Ok, have just wasted my evening watching all of the series so far on youtube.
Thoughts so far: I hate, hate, hate this series. I don't know if part of it is them trying to spice it up in order to increase viewing figures, but something has changed and it's not good at all.
First -all the designers are just BAD. Wayne (winner of the first challenge) is the only one with any talent, but even he is hit-and-miss and predictable, with dubious technical skills. Part of this is perhaps that they made a lot of the early challenges group challenges, so you didn't get so see what designers were personally capable of, but my overall impression is that the designers are just not good.
In the first series the designers were all technically competant -even those whose style I didn't approve of (Shakeel, Debbie, Renato) could construct three piece, detailed outfits within the time constraint and seemed to be guided by some kind of personal style. Plus there were total stars like Christopher, Kirsty and Leslie who actually had visible talent, whose work I actually looked forward to seeing. In the first series it seemed like the challenge was a conceptual one -seeing how talented people responded to interesting challenges.
None of the new designers seem to have the same level of technical competance, they spend the whole time whinging about having to use sewing machines. They seem to be more focused on staying in the competition than creating beautiful garments or ones that reflect their own personal vision.
What I liked about PC 1 was that everyone seemed to have integrity and love for fashion: they would always feel for someone who was creating something rubbish, they would praise stuff which was good, they gave honest feedback and they said they 'wanted to be successful fashion designers' rather than that 'they wanted to beat everyone else on project catwalk'. I actually had respect for them as designers. It might be that the designers in the new series are younger, or that they're focusing less on their overall approach to their career in fashion, but I don't take any of them seriously as fashion professionals: they seem like reality show contestants. Even their personal style is, on the whole, just BAD.
Also, and sorry to be so blunt, but they are horrible, nasty b*tches and I don't want any of them to have any success in life at all. They are scheming, and conniving, and egotistical and seem to think there's something so cool about trashing someone else on TV. And the show is totally encouraging this personal sniping -it's really depressing to watch and it means I can't root for any of them at all.
I remember in PC 1 when Leslie left because she wanted to retain her professional integrity and refused to b*tch on her team-mates. I really respected that dignity -and I think it speaks of a more serious approach to fashion, seeing it as a career. Anyone who watched PC 1 would happily hire her. You would never want to come into extended contact with, let alone hire, anyone from PC 2. They'd have an absolute screaming, bitching, crying breakdown if you asked them to sew a hem. They're making such utter fools of themselves.
I want Christopher to come back and for him to be rightfully annointed as king of the fashion design reality show world.
But my other favourite was, I think from Lucia (?) the white waistcoat (great button detail) and full skirt with pockets. That was the one design I could see people wearing and on a catwalk.
No project catwalk.
