"Project" D.I.Y.
Finding creativity in a consumerist society.
By Ramya Raghavan, Campus Progress
Monday July 31, 2006
It isn’t easy to find the intersection between the stay-at-home mom who spends her days scrapbooking and the hardcore punk who spends his nights at CBGB. Yet these two people are classic followers of the Do It Yourself (D.I.Y.) subculture, now popularized on Bravo’s Emmy-nominated reality show “Project Runway.” The show seeks to anoint America’s next Marc Jacobs or Donna Karan through a series of grueling, and sometimes absurd, D.I.Y. design challenges. Traditionally, D.I.Y. encompasses everything from recording music, to making bio-diesel fuel at home, to painting one’s bedroom a groovy shade of midnight blue. On “Project Runway,” D.I.Y. ingenuity meets couture-commercialism.
Home-improvement lovers and anti-establishment soldiers have traditionally segregated themselves into distinct corners of the D.I.Y. movement, with the former addicted to “Trading Spaces” and the latter trying to avoid many aspects of mainstream culture. “Project Runway,” however, which just kicked off its third season, has managed to corral both these D.I.Y. types into the same audience.
 | | “Project Runway” contestant Kayne Gillaspie makes a dress out of a bathmat |
Sometimes, “Project Runway” is just silly, as in last Wednesday’s episode, which asked contestants to design miniature dog outfits. But at its best, “Project Runway” encourages real ingenuity. Episode Two asked contestants to design a pageant gown for the current Miss U.S.A. to wear in the upcoming Miss Universe Pageant, and pitted teams of two against each other — Jefferey, a self-taught, tattoo-covered punk rocker who has designed for Gwen Stefani and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Laura, a glamorous architect/mother of five were chosen to lead design teams. Their creations were a stark representation of the range of D.I.Y. creativity. Jefferey’s gown, with its emphasis on deconstruction and earth tones, was a far cry from the classic, jewel-toned, sparkly numbers that normally grace the stage of Atlantic City pageantry. Laura played much more to this conventional ideal, fashioning a simple white cut-out dress with glitter accents that caught the light with the model’s movements.
This war between convention and innovation was portrayed with even greater clarity in “Project Runway’s” season premiere, in which contestants were asked to create an outfit solely using the contents of luxury Manhattan apartments. Fifteen minutes of watching adults tear down heavy draperies, rip apart mattresses, and shred shower curtains provides brilliant fodder for reality television. But it is the aftereffect of this pandemonium, the creation of artistic designs from simple household items like coffee filters and bathmats, which inspires viewers to not only watch the show, but to get off the couch and engage in their own homemade projects. Megan Nicolay, author of the book "Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-Shirt" agrees. “I think ‘Project Runway’ has a lot of D.I.Yers hooked because it’s the first well-done show that really showcases both the talent and creativity of its contestants,” Nicolay wrote in an email to Campus Progress.
But it’s difficult to hold “Project Runway” up as the epitome of D.I.Y. culture. The ultimate goal of each of the contestants is to be “the next big fashion designer,” and to create a fashion line that will eventually be mass-marketed in a way that is less “Do It Yourself” than “Do It By Sweatshop.” Nicolay claims there are still “opportunities for learning in this phenomenon of capitalism-at-work.” She admits that the inspiration for her book, which uses items from Urban Outfitters in its photographs, came from walking through the racks of stores like Urban and thinking, "I could so make that." In addition, she points out that an integral part of any counterculture movement is that there needs to be something to counter or retaliate against in the first place.
 | | “Project Runway” contestant Bonnie Dominguez fits a dress made of a duvet cover and sheets on model Toni Heath |
For me, the challenge is listening to my inner D.I.Yer. Like many adolescents (especially those raised in the sterile, consumerist confines of suburbia), when I was 13, I felt the desperate urge to rebel against my Abercrombie-clad peers, and found myself in punk music and its accompanying “fuck you” aesthetic. Though I have long since succumbed to wearing more conventional clothing, I still find myself wanting to throw up a little when I sift through racks of pre-constructed “vintage” jeans at Diesel and crisp, starchy throwback shirts at Hot Topic. It concerns me that classic D.I.Y. staples like silk screening and safety pins have lost their unique appeal, since clothing bearing these signature trademarks is now sold in retail stores across the country for obscenely high prices.
As I watch America fall deeper into the abyss of consumerist culture, I can’t ignore the sharp sting of guilt when I look at my raw-edged black cotton dress from American Apparel and realize that I probably could have created that same look with a bed sheet and a pair of utility scissors, as contestant Keith did in the season premiere of “Project Runway.” My inner 13-year old would feel nothing but disapproval for the retail-driven automaton I’ve become. It’s at these times that I have to remind myself of the fundamental changes that come with growing up.
At 13, we define ourselves by how we look on the outside. We depend on the brand of our jeans and the crimp of our hair to set us apart from our peers, rather than the uniqueness of our character. We callously throw phrases like “poser” at each other, all in order to convince ourselves of our own individuality and authenticity. In our twenties, however, we care much less about distinguishing ourselves from our peers through our dress, because we have already displayed our own distinctive personal traits, talents, and goals.
From a larger political perspective, I still greatly value the D.I.Y. ethic. It appeals to me as an environmentalist because it promotes the re-use of materials and therefore, a reduction of waste. It appeals to me because as someone struggling to get by on an entry-level salary, it provides an affordable solution to pricey couture. And it appeals to me as an American, because the concept of doing things for oneself is, after all, one of the basic tenets of our doctrine of spirited individuality. Sure, television is trivial, but I relish Wednesday nights because “Project Runway” fills the creative void in an otherwise insipid rotation of reality programming. Even a TV producer can’t place a price tag on inspiration.
Photos courtesy of Bravo TV
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