PR: Mondo Gets Pissy

Looks like somebody put on their diva panties this morning!

Well! Smell her.

We've long held that Project Runway is not the fashion world. Not even close. It's a game show with "fashion-y" challenges. Totally artificial scenarios that have little to do with the actual industry or the experiences of the people working in it.

However, every once in a while, they do manage to come close to verisimilitude, whether by design or accident. Having the lead designer or creative director (or whatever Heidi's official role is here) come in and harshly assess your work is not at all unusual. If anything, Heidi was restrained in her comments.

She was playing a role; deliberately pushing his buttons because he was heading in the wrong direction and trying to get a rise out of him. But he got all Miss Pissypants and had to run off to pout about his hurt feelings. Designers like Mondo, who work mostly on their own, can't take criticism very well. But if he really wants that prize money and he really wants to be the Next Great Fashion designer, then he's going to have to deal with buyers, clients, critics, and a whole army of people who are going to have opinions he won't necessarily enjoy hearing. Better toughen up, girl.

And besides...
It worked, didn't it?

Because what he had on that dress form was pretty dreary-looking. Not like these chic little urban daywear looks.

He was never going to fully embrace a challenge that essentially asked him to make sweatsuits. We imagine he was pretty horrified at the very idea, since it's so far away from what he does.

So what he did was make really cute, chic, running-around-town outfits that kind of match the New Balance line.

Norma Kamali made a very good point about how these looks have such strong hanger appeal.


They're so graphic, so beautifully shaped, so luxurious (given the materials) and comfortable-looking that you can immediately see the appeal before you even try them on.

In fact, we think they're the kind of clothes a lot of women would want to try on as soon as they see them.

And the headbands were a bit of styling genius.

It's notable that all three looks are essentially the same silhouette: volume on top, tights on the bottom. It's almost like he invented a new article of clothing: the sweat-cocktail dress.

Which may be why he didn't win it. If anything, these looks were just a bit too chic for the line.


But we'd consider them a success anyway. This was as close as Mondo could possibly get to what they were asking him to do while still remaining true to his point of view. They weren't totally right for the line, but you could tell the judges all respected the hell out of it.

Like we said, he needs to toughen up a bit. Especially since anyone with a functioning head can see he's the judges' favorite. Maybe he learned a lesson, because we doubt he'd have been able to pull out entries this good without someone slapping him around a bit. Nothing he was working on prior to Heidi's little boss-from-hell performance came close to the chic looks the ultimately walked out.

Tim Gunn's Workroom:



Extended Judging:


[Screencaps: projectrungay.blogspot.com - Video Credit: myLifetime.com - Photo Credit: Barbara Nitke/myLifetime.com]

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Labels: Mondo Guerra, Project Runway, Project Runway Season 8, Project Runway Season 8 Episode 11