In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.
New year, shmoo year -- WE'VE GOT SOME DRESSES TO MAKE. We start at the runway, with a stressful session of model-choosing. Everyone comes to their senses and releases the unfortunate Ashley back into the wild. Finally.
Early the morning, Tim Gunn wakes all of the designers and takes them on a field trip. To Times Square. To the Hershey's store there. It's not difficult or particularly original to analogize this, but certainly taking a field trip to Times Square is akin to honeymooning in Trenton, New Jersey. Apologies, Garden State. And, the Hershey's store? It's miserable there.
So, the challenge sort of goes without saying once they reach the store. Without time to design anything, the designers have five minutes to grab supplies. Since Hershey's is a branding utopia, there's much more than chocolate there. People grab a lot of pillows and whatnot, though a couple grab some candies for the wrappers.
Christian's smack talking has reached a fever pitch. No one seems to really hate him (except for maybe Ricky, who is completely unreliable as any sort of rational judge of another person's behavior), so I think it may be all in jest. Or maybe he's so open about it that no one is really offended.
We find out that Elisa, on the cusp of a career in fashion t-shirts, had been mowed down by a Porsche on the streets of London. Project Runway has been a way for her to reclaim what she lost. Okay, damn.
On the runway, I'm going to say that, from first impressions, Victorya's dress was the only one I thought really wasn't very good, and that was mostly because she instructed her model to walk like the dress was about to fall apart. She was part of the bottom three with Sweet P and Elisa -- who also weren't up to snuff, but not horrible. The top three were Rami, Chris, and Jillian - who was the only designer to actually use food -- Twizzlers -- and it was amazing. Rami was the eventual winner, because of his vibrant and technically virtuosic creation. And, leaving us, after just telling us that she was almost road kill, was Elisa. Boo. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Previously: Jack left the show due to a staph infection on his face, and Chris was brought back from the dead. Christian won his first challenge with his design for a lady who had recently lost a lot of weight, and Stephen was sent packing because his source material was a really hideous wedding dress that he didn't make work.
It's morning at the Gotham apartments, and Kevin is lamenting the loss of his final roommate, Stephen. He says it's like he lost his "fucking cubicle buddy" and he's sad. That doesn't say a whole lot for the Project Runway experience, if your roommate was like your cubicle buddy. Cubicles suck.
In the other guy apartment, Ricky asks how everyone feels about Stephen being eliminated. Christian says flatly that he doesn't care. Actually, Christian says everything flatly, doesn't he? He's a talented guy, but I find the whole "droll arbiter of what's good" persona that he seems to be trying so hard to project very tiresome. Chris belly laughs at Christian's dismissal of Stephen. Yeah, laugh it up Chris. Sister Christian doesn't have any kinder critiques for you. Christian does follow up with a good point though. He says that Stephen didn't get eliminated because he had to work with an ugly wedding dress; he lost because he created a whole other dress that was ugly. Now, I'd agree about the whole other dress being ugly. The wedding dress was by far the hardest of the source materials to work with, but Stephen's interpretation was stinky. And Christian is annoying.
In the girls' apartment, Sweet P, Kit, and Jillian are discussing the possibilities of the upcoming challenge. Jillian thinks that, five challenges in, what else is left to do? Sweet P says that the first challenge was the only challenge that was supposed to represent them as designers, which is untrue. The SJP challenge and the dead trends challenge both required the designers to express their personal visions. Sweet P interviews that she's thrilled that she's still hanging on and in the competition. She says she wants to go to Bryant Park and win. I want to control the weather. Both of us are going to be disappointed, I'm afraid. I like Sweet P, but, as unique as her appearance is, doesn't she perfectly fit the Project Runway archetypical "middle-of-the-packer" mold? In that regard, she's completely interchangeable with about a dozen other designers from past seasons. Kit notes that they are at the sixth challenge-- "half-way there"-- and they are out the door and on their way to Parsons.
At the runway, Heidi walks in carrying that button bag. Her lipstick is really red and it looks so pretty. I talked to someone recently that said they'd seen Mrs. Seal without her make-up and she didn't look good. I have to believe that that's total bullshit. Look at her! I have undefined contempt for Heidi (really, I don't know what it is -- but something this season is bothering me about her) and I still can't deny that she is seriously one of the prettiest people ever, right up there with Michelle Pfeiffer circa Grease 2.
