Project Runway 6, Episode 4: Bend, Don't Break

The Fake-Out:
The previews for this week made it seem like they were going to have to make prom dresses, which I thought was weird because how would they figure the models into that if they were making dresses for a bunch of spoiled youth from 90210 High School? Of course they weren’t making prom dresses.

The Challenge:
The “client” challenges always push the designers in interesting ways. I enjoy seeing who can bend their design aesthetic to honor the client’s wishes, who losses themselves, and who losses their client.

Having the models as clients was a nice throwback to Season 1 (the last time the models got any sort of face time on the show), but rather than just rehash challenges from Season 1 like they did last season, they sort of combined the Season 1 “wedding dress” challenge with the “swimsuit party” challenge in a fun way.

The Kiss of Death (or The Fake-Out 2):
The following are generally a bad omen for a designer:
1. When a designer expresses easy confidence at the top of a challenge. “I’ve done this a million times. I’ve got this one.” Watch out, you’re in the bottom 3. Just like Johnny was with his "bridesmaid's dress". (I wondered why they made a point to show him choosing the purse off the accessory wall.)
2. When we see a designer make an emotional phone call home. Any sort of sudden character development meant to make a designer more sympathetic usually means they’re about to be out. As soon as Epperson had his moment I thought he was done, but I didn’t think his dress was that bad. When his dress was in the top 3, I thought maybe they were setting him up to be the winner. Nope. I guess they just couldn’t resist showing the tear rolling down his cheek as he worked.

The Winner:
I didn’t really think the suit that Althea made was all that. I didn’t understand the skirt. I never got a good look at the coat, and the shirt seemed like just a torn piece of cloth that barely held back her model’s boobs. I knew Carol Hannah wasn’t going to win though because we’d hardly seen her or her dress all episode. (Just like you knew Ra’mon was middle of the pack since we didn’t see his dress at all until it came down the runway.)

The Loser:
Once they said Johnny was safe, we all knew Qrystl was out. They weren’t going to axe Logan. They left him up there to scare him and put the fear of Heidi into him, but he was never in any real danger. They like him too much. Qrystl probably would have been out last week if they had gotten rid of Mitchell the week before like they should have. (That would seem to leave Johnny next in line to be out, but the Daniel Franco clone could tank a challenge at any moment.) (Qrystl's Dress, Logan's Dress)

The Judges.
I miss Michael Kors. We had three completely new judges, but I thought they did a really good job. Classic line of the night from Jennifer Rade: “That’s why she’s not a designer. Thank god!”