With the title of this week’s episode being: ‘There is an “I” in Team’, you’d expect a team challenge, so no surprise there. But Project Runway is trying, valiantly at that, to keep viewers interested in these ridiculously long episodes. (Yes, it’s the fifth show and I’m still annoyed that’s it 90 minutes long!) So instead of the traditional team challenge of two people per team with one person designated as the leader, the designers were divvied up into only two teams with six designers on each team and NO team leader. The challenge was, not only to get along together, a feat unto itself, but to also create a cohesive collection featuring one of this fall’s trends.
Team Luxe, a self-appointed team name, was made up of the most promising designers of this season thus far, including Ivy, AJ, Gretchen, Andy, Michael C., and Christopher. The remaining designers, including, Peach, April, Michael D., Valerie, Casanova, and Mondo made up the second team. Team Luxe opted for the fall trend of menswear as womenswear using camel as the main color, while the underdogs went for military and lace. It was hard for me to tell which team member would be the winner or loser of the challenge during this episode because one, I was completely distracted by the nipple action coming through Casanova’s green sweater, and not in a good way. (Note to Casanova: It’s called an undershirt, even if you want to show that much chest, though I don’t recommend it, all the major brands make them in v-necks as well, you may want to look into it.) And second of all, the person everyone most wanted to get kicked off (Michael C.) had immunity. Not sure what Gretchen was trying to do manipulating her team into hating poor Michael C., but she did, and effectively self-appointed herself the unofficial leader of the group at the same time.
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On the runway there was no messing around. Heidi immediately announced the underdog team as the winners. Their collection was cohesive with each of the garments representing a feminine, modern, military line, but each of the garments had enough individual style for the judges to discern that each outfit was created separately. Casanova was the true standout and the obvious winner for this challenge; his lace top was elegant and chic and paired with a pair of hot white studded pants, Heidi claimed she would wear the outfit out as is. Congrats to Casanova for finally finding some style!
When the losing team, Team Luxe, who never truly stood up to their name, came back out on the runway, it was a tear fest that had Michael and Nina rolling their eyes. They wanted to stand together as a team, under Gretchen’s urging, and not name names…of course this did not include Michael, who they continued to bash for the remainder of the show. Thankfully the judges, including guest judge Georgina Chapman of Marchesa) were smarter than Gretchen and caught on to her wheedling ways and placed her in the bottom two this week for very obviously orchestrating the entire collection that turned out to be drab clothing a Golden Girl wouldn’t be caught dead in. But ultimately it was AJ who got the boot; his uninspired, ill-fitting shirtdress was his only contribution and was enough for him to be sent packing; but not before Tim came into the room and gave Team Luxe a serious smack down. There’s nothing worse than a parental figure telling you that you should be embarrassed of your behavior, and that’s exactly what Tim did when he told the team that they let Gretchen manipulate them into creating a collection of her choice, rather than do something they could be proud of. Tim, you’re so right!
Casanova, "You are the winner!"
Peach's Design
Valerie's Design
Ivy's Design
Gretchen's Design
AJ, "You are out!"
Memorable Quotes:
"Michael Costello is such a dumb ass for choosing Gretchen! Do you wanna hire Hitler, seriously?" —April
"I'm so proud of us, we're working so well together, it's blowing my mind."—Gretchen
"It's like when you have diarrhea and your vomiting at the same time, you're screwed." —Valarie about the other team
This challenge I'm still going to be Casanova with softtener." —Casanova creating a new word
"The zippers and the chains? All right, talk to me." —Tim Gunn
"Casanova, you make another senior citizen garment." —Casanova
"Casanova has a major, major, major diva moment." —Valarie
"I'm even getting fat!" —Casanova
"The other side, they are cray-cray." —Valarie
"…like they were in battle. Runway Wars." —Mondo
"It's like having a baby and someone says it's ugly." —Ivy
"And I don't know if it's laziness or ignorance." —Ivy about Michael C.
"She entered modern times!" —Michael Kors about Peach
"They were the farthest thing from luxe, that I've ever seen. It was really horrifying." —Nina Garcia
"You spent most of your time making an ill-fitting flight attendant shirt." —Heidi Klum to AJ
—Bonnie J Brown
Also, don't forget to check out one of our favorite sites dedicated to all things Project Runway…Blogging Project Runway
Photos: Lifetime TV