Before she talks about the challenge, all of the designers will have a chance to choose their models anew. The girls walk out. Heidi reminds all of us that the winning model will get a spread in Elle. Speaking of which, has anyone checked out Elle lately? It's looking pretty good. Since the models weren't used in the last challenge, we have 12 models and only 10 designers. 2 models will be sent home. Since Christian won the last challenge, he chooses first. Goodbye, Lisa -- he's going with Lea. Wow, Lea certainly is the hot property, isn't she? This is the third time that she has been chosen over a designer's model. Ricky took her from Elisa, Jack took her from Ricky, and now Christian's got her. Oh, the stories she could tell! Christian interviews that Lea is one of the top models there. Christian then mouths what I swear was, "I love you, boo boo," to Lisa who weakly smiles and mouths back, "It's okay." I love that she has to comfort him. "I dumped you -- make me feel better about it." Jesus, that sounds like I have issues.
Kit stays with Marie. Jillian stays with Lauren, and she chooses her like a robot. With Stephen out of the way, Jillian's freaky is really starting to show. She's all Starman and is unfamiliar with the odd ways of your planet. Sweet P is to choose and is thrilled, for once, to not be the last person whose button is pulled from the bag. She stays with Katie. Victorya stays with Jacqueline. Elisa stays with Aviva. Chris stays with Marcia. That girl is lucky. Because they didn't use the models last week, she didn't have to face a model-choosing with her designer eliminated. Rami decides that he would like to make a change and chooses Sam. He doesn't even acknowledge Ashley, which I guess I don't mind too much. It's seems a little insincere the way these guys cry all over themselves when they change models. Kevin stays with Amanda and seems relieved that no one else chose her. And, it's down to Ricky; he gets to choose among Ashley, Lisa, and Christina (Jack's model). With a teary eye (really, though, does he have any other sort of eye?), Ricky chooses Lisa. As Ashley walks off the runway, we see Rami touch his mouth. I think we're supposed to believe this a moment of angst he's having over setting the wheels of Ashley's elimination into motion, but it looks more like he just remembered a funny joke.
It's time to hear about the challenge. Oh wait, Heidi's being mystery bossy. She says that they will have to wait. They are going to have a very early morning the day, and they're going on a field trip. Uh oh. These things are never like real field trips. Nobody's going to the aquarium. The designers seem to know this. She wishes them good luck and leaves.
The morning at 6AM, Tim Gunn knocks on the door of one of the New Gotham apartments and is greeted by a groggy and rat-nest-coiffed Kit. She seems a little disturbed. She interviews that she was traumatized by the experience, since being seen in your pajamas by Tim Gunn is, to her, tragic. He has seen worse, and he hasn't forgotten. Angela Keslar was only a season ago, after all. He won't tell Kit and the girls any more about the challenge and tells them to get ready.
, he knocks on the door of the now perpetually shirtless Kevin. He's brushing his teeth. Does anyone else think that Kevin looks sort of like a female-to-male transsexual? No? Carry on.
Victorya answers the door of her apartment decked out in the most grandma nightgown muumuu. I love it.
Ricky answers Tim's knock at their apartment door and, for some reason, he's carrying his bedspread. No idea. He's not even using it for coverage or anything. Perhaps it's the largest binky in the world. He doubles over laughing when he sees Tim. All of the reactions are indicative of the respect that the designers have for Tim. It's nice to see, especially when so much reverence in reality television feels phony most of the time. Chris says, "It really is Tim," as if he'd just met Santa Claus. He asks Tim where his pajamas with the feet in them are. And they laugh. Tim tells them to dress quickly and meet him in the lobby.
We see the girls brushing their teeth together. Kit is still freaking out about seeing Tim. Adding to her humiliation is the fact that she wasn't wearing a bra. Halle Berry's mom would not approve. She interviews that she has no idea what the challenge will be and that the surprises are endless. Oh my God, she seems shell-shocked. Chris interviews that the suspense is building. Everyone seems ready to leave, and Sweet P burps daintily into her hand. She must have learned that at one of her lady motorcycle gang etiquette Sunday brunches.
