Blogging Project Runway: Silk Purse/Sow’s Ear

SPOILER ALERT: If you haven’t seen episode 5 of Project Runway, Season 4, you might want to stop reading now. This one’s a doozy!

I think we all had a sinking feeling when our beloved, superhero-looking Jack pressed a clean cloth to his nose and mentioned a recurring staph infection. This can’t be good, we thought. Well, Jack, you will be dearly missed.

We loved your Ann Tayloresque dress from the first episode, and your positive and open outlook besides. As you walked out gracefully last night I said to myself, let us band together to convince Bravo to bring him back next season! I can’t wait to see him healthy and cheering the runway show in the spring, and possibly winning season 5.

For this challenge, the designers worked with women who had lost a significant amount of weight to transform old, plus-size outfits into new looks for their thinner figures. And with Jack’s departure as the backdrop for this episode, how fitting that the designers showed some heart.

Elisa, though she ended up making something less than fetching, had an excellent bedside manner with her client. And all hail the return of Tim making jokes: “How fierce is it, Christian?” Even icy Victorya checked in on her stressed-out compatriots at the sewing machines, and there was an all-hands-on-deck for the doomed Steven (glue spells disaster, we should all know by now!)

When the dust settled, the models looked great, and we cheered the return of Chris, who got another chance to put his stamp on the competition. Though the judges’ point about the costumey nature of the outfit was right on (I say bring it!), Chris managed to stick it out for another week, and I’m thrilled.

Jillian, nice work, even though I remain annoyed at how little of the original dress you used. Rami’s model Lisa wins the walking award, bringing a smile to everyone’s face—and Rami’s design, as well as those by Christian and Ricky, was strong. Kevin, my dear, let’s not get too 2003 View from the Top, but your model looked fab.

As with last week, the Auf Wiedersehen for Steven was deserved. As a side note, if you really want to know the truth, I thought Kit’s dress was a coral colored, teenybopper no-no; her client deserved a more sophisticated look.

Wrapping up, this episode answered my siren calls from last week: everybody’s getting closer, and funnier (Christian and Kit mm-hmm-ing along together was a great, out-of-context detail). Can’t wait for next week—what could it be?

Project Runway plays on the Bravo network at 10 p.m. Wednesday evenings.