Inspiration

Project Runway - Season 2, Episode 8

Previously on Project Runway: The designers were told to create a figure skating dress for...a figure skater. Really, it would have been more of a challenge if they'd designed a figure skating dress for a sumo wrestler. Tim told Santino to be less of a dick on the runway. The overlock machines took center stage. On the runway, Zulema's swan dress took home the challenge, Santino went too far with his designs yet again, and self-satisfied guest judge Anne Slowey led a charge against Emmett that resulted in his ouster. Bitch. Seven designers remain. Who will be out tonight?

Opening credits. "Heck, yeah...[Nick] is going to win this." Well, with that positive attitude, I'm sure he won't be thrown into a massive sulking fit that almost sends him home.

Morning comes to the Atlas. Zulema downplays her win, while Santino interviews that after the feathery mess of his figure skating outfit, he's decided to not take any risks with this next garment. Wait, did Santino just have a moment of self-awareness? Nice! I knew he wasn't a complete tool. The after-challenge interviews are thankfully short this week, and we head straight to the runway. Heidi tells the designers that their next challenge will be based on their creativity and inspiration, and that they'll be meeting Michael Kors later to talk more about it. But first, the Pointless Model Selection. I mean, we all know that Zulema is going to stick with...hey, what's happening? Zulema isn't going to stick with Rachael! She's dumping her! Oh, snap. The rest of the models are brought out. Heidi asks Zulema who she wants to switch Rachael with, and Zulema ups the oh-no-she-di'int factor by requesting a walk-off between Danyelle, Tarah, and Shannon. Andrae's eyes threaten to bug right out of his head. We cut right to a interview that's about 0.4 seconds long, and consists entirely of Danzzz gleefully saying, "It's a motherfuckin' walk-off!" Hehehehe. That was awesome. Nick is no longer all smiles, now that the model he adores is ripe for picking. Tension builds. The walk-off is interesting. Santino voices-over that this is the first time someone hasn't stayed loyal to their model. That's not quite true. Daniel did jump from Rebecca to Claudia way back in "Clothes Off Your Back", but of course that was when they were actually choosing models for the first time. Also, how weird is it that Santino is making a moral judgment? Is this the same Santino who screams at the judges and shredded Marla every chance he got?

Anyway, Danyelle and Shannon don't really do anything differently, but it looks to me like Tarah intentionally walks badly so that she doesn't get chosen. I guess it doesn't work, since Zulema does pick Tarah, which she probably wanted to do all along. Tarah looks upset. Nick looks upset. Rachael and her ridiculously long fake eyelashes look upset. Nick interviews that's he's upset. So, people are upset, in case you didn't pick up on that. Zulema turns in her seat and whispers an apology to Nick, and he suspects what I do; that the walk-off was just for dramatic effect. Since Zulema chose Tarah, Rachael goes to Nick, and Shannon is eliminated. So, wait. If Zulema picks Rachael, Shannon is out. If Zulema picks any other model, Shannon is out. So, the only way for Shannon to remain in is if Zulema chooses her directly, and who's out if that happens? Rachael? That doesn't seem right. I'm still baffled and annoyed by these model selection rules. Zulema interviews that she changed models because Rachael's a sucky walker, and isn't really too concerned with Nick's feelings, saying that if he feels that strongly about it, he can just win the challenge, and take Tarah back. As unnecessary as I found the walk-off, I agree with her 100% on this. Rachael is a sucky walker, and Zulema choosing a new model isn't even distasteful, let alone wrong.

That dispensed with, the designers walk to Michael Kors' headquarters. He talks to them about his inspirations, which is fairly boring, except it's nice to see him talking without trying so desperately to be a catty bitch. He tells the designers he's got gifts for them, and pulls out a box. This immediately reminds me of the scene in Clue where all the weapons are passed out, but it wouldn't be much of a mystery in this case. I'm sure it'd turn out to be Santino with the overlock machine in the workroom. This box, however, doesn't contain a lead pipe, but digital cameras for all the designers. As Andrae accepts his, he puts his fingers all over the screen. Not even five seconds old, and it already needs Windex. Nice going, feeb. The designers are to take their cameras and wander around New York for an hour taking pictures. They will then select one photo to be the inspiration for their next garment. That's a neat idea.

