Project Runway After Party

Episode 4: Reap What You Sew
It’s here. The infamous episode in which Tim Gunn asks someone to leave the show. Will this episode live up to the hype? Let’s see …

But first, a twist – the designers have another opportunity to pick a model. Follow me now: Uli mixes it up and takes Keith’s model. Kayne and Michael change their models. Bonnie sticks with hers. Keith takes Camilla, Angela takes Bradley’s model, Laura stays with Katie Holmes, Vincent stays with Jia, Jeffery sticks with his model, Bradley takes Lindsey, Alison switches it up and works with Alessandra, and Robert sticks with Danielle. That means Toni, Alison’s previous model, is out, and Alison looks sad. And she's so cute, you just want to hug her.

Back in the workroom, Tim introduces them to Mehmet Tangoren, VP of contemporary sportswear at Macy’s. He explains that Macy’s I.N.C. customer is a woman who is ageless, fashion forward, reads all the fashion magazines, and wants all the hot looks. He explains that this brand is the biggest business for ready-to-wear at Macy’s. (I think I have one I.N.C. sweater, actually.)

This week’s challenge: Working in teams of three, the designers have to design a three-piece look for I.N.C.

Angela sees this as a way to redeem herself.

On to sketchin’!

Robert, Keith, and Bonnie feel pretty comfortable with this challenge. Bonnie says that she’s used to designing “for the masses.”

Angela’s forced to sketch this time.

Field trip!

On to Macy’s, where the designers pitch their ideas one by one to Mr. Tangoren:

• Vincent's sketches are messy, and he says that gray will be the new brown
• Angela tells Tangoren that her inspiration comes from Empire State Building – someone’s been watching previous Project Runway episodes!
• Yadda yadda

I.N.C. guy picks:

• Robert “outstanding”
• Bonnie “understood the customer”
• Keith “colors and presentation well done”
• Angela “loved the inspiration”

Anyway, everyone else was like, how the hell did Angela's design get picked? Michael’s all, aww hell naw. Kayne’s like, what the hell has Angela made that’s like, stylish? Jeffery was afraid Angela would pick him, because he doesn’t want to make something for someone he didn’t like. Jeffery's designer code of ethics, if you will.

So now it’s time to pick teams:

Angela picks Michael and Laura. And Michael has again won a piece of my heart, because his reaction to getting picked by Angela was:

“Awww, DAAYAM.”

Robert picks Kayne and Vincent, who already goes into this saying how he hates Robert’s design but that he’ll defer to him, because he’s the team leader.

Keith picks Alison, the Queen of Cute and Jeffery, who’s just glad that Angela didn’t pick him first.

Bonnie picks Uli (who has immunity this episode) and Bradley the Beard.

Tim tells the designers that the winning garment will be put into production and sold nationwide at select Macy’s stores nationwide.

So it’s on to our favorite fabric store. Oh, by the way, each team only gets $100 for this challenge. Awww, DAAYAM!

Angela tells us that the inspiration for her design comes from “sunrise over the Empire State Building. What is up with Angela’s themes? As the three designers sit around and go over Angela’s design, the looks on Laura and Michael’s faces just scream, get me away from this woman, DAAAYAM!

Laura even goes so far as to say that Angela’s designs are, and I’m paraphrasing here, a “full-tilt boogie extravaganza of puff.” Laura rules.

Keith tells us that he likes to break the rules from time to time because he thinks he's right all the time. Hmm …

Back at Parsons, Bradley’s chillin’, and Bonnie gets in touch with her inner micromanager. Bradley pulls the beard card, jokingly, of course.

Keith is the king of delegation. In fact, he’s delegated so well that he’s lying down on the workroom tables while Jeffery and Alison tackle the hardest pieces of the outfit he designed.

That evening, Kayne confides in Vincent that he saw patternmaking and how-to books in Keith’s room – a violation of Project Runway’s rules, which state that you can’t have any these kinds of books with you. At all. So Kayne, Robert, Michael discuss this among themselves.

I guess Angela, contrary to my hopes and dreams, isn’t getting booted off this episode.

I’m tempted to turn the TV off at this revelation, but realizing that we still have a runway show to design for, and that this episode they still may kick someone off, well … that was enough for me to keep hope alive. So I sat through the commercial break and waited.

