Chris is eliminated from Project Runway

Tonight the challenge on Project Runway was to transform a fashion don’t (a fashion trend that is “out”) into a fashion do. In typical Project Runway fashion there was a twist to the challenge that was not revealed right away to the contestants. What was the twist? The dreaded team challenge.

Before we get to the challenge, as always we see the model selection. Since Jack won last week he had the opportunity to keep his model or swap. He decided to swap models with Ricky. Ricky gets all upset over this, but in week 2 when he took some other designer’s model he said he did not care if he was the b%$#% who stole a model. It was a competition and he was there to win. My, my Ricky, it doesn’t feel as good when the shoe is on the other foot, now does it?

OK, Tim and Nina Garcia are in the work room to announce the challenge, and Tim pulls names out of the hat to determine the order in which each designer will select their fashion don’t (there were 12 pictures in the workroom). After everyone selects a picture Tim gives away the twist – that it would be a team challenge and the designers had one minute to team up in groups of three. Here’s how they worked out, with the first person in each group working as team leader (selected by each team, not by Tim):

Ricky, Victorya and Elisa. Their fashion trends were neon, cutouts and underwear as outerwear.

Jillian, Rami and Kevin. Their fashion trends were 70’s flair, overalls and poodle skirts,

Christian, Jack and Kit. Their fashion trends were pleather, fringe and zoot suits.

Chris, Steven and Sweet P. Their fashion trends were shoulder pads, dancewear and baggy sweaters.

It was interesting to see how each team worked together. Victorya and Ricky just did not get along and later on during the runway show Michael Kors said this poor relationship was reflected in the garments they presented. Jillian was getting all nervous with Kevin because she thought he was working really slowly, but in the end he produced a really great outfit. Later Jillian was upset at herself for doubting Kevin.

During the runway show there was one clear favorite in the eyes of the judges (with guest judge Donna Karan sitting in one of the chairs). Heidi said they would do things differently and just announce the winner right away because they were such a runaway winner. Jillian was named winner and her team was safe. Christian’s team was also safe, having scores that qualified them to move forward to next week’s challenge.

The judges said that Chris’ team had no cohesiveness at all. They did love Sweet P’s take on the baggy sweater, a really cute dress. They said her dress looked modern. For Ricky’s team the judges said that there was a cohesiveness but they had problems with the construction and fit of the garments out there. The judges liked Elisa’s shift dress however. Elisa said when she looked at that dress if she did not know any better she would never have thought she made it. I agree. I thought it was fabulous.

The bottom two designers came down to Chris and Ricky, with Chris being eliminated. I guess the judges thought the bigger sin was having a collection that was not cohesive or modern versus clothes that were poorly fit and constructed. I don’t get it. I like Ricky but I thought that he was going to go, especially after two weeks of poorly and sloppily made garments. But I guess the judges didn’t agree with me.

Next week looks interesting. There’s some kind of announcement from Jack, and I read in some spoilers that he has to leave the show because he comes down with a staph infection. He is HIV positive and this infection is very dangerous for him in his fragile condition. The models are not the usual models so this means the challenge should really be great, and if they are built like “real women” i.e. hips and boobs some of the designers might have trouble designing for them. We saw that in season 3 and the everyday woman challenge. I think it might come up again, unless these contestants learned from the mistakes of the contestants in previous seasons.

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