With Tim in the lead, they set off on foot for their field trip destination. Is Rami wearing a see-through shirt? I just lost so much respect for him. The mannequins are like, "The Adult Video Awards are that-a way." They arrive at nasty Times Square and Jillian interviews that she assumed they would be costuming a musical. Not a bad idea for a challenge, really. ["Seriously. Xanadu? Please??" -- Joe R] But, no. Tim directs their attention instead to the Hershey's store there. Everybody seems excited. They're all lying. Elisa interviews that she doesn't know how anyone could NOT want to work with that "magic, magic, magic." One of the mannequins is holding a tazer. Hershey's? Really? There's nothing magical about that place.
Christian very appropriately interviews, "I was like, 'Great, we get to make shit out of candy.'" We are of one mind, my impish foe.
Inside, the designers are lined up and greeted by Michelle Gloeckler from Hershey's. Tim Gunn thanks her for "giving us the run of the place." Michelle hails Hershey's Time Square the sweetest place in New York. Shut up. Tim tells the designers that their challenge will be to create a look using items from the Hershey's store as the raw materials. It sounds like the spirit of the challenge is to create a look with candy, but in reality the Hershey's store is like TJ Maxx with Hershey's branding on everything. It shouldn't be too hard to find the elements of a look in there. Michelle gets to the point when she says, "Surrounding you are all sorts of delicious brands for you to create your designs." This challenge is kind of gross.
There's no budget for the challenge. Instead, they are going to have five minutes to grab whatever they want as materials. They will have until the end of the day to complete the design. Their five minutes begin, and everybody starts scrambling for stuff while kooky Babes in Toyland music accompanies. Jillian says that it was "crazy and vicious." People go for the items that are made of cloth-- pillows and the like. Everyone seems to appreciate the chance to go apeshit in a candy store. Elisa says that she doesn't have a "garment plan." She's just going to grab stuff and see where it takes her.
Pet peeve alert!! Christian runs straight towards the Reese's area. Except, he pronounces Reese's with two long "e"s. I hate that. He says that he is going to use the brown cup wrappers of ReesEE's Peanut Butter Cups as his primary material. Seriously, why do some people fuck up that word? The mannequins are silent in disgust.
Chris says that experience has shown him that you shouldn't design with food products. Cut to Jillian, who is going to use Twizzlers. The mannequins are all, "Did you not just hear Chris?" God, I love me a Twizzler. All time favorite movie food. After the five minutes, the designers have so much stuff, they can hardly carry it all. Jillian in particular has it rough, but she gets those Twizzlers out the door. Commercials. There's this weird Saturn commercial with Santino from Season 2. He has the deepest voice ever.
At the workroom, the designers have 13 hours before the end of the day. Rami throws a few treats in the air and Kevin catches them in his mouth, because he's the straight guy. Since he stressed so much in the first few episodes that he was the only straight guy, I can't help but think that every behavior he exhibits is intended to reinforce that. Like dyeing his fancy trimmed beard. Kevin seems like a nice guy, but his grooming angers me.
Kit says that everyone is having a lot of fun with this challenge. Chris holds two red pillow things to his head and says that he's Pippy Longstocking. Wow, those were good times. Tim enters and says broadly that there is a lot of great stuff.
It turns out that Jillian is the only person who will be using edible products in her design. The minute she saw the Twizzlers she knew what her design would be. She wants to shape the candies into a bodice. Sounds absolutely delicious!
Sweet P is using teddy bears and feels guilty for ripping them apart. The mannequins are like, "Murderer!" She says that she's going to break ceramic stuff and glue it to the waist of her dress. She asks Chris if he thinks it will work, and he tells her to test it. That's a little sad that he'd have to tell her that. Sweet P, rev those synapses, we got to get going. Also, she's going to glue teddy bear carcases to the skirt of her dress to create a print. Watch out for PETS, People for the Ethical Treatment of Stuffies. They will throw cotton candy all over that shit. Your day will be ruined.
