It's Not Easy Bein' Green

Project Runway - Season 5, Episode 2

Tonight's episode kicks off with the traditional model selection, and we notice that this year's crop of models is a lot prettier than in the past couple of seasons. Good casting. This general cloud of beauty makes Jerell's consternation all the more confusing when someone yoinks the girl he's worked with for all of one challenge.

Tiffany: "Does he think he's going to get the fat, ugly one?"

The models aren't just for show this week. The designers are tasked with creating a cocktail dress for their model, made out of green fabrics. That's "green" as in environmentally responsible, not "green" as in...green. As a further twist, the models are the ones taken shopping. The restriction of using eco-fabric makes the selection somewhat slim, and a few of the models wind up with the same copper-colored material.

Back at the workroom, Stella ignores her model's wishes, while everyone else makes fun of her wish that every challenge incorporated leather. Suede annoys everyone by talking in the third-person, which is such an outdated personality flaw, it's not even enjoyable to make fun of anymore. Korto confounds Tim by putting darts on the outside of her garment, and Leanne wants to separate herself from the other two copper material dresses by making hers really ugly. OK, maybe that's not what she wants, but it's what she does.

The runway show begins, with Natalie Portman as guest judge. The viewing party's favorites include Keith, Terri, Joe, and Kenley, so of course the judges ignore three of them. They decree Kenley, Stella, and Suede as the top three. OK, Stella really did pull out a fairly impressive dress, but Suede? Really? Yes, really. In fact, so really that he wins, and his outfit will be sold to the public, despite the fact that only Courtney Love and Bjork will buy one. Meanwhile, Korto, Wesley, and Leanne drop to the bottom three. Again, huh? Maybe Korto's inside-out darts didn't work out the way they were supposed to, but her dress is a thousand times prettier than Blayne's trashy, '80s-prom-lookin' hooker-wear. The other two are legitimately fug. Leanne's dress has way too much going on, and Wesley's is a tacky, ill-fitting mess. It's enough of a mess that he gets eliminated, and I experience a moment of regret, as Wesley's fairly cute. Then I notice that he's wearing a gray jacket over a blue shirt, tan shorts, and FIRE ENGINE RED shoes. All right, go ahead and eliminate him. Nobody with taste that bad deserves to stick around.

Overall Grade: B