Washers and copper metal? Is this a new shop class? Actually it is just another wild trip for the designers of Project Runway. After taking a week off with a clip show last week, the designers again embarked on another chaotic adventure.

This time it was to the hardware store. With a budget of $150 and one day, the designers were tasked with presenting a look that was from their point of view along with an accessory to compliment their look.

One thing resonated with this episode. The guys loved copper metal and for most of them it worked out horribly. Emilio looked to do something different with washers and pink rope, but in the end he didn’t have enough materials, and was forced to make a string bikini. Far out and funky, he had to connect the top and bottom at the last minute, or face a wardrobe malfunction with his model. The bottom half of her outfit looked to drop at any second till he did connect them all.

Another thing that bothered me…where is the screen time for Jonathan and Ben? Are they just that boring? Or are the producers saving them for later? Okay, back to the guys. Jesse had a constricted bodice out of the copper with a skirt made out of netting. However, the netting was sticky and refused to flow the way he wanted. His design was nothing special. And it showed. Perhaps he lost his muse in Megan when she was kicked off the week before.

As much as I hate to say it, I REALLY liked Mila’s outfit this week. Her modern dress made out of paint tray liners was kicky and fun, and straight out of the 1960’s. It was black and white spunky. As much as she is a color block freak, she rocked this challenge. We will have to wait and see how long she can keep up with it before Heidi and friends get bored.

Jay had a wonderful design made out of trash bags that he turned into leather looking pants, and a strapless bodice with a wonderful belt. It was amazing. He was praised by the judges and in the end, beat out everyone else for his second victory.

Special mention goes to Maya. Her grey sheath dress and jacket was amazing, however her necklace made out of keys was fantastic. It was a strong, if not the strongest accessory piece. I wish the judges would have had a separate category for the accessories.

In the end, it came down to Jesse and Emilio. Sadly, Jesse was let go. To quote Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman: “Big Mistake, HUGE.” Emilio should have been kicked off. The judges blew it this week. Now that we are down to the final nine, it will be interesting to see how soon everyone cracks under the increasing pressure. My guess? Not long. Here’s to a better Week Eight.

-Mary B

As always Project Runway strives to terrify the designers each week with new and innovative challenges. This week was no exception. It involved designing a young girl’s outfit with a budget of $50. The designers were both awed and looked generally nervous when talking to their young charges about what they wanted in an outfit.
Seth Aaron was one of the designers that the nerves did not affect. He knocked out a fabulous little hoodie in black and white hounds tooth accentuated with pink. And an adorable little skirt. The designs were fresh and clean with a rocker edge. The twist this week was that the designers had to make a companion outfit for the kid’s one. Seth Aaron did the fearlessly as well. His companion outfit he overlaid black and white fabric to make a pattern resembling hounds tooth. It was definitely a fashion forward jacket, and went with the child’s outfit fabulously.

Jesse had a sweet little outfit of a red wool coat he tailored with a grey dress and red accents. She looked straight out of the children’s book “Madeline.” Her Mom outfit was a black, grey and red dress that  mimicked the kid’s outfit. It was one of his better pieces.

One person that did not do well this week was Amy…she fell off the pedestal that I had been putting her on. Her color scheme was orange, black, turquoise and cream. The kid’s outfit was a tulip skirt with the orange petals. The sweater she designed was turquoise. It was very cute. Her little model loved it. The companion outfit however was a bit of a disaster. Tim had warned her in the work room that the pants could either knock people’s socks off or look like a clown outfit. Unfortunately it was the clown part.

Janeane was also not grasping this challenge. Her outfit of an orange long tank top (though she called it pink when Tim accused her of going all Halloween on this week) and leggings were cute, but way too simple. Her model fared no better with an orange jacket, a really adorable black and white patterned tank top and leggings. Heidi deemed it a “cheap mall outfit.” She seemed kind of distant this week and not really into it. You wonder if she just wanted to go home after talking to her husband and saying how much she really missed him.

Seth Aaron claimed victory this week; he gained immunity for next week. Unfortunately Janeane went home. I don’t think it was a bad thing. She was unable to hold her own with Emilio, Anthony, Jay, Amy and Mila. And their battle is just starting to heat up now that they are clearing out the weaker designers.

