Project Runway After Party

Episode 13: Finale Part One
So this week, the three remaining designers are tasked to present a 12-piece collection at Olympus Fashion Week.

After sharing some champagne (and cider) with Heidi and Tim, the three remaining designers toast to Fashion Week. Everyone bids goodbye to the Atlas, to Manhattan, moves out, and goes back home to work on their collections.

Five months later, Tim visits the designers to see how they’re coming along on their challenges.

Santino Rice
Tim’s first stop is Hollywood, Calif. to visit Santino – whose house looks like it should be on MTV FREAKIN’ CRIBS, by the way. (Oh. He’s renting. Carry on.)

His theme: 40’s glamour, boudoir, publicity still. Vintage meets contemporary.

Santino shows Tim a dress with sunburst pleats. So that’s what you call those things. I remember having a dress with sunburst pleats when I was a kid. Loved it! J'adore how this show is both entertaining and educational.

“It has a refinement that frankly I didn’t see from you in the show,” says Tim about the dress. Good sign, good sign.

Tim and Santino sashay down Venice Beach, talking about Santino’s past, his childhood, while watching the sunset. Santino’s had a rough life apparently, the product of a mixed-race marriage somewhere in Missouri. He lets on about a life filled with adversity, but aside from money problems, he doesn’t really get into it, except to let us in on a pretty vulnerable glimpse into his psyche:

“I come across as arrogant, but I feel major insecurity,” he says.

Obviously. I can identify with that in some way. I can’t hate Santino right now. It’s really good to see this other side of him.

They visit Santino’s friend Tony (he’s a model and photographer who looks like he could be Santino’s brother) and his wife and their family. It’s here that he reveals to his friends that he’s made it to the Final Three on the show. It’s a cute and poignant, the way Tony and his family congratulate Santino over Chinese take-out. And it’s an endearing moment, to watch one of Tony’s little daughters climb all over Santino.

Daniel Vosovic
Daniels’ in NYC working on his collection. And he got a haircut. It’s very … close to the head. I’m not feeling it. Bring back the mop!

His theme: The fusion of military influence and Japanese culture. Or, alternatively, Mixmaster Frump. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Tim’s take: Details will make or break his collection. Tim urges him to push the risk factor.

The two decide to go shopping. Daniel needs a new jacket, or a new outfit for the finale show. They share a laugh about Nick and how maybe he should design a jacket for Daniel. Har har. Gotta love the inside jokes.

Daniel breaks it down about his childhood. Small town Michigan. Gay. Pressure to be “different.” Has the best family, encouraging him to come out. Daniel is so happy with life right now.

Good for him.

Chloe Dao
Houston, Texas. Yee haw! Chloe is so cute. I swear, she reminds me of a more stylish version of myself, or one of my dear cousins. Except she's Laoatian. Minor detail.

Sistafren has SEVEN sisters. And they’re all gorgeous.

So Chloe’s breaking it down about how her family was in prison after getting caught trying to escape from Laos. And then she asks Tim to imagine how amazing it is, the fact that the family--- all 10 of them (Chloe's parents and the 8 girls)--- all managed to escape Laos, intact.

“We had a lot of cavities, but we were all safe.” You go, girl.

So about the collection. She doesn’t really have a “theme.” It’s not completely done yet. But it’s all in her head. Lil' Chlo doesn’t sketch.

Fashion Week
With five days to go to the runway show, the designers return to Manhattan.

Lil’ Chlo hasn’t slept in two days, and she’s nervous about seeing Santino – she’s still burning up about the “patternmaker” comment from Episode 11. And when Santino gets there, they talk about how hard it is, not to watch the show or read any press on the show. But he’d read an article about how Chloe doesn’t like him, and how he’d been dubbed the designer “you love to hate.”

Chloe and Santino talk about how it all went down, but I don’t know if anything is resolved. In fact, when the designers arrive at their new Banana Republic workroom and start hanging up their collections, Santino says that Chloe’s looks “like a couch is coming at you.”

So much for being a nice guy.

Tim comes back and looks at the rest of the collections. He gives Santino and Chloe props for their collections. Then he comes to Daniel’s, and he’s silent.

“Why isn’t he piddling in his panties with excitement?” Daniel asks.

Tim is struggling for words. This can't bode well for Daniel V.

“I’m waiting to see how they’ll look on the girls,” he says finally. Nice save, Tim. Not.

And as you know, pictures of the collections are out, and I really wasn’t all that impressed either. Sorry, Daniel.

Next, it’s off to see Michael Kors, giving them advice on how to give good runway and to do some model casting.

Three days before the show, and now that they have their models, it’s time for the fittings. They’re reunited with their “Project Runway” models. Everyone’s happy to see each other, yadda yadda.

And when Tim comes to see Daniel’s dress on Rebecca, Tim is still at a loss for words. Ouch. The Golden Child of Project Runway is human after all!

Two days before the runway show, everyone still has a lot of work to do. A non-pregnant Heidi Klum comes to the Banana Republic workroom to pay them a visit and bust out with a new interesting “surprise”:

They have to create one more look that has to be shown on the runway.

Don't you know they're all burnt out? And don't you know how much work they have left to do? And now my girl Lil’ Chlo is crying! Damn that Heidi Klum!

To help the already frazzled designers, Heidi tells them that they each get an extra set of hands to help them out with this challenge. At that moment, all the other designers that got kicked off file into the BR workroom. All of them. Even that annoying girl from Texas that didn't know what "auf wiedersehen" meant. Oh, goody. They get to pick who they want to help them out:

• Daniel picks Nick (he should have picked Andrae, hello Episode 6!).
• Santino picks Andrae.
• Chloe picks … DIANA ENG?

I'm sorry, but WTF? I hope homegirl has some strategery going on in that head of hers. Chloe, girl, don’t be trying to make a dress with magnets. I'm just saying.

They have a budget of $250. Thirty minutes to sketch. One hour to shop for fabric.

Stress levels are high, obviously.

And on that note, I’d like to leave you with these wise words from Santino that succinctly sum up this final challenge:

Even if you stick pasties and a maxi pad on the 13th model, it’s like, who gives a shit at this point?

Indeed, Santino. Indeed. Make it work!

Next week is when Bravo airs the runway shows. I can't freakin' wait. America's favorite fag hag, Debra Messing, will be the guest judge.

My pick? Based on how last night's episode went down, and because I've already seen most of the items in their respective collections, I'm willing to wager a carne asada burrito that Santino wins Project Runway this season.