Project Runway – Season 10 Episode 10 – Recap – I Get A Kick Out Of Fashion
On Project Runway season 10, episode 10, “I Get A Kick Out of Fashion,” the designers were challenged to create a costume for the Rockettes. The winning design will be featured in a future Rockettes performance. I really got a kick out of this episode! (sorry, couldn't resist!)
Last week, on Project Runway, the designers were tasked with creating their own pattern. Dmitry stepped outside his comfort zone and came out the winner. Gunnar touched the judges with his personal story, but his pattern and design fell flet and he was out.
For this week's challenge, the designers met Tim Gunn at Radio City Music hall and were treated to a performance by the Rockettes, with a special guest performance by Heidi Klum!
As you might have guessed, the challenge for the week was to design a new costume for the Rockettes. The winning designer's costume would be produced and worn by the Rockettes during one of their shows. The designers were very excited about this.
The designers were instructed to make the costume something that could be worn year round and that would look appealing even to audience members sitting in the nose bleed seats at the theater.
The designers were given two days and $250 to complete their looks. However, Tim was so concerned about the state of things after his critique that he gave them all an extra $100 and a second trip to Mood. Fabio and Ven didn't take him up on it, thinking they needed the extra time more than extra materials.
Back at the work room, Tim announced that they would only have until 7:30 to work the first night, which bummed them all out, until he added that they would all be going out to a nice celebratory dinner.
At dinner, Elena apologized to Dmitry for being "such a bitch." Ven told Elena that he thought she was "very talented." He also said he felt like he was isolated in the work room a lot, but that he wasn't doing it intentionally. Dmitry thought it must be the wine getting everyone to "open up." Now that Gunnar is gone, Dmitry has become the resident catty diva and I must say he's pretty good at it!
On day two Chris thought everyone's looks were "off" and he had no idea who was going to end up in the bottom.
Elena was determined to try and do something colorful and different, to prove to the judges that she can do something outside her comfort zone, but from the beginning of the challenge she struggled. First she panicked at Mood and ended up buying fabric that she didn't like and thought roped her into creating a figure skating or band costume. Then she made things worse by bedazzling the heck out of her ugly fabric, creating a look that even she thought was ugly. However, she did remark that she thought there were a couple of even uglier looks in the room.
Ven thought Elena's look was good, but looked more like a cheerleader costume than a Rockette. Elena, who vowed to quit stressing herself out, decided to just laugh off her bad costume instead of stressing over it. We even got a few fun moments of Elena dancing around the work room in her costume.
However, when it came time for the Tim Gunn critiques, Tim confirmed Elena's fear that her costume looked like a "band costume," saying he felt like she should get a baton from the Lord and Taylor wall. Elena's model was thrilled with the shiny costume, but she was the only one and Elena was worried that she would be the one going home.
Sonjia also struggled with the challenge. Though she settled on a sort of feather covered skort pretty early on, she couldn't make up her mind on what to do with the top and still didn't have anything complete when Tim came to do his critique.
Sonjia was super stressed, so she stopped for a video chat with her boyfriend to try and gain some perspective. After the chat she decided to just commit to something and go with it. However, no one seemed very impressed with what she came up with. Dmitry thought Sonjia's costume looked like a chicken and Chris said her top looked "thrown together."
Fabio thought Melissa's plan to do 18 pieces was "insane." Melissa was also stressing about getting her ambitious project done and worried that her costume wasn't nearly as sparkly as everyone else's. Ven also thought Melissa had bitten off more than she could chew and remarked that she is a great designer but works very slow. In a very unlike Ven display of niceness, he offered to help Melissa do some of her hand stitching so she could finish on time.
It looked like Melissa was actually going to pull her outfit off in time, when she blew out a zipper and had to enlist the help of Fabio, Chris and Sonjia to try and fix it. However, none of them could put the pieces back together again and she ended up having to sew her model into the dress.
