Project Runway – Season 10 Episode 12 – Recap – In a Place Far, Far Away

Next week is the season 10 finale of Project Runway!  Episode 12, "In a Place Far, Far Away," featured a avant-garde challenge as the final challenge before the finale.

Find out if your favorites made it to the finale in this week's recap:

Last week, on Project Runway the designers were challenged with creating toddler looks for Heidi Klum's fashion line.  Sonjia's sophisticated boys look and Chris' garden party girl look were the winning designs and would both be produced and sold as part of Heidi's line.  Elena's confused color palette didn't impress the judges and she was out.

In the last challenge before the finale, the designers were asked to create an avant-garde look inspired by one of the "leading ladies" described in the "Electric Fantasy" make up line by L'Oreal Paris.

Avant-garde challenges are usually one of my favorites of the season, so I'm really excited to see what the designers came up with this week!

The designers drew buttons to determine which leading lady they would design for.  Fabio got the enchanted queen.  Sonjia got the seductive temptress.  Dmitry got the wise mystic.  Melissa got the artsy muse. Chris was picked last and got to choose.  He chose the enchanted queen.

The designers were given 45 minutes to sketch and the beautiful scenery of Oheka Castle in Long Island, New York to use as inspiration.  Their budget at Mood was $400.

Tim advised the designers that they really needed to knock the judges socks off this week, which only contributed to what seemed to be the main theme of this week's episode....pressure.

The mood in the work room this week was very subdued and there wasn't a whole lot of drama.  Everyone was very stressed and focused on trying to impress the judges and earn a spot in the finale.  Just to add on a bit more, Tim decided to do two critiques, one on the first day and one on the second, to make sure the designers had plenty of time to act on his advise.

Dmitry was very happy with the colors of his muse's makeup.  He decided to make a suit as a break from his normal routine of creating dresses.  In order to make his suit "avant-garde," Dmitry created a funky angular sleeve and added a sort of detached collar, that immediately made me think of Chippendales dancers and not in a good way.

Tim was concerned that Dmitry's look was not going to be avant-garde enough, but Dmitry decided to trust his gut and go with his original design...though I think he might have tacked that collar on to try and make his look more "out there."  Chris was impressed with Dmitry's design and called him his "biggest competition."

Sonjia was going for something revealing, but also very complex.  She immediately hit a snag with her design when she discovered the piece of fabric she most wanted to use was missing from her Mood bag, but she decided to make it a "make it work" moment.  However, Sonjia did struggle to settle on an idea and was completely stuck at Tim's first visit.  Tim lit a fire under her, telling her that she's very talented, but hasn't been living up to her potential and needed to pull out all the stops.

Tim's pep talk seemed to get Sonjia going and she settled on a floating illusion look, designed to make it look like the dress had sections of fabric floating over bare areas of skin.  Not my favorite look of hers.  Dmitry didn't like it either, saying it looked "cheap and costumey."

Chris decided to make a dress for an evil villain, based around his dark color palette.  Chris was happy with what he came up with, but Tim struggled to find the avant-garde in Chris' look and Chris had a hard time convincing him.  Chris admitted his look was a bit costumey, but he still thought it was a good design.

Melissa was disappointed that she missed out on the enchanted queen, since black is her thing, but decided to make the best of what she had by designing her look around the bold colors of the nail polish and using the more pastel colors of the makeup for her model's face.

As she often does, Melissa struggled with time management throughout this challenge and was one of the last designers to leave the workroom on runway day.  In the end, she was pleased with her work, but described it as a design that people would either love or hate.

Fabio's initial design did not get good reviews from Tim or Chris either one.  Tim thought the jacket looked dreary and costumey and Chris was baffled by Fabio's choice to put boy shorts on an enchanted queen.

After Tim's review, Fabio decided to literally turn his design upside down by flipping his jacket over, thereby changing the dimensions and making it look more avant-garde.  When Tim came back for his second critique, he loved Fabio's reworked jacket.  Melissa also loved the new design, but Sonjia wondered what Tim was thinking.

The Judging:

The guest judge for this week was Zoe Saldana.

Everybody got a judge's critique this week, so here they all are:

Sonjia - was inspired by Adam and Eve....with eve being that whole temping seductress I guess....

