'Project Runway': The Finale – Part I

Friday November 13, 2009 7:48 AM By Corris Little

It’s finale time, and Tim Gunn makes house calls to see how the three finalists are doing with their assignments to create a 12-piece collection with a budget of $9,000 to show at Fashion Week.

First stop, Carol Hannah Whitfield, who has moved from Charleston, S.C., to – helloooo -- our very own Huntington, where she is living with friend Ellen and working on her collection. 

Thanks for sharing Project Runway honchos – you might remember that we treat our talented reality stars rather nicely ‘round here – ever hear of Jillian Lewis?

Carol Hannah’s collection is inspired by architecture at Duke University, and the clothes are pretty and whimsical with, she says, “a little evening flair.”  There seems to be much braiding, purple and gold.   Natch there are dresses, but she’s even done a pant, a pair of shorts and a jacket.

Tim dines Southern-style with her family, who has flown here (as in to Long Island) to celebrate.  They recruit him for biscuit-making and he happily dons a fabulous, retro flowered apron without complaint.  At the end, he tells Carol Hannah that she’s “cooked up a great collection.” 

That’s the last time we see her healthy on this show.  The poor thing has some sort of violent stomach virus  though she perseveres. The mom in us wants to baby her -she has clearly lost weight -her lips are blanched, she can barely keep her eyes open, and we leave her hunched over a toilet.  Awww.

Irina Shabayeva doesn’t get the raves from Tim that she hopes for, but he is interested in her collection and it is interesting.  She wants to celebrate New York, specifically Coney Island, grounding her looks with a series of oversize logo shirts that she tops with luxurious knits or fur basket weaves.  It is a dark collection – sort of luxe rock ‘n’ roll and Tim questions the somber black color palette.  But Irina holds her ground, though shaken when she learns that she can’t use the T-shirts because they are trademarked.  So, being the creative creature that she is --she makes her own.

Irina’s family, who hails from the Republic of Georgia, gather with Tim at a NYC restaurant.   Her mom is so sweetly supportive and calls herself a winner “to have a daughter like her.”  Tim toasts to “the American dream.”

Onto Althea Harper in Dayton, Ohio.  She says she’s been inspired by sci-fi.  We don’t see it, but we do see one luscious sweater and a coat that Tim says is too “Wild West” and needs to be severely hemmed.  The family gathering includes high school friends who say that back in the day, if you didn't have anything to wear, Althea would whip something off on a sewing machnine.  Nice!  On leaving Tim says, “I saw a lot of great work.  Edit, edit, edit.”

Thank goodness they all head back to NYC (little Carol Hannah is delayed by her illness).  The show feels different here – snappier, crackling.  Tim is more energetic.  And yay, what an absolute delight to see Nina Garcia and Michael Kors – together – when they come to give some advice to the finalists.  Heidi Klum, looking angelic, delivers devilish news.  The designers now have to make a 13th look for their collections.  A silent scream goes up in the room. 

Aha, but they’ll have help! Back comes Logan Neitzel, Gordana Gelhaus and Christopher Straub to assist..  Althea picks Logan (you can see Carol Hannah’s miffed – sick, shmick, Logan’s her crush), Irina tells Gordana to “come to mama,” and those two are happy, and Carol Hannah gets Christopher by default, but she sweetly embraces him (potentially killing him with the germs from her illness).

Folks, we already saw all of these collections on the runway way back.  Up close. And only one is truly excellent.   Stay tuned. 

‘Project Runway’ episode 12: Irina, Carol Hannah and Althea are "in"

Friday November 6, 2009 12:00 AM By Anne Bratskeir

Who is in, and who is out? From left: Christopher Straub is going home, Irina Shabayeva is in, likewise Althea Harper. Gordana Gelhausen is aufed, but Carol Hannah Whitfield makes the finals.

It’s an all-girl finale folks.

The challenge is to draw fashion inspiration from the J. Paul Getty Center  -- the fabulous art, the antique furniture, the architecture and grounds.  Five designers left,  three will be chosen to show at New York Fashion Week and two will be aufed.  In the end, however, it was less about what the designers created for this particular episode and more about their cumulative work.

Not surprising in the least:  Irina Shabayeva was first pick for the final big gig.  Though her minty dress based on the painting “Mischief and Repose” by John William Godward was not our absolute favorite, she has undoubtedly been the superstar within the group since early on with work that is sophisticated and swanky – stuff you want to buy.

