Project Runway Season Six, Episode Six

After a PR sabbatical, I jumped back in tonight by watching last week's episode...

The challenge: Create a garment inspired by one of the following film genres...

• Sci-fi
• Western
• Period Piece
• Action/Adventure
• Film Noir (A movie characterized by low-key lighting, a bleak urban setting, and corrupt, cynical characters. So sort of an emo movie with really fabulous costumes.)
  

I thought this was a really cool challenge but was confused about the whole thing. Was it supposed to be constumey or practical?

Any way...everyone went the costume route. Fun!

The winner: Nicolas. Genre: Sci-fi.

He had a story about three sisters who rule the universe and two sisters were planning to overthrow the third one (or vice versa?) but the other sister found out...something about her being an ice witch?

I don't know. I appreciate that he had a story though. (When I look at this girl, however, I see a Glinda the good witch-esque character. Like a little fairy.) Anyway, he really thought about it and delivered. With that said, I don't know if I agree with this win. I can think of two other garments that I think were prettier but Nicolas turned out something beautiful and catered to the challenge. Well done.

And the aufee: Ra'mon.
Genre: Sci-fi.

Oh, honey. No.

He threw this together in a few hours (anyone with eyes can see that)...which was a trend for him. And I was sick of it. So while I really liked Ra'mon, I think sending something down the runway that makes me think, "I bet Lady Gaga would wear that," means that it's time for you to go.

Gordana
Genre: Period Piece.

*Yawn*

It's your basic flapper dress. I like the flapper thing but...really? You could choose any period in history and you choose a period in which very simple dresses were all the rage?

Christopher
Genre: Period Piece

I don't recall what period he chose of if he even had a story but this is just gorgeous.

And the back is even better! I agree with the guest judge/costume designer for "Walk the Line" who said this would be beautiful on film. Perhaps in a Civil War-era movie? My only problem is the fact that the top (in the front) looks very modern, not much like a period piece.

Carol
Genre: Action/Adventure

Well...I didn't get a picture of the actual outfit but let me assure you, it looked cheap and costumey. Like, I'm gonna go to Party City and get something extremely similar. (I mean, I'm going to order it online because there's no Party City up here.)

Logan
Genre: Action/Adventure

She looks unhappy, no?

This is good. My criteria for judging the action/adventure outfits was "Would Angelina Jolie wear this in a new Tomb Raider flick?"
Logan's = yes.
Carol's = no.

Moving on...

Louise
Genre: Film Noir

I was expecting a lot more from her. Her garments are a little costumey sometimes so this seemed right up her alley...then she produced this.

It's not bad by any stretch of the imagination but it didn't fit the challenge. She said she was going for a 20s in the 40s look. That's like me saying I'm going to do an 80s in the 60s look. It makes no sense.

Althea
Genre: Film Noir

I thought this was really pretty but borderlined on sexy secretary...which I guess is appropriate because in every 40s movie where there's a detective or a crime or something, there's the damsel in distress-esque character dressed like this. So good job, Althea.

My only real problem is how she walked on the runway with a tissue, wiping her eyes. It was part of the character but it just seemed gimmicky. Usually designers have their models do things like that when their garment is crap and they know it. Althea seemed confident about this (as she should) so the tissue act really threw me for a loop.

Irina
Genre: Film Noir
Oh, honey. No.

I don't have a problem with the silhouette. I have a problem with the GIANT LACE CUTOUTS. (Dear Lord, I hope I never have to use those words together ever again.) It looks very much like lingerie from the waist up (of course, without that giant white thing) and is ok from the waist down (I mean, it's just a black dress from the waist down but...whatever.) Her model is gorgeous, though.

Epperson
Genre: Western

This is beautiful, evokes a Western feeling, and is still very Epperson. I think the reason he didn't win this is the fact that he said to himself, "Western is a period. I'm going to do a period piece," which didn't exactly follow the rules but it was a very clever way to turn something you didn't want (Western) into something better. Despite that and the historical inaccuracies (denim dress, big Obi leather belt), I still think Epperson was robbed. This is probably one of my favorite things to go down the runway, and is certainly my favorite this season.

Shirin
Genre: Western

By far the most costumey of the bunch...which isn't a bad thing because this is fab! I love that she didn't do a normal Western woman outfit and went for the saloon girl. It's something that I wouldn't have thought to do for fear of breaking the rules too badly and being eliminated.

I can't keep Shirin and Irina straight (they're both gorgeous with dark skin and dark hair) so I can't say that Shirin is one of my favorites because half the time, I think she's Irina and I don't particularly like Irina (smack talker central.)

Episode seven tomorrow!