Project Runway 4/8/10--"The Big, Top Designers" summary

Previously on Project Runway: the producers got bored and decided to just repeat another challenge from this season. I mean, I know it’s been a very long season (remember the burlap? That was this season), but seriously. Anyway, Maya had enough of the pressure and she quit, so they brought back Anthony, which everyone was excited about. Then Anthony won, and Emilio also won, which was only because Jessica Alba loved Anthony’s dress but the challenge wasn’t about her. Jonathan went home, I think he made a horrible dress on purpose as a big F U to the judges. (click for more)

Anthony sings and is annoyingly cheerful. He wants to pump up the volume. He seems to have had his coffee already. This is the final challenge before “Bryant Park”. Mila is shocked to be there. She doesn’t have anyone to talk to anymore, being the last woman left.

Heidi pretends there will be no decoys and four people will be headed to Fashion Week. She is sending them to a tent. It would be awesome if they had to make outdoorsy clothes out of tarps or something, but you know that won’t be it. Anthony, however, believes this will be “rugged” and that he does not have rugged clothes. As if any of you are surprised. “You cannot wear Gucci drivers in the mountains.”

Instead they go to Ringling Brothers. Anthony is more disturbed than if they had gone camping. Tim appears but is not wearing a top hat and tails which is SO disappointing. The final 5 designers must design a “high end” runway look “inspired” by the circus. Mila says the circus is full of inspiration. Now the designers get their own performance, all by themselves in the tent. Sigh. Jay, much like Kmanpat and I when we go to Cirque du Soleil, can do nothing but stare at the shirtless male acrobats. (Kmanpat: “…huh? Did you say my name? Oo, boys!”) Seth Aaron says there are “clowns” and also “funny-ass clowns”. Tim comes back out and tells them to make fashion and not costumes, then gives them half an hour to sketch.

Emilio goes with stripes and polka dots. He thinks his theater experience gives him an edge. Tim said no costumes! Mila is inspired by the ringmaster. Anthony starts talking about the acrobat, the female one, and her blue-gray outfit. (Kmanpat: “…there was a girl acrobat?”) He talks about her performance: “She was just throwin’ herself everywhere and I was like ‘Work!‘ and I knew in that moment she was my inspiration.” Jay has decided not to draw the male acrobats and instead is making pleats based on the clowns. Seth Aaron talks about how much is going on at the circus but doesn’t say much about his design. Tim gives them $300 at Mood for shopping.

Two day challenge! Cheering! Seth Aaron has thick black and white stripes. Anthony says everyone has black, white, stripes, and red, and he’s the only one with blue. Emilio says there are no second chances, except Anthony would beg to differ. He continues this thought aloud in the workroom, about how he has one goal, to win, and he’s not shy about it, etc. Mila calls him on it and says, uh, duh, and he’s like, what are you trying to say? She tells him he talks about it frequently so everyone knows already. He wants people to pee on themselves when his model comes out. Mila is tired of his ego. They certainly have found enough footage of his talking about how awesome he is. Anthony steals a yardstick from Emilio. Jay talks about not making it, which is suspicious. Emilio has everyone look at his dress. Anthony goes into the sewing room and announces to Mila that Emilio just had “a viewing party” for his dress. Mila is unamused.

Tim time! Seth Aaron has black and white stripes that for some reason remind me of Jeffrey’s green dress with the zippers from his final collection. Seth Aaron is making a coat with boning and a tie and a top hat. Tim I don’t think likes the hat. He tells him to think about styling and no costumes. Emilio also has stripes but it’s poofy. You can tell when he talks he loves his dress to death. Tim asks him where the color is, because, circus. Emilio is all, but I’m abstracting the color, or whatever, and Tim is like, we want you to use more color! Circus! Then Emilio gets all defensive and says he never uses black and white, and then they cut footage in of three looks with color, and I know how many challenges there have been. Three is not a majority. Tim reminds him last time his bronze gown was “somber” so he feels that counts. Emilio refuses to listen to Tim. Stupid. Anthony says he was left out of the black and white, but Tim of course says he’ll stand out. He’s making sure he has a good foundation dress with his color. Tim says, viscera, and also no contrivances. Anthony is making sure to get a dictionary when he gets back to Georgia to make sure he knows what Tim is talking about. Hee! Mila is making a black coat but with ivory panels, but Tim says to ditch the panels. She also wants stripes on the back and he thinks she should put them on the front too. Jay wanted to combine the ringleader with the clowns. He has very wide pants and a red “bad bitch” jacket.

There is a lot of working and a lot of black and white stripes that are making me dizzy. Anthony is freaking out because he doesn’t know what he should do.

Day two. Wow, I really haven’t written that for a while. First thing, Anthony changes his bodice. Jay starts talking about how people believe in him and he used to not push himself but now he believes he can do it. The models come in and fitting commences. Seth Aaron says Mila’s outfit is shiny but he doesn’t totally hate it. Emilio realizes TIM WAS RIGHT and he puts some color in. Anthony thinks there are a lot of costumes in the room.

Jay’s coat is red with black horizontal tabs. Anthony saves me the trouble of describing it for you by exclaiming “Oh! You’re making a Michael Jackson coat!” Now you all know what it looks like. Jay kind of freaks out, because he can’t tell if they’re serious. They are though, it totally is.

