Project Runway 3, Episode 9: It’s Getting Haute in Here

Welcome back, fashionistas, for yet another week of designing MADNESS on Project Runway. It’s madness, I say. MADNESS!!!

We’re still in Paris this week (as if all of the commercials for this week’s show didn’t pound that into our head enough) and Catherine Malandrino is ready to explain the next challenge. That’s right. Poor recently departing Angela’s dead carcass doesn’t have any vultures circling it just yet and they are already into the next challenge. They haven’t even had time to change clothes and they are into the next challenge.

Now, speaking of Angela’s departure, a very astute reader went to Angela’s website had alerted me to the fact that she’s not really a dumb hick who lives on a farm. She’s a dumb hick who lives on a farm and done a pretty serious bit of international travel. Therefore, even if she didn’t have a definition of what a true “jetsetter” is, she’s definitely done some travel to know what would and would not work in the various major cities of the world that cater to that crowd. And for those of you that thought the wrinkled crotch of those pants were as bad as I did, thank you.

So Angela has been thrown into the gutter and that hideous outfit of hers can’t be burned until the show is over since it has to go on the Hall of Shame mannequin back in New York. Yes, folks. We’re going to be seeing this one again and again and again. Wrinkled crotch and all. Ms. Malandrino along with Tim Gunn announces that this week’s challenge is to design a couture gown. Somewhere in NYC, Austin Scarlett wet his pants while simultaneously throwing himself on the ground to throw a temper tantrum that this challenge wasn’t done in his season.

Now, this episode (along with Tim Gunn’s podcast) were a wealth of information about couture and what it entails. No one can be considered a couture designer unless they pass a very strict set of standards set by the French government and overseen by this body whose name I am not even going to try to spell out. The entire garment is handmade and could very well have details such as hand beading, lace appliqués, or other such details which are also hand done as well. It takes a team of six to eight people hundreds of hours to complete and, according to the podcast, could ultimately cost up to $60,000 - $100,000 upon completion. Therefore, the market for these dresses is incredibly small because so few can afford them. The designers will have three hundred euro for this challenge which equates, at that time, to approximately $375 for the dress – the most money we have seen so far given to a challenge this year and perhaps all three seasons. Catherine will then host a party for them where they can show off their designs.

Vincent starts freaking out because he knows there is no way that he can pull off a true couture gown or anything close to it in the given time limit. I’m pretty sure that everyone was thinking the same thing. I know I was…

Now that they have their challenge, they can go to their hotel and change out of the clothes, since they have probably been in them for more time than they should and who knows when they last showered. Apparently France was also going through a heat wave at the time, and if they were to run any fans during the presentation then you couldn’t hear anything anyone said. According to the podcast, it was deathly hot in the workroom in Paris and they had to do some takes a couple of times.

They go out to dinner that night at what Laura terms a “French restaurant.” Instantly I said to myself, “Well where else would they go?” and then I was reminded of my trip to the Afghan restaurant in Venice last year when I had a falafel attack and was in desperate need of some tahini. Tim does a toast to wish them all well in the challenge which had the hidden subtext of “Because you fools are so going to need it.” Kayne then decides that he wants to do a toast to congratulate Jeffrey on his win, which has the hidden subtext of “Because you’re the last one finally win something… even Angela beat you.”

The next morning it’s time for Breakfast in Paris before they all go to Sacre-Coeur, which is the highest point in all of Paris. Tim Gunn gives them some sketching time there so they can use the city and their surroundings as inspiration. Vincent expounds that he was trained in couture so this should be a total snap for him. After all, he knows what it could be and what it should be but they definitely don’t have time to do the full thing.

Hmmmm. Was it just me or did anyone else see a Foreshadowing Fairy flittering about there?

Sketch time is over and we head over to Mood to get some fabric. Just kidding. They head to the French version of Mood (which sadly enough isn’t called Humeur) and Tim Gunn says that part of the reason that they were given so much more money is that because couture fabrics just cost that much more. Jeffrey decides that he wants to channel Uli and her design aesthetic because he starts going after a series of yellow plaids. He says he wants to be the first designer with immunity to win a challenge. Ah. Jeffrey apparently forgot that evil Kara Saun who was the winning designer in the collection challenge and then in the postal uniform challenge where she had immunity. I call Kara Saun evil because 1) I never liked her, 2) I thought she was overly cocky, and 3) I thought she was incredibly and unnecessarily mean to Wendy Pepper on the verge of even being whiny about it. I just loved watching her get her comeuppance over those shoes she got for free and couldn’t get credit for them.