Project Runway 8/11/11--"Go Big or Go Home" summary

Previously on Project Runway: The annual “unconventional materials” challenge took everyone to a pet store. Discount pet store. Even though Tim told everyone not to use dog beds, several people did, including Bert. And then Bert made a terrible dress as he had immunity and didn’t really care. Anthony Ryan made a dress out of birdseed, but it was deemed too short by the judges (except Heidi, of course) so they gave the win to Olivier. Who used a dog bed for the top. Granted, he had hamster shavings on his skirt, but still. Bryce made some crazy thing with potty pads, and Fallene’s dress was deemed boring, but in the end Josh C. went home for using sort-of conventional materials in a very boring way. (click for more)

Josh M. laments the loss of his name twin by bashing others. Fallene says she never thought she would be “normal”. She says she has to be more normal than she usually is. Anthony Ryan thinks that being in the top three for two straight challenges means that he’s being noticed and that’s a good thing.

Everyone waits for Heidi, until they see her giant silhouette behind the scrim. She’s tall enough to wave over the top. It’s Heidi on stilts. And it’s really Heidi, too, which is pretty impressive, because it means someone took the time to teach her how to walk in them. Laura thinks they are headed to the circus. Heidi says to think big, and then all the models walk out on stilts. I’m not sure if it’s their normal models, or if the producers found some cute female stilt walkers. Also, teams of two! Oh, please say this means there will only be 7 outfits. I know they always spring another look on them last minute. But I am going to hope for as long as possible they won’t. Heidi picks teams from the velvet bag. Bert and Viktor are the first team. Viktor makes a face and Heidi calls him on it. To his credit, he does admit he’s not pleased. Bert thinks this is unprofessional, but last challenge he made a terrible dress and then sang a song about how he had immunity, so…yeah. Anthony Ryan and Laura, Josh and Julie (he thinks she’s lost), Danielle and Cecilia, Anya and Olivier, Kimberly and Becky, and Bryce and Fallene. Bryce and Fallene both know they have targets. The runway show will be outside, with a live audience and press. I guess they pick models, but that part is boring, I guess, so we don’t see it.

In the workroom everyone brainstorms. Tim comes in and talks about Paris Couture Week, and how it makes you question what’s real, and these are real women? I guess they’re not the regular models. They will get 30 minutes to design, then $500 for things at Mood, and then the rest of today to sew. Becky and Kimberly haven’t really talked to each other before today, but Becky says they’re agreeing on a style. The models come in, still on stilts, and give the designers information on things like, don’t put weird stuff below where he model’s feet attach to the stilts because it makes them trip. Viktor talks about Mae West and Victorian, and Bert keeps correcting him. Bert thinks he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, and Viktor thinks Bert should calm down.

Mood! At last! They haven’t been to Mood yet. Anthony Ryan and Laura are pulling as much red as they can find. Josh is being a drama queen, but only in confessional. I think Cecilia and Danielle are OK. Fallene is trying to avoid getting sucked into an all-black outfit. I think everyone gets everything they need.

Tim gives them until 9pm. It seems to be about 10:15am. Bert and Viktor have a strapless bodice and full skirt. Danielle asks Cecilia if she can fit pants, and Cecilia is offended. Hey, there are several people there who could not answer “yes” to that question. Viktor complains about Bert some more, specifically about a purple fabric covered in a shiny gold floral print. Josh has white fabric with black zig-zags, and Julie knows exactly what to make--a matador. Viktor and Bert argue some more. They both think the other one has shitty ideas and the other person won’t listen to anything. It’s been 10 minutes and I’m kind of tired of it already. Josh, of course, waits to get Viktor alone in the sewing room to get the dirt. I so loved Bert when we started. Now he is a petulant child. Anthony Ryan and Laura have decided to make a hoop skirt. They seem to be agreeing, which is good because they have a ton of work to do. Josh has figured out that he is very girly while Julie is far more macho than he is. Duh. Danielle and Cecilia are working with chiffon, and Cecilia brags that they both know exactly how to work with it. Becky stares a lot, apparently, which frightens Kimberly for some reason. Fallene reminds us that she and Bryce, two of the bottom three from last challenge, are paired up so they’d better do really well. They argue about using a bright blue, as Bryce thinks it’s too much, and then Fallene thinks she’s being overruled and Bryce is taking over. Anthony Ryan and Laura can’t get their hoop skirt to look right so they scrap it. Becky refuses to allow gold lame on the outfit. Bryce schools us on grains in fabric and whatever, and how Fallene is self-taught so she’s apparently doomed to fuck up the whole thing. Bryce goes to eat and bitches to the popular kids that she’s stupid and how could you not know you have to cut fabric on the grain? Guess what, genius, how many years have I been watching this show? And how many things have I learned from it? You’re the first person to bitch about cutting along the grain of the fabric and how it screws up the final product.

