Dramatic Taste

When Malan Breton was kicked off of "Project Runway" this past week, it was a blow to bear. His creepy, burbly laugh had grown on me. His optimism was refreshingly innocent. He also had a mission -- to right a wrong. As you might recall from the "Casting" pre-premiere special, Malan was the one who had actually rejected PR before its second season, and who had come back, tail between his legs, to the Season 3 auditions. Thus, the expectations were quite high for our strange friend.

Alas, the trusty PR editors/producers could have thought of no better way at tugging our heartstrings than by featuring Malan recalling the paler moments of his youth. He recounted that he was still in single digits when he showed his mother his first fashion drawings. She promptly threw them on the floor and reprimanded, "You should never do this again!" Of course, my Project Runway compatriots proceeded to ask the obvious question: Was it the drawings Malan's mom hated, or the fact that he was doing them?... But, no matter. How the history resonated this week!

And such storytelling coupled with the kick-off reinforced for us what Project Runway is: awesomely high tension television. Let's recount some facts: Angela didn't even make a proposal sketch for Miss USA's dress. Instead, she used drawing time to convince her way into Kayne's puissantly pageant-y hands. Angela and Vincent didn't work well together at all--though, granted, Vincent has a bit of the flighty megalomaniac about him. But, was there any way Angela could have actually helped? Could her heated criticisms -- par example, "this looks like something I made in college" -- have been more constructive? I think it's entirely possible. (And, for the record, I agreed with Nina Garcia -- the back of Vincent's dress was beautiful; however, Miss USA, you hit the nail when you described the weird shoulder-ribbons as a bit "space cadet.")

Unfortunately, while Angela fell so far short of all initial challenge requirements and so far from grace in her dealings with Vincent, Malan sketched out the dress, crafted it poorly, and did the gentlemanly thing of taking responsibility for its poor craftesmanship and strange execution. Is Project Runway telling us that they -- or fashion? or TV?! -- are more willing to keep contestants who wittle the nerves, whose strategy is to connive their way onto the better projects, and who refuse to do any work over contestants who do their work, mess up once, and take responsibility for it? I hope Tim Gunn is as disappointed as I am!

For some reason, my friends paused their DVR after the show on the PR disclaimer. In real time, the fine print speeds by, and we never really give the show's regulations a second thought. But in frozen form, there was a sentence that caught my eye: The producers and Bravo are before contestants are Klum-ed "Out!" I've always been tickled by what good television PR is, but this was the first time that I'd noticed that it was a television show that depends on ratings. Drama, in other words, consists of more than designers executing elegant creations within 24 or 48 hours; the insane personalities have forged their way into America's hearts. I guess, that's just reality.

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By the way: Malan fans, take heart! As you can read on his Project Runway bio, Malan's world is certainly not over. He was named by Women's Wear Daily as one of 12 new designers to watch on the New York runway (in Feb. `06), and we can expect to welcome him into our living rooms again, as he does voiceover work for ABC and ESPN. Additionally, here's a follow-up interview with Malan in all his dignity, care of the fabulously addictive Blogging Project Runway.