Next week’s challenge looks interesting. They are in a hardware store. We will just have to wait to see how the contestants fare and hopefully not lose any nuts or bolts in the process!

 -Mary B

There were a lot of firsts on Project Runway this week. First best-thing-ever was that your winning design ends up being worn on the April cover of Marie Claire…fantastic right? Well how about Heidi Klum herself wearing it? Even better? As I watched this week’s episode of Project Runway I wondered what the designers were thinking as the challenge was put before them. Game on? Or downright petrified? The other first was a designer cuts apart his design at the asking of the judges!

Nothing though appears to deter our crew of courageous designers, not even a task this daunting. Joanna Coles, Editor in Chief of Marie Claire delivered the news to Tim and the designers at their headquarters at Hearst Publications. After laying out the ground rules to think of: Spring issue, No black is ever used, rarely prints and lastly to think how the cover lines were going to fit into the final picture of the design along with how the picture would be cropped.

Once handed the rules the contestants sketched. Then headed to Mood with their budget of $150 and one day to complete this week’s hysteria inducing challenge laid at their feet. Anthony and Anna both choose a very bright turquoise color. Anthony started on his dress, Anna…well I am not sure what Anna was thinking. She takes on the time challenged task of making a shirt, vest and shorts. Tim asks her if she feels this is her. After saying yes, Tim adds to not lose her editing eye. She may have lost it. Even Emilio adds she needs to pay attention to her hem, and also to the fit of the shorts.

Emilio himself designs a snappy little red cocktail dress with straps and hombre braiding. Seth Aaron designs a grey suit he is very proud of. It reminds me a bit out of something from the 80’s. Jesse has a short Aegean greenish blue dress with rouging on the front of it. Jay has a short cream dress that is super short in front, long and flowy behind his model. Janeane has a cream dress with though lots of details, it is pretty bland with a seaweed color bolero jacket. Mila is way too full of herself and comes up with a dress that is supposed to be “fresh and light” though Michael Kors says the color come off more like the color of an Ace bandage.

During the rest of the runway show, Anna gets ripped into, and sadly, rightfully so. Guest judge Joanna calls it three ingredients put together in a dish that leaves you feeling slightly nauseous. I should say so. Janeane fairs no better. Joanna tells her it looks like it should belong in a polluted sea next to the plastic bottles. Those two poor souls end up in the final two. And sadly, Anna gets the boot though either of them could have gone, and probably both should have.

One designer I forgot about was Ben. He put together a dress that was to be a modern interpretation of Madame Butterfly. The dress had the colors of Ivory, yellow, Turquoise, and brown. The back was a peek a boo type, and Heidi loved it. And I wondered if quiet Ben was finally going to get a win. Emilio also makes it to the top half with his red dress, but the judges detest the straps, so they ask him to cut them off. He does, the model takes out her pony tail and looks fabulous. But Anthony pulls one out with his bright turquoise dress and off the shoulder design. He was ecstatic and so was I. Finally he gets a win. But as he was reminded he has no immunity next week and they have previously enjoyed with other wins.

Honorable mention this week goes to Amy, who was the only designer to use a print. It was muted, soft and fantastic. Her dress stood out, but didn’t make the judges cut. She continues to quietly build momentum as they march to the final. I have beaten this drum before, but she is one to watch.
                                                                                                                                                                                              -Mary B

The designers were seeing red this week on Project Runway. Fights breaking out? Nope, try again.  And no, it wasn’t for the upcoming Valentine’s Day either.

 
Inspirational was the theme of this challenge. The designers were given the opportunity to design a dress for the Campbell Soup Company’s campaign “Address Your Heart.” The bonus was that the model they designed for if they won would be wearing the dress to a Fashion Week gala and the dress would be made into limited quantity to be sold on ProjectRunway.com. Though they did have to incorporate the Campbell’s branding somehow into the dress, be it the colors of the soup can, or using Campbell’s Soup printed material that was provided for them. Pretty sweet challenge.

 
All of the models were real life women who have been touched in some way by heart disease,  and they were of all shapes, sizes and ages. One model told how if she becomes dehydrated, stands up for too long, or goes without eating, her heart just stops. Another had died for two minutes and was revived. Some amazing stories.
Anthony’s model had been dealing with hypertension all of her life, and Anthony immediately identified with her as he had to move his mother to Georgia with him after she had gone through heart surgery after numerous years of heart related complications.