Tim time! Josh and Fallene have their matador outfit and it does look pretty good. Danielle and Cecilia don’t get much, because they’re doing well. Viktor and Bert. Sigh. So the purple and gold fabric is not so horrible, but they’ve paired it with an iridescent greenish fabric. The purple and gold is like a tutu, and then a straight skirt underneath with the iridescent. It’s pretty ugly. Bert says Viktor shot down all his ideas, and Viktor says Bert shot down all his ideas. Viktor says he’s trying to get it done, which Tim says is important, and Bert bitches that it’s hard to get it done when you walk out of the room whenever you don’t get your way. While they both are kind of annoying, you can tell Viktor is at least trying to deal with Bert politely, while Bert is sulking. Tim points out that neither of them are using the word “we”. They’re not looking at each other either. Tim likes Anthony Ryan and Laura’s design. Becky has a one shouldered top with a collar. Fallene needs to own her outfit. Bryce says he needs Fallene to finish the bodice so “we” can worry about the pants. What is he doing while she finishes the bodice? He just made it sound like he was standing around waiting for her to finish. Anya and Olivier, Tim is thrown off. Anya thinks he just doesn’t know how to say “I don’t like it”, but I’m pretty sure Tim can say that.

Viktor is going to try to be nice. Fallene is taking forever to make the bodice for some reason. Josh shows Julie how to make a belt with some rouching, however unlike Bryce he’s not an ass about it. Cecilia, out of nowhere, is very upset about something and she tells Danielle they don’t have time and she won’t fuck up because she listened to Danielle. And she pretty much snatches the fabric out of Danielle’s hands.

Model fitting. Bert makes it clear he has not made a “costume”, he has made a “fantasy”. Fallene cut off grain after all. Whatever. Danielle and Cecilia make up, and Cecilia apologizes. Fallene is in tears because she says she let Bryce down and couldn’t make the bodice. How long has it been since she started working? Couldn’t Bryce have cut the damn thing while she sewed pants or something? I don’t understand what excuse he’s used to not fix it if it’s such a basic skill. I mean…I assume he could have cut it out and then she could sew it.

The alarm goes off at 4:30am. That is too damn early. Bert and Viktor are done. Wow. Bryce decides to make a tube top, and Fallene naturally is like, whatever. He tries to involve Anya in his drama, but she totally ignores him. Good for her. Josh makes faces at Julie for some reason. Olivier hasn’t sewn everything, so it might fall apart. Josh talks about being part of the first “public” runway, which is sort of true and sort of not. I mean, the actual runway has never been in public. But there have been several times where the designs were shown to the public. Tim gives them 90 minutes before they have to leave the workroom and trek down to the runway. Julie decides to let Josh bedazzle everything. Fallene is making a headpiece, because she feels she didn’t make any of the dress. Models. Josh and Julie joke about how Josh will be better at makeup than Julie. Hee. He just wants to flirt with Hot Mustached Makeup Artist. Danielle is very vague about what she wants hairwise, finally ending up with “dramatic and swept up and to the side”. What they get is a big teased-out bouffant, only with the volume in the back instead of on top so it’s not tall but it is still big.

Backstage is crazy, and there are a lot of people out front. Fallene breaks down as she talks to Tim. Tim comforts her, as Tim does because he is awesome.

I just realized! Only 7 outfits! Yay! Heidi has some monster shoes on. Kim Kardashian, guest judge. Yup. Josh and Julie: pants in a black and white vertical zig-zag (with tiny strips of red inside the black), and a red top with a half cape. On the other side is a shiny shoulder-guard piece. She also has a stiff belt, but I can’t tell if that’s the belt or the mechanism of the stilts or what. That may also be why she’s stomping around instead of walking gracefully. I like it, it’s dramatic. Bert and Viktor: gold and purple tutu, with a long, full skirt in that iridescent fabric. From far away it looks better. I think there are layers to the skirt, maybe. The model is flinging it around a lot. Bert says he is sorry he was “encumbered” with Viktor, and that if he’d had his way it would have been so much better. I think under the skirt are pants to cover the stilts. Bryce and Fallene: black tutu that comes to where her “knees” would be, a dark red belt. They’ve also covered the stilts in fabric. The whole thing is black, and I guess the bodice that didn’t get done would have been in red, but the one they have doesn’t look that bad. Fallene made a fascinator with red and lots of feathers for some drama. Becky and Kimberly: long bell bottoms, with studs at the bottom, in dark olive green, and a one-shouldered jacket in a lighter olive pinstripe, with more studs and a collar. The top looks pretty cool, as do the pants, but man! These models forgot how to walk since yesterday. Anya and Olivier: long blue dress with a weird bodice with cutouts. The dress moves really well, but that means you can see where the model’s feet meet her stilts. Danielle and Cecilia: wide-legged brown pants that hide the stilts really well, and a sheer turquoise blouse with a high collar. There are wings or something on the back of the blouse. It would be great, except the hair really is terrible. I think the pants are pleated?? Anthony Ryan and Laura: all red, a skirt and pants combo, with the skirt split or maybe a mullet hem (short in front, long in back). The top has a sweetheart neckline, then illusion netting and bursts of feathers on her shoulders. I think the skirt is split. It does look really good and like a real fashion outfit. And their model can walk.

