Saturday, August 2, 2008

Not Listening to Tim Gunn = Kiss of Death

This week, the designers were let loose on New York City. In a challenge similar to one from Season Two, the group took pictures of NYC at night and had to create a look inspired by one of their images.

Kenley won with this look:


I was surprised that Kenley came out on top. Personally I agreed with the comment by one of the judges that this is a look that would only look good on a tall, skinny model. Thus, this dress looks great coming down the runway but looks horrible everywhere else. The judges seemed to think the look was fashion-forward but does that really matter when no one can actually wear it?

I would have awarded the win to Terri, who made this:


I was concerned when Terri decided to use a graffiti photo as her inspiration. That decision did not serve Santino well in the Season Two NYC inspiration challenge. Wouldn't it have been hilarious, though, if Terri had chosen the same swirly graffiti fabric that Santino used in that episode? It would have been a three-peat, as Austin also used that fabric during Season 1.

Back to Terri -- she is the only designer who has really impressed me this season. Her designs are very polished and she really seems to be thinking about each challenge.

In other news, Leanne redeemed herself after last week's disaster by creating this beautiful dress, which was inspired by a tree grate:


The bottom two came down to Emily and Jennifer. It really didn't matter who got kicked off. Neither has a distinguishing personality or design aesthetic.

Emily ultimately emerged the loser. As well she should, because she committed the cardinal sin of Project Runway: not listening to Tim Gunn. Emily refused to listen when Tim said her ruffled design looked awkward.

She was fooling herself about this design right up until the exit interview:


The dress looks like it's vomiting fabric. I have one last nit to pick with the judges: if they hated Emily's work so much, why didn't they say anything to Blayne, who created a very similar design?

Blayne's neon dress captured the essence of his chosen inspiration, Times Square. But it also looked like a bad 1980s prom dress:


Somewhere there is a 30-something woman with this dress hanging in her closet.

Quote of the week: "Holla at cha boy!" -- Tim Gunn. He's so cute when he's trying to be hip.

Next week: Another Field trip!

All photos courtesy of Bravo's Project Runway web site.

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