After being given their $100 for this challenge and one day to complete, the designers set to work. Mila designs a red dress with two stars on it, a smaller then larger one, incorporating them from the Campbell’s logo. While it is almost costume like, her model loves it. Amy designs a red flowing dress of chiffon. It is gorgeous. Her model literally glides down the runway. Anna designs a shorter dress that though having the right idea, makes her model look bigger than she is with a beige racer back to the dress. She also continued the beige in the front peaking out from underneath the red. Jesus designs a short red cocktail dress. While his model has the figure to carry it off, he adds a chains of cubic zirconia to the front and back. Michael Kors in the runway show describes the dress as the five tackiest things you can do to a dress combined. And it shows. Heidi questions his taste level, again. Even guest Judge Georgina Chapman who is the co-founder of Marchesa raises her eyebrows, even though it appears she wants to like the dress.

Needless to say, Amy wins the challenge, and is excited. It was an emotional win for her, though she never comes right out and says why. Amy is just warming up Project Runway fans. Be prepared for even better things to come. She has definitely been one of the quieter ones until recently.

Jesus sadly gets thrown off this time, after ending up with Anna in the bottom two. You could almost see the pain in the judge’s eyes. They were finished with his taste level, or lack there of.  He is only 21 and I believe he does have a bright future ahead of him, if he takes this experience to heart and continues to evolve as a designer. I believe he will.

Next week’s challenge is being deemed by Tim as the “biggest” Project Runway challenge ever. Anthony perhaps summed everything up best in a nutshell in the preview for next week.” Life isn’t fair, why the heck should Project Runway be?” And so it is my friend, so it is.
                                                                                                                                                             – Mary B

My apologies to “Project Runway” readers as  this is a late column, but we are going to catch up quickly.  This was due to numerous technical difficulties on my end. But all is well, and away we go…..

Ding Dong, Ping is gone. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.) Yes, Ping was bounced in Week Three, mostly due to her craziness. The designers visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art to be inspired by their iconic designer collection. All the pieces were interesting and breathtaking watching them in this episode. I cannot imagine how beautiful they were in person.
The challenge this week was to design a signature designer look worthy of that company at the Met. The catch? Everyone was split into teams of two. And given the highest Project Runway budget ever, $500. Excitement was high as they envisioned their trips to Mood for fabric buying. However, the happiness began to wane as it started to sink in that the designers indeed had to work together.

Anthony and Seth Aaron were one team, Jesse and Ping, Anna Marie and Emilio, Mila and Jonathan, and Maya and Jay. (Jay did have immunity from winning his challenge the week before.)

As usual, drama was high as Jesse realized he was just trying to reign in the crazy with Ping, they fought like cats and dogs. At one point at Mood Ping even loses her sketch book. She was pretty much all over the place workwise. I don’t blame Jesse for wanting to strangle her. Ping kept insisting she was the team leader with quite frankly not much leading.

Somewhat of the polar opposite were Mila and Jonathan. While the separates she designed were black and white inspired 60’s throwback, that is about all Mila did. Jonathan, who has the far superior construction skills of the two did the lion’s share of the work, while Mila well, still worked on  the coat. Yes it was gorgeous, but let Jonathan do his thing as well.

An extra twist this week was of course thrown at the designers. They had to use  10% of their budget on a “Look for Less” inspired by another designers outfit.  This ensued panic as Ping went to Mood to search for the fabric.  It was a horrible material, one you might see a lady of the evening wear on a street corner on in some big city.

In the end it came down to Mila winning the challenge and of course Jonathan was safe. It was a shame she won. Jonathan deserved more credit then what he was awarded.

Jesse and Ping came down to elimination with Anthony and Seth Aaron. While Anthony had compared their dress to something for the VP of McDonald’s because it had a little of the Ronald McDonald feel to it in the coloring, it was passable. Their look for less was not.

Megan, our Iowa girl and Jesse’s model, called Ping out on the carpet for not fitting her properly for their “Look for Less”. We will see if there is any backlash for Megan as the designers are eliminated. Hopefully Jesse sticks around for awhile. Michael equated their look to “the model being fitted, an alarm went off, and she ran out with the fabric draped around her.” OUCH. It was a pretty dress, but too much Ping and not enough Jesse.