We’re back from commercial, and Tim comes to the Atlas to confront Keith. Apparently Keith also left the production area for a few hours the other day to use the Internet, which is another violation of the rules.

“These books make me sick,” Tim says.

It’s a serious issue. Tim asks Keith to leave that night.

Before he packs up and leaves, Keith apologizes to Bradley, Robert, Michael and Kayne, and tells them he understands their concern, that his image as a designer is now tarnished, and that he’s going to be a laughing stock to his friends.

Keith says that he never used those books to give himself an unfair advantage, and thinks he still would have made it to the end, or at least pretty far along in the competition. That he had a lot of tricks up his sleeve still.

So, why bring the books then, when it's explicitly stated in the rules? Oy.

The next day, Tim debriefs with the rest of the designers. Laura’s point of view on this is basically, good riddens. She says,

“What an asshole.”

And all of a sudden, Laura’s stock rises several points with me.

Now, lacking a team leader, Jeffery and Alison need to make it work without Keith. Alison is stressed out. Crying even. I feel bad for her, and she looks so cute and Bjorkish and stuff, but all I can think is, how the hell can I get my bangs to look as good as hers?

Michael warns Laura that Angela is making those damn puffs again, and they proceed to clown on her in the sewing machine room. Angela playfully (we hope) threatens Michael, saying,

“I’m going to put rosettes all over these pants!”

Upon hearing this, Michael proceeds to go into convulsions on Angela’s workspace table. Laura suggests the rosettes become the buttons on the jacket. Thank you, Laura. Thank you for taming The Rosette Beast.

Without Keith, Jeffery and Alison are pretty far along, which impresses Tim Gunn. Things are looking up for the two of them.

On to the runway!

Heidi tells them that one of them still must go, even if Keith got the boot.

This episode’s judges are:

• Vera “I just loves me some Angela” Wang
• NINAGARCIA
• Mehmet Tangoren, VP of contemporary sportswear at Macy’s

Angela’s outfit, I have to say, was surprisingly non-offensive. A super-slim pant paired with a bolero jacket, with Angela’s “trademark” rosettes artfully posing as buttons and as a decorative element on the back collar made for a tasteful outfit, thanks to Laura’s intervention.

I wasn’t impressed with Robert’s jacket. The skirt was sexy, indeed – it would have been really cool if the slit was in the front. Or, if kept as is, part of a separate outfit. As a whole, it just didn’t work. I was pretty disappointed this time, because Robert’s designs are usually pretty consistent and well executed. But this time, it just didn’t work. The jacket didn’t match with the rest of the outfit. It was as if the model randomly grabbed her winter parka from her coat closet as she was rushing out of the house that morning. The judges thought that Robert and team “missed the mark,” and that the look was “boring.”

Coming down the runway, the outfit Bonnie’s team constructed looked like something I’d wear to work in the fall or winter. But the judges didn’t like it. And upon closer inspection, I have to agree with them. The pants looked like polyester uniform pants that you’d get from Cintas or something. In fact, NINAGARCIA hated it, that it made the wearer look frumpy and old. The guy from Macy’s said it was SO last year.

Keith’s design fit well, and Jeffery and Alison’s execution was flawless. And it still managed to reflect Jeffery and Alison’s individual styles. The upside-down wife beater shirt was an interesting touch, and I loved the jacket. I so want one. The guy from Macy’s and Vera both loved the pants. Vera said the outfit was “hip, youthful, and active.”

Robert and Bonnie’s teams got the lowest scores, while Keith’s and Angela’s team got the highest.

Angela is having trouble containing herself on the runway --- and oh, how annoying that is, by the way --- when Heidi tells them that they have to go to Macy’s in Herald Square to find out who won the challenge. Girlfriend is a spaz.

It’s down to Robert (“Your design was a bore”) and Bonnie (“Your design was stale and not fashion forward”).

Bonnie gets The Auf. Robert is still in.

PHEW.

Sidebar: Who thought it would be a good idea to make Heidi wear bloomers?

The next morning, Angela busts a gut when she sees her design in the Macy’s window.

Angela thinks she’s vindicated, but honey, not so fast. If it weren’t for Laura and Michael’s input, you would have vomited rosettes all over that outfit and you most certainly would have gotten The Auf. Consider yourself lucky.

Until next week, darlings.


P.S. Doesn’t Jackie from “Workout” look like a really butch Scarlett Johansson?