Project Runway 7/19/12--"A Times Square Anniversary Party" summary

Previously on Project Runway: I wish this show would get back to where it belongs. Interesting contestants with a high skill level. I mean, Anya just learned to sew. It’s questionable. Also maybe Lifetime could learn to count weeks so they can start filming the season earlier? And airing the season earlier? So there aren’t a million decoys? (click for more)   

Oh yeah, “Road to the Runway”. Nothing ever happens. There are some crazy people and some people who appear to be good. That’s about it. We’re going to see all of them again, right? Right. This hour is just so you can hear about how every single designer has a backstory. I’m not kidding. Every. Single. Designer. Their parents didn’t believe in them or they used to be poor or fat or they had a heart attack at 18 and were bullied. Why is Gunnar from last season here? It’s Josh 2.0. Anya is “working on her line”, but she is engaged, so congrats to her for that. I don’t care about people’s backstory. I mean, good for you to overcome whatever obstacles. If you can’t design or sew, then I’ll see you later.
  
We open in Times Square with a million people cheering and screaming. There is a fashion show going on. Or at least prep going on. Everyone discusses how crazy it is. Heidi greets the fans with Tim, Kors, and Nina. The designers come up on stage to get champagne so they can toast season 10.
  
Then we go back to “One Day Earlier”. Oh, come ON. You couldn’t have started there? Why waste two minutes on Times Square? Why the stupid gimmick? This is not a good start. Everyone arrives from various directions. Buffi has a British accent and has loud clothes. Gunnar is back, and he seems to have actually made it on the show this time. Inside Parsons, each station has an outfit already on it. Everyone was tasked to make an outfit that “describes our design aesthetic”. Gunnar thinks his design aesthetic is Cruella DeVille. Lantie has her own design studio. Elena designs for edgy girls. Kooan (the guy with a fro) has a romper with big blue circles and pink plastic on the shoulders. He’s weird. Melissa thought she was going to be a lawyer but decided that people in poly sci are not “my people” so she bailed. Everything is black. Ven has a gorgeous white pantsuit with a dark red ruffled top.
  
Tim appears and everyone cheers. He explains their touch screen tablets and the sewing room, and how the accessory wall is now Lord & Taylor. For the first challenge, you must make a companion piece for the outfit you brought. $100 at Mood. Tim then tells them the runway show will be in Times Square.
  
30 minutes to sketch. Christopher tells us he dropped out of college, but he has talent and a portfolio. He says he’s really confident as if he needs to convince himself, as the editors splice in a bunch of shots of him tearing out his sketch and starting over. Alicia designs for tomboys. Beatrice says her first look, the one she brought, took her four days to make. Jeez, ANOTHER one? Sad. Mood is fun. Swatch! Raul usually designs menswear.
  
Someone has put photos on the wall of all the winners. I miss Jay. Shit, I miss Jeffery. Andrea declares herself “the old fart”, and is a fashion professor. Gunnar and Christopher have a pissy argument, I guess because Gunnar thinks Chris is making fun of him. Well he probably was, but now you look like a brat so…good for you? Gunnar thinks Chris is too close to his personality, and then says “There’s only room for one star”. No, there’s only room for one flamey stereotypical gay boy. Imagine if last season there were two Joshs. You know which Josh I mean. Raul says his fabric is not working. When he tries to sew it, all the stitches fall out. Sonjia has a cropped pixie haircut which is dyed blue. She says aloud how nice it is that everyone is nice to each other for now. Fabio agrees. Fabio grew up with his grandmother, who was the local seamstress. Also he is a freegan, which means you only eat what you can scrounge for free from dumpsters. Buffi says she just invented a diet called “fegan”, which is fake vegan, so you eat whatever. OK, that was fun. Dmitry would like a quiet workroom so he is already irritated at Buffi. Chris is having problems with the sewing machine. The lounge has photos of past seasons. Dmitry tells everyone he used to be a professional ballroom dancer, and got his fashion start making the costumes.
  
