Project Runway 10/13/11--"The Finale Challenge" summary

Previously on Project Runway: everyone had to make dresses based on birds, which was not really that bad, but then there was a stupid twist of making a second look, and then they had ANOTHER twist of only using one of their looks, which I think was a last minute thing so that certain people could be saved from their horrid outfits. Josh scrapped one look and had to ask Anya for fabric, and she refused, leading him to get self-righteous about how he deserves her help because she’s gotten so much before. On the “After the Runway” show, he really went to town and said that he deserved to win that challenge more than Anya because he has school loans to pay off, and also that helping her with her sewing is exactly like giving her money, because he paid for that education and she’s getting it for free. When Laura Bennett pointed out to him that he looks like an ass, he lost it and went on a diatribe about how he didn’t care and she was a horrible person, which might have worked better had he not decided to throw in that she was twice his age. Has nothing to do with anything, but good job, dumbass. He also said no one was attacking anyone else but him, but everyone did tell Anya that they were pissed she was getting away with everything. And Anya just agreed that if she was them, she’d be pissed too. Anyway, in the end Anya won the money and the advertorial, and Bert was sent home. (click for more)

Josh talks about how sad he is that Bert is gone and how great it was that he is such a great person that he likes Bert now. He also bitches to Viktor about Anya and Kimberly not being as good as he thinks they should be. I have news for you, Josh, if you weren’t such good drama you wouldn’t be here right now. She’s designed things. You’ve over designed things. Anya says she feels a lot of pressure.

Heidi tells them this is the final challenge before Fashion Week. Who wants to place bets that all five of them go through to next week’s episode? She sends them to Governor’s Island for a field trip. On the ferry, Josh and his tight floral board shorts and combat boots (oh, you think I am kidding but I am not kidding) tell us this is the first time he’s congratulated himself. Uh huh. Anya has Uggs on too. Jeez. Terrible. Tim welcomes everyone and introduces them to people in charge of the island and the artwork there. It seems to be a sculpture park? I’m not familiar with Governor’s Island. There’s an exhibition there with huge works in a big field. They must create 3 looks, and there must be a range. So don’t make three gowns. They will get 1 hour, a golf cart, and a camera. Two days to sew, because there are 3 outfits to make.

Kimberly likes a silver sculpture like a pretzel. Josh is drawn to the “artillerary” and chapel. He pretends the stained glass was beautiful, but I saw him looking at the cannon. Laura is taking pictures of circles. Like the bike path symbol and circles in the fences and stuff. Viktor wants something metropolitan. Anya is also taking pictures of sculpture. That was the idea, I guess.

$500 and 45 minutes at Mood. Laura for some reason is talking about buying things and spending money as if she’s going to run out. Anya is just buying random things with no idea how it’s going to work together yet. Laura ends up close to $700.

Kimberly discovers her wool is not exactly the right color. Laura is excited she’s found some fabric with circular cut outs. Tim enters with the velvet bag and everyone freaks out. He says to ‘gather round, and sarcastically says they all love the button bag! Tim says they could use some help, so this is the “eliminated contestants return” challenge. Josh pretends this is fantastic. He hates almost everyone there. Kimberly gets to choose first, and she takes Becky, who is glad because Becky hates everyone else. Viktor takes Olivier. Laura picks out Anthony Ryan. Josh and Anya are left, and Josh laughs, or smirks, or something, and Anya says “Don’t fight with me.” Oooookay. Josh tells her she’s aggressive, and she says it’s a joke and he should relax. That was weird. Of course Anya is picked next, and she takes Bert, who says he’s so happy she picked him. Bryce is slightly worried. Tim tells them all the challenge and leaves them to their fun.

