who ARE these guys? and why Dsquared2? redundant much?
I started watching Launch My Line because of RueLaLa. They sent an email that I must’ve gotten late because I totally missed Dan Karaty being on the show. I like him. And I wonder what his clothes looked like. I actually think it’s kind of a horrible premise – to just grab a bunch of people who don’t know anything about the nuts and bolts of fashion [i.e. sewing] and pair them with a bunch of people who have the skills and training and are trying to make it in the design world. THEN, they make the folks who have no clue boss the other ones around. Oh yes – drama is guaranteed with a formula such as this. But from the episode I started watching, a particular pairing was incubating a tempest that finally broke on last night’s show.
the CEO
Marilyn Crawford, a lady I’d never heard of until this show [which I’m not totally proud of cuz she seems a little awesome – but just a little], is the CEO of PrimeTime Omnimedia [some kind of marketing company for famous people? I dunno – I didn’t really get it, but the website looks successful.]. She hasn’t gotten where she is by resting on her laurels, and now that she wants to design clothes, she’s definitely going after it. She is hampered by the fact that she knows absolutely NOTHING about clothing construction. She’s kinda taking the I Believe I Can Fly Design approach, by deciding that if she can dream it, her seamstress (Coco) can do it. But it’s also a Nebuchanezzar approach because she has no idea how to really communicate that dream to Coco. She speaks her mind, but is mostly concerned about the bottom line and getting things done. She has actually done well in the competition – her clothes generally tend to come out the way she wants them, and as of the beginning of last nights ep, she’s in the top 6 teams. I believe she is most hampered by her lack of knowledge and lack of time to really soak up the vocabulary and information that would make her more of an asset for her team.
is Kliks her last name? I have no idea.
Coco Kliks is another lady I’d never heard of until this show. I haven’t seen any of her own work before tonight, but what I see looks cool. She seems to be a driven artist – so she has become successful in her own right, but her personality is artistic. Completely NOT CEO-like. Her fashions convey her personality in girly, trendy, becoming clothes. Cute is actually the word I’d use for most of what I’ve seen. From what I’ve seen in Launch My Line, her work is well-done and well-made. But Coco doesn’t respond well to having a boss who doesn’t know how to communicate what she wants.
Many of the other *actual* designers have problems with their apprentice/boss hybrids, but the dynamic between Coco and Marilyn is particularly special. On the first ep I watched, Marilyn and Coco got into it because of their communication disconnect, leading Coco to leave the workroom and let Marilyn try to work things out for herself. Crazily enough, the dynamic duo is still on the show. Last night’s ep highlights another communication nightmare between the two of them, with Marilyn stating that Coco is uncooperative. Feelings are hurt, and the ultimate backlash from Coco is “Well, if you wanna go ahead with the project without me – you can.”
Things don’t devolve immediately – but it gets kinda bad. They resolve the initial issue with very clipped but grown-up tones. Marilyn doesn’t seem to be able to articulate OR draw what she wants. Coco can’t sew if she doesn’t have some idea what to make. Coco makes suggestions that Marilyn’s not happy with – Marilyn makes suggestions that Coco says are “construction nightmares”. And then:
M – (resigned) Ok. Why don’t we just do what you suggested.
C – (gesturing to a sketch) This one?
M – (matter-of-fact) Yeah, cuz everything I come up with – you can’t construct it.
C – (sarcastic) Sorry, Marilyn, I so suck, don’t I?
M – (ignoring her) Let’s just do that.
C – (continuing on) Is that the point you wanna make?
M – But it’s no need of me to design if you can’t construct it. (matter of fact, again) It makes no sense.
Oh yeah, btw – Marilyn’s style is business glamour, and Lady Gaga came by to tell everyone to incorporate red vinyl in their outfit. Whee! Coco and Marilyn spent an awful amount of time jawing back and forth so they decided to just come back the next day [with 5hrs left to work] and throw something together. Great idea, right? Hmmm. Not quite. The two of them were eliminated.
I’m not sure if it was the editing or if this is how these ladies really are, but there was a lot of artificial hand-holding and feelings-sharing as they both tried to keep their composure and not call each other names. It just reminded me of 6th grade.
Guess 6th grade makes good tv. I’ll miss them.
Molecular Shyness 