Project Runway 10/15/09--"Sequins, Feathers and Fur, Oh My!" summary

Previously on Project Runway: there were a large number of divorced women who wanted a fresh start. So the designers were forced to make new clothes from their old wedding dresses. I thought this was lots of fun. Shirin got all agitated about how her client wanted a Cher costume (thanks for letting me know they were saying “Halfbreed”) but in the end just put some stitching on it. Gordana made a gorgeous dress out of the lining of the wedding dress, dyed gray. It was kick ass, and she won. Sadly Epperson made a weird Ren faire thing and was sent home. Was Chris’s shiny garbage bag worse? I think so. But Epperson didn’t seem to understand the challenge at first, and I think it threw him too far. (click for more)

Chris is only here to win! And he’s been in the bottom a couple of times (…hee) so he’s freaking out. Shirin does yoga and interviews that she’s feeling confident. Carol Hannah hasn’t won a challenge, nor has she been in the bottom.

Heidi reminds Gordana of her immunity, and says it’s time to take the competition to the next level. Shouldn’t they have already done that? If they want to shine, this look must upstage the rest. Everyone giggles at Heidi’s wordplay. Then she kicks them out to go meet Tim and a secret guest! That if you looked online at all you would already know about! Also there is no immunity, and there will be no immunity for the rest of the competition.

So everyone files into a room, but they don’t tell you where it is, and there are no outside shots of them driving there, which makes me think this is the basement of FIDM and they just want to pretend it’s somewhere cool. In front of them are Tim and Bob Mackie. Tim confirms they’re at FIDM in the museum section. This is the Bob Mackie exhibit, so there are lots of dresses and costumes around. Many shiny things. Today they will have to make an extravagant stage look in the style of Bob Mackie. Kick ass. He says this is not fashion, this is the stage. You need to really go for it. Nicolas pees his pants. And Tim says they will have a particular person in mind: Christina Aguilera. I think Nicolas pees his pants again. Everyone is very excited. They not only have to think about the stage, but also the fact that concerts like that will have video screens. Tim gives them 30 minutes to sketch, then shopping at Mood with $300. And they get two days!

Everyone wanders the exhibit and those costumes are fantastic. Crazy, but fantastic. Carol Hannah seems to be a little worried, but Nicolas is very excited. In the 30 minutes they have to shop, Shirin says people are buying anything shiny. Like magpies distracted by shiny things. Nicolas still manages to be superior because he’s going to put sequins on by hand instead of buying pre-sequined fabric. If he has time that should turn out better.

Back in the workroom Nicolas continues to talk about how awesome he is, so I hope he backs it up. Irina tells us some people know what they are doing and some people are really lost. Like Shirin, who bought some red fabric and now hates it. Chris is going for “80’s punk prom”. That sounds good. I guess. Irina laughs that Carol Hannah bought some cheap looking fabric. She’s completely lost because this is pretty far from her comfort zone. Logan realizes he doesn’t know enough about Christina Aguilera to know if she would care he has real fur in his design. Nicolas points out to the workroom at large that having both Christina and Bob Mackie together at the same time is pretty impressive. Gordana is feathering a whole gown, I think. Or possibly rouching. She is very glad to have immunity because she’s pretty sure she’s not going to be proud of her design. She takes some tape off her fabric (I think there was tape along the edges so it doesn’t fray?) and it pulls beads off too. The whole thing is falling apart when she cuts it so she’s down today. She goes into the lounge to lie down and get away from it.

In the morning Gordana decides to start over. I’m so glad she has immunity. Althea is looking to blow everyone away. Nicolas has a lot of feathers, or, pieces of feathers. Think a dress with a feathered skirt. I think Christian had one and Laura also. Shirin’s dress is a long black dress with white ruffles from the waist down. Not looking good.

Tim time! Chris has a tear-away outer garment. Oo. But Tim says if he’s going to have a reveal, it should reveal “super sexy slut”. No, really, Tim Gunn just said the words “super sexy slut.” He’s under impressed with the outfit underneath and calls it “1999 costume department ice skating Halloween outfit.” I like the idea of a reveal though. Althea also has a huge jacket and a sequined dress underneath. I don’t know that she got constructive advice. I think she must have. Gordana has a matronly look but she knows she isn’t all there right now. Tim points out that Nicolas’s dress looks awfully similar to his other winning costume. Oops. Carol Hannah wanted to go glam to sexy but she can’t figure out how to transform her sequined gown. She wants to make it short but she can’t think of how to do it without going Ice Capades. Tim totally agrees and she’s going to leave it. Shirin…oh Shirin. Tim sits down on a stool to tell her that her dress is student work and bad high school prom. Irina rolls her eyes that Shirin isn’t even a designer. Sigh.

Chris compares Tim to a tornado. Leaving wreckage in his wake. Shirin loudly claims to be freaking out, and Chris is all, yeah, you should freak out. She’s going to scrap the whole thing, and he says that’s a lot to do, and she seems to get inspiration from somewhere and bolts out of the sewing room to start working. The models come in for fittings and they seem pretty excited. Carol Hannah says she might sew through her finger. Logan talks about her, and are we trying to set them up, producers? They must hook up later. But no one really talks to each other as they work. Remember when Danny V and Nick and Santino and Chloe all sat around and talked about their coming out stories and Chloe said her biggest fear was dating a gay guy? Of course now they cut to Gordana laughing at her dress and people just acting kind of goofy. Irina says everyone is kind of going nuts. I can’t tell if she’s glad others are failing or if she’s entertained. She kind of has a stick up her ass most of the rest of the time so who knows.

