Project Runway 3/4/10--"Hard Wear" summary

Previously on Project Runway: the designers had to make clothes for small children and then also clothes for their “mommies”. That includes imagining what little girls want to wear. This was easier for some than for others. Seth Aaron won, mostly I think because the coat he made for the adult was awesome. Amy made really crazy pants with overlapping circular petals, but that was at least interesting, as opposed to Janeane’s boring clothes so Amy got to stay while Janeane went home. (click for more)

Morning in the boys’ apartment. No one is shirtless. Anthony throws things at Jay, who seems very confident. Mila is sad so many women have gone home, but is “empowered” that she’s one of the three women left. “Empowered” is not the word I would use, but OK.

Heidi reminds everyone that Seth Aaron has immunity and then sends them on a field trip to meet Tim and “one of America’s favorite designers”, who will give them “all of the tools” they will need. I put that part in quotes because I know what is coming.

The field trip is to Kors’ store in SoHo. BLAH. Wait, I take it back. Kors has a plus-size line at Nordstrom’s and it looks pretty good, so I am not opposed to him. But that was still lame. They must think unconventionally and outside the box. They will be shopping at…wait for it…a hardware store. I really wanted him to give some random name, and everyone be all fake excited, until one of them is like, “Hey! They don’t sell fabric there!” I think that would be more entertaining. I do love the “unconventional materials” challenge. Emilio doesn’t make “crafty” things. Wah. They must make an outfit and also an accessory. Hee. Those better be awesome.
The hardware store they end up in is pretty big. They get $150. Jesse is worried about the budget. Maya is excited because she’s done something like this before. Emilio is over budget so he has to leave half of his stuff behind. I think everyone else makes it.

This week’s winner will have immunity. Oo, I hope Seth Aaron does some really crazy whack-a-doo thing. Jay is making pants with trash bags. Jesse hopes someone else fails, but “not in a mean way”. Yeah. Maya is making a giant necklace. Anthony wants to make things airy. Jonathan shares with us that it’s a pain in the ass to not have fabric to work with. Duh. Each of these is an interview, then cut to Seth Aaron hammering sheets of metal to conform to his dress form, then cut to another interview. Hee. Emilio wants to make some macramé with washers, because he feels metal bodices have been done. Jesse jokes that there are stripper costumes and spacesuits in the workroom. Seth Aaron makes a macramé comment, and Emilio does not take it well and tells him to shut it. Seth Aaron pretends to have been saying it nicely but no one is buying it. Ben has cut up his hands on his copper. Mila is color blocking black and white. Feh. All of a sudden everyone starts hammering at the same time and Emilio looks like he wants to stab himself in the eye. Or maybe stab others in the eye. Jesse bought mesh but it’s sticky so he’s irritated. Jay is trying to make his trash bags like leather. He’s interviewing about how he has wanted this since he was little so that’s not promising. Although, you know Kors and Nina have seen too many garbage bag dresses already. So it’s not a total shocker. Oh, no, he’s starting to cry about his family. Now I feel bad. Ben sews through copper flashing. I know Jesse is hot but Ben is quietly hot and also not a jerk. Sigh. I’ll take care of your cut-up hands, Ben. Maya has some cord that she hopes she can sew.

Tim time! He feels like he’s in the “Arms and Armor” wing of the Met. Mila is making black and white and a sign for a cuff. I’m not sure what the sign says. Jesse claims to be thinking “Elizabethan” but Tim interrupts him to say “Elizabethan mini?” Hee. Then he says it looks like a school project. Elementary school. Haha. Tim doesn’t understand why the boys bought copper. Jesse starts talking about “hand seaming” but Tim is like, you can’t tell, it sucks, costume. Emilio can’t describe his outfit but knows it might be too short. Anthony isn’t happy with his skirt and Tim agrees. Jay does seem to have disguised his garbage bag pants so they look like leather, but they’re shrinking as he makes them so they might not fit. Maya has a very cool necklace out of keys and screen, and a collar of stiff cords. I really want that necklace.

The models come in. Jonathan describes his design as “Veronica Lake meets C3PO”. I see. He’s making a clutch but it might not get done. Jay’s model can’t even get the pants over her feet. Emilio is realizing his washers won’t cover his 6 foot tall model. Bathing suit time! Nothing beats Wendy Pepper’s candy bikini, though. Jay cuts new strips to make the pants bigger. He’s braiding a belt. Jesse wants to be different so he’s painting his copper. So he’s special.