Everyone tells their helpers about their vision. Anya specifically says she does not want to go in Laura’s direction with her cut outs. It’s not particularly bitchy, though. Bryce is trying to tell Josh his designs are over designed as always, but I don’t think Josh is listening. He asks Josh if Laura is also doing a stained glass cut out type thing, and Josh says he doesn’t care because “she has nothing on me”. Bryce notices that when he left, everyone was getting along, and now they’re barely speaking. Josh insists he can totally do clean work. HA! “Oh, you don’t have to add anything to it, that would be so stupid, I can’t believe you would think that.” So now that you don’t have stained glass, your design is about a cannon. Or a church, possibly. Bert thinks Anya is the most creative one left. He jokes with her that her design is fine, he gets paid by the hour. Laura is taking a lot of advice from Anthony Ryan. She’s designing for the judges at this point. Olivier is also trying to give advice, but Viktor is not having it. Olivier complains about it, but he really has no options. He should have refused to do it, or claimed illness, or something.
Josh whispers about how Anya is a terrible person because the judges love her. They do love her, but it’s not like she’s paying them bribes or something. Aim your anger at the producers where it belongs. They make it seem like she can totally hear them but I don’t know that she can. Bryce knows Josh is always jealous when he doesn’t win. The more he complains, the worse he looks to everyone.

Day 2. People are getting things done. Kimberly is changing her mind. Anya is drawing things but her sketches are not accurate enough for Bert. She basically tells him she can’t be more accurate. Josh babbles about plastic. Kimberly interviews that she would LOVE for him to put more plastic on his outfits, because the more plastic he uses, the better for her.

Tim time! Laura gets a concerned look and a suggestion that she have less circle cutout fabric. Kimberly has an asymmetric coat and Tim asks her about if she is “responding favorably” to the wool and the textured pants together. Viktor has something to say about everyone. Whatever. She’s also got some silvery thing and Tim says “Statue of Liberty”. Kimberly promises it will not be Statue of Liberty. Tim loves Viktor’s looks and he gets nothing but praise. Josh’s outfits look pretty clean for him. And some vinyl I think. Tim wants him to take risks. Anya is making some pants, and two dresses. Josh declares that in his opinion, everyone should have a jacket to show range. No one put you in charge.

Model fitting. Kimberly discovers her pants are far too small, and her model’s ass is hanging out. And one of her models has nothing to try on because she changed her mind this morning. Josh whispers about Anya’s critique and how they should have told her to make separates, and SERIOUSLY shut the hell up. No one is being swayed to your side. You look like an obsessive whiny brat. Bryce tells him to focus. Kimberly is glad to have help to make her looks. Viktor joins in Josh’s whining about Anya. She can’t help if the judges love her for no reason. Laura is slowly losing it. Now she’s talking about how she’s dreamed since she was 13 years old that she would show at Fashion Week, which is not a good sign for her. And now she was “destined” to do this. Yeah…not a good sign.

Day of the show. Kimberly is scrapping the pants that didn’t fit. So now she has to make a skirt, on top of all the finishing. Anya says she’s pushing herself to the limit, but she always says that. Tim gives them 2 hours to finish. There have been a ton of shots of Anya asking Bert what to do and of him teaching her whatever sewing techniques. Laura also scraps her pants and makes a skirt last minute. Hair and makeup. Laura complains that you can’t wash Kimberly’s clothes. Really? Is that what we’re reduced to? I’m tired of listening to people complain about how everyone else sucks. It’s not even funny. Bert says one of Josh’s girls needs a baton and a superhero cape. See? That was kind of funny. The sleeves on Kimberly’s coat are not working. Laura’s fit is bad, and she says she would never do that, but offers no explanation about why she’s doing it now. Anya is seriously putting the dress on her model, and finding all the problems with it, now that Tim is telling her to come out.

Guest judge is Zoë Saldana. She has a red pantsuit with a halter top and looks fantastic. Josh: white short dress with black illusion netting on the top and a cutout in back. It’s very simple and has severe styling. Second look: short silver metallic skirt, cut full, with a black vest. Under the vest is a red and blue horizontal striped tank, that looks like the blue stripes have little white stars. Oh, it’s a studded tank top. The skirt is very full like an ice skating costume. Third look: black tank and silver draped over one shoulder and a long skirt in silver. THIS is Statue of Liberty. The black doesn’t really go.

Kimberly: melon coat with a tall collar and a big gray scarf. It looks good. The buttons are down one side, not in the middle. Second look: silver skirt with a poof on one thigh and a beaded belt. The top is a tight halter top with a high collar and a big keyhole in the middle. Third look: same silver, but a whole dress with folding so there’s a swag at one hip. It looks like silver metal mesh. And it’s pretty short.

