Project Runway 4/15/10--"Finale pt. 1" summary

Previously on Project Runway: there were about a million contestants, and then when Fashion Week rolled around, there were still 10 so the producers went “oh crap” and had that many decoys. Then Heidi must have offered to bail them out (they did have to pay for 10 collections), because they let the designers make her not one, but two dresses as challenges. Finally we were supposed to be down to three people, but then they decided to do a last minute challenge right before Bryant Park. Just like when they wanted to get rid of Chris March, but the guest judge thought he was awesome so they pretended to have a change of heart and they got rid of him later. Sometimes the producers don’t bother to hide what they’re doing. (click for more)

Heidi greets everyone for the last time on the runway, in some leopard print muumuu. Everyone gets $9000 and 4 months. Heidi makes it clear that only Mila and Jay are in danger of “not showing”. Emilio and Seth Aaron are automatically in, but Mila and Jay have to pick out three looks just before the show. Tim comes out to be proud and remind them they will have home visits. That’s the part where Tim pretends he likes to drive and be in the suburbs.

Mila says she must make sure she beats Jay. In the boy’s apartment, Seth Aaron shuts Jay in the closet. Yeah. Emilio is already talking about how he will beat everyone. Seth Aaron is also fairly confident.

Three months later (so that is one month before Fashion Week) Tim travels to Vancouver, WA, to visit Seth Aaron. He lives in a normal looking house. He’s done. No, really. He has 15 looks finished. His plan is to take 20 outfits to New York and edit it down to 10 when he gets there. Wow. He wants to not only win but “stomp” the competition. He has some fantastic coats, just like he’s been doing all competition. Tim tells him he could show all this stuff, and people would know what he was about and love it, but he won’t win. Tim says you have to surprise the judges. I guess…but then maybe the judges shouldn’t gush over his coats so much. Tim then tells him to “reconceptualize” the whole thing and he expects most of what’s done to go away. Seriously? With a month left? And 15 looks paid for? Normally I want everyone to listen to Tim but I don’t think this is a good idea. Then Tim does the thing where you say “I know you can do it, that’s why I expect so much from you” which is a thing I say to my students to guilt them into doing more work. Seth Aaron’s family is super cute. His wedding photos are so normal looking! Then they play Pictionary with Tim which is hilarious. He guesses “Fallopian tubes.” Then they make him get on a trampoline which is worth an Emmy I think. Better than Jay in a redneck wig brandishing a shotgun.

Back to New York for Emilio. They’re outside meeting Emilio’s brothers under a bridge. They praise him a lot and Emilio talks about how his parents were working class who wanted to give them a better life and they grew up in the South Bronx. Cue stock footage of the Bronx in the late 70’s. He brags about the birth of hip-hop as if he invented it. Emilio is about halfway finished with his collection. He starts in about how most people put a lot of black and gray into their fall lines but he is thinking about turquoise and red, and that’s together. I’m sorry, but he’s so arrogant it bugs me. I mean, I don’t have a problem with “everyone does it this way but I want to do it this way”, it’s just his tone says “everyone does it this way and they're morons so I’m doing it right.” He also has a dark chartreuse, and more print with his name on it. OH, jeez, and a gold cropped jacket that is painted or something. Tim says all the details get lost, and Emilio’s all, “I don’t design for the camera, I design for my clients.” If the judges don’t see your details, neither will your clients. Tim points this out. Emilio points out that he was very strong all season, like that matters. Tim is finally like, do whatever you want, but it’s old. Emilio interviews that last he checked, Tim doesn’t wear woman’s clothing so whatever.

Next up is Mila in L.A. There are three weeks left at this point. She says she’s not focusing on her three looks, she’s making a collection and she’ll just pull three awesome looks. Mila’s collection is about shadows, so it’s mostly black and white but also has eggplant. Tim points out that this will be a black and white collection, mostly, but that is Mila. She’s got a circular print but with sheer sleeves and shoulders. Tim says it’s headed for matronly and conservative. He’s really praising what she has much more than Seth Aaron or Emilio. Is that what really happened, I wonder? I went to see if I could find Tim’s blog but it hasn’t been updated yet. She talks about beating Jay, and now he is a “little shit”, which seems fairly harsh, but she goes on to say he’s annoying and she’s better. Tim gets to meet her parents and boyfriend. Tim points out the whole house is black and white. She even has a Dalmatian. She’s glad to have this chance to make her dreams come true.

Jay lives in San Francisco. W00t! He is taking inspiration from Japanese samurai. He has a skirt with black cut out sheer circles which is cool, so he needs a simpler top. He’s got a long coat with a peplum or something. Tim tells him this woman needs to have somewhere to go. Jay McCarroll’s clothes weren’t always things people could wear anywhere. This Jay has a jacket that Tim loves, with an obi style belt, but the sleeves are like, rings sewn together along one strip. Too gimmicky. Jay is pretty confident he can beat Mila, so he’s really thinking about what will beat Emilio and Seth Aaron. Jay takes him over to meet his parents who are cooking and seem somewhat starstruck. He has a similar story to Emilio: working class parents who were determined to make a better life for their children. There is also a random non-Filipino guy lurking around, which I think is Jay’s boyfriend probably, but we don’t meet him. He wants to pay his parents back, and he gets emotional about it. Aww.

