Project Runway: Think Circus

This week’s episode of Project Runway wasn’t as fun as a night at the circus, but really, what else could I call it. You have several short people running around with their own special brand of chaos, peacock colors gathered to make one hideous pant and one really big clown; what other place would you find this but the circus. Well, maybe the design room.

This week’s episode started off fairly simple. First there are the usual reflections from the remaining designers. While Anthony stays focused on winning after his last challenge win (Yay!), Janeane kicks herself for screwing up so abysmally last week while in front of the Editor of Marie Claire (Yeah, you really did. Not to be cruel or anything but that outfit looked waterlogged.) And as usual, the designers met Heidi at the runway to learn their next challenge; that’s where things quickly go… haywire.

The task: create a fashionable children’s look; the challenge: well, that would be the new models. Children, aged maybe eight or nine, I guess. And yes of course they are adorable, but more important they’re completely, completely outside of the designers’ range/ comfort zone, which is awesome.

The designers have varying reactions to this, mostly ranging in excitement and utter terror. On the happy end there is Amy, ecstatic because she loves mini-clothes, and Seth Aaron, who takes inspiration from his daughter who happens to love fashion. And on the other side is Anthony, used to making clothes that celebrate the female form, now having to make clothes for a female who has no discernible form.

On the scaredy-cat spectrum is Emilio who with each challenge becomes more unlikeable. (I don’t know, there is just something about him that is positively villain-esque. His spirit is off putting; he’s snide, condescending, and slimy. Yuck.) Emilio says he doesn’t want to be innovative and will instead make a pretty little dress. (That just gave me a Jesus flashback.) Personally, I think that if you don’t want to be innovative you should pack your big red nose and go home.

On to the designs: Amy looks to be fashion forward with no pink, Mila goes back to color blocking, Jonathan remakes his fabric, and Emilio’s dress looks boring and all kind of blah. Janeane pulls up childhood memories as she wants to remake a dress her sister had when they were younger. Question: how long ago was that? Is the extent of your design skills exhausted by the challenge, if so check paragraph above (hint: big red nose.)

Halfway through the challenge, the designers realize that there is probably going to be a twist, this Tim proves true as he tells them they must make a corresponding look for their adult model. Jonathan and Seth don’t seem to have a problem with this, while Amy and Jesse simply have no clue.

During the second design, the designers become annoyed with Anthony’s constant rambling. And with much irony Seth, last week’s village idiot, is at the lead. School yard style, the designers bet to see how long Anthony can be quiet, and so begins the longest 14 minutes and 56 seconds of his life.

Tim returns to check the progress. He loves Jonathan’s look, is excited by Seth Aaron’s, and sees Halloween in Janeane’s color scheme. Amy shows Tim a slew of colorful circles and describes a pant she wants to make with them. Tim is worried, as Amy should be.

Morning of the Runway show the models arrive, both tall and short. The short models proceed to drive Anthony and the other designers crazy with their general rambunctiousness. It’s fun to watch.

The guest judge this week is designer Tory Burch. My favorite designs were by Ben, whose designs were both simple and clean, and Seth Aaron, whose look was rocker chic (and adorable.) At the bottom was Janeane, boring, and Mila plain. Then there was Amy…

Amy’s outfits were bad… there’s not much else I can say about that. From the dizzying concoction of circles and colors with the complete absence of styling, they were just bad. And although I do give her credit for being willing to go out there and take a risk, just come back Amy. Please, come on back.

The judges’ favorites were Jesse, whose child outfit Nina found adorable, Seth Aaron, whose looks Tory called a little girl’s dream, and Jay Nicholas, whose look Heidi said required a lot of thought and design. On the losing end was Jonathan, whose too sophisticated look looked uncomfortable, Amy, whose look Michael equated to a disaster, and Janeane, whose outfit Michael said was both simple and awful.

And while Seth Aaron gets the challenge win and immunity, Janeane gets no more chances. Bye-bye.

Next week, design from the hardware aisle. Oh, yes.

For another take on this episode, check out Honey, I shrunk the models! by Dianna Berrian.

Season 7, Episode 5: A Little Bit of Fashion (originally aired February 18, 2010)

For more on Project Runway, click here.

Thursdays at 10pm EST on Lifetime

Photographs courtesy of Lifetime and IMDbPro