Laura: blazer in cream with the circles and a white skirt. The skirt looks like it’s pulled tight in front but loose in the back, sort of like a bustle. The blazer has no shirt underneath and has black lapels. Second look: a plain long dress in rose, with black trim and no circles. It’s boring. And has a mullet hem. Third look: long gown with the circles. The cutouts go over her shoulders and make little cap sleeves, and there is a white slim gown underneath.

Anya: short black dress, with a mullet hem only backwards so the front is longer than the back. There is a high collar that’s draped. The whole dress looks backwards, basically, but I guess that’s on purpose. Second look: long red loose pants and a one shouldered top. The pants are chiffon I think, and the top is more structured. It looks good. Third look: long white dress slit up to her hip, with the same high collar and draping as the black dress.

Viktor: tight slim pants and a long sleeved cropped jacket in leather with ruffles. Think one of those cardigans that doesn’t have buttons, that’s just supposed to drape. The sleeves are black and the center is a lighter gray. Second look: button down short sleeved shirt in a black and white plaid and a black pencil skirt. The skirt has a sweep of fabric along one side, like a big swag. Third look: little black dress. I can’t see anything exciting about it but it looks well made.

Josh talks about the military but does not say “artillerary” again. Kors thinks it’s too much diversity, because the same woman would not wear all three outfits. The draped gown looks cheap and Statue of Liberty. Heidi asks him if he was attracted to the silver because it was shiny. Hee. He gets offended and asks if that’s an assumption. She’s asking you a question. Say no and let’s move on. Kors points out that too much shine can look cheap.

Kimberly sounds like she’s about to cry, I think she’s so nervous. The silver dress has hot pink shoes that get praise. But the orange coat doesn’t work, and Kors doesn’t like the colors. Heidi gets the same criticism Josh did, that these looks don’t go together. Nina wishes the skirt with the keyhole top was just plain, and Kimberly shoots back that if it was normal, they’d complain that it was normal. That’s probably true. Kimberly keeps talking and says that she’s glad to be there and she appreciates everything they are saying and so forth. Heidi asks if she’s saying goodbye already, and she says that no, she’s not, she already knew what was wrong with her looks.

Laura talks about circles, and they show a close-up of the rose dress and it’s terrible. The fabric looks wrinkled and it doesn’t fit her chest right and it’s bad. She also admits to being nervous and how she has been dreaming of this all her life and so forth. Heidi is like, OK, moving on. The gown was great, but the blazer isn’t quite right. The rose dress doesn’t go with the other two. She admits the skirt with the blazer is last minute. Kors tells her she choked.

Anya is talking about shapes and angles and how her clothes are interesting from multiple angles. Of course they love it. Nina points out it looks like a concise collection, which is true. The white dress is kind of like a sheet, says Heidi. Kors thinks she knows how to match clothes to the model and that she understands women’s bodies, and I would argue she understands women with bodies like hers, but I can see where he’s coming from. This is why it would be different if Tim was judging, because he would know she had so many problems with the white dress. Zoë says the white gown is like a condom.

Viktor was attracted by the city. Nina loves Viktor’s stuff, but maybe he could turn up the volume a little. The draping on the pencil skirt is a nice touch, but Zoë talks about the boning on the black dress that looks uncomfortable. I can’t see it at all. Kors says this is the most commercial, and before last season that would be a horrible thing, but of course Gretchen.

Now that the models are gone, everyone must plead for their life! Not really, but you know what I mean. Josh wants time to do research and “focus [his] fabric” and then battle Viktor and Anya. What? He says she’s “free” because she’s untrained that then says with a straight face that he respects that about her. Bitch please. You want her there so you can win and rub it in her face. Kimberly wants to “change the face of fashion” with Anya (who has grown) and Laura, because the three of them would show a different Fashion Week. Anya has a solid point of view, that is unique. She says that Josh is the opposite of her, despite his editing issues, because he thinks about it differently. She would also take Viktor because his work already has an audience. Interesting. Laura cries again about how much she wants to be a designer. She would take Viktor and Anya. Viktor at first didn’t want to design, but now he does and loves it. He would take Josh, and also Anya. He says his choice of Anya is based just on design. They don’t care. They just make you do that in the hopes that you’ll go back to the Scrap Bin and have a fight.

