Project Runway After Party

Episode 9: Garden Party
From the moment the show begins, the cattiness starts:

"Don't go out like Zulema," Nick says.

At 6 a.m., Tim Gunn goes to the Atlas apartments to pick up the designers. They're going on a field trip. And chile, you know how these Project Runway field trips go. But instead of going to Mood, the fabric store, Tim takes them to Manhattan's flower district. It's here that the designers are told they're supposed to make a garden party dress - that is to say, the garden is the dress.

I'm already thinking of Austin's cornhusk dress from last season.

To make things interesting, Tim tells the designers that whoever wins today's challenge gets immunity. Hello? What reality show am I watching? Kara takes this as a signal to step up her game. But three hours to deadline, she still hadn't figured out what she wanted the skirt to look like. So much for that.

Speaking of stepping up your game, Daniel V. busts out with a BASKET WEAVE on the bodice of his dress. The kid's got some talent. Seriously. He so doesn't even need to win this show.

So we're back to the workroom, and after seeing what everyone sketched for their design, I was hoping that none of these models have hay fever. I had to take a Claritin just to get through this episode.

Anyway, so Tim comes around to check on the designs, and Andrae is nowhere to be found. Andrae's out on the sidewalk, gluing some moss to his fabric. This prompts Santino to bust out with his famous, spot-on Tim Gunn impressions:

"Andrae, you really embarassed me tonight at Red Lobster."

Heh heh. Later on, Tim comes back in and calls Santino on it. Tim's really a great sport about all of this. We love Tim.

Chloe is stressed out because she's running out of time - she's gluing leaves onto her dress, one by one.

Santino says he wants to do something beautiful, yet "whimsical." Uh oh.

Honestly, this was a tough runway show for me to judge. They all looked great. However, Andrae's looked like a giant topiary, which was pretty much what he had in mind. Except his final product looked a bit matronly, like a moldy (literally) Chanel suit your mother-in-law would wear.

Kara's dress actually turned out very well. She had a lot of detail and played with texture. She really pulled it off this time. So did Chloe's - it just looked fabulous, and not like "leaves-glued-onto-a-dress" fabulous. Phew.

Daniel V. wins. It was a totally fantastic dress. (Basket weave, hello!) And now he has immunity for the next episode.

It's between Andrae and Nick. I think Andrae's going to cry. Heidi says he "didn't make enough of a statement." She tells Nick that his "taste level" wasn't there.

Andrae gets The Auf and does his crazy, stiff, childlike run offstage. He had a great run of things, and I have to admit, I have a soft spot in my heart for Mr. Emotional.

Until next week!