Project Runway Episode 7

Am I actually recapping this show? Someone smack me upside the head or something. I’ll start with a brief intro to me and my line of thought so I don’t get the inevitable “What makes YOUR opinion so great?” Actually nothing does. I’m a college student with a long winter break and no job. I found Project Runway when I ran into a marathon leading up to the season 2 finale part 1. I’ve since then taken the time to go back and watch season one and the episodes of season two I missed. I have to admit I’m obsessed with the show and this eventually became something I was just wanted to do. So that’s me, and here’s the show.

We wake up with the designers once again and we get the customary shot of one of the guys without a shirt. This week’s flavor is…Rami.

What no Christian trash talking the loser this week?

Could they be any less enthusiastic about the challenges already?

I see that Heidi is once again rocking what I will only refer to as Tyra Banks hair. And she is TOTALLY flaunting her superiority to the girls.

Girls: Good morning Mrs. Klum
Heidi: Guten tag girls...I see you've all chosen dowdy as today's themed spirit wear!

Now I went to Catholic school and I know two things. First the girls at my school would have never gotten away with their shirts untucked and their skirts being THAT short. I mean I'm not part of the on your knees and ruler generation but still....

Heidi announces that the challenge revolves around the most important thing that will ever happen to these girls. Prom. With dresses they will not be able to keep. Unless they shell out huge amounts of money on the online auction….which I would TOTALLY do if I had something custom made on the show. I mean how can you not?

Chris tells us that his portfolio is filled with insanity and drag queens so the girl who chooses him is surely a freak.

Tim offers a forewarning and sends in the girls.

The designers start talking with their girls.

I refuse to give in and talk about how the designer’s looked in high school. No. Just no.

Christian shows some uncharacteristic self awareness and realizes that this is one of those challenges that work on A LOT of levels. It could only be more complex if it was a team.

Rami: Do you like something more DRAPY perhaps? Would you maybe like that? DRAPY and CANDY! We still have candy!....But seriously you're getting a draped dress

Even knowing the results I think I like Jillian’s starting point the most. She wants to create a mosaic dress with what looks like sky blue and champagne fabric.

Ricky’s back story made me yawn to be honest. Elisa was dead. You can’t top it. However his conversation with his mom made me feel better about my knowledge of Spanish. I always figured the intro to conversation things that they teach you in school, no-one ever uses. So that’s plus 10 points for all my Spanish teachers.

Christian greets his dress good morning.

Christian: Good morning dress!
Dress: END ME!

Victorya with help from Christian decides to change her course and move from what appears a more structured bottom to a more flowy idea.

Tim sends in the girls, but OMG WITH THEIR MOTHERS…DRAMA! But not really since no one really made anything scandalous like the producers were surely hoping.
Ricky: Wow you look hot
Sheltered mother: YOUR CLEAR ADVANCES ON MY DAUGHTER HAVE NOT GONE UNNOTICED

More pictures of Chris in drag. I could not love it enough.

Christians’s model is bringing out her inner diva. Sweet P calls Christian the wonder kid. Which he actually kinda is.

In the sewing room, Sweet P sees herself as the underdog because she has been in the bottom now and Victorya one ups her saying she’s been in the bottom twice which Chris one ups with the comment that he was voted off. Did Sweet P just apologize like she was sorry for not being in the bottom as much as them and still complaining?

Tim time! Kevin decides to leave his basic boring dress unhemmed.

Rami’s ego is once again showing. I’ll get to a better critique or his dress later, but he may be an amazing designer, but he lacks a sense of humility to self analyze because I’m sure people spend a lot of time spewing their love for his designs feeding his ego.

Maddie: You know you love me
Me: Even if Christian doesn't I sure do! Your sense of entitlement is rivaled only by snooty rich California girls. We'll wawlk to the mawl and get some hawt chawclate.

Like Jillian’s starting point I was really into the idea of Victorya using trim to up the wow factor on her garment…well I’ll get to how it turned out.

Christian is completely self-defeated. I see how actually having to listen to a client would put him at a disadvantage, but he excelled at the weight loss challenge. He laments back at the apartment about how he will be missed when he is eliminated. Well at least his ego is still okay.

The designers get back to Parsons and the girls are sent in.

Ricky makes the comment that he actually made his girlfriend’s prom dress and that should’ve been a clue. A clue? About what dear Ricky? But here I notice something interesting. It looks like Ricky originally had a pink or salmon color underneath of the bubble dress that looked a little weird so I can see why he lost it, but losing it made his final product really really basic.

Sweet P says that Catholic school girls are crazier than public school girls, to which I have to agree with from personal experience. And I’m not taking it to the gutters; I just think that being under the strict rules causes them to rebel a little more.

Shouty Heidi is back. Someone tell her the mic is on.

They start the runway show and the girls really seem to get into the spirit of things and strut their stuff. I have to give best walker to Chris’ model.

Kit, Jillian, and Chris are safe and take their leave.

Is there a name for a series of tornadoes which demolishes everything in their path? New name. Nina y Maddie.

