PROJECT RUNWAY: Episode 5, Cover Girl

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PROJECT RUNWAY: Episode 5, Cover Girl

POSTED: Friday, February 12, 2010, 8:04 PM

Filed Under: TV | Fashion | ProjRun Watch

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Clockwise from top left: Amy, Anna, Anthony, Ben, Emilio, Janeane,
Seth Aaron, Milla, Maya, Jonathan, Jesse, Jay

There was tons of hype this week when Sir Gunn announced that this challenge was going to be one of the biggest in ProjRun history. So big, in fact, that this week's winner would not be granted immunity for the next challenge. Tim took his little designer darlings over to the Hearst Building to meet Marie Claire's editor-in-chief, Joanna Coles.

Gunn and Coles broke down the challenge and its whopping winning payoff: Create a design to be worn by a super famous celebrity. On the cover of April's Marie Claire. Yes, this is major. Coles stressed that there really ought to be plenty of color and detail in the designs. It needs to be able to catch the eye of a magazine peruser and make them want to buy, buy, buy! That part could be handled later, it was time to get to the real juice: Who was going to be the celeb?

It was Heidi. Womp, womp.

I know she's a big shot, but this feels a little cheap. Past guests have included LL Cool J, RuPaul and queen fashionista and trendsetter Carrie Bradshaw. I mean Sarah Jessica Parker. Did you happen to record the episode? If so, watch in slow motion as the crew is told who their hot celebrity will be. There's a wave of disappointment covered up by fake enthusiasm. Yes, yes, it's exciting, but it is, after all, only Heidi.

This week we finally saw something from Ben that brought him out of the boring middle ground and into the top three. He made a vibrant blue wrap dress and used panels of bright yellow chocolaty brown to make the eye focus on the core of the model and meet at the waist, where he added a wide black belt. Finally, something from this meager little designer who has barely made an impression on the judges in the past.

This idea of "not meeting the judges" business was a concern that Anna expressed, as well. Tim told her, "that could be a blessing." Sadly for this little daisy, though, she met the judges this week when they were dissecting her drab three piece design. Anna put together a shapeless, washed-out blue blouse, a shiny vest that did nothing for the model's figure and a pair of dark, satin shorts, that the judges called well constructed. That's funny, because I thought that as the model came down the catwalk she looked a bit penis-y in the pants.

Going along with a complete lack of color, Jeneane (who narrowly beat out Anna), Maya, Seth Aaron and Mila all decide to disregard Joanna Coles' advice to use color. They opted instead for more mute and washed out palettes. Jeneane tried to go for a beach theme with her pearl dress, accented with a touch of slate blue at the straps. Coles, that cold-hearted business woman, said it reminded her of a polluted beach with plastic bottles. "It's not fashion forward," Heidi said, "and it's too sweet." True. Mila thought peach would be a strong color to use. Yeah, that will work, Mila, good job [cue eyeroll]. "That peach comes off as Ace Bandage," said Mr. Michael Kors. So true. Jay Nicolas made a dress that was also in a neutral cream it was so gorgeous and attention-grabbing that it didn't need to be anything but cream-colored. It was so light and airy, with one shoulder covered in ruffles. This one should have been top three.

None of that matters as much as who won this weeks Ã¼ber-fantastic, massive, bragging rights for months challenge: Anthony. Yes, my favorite little southerner in the sewing room was given the great honor of dressing Heidi (after she pops out the baby, of course) and having it slapped on the cover of Marie Claire. He made a futuristic one shoulder mini in a blue that was soft but still bold. It looked like frosting with the layers of straps bunched at the top, and then smoothing out into the rest of the dress as they went down the model's body. Kors was thrilled, raving, "the costume drama is over! You've entered modern times!" The judges always love it when they can look at a designer's Project Runway portfolio and see how they took the advice at each elimination and worked it into their garments. I really hope that Anthony keeps moving up, and cutting these bitches back. But no one is surprised to hear that.

Sossy

Posted 2010-02-12 17:43:30

Mila needs to start moving out of her sewn-inset themes.  She's getting BOR-ing. Her designs are starting to look like they came from a quilt factory.  Anthony's dress was indeed striking.  Too bad more of the designers failed to follow his instinct to use an eye-catching color. As Julia says, Jay's design compensated for its lack of color in its sheer beauty. Overall, given the hype about this week's competition, the designs were underwhelming. Too many anemic colors and too few inspired shapes and looks.  At least we didn't have to see a painfully inept contribution from Ping this week.

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