Project Runway recap: The Top 10 designers enter their Blue Period


You'd be blue too if Michael Kors came back, only to mock you!

Ah, MK. How we missed you :)

Last night Project Runway did one of their "Oh yeah, eventually you'll want to sell the clothes you make" challenges. Tis time the idea was to design two outfits for Macy's INC line, both in blue. And the winner would not get immunity, but would get to design a holiday dress that Macy's would sell. It was a team challenge, so all ten had the opportunity to pitch designs at an ONC person. She chose the five she liked, and then those five got to choose who they wanted to partner with.

The teams were:

Team Leader Althea chose Logan
TL Christopher chose Epperson
TL Louise chose Nicolas (Which sucked for her, because he had immunity, o any failure would be all on her)
TL Irina chose Gordana (or rather she let Gordana choose her...which was oddly passive)
TL Carol Hannah was left with Shirin

It seems like Shirin and Irina get no respect from their fellow designers, but I've mostly liked their respective work. Is it just that I'm naive and (extra points for recognizing random movie reference) entranced by "crowd pleasing" design?

So, what did we learn this episode?

-That ruffles make Nicolas sick. Feathers, on the other hand? Totally classy and not at all over the top or overly feminine.
-That Louise is scatterbrained, and that for some reason ErsatzMood is not nearly as interesting as RealMood.
-That Epperson may be quiet, but he is quietly back-stabby. Like yeah, we got the point that you and Qristyl didn't get along. No need to bring it up again and dis her again. Stay classy, Epperson.
-That teamwork is hard. Seriously, I would like to know what kind of isolation chamber these people all reside in in their regular lives. It's like they've never had to interact with other people before.

Anyway, on to the show, where we see that Heidi can wear an fugly outfit...two weeks in a row!!! I mean, that is something I would wear to bed. And only if my S.O. was away on travel. We also joyfully experience the return of MK, if not ninagarcia, and we experienced great gladness.

1. Irina and Gordana

Look #1 was the dress that everyone loved except me. I called it a schamtte. It was a sundress with a dark navy bikini-style top and a chevron-striped billowy, flowy, long handkerchief skirt. It made the model look both flat as a board and like she had a huge ass. It would definitely be a great maternity dress for a boho chic devotee...in fact someone should check whether this is just a knock-off of something Nicole Ritchie recently wore.

Look #2 was a navy pencil skirt with a kick pleat paired with a light blue sheer-ish short-sleeve top with a plunging vee-neck. And an even lighter blue sheer chiffon as a sash and trim on the neck. It was really quite elegant and lovely.

2. Althea and Logan

a. Look #1 was a teeny-tiny navy blue suit with a silver top. Gee, that looks familiar. Did Althea think if she just copied most of her winning design from a few weeks back, no one would notice. Or that they wouldn't care adding a slit to an already too-mini skirt was asking for trouble? This was just trampy.

Look #2 was so boring I almost can't bear to write about it. And where was the blue, by the way. This was a symphony in gray. hence the boring. First there were dark gray flat-front pants with a wide waistband. These pants made the model look even less curvy and womanly than she already does. Absolutely no curves allowed. including no ass. Absolutely no ass allowed. The top was a lighter gray sleeveless tank with ruffle things around the armholes and vee neckline, with extra ruffles hanging from the front. I began to feel Nicolas's loathing for ruffles myself.

3. Lousie and Nicolas

Look #1was a pale blue shift dress with a navy blue ruffled happy trail, starting with a big tribble of blue ruffles on her let shoulder and bosom and leading straight down the middle of the dress...to infinity and beyond. Yes, it's as bad as I'm implying, look at the picture!

Look #2 was a navy shift dress with a navy and light blue clown ruffle effect down the front. Not really a full-on rosette ruffle, more like Leanne-style folds and ripples. This seemed kind of flight attendant-y, but mostly the fit was horrible. Every seam was just a mess of pulls and creases. Make sure you look at the back. Awful.

4. Carol Hannah and Shirin

Look #1 was basically a flight attendant outfit, only no one, not even MK, said so. There was a high-waisted navy skirt and a peacock blue sleeveless bodice with an asymmetrical neckline. And a blue kerchief tied around the neck. Total flight attendant. From the 70s. I guess they were going for Mad Men, not flight attendant, but other than a giant keyhole back, which was kind of sexy and unexpected, I thought this was oh-so-very-coffee-tea-or-me.

Look #2 was another outfit (like Irina's dress) that I did not get why the judges liked it. Think Olivia Newton John in the climactic carnival scene in Grease. Dark capri leggings. Big wide leather obi sash over a peacock blue sweater tunic with more ruffles and floppy short sleeves. Sorry, outfit, you are not the "one that I want". Woo hoo hoo, honay!

5. Christopher and Epperson

Look #1was basically a big, oversized striped Oxford man-shirt with a sash. There was some shimmer. But that didn't do enough to make this anything other than really plain, boring and looking like it was thrown together without much thought.

Look #2 was a trainwreck headed for the circus. Dark capri leggings (seriously, how are capri leggings in so many of the outfits this year?) topped with a teal bubble tunic with a clown ruffle collar/neckline. Not only was it stand-alone dreadful, it had no relation to Look #1. Bad idea+Bad execution=Christopher crying all over the runway.


Althea and Logan were sent to safety, so that mean the judges no likee:
Louise and Nicolas
Christopher and Epperson

But they likee:
Irina and Gordana
Carol Hannah and Shirin

Irina took the win for her schmatte, but you know, that there wasn't anything much better on display last night, was there?

After much big-eyed gulping (from Louise) and wimpy weeping (from Christopher) and inaccurate foreshadowing about two designers going home (from Heidi), Louise was auf'ed, as she should have been last week.

So, I'm sure you're gathering that this was not a stellar week for the designers. Which was disappointing after two straight weeks of creativity and innovation. The lack of appealing designer carried over...I mean, check out the dress Irina designed for Macy's as the winner this week. Looks like a 70s disco dress with a big butterfly applique. Feh. And Meh, for that matter.

But what did you think?

Posted: Fri - October 2, 2009 at 04:07 PM       EmailFeedback

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