Chris is eliminated on Project Runway; Rami, Jillian and Christian to show at Fashion Week
Tonight was part one of the two part season four finale on Project Runway. Last season we had four designers in the finals; this season the producers have four designers competing for three spots. Well, that’s not really accurate – Christian and Jillian are in the finals while Rami and Chris have to compete to get the third spot in the finals.
Tim Gunn begins his tour of the finalists with Christian. Christian is working on his collection in New York City. He described his collection as “romantic gothic.” Christian was definitely as self confident as always, and said that he was going to listen to Tim’s advice but still might not change anything. Tim said that Christian needed to take an editing eye to his collection.
Jillian was up next, and she too was working in New York City. Jillian said that she was so inspired by the final challenge (the art challenge) that she researched 15th century armor and used it as the inspiration for her collection.
Tim paid a visit to Rami in Los Angeles next. His inspiration was Joan of Arc. Tim absolutely loved his one piece but said the others looked too hard. He said the one piece probably weighed as much as some armor.
Chris in New York City was Tim’s last stop on his inspirational tour. Chris said his inspiration was beauty with a quirk – 95% fashion with 5% costume thrown in. When I saw the photos of his collection online at first I liked it. And then tonight Chris reveals that he used human hair as trim on his pieces. Yuck. Tim said that he has been living with his looks too long, comparing him to being in the monkey house in the zoo. Here’s what Tim means – when you first go in the monkey house it stinks. When you’ve been there 20 minutes you think to yourself that it isn’t that bad. After an hour you don’t even smell it anymore. And then someone comes in and says it stinks. Tim suggested Chris take his editing eye to his collection and get a fresh perspective.
With five days to fashion week the final four designers arrive to compete. Chris and Rami share a room, but the room shared by Jillian and Christian has a third bed for the third finalist. This theme carries on when they arrive in the workroom to find only three tables. Chris and Rami said they would share. Tim comes by for a “gather round” and announces that Chris and Rami will have three hours to get their assigned models ready to show their three looks to the judges. Tim tells them to choose a partner to help them with the final details – Rami works with Jillian and Chris works with Christian.
I would like to mention that this season it doesn’t seem as if there was a villain. There’s no Wendy Pepper, no Santino Rice. These four individuals seem to get along pretty well overall and like each other for the most part. Jillian and Christian had an exchange about “are you going to be nice to me” but it’s nowhere near the hostility we saw in season 1 with Wendy, Jay and Kara or in season two with Chloe, Daniel V. and Santino.
During the runway show both of the designers sent out some very dark and very dramatic designs. The judges appreciated their work but Michael Kors said that both of them bordered on over design. I have to say that Chris’ outfits kind of creeped me out, and they also were creepy to the judges but they really appreciated his ingenuity and creativity.
In the end Heidi sent Chris packing, and Rami made it through to Fashion Week. I can’t wait to see what happens next week in the finale.
Read these other great entries