March 16, 2013

Project Runway: Joan Rivers, Duck Tape, and Strippers

It's time for another Project Runway recap! I've got 3 episodes to quickly recap - so scroll down to read more!

Episode 6 came and went and I was uninspired. I mean, I was totally pumped for the episode since it focused on my fav age group - the older set (hey! I live in North Dakota!). The designers were tasked with designing fashionable, age-appropriate looks for senior citizens. We're all going to gracefully get older, and I'd like to think that there's going to be some rad fashionable attire just waiting for me when I get there. Don't you guys agree?

Red carpet experts Joan Rivers and Melissa Rivers served as guest judges - and they were pretty hilarious. But, Patricia Michaels was at the low end on this one as she left herself out of her design for her model until the end. In all honesty, the model looked like she secretly hated her outfit and maybe wanted to punch someone with her eyes. I was disappointed. It's never fun to see your favorite designer struggle.


Then, in the next episode, dubbed "A Sticky Situation," which aired on March 7th, the designers had to create fashion-forward prom dresses made out of duck tape.


So we switch gears from the older set to the teen set. And teens can be so difficult to design for! I remember when I was a teen, and my wardrobe was pretty bi-polar and experimental. So when Patricia gets teamed up with Samantha Black (whom I like) I was interested to see where this could go. The duo, though they struggled a bit at the beginning (you know, typical Project Runway drama), knocked it out of the park with a silver and blue dress that the high school girls loved.


About the duck tape challenge, Patricia explained, "I applied and then striped it off, treating it like I was doing a paint stripper process and then molded it. It's supposed to represent a NYC building in the evening. After all, prom is at night and one feels the energy of the night."

Project Runway bloggers also had great critiques of the dress:

"Patricia's intricate textile work is well done and Nina compliments Samantha's work with the closure on the back, and the dress got the highest number of votes from the high school set" - Official Project Runway blog


"Heidi announces that the top vote getter amongst the prom Kids was Team Patricia/Samantha. At first this seemed like a surprise, but then I realized not so much; the high-low style was very short in the front, so we got the "slutty" out of the way and the students seemed to respond to it's uniqueness. The judges voted and they also liked Patricia and Samantha's look. Heidi loved it and Nina thought it was very "Katy Perry." I liked the ombre duct tape manipulation but the "Jiffy Pop"-looking silhouette was too cartoon-y for me." - Nick Verreos


"Samantha and Patricia ended up with the most popular dress by the students! After all that tension they cranked out a really fun design. I have to admit when I first saw it developing I feared it would look like a Hanukkah dress because of the colors! But it was a cool, futuristic, unique design. Is it the most suitable for the prom? Probably not. But kudos to them for creating something outside the box and creative!" - Mila Hermanovski


For the eighth challenge, there were 8 contestants left, and it was time to shake things up. New teams were assigned to create outfits for the world famous male revue Thunder from Down Under. In this episode, the contestants are catching on to each others' aesthetics, and Stanley suggests to teammate Patricia that she should do her textile manipulation she's become known for and create a woven shirt.





Well, both teams did a bad job. Neither was creative, and both had major construction problems. For the first time ever, judge Nina Garcia is left speechless. We didn't even get to see Patricia's shirt (until judging), and the male dancers had a hard time, well, stripping (which was the whole point):


But at least they laughed? Yet laughter wasn't the point, and Heidi was set on dubbing everyone a loser. There was no winner selected from this challenge, which is the first time in Project Runway history that this has ever happened.

As we move on to Episode 9, Patricia has to land a win soon, since she's the only one in the remaining 7 not to snatch a win (though she's been in the top 3 twice and has had several notable mentions).


Click here to watch full episodes.