Fashion week! Mila’s all thrilled. They have a very swank hotel suite. Jay thinks the judges will like his stuff more because he’s “current” and “innovative”. They’ve put Jay and Mila together, for maximum awkwardness. Jay points this out, that he’s been thinking about how to interact with her. She says she kind of keeps to herself, and they seem to kind of agree that they should at least be civil. As if they decided on their own to have a talk about their feelings. Seth Aaron shows up then to break the tension, saying he has changed up his collection and it’s nothing they’ve seen but is totally him. Emilio has also changed his collection up, proving he does listen to Tim sometimes. Magically, as if he heard his name, Tim shows up to the hotel and talks about how excited he is and that they’re two blocks from Bryant Park. Tomorrow it is time to work, so tonight they should relax. So let’s have some champagne!

The workroom only has three tables in it, like it would be such a pain in the ass to put up four tables and take one down later. Mila and Jay are showing today. Surprise! Everyone stares at Tim. They have three hours to fit models and do hair and makeup. Mila admits she hasn’t seen her clothes on people before. So…whoever wins this, will get direct feedback from the judges on their clothes. It didn’t matter before, but if I were Seth Aaron or Emilio I would be concerned. Of course, if I were Seth Aaron or Emilio I’d think I was the shit, so I probably wouldn’t care. Mila worries that Jay has color. He also has some leather shin guards that aren’t quite working right. I don’t think they’re zipping up. Emilio is helping Mila and Seth Aaron is helping Jay, which is a nice thing. Both Jay and Mila both cry about possibly not being able to show this collection. It loses something, knowing how many decoys they had and that they are in absolutely no danger of not showing their collection.

There is no guest judge today. Interesting. Less chance they can’t play favorites. Mila is up first. Her usual model comes out in a charcoal coat, loose and not fitted. There are darker square pockets. She opens it to show a sheath dress that has horizontal stripes on top, then a diagonal seam and a black skirt, with a vertical off-centered panel of black and white checks. It’s a lot going on. The net look is a loose coat with small black and white stripes that look weird on my TV. Underneath is a white shawl and white cuffs on something, another shirt maybe. The last look is a silver short dress, with a black collar. All fish scale sequins. The back of the skirt is slightly longer than the front. There is no color in any of the looks. It’s very Mila, but…I’m kind of bored.

Jay’s first look is a dark purple dress, fitted with a zipper all the way up the front. There are loops and stuff over her hips to exaggerate them. And half gloves, I think. The second look is a silver turtleneck with black loops over her shoulders (like he took loops of fabric and put them on her arms like water wings) and black pants with silver buttons all up the sides. When she turns around, you can see that the black is a shrug, and there are thin loops of fabric on the outside of her pants. Like she was wearing suspenders and she just let them fall alongside her legs. The last look has a very high collar and pockets. It’s a dark gray, and then red pants with black leather shin guards. The shin guards kind of look like high boots, but the collar is so high it almost hides her mouth. The collar is also in leather while the rest of the top is in cloth. Jay’s clothes are more interesting, but I’m still kind of blah about them.

Heidi likes Mila’s pieces and says she’d wear all of them because they’re simple with a twist. Kors says it’s tough when you have a look but you have to still surprise people. Everything is still very 60’s so he wants edgier makeup. Nina also wants more modern, and points out that if she ends up doing 6 collections a year she’ll have to do some color. Kors loves the half gloves and says that is edgy. They only have two fingers and a thumb on each hand, so most of the hand is exposed, which leaves room for some jewelry.

Heidi tells Jay he pumped up the volume. Kors likes all the work put into the clothes and he loves the black pants. Nina doesn’t really like the silver shirt and shrug. He needs to have one standout piece per outfit and edit down. Heidi starts talking about how she loves the shin guards and the short dress and how she’s going to make it more slutty with garter belts. The shin guards are like fat rings around her legs, sewn together in the front but not in the back. Heidi doesn’t know if the whole thing is cohesive, though. Kors says he loves that there is nothing retro about it. Ouch. Jay tells them how he and Mila are BFF now.

Kors wants to see Jay, Heidi wants to see Mila, and Nina is on the fence. Kors doesn’t really seem to like Mila’s retro sense, and Nina doesn’t think she’ll surprise them. Heidi says she has her own twist so it works. Jay has fantastic pieces but also some overworked stuff. Kors gives everyone a Yiddish lesson about things that are over decorated. Heidi worries that Jay will overdesign. Kors thinks it’s better to start with too much and edit down. Kors starts to talk about how he could fix something and Heidi tells him not to redesign.

I wish I could get excited about this drama. But not only did the loser today get a collection, but so did Anthony, and Jonathan, and so many people that the suspense is long gone. Heidi says they decided who was ready to show at Fashion Week, and that person is Mila. Knowing Jay still got to show a collection means I don’t feel that bad for him. He’s pretty upset though. I mean, he can’t win at this point but his clothes are still out there.

Next week: Seth Aaron has 24 looks. Emilio has something old. Mila is missing models. Someone wins something.