Project Runway 4, Episode 9: Blue Jean Baby

Last week, the designers worked in pairs to create an avant-garde look and a corresponding ready to wear outfit. Chris and Christian rocked the house, and team leader Christian won the challenge and got immunity for this week. Victorya and Jillian created a really fabulous coat, despite time management issues. Rami worked with Sweet P and was kind of a jerk to her. He designed pretty much the same draped dress we’d seen twice before and bored Nina to tears. Kit and Ricky made two lousy dresses, and tragically, team leader Kit got the boot, irritating fans everywhere who wonder why on earth Ricky is still around.

The designers get ready for another day, and Sweet P says she really misses Kit. Victorya accidentally calls Sweet P by Kit’s name. Chris and Rami talk about how their apartment hasn’t lost any members yet. Ricky says he’s trying to be excited about everything, but that he’s having a hard time with the judges’ criticism. Imagine what the poor thing is feeling now if he’s reading anything on the internet. Um, sorry, Ricky. I’m sure you’re a nice guy.

On the runway, Heidi brings out the winning and losing designers’ models. Christian freaking loves his model Lisa, so I’m not feeling much suspense. Sure enough, he sticks with Lisa, and Marie is out.

Heidi sends the designers to meet Tim for a field trip, news that excites no one. Rami says in an interview that the field trip could be tragic, like making a wedding gown out of a garbage bag, or fabulous, like a trip to Paris to make a couture gown. Considering that the second actually happened last season, I don’t think that’s going to be it.

Tim drives with the designers to their secret destination. They cross the Brooklyn Bridge, a fact that does not please Christian. Boroughs, ew! Chris thinks maybe they’re going to design cement galoshes to toss people into the river. Tim takes them to a pier on the East River, where they meet Caroline Calvin, senior vice president of design for Levi’s. They open a garage door to reveal clotheslines filled with jeans. Tim says there are more than 500 pairs of 501 jeans, along with bolts of white cotton. Caroline tells them to create an iconic denim look that captures the Levi’s brand. Sweet P is excited to work with denim. The designers have three minutes to stuff a laundry bag with materials. Jillian says in an interview that she doesn’t want to run the whole way across the warehouse to where the fabric was. Don’t complain, Jillian – the last time you had to do something like that, Chris about died. The designers race so fast into the warehouse that Sweet P loses a shoe. She shows off a dirty foot in an interview.

Rami grabs dark denim. Jillian wants jackets and jeans, selecting a light color. Christian says he went for jackets and dark denim. Chris and Victorya briefly tussle over a pair of jeans that was dropped on the floor, and she insists that they’re hers. Chris doesn’t argue with her. In an interview, Victorya admits that she’s a competitive person. Ricky kindly brings Sweet P her shoe.

Tim shows the designers bags of notions they can use, and gives them until midnight. The designers sort through what they’ve got. Aw, no trip to Mood!

Ricky says that he likes working with denim and sometimes makes his hats out of it. Could have fooled me, since we’ve seen him in the same damned black and white hats all season. He says he really wants to do something unique. He decides to make a corset.

Jillian plans on making a coat that is “futuristic looking.” Um, didn’t you do that last week? She plans to use the 501 label as an epaulet on the shoulder. That’s sort of cool… but again, futuristic looking coat? Literally last week.

The designers think that Rami wound up with the most fabric. “Rami bitch,” says Christian, but with a smile on his face. Rami says he’s not an American designer, since he was born in Jerusalem. We see pictures of cute young Rami. He says sketching and design was the perfect escape for him. Because he wasn’t born in the U.S., Rami thinks his take is different, more feminine, edgier. I hope that doesn’t mean he’s going to do classical Grecian draping. Rami wants his design to show that Levi’s can be more refined, more hip.

Jillian laughs about how filthy everyone is. Sweet P says she dropped everything on the ground. Then, she asks Chris the best way to get dirt out of denim. He and Christian debate the best way to clean the jeans. Christian gets a little extra cocky, prompting Chris to sneer in an interview, “It’s so cute to see youth.” Jillian thinks Christian is talented, but immature. Chris wants to give him a bottle and send him to bed.

Christian makes snide comments about how deconstructing denim is something he did in fashion school. Rami says in an interview that he never stops talking. “If I had hair in my head, I’d want to tear it out,” he says. Christian whines, “This is not how fashion is.”

Victorya is also making a coat, in this case a classic trench coat. She says that her mother inspires her. She’d sketch clothes and her mother would sew them. Victorya thinks her mom would be proud of how far she’s made it. She realizes that Jillian is making a coat too, but doesn’t want to change her concept.

Jillian notices too, and says it’s a little crazy that after they just worked on a challenge together and she made a coat that all of a sudden Victorya is interested in coats. Of course, this is all coming from Jillian, so there’s a whole lot less drama than there’d be from anyone else on the subject. Also, I think it’s crazy that either of them is trying to do another coat again immediately after the last challenge, but they don’t seem to hear me as I yell this at my TV.

Christian says working with denim makes him feel manly. He looks at the Levi look book and likes the trucker jacket. It inspires him to make a denim biker outfit for a woman.