Project Runway 3, Episode 4: Rules Are Rules (or, Another Miracle on 34th Street)

Ah, it’s the episode that we’ve been waiting for – someone will be kicked off of the show.

Now, last week I asked you to write in and tell me who you thought was going to be kicked off this week and for what reasons. The majority of you wrote in that you thought it was Keith, offering a variety of reasons from “plagiarizing” fashions in a sketchbook presented to the casting agent to hitting one of his castmates. Kayne was the runner-up with one person saying it was because Miss USA, Tara Conner, didn’t win Miss Universe (hello! The show was taped MONTHS ago!) to an affair that he had with Robert when Tim Gunn was supposed to have him first.

Well, we are definitely going to find out in this episode. Additionally, I’ve listened to Tim Gunn’s podcast on the BravoTV.com website and will be providing a few more insights for you should there be something interesting about this week’s dismissal.

Last week the Curse of the Brown Miss Universe Gown struck again as Katherine (Malan’s partner for that challenge) got the heave-ho for her plain green gown. Uli was in and took home immunity for this week. In fact, the morning after, Uli and Bonnie are wondering whether or not they will have to consolidate the female designers down into one apartment since there aren’t that many of them left. That sounds good to them as long as they don’t have to move in with Angela. Ah, I see some Foreshadowing Fairies dancing around in the background here.

In fact, they are also in Angela’s room as she’s prepping herself in the mirror, saying that after being in the bottom two for the last two challenges she has no choice but to prove herself again in this challenge. Again? Did she say AGAIN? I’m trying to think back to when she proved herself the first time. Was it… no. How about… uh, no. Well, there was… yeah, no. Ya know. Maybe it’s not Foreshadowing Fairies that are dancing in Angela’s apartment but the ghost of Wendy Pepper. Why do I say that? Well remember how Wendy pulled through after being near the bottom for the first two challenges in the first season and then pulled out a win in the Banana Republic challenge? Well, this week’s challenge is to design an outfit for INC (aka International Concepts), which happens to be the signature line of Macy’s, who also happens to be a sponsor of the show. Imagine that.

It’s time for model selection, and unlike last year (not to mention just last week) when the winning designer got to choose between their model and the dismissed designer’s model, we revert back to the season 1 pick-‘em style where all of the models are up for grabs again. Frankly, I’m not expecting many of the designers to stray from their current models, but sure enough Uli shocks me and takes Keith’s model, Nazri. Overall, it’s about a 50/50 split for designers that switched up to those that remained loyal. We all remember last season when Zulema thought she was being smart by switching out models and snatching Nick’s muse. She got the boot in the next challenge. Well, Uli is safe from going this time, so we’ll have to see if this backfires on her.

Now comes the time when I have to let you in on some timing issues that I picked up from Tim’s podcast. The model selection part took place on a Thursday night of Memorial Day weekend. This next part where Tim discusses the challenge with the designers was the following morning. Tim introduces Mehmet Tangoren, Macy’s VP of sportswear, who tells them that the challenge is to design a three-piece look for the INC brand. The woman who buys the INC clothing is fashion forward, reads all of the magazines, and would never wear something like what Angela created last week.

Tim lays out the terms for the challenge in that the designers will have 30 minutes to sketch their hearts out before they go into a presentation with Mehmet. Oh, he forgot to mention it’s also a team challenge. I’m sure everyone’s thoughts immediately go to, “I do not want to work with Angela!” After hearing all of the presentations, Mehmet will choose four team leaders to spearhead the creation of the projects, and then those team leaders, in turn, will choose two other people to work with them on creating the outfit.

Now, as we all know, Angela does not sketch. She sat there and pretty much interviewed Tara Conner during the Miss Universe challenge so she has no clue how she will do. Keith says this should be a breeze for him since he’s so used to doing the menswear stuff. Bonnie says her background in “designing for the masses” should come in handy here. Okay, Bravo, I love the whole “let’s prep for the meeting” montages that we get. However, can just watch them do their thing and then go from there? The only reason I say that is because I’m a little tired of watching the designers pat themselves on the back with what they know and you can kinda tell who they are setting up for a fall later in the episode. I’ll come back to this later, I assure you.

Now, rather than pitch right there at Parsons, they actually head up to Macy’s headquarters on 34th Street (all eight stories of Macy’s goodness). It’s montage time again, but I kinda like this since we get to see what the designers can do. Laura’s design centers around her proclaimed “holy grail” - the perfect black pants. See, for me, the holy grail is the perfect pair of jeans paired with the right pair of boots. Like the $300 Rogan jeans I bought for $50 in a vintage clothing shop paired with the brown Italian boots I picked up in Siena last year and my Kazakhstan military officer’s belt I got on eBay. When I find jeans that make me feel hot and sexy, then I buy them. You thought I was going to talk about kilts there, didn’t you? The runner-up would be the perfect LEATHER kilt.

After that we hear montages of cardigans in grey, tank tops that turn into dresses, tunics, strappy things, Empire State Building inspirations, and Vincent proclaiming grey to be the new brown. I will admit, I have had times when I think I could do this show (if I could actually sew, that is), but let’s be honest - I don’t have the mental faculties to look at the Empire State Building and come up with a design on that. Apparently we’re at another season 1 throwback since Jay designed an outfit after being inspired by the Chrysler Building.