Inspiration Orange - PR Season 6, Episode 10

You guys...I have a confession to make.


My blog is called Naturally Blonde, right? And I've always been a blonde. It basically defines me...and my clumsiness.

BEFORE

So I went and I dyed my hair auburn and lobbed off about 6 inches. Granted, it looks AWESOME, but I feel like I should change the name of my blog or something. Fake RedHead? Yeah it's probably not going to happen, since I'm still a natural blond and all. That and I'm lazy.

What say you?

AFTER

Now that I've got that off my hairline, let's get to the show!


Heidi tells the designers that they will be heading to Rodeo Drive to ogle all of Michael Kors'(s?) designs. Everyone is staring at the high end shops on Rodeo Drive and are all "OMG! We don't have these where I come from!"


I can see a Gucci, Jimmy Choo, Louis and a Barney's Co-op from my window and work. I work in freakin' Maryland. Quite with the "I don't get it's" and learn the industry ladies.

Michael counts his millions.

So the designers have to choose a location to draw inspiration from out of Orangina's inspiring locations.

Carol Hannah chooses first and picks Palm Beach
Nicolas chooses Greece which would have been my first choice
Althea chooses St. Tropez which totally suits her
Gordana chooses New York
Irina chooses Aspen and is excited to make a ski lodge type design
Christopher chooses Santa Fe

Logan gets stuck with Hollywood and they play this goofy music and everyone laughs which I don't get because look at the man. He's a fucking surfer boy and they've been in LA for a couple of months. He should know his business by now. Of course we're talking about a man who owns, and wears, silver pants.


They are given $150 to shop at Mood and Irina is all "Fur's EXPENSIVE!" Maybe you should have picked Hollywood?


The designers get to work and Chris talks about his absence of formal training and Irina is giving everyone stank eye. Typical day in the workroom.


Tim comes by to give everyone the shlits and it looks like Gordana has legit only done the neck of her outfit. Come on, make some Upper East Side fabulousness and blow these American assholes out to the water.


Chris's looks like it's going to be a hot mess mixture of Epperson's Western Movie outfit and Irina and Gordana's crappy winning blue shirt from that one time.


Tim gives him the business about how a long western inspired skirt is the worst design idea ever.

Ummmmmmm. Ew.

Irina says "An Amish woman wouldn't even wear that." Irina, I've seen the Amish. They bring the sexy. Don't hate. I just realized that Irina's a Jew though, which I also am, and we are scared of most of the super religions.


I kid. But seriously, I knew there was a reason I liked this bitch.



As the day goes on, Christopher's design just seems to be getting worse.

They said INSPIRED by the location, not a sky and mountain representation of the Santa Fe skyline. He claims to have cut off 20 inches of "mountain" and I hope that makes it look less like a saloon dress.


Mmmmm, Gordana is cooking bacon again. Gordana is my hero.


Runway day arrives and I'm pretty sure Carol Hannah shrunk overnight.

Attack of the 50 Foot Model

The designers are all scrambling to put their finishing touches on their garments with their models and everything is looking pretty good so far. Except Chris's. I can't tell for sure, but it still appears to be a hot mess. Didn't Ra'mons time on this show teach us anything about new beginnings?


Runway success! La Nina and Orangina are back together where they belong and are joined by Ms. Milla Jovovich who I've always had a one-sided (I think) crush on. Milla actually has experience as a designer, so she should make for a good guest judge.


Althea is quickly ushered off the runway after the show as she lands smack in the middle.


It's cute and sun-kissed looking, just like St. Tropez should be. Innovative it isn't. Althea seemed to have a lot of fun with this challenge and it appeared that she had one set vision that she followed through with. She wasn't re-inventing the wheel by any means, but it's pretty and met the challenge guidelines well.


The ladies have remained dominant this year and Gordana, Carol Hannah, and Irina took the top three spots this week.



This dress came out really beautiful. I think it's elegant and sexy and really captures New York elegance. I could see this on Serena VanDerWhatever on Gossip Girl.


I secretly wish that Gordana had done the grungier side of New York, like Soho, but this was a good solid entry. I know the judges poo-poo'ed the piping, but I like it. I think it keeps the eye moving without being too distracting and it complements that beautiful collar.


Carol Hannah went back in time a couple of weeks and re-did the beach challenge.



Just kidding.


I'm having a hard time remembering that this was taped so long ago. I saw this and kept thinking about how tired I am of seeing Maxi Dresses on EVERYONE. Considering this was taped long before the summer of the maxi, it's very on trend and there's no denying it is beautiful.


Like Althea's, it's nothing earth shattering, but the twisting and braiding at the top is done so well that it adds a rich element to a fun dress.


Once again, Irina snatches the win into her bitchy and capable hands.



And, I LOVE it! This design is exactly what this challenge was about. She picked up that Aspen card and came up with a concept that was indicative of the location but not literal or costum-ey.