Tim time! Melissa tells Tim about her dress and gets an “I’m intrigued”. Sonjia has a great jacket, but Tim doesn’t get it with the dress she has. Buffi has a gang of colors and like, one leg. Kooan has really confused Tim. Seriously he is wringing his hands. Beatrice talks about knits and a sweater dress. Tim has actual advice, so we’ll see. Fabio has made a skirt, and Tim just comes out and tells him that compared to his first look, his skirt is a throwaway. Gunnar gets really giggly around Tim. Lantie has a dress made of beige lace and another top with snakeskin down the front. Elena asks Tim’s advice about colors, and he just says she needs to commit and execute. Tim (and everyone else) is impressed with Ven’s skills. Andrea has some black and white stripes. Raul has a sheer fabric, and Tim points out he’ll have to tell his model to wear granny panties or something. Gunnar smirks that Raul is “getting eaten alive”. That’s why I don’t like him. Tim doesn’t “eat people alive”. Chris has a great black dress, but his new dress got ruined by the sewing machine. Tim gives him some confidence.
  
Three hours left. Buffi is wearing sequined blue hot pants and hot pink leggings. Kooan is too hot and he wants to shave off his fro. Beatrice is in trouble, because she has no sewing skills. Gunnar and Chris continue to have their pissy fight, apparently because Chris can’t recognize that they’re like, the same person. Sadly, Gunnar can’t just be pissy back, he has to escalate and tell Chris to shut the fuck up. Chris says Gunnar should be on “Toddlers and Tiaras”. Hee!
  
Model fitting. Chris thinks he’s screwed because the model is two inches smaller than the form. He completely disassembles his garment, and then forgets how it goes back together. Lantie hates her dress. Some frantic running. There are some shots of the disaster area workroom, as if previous seasons never left a mess and always had enough time to do everything.
  
The designers get to the apartments. Everyone talks about how freaked out they are.
  
In the morning everyone comes back in to frantically finish everything. Tim gives everyone two hours. Hot makeup guy! He’s getting a ton of screen time. Good. Beatrice is freaking out. She’s put a hole in her top somehow. Doesn’t seem to be a lot of last minute work that Tim has to stop.
  
Guest judges are Lauren Graham and Patricia Field, who was the first guest judge ever. Nice. Ven: his original look is a white pantsuit with a dark pink top, with folds and what looks like a rose in the center. It’s great, I really like it. Very wide legs. The second look is a pink shift dress with similar folds in the skirt. Beatrice: original look is a weird stripy poncho or shawl, and a simple T-shirt dress with a split neckline in gray. New look is a red pleather sleeveless tunic and a gray pencil skirt with a mullet hem. Knee length in front and floor length in back. It might not be pleather but it’s shiny. There’s also a wide gold belt. Lantie: original look is tan floral lace with a shawl kind of jacket and a collar. You know, one of those tops where there’s a collar and then a strip down the front. I think there are rosettes. New look is a gray or tan dress with an overlay of dusty rose tulle. There’s a big necklace or some kind of piece (the snakeskin?) down the front. It’s not good. Andrea: original look is a tea-length white dress with black stripes, only the stripes are only on the front panel, they don’t go all the way around the dress. The top is a plain spaghetti strap top. I think the skirt looks like there’s a hoop in the bottom, and then a slightly longer skirt underneath? New look: short cocktail dress, sleeveless with a boat neck. The bodice is in black, and the skirt is black and white stripes. There’s some kind of hoop or something at her hips so the skirt is stiff. In the back there’s a big bow at her shoulders. Chris: his original look is a black strapless cocktail dress with a sweetheart neckline. I think there is supposed to be some texture detail, but it’s kind of lost on the runway. Gah! Exposed zipper! New look: long gown, with thin straps and a long floaty train. It’s slit up the front but as she walks the back floats down behind her. The whole think is in a chocolate brown, and there are ruffles in it. It looks good, actually. Better than I expected. Alicia: red jumpsuit, sleeveless and with Capri pants. And a hood. The new look is a sleeveless top in white and red, with a diagonal seam between the two, and skinny brown pants with a super low crotch. The back of the top has vertical seams. Elena: her original look is a black coat dress, with panniers at her hips, all in a heavy quilted fabric. She said she was inspired by fencing outfits. The new look is a sleek black dress, with a white panel in the front and over her boobs, and long sleeves that look like they have fins on them? There is a strip of fabric running down each arm. Buffi: short gray dress in shiny material, all draped, with a pink scarf or inset in the top. The second look is a big pink top, like a poncho, in hot pink with bright green lining. It’s belted and there are skinny pants.
  
