Project Runway 10/14/10--"We're In a New York State of Mind" summary

Previously on Project Runway: everyone made clothes for Heidi’s active wear line, and then they decided that was too boring so everyone had to make three full outfits, and have eliminated designers help them. This is so Ivy, who is still bitter about being eliminated, can come back and accuse Mike C. of cheating. Even though she and supposedly other people already talked to the producers and the producers already told them they weren’t going to do anything about it. So she just looked like a horrible person. Mondo and Gretchen had a hard time with criticism. Andy won, because his clothes were cool but still looked like active wear, and Chris was still boring so he went home. (click for more)

We begin right after the judging is over. Tim says they have to go meet Heidi on the runway right now. This is essentially what happens every week: elimination, everyone does confessionals, they go back to the runway and do model selection, then more interviews probably and then home to sleep. But today we’re going to come out and say so. Heidi greets the final 5 and says that it’s more surprises! We want you to relax tonight! PLEASE. Michael agrees with me and does not believe her. If you’re ever on a reality show, and the host tells you to take the night off, never believe them. In a side note, this is supposed to be the last elimination before Fashion Week, and they’ve been saying that only 3 will “show”, so does that mean double elimination? Or are we going to do that stupid thing where two people have to battle it out like 2 days before the runway show? Which they could also just start announcing instead of pretending every season that they didn’t mean to do it.

So “one of the most spectacular places in New York City” turns out to be the Presidential Suite at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. It is very swank. Everyone drinks champagne and cheers. Gretchen pretends to be happy to be there with everyone else. You know in like, five minutes she’ll be looking down on people again. She starts telling everyone she is “supposed” to be there, not like “I am the best so of course I am meant to make it to the end” but “this is totally destiny that we five people in particular are in this room at this very moment”. She continues and says she “set the intention” to do whatever she is passionate about for the rest of her life. Andy says this is a crash course in being who you are. Michael has learned about who would wear what and how to step it up. April is a stronger designer. She talks about how some people have had famous people wear their stuff but she hasn’t. Mondo has been on a journey to set himself free, and he’s meant to be there. Somehow it is far less eye-rolly when he says it.

In the morning…wait, they got the night off for real? Huh. Anyway, Tim is on the roof with Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Gretchen thinks this is a sign of what New York thinks of their show. Sure. The final challenge is to draw inspiration from New York City. Anything. You know this challenge always ends up disappointing. I’m not sure why, probably because no one wants to do anything too crazy and risky. They will get $500. Tim reminds them to wow the judges, then says he’s sending them to “[their] location” and he’ll see them at Mood in two hours.

So it looks like they were allowed to go wherever they wanted. Michael is headed for the Statue of Liberty, to make a draped dress. April is sketching the Brooklyn Bridge. Mondo also is there, but he’s on the bridge itself taking pictures of the support cables. Andy is in Central Park, being inspired by the trees and pathways. Gretchen is on the Lower East Side. She’s feeling “underinspired” because she doesn’t want to do anything literal. She wants to be herself, and she seems to be planning to just design for whatever woman she’s generally designing for. Is she just going to make something she likes and then fake a story about how it’s New York? Because that’s what it sounds like.

Andy is pulling different textiles and textures. Gretchen has changed her mind and is pulling things that remind her of the brick buildings. Michael…I think Michael wants to literally make a dress that is like the Statue of Liberty’s dress. Tim warns him not to do that. Tim also suggests to April that she might want to surprise the judges with a color. She does a lot of black. She is cool with that. Mondo is already going “full Mondo“, as Tim says.

They will get the rest of tonight, and all day tomorrow, and “at least one of you” will be going home. Pff. That says to me right there they’re taking 4 people to eliminate one the week of the runway show. Michael feels the stress because he’s been in the bottom the last 3 times. Tim is not coming back until tomorrow morning. April wants to “go out with a bang” and show the judges what she will bring to her collection. Michael is really pushing to do something. You know Gretchen has something to say about how Michael is not up to par or whatever. Oh, there she goes now. Mondo is exhausted and takes a nap. A two hour nap. Wow. When he wakes up he is worried. Michael has sort of made one dress, but he sort of doesn’t like it. He thinks it might be too safe, and has cut very long strips of black fabric with little pleats. I guess to make tiers of ruffles on a skirt. Mondo just shakes his head. Gretchen laughs that she wants to leave. That’s the sound clip from the commercials. You knew it was fake. Everyone goofs off and seems to be on the edge of losing their minds. The best is Michael does a very good Kors impression, while wearing a big piece of fabric over his head like Halloween ghost. Oh, it is as close to Kors as Santino’s impression is to Tim Gunn. Gretchen tells Andy his dress looks like a dominatrix outfit, and then interviews that “Andy tends to like it just this side of slut”. Hee. He interviews that he “gave birth to a Chinese prostitute”. Inspired by Central Park. Andy is worried about it but he knows he has to stick to something or he’ll never finish.