Okay, it's borderline costume, but it had such a strong point of view that you cannot deny how she easily won. In addition to her execution of her concept, the outfit is just beautiful. It looks expensive and appropriate and it fits Kalyn like a glove.


The sweater was beautiful and the cut out back gave it a touch of sex. The vest was cute and didn't overpower the sweater, while the pants stayed understate to show off the other pieces.


I HOPE to look that put together when my car is snowed in this winter and I'm slipping on black ice. Congrats Irina!


Onto our favorite subject. Boys on the bottom!



Good GOD, Koji's waist is small!


This is one of the most wearable and interesting designs that Nicolas has ever done. That top is simply gorgeous and those pants are fabulous.


Does it remind me of Greece? Not at all. I'm not sure how he could have saved this. Maybe made the shirt into a dress and in a different color? The white is too literal, but it's clearly a Nicolas staple.


So Nicolas didn't follow the challenge, but he made beautiful pieces that had originality.

Originality is the best thing about fashion, so why was he sent home, when the other two bottom boys lacked that aspect?


Logan's outfit looks like Celine should be throwing newspapers and wearing a hat.



It must be the suspenders. Yeah I just said "suspenders". This is not good.


Logan explains his design as something that Lindsay Lohan or Mary Kate Olsen would wear and that's just not even close to being correct. Lindsay may be a big ball of crazy lately, but at least she's original.


You can seriously buy Logan's outfit anywhere, but why would you? There's nothing special about it.


Heidi is all "I didn't mind it." That's not a reason to keep someone. If it's so simple to have little to no opinion, then that's a problem. "If this was called 'Project I Didn't Mind It', then he would win." Thank you Milla.


Logan's was a piece of priceless art compared to Chrisopher's piece of crap.




Matar looks like her purse should be one of those cow skulls with the horns. Like the front of the RV's from Road Rules from back in the day. That would make this outfit perfect and REALLY invoke a Santa Fe feel.


I just don't get this. Granted, I think he had one of the hardest locations, but he could have tried a little harder. This is just so literal. It's the sky and the ground, in a dress!


It could have been Indian inspired. He seemed to be on the right track with the belt, but everything else just fell apart and this is unoriginal and not what the challenge called for.



Of course, Christopher gets the "In". Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Nicolas fan by any means, but this week he did not deserve to go over Christopher. I love Christopher, but the last few weeks, him and Logan have been in the Bottom Three together THREE times! They have taken out designers who had stronger concepts and designs (except Shirin's piece of crap), and I just don't get where the judging is at.



On his way out, Nicolas says he's going to take a break from designing. I hope it's not permanent. He's far from my favorite, but I saw him grow a lot throughout his time on the show and I hope he is able to channel this growth and use it to his advantage.



Only 6 designers are left! I can't believe we have waited so long and now it's almost over. Let's see if Chris and Logan can redeem themselves next week...

Yitchy Kitschy - Project Runway Season 6, Episode 9

And kitschy, it was! Thank god, I LOVE kitsch.

Heidi opens the challenge by telling the designers that they will be meeting Tim in a SUPER secret location with a SUPER secret guest.

I totally forgot from last week, that Bob Mackie was a guest judge and when I saw him I geeked out really hard. He's so amazing, I can't even begin.

I mean, I can definitely talk about the fillers he's clearly using, but I still can't begin to explain my sheer love for this man.

Tim is there to greet the designers and explain to them how their challenge is to incorporate Bob Mackie's style influence into a stagewear design.

Look at all the sequins and sparkle! He's a master, it's not even funny.

I love how Cher is mentioned in like every episode of this show. As you all know, Bob Mackie created her iconic looks for many years, both on stage and off.

I've always been a huge Cher nerd and watching the designers try to do this:

...is going to be hilarious.

Tim let's everyone know that they will be creating this look for international superstar, and runner up for the Mascara Wand of Horror Award, Christina Aguilera. Winner of the award?

I mean....duh.


So Tim sends the designers on to Mood with $300 to spend on fabric and sequins and feathers and glitz and all that crap.

Carol Hannah legitimately bought one to two yards of every sparkly fabric that Mood carries and she lays it all out on her design table. It looks like Liberace vomitted on her sewing station.

Shirin is having a ton of trouble and has no clue what to do.

You look really cute when you're floundering.

Irina is predictably bitchy and hilarious throughout the design process as Althea, Nicolas and herself have all done costume sparkles before.

Ho. Sit. Down.

Tim comes in to see what all of the designers are working on and OH. MY. GOD. You guys, Shirin's design is making me wanna cry.

It's like really bad and ugly and it looks like a dated prom dress that would have been made fun of. It's really awful. She has panels in her dress like fake hippie's used to do in the 90's with their jeans. It's REALLY REALLY bad.

