Project Runway 11/19/09--"Finale pt. 2" summary

Previously on Project Runway: Everyone has a lot of work to do, Carol Hannah made Tim work in the kitchen, Althea sort of knows what she’s doing, and Irina was told not to use copyrighted materials in her collection. I’m sure she’ll respectfully listen to Tim and make her own pictures. Or, you know…steal copyrighted materials from somewhere else. Oops! Spoiler! (click for more)

Last we left off, everyone was pretending to freak out about their 13th look, even though I’m sure they knew it was coming, and Carol Hannah had a relapse of her sickness. She looks terrible, which is so sad because normally she’s so cute. Irina says she feels bad but there’s nothing she can do about it, which is reasonable but sounds so bitchy coming out of her mouth.
The finalists and the designers come back to the workroom where Carol Hannah is kind of breaking down. She gets a hug from Logan and keeps going. (Kmanpat: “I know a hug from Logan would cheer me up. Logan! Here I am!”) Gordana thinks that Irina is “not 100% cool as she normally is”. Althea wears a big knit hat and tries to expose a seam. Carol Hannah really breaks down this time, and Chris comforts her while she sobs about not knowing what to do and this is not how this was supposed to go. Everyone else kind of watches her with that look, when you feel bad but you don’t want to intervene.

Hair and makeup consults. Irina has hats that look so so much like Jillian’s hats. Those ones with the crest down the middle? Yeah. Other than that, nothing is interesting but I do have this thought: why don’t they take Polaroids of their looks to the hair and makeup consult? Wouldn’t that help them explain their collections?

The models all trickle in for fittings. Althea says fit is essential for her clothes. Irina’s clothes are picky like that too. Carol Hannah is very optimistic; she thinks that for each look there is a girl to go with it.

Tim time! Irina’s 13th look is a black dress with folding and volume. Tim likes it but she also wants to put those hats on her models with chains under their chins so he warns her about costumes. Althea’s 13th look is khaki pants, a white shirt and a black leather jacket with bit shoulder pads. Oo, 80’s. Althea describes her makeup, which apparently is what Irina is doing. To be honest I wasn’t paying attention. Why wouldn’t the makeup people say something? Althea says she’s got a lot to do, and gets a bit emotional, but Tim encourages her. Carol Hannah’s 13th look is a long gown in dark turquoise, which is fitted to past her hips and then flares out. There is a big swath from one shoulder (the other shoulder has no strap) down to the opposite hip. It is very striking. She’s used the color of the gown to pull the same color out of her collection, I think.

Everyone works until midnight. In the morning, Carol Hannah is trying to not think about how she feels. I think everyone still has a ton to do. Irina wants to put her regular model in her 13th look. Just for fun. Everyone runs around and gives orders to the help. Tim has his last “gather ‘round” and does NOT cry or say how proud he is of them. Irina kicks Gordana off the sewing machine to have her go pack. She’s really freaking out. They all are trying to make sure they remember all their stuff tomorrow.

Wakeup time is 3:15am. Heh. They forget to take the safety chain off the door before they try to open it. The tent looks huge. Was it always that big? With two hours to go, a lot of people are already there in the audience. Very frantic flailing ensues. Irina is still sewing. Tim actually freaks out. Oh yeah. He raises his voice and says he is about to lose it because they should be lining up because only about 10% of the models are dressed. He’s using his hands and being stern. Who put him in charge? Oh, he has the concerned face on.

OK, so here is how this worked, apparently. When this show actually happened, no one in the audience actually saw the introductions from the designers. They just showed the collections. They taped the introductions later and spliced in audience reaction shots. That’s why it looks all wonky. Guest judge today is Suzy Menkes, fashion editor of the International Herald Tribune.
Althea is up first. She was inspired by science fiction. Actually, the editing looks OK. So normally I would post pictures of each look and talk about them. But I am so tired of this season. So tired. Plus everyone’s been looking at these clothes for months and months. I am just going to link to the collections which are over at Project Rungay, in high-def big pictures and everything. Incidentally, if you haven’t ever read that blog, which is run by Tom and Lorenzo, you really should. They are hilarious. Here’s Althea’s collection. The 13th look is the third one down. Yeah, those are harem pants. And the one after that looks like something Logan would wear. But there is a lot of tight leather, and I’m not sure I like the black headbands. I don’t like the headbands in any color. I don’t know, nothing is really blowing me away. There isn’t any color except for one green dress.

