This week on Project Runway, it’s all about the art.
Sweet P, like a lot of us, is completely shocked (yet again) that she wasn’t sent home last week. Thankfully, God took some time away from saving AIDS babies in Darfur and making sure Britney was getting back on track to turn his eye to the Bravo network. Sorry Ricky, back to your studio apartment with your thirteen brothers and sisters. God said.
Rami, who truly impressed last week by managing to use his draping tequnique even in a WWF challenge, tries to forget his hot pink nightmare and concentrate on the positive things in life. A.) He’s not dodging suicide bombers in Israel, B.) The judges are and have always been in inexplicable love with him meaning he is a shoe in for the finals, and C.) Jessica Alba.

Dearest Jessica, I can’t wait to pin lots of loose fitting silk all around you and maybe make a braided belt. Miss you love you call you the sec I get my BBerry back. Hearts and shaloms, Rami.
When Ricky got the boot up his ass last week I knew I would be saying goodbye to my favorite model. DAMN YOU Ricky!! If he hadn’t stolen her in the first place she would still have a chance. I don’t know if that’s sensical at all, but I’m sticking with it. It’s all a pick the shortest straw game for these poor girls anyway, as they’ve been used like two times this entire season. I guess the producers are trying an “embrace the real woman” theme this year. It’s ridonk. No one in Project Runway’s audience wants to embrace a woman. Throw some rags on a skinny bitch and send her stumbling down the runway for her life. Anyway, the point is, poor Yentl got two new moles on her face from worry, and now she’s out.

I’ll never forget you, Yenta. Yengy? Yani? Yoseph! Yuri? Yaya?
Heidi sends the designers on a field trip and Chris gets that “Oh dear Lord please don’t make me run” look on his face. They are sent to the Upper East Side, and I immediately worry that they will have to dress really old rich ladies with tiny dogs and dead husbands. Or Hasidem. Lender’s Bagel’s hasn’t sponsored an episode yet, and I wouldn’t put it past em.
Tim is waiting for them at the Metropolitan Museum of art. Chris and I have the same reaction.

Please tell me there are vending machines in this dump.
The museum is completely empty except for the designers, Tim, a camera crew, lighting guys, boom operators, kraft services, and hair and makeup. It’s totally Zen. Tim leads the crew into the Greek and Roman Sculpture Courtyard and warns them what will happen if they fuck up today.

Watch your asses.
The final challenge before fashion week (can you believe that? I can’t. I was so thin when this whole thing began) is to choose a work of art to base a design off of. They will be limited to three wings. The one they are in now, the Temple of Dendur, or the European Painting Wing. Gee. I wonder what Rami’s gonna pick. Toga much?
This guy is so predictable it’s unsettling. He walks up to any statue he can find lying around in a sheet and takes pictures with his producer provided camera. He tells us that the minute he saw Aphrodite standing there, he felt like he fell in love. Well, that is her job. Some of you know Aphrodite as the goddess of Love and protector of sailors, but when I hear that name I think of Mighty Aphrodite, the Woody Allen movie Mira Sorvino won an Oscar for before the world realized she was a one trick pony. Rami talks all deep about what inspires him, but all I can hear is “Why sew? Why sew? Why sew” until the show cuts to someone else.
Christian, another fashion repeater, goes into the European Painting Room and walks right up to the same jacket he’s made over and over again and snaps. Who knew that someone invented that stuffy ass shoulder padded jacket hundreds of years ago? Things keep changing, but they never really do, do they? If there was a shot of a statue sporting eighties keytar player hair I wouldn’t be surprised.