Back inside at the Parsons runway, Heidi says the winner will get immunity. Olivier is immune from last week, and he and Anya get to move on. Anthony Ryan & Laura, Danielle and Cecilia, and Kimberly & Becky are the high scorers this week, so they get to stay for now. The losers go backstage to sulk, and Josh points out that the three low scores were all costumes, while the people who scored the highest all made real clothes. They bring out the models and have them stand in front of the runway so they’re not super tall. Heidi loves the drama of Anthony and Laura’s look. It’s elegant and not a costume, but Nina cautions Anthony that it looks familiar to her and so he needs to be original. Kors says it would still be fabulous if it was normal-sized. Anthony claims to have decided to give credit to Laura. OK. Danielle says she came up with the blouse idea, and then Cecilia made the pants. But obviously her hair is terrible. Other than that, the fabrics are great and it’s a great outfit and well made but kind of boring. Becky makes great jackets, and Kimberly does great pants, so they went with those things. Kors loves the pants, actually everyone loves the pants. Nina hesitates over the collar, which is pointy and “circusy”. Nina, the woman is wearing stilts.

Time for Bert and Viktor. Kors hates the gold, and the gold netting at the top of the bodice, which is too old. It looks like curtains and is a bad costume. Bert immediately throws Viktor under the bus. Unfortunately when Heidi asks for confirmation, Viktor says “I own it” and then starts talking about how they both worked to finish. He has to clarify that he owns “the work with him”. Eventually they lay it out for him: if your outfit is the worst, you would be the one to go home? Of course not. Then they fight about the sketching, but Viktor says it’s on his computer, and I’m thinking Viktor wouldn’t offer proof if it wasn’t there. Moving on. Everyone hates Bryce and Fallene’s outfit because it is “Black Swan” and it looks like they didn’t spend any time on it. Nina likes the idea, but the execution sucks. Kors likes the headpiece, though, so that’s something. Bryce is a nice person and says that they should both go home, but when Heidi presses him he says he should stay. Fallene admits she should be the one to go. Julie admits she had the concept, and Heidi is like “Circus?” as if THEY AREN’T STILT WALKERS for fuck's sake. Oh, they hate it. They really hate it. It’s tacky and the proportions are off, I guess because the pants seem high-waisted, and they just keep going on and on. They admit it looks well made. Julie refuses to throw Josh under the bus and Josh doesn’t want to go home so they pick Julie to take the fall.

Anthony Ryan and Laura made a fantastic gown that would work off stilts. Danielle and Cecilia made a whole outfit out of chiffon and it was perfectly made. Becky and Kimberly had impeccable tailoring with great proportions, and the two pieces went together. Josh’s bedazzling was immediately obvious to everyone, and their outfit was crazy. Bryce and Fallene were boring and the only good thing was the hat and it didn’t go with the tutu. I’m not sure what they decide about the fact that Fallene should go home for the look, but she made the hat which was the only good thing. Heidi thinks Viktor threw Bert under the bus, which I guess he did, but as Nina points out, Bert did the same thing. For some reason Heidi has decided to take Bert’s side. Kors points out that Bert could have said something earlier when the outfit wasn’t working.

The winner today is Laura. She’s pretty gracious about it. Becky, Kimberly, Danielle, and Cecilia are all in. Josh and Julie are in. Bert is in. Lame. Just that it’s obvious from this that they decided the look was Viktor’s fault. Bryce is in. Fallene is out. Oo. That’s too bad, I like her. She’s happy she made it this far. She says right now she’s upset but when she gets home things will be different.

Next week: FINALLY they are designing for NINA. Oh, she will destroy them.