Dmitry: long sequined gown, with elbow-length sleeves and a black matte corset over the top of it. New look: short gray dress with one shoulder and a black belt. just above the belt on one side there is a strip of skin. Kooan: his weird jumpsuit with the circles and a print shirt underneath. Kors and Nina laugh. New look: short shirt dress with cap sleeves, in a shiny gray-purple. It’s cut like a smock. Gunnar: original look is a chartreuse sheath dress, with a black belt and a black vertical stripe down the front and a high collar. New look is the same top, same colors, and a skirt and jacket in a white print. Nathan: who? Exactly. One look is a green jumpsuit, all gathered at the navel but not really tight anywhere else, and a coral gown with a ton of volume and an open back. Sonjia: brown leather jacket, that I thought was just open, but the model is shirtless so it must fasten just over her boobs. The pants are leopard print with a neon yellow waistband. New look is a short yellow dress. Over the dress is a drape of leopard print flowy fabric, draped over one shoulder and longer than the dress on the opposite side. Over all of that is a black leather vest. Melissa: new look is a black dress, one shouldered and very short on the other side, with a fishtail hem. Original look is a black leather jacket and long skirt. The jacket buttons like a chef’s jacket. Raul: gray pantsuit and a pink sheer top with a floppy bow. It looks good. New look is a short pink dress with a ton of ruffles. It is no longer sheer. Fabio: new piece is a black top with cap sleeves and a wrap skirt that fades from brown to white. The original look is a black dress with a seam up the front, or maybe buttons. One side is sleeveless and one has a short sleeve.
  
God, it’s finally over. Back on the runway, Heidi says she was impressed. Heidi reminds them of the prize, which of course involves Lord and Taylor now instead of Piperlime or Macy’s. Kooan, Ven, Lantie, Chris, Beatrice, and Melissa are called out. Everyone else is safe. Everyone seems to be just fine with being in the middle and being safe.
  
Kooan says his first look is what he started doing when he first became a designer, and the new one is more what he’s doing now. Heidi is intrigued but also confused. Kors warns him about being a joke, but it’s obvious he can sew. Nina also doesn’t want him to be weird just to be weird. I can’t tell if they are OK with it or if he’s on the bottom. Melissa wanted geometric angles and asymmetry. They like it, and they can immediately see it’s her work. Kors wants more than just black. Gonna be disappointed, Kors. Beatrice’s shawl has fur trim. No one is impressed. Heidi says her clothes are sad. Kors busts out the complaint that they don’t know who she is or who her client is. I get that’s a valid complaint, but I feel like the judges use it just to complain about whoever they feel like. Chris says something about material no one’s seen before, and Heidi loves his gown, but she also says black dresses never translate well on the runway. Kors doesn’t like the styling. Lantie has real snakeskin in her designs. The new dress has the snakeskin stuck on the front, and it’s kind of bunched up so it doesn’t look as good as the other dress. The new dress isn’t that great, and Kors doesn’t think there’s any story but a textile story, and the textiles aren’t so hot. Nina thinks she was trying too hard. Ven’s two designs work very well together. They love the flower on his original look. He clearly has construction skills.  
  
Melissa’s scores were high, but not as high as Ven’s or Chris’s. They do like the youth of her clothes and how you know exactly who her client is. Chris’s gown was an old lady fabric in a young gown. They love that gown. Ven’s suit was fantastic, fit beautifully and looked expensive. Kooan is weird, and they’re afraid he will only make joke clothes. Heidi thinks he was just nervous, but Nina doesn’t agree. Beatrice tried very hard to sell her clothes, but her new outfit was not so great and neither was her shawl. Kors says something about Snuggies. Lantie had some vintage clothes, but she couldn’t recreate it in her new look. Lantie at least seems to have stood behind her clothes.
  
Chris is the winner. Huh. Ven is in. Melissa is in. Kooan is in. He is loud about it. Lantie is in. Well well well. They got rid of the person with poor sewing skills. Good. Beatrice says she tried to push herself but maybe she shouldn’t have. She enjoyed all of her time here, all one day.
  
This season: Rockettes, cars, candy store, I think Tim curses, someone runs away in the middle of the night, team drama. The usual. But I do know someone really did run away, just packed up and left in the middle of the night. And someone else has a breakdown and they quit. So that should be interesting.