Carol Hannah Whitfield has a point of view and designs pretty dresses.  Poor thing looked positively wrung out in this episode with makeup that was virtually melting off her eyes.  Her dress however, inspired by a European Arts French bed from 1775 was beautifully made and glamorous.

Althea Harper’s ensemble, drawn from the architecture of the Getty Center was, well a brick, yet she makes the finals anyway, because she has been good throughout.   Judges, who include Cindy Crawford, Cynthia Rowley and Nina Garcia, admire the fact that she took a risk. 

So long to Christopher Straub, whose gown was supposed to conjure rocks and algae in the fountains at Getty.  Additional waterworks from Christopher featured him weeping uncontrollably into his model's dress on the runway.  That said, we actually loved his structural evening frock though the judges felt the material on the bottom was too stiff and he should have known it.

As for Gordana Gelhausen, well, she is knocked out of the competition after doing perhaps her best work ever.  This simple strapless number is based on a beautiful Monet painting that reminds her of Europe and brings out her spirituality, she says. The colors are almost exactly extracted from the painting.  The problem, say the judges, is that they still have no sense of her as a designer.  She is sorely disappointed.

So, on to Fashion Week for the three gals –hope they can keep from stabbing each other with their scissors – this is no lovefest.

Motivational line of the week?  Tim Gunn to designers, telling them to do such fabulous work that, “Nina Garcia’s stilettos blow right off her feet and shoot across the room.”  Nina must have known that was the plan, so she wore strappy gladiators. 

 

‘Project Runway’ episode 11: Mean girls

Friday October 30, 2009 8:08 AM By Anne Bratskeir

Meow.   The vibe is getting ugly as the field narrows with the girls consistently walloping the boys – six designers left and only two fellas.  The challenge is to create a companion piece to the designers’ already-made best looks, but it almost seems secondary to the downright nastiness that permeates the air.

At one point in the show, Logan says, “Irina has the nickname ‘Mean-a Irina’ for a reason.”  True, she’s getting a little witchy – the whole “I’m not here to make friends,” biz and all that accusatory stuff, but man, can that woman sew. 

As for Logan,  well,  he hurled a few horrid little insults of his own.  And alas his space age, Judy Jetson zipper dress was horrid too – finally, handsome guy is aufed.  Nina Garcia called it “an indulgent fashion student project,” though we’re not sure his look was worse than Gordana’s drab, sad jacket and skirt ensemble described as an outfit for “an office worker in Warsaw, Poland.”

Althea wins with a sparkly, slouchy sweater over a camisole paired with cool harem drawstring pants.  She has spent much of the show grousing that loser Logan copied one of her past collars.  Heidi (who wants to own this outfit) is innocently surprised by the presence of two oversized sweaters on the runway– Irina’s has faux fur cuffs and tops a swank brocade strapless cocktail dress.  Irina, somewhat inappropriately, and with steam coming out of her ears, suggests that Althea knocked her off, but no one but Althea seems to hear it.  For the record, the sweaters were both gorgeous, but if we’re talking knock-offs, well Althea’s smacks of Donna Karan.

If the kids are spiteful, the grownups – as in the judges, who included actress Kerry Washington tonight -- are somewhat cruel, each trying to out zing each other while the designers are lined up on the runway – enough! And then, during their deliberations, cackling like hens about the designer missteps, kind of shameful.  This needs a tighter edit – have fun, but don’t rip these people to shreds.  It seemed undignified.

Rising above the fashion fury:  Tim Gunn, always a gent and a true mentor in this episode, Carol Hannah, whose sweet party dress matches her personality, and Christopher who never seems to get nasty despite his overwrought gown described as “one dress throwing up another,” by Irina.  He is the last guy standing and oddly, the only designer without any professional training.

And now for a jab of our own:  if any of the designers had created what Heidi was wearing tonight – silver Bermuda shorts, a pink shirt and short blazer with rhinestone encrusted sleeves – um – buh-bye. 

Photo: At top, Althea's creation, Logan's design at bottom. Courtesy of Lifetime.com
 

'Project Runway' Episode 9: Showstoppers for Mackie, Aguilera

Friday October 16, 2009 7:59 AM By Anne Bratskeir

(The winning dress)

OK, so designers must suspend refinement for total drama and slammin’ glamour tonight.  Bob Mackie (whom Tim Gunn dubs “the sultan of sequins") is the legendary costume designer known for his over-the-top get-ups for the likes of Cher, Tina Turner and Diana Ross.  He teams up with flashy pop superstar Christina Aguilera, who wants a little something to rock your world on stage.  The designers must create a costume/performance outfit that thrills both divas.  The budget is $300, they’ve got two days to design, and guess what?  No immunity anymore.

