Runway Roundup: Week 7

Remember when the designers on Project Runway used to make clothes to be worn by models. I swear they used to that. Last night was the 3rd challenge in 7 weeks where they designed for something outside of the norm. First it was men’s wear, then women who’ve lost weight and last night it was teenage girls. I like when the producer’s throw curve balls at the designers but I’d like to see more challenges with crazy materials like last week’s Hershey designs, then ones with crazy models.

Complaints aside, the challenge and episode did provide the most on screen tension this season. Prom dresses are not an easy thing to class up and be original with, especially when your 17 year old client is in the room with you. My first reaction was sadness that last season’s pageant designer Kayne missed out on this as I’m sure he would have killed it. Then I felt terror at what some of these girls wanted. Low backs, low fronts, booty highlights…good god its no wonder babies are having babies. I did like that the designers seemed to share my thoughts although Heidi, Michael and Nina apparently thought the more skin the better…damn pederasts.

Next was a feeling of indifference. None of the dresses blew me away. I thought Jillian did a good job and I finally began to see why the judges have continued to like her. Chris pulled it back for a second week in a row and while I still think he’s the weakest one there, I’m glad to see him improving. Sweet P finally made a good dress and showed why she qualified for the show. I wasn’t blown away but still it was probably the best of the night. Of course the judges saw it differently and went with Victoria’s smashed tile dress. I thought the cut on this was horrible and the detail work was cheap. Credit to Victoria though who seems to be an expert at taking advice. It seems like every week where she does well it’s due to a fellow designer giving her pointers. Last night it was Christian who as you’ll see had enough problems of his own.

My final feeling on the episode was fear, fear that one of my favorites would be heading home. Christian had a difficult client and while the judges were right that he shouldn’t blame her for everything, they certainly didn’t give him any leeway for the fact that she was a bratty teenager. His outfit clearly suffered from taking to much input from her but it was far from the worst and the fact that he was in the final two seemed to be the sole result of his blame game. Meanwhile Kevin also found himself in the final two which I think is just a damn shame. I wasn’t thrilled with his outfit but week in and week out he’s been consistently good. I just think his aesthetic is not what the judges are looking for. They’ve never given him much praise, while Tim and the other designers have been all over him. Meanwhile Ricky made his fourth dress that looked unfinished and sloppy and was clearly the worst in my mind (pictured above), but somehow he was in and Kevin was out. I truly believe Kevin will make a name for himself and in the meantime let’s hope that this was Christian’s one speed bump.