Episode 2: Cheer Up!

I think Rich at fourfour (probably the reason I started this blog, by the way) is totally missing out by not covering this season of Project Runway. I understand his reasons, but if the season continues like this, the cry count will rival ANTM’s.

1. Chris


He’s crying because Sarah Jessica Parker entered, and Sex and the City was the reason he moved to New York City. He’s precious. Not quite our little lamb, but perhaps our big teddy bear.

2. Ricky


He’s crying because in the last challenge, he, in his own words, sucked. How sadly self-defeating. However:

3. Ricky


Sarah Jessica Parker liked his design, so these tears are out of joy. I couldn't tell if he was also crying when his model from the last challenge got aufed, but I'll leave it as just verklempt.

4. Carmen


She got very upset because she had to say Christian should go home. She seemed surprised that they were asking- does she not watch the show, or was this just dramatics? When Steve was asked the same sort of question, he opted for mumbling instead of waterworks. His "I don’t like the idea of that, no", was so very Milton-esque. I, I believe you have my chiffon?

5. & 6. Sweet P and Marion


Heidi’s exact words: "Your look left us very sad". Maybe that’s why there’s so many tears in this episode- Marion’s depressing Xena Chic.

You know who I love? Elisa.


I love her. Whatever grass-staining yoga-practicing spit-marking happy planet she’s from, I want to visit (and by the looks of things, the other designers could use a vacation there, too). It's a shame Sweet P doesn’t know the name. Even though I find saliva really disgusting, when Elisa explained herself with this tone of, “Well, duh, to imbibe it with energy and essence, of course”, I got weak in the knees. She totally owns her crazy.

You know who I DON’T love? Carmen.


Leave the irritating self-promotion to the Bluefly Dot Com Wall, Carmen! Am I culture illiterate because I didn’t get her second reference? I would spend so much time trying to figure out who she was talking about that I would totally forget her design.

Something I found totally hilarious in the pitches to SJP- we totally would have guessed that Kevin was the straight man of this season without him telling us in the first episode. Because when others reacted something like this-


Kevin reacted like this.


Totally left her hanging. Tsk.

Tim Gunn Objectification Watch Alert: In this episode, an image of Tim Gunn was accompanied by...


an image of Tim Gunn. I understand promoting his show while he’s on the screen, but displaying him from two different angles? Demeaning.

It may be cliché, but these teams of two reminded me of high school cliques. The idea really started with this team:

Marion and Steven: Team Nerds


All they need is a pocket calculator and a 30 sided die. I think it’s fairly obvious what would belong to whom.


Christian and Carmen: Team Rich Scene Popular Kids


They’re elite, they’re full of themselves, and they’re really, really irritating.


Rami and Jillian: Team Valedictorian/Salutatorian


Which one is which, you ask? I imagine all valedictorians and salutatorians switch back and forth constantly, with a great deal of bitterness and scorn involved.


Victorya and Kevin: Team Cool Dark Drama Kids


They’re talented, they’re sexy, they appear often in 90s teen movies.


Kit and Chris: Team Other Drama Kids


They’re probably just as talented as the really serious dark drama kids, but they don’t quite have the same ambiance. Some may call them a little out there. But, of course, not as out there as:


Elisa and Sweet P: Team Stoners


Like, totally, you know, it’s all about, like, the materials, right? And like, energy, man. Sweet P kind of gets this one by association, but considering she’s been in a motorcycle gang, I don’t think it can be too far off the mark. Thank goodness Elisa got matched with Sweet P. Besides making a really nice product, I don’t think anyone else would have enough patience for her. Also, if there was indeed a challenge to design for Snow White, Sweet P would rock it.


Ricky and Jack: Team Jocks


This one was kind of a default thing. Check out those guns.


I really liked Ricky and Jack’s final product the most, but as Jack pointed out, it might be because Ricky’s model was gorgeous. I’m also confused as to what the second piece of this was, as it was supposed to be a two-piece challenge, unless it was the belt, and if so, did Ricky actually make it? Whatever, it was gorgeous, and could definitely be worn in an array of looks.






My own ranking and the judge’s coincided for the other top two spot- Elisa and Sweet P’s dress and cape. It’s beautiful and all, but I don’t know how many women would invest in a cape. Of course, if it’s featured on Project Runway, that point is pretty moot: people are going to buy it. Though I didn’t mind it on this piece, I am going to get sick of this shade of blue pretty soon. I know it’s not all exactly the same- Team Ego’s was a more fluorescent, for example, but this range of blues that hearken back to Chloe Dao are being done to death. I'm also wondering, do they teach this deer-in-headlights look in modeling school? I think Katie perfected it.

Victorya and Kevin’s dress, which actually won, didn’t do much for me, but I suspect it fit the line more than the other pieces. Rami/Jillian’s and Kit/Chris’s pieces were a little dull, except the strange choice of headwear in both cases.

My bottom two would be the same as the judge’s- Christian/Carmen’s dress was just not flattering at all. I pray that Elisa will go farther than Christian. Though he’s been pegged as a genius and she as a nutcase, she at least has the common sense to listen to Tim Gunn. If Tim calls your piece too retro and you tell him it’s perfect, I’m pretty sure it’s legal to burn you at the stake. Or at least tie you to a real giant spool of thread, or stuck in a giant pincushion or whatever.

Marion and Steven’s final product was indeed, as aforementioned, very sad. You know what I was happy about, though? Marion got to at least reference one comic book character before his departure.