One of the reasons Project Runway is so much fun is because it's just so damned unpredictable. The outfit you think is a hideous mess is likely to be the judge's favorite. The dress you'd love to wear on the red carpet might well land its designer an auf wiedersehen from Heidi.
Part of Project Runway's appeal - and this season is no exception - stems from the fact we all have vastly different tastes in fashion. While I might think Shirin is a shoo-in for the finals, my partner is all about Carol Hannah's designs. And when it comes to judging time, I often find myself confounded by the judges' decision on the best design, while my partner nods right along with everything they say.
Such was the case with last night's episode of Project Runway. The designers were tasked with taking orders from their models for once, instead of the other way around. Kind of a repeat challenge from a previous season. Instead of designing the perfect wedding dress for their models, this time they were asked to create a cocktail dress for a fashion industry party the girls were to attend.
The two designers seemingly saddled with the craziest models were Shirin (my current fav) and Logan - who really should be walking down runways himself, he's such a hottie. Shirin's model Ebony wanted some kind of shocking blue catsuit, an idea that made poor Shirin cringe in horror. Logan's model barraged her designer with ideas for an outfit that sounded like something out of a 1950's version of A Nightmare Before Christmas.
While generally the contestants this season have kept things rather tame, with the exception of Qristyl and Epperson's nasty cat fighting last episode, they finally decided to let loose and get a bit snarky on each other. Irina attacked Althea's design by saying it looked "like crap" and Nicolas called Epperson's dress "a rag" and Johnny's outfit "awful."
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Considering these people are supposed to be the next great fashion designers, it doesn't seem like they have any better taste than some of us audience members. While I also thought Althea's three-piece short-pants suit looked "like crap," naturally the judges couldn't stop lavishing praise on the outfit. The model's boobs were flapping all over the place in that thing! Epperson also wowed the judges with a deceptively simple dress that made his model look hot as hell. Yes, the one Nicolas called "a rag.
Although Shirin is currently my pick for the leader this season, even I was shocked that she was able to take her model's hideous idea for a royal blue & gold jumpsuit and turn it into a sheik, gorgeous little blue dress to die for. Once again, her design was my personal pick - but the judges didn't even list her in the top three.
I think my partner just has better taste, since her favorite designer - Carol Hannah - did land in the top three. But it was Epperson, with his admittedly gorgeous design, that really should have taken the top spot. Instead, that honor went to Althea for her strange three-piece suit the judges adored and I thought was ill-fitting and not very model flattering.
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Logan, who usually creates decent designs, got the short end of the stick this episode. The poser Goth prom dress he came up with was obviously a result of being overwhelmed by his model's ideas and allowing himself to be a doormat to her insane style aesthetic. He actually at one point mentions "smurfs" in reference to the dress - to which Tim Gunn tells him to "never use that word again." So I actually managed to agree with the judges this time around that he deserved to be on the bottom.
I also had to agree Qristyl's outfit was about the most boring dress I've ever seen and as Heidi said, aged her model ten years. Qristyl's taste level has been far below par during the entire season so far, so it was not all that surprising when she got the boot for the worst design of the night. Though honestly, I do think the judges have a bit of a bias toward Logan because of his cuteness - which they actually did kind of admit during the judging panel.
The only thing that truly irked me about last night's episode is the continuing musical chairs being played on the judges' panel. Michael Kors and his acerbic wit were once again missing, replaced by costume designer/celebrity stylist Jennifer Rade - though at least she was entertaining. Nina Garcia was also missing in action, replaced by Marie Claire editor Zoe Glassner. Sorry, but Zoe just does not strike the proper amount of fear into the contestants' hearts.
Wrapping up, I do have to give a shout out to Heidi Klum for her admitted obsession with breasts, which I'm sure many of us share. Her inability to stop over-analyzing what's happening with the model's breasts may stem from her time as a Victoria's Secret model and not out of a hidden lesbian fetish - but I just thought it was terrifically amusing to count how many times she said "breasts" during last night's episode.
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