After this guy was painted, he snapped and shrieked “FIERCE!”
Sweet P also finds her own personality in a painting of a good old fashioned bar fight…
Jillian takes a bunch of pictures of tight asses on mini ponies, and Chris expresses his personality in the Temple of Dendur, which is from Egypt and older than dirt. He walks up to it and says “Look, Joan Rivers carved her initials in this when she was a little girl. LOLOLOLLLL I LOVE CHRIS MARCH!
Back at the workroom, Sweet P has decided to go with the peacock painting. Then the NBC dongs played. Nice job, P. Jillian whispers that she wants to do something “edgy”, and she was inspired by armor. Uhhh….Chris and Christian start a war to outfag eachother. Who can use the most material? Who can make the largest poufs? Who can rapid fire Mommie Dearest Lines the fastest? Time will tell, but my money’s on the pipsqueak.
There will be no poufing for Rami. He’s waaaay too classy for that. Furthermore, he feels no need to apologize for making the same dress in the same color he’s made in a previous challenge because hey, he’s passionate about not having to sew much. He says he’s not there to make the most noise, he’s there to safety pin fabric together until it starts not to look like a ghost costume.
It’s the final challenge, so obviously everyone’s totally stressing. Thank God Christian’s there to be hall monitor. He sews faster than everyone, so he just keeps on making more and more pieces while Sweet P tries to guesstimate a pattern and Jillian whispers into the cameras about how rude and arrogant Christian is. My personal opinion is that he’s throwing barbs her way because he noticed that she was making pleats. That’s his staple, bitch! If you add shoulder pads and/or a high collar there is a good chance he will cut your ass. She stays calm, but he won’t stop pestering.

“Is that how they say ‘Hi’ in Whoreville?” -Jerri Blank
It’s the next morning and Sweet P has only started draping her form. It’s only an idea so far, but it’s very fifties housewife. She asks Jillian what she should do for her collar, and since it would be just plain rude to say “burn it”, Jillian tells her to ask herself.
Sweet P tells us that before she came on the show, she was thinking of quitting her business. That’s an interesting way of saying “I went broke.” She needs to win Project Runway to save the farm! Sorry honey, but it’s fitting time and you’ve got just what you came in with. Nada. Ah well, you can figure it out when your model gets there. If she ever does. Poor Lee has had some kind of personal emergency. ? Models are so not allowed personal emergencies. Where has professionalism gone? Kate Moss would walk the runway if her head was on fire. In fact, I think she’s probably done it.
The good news is we all get to hear Sweet P whine and cry about how she just can’t finish and she’s doomed if she doesn’t. Yawn. You’re doomed if you do. You’re fabric looks like cheap wallpaper in and Ikea 60′s themed showroom. I wish I could do what I do in that store: hide with a plate of meatballs until it’s over.
Listen, I know I am just repeating myself here, but Rami hasn’t sewn one fucking thing! he’s literally pinning fabric to his model and tucking it into her sports bra. How is this fair? DOWN WITH RAMI!

So. WRONG.
Fitting time is over and still Sweet P has no model. I am hard on her, but I really do like her and feel for her. Satisfied? Moving on. Time for Collier Strong’s yearly appearance. You might recognize him from previous episodes as the Loreal Paris makeup man. He hit forty five and stopped aging. He looks no more or less like the plastic bullfrog my Meemaw keeps on her front lawn than he did four seasons ago. And he still has the same nervous sweaty pits. We should all be so lucky as to stay the same forever.
Anyhoo, Collier tells the designers that he is going to work with them to come up with a design for their makeup that expresses their most dramatic artistic sensibiliies. I was kind of hoping he was going to paint dogs playing poker or Where’s Waldo? pictures on the models’ faces, but no such luck. What he meant to say is that he will be putting blush and lipstick on the girls. OOOooooh. AAAaaaah.
Chris finishes his work early so instead of figuring out a way to make this parade float look at least a little different from the one he made with Christian a few weeks ago, he decides to take a nap. Christian calls out after him “ok love ya bye!” LOL. That is one of the dumbest moves I’ve seen in a lon…a week. Ricky’s hats were the dumbest move. No one with those hats can win any fashion show. Or anything. Ever. Mark my words. Christian is mortified and says he was done too, but he’s spending his time by touching up his work. His touching up involves hot glue gunning silver ribbon to a fedora. Uh, take a nap.