Rami self describes his dress as a cocktail dress, which probably sums up exactly what is wrong with his garment to begin with. It’s actually almost comical how polite the judges are to their golden boy. His ego peeks through once again.

The judges discuss

Nina declares "It just looks like what a modern prom dress should look like" referring to Victorya's dress. Maybe in the 70's. Volume. Electric blue. Freaky trim. Nina! Head outta the fashion clouds! It may be in...but IT'S UGLY. Remember throw out all common sense of appeal in order to appease the fashion gods!

Victorya is declared the winner and her and Sweet P are sent off.

Ricky is safe and sent off. Rami follows.

Heidi gets some last jabs in on Christian and Kevin.

And Kevin is told he is out.

Tim comes into comfort the designers doing his best impression of Santino doing Tim. No seriously. Listen to it again. And you’ll hear it. It’s like magic…magic.magic.

I wanted to try something a little different while evaluating the garments. I wanted to use a point system just because I love math, but I wanted to evaluate how well a design did in several factors. That being said I came up with the categories of creativity/innovation, tailoring/How it’s made, overall aesthetic appeal, and meeting the requirements of the challenge. I also wanted to use a 4 point system because I think it has a more definite divide than a 5 point system meaning a perfect score for me would be a 16.








Kevin’s design:
Creativity – Well it could honestly not be anymore unoriginal and worse still it looks like Jillian’s nearly winning dress from What’s the Skinny…how scary is THAT? Judges? – 0 pts





Tailoring – Well it’s so basic how could it not have been well made? Well honestly Kevin seemed to manage with his hem. -1 pt

Aesthetic appeal – I didn’t respond well to the red on the girl’s skin, I thought it gave a weird effect and there was no other real visual interest for me. – 0pts

The challenge – Well the client seemed to like it, but she didn’t love it (at least overtly) - 2pts

Total: 3 points





Victorya’s design:
Creativity – I have to give her credit for things I hate. It's really fashionable and the bubble helped bump it up a notch. And let’s be frank there are only so many ways to re-imagine a prom dress without it looking silly, which interestingly enough none of the designers seemed to do. Sadly I feel it looks a lot like her other creations, which is why I dropped it a little. -2pts

Tailoring – I swear I can't figure this out. The dress looks technically sound, but that halter just looks so poorly made to me I can't get over it. -1pt

Aesthetic – I don’t like the halter part. I think it looks weird going from thin to thick. I see Vicky has done her signature boob-squish, which I actually respond to well on more flat chested girls like the models but I can’t tell if her client would otherwise HAVE boobs to begin with. But actually that isn’t what I even want to focus on. I am OBSESSED with her use of the colored trim. Imagine instead some silver or crystal trim; it would have upped the class of the dress. The multicolors just cheapen it. -1pt

The challenge – Well her client sure seemed to love it. I may have really thought it wasn’t that great but I am not the requirement. – 4pts

Total: 8 points






Sweet P's design:
Creativity – Well it IS Sweet P’s basic aesthetic. Very Hollywood. Very done. I like it, but it’s basic and done to death. -1 pt

Tailoring – Well you can actually see the girl breathing underneath of it and honestly it may just be the material but it looks impeccably made. -4pts

Aesthetic – It’s hard to argue that it isn’t a regal looking beautiful dress. It makes a lot of sense that in a challenge like this where you don’t want to push the creativity envelope TOO much Sweet P’s simple aesthetic would show through so well -4pts

Challenge – Well I think Sweet P beat everyone else here because not only did she manage to make her client happy, but she had to overcome some roadblocks, such as her client wanting something a little more overtly sexy. She sold her executive decisions and it shows her experience. -4pts

Total: 13 points







Christian's design:
Creativity – another short dress and it’s very strange to have a short prom dress with volume like that. So it’s different, not necessarily nice, but it’s different. Plus he was the only one to reach into the land of “ticky-tack” with the lace, which I thought was a nice effect on the brown.-3pts

Tailoring – This is clearly where Christian suffered a lot this week. There’s a lot of detail going into any custom made dress, and his attention was split so many different ways his normally impeccable tailoring suffered. -1 pt

Aesthetic – I thought the lace was a good addition to the dress, but Christian was spot on saying the back and front were off from each other. I can’t help but think it he had made a longer dress the length would’ve offset the volume a little and given a more pleasing, though less creative, effect. The brown looks “eh ok” on the girl to me – 1pts

Challenge – Oi. Just oi. Well I think it’s more than obvious that Christian flopped this part. His client may have had tacky taste but where Sweet P excelled he failed. He couldn’t sell taste to his client. -0pts

Total - 5 points







Kit's design:
Creativity- A halter with the point of interest being the colored blocks around the bust. Questionably interesting and questionably creative – 1pt

Tailoring – Do they even SHOW the dresses that don’t make it to the judge’s analysis? I swear I had to re-watch 5 times to check if he dress was well made and I'm still unsure of myself. It seemed to be. Well except I think where the strap connects to the bust looks kinda off, but sadly I don’t know if that was a tailoring mistake or a strange aesthetic choice – 3 pts

