Project Runway - Season 13 Episode 5 - The Klum of Doom
Short one this week because my loaner laptop crashed and ate the longer version.
This week, the designers were challenged to create a "fearless, fashion-forward and unexpected" red-carpet look for Heidi Kulm to wear to the 2014 Creative Arts Emmy Awards. Seasoned Project runway watchers knew to have popcorn at the ready, because the Heidi challenge is one of the toughest each season. It's also entertaining to see how wrong the designers can be in their assumptions about her taste and personal style.
We'll see how the Season 13 crowd coped with this after the cut.
Panic, panic everywhere. The designers had 30 mins to sketch and $250 to spend at Mood. Armed with sketchbooks and guesswork they all ran off to procure their idea of the perfect red carpet fabric for Heidi. Many of them were wrong. Some of them were terribly wrong. Heidi's first look at the outfits during her trip around the workroom with Tim was best summed up by Char when she said that there was a "domino effect" as Heidi walked down the line saying "No, No, NO." Korina like she was about to cry after having shade thrown at her in German by Heidi who roped in a giggling fäde to amp up the horror factor. Sandhya smiled and nodded her way through Heidi's evisceration of her dress and then asked if all of that was bad or good, only to be assured by Heidi and Tim in chorus that it was "BAD". She seemed to take it relatively well, but given that she (and some of the others) had gone all in on one fabric, things were looking very bleak indeed.
Heidi and Tim must have noticed that too, because they came back and offered all of the designers another 20 minutes shopping at Mood with $100 to spend. Those that did not go could pass their $100 on to someone else. Sandhya managed to collect hundreds of dollars from those who were confident enough to stay behind on the trip. Counting back, I think she caught all of them. Fair play, but it did put her in the firing line for one of Korina's pointless bitchy comments. Korina needs to put in the work and stop with the barbs because her first look was a thing of pure hideosity and she clung to the concept of a green dress like a limpet.
Emily bitched too, but I don't get what her problem was, she had extra workroom time and she had to know that out of the group that went to Mood, only Sandhya was likely to be able to pull off a complete dress in the remaining time. Maybe that was her issue, or maybe she just wanted more screen-time. Who knows?
Once the second trip was done there was much running about, panicked cutting and sewing and model fittings and crises and a few very apparent disasters. Time for everyone to take a deep breath and send their looks down the runway:
Guest judge this week was Lindsey Vonn who is an Olympic and world skiing champion. Heidi says she's also "very fashionable" which is Project Runway speak for "she is a woman who wears clothes and has been seen in magazines".
Char: Bad fit at the bodice, but nice flow and a really nice color. I'd say she's safe
Emily: Very short and a bit cheap looking. Didn't like the bedazzled lapel effect at all.
Mitchell: Oh, this was terrible. Nothing about it worked, and it was hard to look at. Again, I have to wonder about his taste level.
Korina: Uber boring dress, a hot mess in terms of fit - especially at the back. It was a simple silhouette too, I don't know how she managed to mess it up so badly.
fäde: I love what he does with prints. This was fun and interesting, but also felt a little bit cocktail and a little bit safe.
Alexander: Butt cheeks on display. He was so wrapped up on the concept (duvet meets coccoon?) that he seemed to forget someone would have to wear the dress. For all his work, it wasn't all that interesting, it crossed over into ugly and didn't cross back to ugly-pretty. He's lucky some of the others did so badly.
Sandhya: For $432 worth of fabric, that's a pretty meh dress. The back elevated it a bit, but it does have that standard red carpet gown feel to it. It's Sandhya, though, and she'll probably get top 3 anyway, not least for the moxie displayed by gathering all that extra money. Unless Tim quirked enough of a brow at the amount she spent in front of the other judges. At worst, she'll be safe.
Samantha: Nice fit, I'm not sure about the scalloped edges on the bustier, were they scalloped or was that accidental? It looks a little severe for Heidi. There is some creativity there, but it's muted. Sam really needs to amp things up.
Kristine: Yup, devil boob horns. It's terribly fitted too, with rolls of fabric running down the model's body. Far too short red carpet. She's probably going to be auto auf'ed based on past performance. She's one of those designers that needs time to cook, a bit more experience and she'd probably have been more show worthy.
Kini: He drapes like a dream and this is beautifully fitted, but it's very safe-feeling. I think Kini needs to take some more risks. I can see that gown on the red carpet for sure, but I think they're not going to give him a win until he leaves his own comfort zone. It does seem a bit unfair that his comfort zone produces work vastly superior to the others, and they won't throw him a win, but that's the way the game is played, unfortunately.
Sean: Fun, a great color, lots of interest in it when the model moves. I think we have a winner. I think I'll also have to resign myself to the idea that fringe is currently "in" whether I like it or not. At least his use of it was more creative than many looks I've seen.
Amanda: Oh no, it's Holly Hobby time. The beading is terribad and tortured looking. The cut at the back was excellent, but the front of the dress was painful to look at.
Really easy to spot top and bottom three once there were six left on the runway.
Top 3 were Kini, Sean and Amanda (seriously?). Sean's coiffed fringe won the day. Happy-making clothes should win more often, and it was great to see that he could make something this playful. I feel a little sad for Kini who has been slotted into the perma-bridesmaid role this season, but as I said above, I think it's obvious why.
Bottom three were Mitchell, Korina and Kristine. A closer look at Korina's was horrific. She was in tears in the room with the other designers, but really, she only had herself to blame. Zac said Kristines was a "zero" and "unwearable". Mitchell's model could do nothing but giggle as his dress was torn apart.
I began to suspect that we could be seeing a multiple auf because the bottom 3 were all so bad. And then Heidi said "one, or more of you will be out" and I was pretty sure.
Mitchell was auf'ed first, then Kristine. Korina was the only one left standing, and they kept her in. I honestly don't think she'll last much longer. I was a little surprised they didn't go for the triple. Someone must like Korina's soundbites.
The double auf was a major shock to the designers, but hopefully it'll light a fire under those remaining and encourage some more risk-taking.
Next week: Dita von Teese comes looking for a garment, and it looks like it's a team challenge. Double trouble.