Project Runway 9/24/09--"Lights, Camera, Sew!" summary

Previously on Project Runway: finally we had an interesting challenge and everyone had to make clothes out of paper. There was much flailing and weeping and gnashing of teeth. Especially from Johnny, because Tim told him his dress was bad so he threw it away. Then he told everyone that the steamer had ruined it. And when I say “everyone”, I mean EVERYONE: his model, other designers, the judges. Someone tried to interview him, and he claimed that he had been talking about the SECOND dress, to explain why it looked like crap. But then like, three questions down, he says something like “I couldn’t send it out like that, so I had to make a new dress”. The judges were tired of it and sent him home. I know he’s a liar, but there have been bigger liars. I’m unimpressed. Nicolas spent an inordinate amount of time making fun of Johnny, and ended up in the bottom himself. He probably won’t learn his lesson. Oh, and Irina won. I still think her coat looked like a bathrobe. Also I would like to point out that the gimmicky puns and episode titles were sorely lacking. “Fashion Headliners”? TWoP came up with both “Stop the Dresses” and “Ripped From the Headlines”. Both are superior. (click for more)

Ra’Mon is kind of glad Johnny’s gone because it makes the competition more serious. Nicolas becomes a cliché and says he’s not here to make friends. I just watched this video where someone cut and pasted like 3 minutes worth of reality show contestants saying “I’m not here to make friends.” It’s hilarious.

Heidi reminds us Irina has immunity. She tells everyone that it’s time to get them out of the sewing room. Haven’t they had three field trips already this season? Anyways, today’s challenge is about moviemaking. Probably not really.

Tim meets everyone on “a real Hollywood sound stage” along with Collier Strong. Everyone will select a film genre (probably from the velvet bag) and they will have to invent a character who lives in that genre. Ooooo. The choices are: action/adventure, film noir, sci-fi, period piece, and Western. Oh, I like this challenge. I like the thought of what they’ll come up with. I just hope they come through for me.

Nicolas freaks about possibly getting “Western”. Gordana feels at a disadvantage because she’s not American. Irina goes with film noir. Everyone else will get their name drawn and they can pick what they want if it’s left. Logan picks action/adventure. Carol Hannah, action/adventure; Ra’Mon, sci-fi. Ra’Mon then tells us he grew up on science fiction and watched Star Wars and Star Trek and all of that. Ra’Mon’s a nerd?!?!?! Wha? Kick ass. Louise, film noir (duh); Althea, film noir; Gordana, period piece; Nicolas, sci-fi; Chris, period piece. That means Shirin and Epperson get stuck with Western. They are not pleased.

Everyone gets a dossier on their genre and 30 minutes to sketch, then they’ll get $150 at Mood. And they’ll have the rest of today to sew. Lots of gasping about the short time limit. Epperson starts sketching, but Shirin is mostly lost. Eventually she starts sketching a saloon girl costume. She starts to say she doesn’t want it to be costumey, until she realizes that it’s a costume. Hee. Carol Hannah is thinking “sexy assassin”. Logan goes over to compare notes since they have the same category. They flirt for a while, and Logan is straight, so it’s not pointless. Plus he’s hot. Nicolas says he mixes costumes and ready-to-wear. Whatever. Ra’Mon proves his nerdiness by writing “BORG” in caps on his sketch. Woo! Irina gets cocky and says she doesn’t need immunity. Chris is doing something weird. You can tell because he says the judges might not get it.

Shopping time! Chris can’t afford the brocade he wants. There’s a lot of talk about prices today. Nicolas buys feathers.

