Project Runway: Death of the Little Mermaid

Hello gentle people! It's time once again to recap this week's episode of Project Runway, aka Death of the Little Mermaid


1. Val and Ivy are Bosom Friends. Tonight's episode begins with Val and Ivy expressing their feelings of love and friendship for one another. OK, we were not aware of that, but it doesn't bode well for either one that they are going on and on about how great the other one is. Cut to the rest of the gang...talking about how much they can trust each other and love one another. OK, what's going on here? Does Lifetime feel like our PR crew has been too mean to one another lately or something?


Cut to Heidi on the runway. Hello. Apparently, the winner of this challenge will not only be winning the love and respect of the judges, but also a big chunk of change. We wonder if Heidi knows what that means. What's the catch? Apparently, there's no catch (other than taxes, of course). After the designers return to the workroom, Tim comes in, with the Loreal guy, and explains that the designers will be creating a high fashion, couture look to complement Loreal's new eyeshadow duo. The winning design will be featured in a Marie Claire advertorial for Loreal AND the winning designer will win $20,000! Everyone oohs and aahs.

Tim next explains that the designers must also incorporate one of the eye shadow duos into their design.Tim warns the designers that they should all avoid velvet like the plague (we're wondering if there's been a recall on it or something) as it is impossible to work with. Mondo chooses "bright" (shocker) as does Ivy (double shocker), Christopher and Val choose "crystal", April chooses "matte", Mike C. and Andy choose "metallic", and Gretchen, the rebel hippie, chooses "velvet". After the selections are made, Tim lets the designers know that they will have $300 and, wait for it, two whole days for this challenge. The designers fall over themselves in joy. How naive our young designers are.


2. Tim's Take. The designers hop along to Mood, singing kumbaya, and meet an adorable French bulldog named Swatch. Soon after the designers get back to the workroom to get down to the nitty gritty, Master Tim enters to give his two cents.

Swatch the French Bull Dog?

Tim begins flitting about the room, without saying much to anyone. But he does spend considerably more time with best friends Val and Ivy. Val, who has chosen crystal, tells Tim that she plans to do a "shoulder raised over a shoulder." We're not sure what that means exactly, but Val assures us that this look will be one of her best. It's like she's trying to jinx herself, you know? Tim tells Val he thinks it looks like a lot of work. Mr. Gunn knows that she's jinxing herself.

  Tim also gives some detailed criticism to Ivy, who has chosen bright eyeshadow, and is using aqua and royal blue fabrics. She explains to Tim that when she thinks of "bright", she thinks of Hawaii and the ocean and she wants to emulate the waves of the ocean in her dress, with fabric waves crashing into the dress. Sounds like BS to us. Tim warns her to keep a critical eye and not to to be too literal.

After Tim's critiques, Gretchen pays a visit to Mondo's side of the room and let's him know, that you know, between him and her, she totally thinks the two of them should be going to fashion week.We think Gretchen may be right on this one.

3. The Twist. The next day, Tim pays an unexpected visit to the workroom. Wait didn't he do that last week, too, and the week before? Tim looks grim: "I am loathe to present what I about to present."
Apparently, the designers will now be required to complete not only the couture look they're doing now, but must also complete a ready to wear companion look by tomorrow for the runway.

Everyone's upset, but Val's panic attack is imminent. Despite the fear in the room, the designers start dreaming about the cash they might win.April, god love her, says she'll use the money to pay her student loans and buy herself  a miniature pony. Mondo says he can see the dollar signs in everyone's eyes and he's really hoping the others will drop the ball because of it.


However, by the time Tim checks in on the designers again, Val is literally on the edge of a nervous breakdown. She tells Tim that she hates her look and doesn't want to have to defend something that she doesn't like. Tim tells her no designer wants to compromise their design, but that sometimes you just don't have time. After Tim leaves, Val enters a state of hysteria and flees to the bathroom in tears. Ivy and Gretch chase after her and try to calm her down. Val finally gets a hold of herself and returns to the workroom.



4. The Runway.

Heidi introduces tonight's judge: Naeem Khan, who actually showed a pretty gorge collection recently at fashion week. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/una-lamarche/naeem-khan-springsummer-2_b_720677.html. Naeem also proves to be a pretty fantastic Project Runway judge. He gives solid constructive criticism but is still respectful of the designers.


April: April's first look consists of black hot pants and a long black coat with puff sleeves. Not bad, not bad. Her second look is a black cocktail dress with exaggerated ruffles for sleeves. Very cute and very wearable, but we're starting to wonder if she hates color. The judges don't seem to mind, for now, and she's safe.


Mondo: Mondo's first look is a column gown with bustle. The giant black bustle/flounce is attached to the black column dress and is made up of yellow, turquoise and hot pink striped fabric, which all seems to work harmoniously together. Mondo also made a hat with black loops, which is pretty fantastic. The whole look very much reminds us of the Alice In Wonderland looks that were so popular a couple of seasons ago. Mondo's ready to wear look is also impressive and consists of a high necked, mid thigh sheath dress, with a black and white chevron panel down the front and back. Very cute.

The judges agree with us and Mondo is in the top 3. Heidi and Naeem both love the hat. Naeem is impressed by Mondo's bold use of so many stripes. Nina, however, thinks the fabric looks cheap. Michael Kors says the back of the couture gown looks like a Kentucky Derby hat has exploded, but apparently that's a good thing and he loves it. 

Under the sea.