Everyone wanders around. Andrae tells someone else to keep his eyes open. Easy for him to say; his eyes are often so open, I mistake him for a chihuahua. Sorry, I still have some residual bitterness towards Andrae from last week, when his ugly dress didn't get taken to task. Pictures, pictures, pictures. Chloe points out that Nick is barely shooting anything. He agrees, and interviews that he mainly draws inspiration from his model, and now that Tarah isn't his model, he's kind of at a loss. Understandable, but how far can Nick expect to go in the design world only designing for one person at a time? He loses me even more when he talks about how terrible Zulema is for causing this uproar. Again, the method she used wasn't the best, but changing models is well within the rules of the show, so I wish he'd stop acting as if she's switched his checkers around when he wasn't looking. Back in the workroom, the designers choose their photographs. Santino says he "edited" through his photographs, by which he means "looked", and chose a shot of overlapping graffiti. It's a pretty cool picture, and a good idea. Danzzz just chose the first picture he took, which was of two orchids in the lobby at Michael Kors' studio. Andrae's picture is of some dirty water in the gutter, which he attempts to explain poetically by saying that it looked pretty in the sunshine. I think it's a good basis for his idea, but I've been over the ugly-things-presented-as-beautiful gimmick ever since Family Guy brilliantly parodied that scene in American Beauty when Wes Bentley films the floating bag. Nick is moody some more. Tim Gunn enters and asks everyone to gather around. He tells them he cares about them all, and that's why it's time to rip them new assholes. He says that the work in the past few challenges has been lackluster. I agree. When I try and think of the prettiest clothes I've seen so far, they're from "Clothes Off Your Back" (episode 2), "All Dolled Up" (episode 3), and "Social Scene" (episode 5). So, it's been a while. Commercials.

When we return, Tim gives the designers individual critiques. Danzzz loses momentum from the idea phase to the construction phase. Chloe needs to step out of her comfort zone. That's pretty much bullshit. The judges consistently love Chloe's work, and for all the talk that she's in danger of becoming one-note, the second she starts veering from her general ideas, the judges will say "What happened to the Chloe we know and love?" and cut her. Tim tells Zulema to take risks. Zulema responds that she doesn't chance risks due to the time constraints they have. Tim tells her the judges understand the time crunch, and to not worry about it. Keep that in mind for later. Kara is the only one left who hasn't won a challenge. Santino is in serious jeopardy. Tim doesn't elaborate on that, but he doesn't need to. Andrae and Nick are given the same critique: be more ambitious. So really, Chloe, Zulema, Kara, Nick and Andrae all got the same advice in different words. Nick, still feeling low from the model switch, disregards Tim's advice completely. Because that worked out so well for Lupe and Raymundo.

Nick interviews that this was the last straw. So, it takes two straws to break Nick's back. What a trouper. He tells us that part of him just wants to quit; that he's over the show. And you know what? I'm kind of over Nick. I mean, I understand that he's upset and he has every right to be glum. I know he adores Tarah. But it's not just that. I loved him and his work to death for the first three episodes, but he's been on a constant downslide since then. His work has gotten more and more dull, he's become Santino's whipping boy while whining passive-aggressively about Santino in interviews, he condemns Zulema for doing something well within her rights, and he's considering quitting the show; giving up a spot that hundreds of people would be thrilled to have, simply because he has to design a dress for someone other than Tarah. Jesus, what a baby. Nick, now that you're over the show, maybe you can start on getting over yourself.

