Victorya is eliminated on Project Runway
When I started watching season 4 of Project Runway I thought for sure I had it nailed. Kevin, Rami and Victorya would be in the top three, showing their collections at Bryant Park. Boy was I wrong.
Tonight started with a field trip led by Tim Gunn. You always know you are in for something interesting when you go on a field trip. It seems as if there have been more field trips this year than in seasons past but I could be wrong. The remaining seven designers pile into a van and are taken to a pier on the East River. There they are met by Caroline Calvin, Senior Vice President of Design for Levi’s (and this week’s guest judge). She introduces the challenge to them: to create an iconic denim look of their choosing using only Levi’s 501 jeans and white cotton as the raw materials. The garage doors were opened to show the raw materials for the challenge – more than 500 pairs of jeans hanging up on clotheslines. The designers were given a laundry bag and three minutes to grab up whatever they could to use as the materials for their garment.
I’ve noticed a few things this week that had not really been obvious in weeks past. First, Christian is not the darling of the show that he thinks he is. Several of the other contestants mentioned that they found him immature. Chris March said to someone (either Jillian or Victorya) that he needed a bottle and then to be put to bed. The claws really came out tonight with the designers letting go on each other. Maybe it was just the stress of the past few challenges, or maybe the producers are just starting to show us what has been going on all along behind the scenes. Another thing I noticed was Rami and Sweet P walking together to meet with Tim for the field trip. Rami actually had his arm around her shoulders so maybe they have made up from last week’s fiasco.
Since the end is fast approaching, Heidi announces to the designers that immunity will no longer be given to the winning designer.
My favorites this week were Chris, Sweet P and Rami. The judges disagreed with me in terms of Chris and really liked the designs of Ricky and Christian as well. I did not care for either garment. Jillian, Victorya and Chris were their bottom three. Both Jillian and Victorya made a coat, which is ironic given the fact that they almost won the last challenge on the strength of Jillian’s coat design (the avante-garde challenge). The judges thought Jillian’s garment was too complicated and confusing, not flattering at all on the model. In fact, the garment made the model look fat and like a marshmallow. Chris’ garment was boring and not finished, and Nina said it looked dated. He left some of the edges frayed and the judges thought this was a mistake – finish everything or fray everything. Victorya’s look was dull and uninspired according to the judges. Heidi said it looked like she just took a jean jacket and glued a skirt to the bottom of it. Nina said it was obvious that she did not enjoy the challenge.
The winner this week: Ricky. I was so surprised, but he did pull it out. While I did not like the garment, the judges loved it. Michael Kors said it was the first time you could see that he was a lingerie designer (and good at it). The judges called it clever and meticulous and in fact Levi’s is going to sell a limited edition of the dress on their web site. I couldn’t get a link to it because at the time I published this article the show had not aired on the west coast, but you can go to www.levi.com to find the dress.
The bottom two were Victorya and Jillian, with Victorya being sent home. I guess the bigger fashion sin this week was being boring and uninspired rather than making a garment that makes you look like a marshmallow.
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