Blogging Project Runway: And Then There Were Three
SPOILER ALERT: If you haven’t seen episode 12 of Project Runway, season 4, you might want to stop reading now.
In what has become a highlight of each season, Tim Gunn began the show by visiting the remaining four designers as they prepared their collections for New York Fashion Week. Unfortunately this episode did not provide the geographic exploration as seen in previous seasons (Uli in Miami! Jay in Pennsylvania!), as all but Rami had been living and working in New York City. The New York-centricity of the episode was driven home when Jillian invited Tim to visit her family—all the way on Long Island. Jillian’s mother once visited a clairvoyant, she said, who told her that one of her children was to be famous. We wished we’d met the psychic, too.
Each designer seemed to be well on his or her way to finishing the collection for Bryant Park, whether it was Christian with his romantic and gothic motif (and teensy apartment!), Jillian and her 15th century armor, Rami with his Joan of Arc construction and details, or Chris with his “95% fashion, 5% costume” (we’d say it’s 70/30, pal). Tim gave each a considered opinion, and Chris was the only one who received significant criticism, most especially for his use of human hair extensions (”It’s like visiting the monkey house in the zoo,” Tim said. “At the moment you arrive, the stench is overpowering; after 20 minutes you are more acclimated, and after an hour you don’t smell it at all.”
After a visit to Chris’s fabulous, rococo friends, the designers returned to New York City, arriving to see just three tables in the somber workroom, owing to the impending cut of either Chris or Rami.
The two designers faced off, and both made a strong showing—in particular, we liked Rami’s black and white dress and Chris’s unexpected materials. Bostonista felt that Chris’s collection looked a bit dated, and was not a fan of Rami’s ribbon-and-bead headpieces —but overall, believed Rami to be the clear winner, with a more fashion-forward, ready-to-wear direction. In the end, Rami it was.
Chris was a gracious loser, sending out a lot of love in his exit. The silver lining was our knowledge that Chris still got to show everything at Bryant Park back in February, as a foil to protect the identities of the top three contestants for the show before they were revealed.
Stay tuned, Project Runway fans. We can’t wait for the finale!
Project Runway airs on the Bravo network at 10 p.m. Wednesday evenings.
March 10th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
I totally predicted the top 3. Yay me!