Project Runway 7/29/10--"And Sew It Begins" summary

Previously on Project Runway: A mostly OK season that Seth Aaron won. Seriously, that’s most of what I can remember about it. It was very long and there were way WAY too many decoy collections. And starting with 17 designers? With Fashion Week in September? They’re headed for the same problem. 17 people is just too many. That’s how many people “Top Chef” started with this season, and I’ve only just managed to remember who everyone is. It’s too many to keep track of. And by the time you’ve whittled the numbers down, it’s likely you’ve lost some viewers because they don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know, that’s my opinion anyway. (click for more)

My recording started in the middle of Tim and Heidi talking about designers. Why, Lifetime? Thankfully it just seems to be them talking about the new contestants but they don’t seem to be saying anything super important. And they’re just going alphabetically as far as I can tell, from the bio page here. It’s really not that exciting. There is some eye candy. Then they get bored and they start the show proper.

Once we get past the opening, which is just Heidi saying “This! Is Project Runway!”, then we get designers talking about themselves. Ivy (30, Hawaii) says this is the Ivy Show. She’s so cute! Her clothes look pretty good. Casanova (33, NY) is originally from Puerto Rico. His first name is Carlos, but he wants everyone to call him Casanova. He talks about “taking New York from the balls” in his broken English. Should be entertaining. Sarah (27, California) might make some crazy clothes. AJ (26, St. Louis! Represent!) is some of the aforementioned eye candy. He has “party wear”. He also says he could get on there and say how he’s going to win and kill everyone, but everyone knows people who say that in the beginning have no idea what they’re talking about. I hope he stays a while. (Kmanpat: “Oo, me too!”) He says something to Sarah about being afraid of meeting “some old lady who doesn’t know what’s going on”. Cue the jaunty tootling music that they usually reserve for dogs or high school girls. Peach (50, Illinois) designs for “ladies who lunch”. She fully expects to be the oldest on the show. She seems non-Wendy Pepper. Nicholas (32, New York) seems normal. I don’t know, we don’t see much of him.

Kristin (39, Philadelphia) and McKell (29, Utah) hang out with Casanova. McKell has dreadlocks. She knows she will have to overcome the Utah image. Her clothes look OK. She’s left her 9 month baby behind. Kristin lets her mistakes be part of the final piece, like a crooked zipper. Jason (33, Connecticut) talks about being straight and making tough clothing. Also he has a bowler and feels this will intimidate everyone. Gretchen (28, Portland, Oregon) greets Jason and he immediately asks her what nationality she is. Except…she’s Irish-German. I don’t know, everyone asks me what nationality I am but as I’m half Japanese and half Caucasian they’re asking because they can’t figure it out. I was under the impression that unless you look slightly exotic no one cares, but I suppose I could be wrong about that. It was weird is all. They have nothing else to say to each other. Mondo (32, Colorado) is on a ferry. I think they took the designers in groups of two or three and sent them around to meet up in little groups before they met in a big group. Mondo thinks if you are misunderstood then you have something good going on. Nicholas used to be an architect. Ivy shows up too, and it turns out she’s wearing one of her own tops. Christopher (30, San Francisco) is also eye candy. He makes ready-to-wear and he says there is nothing like seeing someone walking down the street in your clothes. April (21, Savannah) knows people will think she’s too young to do this. Well…yeah. She is pretty young. She’s inspired by morgues. Her stuff is fairly heavy and Goth-like. Michael C. (27, Palm Springs) makes couture. He makes devil horns in confessional but that is just annoying.

Everyone ends up with their luggage at Lincoln Center, which is the new home of Fashion Week. A moment for Bryant Park, if you will. Heidi and Tim greet them and everyone claps and is pleased with themselves. Tim claims that they couldn’t narrow the group down to the usual 16 (which is still too many) so their first challenge is the last phase of the audition process. Everyone freaks out and is pissed, but seriously? You’re already on TV. It’ll be like you got eliminated first. Heidi says “one or more of you” will be eliminated, and I hope for “or more” but I’m sure it will only be one.

Back from commercial, Heidi tells everyone to open your suitcase and take out one item you want to incorporate into your garment. Michael D. (31, St. Louis again!) uses a lot of knitwear, but does this with his automatic knitting machine in his loft. So…I don’t know that he can do that here. Once everyone has their item, Heidi busts out the twist: pass the item to the person on your right. Ouch. Casanova freaks out because for some reason he took out one of his favorite pairs of pants which cost $1070. I don’t know that I would have used that even knowing it would stay with me. They will have 5 hours to finish their garment. Whatever item they have must be visible in the final piece. Plus, I guess you can ask the person who has your clothing not to rip it up or whatever.

