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Yes, it was very strategic. After seeing last night's show I'm starting to think that maybe she was a plant.

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I am looking forward to seeing Wendy win.

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Rob - Rob, Rob, Rob. I want to do you just once and get it out of my system.

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Um, I don't remember BR or Nancy O'Dell giving Wendy a sketch or telling Wendy how to design those dresses. She is obviously skilled at designing a garment for a particular individual. That is not a bad talent for a designer to have. That certainly doesn't mean she didn't design something, just because she used the client's taste as a clue. I see that give and take happen all the time between celebrities and designers. You just can't give her credit for anything can you?

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Um, I don't remember BR or Nancy O'Dell giving Wendy a sketch or telling Wendy how to design those dresses. She is obviously skilled at designing a garment for a particular individual. That is not a bad talent for a designer to have. That certainly doesn't mean she didn't design something, just because she used the client's taste as a clue. I see that give and take happen all the time between celebrities and designers. You just can't give her credit for anything can you?

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um, she designed a top that looked exactly like the one nancy o'dell was wearing when she spoke to them, even the same color.
she altered her design at robert's and tim's suggestion several times.
um, the BR dress, the only other ocmpleted garment that stayed together on the runway, was an almost identical copy of what was already in the BR line.
so I don't agree with your assessment.
My opinion is she is a dressmaker.
I respect your opinion, i just don't agree with it.
After having worked in the biz for about 10 years, i'm going to stick with mine.

of course, in a few months i guess we will all know who is correct. if wendy truly is as talented as the wendy defendys on here say, the we will all be hearing about her in the fashion press, right?

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a person who requires extreme direction cannot launch their own line. that is not what being a designer is all about.

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angeedee, once again - a perfect description! you totally rock!

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Being a single mom - - from a rural area - - suddenly placed in a reality TV series - - along with younger - "faster" - - single people - - would definitely put you in a surival defensive mode.

And I didn't even mention - - you had to compete in the design world.

I don't think one person in that group can possibly understand where Wendy is coming from.

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Is she a single mom? I thought she mentioned a husband on her website, so I don't think she is. And I don't think the whole "country mouse/city mouse" situation is a good defense for her kicking into survival defensive mode. Mostly because I believe she kicked into survival "offensive" mode. She was not along for the ride, she was setting the tone with her behaviour, not reacting to the other contestants.

Sure you have to compete in the design world...but you also have to work with people. Designing is a collaborative effort, by and large, and business surely is. If how she behaved on the show is any indication as to how she runs her business not only would I never want to work with/for her, I wouldn't want to give her my money, either.

I think plenty of people can understand where Wendy is coming from, they just didn't understand the overinflated "this is my last chance" song and dance routine. Most of them had been working in the industry for years and years, they know that you don't just get one chance to make it and that you have to be responsible for finding your own chances, not just accepting that this current one is the last one to come along.

And furthermore, who's to say that those who didn't understand where she was coming from didn't try to at least? It falls on Wendy to help them understand, if that's something she wants. I don't think she wanted them to know her, though, and that's something she had to deal with when it ended up with no one being there to support her. Maybe if she had let people know her in an honest way they would have been more supportive.

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Jay said it best: "it's not Survivor." wendy is as clueless about the show she's on as she is about the things she's designing.

also, i don't think some people appreciate just how difficult it is to be given $50 and an hour (or whatever it was) in a supermarket and have to come up with something on the spot that's going to be cool. and that's not even counting the abysmally short amount of time they actually have to construct the designs. it's a lot harder than it looks!

ps. looking at the fashion week collections, it's easy to see who's who, and Jay should win. his designs are the most creative and visually appealing (though i don't know what the criteria were). Kara Saun would also be a worthy choice. if it's wendy, i'll have to boycott PR2. she should have been gone the very first week.

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you know, starcycle, i never thought about that but you might be right.
i mean, daniel's stuff wasn't that innovative, but at least his model was wearing clothing. wendy's wasn't wearing a thing. maybe she should have been gone the first week. I was thinking she should have left the second week, (envy challenge) because her dress was unfinished, had no vision, no relation to envy, looked like a sack, i could go on, but maybe you are right. maybe she should have been out on episode one...............

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Ok...here's the thing. And after this I fully intend to stop talking about wendy!!
I totally understand why they were being so mean to her. I get the feeling that they all went into this thinking what I did when i first started watching, that it was talent based. I am a designer and If I were in this competition I would have been seriously dissapointed that someone who lacks talent is getting far because of strategy and NOT talent.
I am not just pissed because Austin was booted over Wendy. To be honest I doubted Austin's originality a while ago. But I thought Wendy should have been gone from the very beginning...even before the back stabbing started. SO here is one person who TRUELY does not believe in her as a designer!!!

I am looking at it like this...most of them are professional designers. They have put in hours and hours not sleeping, studying, probably stressing to the max and sheading a few tears.
They were probably excited to do what they love and be rewarded for great work, not for how well they played the game.
That is what I see as the difference between this game and other reality games...like survivor for instance...those contestants have not gone to school for survivor. They have not competed in the job market for a surviving job.
I used to see it more like American idol without the voting. Those contestants do not sabatage eachother, it is totally talent based.
Ahhh
I could go on and on about this.
I guess I just see it different looking at it as designer.
I have said it before. But the key to being successful in the TINY world of design is to NOT burn bridges. Everyone sortof helps everyone else. I feel that Wendy will have a hard time getting favors, or business for that matter after this is over. The other designers, if they need help from one of the other designers, you can bet that they will have it.
Wendy, in my opinion lacks integrity, creativity, and from what I can see, common sense. I do not think she has thought through what will happen if she loses. I do not know alot of people who want to work with someone who is willing to step all over you to get what they want. AND from what I can see she does not have a very impressive resume (unless you are a stripper in search for a new non-existant dress).
OK...I gotta stop talkign about this. I have more imortant things to do, like search for $1000 on ebay!

