Project Runway Episode 7: Sweet P Was Robbed!

Well, it wasn't exactly the doing-in of Christian that all the previews hyped it up to be. But it was nearly his undoing.

Back in high school, I designed my own prom gown, actually out of necessity than anything else (too tall for off-the-rack). My Mom's friend was an expert seamstress who could sew anything - coats, hats, dresses, jeans (jeans!), shirts - so a prom gown she could do with one hand tied behind her back.

The dress combined two separate dress patterns from Vogue that approximated what I was looking for: a top bounded by ruffles that swooped across the chest and shoulders, attached to a column skirt that went straight to the floor in the front with a knee-high slit up the back. The back was a work of art involving a giant bow at the waist, bounded by (still more!) ruffles that tumbled and tapered down the back along the edge of the center-back seam of the skirt. Did I mention it was royal-blue taffeta? It was quite fierce, in an 80s way.

Well, back to Project Runway's Prom Dress episode...

Christian's youthful inexperience reared its ugly head during this episode, because he has yet to acquire traits that mostly comes with experience and time: diplomacy and tact. In making my prom gown, my Mom's seamstress friend indulged my crazy scheme, and finessed the design so both pieces would match up and work together. She added her own vision so that she could make it work.

Part of what makes Christian's character compelling on this show is that he's got some sassy attitude and isn't afraid to say what's on his mind. This episode also had him just giving up and throwing in the proverbial towel with a pout and a full-on drama-queen fall to the floor over the headstrong high schooler Maddie as his client. Granted, the girl was opinionated, but then, so is Christian. The resulting dress looked designed by committee - bronze and black lace all over the place - and it was. Even Tim's tough love talk, encouraging Christian to rally, didn't have much impact, and he found himself in the bottom two, standing beside Kevin.

Kevin, this episode, just seemed ready to go home. He didn't bother with the hem, which was uneven to start with. Even Chris encouraged Kevin to deal with the hem to avoid the wrath of Nina Garcia over an unfinished garment (actually, it ended up being Michael Kors who called him on it). The red was just too old-lady lipstick red.


Kit's dress had something that looked like an RGB monitor test pattern chestplate that I found unattractive. The blue color of the rest of the dress was pretty on the model, but overall, not her typical edgey design.


Maybe it's because she had to take direction from a teenager, but Jillian's design didn't have that familiar Jillian polish. It was wispy and ill-fitting at the bustline, but the colors were OK.


Oh, Ricky. Escaped being in the bottom three, but I think just barely. The color was so close to his model's skin color that it threatened to make her look like a big pinkish blob of Silly Putty - if it weren't for the sparkly trim under the bustline.


Being partial to shades of green, I loved Chris March's long satiny gown, with the gathered front and pleating at the back, which made for a dramatic sweep of an exit.


And Rami, I hope you're not turning into a one-trick pony. With the grecian swaths of pleated and braided fabric, and the draping, he aged that high schooler a good 20 years.

Once again this week, I completely disagree with the judges' choice of the winner.

Maybe it's the area in which I live, but I could see a million more prom girls in Sweet P's champagne silk-satin gown - which exuded old Hollywood glamour - rather than Victorya's sale-rack special from Caché.

I'll give you that the royal blue in Victorya's dress looked great with the model's blond hair - I'm partial to royal blue, as I alluded to before. But for me, the cheesy "bling" and the choker-style neckline did it in for me. The overall effect was strange and amateurish.

Sweet P's champagne satin dress, on the other hand, looked fabulous and elegant, the girl loved her dress, and it fit perfectly. All this, and with interesting detailing in the top. Even Gilles Mendel gave her his blessing on this dress.

Who do you think should have won? Were the judges spot-on this time?