On the universal language of fashion - Project Runway Korea S2E1

This morning (well, 11-ish) I groggily logged on to Skype after having crawled out of bed not unlike how our evolutionary ancestors crawled out of the sea to begin life on land. Mom messaged me pretty much right off the bat asking if I was doing anything in particular, and if I'd like to come spend the day with her at her house, seeing as my plans were to knit and hers were to sew, and if we were going to do granny stuff we might as well do it together. Two hours later I was on the train, heading out for a pleasantly slow day of lazy clothes talk. In the spirit of that, I'm moving straight on into the next season of Project Runway Korea, because hey, that's what I do.

We take our fashion seriously.

Ladies and gentlemen, I've found someone to take over as my object of Project Runway Korea adoration after Woo-kyung - Jung Go-woon. Yes, this was a snap judgement after first seeing her like 30 seconds into the show. Yes, I am in fact that shallow. But come on, look at her, she's so cool with that insane haircut. Project Runway Korea is just so much edgier than its American counterpart.

I' ve never seen anyone manage to pull off the mushroom-head haircut before.

Man, I didn't know that Frodo Baggins changed his name to Lee Hyun-sik, became a fashion designer in South Korea when he'd finished bringing the One Ring to Mordor, saving all of Middle Earth in the process. You go man.

Fashion is my precioussss.

Lee So-ra and Korean Tim Gunn looking as dapper as ever.

Aww, look at the happy!

Speaking of dapper, oh my god, is that Austin Scarlett?!

"Because flamboyant is my middle name."

Ridiculously dressed as always. I love the guy. Also, as an added bonus, I know for sure what the challenge is about this time instead of having to guess from context. They should have every challenge advertized in English. Or I could just, you know, find a version of the show with subs, but meh. Anywho, this first challenge was about creating a look based on recycled materials that would show the designer's aesthetic. "Non-conventional materials challenge, here we come!" I thought. "Nope!" said Korean Tim Gunn and the camera switched to showing like a million old clothes on clotheslines. Remake existing clothing challenge, here we come! Aww, these are never as interesting.

As always, I hate the way they film the runway shows. Makes it fucking impossible to get any kind of good screenshot of some of the designs. It's ridiculous. Anywho, starting from the top:

I'm lost for words here really.

Christ, what have you been smoking, Jung Go-woon? Why did you give her saggy tits hanging out the front of her shirt?! Creative, sure, but that looks totally insane. The back is great though, and the drape of the skirt is cool too. It was interesting how all the judges praised this so much, Austin Scarlett saying it could be worn by "any woman with a sense of fashion", but I'm not convinced really. I think it's the boob pockets that put me off. I don't really get them. Without it, I think it would've totally been worth the win.

Love the stocking detail.

I kinda thought they wouldn't like Choi Hyong-wook's, but to my great delight they did. I think it's pretty coo, if a little bulky around the middle, but when it was walking down the runway it moved really nice. The colour and the plaid in general were mixed well, and I like the ripped stockings (because in my head, I'm still a 15 year old goth kid). I love his style in general as well, so cool.

It 's a bird! It' s a plane! It' s bland fashion!

This I don't really get. All I could think about here was that Yoon Se-na made the model looked like a really bland superhero. Sure, the grey and the blue look good together, but I don't get how this trumped some of the others that were safe, say Jung Mi-young's. Moving on to the middle of the pack:

Cool colour transition.

Lee Dong-jun (I think, they passed by his name so fast in the opening credits it was like they were ashamed of him or something) did a rather interesting piece, comfortably middle-range stuff in my opinion.

And this was the best shot I could get, stupid camera crew.

An Song-eun, one of the women many near-identical-looking women, did a really neat asymmetrical dress with a little vest over that looked pretty edgy and cool. Again, the way they film it is ridiculous. No way I could get a decent full-body shot.

Do not want.

Ugh, cupcake dresses. Fucking hate them. This one looks like she's been wrapped up as a bubbly present. Kim Ji-hye doesn't get my up-vote for this week.

Matey!

Bang Ji-eun made a pretty decent outfit. I like the shape of the oversized top, but the rest of the styling just makes her look like a pirate to me. Yarr.

Love the colour blocking!

Finally colour and something interesting-looking! Choi Chang-sook didn't fall into the usual granny-mold despite being the oldest (although I'm sure I'll kick myself for calling her a granny at 36, but it's in the way she talks and dresses I guess.

Not big on the bat wings though.

Ridiculously handsome Lee Jae-hoon made a cool kind of asymmetrical dress with some colour blocking. All in all pretty neat I think.

Oooh!

I really like Jung Mi-young's dress. Not only is the shape interesting, but the combination of prints is cool and it manages to balance a retro vibe with a modern aesthetic. Nice one. Not sure how this didn't make the top, but I'm not the one judging. I'll keep my eye on her though, seems like a contender.

Uhm...

I'm not crazy about this one that Hyun Sun-shik made. It looks boring.

Oh god those shoes.

Cute glasses boy that I think is Yoon Choon-ho, made something that kinda looks a bit like a burlap sack with a very blue vest. I hate the shoes with a fiery passion. So for the worst:

Meh, not so exciting.

Jung Hyun-ju made clown shorts and a top. Not excited, and neither were the judges apparently. I do agree with Austin Scarlett that the top would look great with skinny jeans, and that the Comme des Garçons-style polka-dot pants were pretty cool in and of themselves, but I wouldn't mix them like she did.

The 80 s called, they want their aesthetic back.

Jung Gae-young made a completely insane 80's power-suit bathing suit. It's completely crazy. I kinda love it. The judges kinda hated it. I can understand the comments about it being kinda busy, but I don't think it was as busy as some of the other things on display. Sure, certainly not the best of the day, but not terrible. Glad she didn't go home.

Yawn.

Oh my god, BORING! Frodo, what the fuck? Lingerie top and a pencil skirt? That's just not going to cut it for Project Runway. Have you ever seen the show? It's pretty much illegal to be boring in the first challenge, which of course is why you were sent home. And with all that talk of a woman's body and tailoring it would've been cool to actually see some tailoring or whatever. But hey, what do I know.

It's so nice to finally take the time to watch some Project Runway again, and bore you silent readers with my analysis. I should probably make an effort to find a subbed version, but... well, it's summer and I'm lazy. Also it's nice to be apart from all the drama that inevitably follows Project Runway, so I don't see that happening anytime soon.