Despite the glitzy challenge – feathers, and sequins and  lace, oh my – there was an inexplicable flatness to the show save for Nicolas Putvinsky who was super-stoked.  “This is the best 'Project Runway' moment ever,” he exclaimed.

That said, Carol Hannah Whitfield wins with a study in textural black – a strapless gown with feathers, sheen and glitter that, while not a showstopper, was well made and kind of interesting.  Christina says that at some point she may just wear it.

Bummer for Shirin Askari whose first dress iteration is called “Guinevere meets vampira” by Tim.  She reworks it into an ungainly frock with inset panels of contrasting fabric and sequins.  Heidi Klum calls it “an upscale witch dress.” Christina says she would definitely trip on it while performing, and Nina Garcia (yes, she’s on, and very wise, but natch Michael Kors isn’t there) says it was, eeks, “unfortunate.”  Sorry to see you go Shirin.  And we didn’t think the dress was so bad  -- we’ve seen worse.

Oh yes, and there seems to be a new sub-plot.  Irina Shabayeva as villainess.   We are guessing (don’t read on if you don’t want a semi-spoiler) the she is the winner of the whole shebang.  She is not in the finals this night, though we really liked her flippy sequin number, but she is portrayed as both critical and well,  kind of nasty. Nicolas verbalizes the feeling, “Irina’s actually a really good designer.  The only problem is that she’s a b--h.”  Ow.

 Irina does say on camera that Carol Hannah is “mediocre,” and passes judgment on the remaining designers -- people who know what they’re doing and others who have “the deer in the headlights look.”  While she’s wrong, this night, about Carol Hannah, she’s right about Shirin, who’s design sensibility she calls “very bargain basement.”

A few notes:  Lucky for Gordana Gelhausen that she had immunity.   She came undone during this competition  (like kind of bonkers) and so did her horrid dress.  Logan Neitzel is saved again (hiya handsome) despite his zebra dress-fur shrug ensemble being dubbed “cavemanlike.”  And the little lovefest between he and Carol Hannah continues to bloom with him calling her “a very funny southern belle,” and she, gushing, “Logan’s my friend who’s really hot.  He’s really distracting.”  We’re thinking there will be more on this sweet story.

(The losing dress)

(Lifetime Press photos)

Project Runway Episode 7: True blue and boo hoo

Friday October 2, 2009 11:05 AM By Anne Bratskeir

Ten designers left on "Project Runway" and in comes Macy’s with a challenge: create two wearable, saleable, cohesive looks in the color blue for the store’s house brand I-N-C. Designers pitch their ideas to a Macy’s exec.  Winners of the pitch are team leaders and they get to pick their partners from the rest.

Irina Shabayeva takes the overall win – her second – with an airy, graceful striped dress.  Her partner Gordana Gehlhausen creates a romantic light blue blouse and a work-worthy skirt.  They were not warm and fuzzy teammates, but their creative efforts paid off.

In the bottom, Christopher Straub and Epperson for a shiny, standard shirtdress and hideous pumpkin-shaped, jabot-adorned  “disco” blouse in teal charmeuse paired with leggings.  The two worked together wonderfully (as opposed to Epperson’s previous romp with the now aufed Qristyl Frazier)—in fact Christopher called them the “dream team,” --and honestly, they were oblivious.  Throughout the show Christopher repeatedly said he thought they won it.  

Other bottom-team was Louise Black, who led Nicolas Putvinski (he, luckily had immunity, as Heidi Klum pointed out more than once).  They created two nasty ruffled frocks that were ungainly and almost scary.  Nicolas is not a very loyal partner – throughout the show he constantly complains about ruffles saying he hates them and they’re boring. Not a bit boring, Louise's bird sounds -- she trills, coos and caws while working -- kinda weird, kinda cute.

Christopher is so shocked about being in the bottom that he is speechless and weeping on the runway.  It was extremely sad – he’s a talented designer and a sweet-seeming person, so you had to feel for him.

The real suspense was that Heidi implied that more than one designer would go this night – but in fact, it was only one:  Louise, who is a gracious loser, telling the judges, “It’s been fun you guys.”

Thank the heavens that Michael Kors is back.  He delivered the line of the night regarding Louise’s dress calling it  “a bridesmaid dress with a shower loofa ruched up the front.”  A perfect zinger.