The designers head over to the fabric store for their standard thirty minutes of shopping (and $100 for supplies). Danzzz seems to know exactly what he wants. Santino finds a beautiful fabric that's multi-colored and matches the graffiti picture well. Zulema interviews again about her time-management issues. Have you picked up on the theme of Zulema's time-management issues yet? I'm sure the producers would be happy to beat you over the head with it forty more times if it would help. Nick asks for Tim's advice on picking out fabric for a blond model since he's been switched. This is the first Tim has heard of the switch, and he has some choice words about Rachael. "She's such a problem. She's like an elongated marshmallow. It's just these Gumby legs, and she's such a stiff [unintelligible, due to Nick's murmuring]." Ouch! Tim's insults are voiced-over a montage of Rachael coming down the runway in various outfits, and she does, indeed, suck. That talk with Tim wasn't much help to Nick, who's already feeling bad enough about the model switch, but it does confirm that Zulema didn't pull this move just to be a bitch. It seems fairly clear that nobody has much use for Rachael.

Back in the workroom, Danzzz realizes how torn up Nick is, and goes over to talk to him. Nick does some more poor-me-I'm-done-with-this bullshit, and Danzzz does the exactly right thing by telling him that it'd be dumb to quit over something like this. "Go home because you deserve to go home. Not because of some technical detail," Danzzz says, and warns Nick to think of the bigger picture. Danzzz is wiser than a lot of the older designers. Nick interviews that Danzzz's advice snapped him back into reality, and he's ready to take on the challenge. I'm suspicious of that statement's veracity, but if it means we don't have to watch him pout anymore, I'm all for it. The designers all work for a while. Dinner break hits, and everyone avoids eating with Zulema, which she says is almost like being in kindergarten. Hey, kindergarten wasn't like that at all. Junior high, on the other hand... Anyway, if the designers truly are giving Zulema the silent treatment because of the model thing, then they're assholes, but I've got the impression that they're not all that wild about Zulema anyway. We're still not that far from "I don't believe in fairness." and "Whoever took a form needs to return it right now!", so it's not like she's Suzy Lovesalot. Zulema also interviews that people are looking at her like she's "shysty", and she's not "shysty", y'all! Um, "shysty"? It seems like that's supposed to be a mix of shyster and sneaky, but still. "Shysty"? No. She also goes on to say that every time she wins a challenge, she's going to switch models. That, I really don't see any reason for, except to keep the other designers in a constant state of panic. I can understand dumping Rachael, but why not stick with a model that you like?

Commercials. We come back into the workroom, where Santino is doing an absolutely dead-on impersonation of Tim Gunn. Everyone is totally cracking up. Especially me. Tim actually enters soonafter, but it doesn't sound like he heard anything. Misleading preview! Tim asks Nick how he's doing. We see Nick's photograph, a completely uninspiring, boring design of some cross pattern on fabric. Snore. Tim slags Rachael some more, and tells Nick to make sure she walks the hell out of this dress, or it won't work. Tim and Santino exchange about fifteen meaningless words, then Tim moves on to Andrae and repeats his criticism about Andrae being more ambitious. Kara's is too literal-minded. Zulema doesn't know what the hell she's doing, and interviews again about her time-management woes. Tim thinks Danzzz's is stunning, but warns against the "Santino effect", which is not being able to leave things alone when they're finished. Santino hears him and gives Tim some trouble for making fun of him. Not too much, though, because even Santino knows how hypocritical it would be of him to pitch a fit over this. Everyone gets back to work. Danzzz interviews that they have less time on this challenge than on others, so it's a "fucking fashion marathon". But...marathons are long. It's more of a fashion sprint, Danzzz. You work on the clothes. Leave the metaphors to me. With twenty minutes to go, Zulema still has nothing. That's pretty unacceptable. She's stressing way too much over the "take risks" lecture Tim gave her, and she's shutting down. That night, Nick complains to his roommates about Zulema taking Tarah. Oh my God, shut up.

