Project Runway – Season 10 Episode 11 – Recap – It's Fashion Baby

On Project Runway season 10, episode 11, “It's Fashion Baby,” the designers were tasked with creating both an outfit for a baby/toddler for Heidi Klum's "Truly Scrumptious" fashion line and a companion look for their baby's mama.  I'm sure they really thought this was a great idea for a challenge and not just an excuse to plug Heidi's clothing line.  I'm just sure of it!

Last week, on Project Runway, the designers were challenged to create a costume for the Rockettes.  The winning design would be featured in a Rockettes performance.  The judges loved Chris' New York city skyline design and declared him the winner.  They found Ven's understated design to be too plain and boring for a Rockette's costume and thought he was lost without being able to fall back on his "origami rose" technique and he was out.

This week, the designers all met up with Heidi and Tim at Babies 'R Us, where Heidi tasked the designers with creating a look for her line of "affordable" baby clothes, which is called "Truly Scrumptious" and was inspired by her 105 4 children.  I got the feeling the designers were just about as excited by the prospect of designing for babies as I am at watching them do it, which is to say not at all. However, maybe it will be better than I think!

Heidi then paraded in a bunch of toddlers.  Elena thought they were cute, but Dmitry was dismayed by how small they were and compared it to making an outfit for a cat.  (Please don't give them any ideas Dmitry!)  The designers all drew buttons to determine which toddler they would be designing for.  Half the designers would design for boys and half for girls, with the winning boy and winning girl look being produced and sold at Babies 'R Us as part of Heidi's line.

The designers were given 30 minutes to consult with their baby's mama and sketch their designs.  The designers would be using fabrics from Heidi's collection, so there was no budget or trip to Mood this week.....or was there?  Heidi also teased the designers with a special surprise waiting for them back at the workroom....

The designers all arrived back at the workroom to discover their "special surprise," which was a fake baby they would have to take care of while trying to work on their designs.  You know, the kind they give to teenagers to try and convince them not to have car sex.  Tim explained that they were giving the designers the baby to help them understand what goes into designing clothes for the baby and not at all so the TV audience can snicker at their attempt to deal with a crying doll while trying to complete their looks.

The babies would be periodically crying and would require being fed, changed or rocked.  I'm not exactly sure how this was supposed to teach them about designing baby clothes.  The whole thing kind of smacked of all the goofy non-cooking challenges that made the last season of Top Chef such a bummer, so I hope this doesn't become a trend on Project Runway.  I mean I get that the idea is to try and create some comedy, drama or whatever in the workroom, but blah.  Or maybe I just hate kids.

As if all that weren't enough, after the Tim Gunn critique (with guest appearance by Heidi,) the designers were hit with a mid-challenge twist.  The designers would have to design a "companion" look for the mothers.  However, they were nice enough to give the designers an extra day to work on their looks and advised them that while they would have to do the companion look, they would mainly be judged on the baby's look.  The designers were given $150 to shop at Mood for the companion look.  However, they made them drag their fake babies to Mood with them.

The designers finally got a break from their fake babies on day two, when Tim showed up and announced he was taking them all off to daycare.  Yay! Sonjia quipped that it was a good thing, because she was planning to neglect her's anyway.

In spite of the planned child neglect, Sonjia was pretty excited about the challenge and told her baby mama that she loves kids.   Sonjia decided to go for a "mini-man" look and based it on something her boyfriend would wear.  Elena really liked Sonjia's boy's outfit, but Tim and Heidi were concerned it was going to be an "old fart" outfit and advised her to design in a bit more color and fun.

Fabio also said he likes kids and even worked as a baby sitter, however Dmitry found Fabio's attachment to his fake baby to be a bit on the weird side.   Fabio's baby mama was into vintage clothes, so fabio decided to go that direction with his design.

Fabio didn't seem to have too many struggles with designing his look, but he did run into some trouble when Sonjia turned the workroom against him by accusing his crying baby of making the rest of the babies cry.  I don't know if that's even possible with these things, but sure enough we were soon treated to an entire workroom full of screaming dolls.

The bit did make for some nice comic relief when Chris remarked that he now knew why "Judy went off the deep end with Liza," and Dmitry could be heard calling his baby an "ungrateful brat" in the background.

Melissa seemed to struggle the most with this challenge.  First, she got a baby mama who likes to dress her kid in girly clothes and we all know Melissa doesn't do girly and she really doesn't do pink!

Melissa avoided the pink issue, instead going with a white dress with a denim vest, but she was pretty much way behind the other designers from start to finish on this challenge.  Melissa was so desperate she even had her baby mama sewing a button on her toddler outfit by the end.  To make things worse, Dmitry and Chris spear headed campaign to make sure Melissa didn't get any help from any of the other designers in finishing her looks.  A sure sign that the finale is just a couple challenges away!  Melissa was still in the workroom desperately trying to finish her garments when Tim had to call time on her and chase her out.

On top of Melissa's time management issues, no one, including Melissa, seemed too impressed by her design.  Tim and Heidi didn't think Melissa's look had enough "fun factor" and Dmitry thought the design "didn't look like anything."   Chris was dumbfounded by Melissa's decision to put her baby in a cocktail dress.  Melissa was very unhappy with the final fit of her garments, particularly the baby dress, which was too tight and kept riding up.

