Project Runway Episode 7 - SPOILER Post

The episode, as you recall from yesterday's synopsis, set up five teams of two. Each team was to design two cohesive looks for women based on menswear. The fabrics were pre-assigned and each of the two team members had to have a different set of fabrics. The teams were: Brandon and Kentaro; Amy and Kenya; Batani and Margarita; Michael and Ayana; and, the Terrible Twins - Shawn and Claire. There would be one winning team and one losing team - the challenge winner would come from the winning team and one designer from the losing team would be sent home.

Michael and Ayana were declared "safe" and told to leave the runway. Here we go with the top and bottom looks on the Runway this week ...

Kenya (l) and Amy (r) had their issues. 

The judges were not very complimentary about the designs from Kenya and Amy. They panned Kenya's pencil skirt and keyhole neckline as being dated and having been done many times in the past. They then turned their attention to Amy, whose deep lapels, high jacket bottom and the solid blue color of the pantsuit was awarded a big "No", although her construction skills brought praise. The major complaint of the judges was that the outfits made the models look twenty years older than their true ages.

Batani (l) and Margarita (r) also had their issues working together as
a team. 

Despite the fact that Margarita felt that she pulled Batani along behind her, doing much of the work for her in the workshop, the two looks that were designed were very positively received. The judges really focused on the off-set asymmetrical shirtwaist dress that Margarita designed using a small black/white gingham. Because of the strength of Margarita's design, echoed by the deep V-neckline on Batani's dress, this team ended up as one of the top two.

Brandon (r) and Kentaro (l) have really started to develop signature styles. By
this time, I can tell a design from Brandon just by looking at it, and Kentaro
has this easy grace in his clothing designs. 

Working flawlessly as a team, the "Dream Team" put out the most cohesive set of clothes on the runway. Their combination of black and white, mixed with that wonderful large gingham plaid and accented by the grey leggings on Kentaro's model looked easy and comfortable. Brandon and Kentaro were the other top team.

Claire (l) and Shawn (r) did not work seamlessly together and their
designs showed it.  

The two designs from the Twins were not in the judges' favorites list. Shawn's dress was called trashy, uninspired and banal. Claire's jeans were declared OK, but had a dumpy butt which was pointed out as a negative. Her split top, on the other hand, was called a 'bad design'. The belt that was tied around the model's hips was called an "extra set of sleeves" by Heidi time after time. Bad design and poor sewing and assembly skills damned the Twins to be one of the bottom teams this week.

Have you guessed the winner of the challenge? The winner was Margerita with that lovely asymmetrical shirtdress. Batani, Brandon and Kentaro were all declared safe and allowed to leave the runway.

Who was on the bottom? Amy and Kenya were declared safe, although their designs were in the bottom. That left the Terrible Twins as the final team. Which twin would be going home?

Now came the twist - and it was a good one! The judges decided that since Claire and Shawn always worked so much on each other's designs and sewing, they could not determine who had better skills than the other. Therefore, they would have a sew-off to determine which of the two would be sent home and which one would continue in the competition. The Twins would get one hour to create an outfit from provided fabric. They were forbidden from helping each other to assure that their own skills might be truly assessed and evaluated. The episode closed with the Twins leaving the runway to go to the workshop and make their one-hour outfits. In other words, this episode is ... TO BE CONTINUED ... next week! Oooooooooh! The DRAHMA as my LJ friend SeaIvy said yesterday in her own blog.

So there you have it. We know who won (the dress was for sale on JC Penny.com for a sale price of $39.99 as of 4:30 am this morning), but we won't know who will be going home until next week. The only thing that is absolutely certain is that one (or maybe both?) of the Twins will be out of the competition within the first few minutes of next week's airing. I can hardly wait!

Enjoy your weekend. It is the final weekend of Renaissance Festival and we'll be out at the grounds on Sunday, hopefully meeting up with some good friends for much of the afternoon. It might be a wet Sunday, but we won't miss the final day of Fest, it's the official end of summer for us. So we'll watch football in the one bar allowed to have a TV at the fest (and only for Vikings football games), and then return home, facing Autumn full on. I'll be back on Monday morning.