So… Heidi greets the designers on the runway, and she tells them that they will learn more about this challenge at a party being hosted by L’Oreal. The designers love a party, or so they think. I mean, they always know it’s going to be a twist, and it’s going to be additional work, and they’re not going to really be relaxed, but it’s nice to take a little field trip. For once, I’m not with them. It was felt it wasn’t necessary for me to be there. And… OK. [laughs] I felt a little hurt, but it was fine.
They go off to the Pink Elephant, kind of a chic—well, not “kind of”—a chic club in the city. The challenge is revealed, but not before something else is revealed. Heidi brings out first Vincent, and then Angela. She explains that because they had each won a challenge, they’re being brought back to participate in this tenth challenge. Had Keith not been taken off the show for his malfeasance, Keith would have been among them because he also won a challenge, but he was ineligible to participate. There wasn’t anyone else left—well, anyone else who was out who had won a challenge—which I had to keep recalculating two, three, and four times. Like, “Really?” Going through the list… No, it was true.
So, Vincent and Angela return—oh god, Vincent—and we’re heading out into a whole new era of Project Runway! [laughs] Heidi explains that they’re going to be designing a cocktail party outfit using only black and white fabric. And she explains that I will give them more details back in the workroom, which I do. I also drop my own—well, I thought it was going to be a bomb—it paled by comparison to Vincent and Angela. I tell them that they have to use all of the fabric that they purchase at Mood—all of it. So they have to be extremely thoughtful, careful, and painstaking in their calculation of what they’re going to need. I didn’t know how they were going to react. I also didn’t really understand why they thought it was so daunting. I mean, if anything you can double line the skirt. As long as the fabric’s used, it doesn’t mean it has to be seen necessarily. So, unless they do something outrageous in terms of overbuying yardage, I didn’t think that this was going to be that big a deal for them.
Let me put things in sequence. They have a $100 budget, and they have fifteen minutes to sketch. When we’re poised to go to Mood, I then tell them that they have to use all of the fabric. So in this context, they have to recalculate their thinking and recalibrate the design, so to speak, so that they can really be able to achieve this with $100 and just enough fabric. I was quite serious about it—I was certainly going to go around and check.
So, back in the workroom, I introduce Collier Strong, who is the consulting makeup artist for L’Oreal Paris. Collier has worked with us for three seasons now, and he’s just—he’s an incredible guy. I love Collier, and god, is he incredibly talented! So he will be consulting with each of the designers about their makeup, which, given that their palette is black and white, is really very important. That activity’s going on… I’m visiting with the designers and just checking up on their progress.
I should add that before we went shopping, Angela asked an Angela question, which is, “Does it have to be black and white?” Well, it’s a black and white challenge. “Yes, it has to be black and white.” So, “It can’t be one color?” she asks. “No, black and white.” All the designers were there to hear the question and also hear the answer. So I am a little stunned when I visit Kayne, because the whole thing is black. I mean, the whole thing is black! When I tell him—or ask him, “Where is the white?” He looks of my sort of like, “What?” Then he shows me this trim, black and white trim—two separate trims, one of each color. He says—or asks, “Well, do I have to use this trim?” And I said, “It’s the only thing you have that’s white? Yes! You have to use it somehow. But boy, this is really going to be problematic for you. I don’t know what you didn’t understand.” He’s a concern from the outset.
Laura’s doing… I guess I’d call it a baby doll dress with a square neckline. A square neckline is a radical departure for her! [laughs] “Why isn’t it plunging to the model’s navel?” She’s using black lace over white fabric, and she’s using feathers on the bottom of the skirt, which is really—well, the dress—which is really a mini dress. I think she herself calls it “Josephine Baker like,” which it is. And she has crystal embellishments on it as well. I have to say I found the silhouette to be very youthful. I liked it. It did not look necessarily like a dress she would design for herself. She would have made some alterations to it, design-wise. I applauded her for stepping slightly to the side of where she’s usually designing. She took what could have been a very matronly kind of lace, and she made it youthful and modern. She did a matching handbag and took care of using all the fabric. I was never concerned about Laura using all of the fabric—that was not going to be an issue.