Back at the apartments Gretchen seems to understand that what she said to Andy is both good and bad. Andy can’t think about anything else now. Mondo is behind, and knows that no one would have woken him up. They all want him to sleep in. He says he’s more behind than ever before, in any challenge.

In the morning, Andy has decided to stand by his dress. Michael is still pleating. He’s trying to be meticulous. Mondo wonders where the dress is, as right now it’s in strips. For his own dress Mondo has sequined fabric, and he’s afraid to cut it, but he does, and then it doesn’t work at all. When he cuts it, he cuts the sequins too, so it’s all raggedy, but how ARE you supposed to cut sequined fabric? There must be a way to do it. He’s going to just use black and white.

Tim time! Mondo shows Tim his sequins, and Tim supports his decision to ditch them. Michael interviews something nice about someone for a change, and says he’s never seen so much creativity. Not that Michael is always a jerk, just that confessionals during Tim Time tend to be negative. April is doing something that is very April, but Mondo fears it is a costume. Also there is no color yet. Michael shows Tim his draping, and Tim thinks he’s not ambitious enough, but his pleats and whatever are overworked. Tim says “don’t lose your voice”. Andy’s dress is executed very well but is also almost too safe. Tim says not to let her look like one of the Real Housewives of New Jersey. Gretchen is glad to have a “real” critique with Tim today. She says her “feminine bohemian thing” is very urban. OK. Her dress is red, with black lace overlay, lined in leopard print. Tim tells her not to say she’d wear her clothes herself, but to say her customer would wear them. She makes sure to tell Tim it’s been an honor to know him, as if no one else ever thinks that.

Michael is back to his original design. The models come in. When Andy puts his dress on his model he loves it, because she doesn’t look as much like a prostitute as he feared. Tim brings in the Garnier hair guy to consult with everyone. I’m not recapping the advertisement that follows. Michael loves the dress on his model so much he starts talking about how he would date his model: “Cassie looks absolutely stunning in this dress. I would date her. Without a doubt. I’d take her out, it’d be a cheap date…she’d get some…” Hee. Mondo has nothing to fit so he’s upset about it. Gretchen is making a leather jacket. Michael is weaving a shrug? By hand? I don’t know. Andy and Gretchen worry that it could be horrible, but it might also be genius.

In the morning I think everyone is still freaking out some. No one wants to talk to each other, even though they’re all mostly relieved to be done with all the challenges. April’s model is boobtastic in her top. Michael’s shrug doesn’t work so he scraps it. Gretchen’s model doesn’t like her outfit. Mondo starts freaking out. So…when everyone had their consultations with the hair guy, no one took pictures or wrote anything down, because they’re all having to describe their hair looks to the people there. Everyone talks about how much they want to go to Fashion Week. Only Gretchen cries about it.

Guess who the guest judge is! Christian! Heidi refuses to say how many there will be after tonight, which means there will be four. Michael: long black dress. That’s it. It has a halter top and a high slit, and a low back. But it’s just draped and there’s not even a belt so it doesn’t really have a shape. Gretchen: the red skirt with the black lace overlay has a mullet hem, or at least is longer on the sides than in front. There is a white tank top, and a cropped leather jacket with vertical stripes on the edges. I like the jacket. There are vertical stripes down the back too, and I think they extend past the edge of the jacket. So there is the black jacket, and then cream and tan tabs where the stripes are. Andy: short black dress with a high neck that does look Asian. The sides and shoulders are shiny instead of matte black so they stand out. The shoulders are kind of pointy, but not shoulder-pad pointy. The back is cut out with strips of fabric across it in a random pattern which looks really cool. Mondo: a short dress with long sleeves. Down the center of the dress is black, then black and white checked tweed, and then for the sleeves and the sides, a sort of shiny herringbone pattern. It looks good. In the back, the back is mostly the shiny, with a horizontal panel of the checks. April: the top has a high collar but also is low cut enough that her boobs are on display. I think one side has a cap sleeve, kind of pointy, but the other side is sleeveless, but with a cuff on her upper arm that is attached to the bodice. The skirt is very voluminous and down past her knees, and also lined in purple. I think there are also leggings. On the back you can see the cuff better, I think there is a strip running down her shoulder to hold it on, and a cutout on the back so her shoulder blade is exposed. It looks cool and very April.

