Project Runway gave the contestants an interesting challenge this week, particularly because of the judges' constant critique that their garments shouldn't look like costumes: they asked the designers to create a costume.
The designers are assigned the task of creating a costume for a character in the 2011 revival of Steven Schwartz's Godspell. The instructions are very non-specific. An actress comes onstage, and she's probably in her mid-thirties. The designers are told that her character is "rich," "bitchy" and "eccentric." No more, no less. A rich, eccentric, thirty-something bitch? She could run the gamut from Björk to Auntie Mame.
Nevertheless, the designers get to work, using a lot of lame fabrics, fake fur and shiny things.
The ubiquitous top three contestants of Austin, Michael and Mondo are called up again. Austin makes a Marie Antoinette-inspired, silver brocade dress that makes his model look really insane in a pretty interesting way. Michael made a lime green skirt and a pink floral top that wouldn't have read rich on the Broadway stage. Mondo pulled out an act of theatrical brilliance with a peacock-printed silk dress and a brocade smoking jacket with molted shoulders. Björk and Auntie Mame would have liked his outfit, and he wins. He certainly deserves this one.
On the bottom are the three remaining ladies: Mila, Kara and Kenley. Kara makes a drab red skirt with a faux fur shrug and a huge silver bow. She hasn't been at the same league as the rest of the designers the entire season--and almost always on the bottom, so it's hard to understand how she lasted longer than Rami. Kenley's costume is the most interesting thing she's made all season--a loudly-printed coat paired with another loudly-printed skirt. She puts too many feathers on it and a polka-dotted shirt underneath, but if she'd tweeked it, she could have finally veered out of her banal vintage aesthetic. Mila's look was weird, and she really seems like she would understand a weird, eccentric woman. She makes a abominable snowman jacket with a '70's-disco printed lime skirt. The judges said her look was like a streetwalker's.
Mila probably should have been eliminated, but Kara's pretty terrible look was the best she made all season. The judges make a good decision and eliminate her instead. Mila is much more interesting.
Are you watching Project Runway? Who do you think will make it through to the end?