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Originally aired on Tuesday, 07/12/2006
Written by BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Episode Rating: **** (4 stars out of 5)
Episode Overview: Fifteen designers have been selected to start the third season of Project Runway. The group appears to be a heady mix of strong personalities, big talents and loose cannons.
Episode Highlights:
- The fifteen selected designers descend on their new Manhattan apartments, and tear the place apart – literally!
- Lack of expertise and/or vision quickly becomes a liability for some, while overconfidence threatens to topple others.
- After Project Runway's very first runway show, Heidi Klum pronounces the first fashion victim of the season to be “Out!�
Recap:
With the new season of Project Runway, Bravo yet again sets the bar for engrossing and entertaining reality television that doesn’t make you feel ashamed of yourself in the morning for watching. While the fifteen designers selected from nationwide auditions are certainly colorful characters (and of course Bravo is hoping for sparks to fly with the diverse personalities) the fact is that all of them must have at least some design talent or vision in order to make it on the show. And the technical know-how involved in making a garment – and the close critical eye of judges model Heidi Klum, designer Michael Kors, and fashion editor Nina Garcia – ensures that those who might have wedged a foot in the door based on their drama potential can’t possibly last forever.
The group is, as yet, still too large to truly get a sense of each and every person as an individual, but here is the cast of characters with some broad brushstrokes:
Malan Breton: A 32-year old designer and “performer,� he has auditioned for every season of the show. He was rejected in Season One, rejected the show’s offer to appear in Season Two, and finally made it on for Season Three. He has a maybe-false British accent that strikes many as potentially fake. High drama quotient for this lad.
Michael Knight: A hip hop street fashion designer from “the ATL� (Atlanta), he impressed Chloe Dao with his earnestness and body-conscious dresses during the auditions, but Tim Gunn and the other judges question his taste level.
Bradley Baumkirchner: Quirky man-child with a unique fashion sense and vaguely shy hipster persona.
Robert Best: Experienced designer who has worked both for Mattell – designing clothes for Barbie (!) – and Isaac Mizrahi, he has precisely the wit and sly charm one would expect with that resume.
Laura Bennett: She of the scarily prominent sternum as displayed in the ubiquitous Runway promos. She’s an architect, 42 years old, and has five children.
Angela Keslar: She lives on farm in the “middle of nowhere� in Ohio. Her work seems a little artsy-craftsy but she insists it’s been mistaken for couture.
Stacey Estrella: She is 40 years old, has an MBA from Harvard and went to Stanford for undergrad. Ummm….so? What does that have to do with fashion? She gave some corporate-speak during the auditions about what “builds a brand� but unless you’re Paris Hilton, doll, you have to be bringing something to the table besides a business plan.
Kayne Gillaspie: He owns his own pageant/prom/dancewear boutique in Oklahoma. He loves Dolly Parton, and his clothes are precisely as sparkle-tastic as you would expect,
Jeffrey Sibellia: He makes clothes for rock stars. He’s rock and roll. He makes a lot of black and shredded clothes and has a tattoo on his neck. The tattoo is completely disorienting not because of its placement but because of his physiology: his neck is thick and his chin is weak and the tattoo seems make all of that much much worse. I can’t look away.
Vincent Libretti: Imagine Lou Reed as an emotionally-fragile former fashion designer who got of the business, but just cashed in his 401K to get back on the horse. My money is on: He is a train wreck about to leave the station.
Keith Michael: He has done menswear but not women’s, and gave the judges a LOT of attitude in the auditions. More high drama quotient but he’s bringing a sophisticated aesthetic to back it up.
Alison Kelly: The young-and-pretty one. She’s a doll, looks like Marilyn Monroe, has a sweet personality and seems to have a clear personal style.
Uli Herzner: She’s German and her clothes are fun-Florida-casual. Michael Kors wonders if she can be versatile enough to do more.
Bonnie Dominguez: She has designed athletic footwear and worked with Serena Williams.
Katherine Gerdes: She’s a snowboarder and designer, also young (24) and seems more R.E.I. than High Fashion.
The entire Project Runway group meets with Heidi and Tim on the roof of their building, where there are a few moments to drink bubbly and get to know each other. But of course, they can’t relax for long, as Heidi delivers the instructions for their first challenge. The designers will return to their apartments and harvest from there all of the materials they will use for their first projects. The bedclothes, the upholstery, lampshades, wall hangings: it’s all up for grabs.
The designers race through their new pads and completely rip them apart, stuffing their booty into the laundry bags that are the ultimate limit on how much they can collect. Then it’s down to the workroom for their first work session.
After some instruction from Tim, they get down to work, and we start to get a real sense of each designer’s strengths and weaknesses.
Vincent becomes attached to the idea of using a basket as a hat, despite the fact that everyone – Tim Gunn included – thinks it’s a rotten idea and makes the model look a little loony. Stacey, the Harvard MBA, doesn’t know how to work the industrial sewing machines and has trouble executing her vision. Rock designer Jeffrey and his wide, mesmerizing tattooed neck feel confident that they will win. Keith, the menswear designer, decides to stick with just using a bed sheet and some duvet cover buttons, despite Tim’s concern that he’s not being innovative enough with materials. Michael, the hip hop designer, makes an adorable floating fringe dress from coffee filters.
There is the usual harried rush to finish and high spirits as the designers have their first show. After the show, Laura (the architect), Keith, Jeffrey, Jeffrey’s neck, Robert (the Barbie designer), Stacey and Vincent are asked to stay on the runway by the judges and special guest judge Kate Spade (whose look needs some freshening, by the by).
Through the questioning and the judges’ debrief, it’s clear that Laura, Robert and Keith are the ones with the highest scores, and this is confirmed as Laura and Robert are announced to be safe and Keith learns he is the winner of the challenge.
Vincent is called to task for his hat, Stacey, for her lack of strong design or execution, and Jeffrey for his hyper-complex garment. Ultimately, lack of skills loses out to kooky hats and ratted dresses, as Stacey the Harvard MBA is sent to pack her things.
Bravo's off to a strong start with season 3 of Project Runway, and it looks like this will be a very entertaining season indeed!
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