Mondo explains how he was inspired by the Brooklyn Bridge and went op-art. Kors knows he proved he doesn’t depend on color. Kors also pretty much giggles at the patent leather. Nina loves it too, but Heidi is all “I would have loved to see something completely different”. Because she’s seen the houndstooth? So? Nina just said he showed a range! Whatever. Christian likes it. Andy was inspired by Central Park, but it doesn’t show at all. It’s sewn perfectly and fits perfectly, though. Nina likes the shiny “wet” look. Basically everyone likes it but Kors. Gretchen pretends she was inspired by the Lower East Side, when we know she just made something she liked. She talks about how she wanted to “replicate the essence of the customer that would be walking down the street there.” The way they edit it makes it look like it was an effort to say “customer” and not “me”. Kors tells her she lost her steam, it looks Midtown and “rock and roll secretarial”. They don’t think it looks like her, but I think that jacket looks like her and also the mullet hem. She breaks down and says that she’s tired and wants to get back to how she designs but she’s sick of the challenges and they got the best of her. Heidi arrows in on that statement, of course. Gretchen says the challenges are crazy, and you have to edit yourself to fit in. But Heidi points out that this challenge, they were free to do whatever they wanted. Christian wonders if this is her collection. He’s too nice today. They tell her she’s better than that. April wanted fluidity in her dress, as well as structure, but Kors hates it. He hates that apparently it’s the same dress she’s made every time. I get that the judges get tired of seeing the same thing all the time, but wouldn’t it make more sense if they gradually got tired of it? It always seems like they love love LOVE whatever a designer does, and then all of a sudden one week that same designer is “repetitive” and “boring” and they hate all of it. It’s just so sudden. Kors says there’s never any joy in her clothes. OK, they did say that the other day. April likes the drama and elegance of black. Heidi tells her she should have done a color to surprise them. Nina thinks this is a missed opportunity, because she hasn’t shown them range. Michael is up last, even though he doesn’t know what fabric he’s made his dress out of (chiffon jersey, I guess). Of course as usually happens when everyone is like “WTF is that” the judges fall over themselves praising it. I don’t know.

Now is the time where everyone has to say why they should go to Fashion Week and who should go with them. Michael has shown them a range, and he would take Andy and Mondo. Gretchen uses big words, wants to surprise them, and would take Mondo and April. April because she’s young. It’s just so condescending! Gah! Sorry. Andy’s taken risks, and would take Mondo, and April over Gretchen. Mondo has fun creating, and thinks Michael and April should come with him. But not before he says everyone hates Michael and he used to as well but Michael is actually pretty cool. April promises not to use all black, and wants to bring Mondo and Gretchen. So…every single person thinks Mondo should go to Fashion Week. Nice.

Back in the Scrap Bin, April is still upset about the judges, and Michael tells her not to let it get to her. Andy is like, no one take anything personally because we don’t want you to go to Fashion Week. Whatever. Mondo says he wishes all five of them could go, which would be more touching if they DIDN’T ALL GO PLUS THE LAST FIVE PEOPLE ELIMINATED. Mondo gets really worked up over having to pick two people, as if the judges really listen to what they say about that. It’s just for drama.

Judging time. Mondo stepped up to the plate, and loves colors and prints and combining them. His clothes are good enough to be in a show, but also wearable. Christian says something weird that I do not understand. Heidi laughs and contributes to the conversation but I still don’t know what is going on. Something about styling. Andy knows how to craft complicated pieces, but Kors worries they’ll be stuck in “super bitch warrior mode”. His dress was safe for him. Nina believes in his fabric manipulation and his ability to put on a show. Now Michael is up, and Kors says that was the best dress tonight. Seriously? Crack smoking! He claims it was exciting, and now I know he’s on drugs, because a loose black long dress is not exciting. Christian points out that he didn’t even know what fabric he used, so maybe he made a great dress by accident, and I am just now remembering when Anthony made that dress out of polyester and didn’t really know it and they tore him to shreds over it. Why are they up Michael’s butt about everything!? Now suddenly if you like the dress it totally doesn’t matter if you know what fabric you bought. It’s not that great. Let’s move on to April. Kors sticks to his assessment of “pregnant witch”. She hasn’t taken any chances and has made the same thing over and over. Christian likes the idea of it though. Gretchen’s clothes look like you could get them in a store. She previously knew exactly who she was designing for, but this outfit doesn’t match. Christian points out that she’s so different from what everyone else made (which is all black) that maybe it will be interesting.

When they all come out, Gretchen stops on the runway and forces everyone into a group hug, which is just nauseating and would be nauseating no matter who prompted it. Nina looks at Christian who I’m sure was making faces. Oh, only one of them will be out tonight. Just admit you want a final four. Admit the last elimination will be right before the runway shows. Don’t come to us season after season with your “Oh, everyone is so good we couldn’t decide!” because we all know it’s bullshit. Michael is in. No one is happy for him but Mondo. Mondo is in, like there was any question of that. Andy “deserves a chance” to surprise them so he’s in. Now we’re down to April and Gretchen. Heidi says a lot of harsh things to them, and then tells Gretchen she is in. Aww. Now I have to listen to her more. April is really upset. Tim comes in and says he’s proud of her and she’s going to have a great career. She’s proud too, but sad she didn’t quite make it. Tim clarifies that they’re all competing for those three spaces, instead of having two people confirmed and two people fight it out for the last space.

Next week: home visits, hot mess, the velvet bag.