Hey! I have that shower curtain in green!

Told ya!
Since Chris isn’t around to regale his peers with What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? references, Christian takes the floor and brags to the cameras about going straight from highschool to London and studying under the likes of Vivian Westwood and Osh Kosh B’Gosh. That kind of explains the three year learning curve on the word fierce. Ugh Christian you’re my current fave to win this thing, but please SHUT UP.
Tim Gunn comes in to check on progress and he’s finally found a casual Tim look that I can stamp approval on. Still a suit, but with no tie and one button undone. Well done! His first observation is that he doesn’t hear anyone breathing for their life. Wait a second, where’s Chris? The designers tell him that he’s sleeping so Tim marches right up to Chris in the lounge and asks him why he’s asleep and why he’s wearing my shower curtain. Thanks for the props, Gunn. It means the world to me.
Chris insists he’s finished, but when he goes back to the workroom and shows Tim his creation, Tim calls BS and tells him to make it suck less. Chris is offended, but to be fair, it is morning for him. I used to kick my mom when she came in to wake me. Now even when I go home to visit she carries a pillow with her until past noon.

Come on, Tim. Don’t you remember the portrait of the stalk of cauliflower in the Euro Paintings Room?
He stops at Christian’s table next, and although he loves most everything as usual, he is a bit confused by the pancho. Congrats! It’s the first time anyone has silenced Christian. No one can excuse a pancho. No. One. Tim warns him that it isn’t cohesive and it’s the final challenge, to which Christian responds “I know, lady. Don’t you worry.” HAHAHAHAAAAAAAA. He’s said that about ten times today. He must have gotten his hands on some old Jerry Lewis videos he heard about while he was in London.
Sweet P shows Tim her hideous work and instead of saying oh shit girl NOoooooooo!, he just scrunches his face into pure worry and then starts writing her a goodbye card. Jillian’s work is coming right along, but I lose a little respect when he approaches Rami with “This. Is. Stunning.” Oh for Christ’s sake. Enough already. Then he adds that Nina’s gonna rip him a new one because he’s already done it thirteen or so times. Rami answers like a true egomaniacal a hole: “I’ll think about that.” Riiight. I am so mad at Sweet P and Chris right now for not pulling their shit together. I really wanted someone to take Rami out.
At the end of the night, Sweet P’s model finally shows up. Turns out no one in her family died, she was just stuck waiting in the emergency after she cut someone’s arm off with her hip bones as she passed them on the subway.

I know for a fact there’s a Wendy’s in the vicinity of Parsons. Go get yourself a frosty.
The minute the model leaves, Sweet P starts in with the whining. Not because her dress is hideous, but because she’s not sure if she will have time to fully crap all over the runway one last time. Jillian, forgetting what a drama queen she herself has been, rolls her eyes at P like get over it, whiney. Hey Jillian. Take a seat and poke yourself with some needles. I liked you better when your head wasn’t complimenting your cornhole.
The morning of the runway show, Christian and Rami really go the distance in their own personal style. Christian with a flat iron and a glitter bird on his shoulder, and Rami with a combed out soul patch. Both of these two need to be held down and shaved. They probably spend their free time discussing the Lewinsky scandal.
Back in the workroom, Sweet P does her best to pull it together while her model does some weird yoga tree huggy chi energy building move for her. Models are such retards. Jillian isn’t quite done either, but she takes the time to tell us Christian has made a whole collection but who cares cuz his model looks like the state puff marshmallow man. She’s so right.

Roast her.
Last minute fixes: Sweet P finishes and Chris makes peace with most likely not moving on. Jillian starts her usual whiney slammy babiness, but this time she adds a helping of “I deserve this!” Oh man. I have liked you for eleven weeks, lady! Don’t turn on me now!
Runway time! Kors’ face has transcended orange. He has so much crap on he looks like he put on a mud mask and didn’t have enough time to wash it all off. Garcia has actually toned down the bed head. Impressive! Someone started giving herself enough time in the morning to have breakfast and work on a little grooming! Kudos! The guest judge is Rip Torn playing Cavalli.

