Project Runway -- The WTFening

Normally, I don't start posting outfit pics until there are ten or so designers left -- until then, it's difficult to remember everyone, and strong likes/dislikes might have formed, but lack reasons. However, the last night's episode, like Klaas's ashes, is knocking at my heart.

First of all: Philip Treacy! The man who makes awesome hats, whose muse was Isabella Blow, about who I blogged earlier. Incidentally, the hat that Isabella wears in that picture? Was featured in the show. More of it in a sec. The challenge was to design an outfit that would go with one of these hats:

Best line of the night: "There are many ways to skin a cat, but you should probably bring a knife". Directed at Michael C, who didn't bring a ruler and had to scrap his first dress because Tim Gunn confirmed Michael's gut feeling that the dress was awful. So he quickly made this:

  SPOILER ALERT: it won. I'm as puzzled as you are. "Perfection", the judges said.

The thing that I found fascinating is that at no point did Michael show any awareness that he had ever seen this hat before -- which is a bit strange for any fashion designer. I mean, how do you miss the whole Isabella Blow thing, especially since Daphne Guinness just recently bought her entire wardrobe?Why isn't anyone mentioning or referencing Isabella Blow? It drives me nuts.

(Michael also has a son. I'm grateful he doesn't pull Jason and bitches about being a straight man in a gay man's world -- apparently, Jason thought that fashion is made only by gay men. Women do not exist. And any industry that is not dominated by straight men is discriminating against them. Anyway. Michael's son might or might have not caught a fish.)

Then there's Mondo -- he of short shorts, knee socks, being misunderstood, and detachable mustache. In this episode, he put a mustache on his model, which delighted me to no end. It takes guts to be playful in a competition. I liked his outfit as well, but he didn't place.

Neither did Andy:

Or AJ (who I'm not crazy about, but I have a weakness for polka dots, rolled collars, and the whole afternoon-at-races feel of his outfit. I just wish the neckline was lower, so the model would be allowed to exist a little between the hat and the dress, but overall, I do like it. So sue me.)

Because I'm forty, I liked Ivy's outfit a lot. I would wear the hell out of it to work (with the hat, of course). If you see this blouse for sale, please send me an email. 

Instead the top three were: Michael C, Michael D:

I didn't mind this one -- it was interesting.

and Valerie:

Treacy didn't likeValerie's dress, proving that he was the only sane person there. I KNOW.

Now, bottom three:

Kristin:

Christopher (everyone talked about how he should be in the top three. Of course, he wasn't):

April:

Do you think April was sent home for her diaper? Everyone else thought she would be. In fact, they talked about how she should be sent home so much, that it was clear that it's not likely. They couldn't get rid of Christopher, since he's cute. So Kristin had to go. Her dress wasn't great, but it wasn't as bad as April's underpants or even Christopher's curtain pirate. Arrr.

Oh, and Casanova made what Tim Gunn described a Donna Karan 1988 dress. I didn't mind it -- it was a nice background to showcase the hat:

And as a final thought, here's Isabella Blow in Treacy's lobster hat. Everything else pales.