Jul 17 2008
Here We Go Again!
The fifth and last season of the show on Bravo (it moves to Lifetime for its 6th season) opened with the sixteen new designers meeting up in the New Gotham apartment complex where they'll be staying. They were divided into four apartments - with four guys/girls in each. Each designer is given a brief intro to explain their fashion style and what they've been doing before Project Runway. After that, they all headed to the roof to meet Tim and Heidi, who welcome them with champagne and encouraging words.
When She Said "Tomorrow Morning," She Meant It!
Heidi told the designers that they wouldn't get their first challenge until the next morning, and sure enough, at 4 am, Tim Gunn came knocking on their door. Many were caught off-guard, including a designer who answered the door wearing nothing but a towel. We're guessing Tim has seen it all by now, which may explain his nonplussed demeanor.
Familiar Place, Familiar Face
The first challenge took the designers to a familiar place - Gristedes grocery store, site of the first ever Project Runway challenge back in Season 1. Just like in Season 1, the designers were tasked with creating an outfit from materials they could purchase inside the store. To give them the challenge specifications, the show brought back the winner of the Season 1 Gristedes challenge, Austin Scarlett, who told them innovation was the key to this challenge. He then handed them envelopes containing 75 dollars and told them they had 30 minutes to buy what they needed and 11 hours in the workroom to complete the challenge.
"Pretty Ugly in a Great Way"
That's how Kelli, the 27 year old from Ohio, described her design, made from dyed vacuum cleaner bags, push pins, notebook binders and coffee filters.
Annoying-licious
Blayne, the 23 year old from Washington, may prove to be as annoying as last year's winner, Christian, with his tendency to spout catchphrases. But unlike Christian's "fierce" Blayne likes to add 'licious" to words, which definitely ups the annoyance factor. He deemed his design, "girlicious."
Oh the Irony!
Stella, the 42 year old from Queens, New York, freaked when she discovered that the trash bags she had picked weren't exactly the best materials, design-wise. She declared that her trash bags where "the worst fabric [I've worked with and] it's trash!" Well, yes it is, Stella. That's because they're trash bags. What did you expect?
Slackers!
In his pre-runway assessment, Tim expressed dismay at how many designers chose a tablecloth (or some variation thereof) which he said was simply a fabric substitute, and thus, was not the kind of innovation that the judges would be looking for. He said the challenge was about using things in "untraditional and unexpected" ways. He went on to note that the judges are likely to say "you guys are a bunch of slackers" given their design choices. Of course, this promptly freaked out many of the designers.
Too Close for Comfort
At the fitting with their models, Blayne declared that his model was "curvier" than he had expected so he had to do some modifications on his design to get it to fit, including, "hand stitching the crotch area." We're guessing the model wasn’t too thrilled with this, considering they had just met only minutes before!
Funniest Phrase of the Night
33 year old Liberian native, Korto, stated of her design (paper tablecloth with neckline accented by fresh produce) - "I pray all the tomatoes stay in place, 'cause if they don't, I'm going home." That made us laugh because it's not a phrase you'd ever hear in everyday conversation.
The Judges
Michael Kors and Nina Garcia return to join Heidi as the regular judging triumvirate. They are joined by guest judge Austin Scarlett for this challenge.
Vacuum Cleaner Bags, Plastic Cups and Fresh Produce are The Best!
The top 3 designs belonged to Daniel, Korto and Kelli. The judges loved the innovation of Daniel's blue plastic cup cocktail dress, which was exactly what it sounded like - a sleeveless cocktail dress made entirely from plastic cups which Daniel ironed to make them moldable. The judges thought his design was "creative" and "smart" and they applauded the fact that he didn't use a "fabric substitute" like a tablecloth. They also thought it showed great "bravado [and] confidence" that he would actually look at something like plastic cups and think to use it to make a dress. The judges thought Korto's yellow dress, made from a paper tablecloth, was a "great look" and "chic." They did deduct her for using a tablecloth, but gave her points for using fresh produce as she was the only designer to do so. They loved the overall "visual impact" of her design and thought it was "impeccably done." Finally, they thought Kelli's dress "pushed the envelope" in how she used various materials and really showed her "resourcefulness." They were impressed by her "artistic technique [particularly how she] sees the possibility in everything." Bottom line, it was also a "gorgeous" dress.
Trashy, Cheap and Strange
The bottom 3 designs were from Jerry, Stella and Blayne. The judges thought Jerry's creation of a summer dress/raincoat from a shower curtain and napkins was "strange looking" and made his model look like a "bridal nurse." Michael Kors thought the dress looked like "a Handi-wipe gone wrong." It also showed no innovation. Similarly, Stella's halter style dress was simply, a trash bag. There was no "transformation" of the material. Heidi stated bluntly that she was "not impressed" and found the design "butt ugly." Finally, Blayne's design was a mess and looked to us like a rejected version of a Playboy bunny outfit. The judges thought it looked "cheap [and] was not pretty." They understood Blayne's desire to be "edgy" but it wasn't "well executed."
Truly Innovative
Kelli was declared the winner and we would agree as her dress used materials in truly innovative ways. As the winner, she was granted immunity for the next challenge.
Memorable in a Bad Way
It came down to Stella and Jerry, and while the judges thought that Stella "took the easy way out" with her rather bland creation, they found Jerry's design "unwearable" and "memorable, but not in a good way." For this, he was eliminated.