The morning of the runway show everyone is still freaking out. Althea I think had fun with this challenge because she still seems sane and happy. Tim sends the models in. Carol Hannah is putting feathers on her dress. She talks about it to Logan. Irina tells her model that Carol Hannah annoys her. She’s not even talking to you. Why is she annoying? Because she’s “mediocre”. I cannot roll my eyes hard enough for that. Nicolas interviews that Irina’s actually a really good designer. “The only problem with her is that she’s a bitch.” Well said. Although…kind of the pot calling the kettle black. Carol Hannah gives up on the sewing and busts out the hot glue gun. Gordana has kind of given up entirely. Tim tries to collect everyone but at first no one listens to him.

So why is it that Heidi has no problem wearing short shiny things ALL THE DAMN TIME but the one challenge where they basically said “Make something short and shiny” she is wearing a black dress with ¾ length sleeves and a boat neck like a normal person? Bob Mackie is here, and Nina is back! Yay! And apparently Kors is gone because Christina is here. She looks good but man is her hair blonde. White almost. Althea: long silver sequined gown with a huge black puffy jacket over it. I think it has feathers? The gown has some diagonal stripes of plain fabric on one side and a very long train. Logan: short zebra print in green and black sequins, with a black fur shrug. It looks very rock star and he put his model in high black boots so it all goes together. The dress is one shouldered and it might actually be too short to dance in. Shirin: long black dress with white and black ruffles in the skirt. The ruffles are just strips of fabric, and I think the black ones are sequined, while the rest of the dress is plain. There are some interesting straps at the top, but I don’t see anyone performing in this. It’s not even that great of a dress just in general. The ruffles are really big at the bottom in the back. Chris: the outer garment looks like a short black dress with a bubble skirt and thick straps. Then she takes that part off to reveal a black sequined bustier and silver boy shorts, also sequined. See, now that’s something I could see Christina performing in. And a garter belt. Nicolas: white short strapless dress with silver accents. The skirt has feathers pieced in, but it is pretty short. It’s cute, and manages not to look like an ice skating costume, so props for that. Gordana: long white dress in this weird fabric that looks like fishnet but has beading? There is a halter neckline but the top looks weird, like it’s not wide enough where her boobs are. The beaded fabric ends just past her butt so it accentuates the butt area. Nice. Irina: black coat with bell sleeves, which reveals a dark navy sequined short dress. Sadly, it has a very short flippy skirt and looks kind of Ice Capades. Or maybe a sequined nightie. Carol Hannah: long black sequined dress, that is strapless, and has feathers around her waist. They do break up the dress which is nice.

Irina is the only one called out, and she is safe. Well…I guess there were bigger train wrecks than her. Gordana also gets called out, and Heidi tells her she’s damn lucky she has immunity or she might have been going home. She gets to leave too. Carol Hannah went for high glamour, and usually I don’t talk about hair and makeup, but she did a great job matching the look of her model to the dress. It’s all very 40’s glamour. Christina could see herself in it. Nina says it has the potential to have a great reveal, so Carol Hannah describes how it was going to have a breakaway skirt but looked too ice skating. Bob Mackie (I can’t just write “Bob”, you know?) agrees that ice skating would be the kiss of death. There are a lot of textures. Shirin knows she didn’t do that well and blames taking on a lot of work. Heidi is thinking “upscale witch costume”. Christina thinks she would trip. The top half isn’t connected to the bottom half, which in Nina’s opinion is Carmen Miranda. Althea wanted glamour but edgy at the same time, and also something that would be like a big sign that said “This is the star“. The contrasting strips are actually not plain fabric but the backside of the sequins. Heidi says the model’s ass looks fantastic. Nina, though, wonders if Christina could perform with a big train. Chris for some reason has an elaborate story about a Cyndi Lauper cover. Yeah. Also his outer garment has big gray buttons. Christina winces as he talks. Heidi hates the whole bustier and hot pants combo. Nina is bored because it’s just like Lady Marmalade. Please don’t let Christina fry her hair like that ever again. Then Nina announces to everyone that she’s seen all these looks before. Bob Mackie says he wouldn’t put that corset on a chorus girl. Christina is nice and says she likes the idea but it’s not done that well. Nicolas says something about art deco and Heidi and Christina love the way it moves and how beautiful it is. Bob Mackie wants some other accessories. Logan wanted to move in a new direction, and as they pan up his model, I don’t know if it’s the model or his dress but she looks like she’s got a little belly pooch happening. There are chains on the back of the fur shrug and Nina and Heidi make fun of the “dramatic” chains. Christina is thinking “cavewoman” which is not good. Also apparently Logan lined the dress in hot pink, but didn’t think of how anyone would see that. Nina likes that he took a chance, as opposed to everyone else, but he should have ran with it.

Nicolas’s outfit had great movement and suited Christina’s body. Carol Hannah’s had great texture but Nina doesn’t like black for the stage. Althea had a very well constructed gown. Now on to the bottom! Shirin is talented but her outfit was not well thought out. Chris was tasteless. Bob Mackie labels it “road company of the Pussycat Dolls.” Hee. Then Nina gets all agitated because Christina’s already done that look. Much better than Chris’s outfit. Logan’s outfit was at least a little bit hip but still cavewoman.

Althea is in. Christina gets to tell Carol Hannah that she won and implies that one day she might wear it. Maybe. Carol Hannah is excited and she’s super cute about it. Nicolas is in. Logan is in. Chris made a cheap imitation of something that’s been done, and Shirin was unflattering and boring. Shirin is out. She looks very forlorn. She has to trust in her talent and she won’t give up.

Next week: another field trip to Rodeo Drive. Nicolas freaks out. I think a lot of people freak out. And Kors is back, so the Dynamic Duo is back together! FINALLY!