Tim makes them walk all their crap to Parsons. Gretchen (28, Portland, Oregon) says her design aesthetic is “one part contemporary minimalist art, and one part 1970’s bohemian”. She also uses sustainable fabrics and materials and is a “pseudo hippie”. Everyone gets to Parsons to get started. Valerie (29, Cleveland) starts talking about growing up poor and working with what clothes she could get her hands on. She’s doing this for a lot of people aside from herself. And we have our first crier!

Tim comes to explain the sewing room, the HP touch screen notebooks for everyone, and how Mood has brought them fabrics. They have 15 minutes to sketch. Andy (23, Hawaii) started in pageant gowns but it’s not what he likes. (Me: “Look Kman! Asian!“ Kmanpat: “Where?! Yay!“) April wants to do a “long” coat dress, “long” translating to “just above the crotch”. Michael C. makes offensive comments in interview. Ivy declares she will have enough time to finish. Tim has them pick out fabric, which is as exciting as it usually is. People bitch about the non-ideal clothing they’ve gotten from others.

Valerie has received the $1070 pants and proceeds to rip the seams apart. She says Casanova hadn’t even worn them yet. Well that was stupid on his part. Andy has provided Jason with a kimono so he seems pleased with himself. Andy doesn’t want to see his kimono cut up. Peach is irritated because Michael D.’s scarf unravels into thread the minute you touch it. Michael feels she should know how to handle it.

Tim time! McKell is frazzled but Tim thinks her dress is adorable. She has weird embellishments that may not show up on the dress. Nicholas cut up a polyester jacket to use for a neckline. Tim likes it and tells him to push it. Casanova is obviously upset, and Tim tells him to make sure his dress is sexy but not vulgar. They argue a little bit, and Tim says to make sure the model works it. April has turned a tuxedo jacket inside out but she doesn’t quite know how she’s going to finish it. Jason has made himself a corset. Yeah…I don’t know. He hasn’t added any new fabric to his piece, just turned the kimono around backwards. He says he’s doing something with the neck, maybe…there’s a plan. Gretchen has some sparkly jacket, and she already has accessories. Tim is pleased. Peach complains about the scarf. Tim agrees. He thinks she should mesh it under something and glue her model in. Mondo is next. He started with a green coat, and has made a dress with some zigzag panels. Tim says it’s matronly.

The models show up for 10 minutes of fitting, followed by hair and makeup for an hour. The accessory wall is now by Piperlime. Frantic pinning and work. Ivy says she’s a fast sewer. Like the Energizer bunny. Zany tootling for Jason trying to dress his model. He says she has a large chest and he’s distracted. More sewing and hair and whatever. Kristin forgot to get her model to hair and makeup. Jason has a staple gun. When Tim calls time, Casanova’s model is not dressed. Tim sighs heavily and tells him to just keep going and put her in it. Tim is pretty irritated.

The runway seems shinier than it used to be. Guest judge is Selma Blair. Valerie: short dress in red and tan. It’s kind of shiny and the red makes up a front panel of the skirt and most of the bodice, except for two circles over her boobs. Valerie opines that her model is walking well, except she totally isn’t. Her model can’t walk in heels so it looks like she’s shuffling. Upon closer inspection the dress has some pleating and a yellow hem. The back is wonky. Peach: very simple sundress with a halter neckline and a black print on a white background. The top of the neckline and the tie in the back is the scarf she was supposed to use. It’s cute. McKell: halter neckline and very full skirt. The shirt she started with is now the bodice, and the skirt is different fabric. There is also a tail. Andy: his model is all in black, with a jacket or a big vest thing, pants, an obi-style corset, and a blouse with a cutout in the back. Also there is a conical hat and chopsticks, but it all goes together. I can’t believe he made all that in 5 hours. Sarah: gray jumpsuit with short shorts. There are turquoise stripes up the sides of the shorts. Nicholas: long gown in a shimmery dusty blue. I think the original piece is the neckline? She also has a pouch on her hip, which is weird with a gown. Mondo: short dress with black and white zigzags and an olive green panel in front and on the sides. Ivy: toile crop pants in black and white, and a gray sleeveless high-necked top with diagonal strips. It looks fantastic. Michael C: hot pink halter top and short black skirt. There is no back to the blouse.