Carol Hannah is next and they make like there is some huge surge of applause for her specifically. She just says her collection is near to her heart. You can view it here. There’s some volume and pants! And there seems to be some braiding in a lot of the pieces. The gray dress with the tulle skirt is fantastic. The long turquoise dress is the 13th look. And she was right, it does bring out the same color that was in a bunch of the other looks. The next to last dress, the very short one with the ruffles, is very close to flashing everyone. But I really love the last dress with the seaming.

Irina has to go last. She says her collection is about New York and what it takes to survive in the city as a woman. Click here. Those hats bother me. It’s very hard edged, even with the sweaters. And dark. AND. The model with the tan sweater with the hood? You can see her T-shirt, which seems to have the “Reasons I love New York” written on it but I KNOW those are the same birds from the other T-shirts that she was told not to use. In addition to her having lifted the text of those shirts from New York Magazine. I hope they nail her for it. There seems to be a lot of texture and shredding, and also she kept the chains under the one of the hats. Her 13th look (I’m pretty sure) is the 7th one down, right after the fur vest. The gray skirt and leather halter top.

Afterwards it’s entertaining to watch everyone discuss the collections, where the big-name famous people are very generic because they don’t know anyone’s names. So they talk A LOT to the season’s eliminated designers. Ari now has a bowl cut and giant fake eyelashes. That’s about all I got from that.

The judges talk about how all three finalists have differences but worked hard and whatever, just bring them out already. Irina gets to go first. She talks about how tough it is for her to be a woman in New York, and you need shielding, and I’m mostly done with Irina so I don’t have sympathy for how tough it is for her. Kors is bored with the “warrior woman” character too. It looks finished, and Nina praises her for the T-shirts and how she made them herself so I guess they haven’t figured out yet where she got the idea from. Kors is impressed with how much work this is. Heidi wants some of the pieces. Nina asks why it’s all black, and Irina says it was “intuitive” but then Nina reminds her she told all of them not to use too much black. And then she gives Irina a withering look which makes me happy.

Carol Hannah played with volume and draping. Nina loved the first look, and Heidi praises the 13th look. She’s shocked when she finds out it was the last minute one. However Heidi and Kors don’t think it was a cohesive collection. Kors likes the draping though.

Althea was making a statement about the current political climate? So she made sportswear, which Kors praises because you can mix the pieces. Nina liked the one colored dress. Kors for some reason thinks a million people would want to buy the satin harem pants. Suzy didn’t think the knits were futuristic, and the last three looks Nina didn’t get.

Right away Kors says the word “photographical” so I’m distracted now. They love that Carol Hannah played with color, not enough, but certainly more than everyone else. Everything was well constructed and had a point of view. Althea has “a sense of coolness”, says Nina, and Kors thinks she’s “plugged in to the street”. Yeah. Kors didn’t think this looked like a collection either, but the style of clothes she makes don’t always take well to the runway. Irina’s clothes have an edge. Kors says she had the best sense of showmanship and details. They praise the T-shirts again, and if she wins I hope New York Magazine sues her. Suzy likes the way the models were supposed to be shielded but didn’t hide behind the clothes.

Heidi goes over how everyone did things right and also screwed some things up. Carol Hannah is out. Lame. I don’t care who wins. You know, I didn’t care who won back when there were three of them. So of course Irina wins, and there better be a lawsuit coming for that shirt. I’ve already seen some people’s blog comments about how we don’t know if the shirts were already addressed, but considering that article I linked to is on New York Magazine’s own website? If she had permission they’d shut up about it. Stupid all black collection that Heidi says was “sweet”. Spent so much of her time accusing Althea of copying her when she did it twice. Whatever, DONE.

Hooray! It’s over! Next season is already taped, all in New York and Nina and Kors are in every episode! Time to forget about this season, I think.