That actor is seriously underrated.
Chris’ dress is out first, and it really is the same thing he made with Christian. Sad, because he really had a chance. I am just trying to imagine this poor thing trying to get in a cab at the end of the night. She looks like a dog who has to get a cone on it’s neck because it won’t stop biting it’s own ass.

Chris
Christian’s up next, and this is by far his worst yet. His model looks like a Pirates of the Carribean extra with a bullfighting hobby. The pants don’t fit, and the fedora is just awful. He tells us that he knows it might be a little too avante garde, but it’s fierce! Sorry, dude. That shit is plain fug.

What a dog.
I’ve bitched and moaned enough about Rami enough already. We know he draped AGAIN, but the news is that it is one of his worst, most unfinished looking drapes yet. Booooooo.

If I had a drape whistle your ears would be bleeding right now.
Sweet P has opened up a whole new life for her model. As a kid’s birthday party clown. As the poor girl does her best selling this trash, Sweet P tells us how she should win because not only can she out-design Barnum and Bailey, she understands how to merchandise, too. Really? Then why is your ass broke? This is why:

Sweet P. Sad Horns.
Jillian’s work is last, and in my opinion, it’s the best. By faaaar. She followed her inspiration, it’s classy, it’s wearable. and she’s been pretty consistent. Now if only she’d stop talking, I’d be totally down with her.
Jillian
Cavalli fawns over Christian, saying that the profound love he has for himself really shows in his work. All of the judges follow suit. I am so sure. I guess they can’t say “well, four out of five of our final choices blew chunks on the last challenge. Please continue watching and do your best to take this show seriously. And eat Hershey’s!” Christian completely agrees with their assessments.
Chris is also praised by Cavalli. He is called the most artistic of everyone and he should show in Paris. The regular judges tell him that he’s full of shit and when he watches the season on tv he’ll know why. They call Chris out on using the exact same shoulder piece he’s already used, but say that the rest of the dress is beautiful too. I am just psyched that he has a shot.
Jillian gets a unanimous hell yes for her dress, and Cavalli says he would love to have her on his staff. She says that that would be an incredible honor. Well she couldn’t say fuck off Rip Torn I will never work in a cubicle again! She rocked it. She knows it, and so do they.
The judges think Sweet P’s dress is pretty and flattering (???) but also completely boring. What a sweet way to say hideous. Cavalli calls Rami out on being boring, and he hasn’t even seen the other eleven versions of it. Kors calls him out on repeating himself over and over, and Rami gets defensive and asks why it’s a problem. Nina walks up, grabs his little nuts and squeezes. “How many fucking times do I have to tell you to do something else?!?”