Christian says, "I work very instantaneous," thus continuing his flirtation with verbal specialness. He says working so instantaneous usually is successful for him because he has a very strong style. He follows up his stupid with a lot of sense, though. He is gluing unwrapped ReesEE Peanut Butter cup wrappers to his dress, and he lost count of how many he's using. He thinks it's near a thousand.
Chris is making a Stephen Sprouse pop-art dress. He loves his idea and knew what he wanted to do immediately. He notes that "people" (read: Jillian) are having problems with the real food. He repeats his feelings about working with real food. It's like real food is his pets and children -- Chris March does not work with real food. Jillian is having a hard time cutting candy. Rami thinks that she's taking a risk working with candy. He says that he's using things that he can sew together. He's using York Peppermint Patty material and purse handles.
With 7 hours left in the day, we see Elisa say that when she was in the store, she chose items that she thought her daughter would want her to use. She interviews that she wants it to be a fairy tale themed design, in honor of her daughter Calliope who, she interviews, insisted that she try out for Project Runway. She tells us that three years ago, she had gotten the opportunity to launch a t-shirt line in London. On her last day there, she got hit by a Porsche! Oh my God. Her neck was broken, her head was cracked open almost 4 inches, and she was in a coma for five days. Holy shit. She was in the hospital for three months!! That's some serious shit. And it reminds me of crossing the street in London and remembering that I was looking the wrong way for oncoming traffic. I wonder if that's what she did. She sees Project Runway as a way of reclaiming that earlier opportunity.
Kevin says that he's making pieces that are wearable -- he's not much of a fan of the avant-garde. Christian is already finished with his design and Victorya tells him that she hates him. Ricky interviews that Christian is caught up in his ego. I can see that. We see Christian critique the work of both Kit and Elisa. Kit responds, "Um, Tim?" Christian interviews that the other designers don't have a direction because they think about their work too much. Spoken like a true 21-year-old. A possibly brilliant one, but still. He criticizes Kevin's design and calls part of it ugly, and Kevin just laughs. He interviews half-jokingly that he is going to kill Christian. He apparently says it all of the time in his interviews.
Sweet P is freaking out-- she doesn't like her dress. Christian tells her that she needs to do some "hardcore editing." Part of me wonders if that was a career of Sweet P's several lifetimes ago. Ricky interviews that the mood in the workroom has gone from playful to intense.
With three hours remaining, Tim returns. He starts with Victorya. She tells him that her dress looked better before she started adding ruffles. She added some white fabric to her original design of silver fabric, and Tim thinks that it makes the dress look flat. He also thinks it looks unfinished.
Rami says that his design is supposed to look fun, futuristic, girly, and edgy. Tim thinks that describes Jillian, who says that she would wear Rami's design. , he talks to Elisa. She says that she has modernized Gretel with her design. Tim does not look convinced. Ricky says that Elisa's dress looks like Barney Rubble. Hat. That's all I have to say to Ricky. Hat. Tim tells Elisa that her design needs to be exuberant, and to get there she will need to use a critical eye. "Wow me," he says.
Jillian tells Tim that she's far behind and that she may have used bad judgment with choosing Twizzlers as her material. Tim is not happy with Sweet P's design. She's making a new skirt, and he says that it looks like a coffee filter or a maxi pad. Ouch. She says, "Oh my God," in the most brilliantly terrified manner. Like the idea of a maxi pad skirt is the absolute worst thing ever. She interviews that she is very stressed out.
With one hour remaining, everyone scrambles. Elisa wants to be able to finish her design the way she saw it in her head. Chris goes into another room and falls asleep with his head in his hand and snores in the most terrifying way. I think a lamp or small rug may have been lost in the maelstrom.
Jillian is having problems. She can't get the Twizzlers to stop falling off of her skirt. In the same way that she says everything, she says that she's very worried and in really poor shape. She leaves feeling devastated, or at least that's what she says. Has she had a stroke? Jillian cannot emote. It worries me. Ricky stole her emotions and is using them all for himself.
The morning, Elisa says that she wants to be safe for this challenge. Jillian says that she thinks that her model won't make it down the runway without food falling off of her. She should call it the Mardi Gras float design. "It's on PURPOSE, Michael!" It would be so funny if someone screamed that at him. Just once.
