Originally aired on Wednesday, 07/19/2006

Written by BuddyTV Staff Columnist

Episode Rating: *** (3 stars out of 5)

Episode Overview: The designers have to team up "to design for an icon of American beauty." Some of the designers are able to achieve some excellent creative synergy through teamwork; others find only conflict.



Episode Highlights:

• The challenge this week is to design an evening gown for a very specific type of client.
• The designers have their first opportunity to work as a team and must pair up with a partner to complete the challenge.
• Teamwork is not every designer's strong suit...but neither is focusing on the client, so the judges have a lot of flaws to pick through to make a decision!

Recap:

Last week, the designers had their first taste of "Project Runway" action, completing a "Wall-to-Wall Fashion" challenge that tested their ability to innovate using unusual materials: the contents of their own apartments. Despite the stated focus on innovation, the winner, Keith Michael, used mainly a bed sheet to create a gown. A lovely gown, but the innovation in materials seemed absent. Nevertheless, he's so confident, he feels the immunity he won last week is unnecessary.


The model pairings for the last challenge were assigned by the producers. This week, the designers will have the possibility of making some choices. Keith, as last week's winner, gets first pick of the models, and the other designers' order is determined by Heidi Klum randomly selecting names from a bag. One model is eliminated.

Next, Heidi fills the designers in on their next challenge. They will be designing a dress for an "icon of American beauty:" Miss USA! Tara Conner, the current Miss USA, joins Heidi on the runway, and they explain that she is looking for an evening gown to wear to the Miss Universe pageant later this year.

Kayne Gillaspie is joyous: Back home in Oklahoma, he owns a store that specializes in prom and pageant wear. He has a leg up on the other "Project Runway�? designers in knowledge not only of construction of evening gowns, but also of pageant culture, tastes and mores.

Miss USA joins Tim Gunn and the designers in the workroom to explain more about the challenge. The designers will have thirty minutes to create a sketch, and then pitch their ideas to Tara. She will select seven of the designers to be the team leaders, who will then each select another designer to work with as a pair. During the sketching period, Angela Keslar, the artsy-craftsy designer from the "middle of nowhere" in Ohio, continually scoots over to speak to Kayne. She seems to know she won't be selected as a leader and so is angling to be selected by Kayne as his teammate. All this seems to do is aggravate Kayne.

The designers all make their pitches to Tara and there are two standout conversations. One is Keith, who comes across as vaguely creepy as he makes a pointed effort of both demonstrating - ON her body - how tight his bodice will be, and how much he appreciates her excellent legs. The other is Angela, who doesn't sketch and so her conversation with Tara is nearly useless.

Tara announces the team leaders: Keith (I guess she didn't find him as creepy as I did), Uli Herzner, Vincent Libretti, Laura Bennett, Malan Breton, Jeffrey Sibellia and self-proclaimed "pageant freak,�? Kayne. Next each project lead - selected in random order - selects their teammate. Laura picks first and her choice is both unexpected and inspired: Michael Knight, the hip hop designer from Atlanta, whose differing perspective should provide some good balance. Kayne selects Robert Best, the Barbie designers (theirs is a team made in heaven!); Jeffrey chooses Alison Kelly; Malan chooses snowboarder-cum-designer Katherine Gerdes; Keith chooses Bradley Baumkirchner; and that all leaves Vincent to pair with Angela.

This last pairing shows its weakness earliest. At the fabric store, Angela and Vincent butt heads. She tries to keep him on track with time and this seems to make him nervous. Remembering how he's frequently said he couldn't handle the stress of a fashion business years ago, I can't help but wonder if we're seeing some cracks. Although Tara had asked the designers to focus on earth tones, Kayne finds an iridescent purple and takes a risk. Jeffrey (of the wide and tattooed neck) thinks Kayne is making a big mistake.

Back at the "Project Runway" workroom, most of the pairings seem to be humming along. Showily sophisticated Malan and snowboarder Katherine would seem to be an unlikely pair, but they seem to get along together well despite Katherine's calmly-voiced concerns about his design.

Angela's concerns about Vincent's design are also somewhat calmly delivered but not very well-received. Vincent also seems reluctant to let her help, but she's so eager to disassociate herself from the effort, it's hard to blame him.

Tim Gunn makes the usual rounds and expresses some concern to Malan over his designs, and points out some improvements for Robert and Kayne.

After a couple days of work, it's time for the runway show! Noted wedding dress designer Vera Wang is sitting in for Michael Kors. Judging regulars Heidi and Nina Garcia are also there, and of course, Miss USA, Tara, is there to select her dress.

Here are the highlights from the show:

• Jeffrey/Alison: The dress is a modern, slightly deconstructed dress in champagne and olive. Alison isn't sure about the dress, Jeffrey thinks it's "beautifully grotesque.�? I'm actually a personal fan of the beautifully grotesque, but I also think that's not really an aesthetic generally appreciated in traditional beauty pageants. Because they're BEAUTY pageants, not Beautiful Grotesquerie pageants.
• Keith/Brad: The dress is a lovely muted pink strapless floaty confection, and both members of the team are happy with it.
• Vincent/Angela: Most of the dress is a classic, old Hollywood style number in chartreuse...but there are very weird floppy and uneven shoulder epaulets that ruin the classic effect.
• Kayne/Robert: Strapless dress, fitted throughout the body with a full ruffled body. The dress has a decadent "necklace�? built in.
Malan/Katherine: The dress has some intricate ruching but the top is stiff and heavy and the bottom is unfinished.
• Uli/Bonnie: Their dress is also a floaty affair in muted pinky browns. It seems slightly unfinished.
• Laura/Michael: Their dress seems to be a very basic full-length white tank dress with sparkles. I'm underwhelmed.

The judges assess, and Laura/Michael, Keith/Brad, Jeffrey/Alison are sent from the running with high enough scores to continue. At this point, Heidi announces that only one person (rather than the entire losing team) will be sent home.

Uli/Bonnie and Kayne/Robert are singled out during the comments for the positives in their efforts. Malan is criticized for his unflattering dress. Vincent and Angela both sell each other out, but Angela's lack of support for her leader comes across worse to the judges.

Kayne is declared to be the winner, and the other designers are excused, leaving just Angela and Malan. To my utter amazement...Malan is Out! While I found him slightly grating in the first show, I'm a little dismayed by this selection. He's heartbroken and ashamed, and it's quite sad to watch. I'm stunned they would keep Angela. At least Malan assumed responsibility, and at least he had a design in the first place; she didn't even have a sketch.

Hmmm. Well, this was his third go-round with "Project Runway" and it would appear three is not his lucky number for the show. I can't imagine that Angela will last much longer than he has, though. We'll have to tune in next week to see!