Goodbye, Ping. We barely knew thee, but we felt we met every last one of your personalities.

 - Mary B.  

Zach Galifianakis, arguably one of the most widely-respected comedians of today, didn’t think he would ever actually have the chance to host Saturday Night Live, according to The Comic’s Comic.

But then The Hangover happened.

Galifianakis is now a legitimate mainstream movie star with legions of fans who know him from his stand-up act as well as his role in THE BIGGEST COMEDY EVER, opening Saturday Night Live’s doors for a March 6th hosting gig.

The musical guest for Galifianakis’ show, at this point, has yet to be determined.  But we do know who will host SNL on the week previous.  Jennifer Lopez will get the honors, pulling double duty as both the host and musical guest.  Ashton Kutcher will host this week’s episode, which is the last before goes off the air for two weeks because of the Winter Olympics.

*************

As this week’s excercise in creativity and torture unfolded, I found myself wondering what in the world the designers were going to have to do next  as they donned knee high boots and met their models in the middle of a field…with the models wearing nothing but burlap potato sacks. 

  The challenge was to make a party look out of the potato/burlap sack. As Heidi explained the old adage; “Even a beautiful woman could look good in a potato sack.” And for the most part it was true. The designers were given said sack, and  choices of dozens of ribbons, lace and beading to pick through to add as accessories. As always, there was a twist to this challenge. The models were the clients as they were going to wear (though some of them I am sure were forced in the end) the party dress to an industry event. They were also able to pick whatever designer they wanted to work with. A change from the designers always picking the models.

Most of the models stayed with the same designer, though the  model Alexis switched from Mila to Anthony. Initially I think Anthony thought for sure he had drawn the short stick. Alexis was very vocal and wanted certain items on her dress such as buttons and fringe. Anthony just looked at the camera and said “I don’t know about this.” He persevered though. I think Mila was hoping that Anthony would crumble under having Alexis as a hindrance to his work, but he just kept pushing through. In the end he and Mila both ended up with some really nice dresses for their models. Anthony a short raspberry pink number and Mila a grey creation.

Then there was Jesus. He decided to “skirt the challenge” as Tim Gunn put it, and hide all of the burlap in green and brown ribbon. The judges didn’t appreciate that, including guest judge Lauren Hutton. She said that “the dress should be like a painting..and that was a confused assault on the eye..” The other designer in the doghouse was Pamela, who although dyeing her sack a pretty; yet almost denim looking blue color, poorly made the back end. Her model’s rear looked huge. And when Heidi asked the model if she was excited to wear the dress the model could only answer..”Well….” Heid just said that answer alone said it all.

Oh, Ping. While I loved her design last week, this week I wasn’t so sure. She gave her model basically an bizarre shaped figure eight looking skirt to wear with her top, and it stuck out awkwardly from each side. When the model turned, you could see her rear end. Heidi let her know that while acknowledged Ping has an “edgy eye”, she isn’t sure it can translate to high fashion. Though Lauren Hutton gave Ping a vote of confidence saying Ping can overcome this if she kept working at it.

The big winner of the night was Jay. He designed a snappy little dress that was black with the burlap being ruffled out at the bottom with pops of turquoise green. Michael Kors complimented him, saying initially he thought he may have cheated with feathers but then appreciated his fine handiwork.

The loser? Pamela. I don’t believe it is a big loss to have her go this soon. There is a lot more talent now left for us to see.

Our girl from Iowa Megan was kept alive, as her and the designer Jesse made it thru to the next round with flying colors.

What will Heidi have up her sleeve next week? Stay tuned.

 - MaryB  

To quote one of the more infamous lines from “The Wizard of Oz” : “There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home.” Yes, Project Runway is back in New York, after Season 6’s mishap of moving the show to Los Angeles. 

And the cast of characters couldn’t be any better. Anthony from Atlanta, who is probably the more outspoken, flamboyant and just out and out funny one of the group. I love his sense of humor and just telling it like it is.  Ping from Chicago, who in the beginning amused the rest of the designers as she tried to unfurl fabric in Central Park during their first challenge. (Back to that in a minute.) There is Emilio from New York, who points out all the landmarks to the newcomers, and Seth Aaron who mixes his vintage look with a hint of modern. The crybaby so far is Janeane, who constantly frets she is going home. But has the audacity and chutzpah to rip up her first garment and start over. She gets bonus points for that this early in the game.