Morning. Kara rouses Zulema out of bed very gently, like she's her mommy. Aw. Everyone's tense as always before a runway show. Nick has apparently taken up the torch of ugly sunglasses. Do ugly sunglasses always appear when Rachael is nearby? Has she been cursed by a really weird gypsy or something? At the workroom, the models enter. Tarah looks like she's going to the electric chair. We get our first model interview of the season as Tarah tells us she hated Zulema's dress. At first, I put this down to sour grapes, but since Zulema herself didn't know what the hell she was doing with this dress, I could be wrong. She also interviews that Zulema had to sew her into the dress, and kept poking her with the needle. OK, that would suck. Rachael's ridiculous eyelashes also have an interview in which they say they're going to work extra hard to show Zulema up, because Nick is their favorite. Now that was sour grapes. Nick makes Rachael feel comfortable, which was very nice of him, and seems to be taking to her a lot better this morning. When Zulema's not looking, Tarah sneaks over and tells Nick how jealous she is. Heh. The models go into the makeup room. I feel bad for the makeup people, forced to make some sort of cosmetics choice based on designer descriptions like Kara's "Danger, No Trespassing". What do you say to that? "Oh, 'Danger, No Trespassing'? We'll have to use the light cream foundation!" Santino impersonates Tim some more, to the point that I actually thought Tim was in the room for a second. Commercials.

Runway. Heidi blah blahs about the challenge. The judges tonight will be Michael Kors, Nina Garcia (yay!), and Jay McCarroll, winner of Project Runway, Season 1. I'm sorry to spoil it for anyone who didn't watch the first season, but if you watched this episode, the cat's already out of the bag. Let's start the show. Danyelle is first in Andrae's dress. OK, you know I love to rip on Andrae, but I try to give him credit where it's due, and it's definitely due in this case. The dress is light gray, with a flowing bottom, and there are sparkles in a diagonal pattern down the front to symbolize the gutter water. He did, in fact, manage to make something very pretty that still has obvious connections to the original photograph. As usual, he's done something weird with the shoulders that I don't like, but overall it's very well done. Next is Eden in Kara's dress. I don't want to give the impression that I don't think it's cute, because I do. Especially the neckline. But what the hell has Kara been working on all this time? It's a sleeveless, form fitting, black dress, with a yellow and black stripe that winds from the front to the back. That's it. It's not impressive, particularly when considering that this has pretty much nothing to do with her original shot, which was a "Warning: No Trespassing" sign.

Santino's dress (modeled by Heather, as always) is pretty interesting. The colors are lovely, and the flowing bottom makes it look very glamorous. Plus, the connection with the graffiti photograph is evident, which is impressive. The waistline, however, is really bad. It's bunched, and it's way too high up on the body. It looks really out of place. Rebecca is next in Danzzz's dress. I love the colors. The skirt is an olive green tweed, and the top is a champagne-colored shiny fabric that has been bunched at the waist, but balloons out toward the top to symbolize the flowers. It's very neat. Grace is next in Chloe's outfit. It's a little simplistic and boring for my tastes. There's a baggy underlay of light blue or purple, and stripes of the blue that Chloe always uses across the stomach. Chloe's picture is of a building, and while the dress does echo the skyscraper with its clean lines and colors, it's still a drab outfit. Rachael in Nick's dress. Split the screen in half, and I'd be happy. The bottom of the outfit is lovely, a navy blue skirt cut up on one leg. The top, however, doesn't look good. It's poofy blue and white fabric that makes it look like Rachael has saggy boobs, which she doesn't. The connection to the original picture of the cross on the fabric is minimal. Tarah in Zulema's dress is next. It's not pretty. I like the red coloring immensely, but the top is just a basic tank top badly attached to a darker red skirt. Zulema's original picture was a woman in African garb. I'm not seeing it, apart from the red.

The designers step onto the runway. Nobody's declared automatically safe this week. The models emerge. The cameramen make sure to get a shot of huge Grace next to tiny Chloe again. Heh. I never get tired of that. The judges love Danzzz's dress, and it translates well from the photograph. Chloe. Jay feels her dress should have been more geometric to match the building. Chloe says she'd have preferred that as well, but did the best she could with the time constraints. Jay gets snippy about how he's been in that situation (prompting a flashback of one of his dresses from season 1), and doesn't accept her excuse. Nina disagrees, saying that while the inspiration didn't translate as well as some of the others, the overall dress is very nice. Go, Nina! Kara goes into a ramble about how New York can be inviting and restrictive at the same time. Jay tells her that her big speech doesn't match the simplicity of her dress. Once again, he's right on substance, but manages to say it in such a way that makes you want to shove a lit firecracker in his nostril.