Heidi - loved the color and said she could see many stars wearing the dress on the red carpet.  She thought the mesh was too light.

Nina - thought green was the color of envy, not seduction.

Michael - thought it looked like an ice skating costume that Nancy Kerrigan wore through a banquet hall and all the table napkins jumped on the dress and stuck.  He didn't think it looked avant-garde at all.

Zoe - thought it looked incomplete, like Sonjia ran out of time.  She compared the top section of fabric to a cloth napkin.

Chris - wanted to give his model a really great hour glass shape

Michael - thought the makeup was gorgeous, but he thought the dress was a little too Gothic/Victorian and costumey.  He thought the feathers on the arms made her look like she had hairy arms and took the look into costume.  He thought adding bulk to the hips was a good move, but that she needed some construction in the bust.

Heidi - thought there was too much extra fabric in the bust area, but loved the back of the dress.

Zoe - agreed that the bust needed more construction and that the back was beautiful.

Nina - thought there were too many ideas in one dress.

Dmitry - wanted to combine the historical elements of the castle with modern day architecture

Heidi - thought it was amazing and looked good from any angle

Zoe - thought the sleeves were stunning, but the neck looked too Chippendales and cheapened the whole look.

Michael - said Dmitry was a brilliant tailor, but he thought the shoulders were too costumey and the neck was too "Vampira."

Nina - thought the details were incredible, but also thought the collar was a mis-step

Fabio - wanted to give his queen a very conflicted image and soul

Michael - thought the jacket was fantastic, but was lost on the pant.  He called the pants "a little momish."

Heidi - said she didn't respond to this look at all.  She thought his model looked like she was going to a funeral.

Zoe - didn't think the look was flattering, even though she thought the jacket was well cut.

Nina - thought the jacket was gorgeous and loved that it was reversible.

Melissa - was drawn to a modern take on muses

Michael - loved it and thought the color combo was terrific.  He thought the idea of separates was thrilling.  He thought the skirt was interesting and flattering.

Nina - loved the vest and the drama of the collar.  She though the skirt was too long, but overall liked it.

Heidi - wasn't sure who's outfit was uglier, Fabio's or Melissa's and was shocked that the other judges loved it.

Zoe - loved the futuristic look and liked how she took challenging fabrics and made them flattering.  She called the look "art."

Heidi quizzed all the designers on who should go to fashion week with them:

Melissa - Sonjia & Fabio

Fabio - Melissa & Chris

Dmitry - Fabio & Chris

Chris - Fabio & Dmitry

Sonjia - Melissa & Dmitry

Since there was a lot of disagreement on this week's designs the judges agreed that they needed to go back and look over the designer's work over the whole season.

The judges were glad to see that Melissa was able to make good use of color and step outside her black leather comfort zone.

They liked how Sonjia was consistent with her solid understanding of a woman's body and ability to create flattering looks, however they were concerned that she didn't have a strong enough design aesthetic.

The judges thought Chris' clothes had beautiful detailing but thought he was trying too hard to impress with his final look.  They all agreed that they would be excited to see a fashion show from him.

The judges praised Dmitry's construction skills but thought that his clothes were a bit too serious and severe and they were concerned about whether he had enough range to do an entire collection.

They thought Fabio was naturally the most conceptual and avant-garde, but Heidi thought he didn't have enough memorable moments.

First person in the finale was...Chris!  No surprise there.

The second finalist was....Dmitry!  He has really come on strong the past few weeks, so I'm glad he made it.

The third finalist was.....Melissa!  Yay!  She has been one of my favorites of the season and her look this week was by far my favorite look of the week.

The final finalist was....Fabio!  He has been hit and miss for me, but he's always a designer that even if I don't like the direction he is going, I'm always interested to see what he's going to come up with.

Out: Sonjia

I'm sad for Sonjia.  She has had some of my favorite designs of the season, but she has been very inconsistent and I thought her look this week was one of her biggest misses of the season.

So.....who is going to win?

I would love to see Melissa or Dmitry pull off a victory or maybe even Fabio come up with some sort of crazy genius collection, but I think Chris will win.  The judges absolutely love him and he's been pretty consistent.  His clothes are usually well done, but I find him kind of boring, so I'll be rooting for an upset.

What do you think?