This week's episode of Project Runway, aka Thank God For Second Chances, begins with the designers being dragged back to the runway after last week's elimination. Heidi's on the runway (still in that pretty blue dress from last week) and tells the designers they will be in for a little r&r before the final round of eliminations and she will send them to one of the most spectacular places in the Big Apple. And, surprisingly, we see our remaining designers head into the Presidential Suite and the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, complete with champagne. Gretchen heads over to do the honors, and disappointingly, no POP, as she removes the cork from the bottle. Nice control Gretch. 1. The New York Challenge. After each of the designers talks about what the competition has meant for them, they head to the roof of the hotel where Mayor Bloomberg meets them. Wow. Doesn't he have better things to do? Nah. We soon find out that this week's challenge is a giant ad for the tourism industry of NYC. That's right, the designers will be required to design a look inspired by New York itself.
After shopping at Mood, the designers return to the work room, where Tim informs them they have until 11 tonight and all day tomorrow to complete their looks and, wait for it, at least one of them will be going home. The designers get to work and we are quickly able to assess each designer's current state of mind. Mondo is so stressed he takes a nap. Gretchen says she kind of likes being there, but she also just kind of wants to go home. Of course, Gretch is still able to voice her opinions of everyone else's work, which in retrospect is actually really nice of her as we usually agree with what she has to say and we think it actually helps the others do a better job. For example, Gretchen tells Andy his short black cocktail dress, with the flower pin looks like a Madame. Andy instantly sees it and says it does kind of look like Mai Ling who likes to give happy endings. We can't unsee this once the image is there. Andy wisely removes the flower later, which helps greatly with getting rid of this image.
The designers work away while Mondo snoozes. Mondo finally wakes up from his nap with only three hours to work. Uh oh.2. Tim's Take. The next day, Tim comes by the work room and makes the rounds. He likes Mondo's shapes and says it's subtle and nice. April explains to Tim that she's doing two different types of sleeves. We are thinking uh oh on this and Tim reminds her to use the great editing skills she has. Tim next says Andy's look is executed amazingly well, but he should be careful of it looking too Real Housewives of New Jersey. Tim drops by Gretchen's workstation and Tim tells her to keep her customer in mind. Gretchen has a strange outpouring of emotion telling Tim she's really glad to have met him and will always cherish his help. Does Gretchen plan on going home? Because she sure acts like it. Michael C is making a draped dress based on the Statue of Liberty. Wow. Really? Tim says Mike should look at the other designers and ask himself if he's being ambitious enough. Gretchen quips that Michael C is either an idiot savant or just an idiot. Unfortunately for you Gretchen, the judges normally seem to think he's the former rather than the latter.
3. The Runway. Tonight's guest judge is...the Godfather of Fierce, himself, Christian Siriano! Fun choice. However, his judging lets us down just a bit as the producers seemed to want to reign in his energy and not let him go totally diva Christian. No one can upstage Michael Kors after all! We at least enjoyed his judging as he was often kind where the other judges were not. After the introduction of judges, the models start the long strut down the runway...Mike C: Well, up until now, all we saw really of this dress was the front draped black fabric which was pretty enough, but on the runway we get to see the rest of it. The model walks down the runway, ho hum, and then bam! She turns the corner to reveal a super hot low back on the dress. And we hate to admit it but we like this dress. It may be the best thing he's done. And we're sad because we know this means he will likely take a spot and we don't think he deserves it because his clothes normally just aren't that interesting (not that this one is that interesting, but it is pretty and wearable). The judges also love the dress. Michael Kors wants to make love to this dress, saying it's a showstopper that it is beautifully draped. He later calls it the dress of the show. Nina loves the back and calls it phenomenally beautiful. High praise. Wow. Heidi says she loves the super high slit and would love to wear this dress somewhere. OK. He's a shoe in. When questioned about what kind of material he used, Mike C has no idea. Christian worries that this means Mike C has no idea what he's doing and that his design may have been entirely accidental. We think Christian is right, but we also think it's just Michael C's lack of experience and he can likely learn how to be consistent. Whether or not he should be allowed to do so when he is up against designers who already know what they are doing is another question. However, Heidi is god on this show and Michael C is in the top 3.
Gretchen: Gretch presents a weird motorcycle jacket that does not look like her at all. Plus her blousy shirt just looks weird with it, while the skirt is not right at all. We absolutely hate it. The judges agree with us. Michael Kors says he's confused and that she has obviously lost her steam. Nina agrees and says it doesn't look like her at all. Gretchen breaks down and cries and starts bitching about having to fit herself into cookie cutter challenges. We expect the judges to rip her to shreds for complaining about the premise that the entire show is based on. Instead, Christian tries to be nice and asks Gretch what she would show if she could do an entire collection. We think Christian's a pretty swell guy for doing this. Heidi then says she thinks Gretchen's better than this and is surprised. Later she says the look is unwearable. We agree.Gretchen ends up in the bottom 2.