Epperson wanted period piece, but he’s just going to design Western as a period piece. Oo, good idea. His character’s husband went off to war and she has to take care of the farm or whatever. Gordana is going for the 1920’s. Nicolas starts talking about queens who take care of the universe. And live on Orion’s belt. So of course his character wants to take over the other two. Ra’Mon goes for a jumpsuit. Louise thinks someone took her bobbin. Things are tense. Everyone else seems to be laughing but Louise isn’t freaking out yet. She also hasn’t thought about her story. Nicolas, who apparently has a ton of spare time, is worried about Louise and how she hasn’t thought about her clients. Nicolas is nervous about his garment. Gordana knows she has to be confident about what she’s doing.

Tim time! Gordana tells Tim that her character discovers oil, is in her 30’s, and is coming out in society. Tim tells her to go lower, I guess because her skirt is short. Irina doesn’t think Gordana can compete with everyone else. Only she tries to act like she‘s nice and phrasing it nicely. Chris is thinking 1800’s Paris for his period piece, but the dress has bare arms which Tim makes faces at. Epperson gets a comment of “Annie, get your gun”. Also Tim is seduced by the ruffles. Hee. Tim warns Ra’Mon that he is either going to be sublime or a big hot mess. Louise only has the lining of the dress done. He tells her that she does beautiful work that is too subtle for the runway. Interesting. Nicolas tells Tim his story about his feathers and whatever. Tim thinks it’s too safe. Really? A white dress with feathers all over? OK then. Nicolas then tells us he’s worried about Ra’Mon because when he thinks sci-fi he thinks beautiful and not jumpsuits. What sci-fi does he watch? I bet he watches “Labyrinth“. And “Legend“. Oo, I know. “The Neverending Story”!

Collier Strong consultations! Pointless as ever! The fittings are more interesting, as Ra’Mon looks at his jumpsuit and quietly freaks out. He is now planning a dress to put over the jumpsuit. Nicolas runs around and is stressed. Everyone has a lot to do. Louise I think puts a needle through her fingernail. That’s what she says anyway. Ra’Mon wants to put up a fight since he thinks he’s going home. I think he wants to try his hardest before he’s eliminated.

In the morning everyone compares how much work they have to do. Ra’Mon specifically talks about taking it to the next level. When they all get to the workroom running about commences. There are a lot of people doing a lot of last minute work. Epperson thinks this may be a hard week for the judges. Irina says she finished last minute.

OK. Kors and Nina are gone again. What is the deal, Lifetime? Not only has this season had a lot of “make a pretty dress” challenges but our favorite judges haven’t been around for weeks. Did you just fail to plan around their schedules? If they’re gone it makes the show that much more boring and that’s not good for ratings. I’m just saying. Heidi is wearing a vest and long sleeved T-shirt, and then sequined cropped leggings. Yes. Zoë is here again, and John Varvatos, and Arianne Phillips, who is a costume designer. Irina: a fitted long dress, with Vs of black down the front, alternating with nude Vs, and a solid skirt. Over the top is a white gauzy cape. The dress is pretty film noir but the cape is so shapeless it looks like she just took leftover material and tied it. Carol Hannah: long black jacket that’s cut a little full on the bottom, and then underneath is a bustier and bottoms in vinyl. It’s pretty hot, and slightly sci-fi, and I wish I knew what she had going on there but you’ll notice I haven’t written her name once. Obviously she is safe but not in the top. It is cool though. Shirin: strapless bodice and very ruffled skirt. It’s exactly what a saloon dancer would wear. And her hair is up with a feather. The skirt is black with petticoats in raspberry. It’s cute. Chris: high necked sleeveless blouse in white, loose fitting with a small ruffle at the neck, a wide black belt that is probably supposed to be like a corset but instead is like those back support belts you see on movers, and a long pink skirt. There’s also a black overskirt, and I think a bustle in addition to lots of volume and ruffles in the pink. I have no idea what period this is. Nicolas: long white columnar dress with silver leaves painted on it. I think with a stencil. Around her shoulders there are some sheer leaves and whatnot standing up. Also on the skirt, he’s put a loop of fabric starting at one hip and going down and back up to the other hip. It’s not that exciting. Or sci-fi. However I will give him that her makeup is alien.