Chris was pretty happy with his own look and very confident he could beat Melissa and Elena for the top girl's look, but Chris' baby mama hated his toddler look and she didn't like her own dress either.  She compared her dress to her grandma's table cloth.  Sonjia advised Chris to not be too worried about what "Mary J. Blige" was thinking about the outfit and to just do his own thing.  On the day of the runway, Chris' baby mama apologized to him and he tried to move past his irritation with her not liking his look.

Dmitry wanted to design something very modern and decided to make a red and black jumpsuit for his boy.   Dmitry thought he had a great shot at winning, but Tim and Heidi didn't like the black bands on Dmitry's jumpsuit and Sonjia called it a "firefighter jump suit" and said it looked "homeless."  I'm not sure what Sonjia has against homeless people, but that seems to be her favorite insult.

Dmitry thought he had a "big shot at winning," but that Sonjia was probably his biggest competition, but was concerned that his baby was going to be too tired to sell his look on the runway.  Dmitry has become one of my favorite designers the past few weeks exactly for things like worrying that his toddler is going to be too sleepy to work it on the runway.  Oh Dmitry, never change....

Elena was really outside her comfort zone for this challenge, as it would be hard for her to justify doing her usual futuristic looking big shoulder jackets as a toddler's outfit.  She was also frustrated with her "stupid ass doll" crying all the time.

Dmitry remarked that Elena's blazer was cute, but that Elena doesn't seem to know when to stop.  Tim was concerned that Elena's jacket would be hard to clean.  Heidi liked Elena's blazer, which shocked Elena.

 The Judging:

This week's guest judge was actress Hillary Duff!  She's looking pretty good these days and as a bonus she hasn't been running over anyone in her car, which is a huge win for a former Disney kid these days!

Top Three:

1. Sonjia - wanted to do a twist on a sports jacket, but make it comfortable.

Heidi - thought the toddler looked sharp and looked like a little man, but it was still fun

Hillary - agreed with Heidi and loved that the look could be dressed up and down

Michael - said it looked polished but modern and had a tailored look, even though it was sweats

Nina - thought it was no fuss, but looked really smart and sporty and he looked well dressed

2.  Fabio - wanted something that would be easy to wear and fun

Michael - called it a modern take on nautical and very practical.

Heidi - loved the baby look.  She liked all the details, but she thought the mom's dress looked too old.

Nina - loved both looks and thought they were age appropriate.

Hillary - loved it and said he looked like an "old fashioned baby."

3.  Chris - wanted to make it fun for a special summer occasion.

Nina - thought it looked adorable, but not practical

Heidi - thought it was adorable and would make a good Sunday brunch outfit

Michael - didn't think the jacket worked, but the dress and headpiece was great.  He thought the mom's dress was fabulous.

Hillary - thought the dress was sweet and loved the movement and whimsy.  She thought the jacket was cut well and she loved the head piece.

Bottom Three:

1. Melissa - just kind of described what she did not why, you could tell she was really unhappy with it

Heidi - loved the jacket, but didn't love the dress.  She thought the dress was too simple and didn't like the way the dress kept riding up and didn't like the zipper on the side.

Hillary - repeated what Heidi said, but loved the look other than that.  huh?

Michael - didn't like the fabric choice, but called the vest "fabulous."  He liked the mom's look.

Nina - thought the vest was adorable, but the dress was too serious for a little girl and cut too narrow.  She didn't think it was practical

2.  Elena - wanted to do something that could be dressed up or down

Michael - thought the jacket was very well crafted, but called the look a "baby sample sale."

Heidi - thought the jacket was a show stopper, but that she threw the look away on the pants.

Hillary - loved the jacket and how the collar stands up.

Nina - thought the jacket had no practicality, but liked the mom's look.

3.  Dmitry - wanted something cool, sportsy, modern, but soulful

Michael - liked how graphic the outfit is, but thought the hood made him look super heroish and was too costumey.  He liked the mom look

Hillary - thought it was borderline costume, but liked that and she loved the mom costume.

Heidi - thought it was out there and maybe not commercial, but that there were some moms that would like it.

Nina - remarked that the outfit made him look like a crayon, though I'm not sure if that was supposed to be good or bad.  Either way, I was glad she pointed it out, because as soon as I saw the kid coming down the runway I blurted, "he looks like a f'in crayon!"

Winner (Boy): Sonjia - the judges all loved her look

Winner (Girl):  Chris - kind of won by default, because Melissa and Elena's looks were both hated by the judges

Out: Elena - the judges thought her look wasn't practical enough

Totally agree on Sonjia as the winner on the boy look, though I thought Fabio's look was good as well.  I think Sonjia's look was both cute and practical.

Chris' look was weird for me.  I didn't really like either the mother's dress or the baby's outfit separately, but together I thought they were really cute and it was totally something I could see a mother/daughter pair wearing at a garden party.  In any case, it was definitely the better of the three girl's looks.

I was really worried for Melissa on this challenge and I think it was more her entire body of work that saved her than edging out Elena on this particular challenge.  I like Elena and I like some of her futuristic designs, but she hasn't really shined in this competition.  I will miss the entertainment value she provided, but I think she was the right choice to go home this week.

Next week is the final challenge before the finale!  Who will get in?

I will be shocked if Chris doesn't make it.  I'm going to predict Melissa and Dmitry for the other two slots, but Sonjia has had some very good moments and could get in.  Fabio has been hit and miss, but he could sneak in, particularly if they go with the four person finale again.