In the workroom, Christian declares, "It's a tranny mess up in this room!" Is he talking about Kevin? Oh. How is it that Christian can consider himself such an original talent, yet he's also riddled with cliché? Someone tell me.
Sweet P says that she's nervous about her dress. Tim comes in-- the designers will have 2 hours to ready their models. Lauren calls Rami's model, Sam, a skinny bitch. Did a model just show some personality? Yay! Damn, Marie, Kit's model, has the rockingest abs.
Chris interviews that he his heart went out to Jillian, because he has been where she is, which is using real food and it not going well. He sounds really genuine and nice about it. Lauren ends up helping Jillian sew. She takes Heidi's words to heart and points out that it's a competition for both of them and Jillian accepts her help.
Christian says to his model, "Oh my God, so many things are so ugly." Then, he interviews that Elisa's dress was weird and had sleeves that looked like floaties that you swim with. It was, to coin an original phrase, "a hot mess." I've met Michael Knight, Christian. You are no Michael Knight. ["That being said, the 'floaties' thing was a more evocative and accurate assessment than that 'Barney Rubble' crack, Ricky." -- Joe R]
Chris says that Sweet P has a taste level that is hit-or-miss. Is that not the gentlest slam you've ever heard? I admire his lack of need for that bad kind of attention. Rami is nervous that his dress -- made of all paper -- might tear. By the time Tim arrives to take everyone to the runway, Jillian has managed to get a dress on Lauren.
Heidi greets everyone on the runway. Apparently, Hershey's will auction off the designs to benefit the Young Survivor Coalition to benefit young sufferers of breast cancer. She introduces Michael, Nina, and guest judge Zac Posen.
The show begins with Ricky's design. It's a bubble skirt made of fabric with the Hershey's bar label on it. The bodice is a strapless corset of silver. It fits her really well, though the bubble skirt is a bit yesteryear. Ricky is very happy with the design and is glad that he got to have a lot of fun with it. I wonder if he was so happy that he cried.
up is Chris' design, worn by Marcia. It's a short dress with long vertical panels of logo-printed fabric that create a strapless bodice. Below the bodice is short brown skirt. It's interesting because the panels have a lot of visual texture, but you really can't tell they are logos. It's the kind of dress that would get more interesting the more you look at it. Otherwise, it's a pretty simple design, but ingenious for the use of the logos.
is Kit's design. It's got a cool punk rock feel. It's a strapless bodice of Kit Kat wrappers that is laced up in the back. The skirt is made from Hershey's bar wrappers and is very stiff and resembles a punk leather skirt. She's wearing a studded belt that adds to the look. Marie looks awesome, and Kit is very happy because it's fun and conceptual. Agreed.
Uh-oh, here's Elisa's dress. It's not good. It's a brown felt dress with an attempt at a sweetheart neckline with brown straps. There are tufts of pink, blue, and silver fabric at the top of each boob, and it looks like Aviva stuffed her bra and the stuffing's coming out. There are two freestanding silver puffed sleeves worn at the elbows. They are wrong. The hem of the skirt is asymmetrical. Elisa is very happy because she wanted to create something macabre and Gretel-like. Sure. Gosh, I really like Elisa -- I like weirdos -- but that dress is bad.
Here's Kevin's design. It's a brown pencil skirt, with a little silver showing at the bottom. There's a silver bodice and a short brown bolero jacket over the top. It looks really good, and I can't tell what kinds of materials were used. It just looks like a sexy, smart design. Kevin likes it -- he didn't want to be gimmicky. He just wanted to make something nice.
is Christian's design. It's a halter dress with a high collar...covered in Reese's Peanut Butter Cup wrappers. It looks good. It's not amazing, but it looks good and it looks like Christian. He thinks it looks like him as well.
Sweet P's design is . It's a short white voluminous skirt and a strapless silver bodice. And that's really it. It fits Katie well, but it's pretty bland. Sweet P says that she is happy with the design because it lends lightness to the proceedings.
Rami's dress is . There's so much going on that it's hard to catch all of it. Slow down, Sam! It's a halter dress made of silver and red fabric. The bodice has some red pleather fabric that creates a sort of wrap in the front. The skirt is pleated to within an inch of its life. I don't know how he did it. This shit looks good. He's very happy with it and said he saw it catch Zac Posen's attention. Love is in the air.