Kristin: black dress with the black and white kilt as a collar. The dress is all folded with those origami folds that were popular. Chris: dress with a ruffled collar. It’s got a print but it’s kind of boring. April: very short skirt and top with cap sleeves. Man, that is short. Gretchen: black dress that is longer in back than in front (but still doesn’t hit the floor), and cap sleeves with sequins. Michael D.: wrap dress in a light print, with long loose sleeves. There is a big cowl drape in the back. It looks cool. Jason: black dress with a high neckline. His model looks uncomfortable. The back is riding up. Not good. AJ: black dress with a strapless bodice and a poofy tulle skirt. With a big silver bow. Casanova: so his model basically has on a bikini top, and then a very low-slung skirt in gray with a handkerchief hem. Nina makes a face.

FINALLY we’re done. AJ, Andy, Valerie, Sarah, Peach, Kristin, Michael C., Mondo, Michael D., and Chris are safe. They go backstage and celebrate. Heidi says one person is the clear winner, and that is Gretchen. Unanimous! Wow. Her dress is interesting and can be worn by a lot of people. Nina says it’s perfect. Everyone else is in the bottom. Ivy kept the pants she got, except to put some pleating in them. Kors starts in that she didn’t transform the pants, and Ivy interrupts him to say that the challenge wasn’t to “transform” but to “integrate”. Ooo. She’s right though. Kors says it doesn’t tell a story. Nina is also bored, and then Ivy interrupts Nina to insist that she did put a lot of detail into the pants. Oh, HONEY. You are asking for it. Bad styling, poor blouse, they hate the pants, etc. Ivy stands by it though. Jason says he “adjusted” the fit on the kimono but it kept “sinking”. Heidi says it looks like her hairdressing cape and it’s the same as what he got. Selma says it is interesting? But hangs in a boring way? I can’t tell if she likes it or not. Nina is insulted that Jason might have thought he could get away with just turning the kimono backwards. April cut out the front panel of the jacket she got, turned it inside out, then added more black fabric for the rest of the garment. She wanted it unfinished. Heidi asks if that’s because she doesn’t know how to finish. It is a hot mess. Kors says they still need to know she can construct. Nina says “80’s streetwalker”. April begs for more time. McKell wanted a good time. Nina likes the mix of fabrics but not the styling. The girl has a Mohawk, but with curls, and a big pink bag with a big flower. And side cleavage. McKell says this is not really her design style. Nicholas put the jacket on the neckline and I think the pouch on the side. Heidi is bored. Nina loves the idea of sportswear plus evening but this gown is boring. He also begs for more time to show them something better. Casanova. Oh, Casanova. When the model is standing still, you can see that there are two layers to the skirt. One is a gray with a handkerchief hem (that is the original shirt) and the other is a sheer floral fabric that is almost ankle length. Kors declares it “pole dancer in Dubai” and Nina says it’s fascinating, but fascinatingly bad. Heidi says for him to make one last attempt to defend himself. Casanova doesn’t even know what she is saying so Nina has to translate. Nina speaking Spanish! I love it! He says he was thinking out of the box but in a more conservative way.

Judge bashing time. They hate that Ivy didn’t do enough to the pants, which were ugly to begin with and they all hate her blouse but I didn’t mind it that much. She has execution skills but possibly no taste. Casanova’s taste level is also questionable. Selma and Kors think his dress is sold at Razzle Dazzle’s, the store in the mall that sells wigs too. Jason had a lot of fabric but didn’t do anything with it. It had some potential, with the hair and the movement. April was frazzled but at least had modern taste. Selma wants to cut her some slack for the time constraint. McKell had a good idea to mix the shirt with another fabric, but the dress was unflattering and the styling was a disaster. Nicholas made a boring dress but at least he can sew. Kors wonders if you reward the safe person, or the person who took a risk.

April is in. Nicholas is in. Jason is in. McKell, Casanova, and Ivy get some more criticism. McKell is out. When she gets backstage everyone claps but she has to tell them she didn’t make it. Both Ivy and Casanova are in. Sigh. I was hoping for fewer designers. Tim tells McKell that her dress was adorable but just didn’t fit and had styling problems. McKell is kind of bummed but she won’t quit.

Everyone arrives at Atlas to unpack and oo and ah over their rooms. Kristin wants booze. Everyone goes to bed.

Next time: I think a Marie Claire challenge, surprise twist, people who don’t sketch, Casanova is wearing a muppet.