PR: Ripping the Collections: Andy

Get back out here, we're not done with you yet.

We felt bad for Andy, who was quickly dispensed with by the judges in favor of an extended catfight over Gretchen and Mondo. His collection deserved better than that, in our opinion. We wouldn't have declared it the winner, but he showed some downright beautiful pieces and enough innovation for us to consider him a strong second place. Thematically, he was strong but definitely too narrow in his focus. The judges want to see a range in those ten pieces and that's a tall order when they also want to see a "story." Styling was a bigger issue than it ever was before with the three finale collections this year and Andy unfortunately made a choice that didn't serve him well, in our opinion: those head pieces. We didn't think they looked sophisticated, which is a shame, because most of the clothes did.

Let's start the show.

This was easily our favorite look in his collection. We love the proportions here. They're perfect, allowing him to play around with the forms, especially the pants, while still maintaining a clean silhouette and a flattering look. Very stylish and very modern.

It's perhaps a bit too simple for a ten-piece collection. It's got a chic-ness to it, but the minimalism fails to impress. There's nothing new or interesting going on here.

It's a shame, because the top and the jacket are great little pieces. It's just that they shouldn't be paired with each other and those pants shouldn't be on that runway at all. We're 3 looks in and the major issue of the collection comes forward: it's too monochromatic and repetitive.

We do love that green, but it's a color that should be used sparingly and well. This is more or less a throwaway look. The shorts aren't all that hot and the blouse looks like, well, several others in the collection.

We tried to get behind this. The robe/coverup has a lovely flow to it and we like the unusual textural quality to the fabric, but that swimsuit is atrocious. We don't quite think it looks like hair, as Sir Tim did, but it does look a bit tumorous from here. We understand the impulse to do something a little odd and off-the-beaten-track, but this look doesn't have the same serene, yet urban feel of the rest of the collection.

Loved this. We didn't realize the embellishments were chains until Jessica Simpson mentioned it. It's not the most scintillating design in the world, but it's chic and the chains were a fun touch. If only he'd done it in any color other than a silver grey.

The blouse is very cute, actually. Strangely, and we would never have predicted this, Andy seems to have demonstrated a facility for making cute, feminine tops. On the other hand, he keeps demonstrating that fitted pants continue to elude him, which is why it's odd that he chose to feature so many in his collection. The fabric on these pants, while beautiful, may not have been the best choice. It would have made a fantastic dress, though.

And again, any color at all here would have been welcome.

We disagree on this blouse. Tom loves it and Lorenzo doesn't. It could just be that we're a little blouse-mad after seeing so many ruffly, frilly, silver-grey blouses in one shot. The shorts are really awful. The proportions are wrong, the pleats don't work and the shiny silver fabric is terrible. Plus, the repetitiveness is getting overwhelming at this point.

We like the idea of this look, but it's not quite coming together. For one, we don't love that the top is sheer, because it makes the basket weave into a confusing element rather than an interesting one. We like the idea of the green pants, but we just don't think they were executed to perfection, and in that fabric, they'd have to be.

As for the online allegations that he lifted the design of this blouse straight from a pattern book, we'll say this. This is a design competition and the fact is, the design for that unusual top was lifted exactly from another source. There's no real denying that. As far as we know, there's nothing against the rules about it and it's possible many of the other designers use patterns for some of their pieces. The thing is, that basket weave is the only real element to the design. It's the whole point of the look. And it is exactly as it appears in the pattern book. We wouldn't call it cheating so much as an ill-advised shortcut. We asked Andy about it when we interviewed him so you'll get to read his response to the allegation when we get that one transcribed. Bottom line: this was one of the few pieces called out by the judges for complimenting. That he didn't design it weakens any praise he may have gotten for it.

We wish the skirt wasn't so basic, but we can't deny that this is a fantastically eye-catching dress and one of the strongest looks in the collection.

He never would have been our pick for the win, but he did show some very strong looks and offered several very wearable pieces. Ultimately, his downfall was his rather narrow cohesiveness. You only have ten looks to show and trying to tell a story without being repetitive is the great challenge with the finale. If these were ten pieces in a larger 30-piece collection that offered some variety, they'd be fine. But as a standalone collection, it's too hard to distinguish one look from the next, which makes the collection, as well as individual pieces, far less memorable.

[Photo Credit: getty, wireimage, Barbara Nitke via myLifetime.com]

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Labels: Andy South, Project Runway, Project Runway Season 8, Project Runway Season 8 Episode 14, Project Runway Season 8 Final Collections, Ripping the Collections