Ivy: Oh my. Ivy's first look is an aqua gown, with royal blue ruffles all over it. The whole thing appears to be made out of some sort of horrible poly chiffon. The ready to wear look is just as terrible, and is a short, strapless royal blue, with aqua lining beneath it. The aqua lining hangs below the blue chiffon and we're not so sure it's intentional. As her look goes down the runway, Ivy says she thinks overall she'll be safe. We think she must be delusional as both of the looks rank up there as some of the most heinous to ever walk the show's runway.

Unsurprisingly, Ivy is in the bottom 3. Ivy gives her Hawaiian water explanation to the judges. Nina's eyes look like they're going to pop out of her head when Ivy says that she styled her model's hair like a wave. "Bridesmaids under the sea", Michael Kors says. Naeem says she tried very hard, but it's an overkill. Heidi is nice for once and tells Ivy she didn't hate it as much as the others did.

Heidi showing plenty of boobs and legs.

Mike C: Mike C's first look is a burgundy sparkly gown, with some kind of crazy wiring in the bottom of it giving it a stiff shape and the strangest train we've ever seen. The train is insanely long and seems to have a mind of its own, refusing to move with the gown mainly because it's so stiff that it doesn't move at all. The second look isn't that bad. It's short and strapless, made of the same material, and has hip flares. We actually think it's cute enough, even if it's not exceptional.

Mike C ends up in the bottom 3. Naeem says he likes the cocktail dress, but not the couture gown. Heidi, on the other hand, thinks the dress is vulgar, explaining to the silly little fool that the rule is boobs or legs, but not both. Heidi, are you really being honest with yourself on this one? Michael Kors doesn't understand why Mike C has styled his model like Scarlet O'Hara and asks Mike C why he decided to use all the curtains from Tara on the train of the dress. That Michael Kors sure is a card.

Christopher's inspiration.

Christopher : Christopher's dress is bizarre. The bottom half is made up of a rose colored material with white material wrapped around the mid-section. The top is also white and looks like a cheap knock off of Sandra Bullock's Marchesa Oscar gown. It's hideous. Christopher's ready to wear look is a simple white sheath dress with a rose-colored panel down the front. It's cute. Yet, Christopher's lucky to be safe this week, in our opinion, as the couture look was pretty atrocious.

Gretchen: Gretchen's first look is a long flowy dress, with kimono-like sleeves, made of a purple and gray printed velvet with a purple silk panel in the front and a gorgeous back with two purple panels forming a v, edged in beading. The bottom of the gown also has very subtle feather detailing. We really love the back of the dress, but the front is almost ruined by the too-wide plain purple panel peaking out from the printed fabric.We were not fans of Gretchen's second look. A shorter version of the first dress (minus the feathers and beading), the primary fabric of the second look was a slate gray with a blue and purple chevron panel peaking out from the bottom of the dress. To us, it looked like the printed fabric was inserted like a loin cloth. Never a good idea in our opinion.

Yet, Gretchen's in the top 3 this week and we think she should be based on the couture gown. At judging, Michael Kors likes the high fashion look and thinks it is very wearable. Heidi wishes the beading in the back were also in the front (as do we), but she likes the bohemian flavor. Naeem says he would also like to see emphasis in the front. Nina makes a shameless plug to Loreal, complimenting the makeup and says she think the velvet would really look good in a photo shoot.

Val: Val's first look is a white one-shouldered dress with a crazy double loop extending from the one shoulder like a couple of sparkly hula hoops. Ugh and ugh. Val's second dress is a black short halter dress with no personality and which we're pretty sure we made in home ec. Hideous and boring.

Val is deservedly in the bottom three. Naeem tells Val she should let the fabric speak to her and forcing fabric is never a good idea. Michael Kors agrees. Nina says her couture look looks like Miss Guatemala--a beauty pageant dress. And then the kiss of death: "I really question your taste." Watch out, Val. Nina's got your number. Michael Kors says the diamante on the shoulder is wacky and looks like the only proper accessory is a wand. Kors is on fire tonight with the commentary.

Andy: Woah. Wowza. Bad ass. But...costume-y. Andy's self-professed warrior couture look consists of pants with built in boots and a jacket with overlaid ruffles in burgundy and black metallics. It's crazy-looking, but is definitely interesting. Andy's second look is adorable and may be the best of the ready to wear looks. A black long sleeved, tight cocktail dress, with black sparkle metallic panels down the inside of the sleeves and along the sides of the dress. Really, really cute.

He's in the top 3 and we agree. Naeem says good for you for staying with your vision and praises Andy for the cocktail dress. Michael Kors really likes the non-obvious metallic in the ready to wear look and he thinks the boot-pants of the couture look could be very wearable. Nina LOVES the boot-pants. Heidi thinks the ready to wear look is pretty, but does not love the couture design.

And...Mondo wins! Again. Mondo's psyched that he now has $20,014 in his bank account. April asks him if he'll buy her a little pony. We love you April. We're happy with Mondo's win, but worry the judges will soon tire of his colorful, graphic designs.


It comes down to Ivy and Val, bosom friends, for the auf. And...Ivy is out. Val tells Ivy she wishes she could go home for her. Ivy gives Val some advice before leaving: stop your bitching and stay strong.


Ivy lets us know that she plans to keep on trucking. Well, Ivy we were never huge fans of either your designs (although you occasionally surprised us) or your personality, but best of luck.

To check out this week's designs and to rate the runway: http://www.mylifetime.com/shows/project-runway/season-8/rate-the-runway/episode-9#id=1