Althea: a fitted black sheath dress that hits just below the knee, and a white shrug with wide sleeves. The sleeves are ¾ length. Oh and a fishtail hem like Nick used to do. The shrug is part of the dress, you can see when she turns around. Ra’Mon: he’s made a dress instead of a jumpsuit. There is a little sliver of green around her boobs but most of the dress is a metallic gold scaly looking fabric. It’s wrapped around her with bulges at her hip and a high collar (or at least tall fabric around her face). Also one arm is wrapped in it. I kind of wish he had painted her face green. It’s interesting but it’s one of those things that the judges will either love to death or hate on sight. Louise: black dress with a feather which looks very flapper. It’s a plain dress with a belt. And it’s on screen for all of 10 seconds. I don’t remember Bravo being this bad about leaving people out of the entire episode. I think Louise had about two sentences and this is the first we’ve seen of her dress. Epperson: floor length dress in denim with a white layer underneath. It’s sleeveless, and there are a lot of ruffles at her neckline and her shoulders, then there is a wide leather belt, and then plenty of flounces and ruffles in the skirt. It’s very Western-inspired but is not really a costume. I really like it. Her shoulders look really huge from the ruffles though. Gordana: short gold flapper dress, with long gloves and a headband. There is a fringe of beading along the bottom hem, and lots of strings of beads. Logan: super hot leather jumpsuit with buckles and whatnot.

Logan, Carol Hannah, Shirin, Irina, and Althea are safe. Gordana describes her 1920’s time period, and the judges think it’s pretty authentic and well done, but it’s not special. They think it’s pretty typical but doesn’t show anything of Gordana herself. Nicolas talks about the queens again, only now his character is frozen or something. They think it’s fabulous and clever and bold. I think I want to disagree because I’m tired of Nicolas’s trash talking. It’s not even that funny, and he won’t own it. He’s always like, “Oh I’m worried about so-and-so.” Louise’s character is a film actress who is going to an industry costume party and had to dress in another decade. A very interesting explanation as to why you had film noir and your character is dressed like a flapper. Zoë thinks it looks cheap and she’s bored. When she says she’s bored it’s not the same as Nina bored. John tells her it doesn’t really have style and the detail is too hard to see. Not innovative enough. Chris’s character is getting married? It’s her wedding? But she’s a vampire and has to decide if she should “give it” to her husband or run away? WTF? Then the judges think it’s super fantastic. They praise the skirt, which I can understand. It’s just that I don’t think it’s “period piece”. The 1800’s weren’t really known for their sleeveless tops. I wonder if I have been disagreeing with the judges so much because it’s not Nina and Kors. Ra’Mon talks about how his character is a lizard alien, who is a slut. Really. They like his story but his dress is a hot mess. They call it “cheap” and “B-movie“ which are not good adjectives. He may have given himself too much work to do. Epperson tells the judges about his character, and the judges are already smiling. It’s modern and wearable, but still obviously “Western”.

Gordana wasn’t special enough, and could have made better, more interesting choices. Louise’s dress didn’t say anything and was forgettable. Ra’Mon’s dress was a shambles, even though he had a vision. Nicolas had a cheap-looking fabric, but they think that on camera it would look fantastic. And it’s memorable. Epperson was creative and had lots of little details. In addition this is a genre he got stuck with. Chris’s dress looks expensive and also is well done from every angle.

Gordana is in. Epperson is in. Nicolas is the winner. Sigh, now we’re going to have to hear about it forever. AND he gets immunity. Chris is in. Ra’Mon can’t sew and Louise was boring. Ra’Mon is out, which you could have figured out when they let us see how he was a nerd. Louise is sobbing. Tim hugs him goodbye, which he didn’t do for Johnny on account of being offended. Ra’Mon is glad for the opportunity.

Next time: teams of two, “colorful”, there is conflict. But I hear the dulcet tones of Michael Kors!!