A Trip in the Way Back Machine

Rachel's Take :
Now comes the point where Project Runway and I have to agree to disagree. Bottom line: I'd much rather have seen Ricky go over Chris. Chris was fun, seemed like a nice guy and his designs have been pretty impressive so far. Ricky comes off as a whiner and he's messed up some aspect of all of the initial challenges.

To make the cut more unkind, Chris went out designing around one of the worst fashion trends ever: shoulder pads. All of the designers had "fashion don'ts" to deal with this week. To add insult to injury, they had to form groups of three and create collections incorporating a trio of design missteps.

Although it was Chris' team that ultimately fell victim to an "auffing" by Heidi, the space inhabited by Team Ricky/Victorya/Elisa was clearly the most miserable corner of the workroom. Victorya herself said it best: she is a "bossy cow" and she should have asked to be in charge. Instead, she opted to be passive/aggressive. She and Ricky both came off looking bad in this challenge; they seemed incapable of having an adult conversation and their collection suffered because of it.

For the first time, I was happy that Elisa lives on another planet. She was spared all of her teammates' snippy backbiting and created the best dress in a collection that resembled court jester outfits or costumes from a third-rate staging of Moulin Rouge.

I call this "The Greatest Thing You'll Ever Learn ... is not to use circus colors as your theme.":



They ended up in second place with the judges but "Team Star" -- Jack, Christian and Kit -- appeared to be having the most fun. Their collection was polished and sophisticated but I had trouble picking out clear evidence of pleather and fringe inspirations in each outfit. The zoot suit was clearly there but, in trying to tone down the craziness, the trio eliminated the impact of the pleather and fringe details of their designs.

Jillian led the winning team and also proved to be a passive/aggressive leader. She spent an entire episode complaining to Rami about Kevin's slow pace. But we never saw her say something to Kevin himself. In the end, Kevin came through and their collection -- which combined the trends of overalls, "70s flare" and poodle skirts -- was really cute. The designs were fresh and springy and also very Ralph Lauren -- no surprise because Jillian works there.

Look up "preppy meets Dallas" in the dictionary and you'll see:



A final note: Steven's Tim Gunn impression? I knew Santino Rice's Tim Gunn impression. Santino Rice's Tim Gunn impression is a friend of mine. And you sir are no Santino Rice's Tim Gunn impression. The other designers were laughing, but they were the only ones.

Shruti's Take:
Now that the designers have been culled down to a more manageable 12, this episode was all about personality. As in Kit and Jillian finally got some ("the fringe would look like arm hair!"), Steven still has none, and Victorya showed her true one.

I would also include how Sweet P is the greatest, but it didn't work in the faux rhyming scheme I had above. And Christian has a lot of it.

Wednesday night I was just not in the mood for drama. I just wanted everyone to be happy butterflies and see lots of great fashion and have it be a tough choice because everyone is like little dragonflies. It's like I don't even KNOW me anymore. Of course, it was totally the wrong night because it was like DRRRRRAMA. (not to cross-reference, but I always hear Lo/Lauren/Kristen from Laguna Beach/The Hills saying this word in my head, all Drr---A-Ma!).

Seriously, I am so over Victorya. I mean, I can't even really be over her cause I was never with her in the first place. A black sack dress with a giant silver flower and a black sack dress with a vest is still two black sack dresses. WHY didn't Nina Garcia slay her in her tracks? Anyway, she was all "Ricky should've been a better leader" when she was really just attempting to take over, ignoring him and being a general B. She can't even claim its editing that made her look bad because a)she said those things and b) the editors even tried to redeem her right before runway, but she still is a B.


Anyway, personality isn't the point, RIIIGHT? It's the fashion!