A-Muse-Ing

Ok, this week was full of drama and tension on Project Runway! After a couple of sort of boring weeks I was very glad that there was nail-biting happening and that I would have plenty to report. Right. Off we go!
First, the modeling competition, which this year was a lot less emphasized became A BIG PROBLEM when Zulema, power-hungry after winning the Sasha Cohen ice-skating challenge, decided to have a "walk-off" between three models. This also meant she was not going to remain loyal to her own model. Yikes! So far all the designer hopefuls have been loyal to their models. To make matters much worse, she chose Tara, who is Nick's "muse". Uh-oh. (There were tears in Zulema's old model's eyes which is lame because she wasn't sent home- Emmet's model was.)
Next, the designers were sent to Michael Kors to be shown what "inspiration" means. He told them about an heiress who in the 50s took off to Hawaii and had this lover and there was scandal and he was inspired by "what would she pack?" and so he had these Hawaiian flower prints. So he gives them all cameras to go out and shoot New York City and be inspired.
Nick, being down about losing his precious muse, who did all his inspiring (as muses ought to do), hardly took pictures. Meanwhile, Zulema took a picture of an African woman in traditional garb. Right off the bat I thought, Why? Nothing against African garb, mind you, but I felt it was dangerous to be inspired by what someone already designed- mainly, whoever designed that African dress she took a picture of.
The most "inspired" picture was the one that Andrae took of gutter water. Chloe went for buildings while Santino went for graffitti. That left Daniel, Kara and Nick. When they got back to the studio we learned that Daniel would go with his first picture, one of orchids at Michael Kors' lobby and Kara with the concept of "no tresspassing" posters/signs. Nick remained uninspired, angry and hurt. Especially when Tim Gunn came in and gave them "tough love". He told Santino he was in very big trouble, Zulema and Chloe to get out of their comfort zones, Nick and Andrae to step it up and he reminded Kara that she was the only one left without a win. Daniel I forgot what he told but it wasn't so bad. Nick was mad about being told to be more ambitious because he felt he had been. Soon he decided he'd had it with the show. I was very dissappointed in his reaction to everything going on. I realize it's very intense but this shows he doesn't have what it takes and he was my favorite. Daniel, young as he is however, gave him a pep talk about not going home because it's stressful but only if he deserved to go home. To give his all. So Nick snapped back into "shape" and once again began to compete in earnest.
They then went to get fabric and begin work. Santino did his usual Tim Gunn imitations which Daniel loved because it relieves tension. Santino affected the Gunn tone and said, "Designers- up until now you've all f#$%-ing sucked. But go out there and kick butt!" I must say I find Santino's shennanigans hilarious and want him around just for that. Everyone else is DULL AS NAILS.
When it was time for the models to come in and put on their garb, Zulema's former model, who was now Nick's (and was known by Zulema and even Tim Gunn to be a stiff walker) decided to give her A game for Nick as he is her favorite. Tara is jealous. Tara is extremely pretty but get over it girl! I know it's hard to lose your fag but it happens. Nick sure got over it. He pronounced Zulema's old model HIS new muse.
I noticed as soon as I saw Santino shopping for fabric to use that even though he said he was quite lucky to find fabric that matched his graffitti exactly, the fabric was the same as Austin Scarlett's "Grammy" dress from last year (which caused him to be eliminated for being so unbending and going for glamour again). I immediately knew I had to post side-by-side photos but was not sure anybody else would notice it.

**Santino's "Graffitti Dress"**/**Austin Scarlett's "Grammy Dress" **



















They did notice- that is, Jay McCarroll, last year's winner, was a judge and he brought it up right away. I actually felt bad for Santino as he did take Tim Gunn's advice and even admitted at the beginning of the show that what he'd created for Sasha Cohen was ridiculous and horrible.
The surprise was that Nick, another Top 3 favorite, was also out of favor now. They were tired of his fishttails and did not find his garment to show any inspiration from the photo he took. (All he photographed was a garment in a shop window.) Chloe, who is a darling as well, was told she didn't quite pull off the building thing but she was at least told the dress she made was very pretty. However, Jay gave her a hard time as he had to create a dress inspired by the Chrysler building last year and DID pull it off.
Next to be lambasted was Zulema. She was told she did not execute things properly. (They showed clips of her awful dress made from the stuff she wore to a party, which was the challange that time, but which did not cover the model's butt completely.) She tried to explain it away but the judges cut her off.
Kara gave a horribly long explanation for her inspiration- signs and "no tresspassing" and "stay away" and ramblerambleramble but the dress was nothing but a black sheath with a stripe of bumblebee diagonally across it. Oops.
Andrae, who at first seemed a weak link when he cried his head off in the second episode turned out a very glam and expensive looking dress using his photo of gutter water. Judges loved it and it was Jay's favorite.
But the winner was Daniel. I am proud of myself for choosing Daniel as one of the Top 3, feeling he'd edge out Santino. His orchid-inspired dress was very pretty and very well executed. Kudos!
That left a lot of questions except by the time they announced the winner, Chloe was already "safe" and we knew they had loved Andrae though not enough to win. Who would leave? Santino, who "copied" Austin Scarlett and was "inspired" by graffitti, nothing out of the ordinary in NY? Or Zulema, with her lame "home-sewn party dress"? Or Kara, who had flapped her yap to fill in the gaps of her very literal and very blah garment?
Nick was safe. Then...Santino. Then...Kara???
I must say I was a little dumbfounded. After all, Tim Gunn did say she was the only one who had not won before. Maybe her previous dresses, though not winners, had landed her in the "safe" category more than Zulema? But I don't recall that being the case. I don't know but it seemed odd. Kara, I think, is sub-par. Zulema has execution problems and is therefore unprofessional but she seems more creative. Though I'm not a fan so who cares. Bye-bye, Zulema! The model you were not loyal to had the last laugh. As did Nick. (Though now isn't he torn between 2 muses??)