Project Project Runway Challenge #7 – Priceless Runway

Welcome to season 13 of Project Runway and a new season of Project Project Runway! If you want to join in the fun this season get all the details here. Let’s jump right in…

Challenge – Priceless Runway
Use a piece of Chopard jewelry as your inspiration for an extravagant evening look that would be worn to a gala or other special event. This is your moment to wow the judges and pull out all the stops.

The Chopard High Jewelry collections seem to have the most elaborate pieces. Please show us your chosen piece.

Time Limit – 12 hours

Budget –  $25

Accessories – Choose your accessories from the Aldo Accessory Wall.

Runway Day – Runway day is Thursday, September 11th.
Just a reminder, only in-progress photos should be posted to the Flickr group before Runway Day. Save the big reveal for next Thursday. Please tag your photos with PPR13 and ProjectProjectRunway.

Ok, let’s talk about this episode. Warning spoilers ahead….

Kat: I was not thrilled they brought the “design for a piece of jewelry challenge” back this year as I felt it was boring last time and that the jewelry didn’t really matter. I have to say it was better this year and how the dress showed off the jewelry seemed to be taken more into account by the judges. Still, I would have liked to see even more elaborate looks, but with one day, what can we expect? Man, I’d love some good two or three day challenges again…

Well, Tim bringing back Char was really not that huge a surprise since Lifetime posted pictures of her in the workroom for this episode. Though if she does many more dress like tonight, she won’t be back for long, yawn…

Woohoo, I think the judges picked the right winner this week in Korina. I wasn’t sure the coat was going to work out, but it ended up having that eccentric, wealthy woman look that really fit the jewelry. Even the simple black dress underneath worked well, though the collar seemed to have some issues with the necklace.

As for the other two in the top…I don’t understand what the judges saw in Amanda’s look though. To me, it looked like she threw a silk nightgown over her workout wear. Sure it was out of the box, but did it fit the criteria of the challenge? Would someone really wear this to a gala. I was glad to hear Zac say Sean’s look wasn’t anything exciting design-wise. Yes, it was beautiful and yes, simple was the only way to go with the jewelry, but that was a dress we’ve all seen.

As for the bottom three…I’ve liked Kini’s work up until now, but for the first time he really had some construction issues, those boobs were like something out of a 60’s b-movie. I felt bad when all the judges said it was too long since he was going to do shorter until Tim said not to. I think his past work saved him. Alexander’s dress I think had some potential, but I think probably looked much worse and unfinished in person. It was Samantha’s time to go and she did by boring the judges.

In the safe group, I think fäde was lucky there were worse made looks on the runway, because that was not a gala look. That was a juniors halter dress. Other than that, the others just don’t stick out in my mind, which says something I guess.

Susi: I thought the winner’s circle was rigged. Amanda gets as much air time as every other designer put together. It was funny when Heidi asked if she thought she was on the top or the bottom. I hollered “bottom”, and she took the bold approach and said “top?”. I do NOT get it. There is crack smoking going on. And if I hear “I picked a really hard fabric” one more time… ONE more time… I think I will spontaneously vaporize.

Sean should have won. He answered the challenge, and featured the front and the back of the jewelry. Korina picked couch velvet from a bad themed hotel. The seams were puckering and not pressed. She should have taken the jacket, and left it in the work room, and just sent the black dress down the runway.

Kini is very lucky. The one sleeve was sort of pretty. But that is as far as it goes. There is a “cheap” store at the “cheap” mall that features this mini-skirt- covered-by-maxi-dress-in-chiffon. It looks cheap! That is how his skirt read. And can I just ask, what is the fascination with neoprene? Please. Go back to the fabrics that can be manipulated (by YOU) fabrics that you have in your skill set. You can push the envelope with your look, but teaching yourself a sewing lesson is a dangerous high-wire game.

There you have it. Korina can send a horse blanket poncho down the runway next week. IN THE RAIN! Did you see that? Wow.