By CJ Bomb
Welcome to week three of Project Runway! There will be laughter, (some of it beyond annoying) there will be shade (from guess who) and there will be many, many, MANY tears. So let’s get started…
Erin is feeling very good about herself. Perhaps a wee bit too good. Erin actually says out loud she would be questioning why she was in this competition if she was in the bottom three. Sarah agrees, basking in Erin’s talented glow until Kimber who is sitting RIGHT NEXT TO THEM says well I was IN the bottom three bitch, and I’m not questioning anything. I added the bitch to that statement because I thought it was appropriate. Sarah is mortified and tries to backtrack. Erin is beginning to remind me of Tracy Flick from the movie Election. I would also very much like to flick her in the ear every time she says stupid shit like this.
The Challenge
The designers are sitting on the runway and the lights dim. Heidi comes out literally glowing. Someone in production took some ecstasy and came up with the idea to have a black light challenge. Taking the everyday woman from day to night! Or we are running out of ideas. Well at least it’s going to be fun. The designers seem psyched. Rik fondly remembers his raving days. Me too Rik, me too. Of course if I took anything remotely hallucinogenic today I would wind up in a closet rocking back and forth as I freaked about my mortgage and future college tuitions for my kids.
The Workroom
Transitions Opticals is sponsoring the challenge and the winning look will be featured with their shades in a spread in Marie Claire. Ah, now I get it where this idea is coming from. Tim is shown sporting the shades and I have to say he looks classy even while whoring himself for product placement. I love you Tim, and I’m not on anything but a glass of wine at the moment. There are blacklight flashlights provided, a blacklight room and lots of day-glo supplies ready for the designers to use for their looks.
Everyone seems to be getting on fairly well and they collectively wish Mah-Jing a happy Father’s Day. He goes to call his fiancee and his adorable little girl and promptly bursts into the most serious cry we have seen since Michael Costello lost his shit on the runway in season 8. But seriously, it was sweet. He is now more determined than ever to win.
Tim’s Critique
Erin. Erin is doing a dress that will be sweet in the daylight and full blown sex bomb when the black light hits it. She has bought a gauzy baby blue fabric on which she is creating a textile that will pick up not only the light, but the pasties underneath the top. Tim is intrigued. Even though he’s “not a nipple guy”. He is down with the sometimes sweet, sometimes slutty thing she has going. Cornelius is not impressed.
Cornelius. Speaking of Mean Boy, he has a simple white dress on which he has blocked off geometric shapes that he plans to spray paint with dayglo translucent paint. Tim wants to know how it’s going to actually look under the blacklight and Cornelius admits he doesn’t know. Cornelius reconsiders his look and decides to paint emojis instead of plain shapes for a more dramatic effect.
Kimber. Kimber has busy print paired with white on a boring dress. Tim hates it and says it’s ugly. She needs to get rid of the white. This makes Kimber nervous as she doesn’t do prints, but ok. She creates a boring asymmetrical dress and begins painting over the print to give it more depth. I’m worried about Kimber.
Sarah. Sarah has made a nun rave outfit. Tim says it’s ready to wear not runway.
Alex. Alex who harbors a secret desire to be Tim (never happening Alex) has made a eighties body con dress in blue and pink. Tim says wow, but it comes out more like “Meh.”
Dexter. Dexter is wearing a shirt with his name on it. As if anyone had any doubt who he is. (I love me some Dex) Dexter has made a white banded outfit with a huge amount of fringe. Dexter says, “Who doesn’t love fringe?” Well I don’t, but I’m probably in the minority given the amount of it I see season after season. His description of it being Stevie Nicks and the White Witch from Narnia piques my interest. After all- who doesn’t love Stevie Nicks? Tim thinks he’s not taken it far enough.
Rik. Tim loves the top and tells him he needs to come with something just as awesome for the bottom. Rik does unfortunately does not heed this advice. Tuxedo pants with a dayglo band would have toned this down, but he is making a skirt version of the top. It’s too much.
Jenni. Tim hates it. Calls part of it “Granny”. Jenni starts frantically going through all the fabric she has. She gets through three more looks until she settles on a see through jacket with dayglo painting. The painting is very pretty. I’m not one for the romper underneath, but I’m too old for both molly AND rompers.
Nathalia. Nat is making a dayglo pink and blue coat dress with neon yellow leg warmers or leggings. In my mind it’s going to look like what I wore to go see the movie Valley Girl in 1983. Tim thinks it’s costumey so she ditches the leg warmers for shorts and the 12 year old deep inside me sulks.
Laurence. Laurence is working on some sort of tuxedo jacket and booty shorts.
Brik. Brik wants to create something sculptural. Tim tells him just to stay safe.
Roberi. Tim LOVES Roberi’s sculpted dress with raw threads. He calls it stunning. He sees in the actual blacklight and freaks out.
Tasha. Tim says she needs to make her look pop.
