Project Runway Season 5: the Final Finale

Season Finale Part 2: The actual finale

Last week Jerell was sent home for being too embellish-y. This week is the final three: Korto, Leanne, and Kenley.

Tim goes around and helps the girls critique their collections. Kenley, as usually, attacks Tim’s advice to toss off her Alexander McQueen knock off. He also says she uses rope arbitrarily, to which she got even angrier. Korto “Big Sleeves” has decided to whip up two new dresses for the collection instead of her bridal suite. Leanne seems to have everything together.

Everyone’s in tears, but luckily not enough to make an all-female Final 3 look like Lifetime. No for reals, it’s totally not even as bad as previous years. Disasters abound—one of Kenley’s tops went droopy, and Kenley had to practically shove her model into a dress.

By the way, how much am I loving the commercials for the new season of Top Chef? Padma Lakshmi is like the hottest woman on the planet who’s slept with a literary star. Ever!

When J. Lo doesn’t show up, Tim Gunn pinch hits, to which Kenley gives the priceless line, “wow. Maybe I should have had a better attitude.”

Kenley goes first with her “dream wardrobe.” Her music was some kind of weird ersatz drum n’ bass style that didn’t fit in with the bright colorful tone of her collection. Kenley was all about the forties—emerald green, hot pink, Miami lawn chair prints. Pencil skirts with structured shoulders. Occasionally there were structural elements like exaggerated hips or voluminous skirts, but it mostly looked like a thrift shop on parade.

Korto debuts her “nature inspired” line. Her music was much more appropriate—rock African fusion. She had a couple of America’s next top model contestants in there, which I thought was fun. But Korto’s collection was also a lot of green, a lot of khaki, a lot of rustles. Pleating and crazy collars and deep-v’s. I was disappointed, because Korto’s stuff has, before this, been quite strong.

Leanne looks like a mess as she debuts her collection of sea-inspired dresses. Her collection debuted to the clicks and clutters of some post-rock band. Pleated minis, ruffles, all in whites, beiges, and aquas. Everyone knows I’m bias towards Leanne, but when I saw the collection all laid out like that, I was a bit bored. I wanted her to take it to the next level, but she seemed too afraid.

Michael Kors thought that Kenley’s collection was fantastic and had spirit. But everyone agreed one of her dresses look like a Balenciaga silhouette. Just as with the Alexandre McQueen dress, Kenley pleaded ignorance.

Korto’s collection was also loved, though a bit overworked. She needed to edit, which I agree with. Leanne’s collection was considered the most versatile in the amount of separates, but a little one note, which I also agree with.

And the winner is…LEANNE! Poor Korto, so close, and yet so far. I’m hoping Korto gets a ridiculously big contract making ridiculously big sleeves for someone.

Diane VonFurstenberg Tonight on Project Runway

Tonight’s the contestants on Project Runway will get to design for fashion legend Diane VonFurstenberg. They are in awe, and some of them are freaking out a little:

And don’t forget to read the recap on Reality Roll Call after the show, which airs tonight at 9PM on Bravo.

Rachel Zoe Is On Project Runway Tonight

On tonight’s episode of Project Runway on Bravo,  the designers will be working with very interesting and unusual materials. And Rachel Zoe will be the guest judge. Click here to check out the preview.

And don’t forget to check back with Reality Roll Call to read the recap.

Drag Queens Take the Spotlight on Project Runway

On tonight’s episode of Project Runway the contestants will be designing for some of the boldest drag queens of New York. And the guest judge is the star drag queen of the 1990’s, RuPaul. Here’s a peek of the girls:

And once you’re done watching the show on Bravo, come back here and read what Mary Jones has to say about it!

Project Runway 5 Recap: Episode 2, “Nightmares in Brown Satin”

Last Week: Gristedes challenge: making clothing out of grocery store materials. Jerry got voted off for creating “serial killer chic,” and Kelli won for her coffee-filter-and-vacuum-bag party dress.

This week Project Runway is cashing in on the eco-friendly bandwagon. I swear, if I hear the word “green” one more time I’m going to freak out—every other ad I see on tv is for green products, every Oprah episode is on green lifestyles. I’m over it.

But clearly Heidi Klum et al isn’t over it, so this week they had a challenge where the designers could only use organic, or otherwise “green” fabrics for their designs. The designers get to choose which model they want, only after they choose, the twist is revealed: the models are going to be the clients for a cocktail dress challenge. Not only that, the models get to go out shopping for materials. Crazy! See, it’s crazy because models are stupid.

No, they’re seriously stupid. Well, not exactly stupid, so much as they’re teenage girls, which is really sort of the same thing. They all go to Mood and run towards the organic fabrics aisle. Then, in a situation which I can only describe as “too real,” one girl reaches for a hideous brown satin, so all the girls decide they want the hideous brown fabric, because then they can all be twins.