Jeffrey, while at Mood, purchased kind of a random assortment of black and white prints. He pulled all the stops out with prints on the former challenge, the previous challenge for the couture-like gown. I believe I said it was very Vivienne Westwood-like, because it was. The prints themselves were not strong enough graphically and were kind of anemic looking, but he couldn’t do anything about it at this point—he had already purchased them. I reminded him that it’s cocktails, and he’s doing a sort of punky, sporty, Jeffrey thing. It needed to be dressed up. He did add a patent belt, which certainly helped, but I was totally befuddled by the leggings. I didn’t understand them at all. The whole thing sort of said “badass Courtney Love,” and I thought, “What cocktail party is she going to?” I mean, she may have a cocktail, but I don’t think it’s that kind. So I was trepidatious about Jeffrey. I was a little concerned.
Michael, on the other hand…. I mean, poor Michael. I felt so bad for him in the last challenge because he really… he had a hard time with it. It’s the only time I’ve known him to be derailed by anything. He had this beautiful, beautiful dress that he created, with this very wide cummerbund-like waistband that was in patent and had cutouts. [The cutouts] were, on the one hand, intricate and, on the other hand, necessary and an enhancement to what otherwise would have been a very flat waistband. The dress was a beautiful innovation. Asymmetrical top. It fit Nazhi like a glove. It was a knockout. I mean, I really thought, “This is a strong contender for the win.”
Let me begin by saying that I really responded well to Uli’s dress. Black and white print, but not what we’re used to seeing from her. It was more sort of a Audrey Beardsley-like print. That gave it a kind of classicism that I thought was good and raised the bar, so it didn’t look like it going to the beach, necessarily. I responded to the trim that she used on it. What I wasn’t particularly crazy about were… what she did with the cuff—rather, the cuff of the sleeve—with the frilly thing, I’ll call it, that I felt was way too long. And I have to add I thought her use of the extra fabric in making this long necklace accessory was brilliant, but the judges and I were not on the same page with this. The judges did not like the necklace. They thought it was too over-scaled and clunky. They really disliked more about the dress than I did and again with the exception of the addition to the sleeve at the cuff, I really liked the dress. I liked it a great deal. I didn’t see the same issues. But I’m not a judge, and I’m glad I’m not a judge!
Oh boy, let’s go to Vincent and Angela. Well, Vincent was stuck with having overbought his fabric. OK… well, you know… make it work. I will give him this I really responded well to the top sort of asymmetrical pleating also like a cummerbund and then it was upside-down crumb-catcher if you will. But the skirt was for a hooker, plain and simple! And then he’s complaining about having all this extra yardage… well, how about a longer skirt? “No, I’m going to do a shawl.” alright well you know something? Then do a shawl! I’m quite certain the shawl made him hot, if nothing else. So do it. I just thought, “This is not going to make it. He’s back to his stubborn old self, so just do it.” I guess I was somewhat forgiving with him because Jia, his model, had an accident. It wasn’t a good accident, and she had a concussion. Vincent was used to working with Jia and knew her size very well. We sent in Javi, a former model, and Javi is not the same size as Jia. Vincent’s zipper broke when he tried when he put the dress on her, which was really an issue. So, he had some challenges that he didn’t deserve, and I didn’t wish them on him by any means. So, if anything he could have used the shawl to cover up the broken zipper, but it still was not a nice look.
Oh Angela… She did this leather shrug, which was kind of like a bolero with the ruche/borderline fleurchon flourish in white to the reverse of the black leather. It was very Angela, but then the dress… I mean, the dress had potential for being cute, though it was very basic, but then, of course, she fleurchoned it up with this trim all around every outside seam. I mean, I think it’s even under her armpits. It’s just enough already! Enough, enough, enough! And she even has this fleurchony armband on the poor girl. And of course, where would she be without the fleurchon—no, it’s not a fleurchon purse. Did she fill the purse with fleurchons? I can’t remember. Anyway, Angela does not want anyone to forget that she’s back, and she’s going to go out in a blaze in fleurchon glory. Because she is going out. And you know I’m going to throw the Jubilee Jumbles award to her again she went out with a bang but there was nothing sophisticated about this it was simply a Jubilee Jumbles extravaganza. If you weren’t going to win, Angela, at least we won’t forget you.
