The Final Five had their last challenge this week on Project Runway. And looking back over the last twelve weeks, I probably would have guessed most of them would be there. With the exception of maybe Shirin. Or maybe that is just because despite Irina turning out such fabulous work, she comes off as a basically evil person and I was rooting for her to lose? Hmmn,  but that’s  another colum for another day.

Anyway…back to the challenge. They were given $300 for a budget and had two days to complete it. The actual project was amazingly cool as the designers journeyed outside the FIDM building and were given a trip to The J Paul Getty Cultural Center. Which is an amazing piece of architecture. After a short tour each one was given the opportunity to find inspiration in where ever they could locate it.

 Carol Hannah had a great European French bed, with tons of ornate fabric and draping. Irina found her inspiration in a painting called “Mischief and Repose”. Gordana in a Monet painting. Aletha in the architecture itself and Christopher in a rock fountain with a tint of algae growing on it.

So it should have been an amazing last challenge right? Full of wonder, awe, shock, and all around beauty? Well, I was a bit underwhelmed to say the least. Each one turned out dresses, and some of them were inspired, some odd, and most just kind of blah. Even the judges of Nina Garcia, designer Cynthia Rowley and Cindy Crawford were kind of quiet in their praise, louder in their criticism.

Irina starts the ball off by making a simple flowy dress that resembled a greek gown but then had some rabbit fur she said was the same color as the marble in the painting she was inspired by. After Tim’s critique she drops the fake fur jacket, and keeps with just the dress. The judges found the dress too heavy with the chosen styling and once the model removed the bracelets, heavy head piece and her shoes, they liked it better. They felt the shoes were way too chunky. And they were.

Althea does an amazing job with the pleating in the skirt of her outfit, however due to the contstant puckering while she is doing this, it eats up most her time and the skirt looks great, the top looks hasitly thrown together. Carol Hannah probably does the best job fitting of the night. Her dress while simple was impeccably well put together and looked amazing on the model. She had gold braid over one shoulder while the dress hugged the models curves.

Gordana had the best interpretation of the challenge, you could see the misty colors in the fabric of the Monet painting. However, the dress was pretty from the front as Nina put it, but no so interesting in the back. Christopher fared no better. While they loved the top, they felt that the skirt looked too heavy, almost a jean fabric. And said that is due to his lack of experience at not being able to pick the right fabric.  I would have to agree.

In the end, the trifecta of Irina, Althea and Carol Hannah get the nod for Bryant Park, while Gordana and CHristopher have their dreams crushed. I think it was the right choice. Christopher had shot himself in the foot one too many times and didn’t turn out what his strength was, the play of volume in the fabric. As Irina so succinctly put it “Christopher is so in his own head that he refuses to look outside of that.” For once she was right without being mean.

Next week looks interesting as it appears Carol Hannah gets sick during Fashion Week, and it is contagious. Let’s hope it didnt spread to her designs.         – MARY