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

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

Do you remember the old adage in grade school?  “Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire?” This is what must have been running thru many of the designer’s heads this week on Project Runway.

Johnny Sakalis, who if you have watched the show faithfully from Week 1- when he had a melt down during the Red Carpet Challenge, has turned out to be a fraud.  Ah Johnny, it pains me to say that. My heart actually broke for you when learning of your meth addiction that you had beat. I smiled when you snapped your fingers a few weeks later saying “Bet you all didn’t know I taught runway classes.”  And then? Well Johnny, I have to say our short lived love affair is over. 

The challenge this week was to design an outfit made entirely out of newspaper. The materials were provided by The Los Angeles Times.  Our faithful designers were given three minutes to grab as many newspapers as possible for themselves from the various sections of the paper. They could use muslin as the infrastructure underneath, but it could not show.  Also available was paint amongst other materials. Pretty interesting challenge, right?

Well for the most part it was. Christopher designed a beautiful top and dress. The top was a hard shell he had put glue and shelack on to give it a hard shiny shell. His skirt was amazing. It looked feathery and light. Somewhat hard to believe it was actually made out of newspaper.  Christopher has been one of my favorites from Week 1, and I look for him to go far.

The big winner of this episode was Irina. She made a gorgeous Chanel inspired coat. It looked as though the collar around the top and the cuffs of the sleeves were made of fur, it was so fuzzy looking.  Guest Judge Tommy Hilfiger declared newspaper the “new alternative to fur” after seeing it.  Other highlights included Althea’s dress. She continues to turn in a fantastic effort every week, even after being granted immunity  after her big win from the last episode.

And then…. well there was Johnny. After his first attempt was declared to look as though it was done by kindergartners by Tim Gunn, Johnny threw the dress away. What followed was pretty amazing to watch.  It vaguely resembled a train wreck that you can’t take your eyes off of. Mr. Sakalis proceeds to concoct a story that the first dress was ruined by the steamer. Okay. So, how exactly do you even use a steamer on a newspaper dress?  As the other designers got wind of this, particulary Nicolas, they were all pretty peeved. Johnny even tells his model Emarie this malarkey.  One of the last shots you see was Johnny working on a crossword puzzle before it was time to quit for the day. Utterly unbelievable. There had to be some would be contestants out there ready to just scream after watching him throw this opportunity away with his behaviour.

Cut to the runway show. Johnny lands in the group with the lowest and highest scores. When asked why his dress basically was simple and unispired, he proceeds to tell Heidi the same bunch of fiction that he had been telling everyone else. Nicolas then calls him out on it, and Johnny gets mad, branding Nicolas a ”jerk” for doing so. Needless to say, Johnny and Nicolas both end up in the bottom two.  And after conferring with guest judges Zoe Glassner (who again fills in for Nina Garcia), Eva Longoria Parker, as well as Tommy Hilfiger, Johnny gets the boot.  And well deserved at that, as well as ruining my belief in him.

It is turning out to be a bumpy ride. The next one to go? I am thinking Nicolas, but in this group of designers, it is never a given.  The lesson learned? Never lie on the runway. Heid knows all with the help of her production elves. Are you listening now Johnny? 

-MARY

Dude, where’s my designer? Yes, it was the surf wear challenge this week on Project Runway. It also held a first for this young season. The designers were paired into teams of two. And a little history was made too, but more on that later. Now for the question on everyone’s mind-who ended up with Mitchell?

Poor Ra’mon. He drew the proverbial short straw, being handpicked by Mitchell since Mitchell was chosen as one of the team leaders by Tim Gunn. The producers sense of irony was delicious – pick the designer who has been in the bottom two the past two weeks and let him choose someone to take down with him! Ra’mon’s take on all of this? He equated it to having a big bullseye painted on him, while Mitchell was just grateful to have someone to carry him thru a challenge. You could hear a collective sigh of relief after the stone was cast with Ra’mon as his partner. The rest of the designers knew after that for all practical purposes that they were more than likely safe for another week.

The challenge was to design a surf wear inspired look. The teams were given 20 minutes cultivating information from a group of surfer girls Tim had collected on the beach and a budget of $50. My favorite line from this was from Nicolas, who said that one of the girls was talking about how they like little hoodies, and his reply was “Hoodies don’t belong on the runway!” One day into the challenge they were given a twist (like we didn’t see that one coming). Tim gleefully announces that they have to make one more design. An avant garde look that ties into their surf wear, given a budget of $200 for this look.

Quite frankly, there was some great pairings in this challenge. Shirin (who had immunity from last week) and Carole Hannah, Althea and Louise; and Christopher and Logan. And it showed. Each one breezed thru to the next round.