Mah-Jing. MJ is in trouble. He had envisioned doing a cool wedding dress for his fiancee but it is awful and Tim tells him to start over. He does, but makes a mistake with the paint and now is just trying to fling everything at this ill-fitting dress to get by. I’m worried about MJ. I see many tears in the future.
The Runway
Jaime King is the guest judge which makes me much happier than the last two we had. She knows and is in the industry and will do a good job. Everyone is treated to Jenni’s laugh and the judges are trying to figure out what to make of it. Nina’s reaction is awesome.
Cornelius: As much as I hate to admit it, this was a very cool look. The difference between the day/night was extreme in a good way. Jenni: Love the jacket, hate the romper. Alex: He is underwhelmed and so am I. MJ: Oh Jeez- this is a hot mess. Nathalia: A mesh top with neoprene shorts? The 12 year old in me rolls her eyes. Roberi: I LOVE this. It is a beautiful dress. It completely transforms in the light. I love the raw edges. I want this to win. Kimber: This is very boring. Nina looks like she swallowed a bug. Sarah: Nun. Rik: Wow. This is um, something Porsha would love. Laurence: Laurence is lucky she has immunity. Tasha: This dress isn’t very exciting on the dayglo front. Erin: Beautiful. Damn her smug ass. Brik: Brik is utterly defeated. He made a boring shift dress. Dexter: as much as I hate fringe, this looks cool in the light. Stevie Nicks would approve.
My Top 3: Roberi, Erin and Cornelius
My Bottom 3: Mah-Jing, Kimber and Rik
Judges Top 3
Jenni. Really? I mean it was a pretty coat but, huh? They loved the hand painting and she sold it as hard as she could. Nina loves the all over look.
Cornelius. Nina loved the surprise. Zak and Jamie said it was very current and cool.
Erin: Nina said it was demure and sexy. Jaime said it was elegant and loved the styling. They can’t believe she created the textile. Zak said it was better than some of the work by the big designers out there and Erin’s huge swollen head bursts through my screen. I flick it.
WHY IS ROBERI NOT HERE????
Judges Bottom 3
Kimber. Kimber loves her look and stands by it. Nina is concerned by this as she doesn’t think Kimber is going to get any more interesting. Jaime says it doesn’t feel special and she’s right.
Rik Sweet Lord, if Heidi Klum questions your taste level and calls something you designed tacky and hootchie, well, it’s time to get back to the drawing board and reign it in. Or call Porsha.
MJ He tried to save it verbally, but Nina compared it to a crime scene. He’s in tears.
Erin wins again and Cornelius is infuriated. HE could do a box pleat and just “glue things on”. Yeah, so do your version of that next time Cornelius and see how far it gets you.
Mah-Jing is safe (more tears) and Kimber is going home. Although she wound up in the bottom, she isn’t questioning herself. She believes in her work. She says a gracious goodbye.
I think Roberi was robbed. Do you agree with the judges this week?
Watched this show longer than watching any Real Housewives… Tough final three..Between Corny and Erin.. tough choice….I would have had Corny first. Hate Corny’s attitude but was a great “surprise” dress.
Kimber’s was sad not well constructed and didn’t “pop” under the black light.. Mah-Jing…was very very lucky…pathetic.
As a person who has made their own clothes.. salivating over Brother sewing machines..
IMO RIk needs to go.
Lol re Porsha. I loved Roberti and Erin. I thought Cornelius was kind of boring, a shift with painted emojis? Tough call between Kimber and MJ, but I pick MJ for the lose….plain and ugly. I can’t imagine anyone saying that Is the dress for me!
Roberi WAS robbed!!! I always love his outfits, and the judges always pass him over 🙁
Hated Cornelius’s outfit- did no one mention the ugly glasses pocket over her boobs?
I thought the pocket was odd not cute. One of the judges (Nina I think) said that was what she needed for her glasses. Say what?
Yes, it was Nina ‘f’ing Garcia who said that. I swear her sense of taste is frequently more questionable than the contestants whose taste she frequently complains about. I like her though. She generally has good solid reasons for not liking something. Heidi on the other hand frequently drives me nuts with the work she decides to hate a lot, and frequently shocks me with what she likes.
And speaking of atrocious that diamond shape in the middle of Cornelius’s dress was pretty odd, that thing was pushing the bounds of costume.
The other issue I took with it is that I only ever see kids, and occasionally the peter pan syndromed as late as mid-thirties males using emoji not adult women, or actualized adult men for that matter. The way all the judges went gaga over the concept of how “today” emoji are kind of shows how out of touch they are for the challenge’s target market. They’ve been around since the 90’s. Still, with that said I did like the way it looked under the black light. That color pop was pretty nice I thought, but these are pretty close up pictures you can study, and frankly the more I look at it the less I like that dress, I did however enjoy the look on his face when he realized his dress wasn’t going to win the best for the challenge.