Everyone likes Andrae's dress a great deal. Nick starts to blab some folderol about the inspiration he drew from a fabric swatch. I really think he's making this up as he's going along, because he wasn't being inspired by anything at the time, due to his model snit. He talks about how the color made him think of Paris Hilton in Greece. I actually first heard this as "Paris Hilton in Grease". Go ahead and imagine her as Sandy. I'll wait for the giggles to subside. The judges say that they see none of Nick's story in the dress. Michael says he loves the top. Boo! Zulema says she tried to fuse African style with Western cut, which sounds like it would have been a really great idea, had it worked. Nina tells her this is the third time that Zulema's had execution problems. There's a shot of the ass-baring dress from "Clothes Off Your Back" and the Banana Republic dress from "Window Shopping". Zulema tries to explain to the judges that she was trying to take Tim's lecture to heart and take risks. Nina reads this as Zulema shoving the blame for a bad dress onto Tim, but I disagree. Zulema's saying that she tried to do something different (based on Tim's advice - including advice not to take the time constraint so seriously), and ran out of time because she's not used to such a design. It's a reason, not an excuse.

Santino explains his graffiti dress. Jay bitchily (actually, you should just assume that everything Jay says is bitchily) says that Santino used the same fabric as one of the other designers did in a challenge in the previous season. Everyone gasps like Santino used the skin of a live puppy. So fucking what if he used the same fabric? What, if someone uses brown corduroy for a challenge, nobody else is allowed to use it ever? Jay keeps trying to point out similarities between this dress and a dress that Santino likely saw for forty seconds several months ago, as if Santino's trying to rip someone off. It's bullshit. The only similarity is the color, which is lovely, so why not reuse it?. Heidi also points out the waist problem that I mentioned above. Thankfully, the judges recognize that Santino tried very hard to break out of his normal mode for this challenge, and that the problems with the dress are minute and easily fixable. The designers are sent off for deliberations. Chloe's was pretty, but not fully fleshed-out. Kara's was too simple. Nick's was unmemorable. Zulema's was uninspired, unenergetic, and poorly presented. Andrae's was lovely. Danzzz's was lovely as well. Nina thinks Santino's looked unfinished, but her main problem seems to be that she doesn't approve of graffiti as inspiration. I'm starting to like Nina more and more, but right now, she needs to get off her high horse. You cannot tell the designers you're going to judge on a final dress, then judge on the initial inspiration. Down that path lies the bullshit that went down in "Window Shopping", and I am not anxious to revisit it. Michael says the most puzzling thing yet, which is that the gutter water and orchid dresses are exceptional because they're "different things to look at." Huh? You're right, Michael. Nobody else is inspired by flowers. Doof. The designers are called back out.

This week's fun trivia tidbit to avoid tiresome, repetitive show dialogue: Holland's economy once rose and fell based entirely on speculation in tulips. That speculation also contributed to the modern concept of the stock market. But hey, nobody ever looks at flowers.

Elimination. Chloe is in. Nick is in. He's not beyond hope. Lose the attitude, Nick. The winner of the challenge is Danzzz. I'd agree with that. It's a very nice dress. Andrae is in. Santino is in. That leaves Kara and Zulema. Zulema's dress was poorly designed and poorly made. Kara's was unoriginal. And for the first time this season, a designer slides from first to worst as Kara is declared in, which means Zulema is eliminated. She takes the loss with dignity. She interviews that while she's certainly not BFF with the other designers, they've become friends throughout the process. Kara's crying. I can't tell if that's because of Zulema's ouster or because it was very nearly Kara herself. Zulema says she has the talent to be in the final three, but that any mistake can cost you. Eh. I'd say she's going at just about the right time. Zulema certainly grew on me more in these past few episodes, but with the exception of the figure skating outfit, she was never able to create anything particularly attractive. As if she heard me think that, she gives me one final "up yours" - the ugly sunglasses manage to make one more appearance as she clears out.

Next week on Project Runway: Another field trip. Chloe has ugly mall bangs for some reason. Tim catches Santino doing an impersonation of him. No, for real this time.

Overall Grade: B-