After the first meeting with Heidi and Tim on the rooftop of the Atlas Apartments, and a celebratory toast with champage, (Heidi was drinking apple cider, at this point when filmed last June she was pregnant with daughter Lou. ) The contestants find out that their first challenge will be at Central Park the next day. When they get there, they find that Mood has left them many rolls of fabric to pick from and Tim announces the first challenge. The designers have three minutes to pick as many rolls of fabric as they can. Once they do that, Tim let’s them know they have to edit it down to five rolls. Their creation must showcase who they are as a designer.  This is hard for some of them, particularly Ping. She claims she has all of the ugly fabrics.  Ping is an interesting individual. An American trained Physical Therapist and an Italian trained designer, her creations flow with the movement of the body. She will be a force to be reckoned with.

When we get to the runway portion, it is great to see Nina and Michael back. Now that the show has come home, they should be there every week offering their criticism and praise. Thank goodness.  They were also joined this week by Nicole Richie, of “The Simple Life” fame, but she is also a noted jewelry designer and set to launch her own clothing line this spring. The name of it is House of Harlow- 1960.

Emilio sends down the best dress of the evening. This was a little cocktail dress he had done Hombre style and overlayed the four fabrics to create a sweet little outfit. It was youthful, and flowy and the judges loved it.  Seth Aaron also created more of a “Little Toyko” style dress.  Though the pattern looked almost gingham, the back featured a strip of red fabric the judges all raved about and agreed it was a very commercial outfit. Ping’s outfit was very abstract. The fabric flowed over her model. It was Nicole’s favorite, and Nina gave it the “hanger appeal” vote.  However, the sweet little cocktail dress of Emilio’s wins….he scores the first win and immunity of the season.

Christiane has the worse outfit of the night. Her blue dress started out well with the draping of the floral fabric, but lost the appeal near the bottom of the skirt. Jesus, he is a a young designer that first started off doing a nice chocolate brown faux leather fabric and then once he discovered his model was too tall for that short of dress he lengthened it. That did not win him any points with the judges. Nina says his model looks like a big Hershey kiss, and not in a good way.  It was between those two for the bottom and Christiane was sent home.

In this season there is a model from Des Moines named Megan Davis. She is paired with Jesse. We did not hear too much from him this episode, he was sent thru. I look forward to how Megan does and she is also featured in Models of the Runway that airs right after Project Runway.   Till next week.                                  – MaryB

This season Project Runway  was quite the ride. There was a lot of crying, (Christopher) some twists and turns (Johnny Sakalis lying to the judges) our villian, (Irina) and lastly the good girls,(Carol Hannah and Althea).

Our finale takes us to Bryant Park as the three remaining finalists are preparing to show their blood, sweat and tears of the past few months.  Carol Hannah seems to be surviving what ails her despite having what appeared to be a relapse.  Althea and Irina appear to be ready to rip each others throats out at a moment’s notice. Case in point, after each of the designers meet with the Loreal and Garnier staff for the hair and make up consultations, Althea tells Tim Gunn that her make up is messy and kind of smoky. Tim comments that is the same type of make up as Irina. Which of course Irina responds with “That’s Althea.” Poor Althea, she started to cry then, obviously overwhelmed by the emotions and stress of putting her collection together.

Once the designers hit the runway show it is game on. We see in Carol Hannah a beatiful Greek inspired collection. Her 13th piece, a long flowing blue Greek goddess dress was a favorite of Heidi’s. Carol Hannah had a lot of color and was not afraid of making a statement. Alas, the judges did not pick her the winner since her collection lacked a cohesive thread. And I believe they were right on with that. Though I loved her designs.