Then, well then there were Qristyl and Epperson. It was a marriage headed faster to divorce court in the fashion world then Tim Gunn can say “Make it Work!” Qristly likened it to a “Student/Teacher” relationship. She did not believe she needed to learn anymore from Epperson. In watching the editing, it made me wonder if Epperson actually was as big of a condescending jerk as he came across as to us. Or if Qristyl really is the shrew she was portrayed to be thanks to some crafty editing by the producers. Their look was not cohesive. Time will tell how these two do. Needless to say, they ended up in the bottom two teams, along with Gordana and Nicolas. The latter designed a beautiful tie dyed macrame top, but I am guessing the judges did not like the shoddiness of the white pants with it, nor their avant garde look. Would anyone else but me like a peak at the judges scorecards each week?

Here is where the irony comes into play for the second time this epidsode. Mitchell and Ra’mon’s team WINS! Yes, I said WIN. But after some further investigating by Heidi, she learns that though Mitchell was the team leader he neither came up with the concept, or helped Ra’mon design the avant garde look which Ramon spent the few precious minutes they had left hand dyeing in the sink to give it a bit more color. It was made of neoprene, and overall pretty fabulous.

After dismissing everyone but Mitchell and Qristyl Heidi tells Mitchell that never before in the history of Project Runway has the winning team had a designer both win and lose at the same time. She then delivers the kiss of death that ironically Mitchell had uttered earlier in the show…”Three strikes and you are out!” So Mitchell not only gets the scorn of the America for sticking around for three weeks, but now he holds the record of being the first winning team member to get kicked off. Now we as the viewing audience can breathe our collective sigh of relief.

But with one last thought – who now will become the new Mitchell? Qristyl perhaps??

Malvin, we barely knew you. Here we are, week two of “Project Runway,” and is anyone but me starting to smell a conspiracy? First, Ari gets indubiously booted. And Mitchell lives another week to stay in the competition. Now this week, again, Mitchell “squeaks by” to quote Heidi and we barely have the chance
to know Malvin before he too is “Auf’d. Two weeks into the season the judges have given the heave ho to two of the more dare I say “colorful” contestants. And Mitchell sticks around for one more chance.

How did we arrive at the Malvin-Mitchell showdown? Well, this week’s challenge involved supermodel/actress Rebecca Romijn, who at the time of the filming, had not yet given birth to her twin daughters that were born in late December, 2008. She asked the designers to make her a “chic”pregnancy
outfit, one that she would be able to wear to various events including a lunch, or a premiere. There were no restrictions on the this challenge, only that it be wearable.

Unfortunately this is where the beginning of the end arrived for Malvin. He had a great idea in theory, thinking “mother”,”earth”, “fertility” and a mother hen guarding her egg. The train began to derail soon after. His design was a little ivory colored top that went over a black tank top with feathers he had painstakingly attached. Chic? Yes, but not when you are about to give birth. When you looked at it all you saw was the egg shape. Nina Garcia said it looked like the baby was born already and the model was carrying it in the sling form of the ivory top. Rebecca was not a fan, and Malvin had even been warned by Tim Gunn in the workroom it did not look good. But, he still chose to carry on. Tim later told Ra’Mon (we will address his outfit in a minute) not to go “cuckoo” on his outfit. When Ra’Mon asked if that was in regards to him, Tim answers with “No, “cuckoo” had already happened.” Follow music and a shot of Malvin.

Malvin’s counterpart in the bottom two, Mitchell, did not fair much better. He had a great design initially, having made an outfit of shorts, a tank top and a lightweight sweater. At first glance his model on the runway looked cool and comfortable. Then you looked a bit closer. The shorts that were not gathered properly, and were too short in length. The tank top was too clingy for a woman about to give birth and wanting to look chic, not shabby. Heidi’s description? “A pregnant mess.”

Then Ra’mon, the designer who had started at the University of Iowa. He made what was referred to all night as the “bowling bag” dress. Though it was in beautiful shades of purple and gray. When you looked at it from the front, the model looked very slim, as he intended. But when you looked from the side, the placing of the panels made her look like a bowling bag.

There were some definite highlights in this challenge. Althea, turned in a beautiful long flowing dress. The dress looked effortless and comfortable having been made from a lightweight jersey material. Judges praised her for the details. Louise turned in a beautiful crimson dress that had lace along the top that she had hand dyed. The night’s winner, Shirin, turned in a beautiful dress and wool coat that was lined inside. It won, and all the judges including Heidi and Rebecca, agreed it was the most wearable. Just in case you wondered why there has been no mention of Michael Kors, he was replaced for this episode by Monique Lillier, most known for her beautiful designer gowns.

In the end of course Mitchell was given clemency for another week and we lost Malvin. Who while he may have been too conceptually ahead for us, the viewing public, was nevertheless one of the kinder, gentler souls on “Project Runway.” I fear they are ridding themselves of the contestants that may be able to sustain our attention for the entire season. We shall see if Mitchell survives another week. Any takers??

Lastly, in Nina Garcia’s book “The Style Strategy” she quotes Elsa Schiaparelli as saying “In difficult times, fashion is always outrageous.” Perhaps she knew Malvin.

–MARY