So…that was all of day two. Mila “feels like [she’s] going to be OK.” Emilio is focused. Maybe he will shut up for a while. Seth Aaron says this is the only day he has been nervous this whole time. Emilio is not too focused to brag because he tells us he wants this dress to be “the dress of the season”. BLAH. Anthony freaks out because the dress is too big. Mila says Anthony and Jay should be out because Anthony is inconsistent and Jay doesn’t know enough about textiles or whatever. Honey, if Lindsay Lohan can have a collection, Jay certainly can. Jay, for his side, says he doesn’t think Mila can show a good enough collection that is dramatic enough. Everyone talks about how badly they want it and how excited they are. Unfortunately before they leave we get one more interview from Emilio about how he didn’t come to beat Seth Aaron or Anthony or whoever, but he came to win for himself and be #1. Does all this talking mean he’s out and you had to use up his sound bites?

Heidi clarifies the judging for tonight, which I totally missed if she said it before: there will be two eliminations today. Guest judge today is Cynthia Rowley. Jay: red fitted jacket with a wide neckline and a black panel in the front, trimmed in gold. He still has the black tabs but because the neckline is so wide and so much of her chest is exposed the Michael Jackson comparison is not so obvious. Then there are some black pants that are supposed to be pleated but they just look like normal tapered pants. The jacket also has black shoulder poofs and cuffs. Upon closer inspection the pants are sort of wide in the hip and may possibly have an insane crotch. Mila: black jacket with black and white stripes along the lapels and down the front, and also along the sleeves (vertically). There are tails with more stripes and the front of the jacket is long enough to look like a skirt. Under the jacket is a bright yellow top and neon pink tight pants. The top has a black diagonal strap. The back of the jacket has white piping to accentuate her waist and a big kick pleat of stripes. Nina looks like she might laugh. Anthony: blue dress with a long skirt, slit up the middle, and two big pieces of fabric running from the middle of the waist over each shoulder like wings. It sounds stupider than it looks. There’s a short train. Emilio: well. Let’s start from the bottom. There is sheer black fabric with white polka dots in a ruffle on the skirt, which is knee length in front but down to a train in the back. Then the rest of the skirt is vertical black and white stripes, sewn so it lies in bunches. As if she gathered it in her hands, kind of like a bubble skirt but with more bubbles, if you will. The waist is black, and then above that is a strapless bodice with more stripes, but these are red and black and white and are diagonal. There is so much going on in this dress. Seth Aaron: black and white striped jacket, with the stripes horizontal on the sleeves and back and vertical on the shoulders and front panel. It’s all very tight except for the shoulders and the ends of the sleeves which extend down past her hands. The inside is lined with yellow, and there is yellow piping as an accent between the vertical and horizontal pikes. And then high waisted bright red pants. Under the jacket is a white shirt with a giant collar that sticks up past her ears.

Seth Aaron says he didn’t think to hard but went with it. The judges like the sense of drama but Nina thinks it’s too costumey. Cynthia likes the “defying gravity” parts of the collars. Kors calls insane crotch on the pants. Anthony didn’t want costume but he wanted some drama. Nina is bored with the skirt, and Kors and Cynthia nag him about his fabric choice. Kors actually gets up to feel the skirt, and all the judges recoil in horror upon discovering it’s polyester. Jay is asked to take off the jacket, revealing…a black tank top and black pants. Jodhpur pants. It’s nicely made but boring. Mila made her jacket out of “laminated wool herringbone”. Kors loves how it’s dramatic without being costumey, but Nina needs convincing. Cynthia, even though she is wearing a whole dress in the exact same color, hates the color of the pants. Emilio sewed the entire dress out of one piece of fabric, and then the judges fall all over themselves trying to praise it. Huh? Are we gearing up to an Emilio win? Because that would irritate me. Nina says an outfit should speak to a woman. Yeah, his outfit says I'm crazy.

Heidi asks everyone why they should go to Fashion Week, and who should go with them. Seth Aaron can tailor and is well rounded, and would like Emilio and Jay to come with him. Jay is confident he can do this, and wants Seth Aaron and Anthony with him. This makes him cry. Anthony too. Mila is strong and thoughtful, and wants to compete with Seth Aaron and Emilio. Emilio, of course, thinks he is awesome. Do I need to repeat why he’s awesome? Didn’t think so. He wants the strongest designers, to compete with the best, and nice way to kiss ass while at the same time delivering backhanded insults to the two you don’t pick. Anyway, he picks Seth Aaron and Mila. Anthony can make beautiful clothes and also he uses “viscera”. He wants to compete against Emilio and Jay. Why do they make them do that? It’s not like they take that into account.

Everyone loves Emilio. Blah blah blah. Seth Aaron’s outfit was not as well loved but it did have a lot of things going for it and it makes them excited for his collection. They are still shocked that Anthony didn’t know he bought polyester, or maybe that he bought it at all. Mila’s outfits are sometimes flat but today her jacket was kind of OK. Jay’s clothes are modern but never 100% right. Kors trots out that old chestnut of “I don’t know who he is as a designer”.

Emilio, of course, is in. He claims to be humbled. Seth Aaron is in. Anthony is out. Mila is in. And then Jay is also in. WTF? Kors and Nina look pissed. Heidi says they will both have collections but only one will show. So…is this like the previous season where they couldn’t get rid of Chris March right away so they did it right before Fashion Week? Only Seth Aaron and Emilio are safe from that? Mila and Jay go backstage and explain themselves in front of Anthony. WTF, Lifetime? Quit jacking up my show. Anthony promises to see them later and don’t disappoint him.

Next week: home visits! Emilio is a jerk! Mila cries and is emotional!