Oh my god, it's so bad. I just keep talking about how bad it is because it's so ugly and awful. I can't even make any right about it because it's just so wrong.

In other news, Chris is making booty shorts and a corset and thinks it's 1998.

On the real. Your design sucks ass.

He seems to think that we are designing for the Lady Marmalade video. If only Pink and Lil' Kim were around, I could get behind this shit.

After Tim poo poo's basically everything, the designers all scramble to get their shit together. It's funny because everyone is so lost and confused about how to make amazing stage wear. Nobody seems to realize that the brighter something is, the better.

I'm seeing a very limited use of color and the designers all seem to think that just because something has sequins, it'll get a pass. Where are the bright beautiful colors. This is a challenge where you can seriously go off the grid and make something outstanding.

See all this fabulous color?!

Good, because we DON'T get to see any of it on the runway.

We do get to see Christina Aguilera come out of hiding. She's been sort of MIA since having her son.

Was she hiding in a bottle of peroxide?

I kid! I actually really love Christina. I've always thought she was insanely talented and I love her voice. Her songs are catchy and I'm excited to see her in that Burlesque movie or whatever it is.

Let's see how she fares as a judge...

We start off with a less than stellar entry from Irina.

I guess she can't win them all...

This dress was okay. It was very lingerie-like and didn't have a huge wow factor. It ended up smack in the middle and for all of her smack talking, Irina didn't deliver all that well.

As for Gordana, thank god for her she had immunity because this?

This was really ugly.

Her excuse was that the beading kept falling off whenever she cut the fabric, but the fact is she screwed this challenge up royally, and knew it. Sorry to see her just let it happen since she had immunity, but I can see how it must be hard to fight for a win when the challenge appeared so difficult for her.

Nice to see Heidi put her bitch pants on and tell her how lucky she was to have that immunity.

Let's get to the good, shall we?

Althea's was probably the worst of the best. It was striking and sparkly but had it's fair share of execution problems. The front panels are a bit puckery and it look more like a dress for Mariah Carey or Whitney Houston, not Christina Aguilera.

Wow, this challenge was right up Bitchy Boris's alley. He's nothing if not consistent in his love for feathers and sequins and this was a really stellar entry.

Once again, I wish that he had included some color. This is perfect for Christina with the short and sexy style. The top half is put together beautifully and the intricate details are gorgeous. Normally I would hate the feathered skirt, but it was absolutely perfect for this challenge.

I think he could have pulled off a win easily if this had been another color. He could have gone with a bright red and it would have come across much more striking on stage.

Carol Hannah finally got a win with her entry.

And while it's not completely undeserved, I'm not sure this is the best stage look I've ever seen. Don't get me wrong, it's beautifully made and constructed and she really spun her nerves on the challenge into a great design.

I just think it looks much more like a red carpet look rather then a look for a concert or show.

On the super positive side, that feather detailing is impeccable. The gown fits Lisa perfectly and the flow at the bottom really makes the sequins come across as expensive looking.

The styling is very Old Hollywood, which isn't helping the fact that it looks red carpet, but I'm glad Carol Hannah won. She's been pretty good throughout the competition and it's nice to her get recognized.

Her little boycrushfriend thing didn't fare so well though.

Oh Logan, on the bottom once again?

This wasn't so bad for me. I think it's an easy look which he didn't put a lot of thought or effort into. The fabric is okay, but it's just shiny when it needed to be spectacularly shiny. It was obvious that he was not comfortable with this challenge in the least.

The print on the fabric combined with the one shoulder dress and god awful fur thing really made Koji look like an ultra fabulous cave woman.

Thankfully for Logan, Christina Aguilera has never tried this look before, because repeating a look she's already done is basically unforgivable.

Right Chris?

When I first saw Chris's look I thought "Oooooh, Christina is going to love this!" That's obviously because she's worn it before, but you could really see her face light up when Katie walked down that runway.

The corset was pretty but not well fitted and I did love that he thought about it being two completely different looks for the stage. He seemed to grasp the challenge better then most, but his execution and starting point just really screwed him over.

Lucky for Chris, Shirin made one of the least attractive designs ever produced in Project Runway history.

You guys, this is really, REALLY bad. The paneling is a terrible idea and it is just so unattractive as a concept. In addition to it being ugly, it's poorly done and sloppy looking.

I honestly cannot say enough bad things about the bottom of her design. The top is okay, boring and too small, but okay.

I have zero problem with Shirin going home this week. She had been well above average the whole season and she deserved all of the praise she received. She also deserved the smack down she got over this dress. I dislike it SO much.

I'm sort of sorry to see Shirin go, but I definitely think she deserved it over this awful design.

I'm excited to see what happens next week and think that the dregs of the talent have been mostly weeded out. Nice to see the designers step out of their "Make a pretty dress" box and try something with more pizzazz.

Until Thursday...sing some Cher songs and smile =)