Project Runway: Just Tooling Around

This week the designers of Project Runway were thrown for a complete loop as Tim and Co. tore away the comfy world of fabric design and replaced thread and organza with sheet metal and hammers. With this design flip, the designers quickly found themselves, well screwed… get it, because they’re at the tool store.

We begin the episode with the usual designer recap. This week’s recap includes a notice that we’re halfway to Bryant Park, thanks Emilio, and also a lamentation, by Mila, that so many women have gone home. (For those of you who have not been keeping count: that’s 5 women compared to 1 male that have been shown the door.) Mila finds this troubling; and while I agree it is, I must say in comparison to what has gone before the best female designers remain.

The designers meet up with Tim and Michael Kors to find out their next challenge. The challenge: push the envelope and think in an unconventional way to design a garment using materials from the hardware store. As it is with all innovative tasks, this challenge had the designers split in opinion, although none of them surprising. Amy and Seth Aaron are both excited about the possibilities of this challenge. On the other hand Emilio is, of course, not.

This challenge is a representative of what this competition is about. While there are a number of people who can “design,” within that pool of candidates there is a much smaller group of artisans who can create great worlds through their designs. Challenges like this prompt great thought from these true artisans and makes them recognized. This is why I’m so pleased to see Seth Aaron and Amy really step up to these challenges; it shows that they have the mindset to be great. This theory also works in reverse, adjust accordingly.

Back to the challenge, the designers must make a head to toe look, with an accessory. In the hardware store Jesse is worried about the cost of hardware and Maya finds comfort in the fact that she has worked with strange materials before. Emilio buys washers and cords, Jay grabs garbage bags and Amy likes the colors and textures of sandpaper, so she goes for that. At the register, Emilio’s materials cost too much and he ends up leaving half of his washers and cords in the store. He worries if he will have enough material to create an outfit.

In the design room, Emilio decides he wants to make a macramé dress but finds that he does not have enough materials. Jesse pokes fun at Emilio’s garment which he fittingly calls a stripper costume. Maya returns to color blocking and hopes that the judges don’t get tired of it. Personally I’m just tired of hearing that word. Jesse unrolls his makeshift fabric and immediately hates it, calling it one big piece of tape. Jay Nichols reveals that his motivation in this competition is to make his parents proud; he wants to prove himself after his hard upbringing.

As usual, Tim comes to the design room for words of inspiration. He is very excited by Mila’s look while he finds Jesse’s to be childish. He worries if Emilio will have enough fabric, thinks Anthony’s material looks tortured and is surprised at Jay Nicholas’ spectacular ‘leather’ garbage bag pants.

In the aftermath of Tim’s visit Anthony decides to abandon his skirt and go in another direction. Jay Nicholas’ model doesn’t fit the pants so Jay carefully expands them with more garbage bags. Emilio decides to make his model a bathing suit, out of sheer necessity due to lack of fabric. And Jesse paints his outfit hoping to stand out from the other two garments that are made of copper.

On the day of runway all of the designers are worried about their placement. Jesse hopes someone is worse than him so he doesn’t have to go home, and Mila and Maya talk longingly about returning to fabric. Last minute preparations for the runway finds Amy excited about her garment as she sees it on her model; Jay sewing his model into the faux leather pants, and Emilio struggling to find a way to keep the bottom of his swimsuit up. His solution: one piece! Anthony is worried about Emilio’s garment because it has no taste, this giving us my favorite quote of the episode: The one thing that “never goes out of style, making a woman look like a lady.” Anthony, sigh.

At the Runway the guest judge is designer Isabel Toledo, who designed Mrs. Obama’s inauguration parade outfit. My favorites were Anthony whose dress looked like soft and not like hardware; Jay Nicholas whose outfit was rocker glam, very nice; and Jonathan whose dress was very modern. My least favorite designs were Ben’s, whose fabric resembled scalded skin; Emilio’s, who made his model look like a deconstructed half-naked Barbie; and Seth Aaron whose dress looked like some horrible futuristic costume.

Judges’ top three: Mila, whose outfit Nina called extraordinary; Jay, whose dress Heidi called “amazing;” and Maya, whose look Michael called just right. Bottom three: Anthony whose look Nina called boring; Emilio whose suit Michael called really cheesy; and Jesse whose dress Heidi said looked like a dirty vacuum bag. Winner: Jay Nicholas, with a look the judges called truly amazing. Going home: Jesse…?

Side note: I’ve spared you Emilio’s delusional rants this episode; I can’t go through that again. The man is simply disagreeable. And he’ll be here next week, so, stay tuned for that!

For another take on this episode, check out Tools of Design by Dianna Berrian.

Season 7, Episode 7: Hard Wear (originally aired March 4, 2010)

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Thursdays at 10pm EST on Lifetime

Photographs courtesy of Lifetime, David M. Russell, and IMDbPro