Project Runway – Season 10 Episode 8 – Recap – Starving Artist
On Project Runway season 10, episode 8, "Starving Artist" the designers had to work in teams again. This time they would design a two look fall collection with the twist being that they would have to sell arts & crafts to raise the funds for their materials.
See who came out on top and who was just out in this week’s recap:
Last week, on Project Runway, the designers all competed to get their look manufactured, sold and in a display window at Lord and Taylor as part of a Project Runway collection. Chris designed the look the judges felt would best compliment the collection and was declared the winner, but was warned not to keep doing the same technique every week. Gunnar and Alicia ended up in the bottom two, but got a reprieve thanks to the two contestants who walked out earlier in the season.
The episode opened with Chris bitching about how pissed off he was that the judges picked that particular week not to send anyone home. In his opinion they should have saved Nathan instead, since he had better skills than Gunnar. I find it interesting how Gunnar got the bitchy diva edit for the first few weeks, then he got the sweet guy who cares about his clients and fellow designers edit the past couple weeks and now Chris is getting the bitchy diva edit.
For this week's challenge, the designers had to do their own fundraising in order to have funds to buy materials for their designs. Their fundraising task was to use a bunch of arts and crafts supplies to make something they would have to try to sell on the streets of New York. However, they weren't just limited to making things, they could offer services, like fashion advice if they so chose.
The designers were assigned to teams of three. Chris was teamed with Sonjia and Gunnar. Dmitry got Elena and Alicia. That left Ven, Melissa and Fabio as the last team and the only team that didn't have two designers who hate each other working together.
All of the teams ended up making t-shirts to sell. Elena was very unhappy with her team's shirts. Sonjia wasn't impressed with Elena's team's shirts either calling them "the most homeless t-shirts ever." Dmitry was upset with Elena's negative attitude, calling her "a walking depression," while Alicia just wanted Elena to calm down a bit, so they would have an easier time trying to convince people to buy their ugly shirts.
I was a bit disappointed that none of the teams tried to do anything creative or out of the box with this challenge. I get that none of them were really into it, but I was expecting at least one of them to try something other than bedazzling a t-shirt.
The teams had two hours to sell their merchandise. All of them were having trouble getting anyone interested in buying their shirts, but finally started to make some progress by basically asking for donations instead of trying to sell the shirts. Eventually, sales started to pick up and the teams began having a bit of fun with the challenge.
Ven's team raised over $800, Gunnar's over $600 and Elena's raised $500, which is the amount of money each team would end up with as their budget for Mood. They would have to create two looks for a fall collection as a team, at least one of which would have to be outer wear. One member of the winning team would be the overall winner and one member of the losing team would be out.
Elena immediately tried to take charge of her team, which of course pissed off Dmitry and Alicia wasn't that happy about it either. Elena's first complaint was about Dmitry wanting to do something with fringe, which I have to say she was right about because that fringe was just....ugh. Next she didn't like that Dmitry wanted to do a dress. Then she started making fun of Dmitry's accent, which prompted Dmitry to remark that he needed a silver bullet to kill "the witch."
Elena then moved to criticizing Alicia, saying that her pants weren't fit properly and wanting to send their shared look down the runway with the jacket closed, which would completely cover all of Alicia's work. After getting nowhere with Alicia, Elena went back to Dmitry, calling his scarf "that ugly ass scarf" and complaining that his desire to take over an entire look left her and Alicia having to split a single look between them, which wasn't fair. I must say she had a bit of a point there.
The constant bickering had Gunnar and Chris predicting that Dmitry and Elena would throw Alicia under the bus if their team ended up on the bottom. Chris compared the pair to Boris and Natasha, which is actually pretty accurate now that I think about it. I guess that would make Chris and Gunnar Moose and Squirrel.
Squirrel critisized Boris for sending out the same jersey dress every challenge. Tim wasn't that impressed with Dmitry either, questioning his overuse of the same technique every week. Elena and Melissa also thought it was a bad design move.
Sonjia's team focused on wool knits. They got off to a rough start, managing their time poorly in Mood and having to scramble to get all their materials together. Moose and Squirrel managed to work together better than expected, but Tim questioned whether Sonjia was "trying too hard" with her idea to put leather sleeves on her wool jacket. Elena said that Chris' "robe thing" looked like "an ugly ass snuggy." Squirrel thought his two dresses looked the best of their collection (Fabio agreed saying he was in love with them). Squirrel added that his dresses were the show stoppers and the "Legend of Zelda vest" and the "not even finished trench coat" were bringing the collection down. Which was bad news considering Moose had immunity and if their team lost, the elimination would be between Squirrel and Sonjia.