Winner gets the design manufactured for sale at Macy’s but not immunity.  Though the show is more than a year old, today Macy’s announces the win and interested parties can send in their email to learn when Irina’s dress goes on sale – so it will be in the coming holiday season’s offerings.  The image they use doesn't appear to have anything to do with the challenge.

The stud-o-meter is still burning up for Logan Neitzel.  He’s picked first by Althea Harper, who likes working with the hunk and says, “Logan is chill.  All the boys think he’s hot and so do the girls.”  During their work together she jokingly calls him her “seamstress,” to which he retorts, “I’d rather be called a seamster.”  Good comeback. 

No Nina Garcia once again.  We loved having Michael back, but the dynamic duo make the show.
 

Project Runway Episode 6: Name that genre

Friday September 25, 2009 12:14 AM By Anne Bratskeir

Because LA is a movie-making town, the designers are challenged to create a costume and a character that fits a specific film genre.  They’ve got one frenzied day and $150 bucks to spend on fabric.

Boy, nobody wants to go west  – as in western wear --especially Epperson but he picks his genre last and gets it.  Yet, he almost wins the whole thing with his brilliant denim dress of ragged ruffles with thick leather belt, petticoats and even a holster tucked up into a garter. 

Poor Ra’mon Coleman loses.  He starts off creating a gleaming skin-like body suit…eeks…in green for his science fiction alien woman.  Ra’mon starts to worry that it looks like Kermit the frog, and in the 11th hour scraps it making a leather reptilian dress that was, as Heidi Klum called it, “a hot, green mess.”  Yikes.  We feel bad for him and he weeps a little.  Also coming close to being aufed for being boring,  Gordana Gehlhausen for her pretty but unimaginative amber flapper dress, and Louise Black for her dud of a film noir cocktail frock -- judges deemed it a "snooze-fest."

Nicolas Putvinski does win for his science fiction evil ice queen, the model with frozen-looking hair -- the dress, white, sparkly and embellished with curly leaves.

It is not our fave and we don’t agree with the pick.  We think that Christopher Straub should have taken it for his period piece – a vampire bride – in black, white and pink – unbelievably romantic in that dark way, yet oddly contemporary too.

And speaking of romantic, could there be a romance budding on the set?  Carol Hannah Whitfield thinks Logan Neitzel is “soooo hot.”  And he kinda likes her too, but watch out girl…those models have their eyes on him. 

Oh yes, and once again, no Michael, no Nina and while judges (who included John Varvatos) were good, we need our old favorites back. In previews it looks like they are coming next week...thank goodness. 
 

Project Runway Episode 4: Model behavior

Thursday September 10, 2009 11:35 PM By Anne Bratskeir

Ok, we’re keeping it brief as Fashion Week kicked off today, and we’ve seen more real time runways than we can remember, plus bumped into Nina Garcia in the flesh at a show who told us that she is so thrilled that the program is being filmed back in New York.  Aaah, we needed the Nina fix.

That said, the challenge tonight was to create a look that would be stand out and noticed at an industry function for…ta-dah…the designers’ models whom, tonight, were the clients.

Althea Harper did her own cool thing and won with a three-piece suit that included a slinky, cleavage revealing grey top, tiny bubble skirt and smart, little jacket that her model worked down the runway.  All the judges loved it – (none of the regulars were there)  – and sexy dress designer Marc Bouwer sat in – he was excellent.

The worst was Qristyl Frazier – eesh – for her really plain, almost matronly black dress.  Heidi gave it the ultimate put-down.  “You aged (your model) 10 or 15 years which in the model world is like dog years.” 

Auf she goes, but it must be noted that Qristyl was the most gracious loser we’ve ever seen on the show.  “Thank you for such an amazing opportunity,” she said before the big kiss-off.   Also in the bottom, hottie Logan Neitzel, who designed a fairly horrible prommy dress that Heidi said, “Missed the mark,” and would stand out in a bad way at an industry function.  We’re thinking this fella got lucky because of his great looks.  They didn’t show him shirtless for nothing…whooee. 

Other notes:  Epperson redeemed himself after his bad behavior last week.  His dress was pretty sexy though Heidi thought the models bosom needed, well, a lift.  But when he spoke to his wife and kids, he got really choked up and cried…very touching. 

Logan knew he was in trouble when, earlier on in the show, he told Tim Gunn that his dress looked like a “Smurf prom dress,” to which Tim said, “Never say that again,” worried that it would stick in the judges’ minds.

Finally, where the heck was Michael Kors?  So far, he was only in the first episode.  The show needs his sugar and spice. 

Top photo: Winning dress. Bottom photo: Losing dress. (Lifetime photos)