Project Runway-Chris March

We're pretty sure you tuned in to last night's season premiere of Project Runway, where the new squad of seamsters worked with some unusually pricey fabrics. Unusual, that is, for a first episode, where the standard selection of materials has required much more creative hocus-pocus.

Style Snatcher had her eye on costume designer Chris March, primarily because March had a hand in the wiggy excesses at long-running Beach Blanket Babylon, a San Francisco must-see. We were expecting March's debut design to be a bit more flamboyant, drawing on his signature hallucinatory use of color or theme. His flair for madcap theatrical fou draws on Lewis Carroll, Carmen Miranda, cartoons, and Louis XIV, and his structural ability with behemothic breasts is unparalleled.

For someone who made his early mark with extravagant visual sight gags, March's first Runway design was commendably restrained. Not that we expected him to trot out what we applaud as a strong streak of outlandishness, but we were surprised to see that the big guy can actually go for the sleek and sane. This, of course, made us wonder whether under all that campy razzmatazz March was hiding a reservoir of department store commercialism. While not exactly haute design, his purple charmeuse dress with foiled twist neckline won Style Snatcher points for shape, tonality, and movement. What it lacked was wit, a wink, a wild notion, which we are hoping was a play-it-safe response to secure March a spot in the middle of the pack.

Still, we will be biting our manicure while waiting for the episode in which March drags out his inner fruit basket.

Chris March Design

Image sources: BravoTV.com