Well kisses right back at ya, cutie pie.
In private time, the judges continue their Jillian and Christian love, but Sweet P was blah. Cavalli says Chris was his favorite, but none of the other judges are having it. Rami blech. Zzzzzzzzz. They bring the designers back out and Christian wins! Oh man. Sorry Jillian. You was robbed. She will be at fashion week though, so right on. One more designer to pass!
Sweet P’s out, but with kudos. Aw. I feel so bad for her when she cries. She believes that what’s supposed to happen will happen, and so do I. She will totally be able to get a job at Starbucks. They have great healthcare and they love tattoos. Down to Chris and Rami. And CHRIS IS IN!!!! AAAAHHH!! YAYAYAYYYYYY!!!
And Rami’s also in?!?!?!? The judges were deadlocked, so they will have to have a dance off at Fashion Week. They will both get to show three pieces and then the winner will be on tv. Everyone shows, as we all know. I am so psyched for Chris! And I think someone’s trying to make Sweet P kill herself, as she’s the only one going. Poor girl.
Next week, Chritian flattens his hair and Carmen cries. Then Heidi calls VictorYA uptight. LOL. See ya then!
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26 Comments
I love this show.
Flipit, you have out done yourself!!! Funniest recap ever! I am still giggling over the shower curtain…
My problem with Kors is (besides being orange), he is a fashion designer, yet he wears the SAME black suit week after week. You would think he would understand where Rami’s coming from. Change your outfit Michael!!!
Christian is fabulous. I laugh every time he opens his mouth. I don’t think the judges are necessarily looking for something wearable, as most of the time, designers don’t send wearable garments down the runway. His was high fashion and was amazing! I don’t understand how he can put that stuff together so quickly. When Sweet Pea can hardly make a dress in the amount of time it took him to put together a 5 piece outfit. I completely dislike Rami and hope he loses to Chris. Jillian annoys me, but I really liked her outfit this week.
I’m with you, Flip–started out loving Rami, and now it’s zzzzz, blah and hate. I hope he loses, by a lot, to Chris!!!! It seems they set him up this time (perhaps with the thought that if he takes the bait and drapes again, he will have proven himself unworthy) Why the stall at the end, that damn Jessica . . . harrrummmphh!!!
Loved the shower curtain, but what I really want to see is your food strewn TV!!!!
Have a great long weekend! and, do you think it would be good to write up a review on fashion week? I think it’s all out there, and perhaps even the Sweet P did a line . . . not like you don’t have your hands full with Idol and BB!!!!
Christian’s model got to wear the Puffy Shirt from Seinfeld.
Rami should have gone home….enough with the drapes already!!!! I too love the shower curtain on Chris…which could also double as a screen saver! Christian is a royal pain in the @!$*!!!! Oh Well, off to fashion week!
Fabulous recap as usual, Flipit. I couldn’t go through my week without reading your laugh-out-loud-at-work worthy thoughts on my fave show, Project Runway.
PS I do believe you mean “Stay Puft” marshmallow man, not state puff.
I must know where you got that shower curtain! It matches my bathroom’s hideous tile perfectly!
I, too, am psyched about Chris making it to Fashion Week (sort of). He better beat Rami! Seeing Chris’s collection would definitely be the highlight of my year.
I agree with Featherhead — it’s hard to take Michael Kors’ criticism seriously when he wears the same outfit every week. Raimi really is just a one note designer.
I love both Chris and Christian. Christian is fast because obviously he’s a much better at sewing than the others. We’ve seen that in previous years — just because someone is good at designing doesn’t mean they can sew well (or fast). Plus his designs are pretty similar so he tends to make what he knows he’s good at. I find him funny and while his clothes don’t seem particularly wearable by the general public, they are very high fashion and editorial — which the judges (with the exception of when Chloe won) tend to look for in the winner.
I just have to tell you that I LOVE the pictures of the old lady with the weird face and hair you been using. It’s so much like Christian. I laugh every time you post them. LOVE. Thanks, Flipit!
I love your commentary. That line about the model cutting someone with her hip bone had me laughing outloud.
Nice shower curtain.
hey mamatl, that weird old lady is jerry blank aka amy sedaris…check out strangers with candy if you want to see her in action
I hate the way Jillian whistles when she talks and her personality is annoying, but that gold dress was fab. I liked Christian’s outfit too. Rami is a douche.
Great recap once again. Under the “who are they to judge” catagory, I went to Marshall’s and hanging on a rack right before my very eyes were several pieces from “The Michael Kors Collection.” These were some of the ugliest pieces of crap I have ever seen. Imagine something along the lines of leopard and tiger print on halter dresses made out of what looked to be UPS packing material. Michael! You are orange with many, many face lifts and one suit to your name. You live in a glass house dude! Stay in the bedroom with Rodrigo!