Melissa, Ven and Fabio got along pretty well, but Melissa was worried about Fabio's collar. Elena said Fabio's coat looked like a dress. Dmitry couldn't understand how the team with $800 to spend made a collection that looked "so cheap." Sonjia was tired of Ven's "fan effect" that he keeps using in every challenge and Tim didn't think Ven's skirt went with the rest of the collection. Based on Tim's feedback, which Ven of course didn't agree with, they ended up scrapping Ven's original skirt and starting over. Ven was being a busy body on his team as well, but Melissa was thrilled that Ven cut and sewed her pants for her. After finishing the collection, Ven thought they had a chance to be in the top.
The Judging:
Heidi announced that this was the last week there would be immunity. The guest judge for the week was fashion designer Anna Sui.
Winning Team: Sonjia, Christopher & Gunnar - They wanted to make a collection that represented the modern New York woman.
Sonjia created the hunter green jacket, Gunnar did the two dresses and the neck piece. Chris made the camel hair trench coat.
Michael - thought they really "did the trick" on creating sophisticated sportswear. He complimented Chris' tailoring on the camel hair jacket, saying it was a very difficult fabric to work with.
Heidi - loved Sonjia's jacket and said it was her favorite piece of the night.
Nina - loved the tailoring of Sonjia's jacket both from the front and the back. She loved the color on the camel coat and thought it was clever to do the different color sleeves.
Anna - wanted to know how the team worked together (in other words the producers asked her to manufacture some drama by giving the teams a chance to throw each other under the bus)
Gunnar noted that they all have different personalities, but all were able to get their own input in. Anna thought they were smart to use each person's strengths.
Heidi asked them to nominate who on their team should win.
Chris - Gunnar (shocker!), because Gunnar designed two very nice dresses. Gunnar - Gunnar, because he thought his dresses held the collection together. Sonjia - Sonjia, because she thought she did a great job on her jacket.
Bottom Two Teams:
1. Dmitry, Alicia & Elena - wanted to make something structural and modern but feminine.
Alicia made the pants and top and Elena the coat on the outerwear look. Dmitry made everything on the other look.
Elena immediately threw Dmitry under the bus, saying he wouldn't compromise and that it wasn't fair that he got a whole look, while she had to share one. Dmitry blamed Elena's being hard to work with for their failure. Elena said they had to shape the whole collection around Dmitry's dress because he doesn't know how to do anything else.
Nina - thought the dress was fine, but was tired of seeing the same thing from Dmitry all the time. She thought the shawl was well made, but looked "old lady." Thought Elena's coat looked better closed and had too much volume. Nina said these over-sized coats seems to be all Elena can do and the coat looked inexpensive.
Michael - thought if Elena thought she was the only person who could do a coat, she should have done it better. Thought the shawl had nothing to do with the dress. Didn't like that Elena's coat could only be worn closed and thought Alicia's pieces were boring. Said it showed that they didn't work together.
Anna - said that all the team conflict showed in the clothes. Told them they had to learn to work together.
Heidi - asked who they would nominate to go home
Elena - Dmitry because he didn't spread the work evenly. Dmitry - Elena because of all the negativity. Alicia - Dmitry because she respects Elena more as a designer.
2. Melissa, Fabio & Ven - wanted the collection to be warm, but light
Ven made the skirt and pants that Melissa designed. Fabio made the knit tops and the mohair coat. Melissa made the white jacket.
Nina - liked Melissa's white jacket. She thought the knit shirt was too sheer and too tight. She was astounded that the collection looked so cheap when they had the most money to spend on fabric.
Heidi - was her least favorite team and she didn't like anything other than the white jacket. She thought it looked sad and washed out. She thought the crotch on the pants looked weird.
Michael - called the mohair coat a "full flop." He commented that the pants needed something a girl doesn't have in the crotch (I'm guessing peen!). He called the mohair coat a "grandma coat." He questioned where Ven was in all this. Ven told them he started a piece and scrapped it because they didn't want to use it. Michael said his skirt looked like his first design school project.
Anna - thought they all could have done better on the fit and the execution. She thought they were actually too nice to each other and didn't challenge each other enough.
Heidi asked who should go home.
None of them wanted to nominate anyone, saying it was a team effort, but:
Ven - Fabio, because his coat was the weakest piece. Fabio - Ven, because he likes Melissa better. Melissa - Fabio, because she thought his knit top was the weakest garment.
Winner: Sonjia - the judges loved her jacket, though Nina noted that Chris' coat would photograph better.
Out: Alicia - the judges thought her garments were boring and that she didn't show any spirit and didn't fight to have her work noticed.
Sonjia's jacket is one of my favorite garments of the season, so I was really happy that she won. I hope this means she has her mojo back now after a rough couple weeks.
I liked Alicia's personality a lot and I liked some of the designs she auditioned for the show with, but she never really did do anything that outstanding during the competition, so I can't really argue with her getting sent home.
If Elena doesn't step up and do something amazing, I have a feeling she is next. I don't think the judges like her much.
I guess the moral of the story is that in order to work well as a team you have to be able to tolerate, but not actually like each other.
Next week: Mondo!