48 replies to this topic

[TudorQueen]

I can see how, in a team context, some people might have issues with working with Patricia. She works very slowly and deliberately, and does her own thing, almost as if she's in a dream world, unaware of the others. But I do like her - very much - and think she has a unique aesthetic and is one of the designers most likely to surprise me. And she seems sincerely sweet. She's warm and pleasant to just about everyone - she seems to sincerely like Michelle and Layana, who have both been very bitchy about her in TH's.

[Sayaka]

I have nothing against her as a person - but I would bitch about her too. She is no team player at all. And I don't think she is a designer. Doing something with fabric doesn't make a good design. It's just means that someone has an affinity to crafts. And she doesn't really work well for clients. Not just in the actual client challenge, but in general. Who makes a complicated pattern on a shirt which will be teared away either way? Or a prom dress with a skirt so short in the front that you can easily see the underwear?

[dialyn]

The designers visit the Guggenheim to get inspiration for the creation of their own print textiles to be used in their garments

This is going to sound like a criticism but it is more of an observation...I wonder how Patricia is going to do with this challenge on two fronts. My feeling is that her preference is to take inspiration from her own history, and that she prefers to manipulate the fabric rather than just coming up with a design. At first I thought this would be a relatively easy challenge for her but now I wonder if it will be. Of course some of it probably depends on the team dynamics but, so far, Patricia pretty much ignores the team so I'm not concerned too much about that. Have to say, someone who smiles all the time makes me nervous. After a certain point, it doesn't seem sincere, but I'm guessing that's just me.

[auntlada]

I'm assuming that since her thing is textiles, she'll be going home this week.

[Sayaka]

I think she will have a hard time working with the prints too, because the fabric on which they do the print is always so stiff and not easy to work with. Patricia prefers to do things which are flowy. Plus, it's a difference to paint on the fabric or to think of a print.


There is also the not so small matter about her being the only designer left who never won a challenge. She was in the top three a couple of times, but that's not that hard when you are in a winning group of five, six or seven with the "bad designers" still being in the competition.

[Edsel Love]

Patricia's designs are the ones that intrigue me most. I like that she incorporates her cultural aesthetic into her designs, and I really want to see how she can work it into a full collection with no stupid one-day deadlines.

[dialyn]

I don't know if this goes in media or here, so I'm taking a chance by posting. This is about Patricia holding an event and selling her fashions: http://www.santafene...6bd605b093.html -- there's no spoilers unless you haven't seen Episode 10 yet.

[ratgirlagogo]

If you go to the thread about Patricia, you will learn why they are handling her so gently.

Okay, so here we are in her thread. Are you saying this is about the (benign) cyst she found in her breast?

[Bebecat]

Well yes, if it became a behind the scenes drama and she had to decide whether or not to leave the show as stated, I feel pretty sure that everyone knew about it and maybe there was a period before she knew it was benign. I just think it could explain why she was so gently handled, especially this last week.

And she kept saying how "spent" she was.

Edited by Bebecat, Apr 7, 2013 @ 11:19 PM.

[Sayaka]

It explains why she was so out of sorts, but I doubt that the producers knew...I just don't see them not putting this piece of drama on TV.

[dialyn]

Is it possible she asked them not to put it on air, and they actually respected her wishes?

[Bebecat]

I suppose even TV producers might have to bow to privacy rights, when it comes to health issues, unless the contract states otherwise. But I still feel that the judges would have known about it, if she had to leave for tests or appointments. They can't just come and go freely.

[Sayaka]

Who said that she did make tests? The filming is done in a very short time span. It would be more a matter of seeking treatment immediatly or waiting a couple of days.

[dialyn]

I'm not sure what difference it would make if the judges knew or not. Other contestants have had health problems in the past and it didn't seem to make that much of a difference (to the judges, I mean; at least one chose to leave the contest and that's not what I was talking about). If it had been serious enough, they might have excused her from this season and invited her back for a future season.

I'm a little amused by one thing. When I go to her website, the first thing I see is a skirt that somewhat resembles Richard's much disparaged skirt from the previous episode: http://www.patriciam...com/press.html.

Edited by dialyn, Apr 8, 2013 @ 11:49 AM.

[Bebecat]

Well,I said "if" she had tests, etc...

[Bad Thoughts]

She could have had tests. Usually, the next challenge is introduced on the runway right after elimination: the designers are wearing the same outfits they had on at the previous judging. However, they usually go off to some location to get the details of the challenge, sketch, and buy provisions at mood. They are wearing different clothing at these excursions. I don't think that there would be enough time in one day to complete the previous looks, have runway and judging, and go off-site for the next challenge. Anyone could go to get tests in whatever time was offered between runway day and the off-site excursion.

I think it's also worth noting that when Jack Mackenroth opted to quit, he knew it was a MRSA and that he was HIV+. He was clearly prepared for such an instance and new the risks. It sounds like there was much more uncertainty with Patricia.