The designers are all suitably horrified when their models come back with drab, ugly satins and feathers. It’s relatively surprising, actually, as the organic fabrics were inherently no different than the non-organic versions; it’s almost like the models wanted to look like trees or hippies, or something. Poor Wesley’s model was the worst—she brought pale green and satin brown. It’s so sad: I can actually see the wheels in her head spinning as she tries to conceptualize what “green” means. Green like leaves…leaves like a tree….a tree…green and brown. Yes! That’s it!

The designers start sewing only to realize some of their models forgot zippers, some forgot to get enough fabric, and some had no idea that peach and cream satin most def do not go together (I know!). The biggest complainer is Stella, the rocker chick from Queens. Last episode she moaned like she was on her period about how her garbage bag material was “trash,” and then this week she’s freaking out because her model picked a pastel yellow satin, and what is she supposed to do if it isn’t leather? She doesn’t do stuff like this. Her designs are tough.

Favorite line: “The amount of dyes dumped into the ocean is pretty gnarly”—Emily, 27

So, the designers are falling behind way more than usual, in part because satin shows every mistake. Suede (self-described as a “bisexual Sagittarius who always refers to himself in the third person) decides he’s going to cut his satin up to make it look patchwork. Korto is having an insane paranoid moment where she thinks her fish-fin dress is too similar to Wesley’s dress. There’s something about the way Tim Gunn says “Oooooohhhh” when he realizes Korto’s darts are on the outside that is wonderfully awkward.

It’s down to the wire, but everyone finishes on time without too much drama. It turns out the guest judge is Natalie Portman, who is clearly there to support her vegan shoe line. Natalie is so tiny, it looks like she’s only half the size of Heidi Klum. I’ll give Natalie Portman this—when she talks, she doesn’t embarrass me on behalf of my gender, which is more than I can say for almost anyone else on TV.

Most of the dresses are pretty fugly: too short, and poorly sewn. Here’s the rundown:

1. Keith—yellow satin halter bubble monstrosity. She looks like a deranged Belle from “Beauty and the Beast”

1. Terri—navy dress with ruffled bodice. Absolutely beautiful. It wasn’t the most “cocktaily” dress; it was a bit more business-chic, but it deserved a spot in the top 3 for sure

1. Wesley—brown satin minidress. Oh Wesley, why would you put those beautiful ruffles right on a woman’s love handles? Why give it a flouncy bow and then hem it with a lawnmower?

1. Jerell—blue minidress with peacock feathers and keyhole neck. Probably the dress with the most unrealized potential. The neckline was truly unflattering, immodest, and impractical, but the skirt had a wonderful bit of lacework paneling and the feather trim was fun

1. Jennifer—orange and grey draping. Could have been a Rami creation

1. Daniel—black babydoll with cap sleeves. Material was cheap, but the design was spot on, if a bit conservative

1. Joe—Brown satin knee-length dress with diamond cut out. This is so banal, so Jersey prom, I’m embarrassed for him

1. Suede—yellow satin banding with ballerina skirt. Looks completely fun, flirty, yet a bit punk. I have no idea where he pulled this dress out of, but I kind of want it

1. Kenley—yellow satin tube sheath with large ruffled collar. Although I think I remember season 3’s Laura attempting to do the starched collar, I have to say this looks pretty classy

1. Kelli—Blue and yellow dress with yellow ruffled mini-vest. Not the best fit, but a few drafts away from being something very exciting

1. Leanne—Brown satin minidres, this one with loops. Almost awesome, but ended up being busy and cheap. I appreciate her attempt to make something new and modern, however

1. Stella—yellow asymmetrical minidress with lace-up sides. I took one look at this and instantly thought of Tia Carre in “Wayne’s World.” And not in a good way

1. Blayne—hot pink minidress with large collar and black panels. The wide collar makes it awesome for me, even while the black panel makes the dress look a bit early ’90s

1. Emily—White bodice with braiding, navy skirt. I don’t know if this even qualifies as a dress. It’s so short, I feel like “shirt” is more appropriate. Cute and non-threatening

1. Korto—yellow strapless minidress with fins. I feel if Korto had kept her darts an inch or shorter, the dress would have been a hit. Having two huge flapping fins can’t help

So the designers in the bottom 3 end up being Korto, Leanne, and Wesley. They’re all crying, which was terrible to see. Don’t cry kids! Don’t let Michael Kors make you feel bad about yourselves!

The top 3 were: Kenley, Stella (inexplicably!), and Suede. Both Natalie Portman and Heidi both agreed Suede’s was the most fun and flirty, so Suede ended up winning. Leanne and Wesley were in the bottom 2 because, as Nina summed up, “shiny, tight, and short is the quickest way to look cheap.” Eventually, while Leanne’s was considered overworked, it was at least acknowledged she was trying to do something new, so Wesley was sent home.