Let me just go back to Kayne. This dress was really compelling from the front and had a sleek sophistication to it, albeit it was problematic that it was all black. So the model turns around and we see this white. And it doesn’t make any sense. The white is used as a kind of string tying together a modified cobweb of a design on the back of the dress. It was horrible. I mean, it was really horrible. Arbitrary looking. It wouldn’t have been even very pretty if the whole thing had been black, but this addition of the white just accentuated it—made it stand out even more. It was a problem. It was a design problem, and it was a conceptual problem in terms of understanding the black and white challenge.
So… Going into the runway judging, I had three big concerns. Angela and Vincent I just wrote off altogether. Then among the five designers remaining, Kayne was the one I was most worried about. I mean there was no question about it. Jeffrey oh… I really wanted to debate the appropriateness of that outfit at a cocktail event, and its whole efficacy there. I mean, I didn’t get it. I didn’t see it. Michael…brilliant. Laura…. I loved it, but you know I’m the old fart. Are the judges going to love it? I wasn’t so certain. Uli… I wasn’t worried about Uli being out. I mean, I really… Again, not crazy about the cuff on the sleeve. But Kayne big time. If the judges were to overlook the white aspect well, I would have been disappointed because that was a point we drove home to everyone. Where he was, or where his brain was when that was driven home I don’t know. And you know how I feel about our designers I don’t want any of them to go at least at this point Kayne Laura Jeffrey Michael Uli but someone has to go home so who was it going to be? And I was very fearful it was going to be Mr. Kayne.
So… We have our runway judging and afterwards Angela and Vincent are immediately out. So they’re gone. They’re out of the picture. Bye-bye. We’re left with our five designers. There is… I wouldn’t even call it a debate but there are some harsh words spoken about Uli. And Uli though is told by Heidi that she’s still in and she can leave the runway. Laura and Michael are the clear frontrunners. Bravo! I’m thrilled. And Kayne and Jeffrey are at the bottom. Kayne I anticipated, and had he not been there I would have been shocked. Jeffrey I thought, “Good!” I love Jeffrey, but this was really a stretch. And those leggings looked even worse on the runway, and those patterns looked even more anemic.
We’ll go back to our top two. I was thrilled that Laura won. I was really thrilled. I mean, she hasn’t won a challenge yet. That places her among the final four and it’s a real cause for celebration. I was thrilled for her. And also, I have to add… I don’t know how much of this was in the show… but she had a serious meltdown. I mean, she really had emotional turmoil through this challenge. I’m sure part of it’s hormones part of it just you know they’re tired exhausted. She had been chewed up and spat out for the Paris challenge. Grandpa Munster fuddy old fart…. I really liked it. It looked flat and listless in New York. I loved how it looked in Paris, it was radiant, but back in New York… it didn’t travel well to say the least. She was chewed up and spat out and she was just done in. So this was really an uplifting moment for her - and I was just thrilled with her win. Michael could have won, and he had an exceptionally proud showing.
So… Kayne and Jeffrey… Kayne is out... and extremely adept as a designer… talented in his own way… there are taste issues with Kayne. I mean, I’m the first to say that. I mean, I love him all the same. I love him as a person, but as a designer… well, I don’t think I’d want Kayne designing for me because I don’t want to look like Elvis, but I’m not shopping so that’s not really an issue. I don’t know if I’d want Jeffrey designing for me either! Just in terms of the interpretation of the challenge it was evident that Kayne needed to go. The dress in the last challenge was beautifully made, but talk about a float in a parade! So Kayne is out and we will desperately miss him—very, very much so.
We have our final four and next week we’ll find out who’s going to fashion week.