[Sayaka]

Previous contestants blogged that it is very much an around the clock thing, with no weekend and no real breaks. I guess they make the excursion at the morning, can sew until the end of the day, have a couple of hours in the morning, then the juging is shot, they get the new challenge, go to sleep and the next day stars with an excursion again. Meaning that a one day challenge needs two days to get shot. Considering how time consuming a visit at the doctors is, I doubt that this is something you could do inbetween.

[dialyn]

Discovering a cyst tends to be something that worries a woman no matter how soon she is able to get to a doctor, and may have made it more difficult for Patricia to concentrate. Unfortunately she decided to shift blame onto Richard (though I do recall she said that it was her fault she was focusing so much on him, or was that another memory blip of mine?) and, while he was little help to her, he wasn't completely responsible for her state of mind. The thing is that Patricia had trouble translating her visions and time management this whole time. It didn't begin with this episode, though I am going to be interested to see if she does better in Paris on her own, though I wonder how much time she (and the others) will have to enjoy their trips abroad.

[Sayaka]

In her place I would be also concerned about my lack of wins. I don't think that there was ever a designer in the finale who never won a single challenge, never mind winning the whole thing.

[Bad Thoughts]

Jay McCarroll.

ETA: Fashion Week is the whole ballgame, as it should be. It's the designers' opportunity to make a definitive statement. Patricia could win everything with a strong showing.

Edited by Bad Thoughts, Apr 8, 2013 @ 5:44 PM.

[Sayaka]

I had to look it up, because I remembered him being being high so often. I stand corrected. Though Jay nearly won a couple of times, while Patricia was never a serious contender, and he was in a season with much stronger designers (and fewer opportunities for a win). Either way, Patricia has to get the spot first.

And while it's possible that the fasion week was the whole ballgame once, I don't think that this is the case any longer.

Edited by Sayaka, Apr 8, 2013 @ 6:22 PM.

[mk26]

I'm half indian. Culturally we struggle with the view of the modern indian. When people think of us, they think turquoise, head dresses, casinos, feathers, fringe. There isn't an image of the modern, indian person. We are either relagated to our past or absorbed into anglo culture. I think Patricia is trying to very delicatly introduce native elements in a way that is not literal or stale. She's had varying degrees of success. Her avant guarde silouette was absolutely derrivative of a papoose with the constriction of the upper body. However I think it's intentional. I think she is trying to show these traditional things in a new way and our community desperately needs it. I may not have choosen Patricia to represent me but I am proud of her work.

I don't necessarily think Patricia should still be on the show based on her competitors but I'm glad she is. It means something to have positive role models for native people.

Edited by mk26, Apr 10, 2013 @ 3:05 PM.

[dialyn]

Try as I might, I can't see either Paris (maybe, at a stretch, "City of lights") or heritage in Patricia's puffy jacket from the last night. Any clues? I just don't understand wadding up layers of textiles and creating something bulky and awkward to wear and that being considered particularly original or creative. No matter how impressed Heidi is, the idea of layering is not a new technique, and bunching them up is not really doing much for me as a technique. I do, however, admit I don't have any background in fashion. I just don't understand Patricia's vision; that's obvious. I would love more clarity on that, though I have yet to understand Patricia's attempts at communicating it (not saying that's her fault; just saying I don't understand).

[nicenessness]

I could totally see the graffiti and bill-posting idea in Patricia's design. I don't think that it was immediately reminiscent of Paris, but that is what she saw there and that is what inspired her.

I'm happy that she's going to FW. (Although I think that a designer like her would be better suited for FWs in Europe as opposed to conservative NY.)

[Edsel Love]

I am very happy to see Patricia in the final four. I am always intrigued by cultures that are not my own, and I am interested in her work to integrate her own culture into the existing world of high fashion. Not all of her work has been successful, but some of it has been worthy of the win. While the judges didn't give her the win for the Prom Challenge (duct tape), the kids were intrigued enough to name her dress their favorite.

Perhaps it helps that I found her very likeable on-camera.

[auntlada]

I didn't see the graffiti in her design, but it was reminiscent of Paris to me in that it looked like an impressionist painting or a watercolor (or an impressionist watercolor). The colors just made me think of Paris (which admittedly I've never seen anything of outside the airport).

[mk26]

If Patricia has used gray for the neckline and pants, the entire outfit would read better. I'd still hate it but it would make more sense. Any color more industrial would have made sense. I think that's where her designs mostly fail, putting the right pieces together. Still, glad to see her at Fashion week. Thrilled to see Tim Gunn go to Taos and I hope Patricia introduces him to everyone.

[nicenessness]

What I am most excited about is getting to see authentic Native American fashion from the point-of-view of an actual Native American. I love, Love, LOVE the fashion industry, but one of the things that they do a LOT is cultural appropriation and rebranding. This isn't Karlie Kloss wearing a war bonnet at a Victoria's Secret show, this isn't yet another fashion editorial of a Russian girl with feathers in her hair entitled "Native Daughter", this will be a real collection inspired and produced by a Native American. That excites me.

[carrier76]

I just can't get excited about her going to fashion week when her collective output is so...bad. Let's not forget the complete mess of the floral week, or that one shoulder thing from last week...

[Sayaka]

or the....thing....from the real woman challenge....(no matter what she thinks, sheer ponchos will never be a thing!)