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Well said, Jamie. Well, everything but the stripper part lol. *eek*

Seriously though, it fully illustrates something I've noticed after spending some time looking through posts on various sections of this message board i.e. that the division here isn't so much between the Wendy haters and the Wendy lovers, but between the creative types and the non-creative/anti-creative types.

I too am creative (visual artist) and have always loved fashion from an artistic/creative standpoint. I don't necessarily buy or wear the clothes that I see, but I adore looking at them, imagining the creativity that went into them, the craft that put them together physically i.e. garment construction, etc. since I also sew. So when I saw Project Runway, I thought prayers for more artsy type TV, vs. the DIY scrapbooking crafty lady crap we normally see, or fashion as makeover shows, had at least been partially answered. I saw every episode from day one, and fully thought it was a competition..almost more like a documentary than a "survivor" type reality show...you know, being on Bravo and all. I mean, had it been on the Fox Channel or something, I may have at least had a clue. And I'm not a huge TV fan, but really worked myself around Bravo's schedule, and when I couldn't watch, I taped the show for later viewing. I so enjoyed seeing the challenges, and watching unfold before me the CREATIVE PROCESS...how the designers would pull from thin air, as creative people do, works of art. Good bad or ugly. And when it was ugly, or slightly missed the mark, I could relate. And when it was great, wow! I mean, a dress out of corn husks or a beach chair. Amazing. I can't even imagine the thought processes there.

So here are all these creative people, more or less like me, wrestling with these almost impossible challenges and deadlines. And one who is talking about strategy, how she wants to use other peoples weaknesses against them to win etc. etc. Hello? I think you're on the wrong show, my dear. There is no way your Big Brother/Survivor tactics are going to help you if you're no good.

And again and again I watched, as this person wasn't eliminated when she clearly should have been. But it was okay, because I knew eventually she would be. And when she turned on Austin and said he wasn't a good leader I thought, okay this is it. The judges will clearly see that she's not a team player...because it is obvious from the footage that she did nothing to contribute to the team i.e. telling Austin about her concerns about the dress as Vanessa tried to do. And Austin, oh Austin. Turning in Vanessa because she didn't sew as well, even though she at least provided you input...where Wendy told you everything you were doing was fantastic, only to stab you in the back for not being a good leader. Basically the same thing with Kevin. If she thought he wasn't a good leader, than as a good part of the TEAM, she should have at least said something rather than playing the passive aggressive sucking up game she played with him. In fact, the only time she talked about being part of the "team" was when she turned her back on her good friend Morgan (the model) and eliminated her because she knew the "team" wanted her gone. Give me a break. The only reason she was able to be nice to Morgan was because she didn't feel threatened by her...as she clearly was by the ages, differing mindsets, lifestyles, and talent of most of the others in the group. Argh.

But as a non-creative person or one who is threatened by creative people, I would not be interested in anyones talent, or clothing construction, etc. etc. I would look for personalities or people I could relate to and root for. So over and above the whole "controversy" factor that Wendy brought to the group, which I think was just a side benefit for Bravo casting, Wendy brought something else. The "O" factor, i.e. appealing to the every woman Oprah Winfrey type watching folks who couldn't care less about art, creativity etc. I think Bravo knew that they wouldn't have a strong enough draw with the purely creative faction, and they needed someone with broader appeal. Like I said, the fact that she chose to meet this challenge as a survivor type reality show and use subversive and passive aggressive tactics as her strategy, vs. focusing completely on creativity, design, and pure talent was probably just a bonus for Bravo, and their ratings. And this isn't to be "elitist" as some have said. I can no more relate to Wendy and her mindset than a non-creative person could relate to that of someone like Austin's or Jay's, Kara Saun's, or even Mario's. Different kinds of minds are just attracted to different things, that's all.

I think the fault here lies in Bravo's inability to clearly communicate that this was no more a competition of creativity than something like Big Brother or Survivor. Sure, they had to pull something passable out in the end to send to Fashion Week...so they did have to have some talent there. And I'm guessing that Banana Republic wouldn't completely compromise what integrity it has by backing a show with no talent. But judging from the results, and from the perspective of a creative person, they may as well have had a bunch of people pretending to be designers to see how many people they could fool as cast someone like Wendy...or at least keep her in as long as they did purely for demographic and/or ratings.

I'm sorry to say it, but you can't have it both ways. You can't have a controversial "reality show" with a broad ratings draw and keep the integrity of a show with an actual premise. Which is why everyone here is so po'd at one another. One group thought this show was a reality show, and in their minds, Wendy played the "best." And the other group is offended to their creative cores that someone who didn't deserve to, got as far as she did. and you can't really blame either side. Both were tricked and mislead to some degree imho. Which is probably fine with Bravo, since the creatives are in the minority...again, probably their rationale in including the "everywoman" in the first place. Oh well. Hopefully another cable channel will take Bravos concept and present it with a little integrity. You know, for the rest of us who don't merely want to be "entertained." *sigh*

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