Seth Aaron is super excited for this show. The girls wish for fabric. Jesse is glad that at least they are all crazy together. Emilio breaks it to his model that she’ll now be wearing a bikini. Amy’s made her dress out of sandpaper, on her African-American model. It looks really cool. Jay sews his model in and realizes that she can’t remove the pants until after judging. Emilio has made a bikini bottom with cord and washers, but the washers are so heavy that it won’t stay on. Anthony says “making a woman look like a lady” never goes out of style and Emilio has taste issues. Jonathan’s dress is a little big but he doesn’t want it so tight it cuts his model. Emilio says the whole thing is so huge and over-the-top but if he’s going to jump off the cliff, he’s going to do it full throttle. Nice.

Guest judges are Isabel Toledo (she made that chartreuse dress Michelle Obama wore to the inauguration) and Stephen Webster, jewelry designer. Mila: black and white dress made from plastic. The bodice is mostly white, and the skirt is black and white overlapping squares. They don’t say what it’s made out of, which is DAMN ANNOYING. Sigh. Also I’m not sure what her accessory is. I mean, she said she was making a cuff, but they don’t make a point of showing it. Jesse: silver-painted copper bodice, with a voluminous bubble skirt. The bodice is fitted, but either because his model is walking with her hands on her hips, or the cut is weird, her shoulders look huge. I think he made a hairpiece, which from this distance just looks like a triangle of tin foil. Jonathan: halter dress in different shades of brown (I think it’s all copper) that is fitted. It moves pretty well but is short and slit up to there. There is a clutch. Anthony: purple fitted dress with a keyhole in the front and a mesh overlay. I’m not sure where the purple came from. There is a leaf design on the skirt, and a wide silver belt. It looks like real clothes. Ben: hammered copper sheath. It’s not fitted to her, but that was on purpose. Emilio: hot pink and silver bikini made from cord and washers. Oh, man…who knows what they think. It looks like he didn’t have quite enough for a dress, but too much for a bikini, because the washers come up above her navel. Also the backside is pretty skimpy. Jay: very tight pants and a strapless top that has ruffles. It’s striped but maybe it’s trash bags too? The pants look good. Seth Aaron: hammered metal bodice and A-line skirt. It looks like tin foil. There a big cuff on one arm. I…wanted crazier. Amy: very cute dress made from sandpaper. The skirt is all black, and the top has polka dots and ruffles. It’s lopsided so she has a titscrepancy but it’s pretty cute otherwise. Maya: fitted gray sheath and a “jacket” made from cord that is a very loose mesh? You know those black open mesh shoes that are like a cage for your feet? That’s what the jacket reminds me of. And that awesome necklace.

Ben, Jonathan, Amy, and Seth Aaron are safe. Mila used paint tray liners to make her dress. That’s where the ridges come from. They love it, and also the cuff since it has words. Emilio has to defend himself, and his look has all these strings hanging off it when you look up close. Oh, Emilio. Nina is like, why didn’t you make clothes? She knows he went with it, but Kors calls it a cheese-fest. Isabel praises him for putting thought into not making a dress, and Kors and Heidi exchange looks that say “We all know he didn’t have enough for a dress.” Anthony made his dress out of mesh, but they don’t let him say what the purple is. Kors calls it a bad prom dress. Nina thinks he spent too much time making it pretty. Maya made her dress out of screen. Everyone loves the whole head-to-toe look. It doesn’t look like a hardware store buy. So…Anthony gets slammed for “going to the software store” but Maya gets praise for disguising her stuff? That just seems contradictory to me. Jesse gets praise for his headband but his dress is called both “Tin Man” and “Hershey’s kiss”. The back is all cattywampus but that’s the part Kors loves, apparently. Jay used masking tape for the stripes. The belt does look good too. He fooled Kors. So that’s saying a lot.

Mila thought through the challenge and used a difficult material. Jay’s outfit could be worn in public and is luxurious. Maya’s necklace was the best accessory, plus her outfit was fashion forward. Emilio might have gotten away with pretending to not want to make a dress, but only if he had made something successful. No taste. Nina (!) didn’t think it was so bad. Everyone hates on Jesse. Now it is a dirty vacuum bag. Anthony was boring. So apparently if you make it look like real fabric, it better be fashionable and not boring. Or you can use plastic paint trays and be crazy.

Maya is in. Jay is the winner. So I guess that is what the editing was for. Nice fakeout. Jay flips out and dances around and gets pretty cocky. Mila is in. Anthony is in. Jesse is out. So there’s your difference between Bravo and Lifetime: Bravo would have made damn sure they had some shirtless screen time before he got eliminated. I know I sound like a lecher but you were all thinking it. He’s pissed and thinks he shouldn’t have been eliminated. Tim says he didn’t think he should be out either. Oo, who’s going to take his model? None of the other girls like her.

Next week: everyone is worried and someone makes a cat in a baby sling. That’s about all I can tell.