TV Recap: ‘Project Runway,’ “Finale, Part 1″

Photo Courtesy of fancast.com

And in the ennnnnnnnd…..the LOVE you TAAKE…is EQUAL TO the LOOOOOOOOOOVE…..you MAAAAKE.

Bryant Park. What a journey it’s been.

For the remaining 3 designers, to even have made it this far is a dream come true; Heidi tells them that their last challenge is to create a twelve pieces collection for Fashion Week with a budget of $9000. They will work at their home for this challenge, as it will take a few months. When Heidi and Tim leave the runway, they go behind the white screen and you see their shadows dancing together..I want to be Heidi. Or Tim Gunn, either one, I don’t care. so coool. Anywaaaay, the girls go back to their apartment and pack up their things to leave for home. Irina says that she knows Althea and Carol Hannah are intimidated by her, and she’s going to bring it.

10 weeks later, Tim goes to each designer’s place of work to check up on them, see how their collections are coming, and of course, to give advice. It’s now 5 weeks until Fashion Week First up is Carol Hannah in Huntington, NY (she just moved from Charleston, SC to this suburb in NY, into her friend’s house). She explains the inspiration for her collection, which is Duke University’s architecture, middle of the night, with all the lights around the campus. Her color palette is a mix of cool colors, silvers, dark browns, blacks, deep purples, etc. She’s finally doing some pants, in addition to some other separates like shorts and jackets. Then Carol Hannah invites Tim to eat a Southern meal with her family who has traveled from Charleston. Tim in the kitchen-yay! Kind of a corny part of this whole visit thing, but more Tim, so yay! Carol Hannah talks about herself, her history – she was a bit of a dork, but definitely a cute one, and she’s not formally trained, so she’s a pretty damn good self-taught designer. Usually the self-taught designers have trouble with proper construction, but she clearly is very skilled in it.

Next is Irina, who’s working in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. There are 4 and a half weeks till Fashion Week. Irina’s inspiration is sort of like a tribute to New York, Coney Island area where she grew up, hung out with her sister. Her family is originally from the Republic of Georgia, but her parents moved their family to Brooklyn to pursue the American Dream-woooo yeah America! Underneath her elegant looks will be these t-shirts that capture scenes from around Brooklyn. She’s got the usual fur, droopy silhouettes, outerwear. Irina was a little uneasy after Tim left because he response wasn’t the best. Tim then goes out to lunch with Irina’s family and friends. She talks about her parents’ sacrifices for the betterment of her and her sister. Her mom has always been behind her in anything she’s wanted to do, while her father has been uneasy about her choice to pursue fashion.

Tim’s last trip is to see Althea in good ol’ Dayton, Ohio (you know I commend Althea for somehow being inspired in Ohio…tough place) There are 4 weeks until Fashion Week. hahahahaha Tim has to get into a really shady looking elevator shaft to get up to Althea’s design space…he’s clearly flustered by the Midwest, poor guy. When Althea came back from NY, she started watching sci-fi movies. The strong women in those movies (their costumes, shapes, etc.) acted as the inspiration for her collection. Tim was concerned that some of her looks were too costumy, oldish matronly perhaps. Tim says that she has a lot of editing to do, but she has a lot of really good stuff done too. Althea takes Tim to her home in Dayton to meet her family and friends.

Back in Manhattan, Tim gives Irina a call 10 days before Fashion Week, and says, “We have an issue.” So, the shows producers and their attorney found out that the images on the New York t-shirts that Irina is using are trademarked Brooklyn icons designed by someone else, not her. So DUH, she can’t use them, what the eff was she thinking? She was like, “…okay.” Did she think no one was going to notice?? So now she has to deal with that, and try to design something herself – something she should have been doing in the first place!

Fastforward 10 days to FASHION WEEK: There are 5 days until the runway show, and the 3 designers need to head back to the apartment. Althea arrives first, then Irina, and it’s suuuuuuper awkward between them. Carol Hannah isn’t showing up, and they end up waiting for hours until Tim shows up to tell them that Carol Hannah is sick with a contagious stomach virus! So I guess she’s just going to wait until she feels better – in the next day or two?! – and then join the other 2 designers. They find that Heidi has arranged for champagne in their apartment, so they cheers to Fashion Week, etc.

With 4 days til the runway show, Althea and Irina go to the workroom. Soon after, Carol Hannah shows up, so yay – but the other two designers seem a little sad that she showed up. She still feels really tired and sick, so it really sucks for her to have to work through it.

Tim still sees old lady in Althea’s line, so she’s feeling uneasy. And then  afterTim leaves, Irina AGAIN accuses Althea of copying, EVEN THOUGH THEY’VE NEVER EVEN SEEN ANY OF EACH OTHER’S LINES THIS WHOLE TIME…the gall. Tim gives Carol Hannah bits of advice on a few of her pieces, and Althea says that after looking at Carol Hannah’s collection, she’s not really intimidated by it. When Tim looks at Irina’s collection, he sees an overwhelming amount of black, which worries him. She says that while she is using a lot of black, she’s balancing that with a lot of different textures; Tim doesn’t seem impressed by this. Tim is also really concerned about the amount of work Irina has to do, especially on her finale piece, a voluminous black gown that’s not even close to finished. Althea sees this as a definite plus.

The designers then do a model casting to pick the 11 models they will use on the runway. After this, they head back to the workroom. And who drops by to have a peak? Nina Garcia and Michael Kors! woot woot! They come to give the designers a few tips, honest advice, feedback, etc. Nina tells them that they need to think about color, and that an all-black collection is really hard to pull off…followed by looks of anxiety on Irina’s face. Michael says that self-doubt is unfortunately part of the design process, but you really need to go with your gut.

After they leave, Irina says that she’s thinks Nina’s wrong, even though she’s a judge; she says that color doesn’t really fit into what she’s doing with her collection – she likes it, so she’s going to keep it that way. I’m thinking this will TOTALLY come back to bite her in the arse…..

3 days until the runway show: Althea knows that they still have to do the fittings, so that creates a ton of extra necessary work. Carol Hannah is trying to stay positive despite still being very sick. Tim comes in to tell them that whichever look their muse model (the main one) is wearing will be the one that goes out with the designers for the judging, questions part. Then he sends in their muse models. The 3 designers keep working, and then Heidi comes in….to announce one final challenge, which is to create a 13th look. The surprise is that they get to be helped by the last three rejects: Logan, Christopher and Gordana. Althea chooses Logan, Irina chooses Gordana and Carol Hannah gets Christopher. For their last look, the designers get $200 to spend at Mood. They sketch, then head to Mood. Irina wants to do another knitting thing, Carol Hannah is doing another gown and Althea is doing a jacket with strong shoulders and something else..

At the end of the day, they head back to the apartment, and when the do get back, Carol Hannah starts to feel realllly sick again, she starts throwing up again.

and THAT’S how the episode ends.

to be continued….duhhh…

Share