just a note — rami is PALESTINIAN, not israeli………big difference!
Jillian has grown on me. I think she has the best mix of versatility and classiness. The way she said “I’m over it, too” to Christian was just really cute somehow. I hope she wins.
I totally love Chris… every time they show him in that giant blue plaid bathrobe and mug of coffee, it just brings a little smile to my face.
Christian? Talented, yes, but he is so full of shit sometimes. When he said “obviously I went right to the European paintings…” then it was like he faltered and knew he had nothing left to say: “because…I’m really inspired by… European… art.” Yeah, thanks. Why don’t you just say “I knew the European wing was the only place I could possibly find a puffy shirt and tight pants.”
I sew. The first time I make something I have patterned myself, it takes me a bit of time to make sure the pieces fit together correctly etc. However, the second time, it takes much less. By the 5th time, I am putting it together one handed while eating a bagel and watching Oprah. Alright, I don’t really watch Oprah.
My point is that Christian aka Ferosha Cotura’s garments always boil down to the same basic elements… and he embellishes them all the same. Oooh… pleats. Oooh… ruffle. Gag. I’m sure he has excellent sewing ability, but the fact that he is doing the same thing over and over doesn’t hurt either. That doesn’t mean that I don’t like his garments. I really like a lot of them, but then he opens his mouth and I like them a little less.
Chris is the exact opposite. Because I love his personality so much, it makes his clothes even better! I would love if Bravo gave him some sort of show because he is fabs. He could open the show in his bathrobe and coffee and then guide us through making a ginormous wonder woman costume. I. Heart. Chris.
Can anyone explain why all 5 showed at fashion week?
I understand why the top 4 would show…as to not blow the final elimination, but I don’t get why they had Sweet P complete a collection at all. Was it because fashion week was too early and would have spoiled last week’s episode? I’m thinking it was terribly harsh to not only make her be the ONLY one NOT to make it the finals, but to make her put together a collection anyway???? good lord
@ realitee
I wuld like to know the same thing!!
Why even post her pictures on the Bravo website if they knew she would not even really be there?
Maybe it’s a twist in next week’s episode, because I also agree that she worked her butt off for nothing. Not fair for her.
Actually, think about it from Sweet-P’s viewpoint – She wanted to show at fashion week – she got to show at fashion week. Who gives a crap if she won Project Runway or not?
Is it just me or does Christian’s outfit remind anyone else of a character from an animated movie? I’m trying to figure out which one… I think it’s a combination of Puss-in-Boots and one of those crows from something that I just can’t remember the name of… NO! It’s a combination of characters from Disney’s “Robin Hood”!!!
@realitee, et al:
Good question. I don’t know why they do this, but they’ve done it every year (except last year, when they decided to have 4 finalists, instead of 3).
The first year it was definitely an oversight; they realized late that the bryant park show would happen before the TV show picking the final 3 would air, so they called up Austin (who came in 4th) & asked him to put together a “decoy” show. Unfortunately, it was very rushed — he didn’t even have the full # of pieces to show — so it was obvious to the bryant park audience that he had been eliminated.
Season 2 — they told Kara well in advance, and she put together an awesome collection — indeed, one fashion editor picked her for the win — although her collection was never seen on the TV show at all.
They could easily avoid this issue if they just started the season a week earlier — or didn’t show a rerun right before fashion week, like they did this year — but at this point, I guess they figure that it gives another designer a chance to show & it also creates some excitement in the bryant park crowd trying to “figure out” which collection(s) are the decoy(s).
Thanks to all that answered my question…
I guess I just feel bad for Sweet P…I really like her and eventhough she isn’t on par with some of the others, the way this was handled just seems kind of cruel.
Kdiva97 – Agreed. I see your point – exposure is exposure and there are far worse things in the world than getting to show your collection at Bryant Park
Thank you realitee – same would go for either Rami (ugh!) or Chris (yay!) – whoever didn’t get through still got to show at Bryant Park. Who cares if they won or not? Basically – if you get to the final 4 (or 5 in this case) you still get to show a collection. I don’t know when they tell the contestants, but who can it hurt if they give them enough notice?
Drape whistle!!! LOLing at work. I love it.
If Rami was born in Jerusalem, how is he not Israeli??