Dmitry thought the challenge would be perfect for him, since he used to be a ballroom dancer and knows all about dance costumes, however Chris called Dmitry's garment very "high school dance team" and thought it was too basic.
Fabio was having a hard time working with his sequins and Elena called his look "a train wreck." I thought his finished garment kind of looked like Joan of Arc meets Broadway, but he ended up being safe.
Chris decided to do a New York city skyline dress, which Tim liked, but thought the skirt was way too short, like crotch revealingly short.
Ven's goal was for his costume was to have clean, classic lines, but Dmitry, Elena and Fabio all thought he was going way too simple with it. Tim agreed, telling Ven that the costume needed to have more "impact." As per usual, Ven didn't listen, sticking to his guns and creating a fairly plain looking dress.
The Judging:
The guest judge for the week was Debra Messing!
Top Three:
1. Dmitry - wanted to create something a bit more modern and athletic, but still glamorous
Heidi - loved it. She thought it looked different than anything she had danced in. She loved the beaded fringe.
Michael - called it exciting, polished and impeccably made and still looked like a Dmitry design.
Nina - loved the choice of color and that it was bare, yet covered up. She called it modern and chic.
Debra - called it very glamorous, but questioned whether the outfit would be appropriate for children, since the Rockette's shows are family friendly
2. Chris - wanted to do a celebration of New York city
Heidi - loved it and thought the Rockettes would look stunning in it.
Nina - thought the skyline was beautiful
Michael - thought it was a great idea. Called it a Bob Mackie moment. Loved the surprise of the back. Thought it had the perfect combination of stage presence and chic
Debra - called it celebratory and magnificent
3. Melissa - was inspired by the art deco of Radio City Music Hall
Heidi - thought it was a show stopper, but kept finding things wrong with it, like the (unintentional) giant number one on the front. She thought it was too short.
Michael - liked that it was dramatic and graphic and liked the edging, but didn't like that it was like a cocktail dress chopped off. didn't like the one.
Nina - liked the color, but thought it was a real miss
Debra - was confused by the design and thought the neckline was awkward. She liked the sparkles
Bottom Three:
1. Sonjia - wanted to create something fun and flirty and different
Heidi - didn't think the look had the magic or "showstopper" qualities a Rockettes costume would need. She thought the costume was very blocky and not sexy.
Nina - thought the costume was not practical, because feathers are very fragile.
Debra - agreed that the feathers were a bad idea and said we didn't want a bunch of molting Rockettes.
Michael - said the costume had no movement and wasn't glam enough for the stage and read more cocktail than costume. Called it a crazy disco turkey.
2. Ven - wanted to do something modern and classic, but interesting
Heidi - thought the dress was really boring.
Michael - thought it looked like an evening dress just chopped off and thought it needed to show off more of the dancer's body.
Nina - wanted more drama.
Debra - loved the movement and simplicity of the dress, but thought the hemline was uneven
3. Elena - focused on movement and color
Michael - thought the model looked like a Vegas cheerleader and the necklace piece was really gaudy and the back was busy and tacky.
Debra - thought it would be a beautiful costume for the circus
Nina - said the biggest problem was the choice of fabric and the styling made it look like a even more ridiculous costume.
Heidi - thought it was really cheesy and the fabric was cheap looking and not sophisticated enough.
Winner: Chris - the judges thought his costume was iconic, original and modern and a real show stopper
Out: Ven - the judges thought his look was boring and felt Ven was lost without his origami rose trick to fall back on
Dmitry's look was actually my favorite, though I agree that Chris' was probably better as a Rockettes costume. I did like the top of Chris' look, but thought the skirt was way too stiff for a dancer's costume.
Most everyone else really seemed to struggle with this challenge. I don't think Ven's look was the worst, but it was really boring and though they finally showed him actually being nice to someone, I was ready for him to go home.
Elena's costume was pretty terrible and what it immediately made me think of was that dress Tonya Harding used to wear for her "Walk Like an Egyptian" program, back before she started breaking knee caps.
Next week the designers will be designing for babies....seriously?