Andy: Andy shows a black shiny cocktail dress with some zigzag strappy things in the back. It is severe. And very Matrix. We like it. The judges agree, but MK says he's not getting Central Park at all as it looks more like Blade Runner. Nina loves the way the fabric looks wet and that it's the perfect little black dress. Heidi likes the lines. Christian loves the look, too. Andy is in the top 3.
Mondo: Mondo shows a black and white dress with a houndstooth print. It is typical Mondo, and we're finding ourselves a bit bored with Mondo's particular obsession with houndstooth. The judges like his look very much, however. MK says he is happy Mondo didn't use color as a crutch. Nina says he has no lack of range. Heidi, however, agrees with us and thinks she's seen this look from him before. Mondo is in the top 3.
April: Woah. April presents a long poofy black dress with two different kinds of sleeves and a crazy neckline. Gretchen had commented earlier that it looked witchy. It does, but we still think it's interesting. It's not April's best work and she should have listened to Tim's advice and edited. We also have a feeling the judges will not tolerate yet another black look from her. We are right. Michael Kors says it is the same thing from her and she shows no joy in her clothes. He calls her model a pregnant witch. Heidi asks April why she hates color. April says she loves black b/c it's dramatic in its darkness. Fair enough, we say. April cries. Heidi then says the dress has beautiful lines. Nina says this is a missed opportunity and is not certain she has any range. Christian says he thinks it looks like April could do something more in a line. Of course he does. He loves black, too. April is in the bottom 2. During judging, the designers are also required to pick the two designers they would like to see at fashion week with them. Michael C. chooses Andy and Mondo. Gretchen chooses Mondo and April. Andy chooses Mondo and April. Mondo chooses Mike C and April. April chooses Mondo and Gretchen. Final Tally: 4 votes for Mondo; 1 vote for Andy; 3 votes for April; 1 vote for Mike C; 1 vote for Gretchen. Based on the collections we've seen at fashion week, the designers knew what they were talking about. We think Mondo and April clearly had the best collections.
Unfortunately, the judges can't see the future. As such, Michael C is the winner of the challenge. He's in along with Mondo and Andy...and Gretchen.
And so April is out. This is heartbreaking. The decoy collection she ended up showing at fashion week was pretty fab (we don't think we're giving anything away here, although aren't you so tempted to cheat and have a look at the collections yourself?). Sad face. And even though Gretchen was also in the bottom two, and clearly made the worst garment of the bunch, she will have a chance to win this thing. Or will she?The designers are all together again for the last time in the kiss and cry room before the finale. Gretchen comments that she's glad the judges gave her a second chance just like the rest of the lousy designers. We don't think it was meant as an insult, but Gretch sure has a way of putting things.
Tim comes in to collect April. Through her tears, April looks back at the remaining four designers. "Make Big Mama Proud" she says. Ah. April you were robbed.
Tim congratulates the other designers and then, in a cruel twist of fate, informs them that they will be competing for three, not four, spaces at fashion week. Evil, but typical, and seems to happen most years in some form or fashion. At least they did it in advance this year, we suppose.
Stay tuned for next week's PR...
To see this week's designs: http://www.mylifetime.com/shows/project-runway
I agree, I loved her decoy collection. I thought that she was going to be the surprise win. While Mondo seems to be the most loved, I've really liked April.
ReplyDeleteMichael C's dress illustrated what is frustrating about him making it through.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what his, to use a well worn phrase, 'point of view' is. Mondo is the print and color guy, Andy is the Anime meets Runway guy, April is Goth/Deconstructed girl and Gretchen is Bohemian chic. Who is Michael, he just seems to bounce from thing to thing and I'm not sure if he even knows who he is.
It just seems strange that April left because she kept to her point of view a bit too much and Michael C. got praised for not having a point of view.
But like you said, Heidi rules.
If April had made that dress in another color, with even a hint of brightness to it, she would've been a finalist.
ReplyDeleteWell, regardless of how repetitive the black torn ruffle stuff may have become, she is interesting and demonstrates some taste, neither of which can be said of Michael C's dated mish-mash of crap. Like, seriously. There is such a thing as too narrow an aesthetic, but that's still better than not having one at all. April got screwed, and the fact that Michael C's awful, unflattering, plain black literal Liberty shroud was praised to the Heavens just really rubs me the wrong way.
ReplyDeleteClearly what Lifetime wants for the final is variety, and they were afraid April and Andy would be too alike, full of black weirdness. Ironically, April's actual final collection has no black at all If I recall correctly.
ReplyDeleteJessica--You are right. April's final collection is all light colors and has a bit of a straight jacket vibe to it, which I really liked.
ReplyDelete