Last week on Project Runway, Justin was eliminated but Tim Gunn rode in on his white horse and rescued him from certain reality TV death! It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a sharply dressed fashion connoisseur with great catchphrases and a large vocabulary! Tim Gunn, you’re our hero!
OMG SHEWS
The designers meet said fashion superhero and a Marie Claire exec, who is not Nina Garcia, in a closet full of fabulous shoes. The designers have to choose a pair of shoes and then create an outfit inspired by them. Their model will also wear the shoes down the runway, so they are sorted out by sizes so the designer can pick the right size for their model.
But there is a little catch, besides Alexandria, who won last week and gets to pick first, the designers have to answer fashion trivia to decide in which order they get to pick. Everyone pretty much knows their stuff (even Ken, who was worried he wouldn’t know as much because of he is a self-taught designer) except Dom and Miranda, who both didn’t know that the term “little black dress” was coined by Coco Chanel.
“What kind of fashion designer doesn’t know about the ‘LBD?'” sniggered all of the other designers and all of America.
In the Mood
The designers go to Mood where they have a suggested budget of $250 for the challenge. We are also treated to one of the greatest moments in television history that includes Tim Gunn rolling around on the floor with Mood’s mascot Boston Terrier, Swatch. I can barely handle the cute!
At Mood, Miranda picks out a red plaid for the pair of pants she plans on making and Alexander finds the exact same fabric and wants it too. Miranda says she found it first, and it’s up to Alexander if he wants to get it too. He decides he’ll chance it, although he is also using it for his pants.
Alexandria had the first pick and she’s working with thigh-high strapped gladiator boots. She wants to make a simple black shift dress that is short and will feature the boots.
She’s not the only one working with a thigh-high boot: Jeremy also has a pair, but it’s solid instead of gladiator. He’s making a homemade sweater look out of chiffon with a short skirt.
Because her craftsmanship hasn’t always been the best, Helen wants to create a simple but well-tailored dress. She has a black bootie with a silver studded toe. Tim warns her not to over-embellish.
Justin has a great neon Native American print pump. He found some colors to match the print, but Tim warns him not to be too matchy.
He warns Batts about the same thing, who is working with a yellow strapped wedge. Her decision to get the same exact yellow to be the top of her dress that was on her shoe may have been a mistake, but at this point there’s little she can do about her fabric choice.
I don’t know what’s happened to Bradon in the last few weeks but what he made last week and what he is making for this challenge ain’t cute. He has these cute gold sparkly smoking flats and he cannot get it together. He said his initial instinct was to dress down the shoes, but apparently went against all of his instincts and is making a dowdy dress that is way too old for his model. He’s passionate about his “bubbling” technique on the top, but it is making his dress look heavy and dated.
Alexander and Miranda are both making a plaid pant, but Alexander’s pants are tight and Miranda’s are a little more loosely fit with (shock) a high waist. Tim worries about Miranda’s polka dot fabric for the top, saying that it looks cheap, and he encourages Alexander by saying that the two of them are different enough so they can both represent themselves apart from the other on the runway.
Ken wants to redeem himself with a black jacket dress to match his strappy black heels. Tim warns him to not add too much embellishment around the sleeves and waist, and Ken takes his advice. But he does leave a peplum accent at the hip.
Walk the (Runway) Walk
Joining our fierce and flaw-free regular judges Nina Garcia and Zac Posen this week are Kaley Cuoco of Big Bang Theory Fame and Marie Claire editor-in-chief (and above referenced not-Nina Garcia MC exec), Anne Fulenwider.
Top
Ken- Bouncing back from being in the bottom the last two weeks, the judges loved the textile of Ken’s LBD and the exaggerated peplum. Nina loves how it shows his model’s sexy legs, but still covers most of her up which strikes a nice balance.
Alexandria- Heidi says Alexandria’s little black dress is whimsical and feminine which is great because the shoes are so dominating and harsh. She says the word “wowzer” and calls it “super sexy.” Zac, however, is not especially overwhelmed by the shoes or the look.
Helen- Every one of the (female) judges say that they would wear Helen’s simple black dress. They say it was impeccably made and they think the cape is very high-fashion.
Bottom
Bradon- No surprise here, but the judges hate this look. Not only do they think the bubbling technique looks dated, but it seems completely wrong for the shoe. Zac says that they are all very impressed with Bradon’s interesting techniques, but he needs to find a way to better utilize them.
Miranda- All of our normal judges are bored with Miranda’s high-waist pant, that’s she’s already made like 100 times before. Heidi says that she doesn’t look like a cool girl, and Zac says he appreciates her quirkiness, but just wishes she would push it a little further and be a bit edgier.
Jeremy- Jeremy is shocked to find out that he’s in the bottom. Zac says the look is a bit trampy and Heidi asks if he was inspired by Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. Yikes. The judges also call out his inconsistency with being in the top one week and the bottom the next, and that makes them question who he is as a designer.
So Helen is the winner of this challenge. And I have to say, this is probably the first week I really disagreed with all of the judges’ top looks, mostly because they are all little black dresses, and this wasn’t a LBD challenge. But that’s something I’ll be addressing more when I rate the looks in tomorrow’s slideshow.
And Miranda is finally sent home. I think it was the right choice considering how often she had already been in the bottom and for the fact that she’s made the same silhouette every week. And she also has a crappy attitude.
Let’s hope Bradon can get his head out of the fashion hole he’s dug himself into for next week. Also we have the return of Michael Kors (and a poop reference, of course) to look forward to.
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(Image courtesy of Lifetime)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
