Project Runway: Are We Still Sticking up for the Underdog?

Project Runway: Are We Still Sticking Up for the Underdog? by Roxanne McDonald

The latest scandal for Project Runway is one many of us doubt should be happening. Shouldn’t Laura be minding her own business?

So the Project Runway final four, all geniuses in their own right and all coming to the finals with their own sob stories, are now up against the intrusive and insulting accusation by Laura that Jeffrey hasn’t made his own clothes line. Is she jealous? Threatened? Feeling a bit too sorry for herself? Acting a bit too nosy?

Granted, it was heart-rendering to hear that she has never had enough money for her own clothing business. It was equally poignant that Michael has had a hard life, Uli was a refugee wannabe in Eastern Germany for all of her childhood, and Jeffrey was a homeless drunk.

In fact, it was sadest to hear that Jeffrey couldn’t, he said, imagine what

a parent goes through when he or she learns the son is on the streets—when he could barely handle it when his baby son fell down and started crying.

But keep in mind, too, that Jeffrey is the most popular designer at this stage, with the greatest number of call-in and text-message voters (at Bravo.com’s site) wanting most to see Jeffrey’s final line of clothing over all the other designers’ lines.

And as one character in Amelie (2001) says, “Généralement, les hommes que j’aime sont particulièrement défectueux.” “By and large, the men I like are particularly unsound.” So…we are rooting for the underdog. So…we are most appreciative of the creative genius that comes out of such a depraved history. Yeah. Jeffrey is brilliant and deserves this final shot as much as if not more than one or two of the others. Or, regardless of who deserves what for which biggest boo-boo, Jeffrey is the most creative, the most innovative, and the most prolific. Likely in part because he minds his own damned business and therefore has enough time to get his work done.

So what business is it of Laura’s to find some loophole? Does she not realize that 1) Jeffrey doesn’t have eight million brats sucking up his time; and 2) Jeffrey may have more of a need than she to succeed at this task. The more depraved are not necessarily the more deserving, but from my own experience I have found and do believe that the more needful you are to succeed (if you have talent and drive) the more intensely you struggle and the more successful are your results.

And what if instead of bringing another damned kid into the world where we have way too many to help now and where each starts out costing a minimum of ten grand to be born…what if instead, you invest those baby-making and –raising efforts and finances into a line of clothing that will keep you

focused enough, busy enough, that you don’t start sh*t with the other most needful competitors?

It is understood that “cheating” is not fair at any extreme, but then again, how many designers do you know who do all their own work anyway? Just think, while your expensive nanny or maid or babysitter or pre-school is sitting for the kids while you design, she or he is “helping” you make your line.

Jeffrey had better not be out, or Bravo’s Project Runway might have some angry viewers who are mad enough to boycott watching the show next time around.

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2 Comments »

1. ” It was equally poignant that Michael has had a hard life”.

   Roxanne McDonald, please tell me
   When did Michael say he had a hard life?? He was a military kid, he has a loving supportive family……..when did he say he had a hard life?

   Please, somebody tell me…

   Comment by esos1 — October 13, 2006 @ 9:01 pm

2. Roxanne next you’ll be saying Micheal lives in “DA HOOD”……

   Comment by esos1 — October 13, 2006 @ 9:13 pm

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