Aesthetic – To be frank, I love Kit and would totally take her to prom out of these prozac’d professionals, but I just didn’t feel her dress. Like I said the bust looks strange and the color blocks aren’t giving me a great sense of visual interest. -1pt

Challenge – Again not really a lot show about it, so it’s hard to say whether the girl liked it, but to me it didn’t sing prom dress. Maybe it was the color or the cut, but I just wasn’t feeling the cheap glitz that prom is. -1pt

Total: 6 points






Jillian's design:
Creativity – Nothing too innovative or original about the silhouette. I suppose her originality comes from the bust area and her use of color, which provided some unusual interest, but hardly could be considering pushing the envelope. -2pts

Tailoring – I doubt Jillian is capable of making something poorly, though I did think there were some boob fit issues. – 3pts

Aesthetic – I’m not sure how well I like the really light blue on the girl. I really like the fishtail, but I’m not sure I like how high the skirt seems to flow into the bodice. I don’t know. Maybe it’s her scalloped boobs that are throwing me off, but there’s something about the dress that just doesn’t sit right with me. -1pts

Challenge – Again I don’t think we got much from the client on this, so let’s assume the girl liked it and just think about it in terms of prom appropriate-ness. The fishtail is a good amount of drama and the color seems like it would work at any prom. -3pts

Total: 9 points






Chris' design:
Creativity – I think his silhouette is wonderful and creative. The hanging fabric in the front and back helped up the visual interest to a level I don’t think the other designers managed to achieve this week. -4pts

Tailoring – My only complaint (DAMN THESE PROFESSIONALS AND THEIR PERFECT TAILORING!) would be that maybe the hem line fell a little strange. I mean it’s really close to cutting right above her foot which would look awkward. So this looks…close to awkward? -3pts

Aesthetic – I loved loved loved the olive on the girl’s skin. I think the more jeweled tone worked a lot better than Rami’s more “sophisticated” color even though they were kinda-sorta close. I thought it moved beautifully and honestly I don't know what more to say about it. -4pts

Challenge – I assume the girl liked it as with the other safes we never really heard from her, but this to me screams prom in a great way. It’s flowy which guarantees a sense of glamour and it’s appropriate and I forsee no wardrobe malfunctions as the girls are out grinding against their dates -4pts

Total: 15 points






Ricky's design:
Creativity – Well it certainly wasn’t much of a stretch for him because the belt-thing reminded me of his What’s the Skinny outfit. And he sure does love those baby doll dresses. It’s a bubble dress as well…*shudder* -0pts

Tailoring – How can it NOT be well made when it looks so simple? -3pts

Aesthetic – Kors once again hit the nail on the head and mentioned that it needed a WOW factor, and boy did it ever. Infact, I’m sure the girl is just a normal, healthy weight, but it makes her look heavy because of the bubble effect. I actually did like the color for a prom dress, that was probably all I liked, but I did like the color. Actually the overall look reminded me of his weight loss challenge too. Maybe it was just his models, but there is a weird similarity in color and the trim/belt thing. -1pt




Challenge – Strapless and prom just don’t work. It’s a fact many girls and designers refuse to acknowledge but do YOU want to be pulling your dress up every 5 minutes out on the dance floor? His girl seemed to like it…but heck I might as well say it I don’t think any of the girls other than Maddie were outspoken enough to say they didn’t like something if they didn’t. Maybe it was more of the magic of the moment, because the more I think about it the less I believe that these girls would pick these dresses in a store. -1pt

Total: 5 points






Rami's design:
Creativity - Well it's pure his style, and the man creates garments like that like normal people create carbon dioxide, so it was hardly a stretch for him. But then it still seems like an unusual design and he was right it WAS a risk for the challenge so I have to concede and give him creativity points. -3pts

Tailoring - Please if the man sent a garment down the runway that wasn't hemmed, lined, and perfect he would auf himself in shame. -4pts

Aesthetic - I hated the color. I mean I haaaaated the color. I hated the drapy thing. When I saw it when earlier in the show I thought he hadn't finished and was going to bunch up the one side to match the other. No such luck. I suppose I liked the skirt. -1pt

Challenge - Again I guess I'm projecting but he really seemed to say the girl loved it but did we really hear that from her? He was REALLY putting words in her mouth. "It's very sophisticated and it's what all the girls in New York wear. You like the dress. You love the dress." I don't see her picking this dress out in a store. -1pt

Total: 9 points


I guess I didn't like Kevin's design more than I thought I did. I knew I was probably going to end up scoring Chris' design the highest, but I was surprised that Kit ended up with such a low score. So take from it what you will.

So that's my take. I sure could use some practice with HTML and blogging in general, but I think this came out nicely. I hope you enjoy it and maybe some crazy force will posses me and I'll write more during the week or even do it again next week. Honestly I'm just waiting to see what kind of feedback I get.