Fashion, Evolved

First of all loyal readers, let me apologize for slacking off last week.  I won’t bore you with the details, but it was pretty much the week from hell with the only bright spot being the Drag Queen episode of Project Runway.  As much as I enjoyed watching it, however, I simply didn’t have time to blog about it; and before I knew it the week was over and I was too late.

And so, I’ll just pick back up with Episode 7:  Keith’s (sa)Turn to Go Home

Recap!  The drag queens were fabulous and RuPaul looks haggard.  Joe, won with his sparkly pink jumpsuit.  Daniel finally lost for his popsicle colored cha-cha dress.

Kenley interviews that she’s sad Daniel’s gone.  I guess he was like her best friend there or something.  Despite her snarky comments about him from episode 5, she actually does look choked up.  Keith is interviewed and looks like he’s been crying, too.   His face is shiny and his eyes are red rimmed.  He says he doesn’t know how to “handle” being in the bottom two last week, and that he wants to change the way the world dresses.

Heidi greets the designers on the runway and lets Joe choose which model he wants.  He stays with his model in order to “keep the peace in the modeling world.” (What a relief!)  Heidi then tells the designers to skeedattle over to the rooftop 142 West 31st Street, and they are shown loping along the street in a lackluster manner.  The address turns out to be a parking garage and everyone piles in to an elevator.  When the door opens, they see a bunch of Saturn hybrids lined up on the rooftop, with Tim Gunn waiting to greet them.

Tim introduces Chris Webb, the lead color designer for Saturn.  He tells them that they are going to recycle the cars to make a design of their choice.  Basically, the cars are stocked with a bunch of car parts and the designers are have four minutes to load all this crap into small carts so that they can make clothing out of them.  Everyone frantically tears through these cars pulling out dashboard covers, floor mats, seat belts and carburetors like a bunch of junior high vandals hopped up on cherry Slurpees and crank.

Back at Parsons, the designers wheel their junk in to their work area and start taking inventory.  Tim tells them the winner will get immunity next week.  He admonishes them to “have fun”.  Immediately everyone starts tearing into their loot.  Kenley throws a headlamp on the floor to break it open.  There’s lots of hammering, pounding, stomping and grumbling going on.  Keith says he’s going to do something different from last week and give the judges what they’ve been asking for.   Stella says she’s confused and wants to do something different, too.   She wants to do something “pretty.”  Suede interviews about his father giving him a Buick, and tells us his father passed away in 1999 and is watching him from up above.

Kenley says she hopes the judges can see she’s being very, very innovative by drawing a zebra print on some air filters with a sharpie.  Blayne is stressed out because the machines aren’t stitching the heavy materials and keep messing up.  Jerrell says he’s having fun and “whistling Dixie”.  Terri tells us she needs to win PR so that she can start her own label.  She doesn’t want to go back to her old job.  Join the club, Terri.

Tim arrives to let the models in for a fitting.  He tells Kenley that her model has dropped out.  She looks as though someone has shot her dog.  She then proceeds to whine and pout about it in a very un-trooper-like way.

Tim’s returns later to examine the progress, or really, lack thereof.  He looks perplexed at Blayne’s seat belt
gown.  He says Jerrel’s dress is “cool” and “futuristic”.  Korto’s woven seat belt coat gets praises, but he warns her not to lose the sophistication.  Stella tells Tim she’s going for a knee-length skirt.  He says her outfit is not innovative enough.  Tim loves Leanne’s “foundation”, but tells her to figure the rest of it out.  Keith says that the judges need to see a refined palette from him and offers his sea tbelt skirt as evidence.  Tim looks a little disappointed, as well he should.

Then the camera captures Terri literally rolling on the floor laughing in a childish and uncool way making fun of Korto’s coat.  Jerrel interviews that Terri has “got two faces. Two of ‘em. Count them! Two of ‘em.  And four patterns. That’s it.  Don’t trust the bitch.”  Jerrel is seriously the best.

Then Keith has a little tantrum and tells everyone not to fuck up his sewing machine as he stomps off.  Keith interviews that, while everyone wants to win, he thinks he actually deserves to win.

Back at the apartment at the end of the day and Stella is talking to her boyfriend, Rat Bone.  Seriously.

Next morning everyone is back in the work room.  Tim comes in and tells them their models are on the way.  He says, “Work like there’s no tomorrow, because for one of you, there won’t be.”  EEK!  Finishing touches go on, and models go into hair and makeup.  Keith’s model comes and tells him she sat down and ended up ripping the skirt.  Leanne stuffs her model’s underwear with muslin to keep the shape of the dress.  Kenley is still griping about losing her model.  Keith tells his model to watch her breathing and not to sit down again.

Heidi appears on the runway wearing a lovely sparkly eggplant colored dress.  Her hair is all ‘lion’s main-y”.  Michael Kors is there, Laura Bennett from season 3 is sitting in for Nina, and the guest judge is none other than Rachel Zoe, the most insane woman on television.  She actually looks subdued and a little shy tonight.  Someone must have popped a couple ‘ludes.

Jerell’s dress is an extremely futuristic and cool mini dress, and as usual, it looks very well made.  Keith’s outfit is a snooze fest.  It is a skirt and blouse that looks like it came from the JCPenny catalog.   Terri’s outfit is actually something that Stella could have made—pants with lots of leather and a hard edge design.  She used a cargo net around the neck which was a very unique touch.  It looks badass.  Leanne made a short black leather sculpted dress with seatbelts that are frayed around the top of the bodice.  It is effing hot.  Suede’s is kinda cool.  He used rubber floor mats on the top and the shiny stuff that came from the sunshade as a skirt.  Korto’s seatbelt jacket is gorgeous and very dramatic. Blayne’s dress is a nice concept, but the fit is pretty crummy.  He broke a bunch of pieces of mirror and used it to decorate the front.   Joe’ made a “motorcross kind of dress” whatever the fuck that means.

The judges really liked Jerrel’s resin interior moldings.  He got a lot of praises.  Rachel Zoe said it was “actually quite amazing”.    Korto’s seatbelt coat inspired Rachel Zoe to declare that she wanted to walk out the door with it.  Kors called it “restrained drama.”  Leanne’s dress was the rave.  Kors says the silhouette is fabulous, intricate and chic—Rachel Zoe says shes blown away.

Blayne’s dress was called interesting, but it wasn’t executed well.  The fit was pretty bad on the model and it looked bunched up on the top.  Stella’s dress was criticized because it was ‘random’.  Then, Keith got poopy and told them his crappy outfit was a result of the negative feedback from the judges in the last challenge.  Michael Kors basically told him to stop being a big baby.

Top Three:  Jerrell, Korto and Leanne, with Leanne winning with an outfit that Rachel Zoe said could go straight to Paris.

Bottom Three:  Blayne, Stella and Keith with Keith losing for being unnecessarily dull and uninteresting.