Anya has great styling and taste, she’s grown in her point of view, they love her clothes, etc etc. Viktor’s sewing skills are impeccable and women would buy his clothes in a heartbeat. Today was subdued, but they remember him with the volume turned up, so to speak. Josh’s silver gown doesn’t get much praise, but Kors thinks with time to edit he would be fine. Nina says they’re editorial, even if the taste is questionable. He would have too much time at home to put random shit on his garments, but he has ideas and at least it’s fun. Laura can make clothes, but Nina says she has no range. Zoë points out that at least she placed the circles intelligently, instead of over the boobs. Good point. Heidi wants to give her extra points because she cried. Kimberly tried to challenge herself, and it didn’t go well. They talk about her past successes, and then bitch that she didn’t make any pants. She wanted range, and you kept asking her for pants, and then hers were messed up so she didn’t make any. Like you wouldn’t have been like “oh, pants from Kimberly, ho hum boring”. Kors gets the girl who owns this collection. Heidi pretends they are going to decide right then and there if there are going to be 3 or 4 finale collections, as if there weren’t NINE because Lifetime can’t count episodes.

Anya is in, and if you didn’t see that coming you haven’t been paying attention. She pretends she didn’t see it coming. Viktor is in. Josh is in. Shocking. He starts babbling about writing his book, and people will be able to look him up or something. Honey they’re not going to like what they find. Laura is out. Kimberly is in but Heidi says “you are designing and will return to New York” so it’s probably that “make a collection and we’ll decide last minute”. Laura is surprised, didn’t think she should go, etc. I suppose I’ll hear about her again, as she’s from here. Tim asks for a group hug from the final four.

After the Runway, oo girl. Kimberly totally jumps on Laura because Laura apparently has been saying that she’s a “real” person, but she badmouths Kimberly all the time. Anya tries to stick up for Laura, but Kimberly claims she never said anything bad about the girls, as evidenced by the lack of comments shown during the show. Laura also tries to claim Nina had it out for her from the beginning, but Nina has impeccable taste so if she doesn’t like your taste level, your taste level is the problem. Becky and Olivier come out so we can watch Josh’s and Becky’s fight again and Josh can make a very inappropriate joke about how she must have taken a nap like he told her to. Do you even understand what an ass you look like right now? Do you have no idea? I don’t think he does. He tries to run the show and say that all this drama doesn’t help their careers, probably because he looks pretty bad. However he does sit quietly as Becky basically blames him for her exit, because he was so hostile and he made it clear she didn’t belong and it threw her. He doesn’t apologize, but he does nod and keep his mouth shut so that’s something. After commercial he actually says that he knows he didn’t respond in the best way, but then talks about how he’s more insecure than she is. I’m waiting for an apology, but he just reminds Becky they won that challenge so she should consider herself a winner. How are you so blind to general social norms that you can’t tell you should apologize here? OK, clearing the air time! They talk about the random “girl pact” and how they claimed that they promised to tell each other when their clothes were bad, but then talked themselves out of it. Kimberly of course is pretty upset because she was upholding this pact. Laura interrupts her and says it’s not her fault because she wanted to tell Kimberly. Please. Anya tells everyone that she felt sick watching the episodes and she apologizes to everyone for the things she said. See, that’s how it’s done. Anyone else have anything else to say? Josh says he’s learning because he’s so young and he wants everyone to know he’s not an ass, really he’s sensitive and all this asshattery is a wall because everyone picks on him. If it hurts you to be called a bully, then DON’T ACT LIKE A BULLY. Finally he apologizes to Becky, who says she accepts it. Maybe. I don’t buy it totally, but what else are you going to do? Becky, not Josh. Then there is Uncle Nick! Yay! He asks about Olivier’s accent, and I will say it sounds different from when he was on the show. It’s more Cockney now. I don’t know. Also, boobs. Laura likes to spend money. Anya says her success shocked her as much as everyone else, because of her lack of skills, and she understands the frustration. Nick gives Laura a hug for being part of “The Five Crew”, people who are eliminated 5th. Hee.

Next week: home visits, Tim wants to weep, Anya freaks out. I think it’s the usual “show us a few looks so we can decide if we want to see the rest” challenge.