Althea was next up, stating that her collection was inspired by Sci Fi movies from the 50’s and 60’s. Her collection was strong, but not as strong as Carol Hannah’s. Althea had a lot of sportswear and the judges deemed that though she had a great cardigan here, or a great pair of pants there, her collection did not have a fantastic show stopping look in every outfit. Though they did give her high praise for being plugged into the fashion on the street. 
So yes, by now you have guessed it, the winner was Irina. And though much to my chagrin I did not want her to win, her collection was pretty bold, strong and made a statement. Albeit it was all black for the most part, she tied it all together and told a story. Lots of leather, and little black hats stole the show. Irina wins $100,000 to start her own line, a year of representation thru a design management firm and a Paris vacation. Let us hope the trip to Paris inspires her for many more years to come.
We had the chance to see a few Project Runway castoffs – hello Ari with the huge fake eyelashes? What was that about?!!? We also saw Ra’mon, and Epperson. It was nice to see the old familiar faces.

So onward to Season 7, which if I believe what I saw, looks to start running in January. Also, there are rumblings that they have taken a huge step moving back to New York with the coming season.  It is where this show rightfully belongs and it should have Michael and Nina back every episode, where they rightfully belong.  Now, if we can just get it back on Bravo. Perhaps Santa will hear my prayer. See you in January!                                                                                   -MARY

This week’s wrap up that now the finale of Project Runway has been reached, has been split it into two weeks. (Hey, Lifetime has to soak up all the advertising dollars it can, right?)

We reconnect with our three finalists as Heidi tells them they (Althea, Irina and Carol Hannah) are receiving $9,000 to design and develop their collection for Fashion Week at Bryant Park in New York.  And there they go, off into the big bad world that isn’t the bubble they have been living in these past weeks to go forth and design.

Tim Gunn goes to visit each designer to see how they are progressing with about ten weeks left till Fashion Week. First up is Carol Hannah. She has actually moved up to the New York suburbs with a friend and tells Tim  as she was driving up to New York from Charleston she stopped by Duke University and was inspired by the architecture. Tim actually likes most of her collection. It is quirky, ethereal and typical Carol Hannah. Full of color, elegant garments and her own little spin added to them. After reviewing it all she then tells Tim her parents and sister have flown in and they decided to cook a Southern dinner for him, with his help.  It was nice to see Carol Hannah in her own element. A self described “awkward kid with big glasses and monkey arms” you get to see her with her family. I like this girl more and more. She may not have a shot against Irina, but she has moxie, this little pint sized designer does; and she comes to Bryant Park swinging. 

And speaking of Irina, she was the next one up. Tim goes to her apartment in New York, where he gets to meet her little dog Princess, and see her collection. Most of it, again he likes, though Irina has a screen printed tshirt of New York and Coney Island she wants to use in the collection. She later finds out from Tim that it cannot be used because it is not her original design and copyrighted by someone else. After pitching a bit of a fit, she designs her own with a burnout. Tim gets to meet her family at a local restraunt. It was nice to see her interact with her parents. Maybe her drive comes from just wanting to please her parents at any cost. We shall see. Did I add for Irina that all of her collection is black or grey? No color here kids.

Althea was last. She decided to stay in Dayton and finish designing her collection there. It is inspired by the Sci Fi movies she watched when she returned from New York. Tim tells her to be careful on some of her pieces, they are bordering on costumey. Honestly, Althea looks a bit beat down. Hopefully she finds the focus she needs to refine and edit all of her pieces. She takes Tim to meet her family at her parents house and we get to meet her boyfriend, and find out from her parents a bit about the young Althea. One of her friends credits Althea with always being able to just “whip up a top” if they had nothing to wear for a night out. Althea is definitely a friend I want in my corner!

Then they all move to New York with 5 days to go before Fashion Week starts. As Althea and Irina wait at the hotel for Carol Hannah, she never shows. Tim comes to let them know that Carol Hannah has a contagious stomach virus. And she will not be joining them till she feels better. The next day she does appear, but looking pretty much under the weather, wan and pale.

The designers also talk to Nina and Michael who make a suprise visit. They tell them to add color to the collection. Irina decides she is not going to listen and leave it the way it is, all black and grey. Will this hurt her?

Heidi also makes a guest appearance, with some suprise news. You guessed it, a 13th look needs to be created. So they bring back some help for the designers. Althea ends up working with Logan, Irina and Gordana are reuinted, and Carol Hannah gets a rather subdued Christopher. After they go to Mood-New York, we find Carol Hannah at the hotel, not feeling well. My hope is she is able to go on at the show, but we only see Althea and Irina walking around before the show starts and no sign of her at the previews for next week.

Some last minute Project Runway drama……stay tuned!      – MARY