Here's Jillian's outfit and, unless some Twizzlers start flying, it looks pretty damn good. It reminds me of that motorcycle outfit from the George Michael "Too Funky" video, though without the handlebars. She used red and black Twizzlers to create the bodice. The black is used as a border and it ends in a ram's head circle over the bust. There's a vertical panel of skin showing in the front of the bodice that's very sexy. The skirt is short and red and the Twizzlers create a lot of movement. This design is hot!
Victorya's dress is and it's a wreck. It's an apron dress with silver and white ruffles everywhere. It's asymmetrical and doesn't fit well. And, to top it off, Victorya has instructed her model to walk like an "ice princess," which means walking stiffly with her arms straight to the side. That would also be the walk of a "this-dress-is-going-to-fall-apart princess." I would not want those two versions of royalty to get confused by the judges.
With all of the designers onstage, Heidi calls Ricky, Christian, Kit, and Kevin. They're all safe and leave the runway. The models of the others return. Heidi asks Rami what materials he used. For the top, he used a Twizzlers plastic pillowcase. Um, plastic pillowcase? Wouldn't that suffocate you? It's like, "For my ski mask, I used this plastic bag." He used York wrapping paper for the skirt. Zac thinks the dress worked, and Michael found it charming.
Elisa says that she was trying to make a beautiful, sexy dress that felt like candy but wasn't made of candy. Michael thinks it's bland and joyless. Zac says, "There's no joy of candy!" He doesn't think it works.
Zac likes licorice! And red! Nina thinks Jillian's dress is sexy and fits well. Michael giggles to himself and says that it looks "deliciously chic." In fact, Jillian says that the outfit does smell very good.
Victorya says that her dress is totally wearable, and Michael puts the smackdown on her. He says there is no way she would wear that dress. Heidi says she looks like she works at the Dairy Queen. I'll be damned if Heidi Klum Seal has ever set foot in a Dairy Queen. She says that the dress has nothing to do with candy, but Dairy Queen is at least sweet, right? They think the walk of the model was wrong. Zac points out that, if she was going for wearable, an ice princess presentation is not going to be very accessible.
Zac likes the texture of Chris' dress, but he doesn't think it's effective in a fantastical way. Chris points out that parade floats are his specialty, but he was trying to go in a different direction. Michael thinks that Chris edited intelligently. Nina thinks that the dress could be in Elle.
Heidi says that Sweet P's dress was boring. Nina says that it looked easy, and Sweet P explains that she had to start over. Nina still thinks it looked sad. Ouch.
As judging commences, Michael says that he thinks the designers had fun with this challenge. As Chris is putting away some chocolate backstage, Michael points out that, though they often question Chris' taste level, he sent out a sophisticated and well-edited design. Rami's design made Michael smile. Zac points out that Rami had been so meticulous as to line up the pattern of his pleats where even the hidden fabric was uniform. They felt that Jillian's design was chic and sexy-- and kudos for using edible stuff -- but that Elisa's dress was boring and dull. Zac found Victorya's design uninspiring. There was no effect to Sweet P's design.
The designers return to the stage. Commercials! The question this week was, "Which challenge has been your favorite?" a) Hershey's, b) Menswear, c) Sarah Jessica Parker. I'm going "C." America goes "A."
We're back! Chris is in. The winner of the challenge is...Rami! He's the first person to win two this season, and he has immunity for the challenge. Jillian is in. Victorya is in. Heidi says that they were disappointed in Elisa's sad brown dress. She tells Sweet P that her dress was uninspired and boring. Sweet P is...in.
Elisa thanks everyone for the opportunity, then she says some foreign words. She says that she feels "fortified" from the experience, even being eliminated, because experience like this evolve us. She is crying backstage and tells everyone that she's crying because she's leaving them. She interviews that all of the other designers contributed to helping her grow. They were the true judges and she "passed that test." That's such a nice attitude. I don't care if she's crazy, I really loved Elisa. She says she's blessed that she gets to make new work. Goodbye, Elisa. And look BOTH ways before crossing the street.