to the public as a part of the MFAH] and left much of her fortune to a foundation for mental health in Texas (another unfashionable cause).
I certainly understand the point that you were trying to make, mon cheri, but you should have chosen another Houston lady! I think it was the “Baroness” Sandra di Portanova who was (as Mrs. Vreeland would have said) that “dash of paprika” you intended to reference.
March 11th, 2006 at 3:08 am
Re: Debra Messing…she’s a BIG NBC star…..ergo, BravoTV (a part of NBC) was doing a commercial for Will & Grace via Project Runway….plus, she’s cheaper, as she’s already under contract, verdad?
March 11th, 2006 at 9:55 pm
Ah, yes, Ronikins, use the logic! But that still does not answer the “taste” question…Carson would have been a way better choice.
March 12th, 2006 at 3:52 pm
Ah, the dowdydiva, you are not the only one who finds herself inexplicably referring to herself in the third person only when on this site! Not only that, but the Twistygirl also finds herself lapsing into the oddly Euroconfused patois of her Southern/Eastern European-native grandma when visiting with the Manolo…
It has taken Twistygirl the four long days to express her mortification over the final result of the Project Runway, as I was, like the daughter of the Dora Long, in the state of vehement denial over the win of the Chloe and her pukifying collection. The Daniel V, his clothing was the most beautiful and even the “simple” sportswear that my beautiful little monkey of love designed had interesting and subtle twists. Santino’s line was the second most beautiful to me and like the Manolo, the Twistygirl she has gone from hating the Santino to being bewilderingly charmed by the inner sadness of this crazy man. And who could not love the nutty self-recorded music the Santino created for his show! “Hustle and Flow” comes to Olympus Fashion Week!
The Chloe, most of her crappy garments of garishness reminded Twistygirl of the lining of an overpriced coffin.
Most difficult for Twistygirl is now, how does she live without her weekly fix of her little Daniel? Obsession has a new name, and it is the Twistygirl’s overwhelming desire for the Vosovic.
March 13th, 2006 at 10:15 pm
I was stunned by Chloe’s win with that garish collection. I wanted SO much to find something I liked in it, but there was maybe one dress out of all of hers that was not nausea-inducing. Which is weird, because I liked her in the other competitions. I wasn’t crazed for any of the final collections overall, but Daniel had the most standout pieces (the ivory coat, the #13 dress, and a couple others). Like Twistygirl, I’m going to miss Daniel. I wish he had won, but he got the best prize of all by far.
Santino? He’s funny, but funny doesn’t make him a good designer. He’s an artist, yes, but not a women’s designer. I wouldn’t be caught dead in 99% of his creations. Bleh.
March 14th, 2006 at 3:43 pm
I adored the Santino’s “sweater-jacket” item, and would love it–but I am not 6 foot tall and do not weigh the 105 pounds…