MJ’s dress wasn’t all that bad I thought. I think the black light concept of like a print of the universe, or starry sky was a good concept but the way he splattered the paint on it left far too many large splatters, and those lines down the dress didn’t help much. He would have been better off hand dotting the stars in patterns. The more I look at it the top of it looks kind of like an alien creature’s hard shell carapace covering, and the bottom kind of looks like a stone washed denim skirt. I have to admit though I like the blue color because it’s what I’m calling TARDIS Blue.
I loved Erin’s dress. I thought she looked like a fairy.
Erin’s dress was my favorite too, Pam. When I was younger and thinner, I liked wearing that sort of high waisted dress.
CJ, you really are the bomb. I couldn’t remember Roberi’s look. I wasn’t thrilled about watching the show again; however, your description jogged my memory. I liked the dress under black light. I didn’t care for it in natural light.
Your excellent recap gave me back an hour. Thanks!
Roberi was completely robbed. That was only look that truly fit the requirements and it was stunning. The other outfits were in no way something you could wear for day.
YES
Thank you for this recap it is so hard to recap something that is so strongly based on visuals and u do a fantastic job!!!
I think Roberi was robbed as I adored his dress and I was totally in impressed w the rain coat craft project and the Erin’s dress. Erin’s dress was ok but honestly who would wear it? I want to see sleak run way looks that can translate to real life not looks that only a flat chested six foot tall fairy could wear to an imaginary garden party held by Alice in Wonderland
You are right about replacing the skirt with tuxedo pants, THAT would have saved it for sure!
I loved Erin’s dress. It was gorgeous. She seems like she’s on a whole different level from the other designers. But don’t worry about her big head, these people always flame out hard in at least one future challenge.
I LOVED Roberi’s too. I would have chosen it over Cornelius’s dress to be in Top 3. It would be hard for me to choose between his and Erin’s dress.
I was sad for Kimber, but I would have been sadder for MJ. Rik should have been out.
You might have noticed I am super crabby lately. #Understatement and want to point out I am super grateful for CJ doing these recaps and pulling photos for me. It’s a NINETY MINUTE show for the first part of the season at least and it is a LOT of work. I’m bitching to her about length and editing and shit. Give her some extra love this week, please.
xoxoxoxoxo
Popping out of my hiding spot to say that CJ’s recaps are aussie (as my 9 year old would say) and I love love love reading them. Did I mention love?
I like the different commentators because some of my favorite shows, that may not be the most watched, get covered.
Great recap CJ!
I loved Roberi’s look too and agree it should have replaced Cornelius’ in the top 3.
The thing that struck me when Mah-Jing was talking to his adorable daughter is that I think I have seen my father cry maybe one time in my entire life and he is 80. I would think it would be a bit traumatizing for a little girl to see her father sobbing like that, even though it was because he missed them so much.
I am very glad that Mah-Jing is getting another chance. I hope he can pull himself together, he wants to do well so badly.
I agree re: Mah-Jing crying. My son gets very upset if he thinks I am upset – you need to be an Academy Award standard actor with your kids when they are so young. Suck it up Buttercup!
I loved Erin and Roberi as well. I don’t get how a plastic coat fit the challenge of a day to evening look. Where could you wear that yellow thing underneath during the day. I found Cornelius’s dress to be confused. The woman who would wear the daylight dress would be very boring and plain. It really had no style at all. The woman to wear the night dress would be a young raver and party girl and would never wear that cut of dress.
Roberi deserved to be in the top three. Cornelius did not. I was shocked when the judges expressed fascination with his emojis, but I’m often shocked by what they choose as good and bad. Erin’s talent is certainly appreciated by the judges and as @Popcorn said, I suspect she does have talent surpassing the others. Thanks TT for bringing these recaps to us, and CJ, I love your attention to detail and spot on opinions about each of the designs and designers. Keep up the good work!
Roberi was robbed. As much as I hate Cornelius his dress did pop with the transition.
Thanks for the recap CJ. It must be hard in the early episodes when there are so many of them!
I like Erin and everything she has done so far. I always find Nina Garcia’s personal style to be very 90’s, and here she is criticising the designers so harshly. Zac’s smile always melts me.
I love this show, great recap! Didn’t get the love for Cornelius. His dress was so easy, basic dress, tape and spray. I thought Erin and Roberi did great, especially for the black light conversion.
Thanks, CJ! Another great recap. “If Heidi Klum questions your taste level…” Brilliant.
Erin’s dress was my favorite but I still think Robieri should have won. Fittingly, spellcheck wanted to change his name to robbery. Cornelius’ dress was awful but I’m glad it was in the top 3 just so we could see his face when Erin won. Priceless. MJ’s dress was the worst but I like him so I’m glad he stayed (thanks, production). A great season so far.
WH O GLOW IN THE DARK PAINT USED ON THE SHOW