'Project Runway' Recap - Beachwear Rules with Surprising Upset; Rachel Bilson and Max Azria Are Guest Judges
Filed under: News
Guest Judges actress Rachel Bilson and BCBG designer Maz Azria. Photo: Getty Images for IMG
The 14 remaining designers headed to the beach where they were greeted by Tim Gunn, sporting a blazer and flip flops. Their challenge: to create a California surfwear look with real live surfer girls as their consultants.
But the real catch was that designers had to work in teams of two, something that caused more than few a furrowed brows.
After a few minutes of huddling with the surfers, who definitely favored functionality over fashion, designers regrouped at Mood Fabrics for a frantic 15 minutes with $15 to gather their supplies. As Nicolas Putvinski put it: "Hoodies and little sweatshirts are not for the runway."
Most teams fell seamlessly into working together with little quibbling, but those who didn't work, didn't make it work, in a big way. Qristal Frazier and Epperson had instant friction and it went downhill from there. Mitchell Hall and Ra'mon-Lawrence Coleman were mismatched in both talent and skill and Mitchell appeared to have all but given himself up to giggling helplessly while Ra'mon sweated the challenge for both of them.
To make matters worse, Gunn swooped into the workroom midway through the design process and said that the judges had a second challenge: an avant-garde look paired with a new hairstyle and complementing the seaside style.The only upside the stressed-out designers could see was that they had $200 for fabric this time.
Ra'mon really felt the pressure when Gunn asked him to resurrect a neoprene scuba look that the designer had earlier nixed. With less than an hour to get the model down the runway, he rushed to the fabric-dyeing room.
All's well that ends well. At the show's finish, Mitchell was satisfyingly booted after admitting that he had done nothing to design and create the companion seaweed-inspired, flowy beach gown and uber chic neon yellow and green neoprene mini cocktail dress. "How can I judge someone who didn't do anything?" Heidi Klum asked.
And the very deserving Ra'mon walked away as the winning designer. Both guest judges, actress Rachel Bilson and designer Max Azria, along with Nina Garcia, gushed over the neoprene design, made even more truly remarkable considering Ra'mon's last-minute scrambling and complete lack of help from Mitchell.
It was an historic moment: "Never in 'Project Runway' history has a member of a winning team been eliminated," Heidi said disapprovingly to Mitchell. Auf wiedersehen!
Tune in Thursdays at 10pm ET/PT on Lifetime, then visit us for the recap.












meg4fancast 9-04-2009 @ 2:20AM
Mitchell soooo deserved to go. He never took anything seriously. He will be chatting live with fans tomorrow on Fancast. Check it out- http://www.fancast.com/blogs/tv-news/project-runway-live-chat-latest-eliminated-designer/
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Jonna 9-09-2009 @ 9:39AM
Ramon's neoprene design was amazing! He deserved to win! At least Mitchell admitted to doing nothing and didn't make excuses. It made Ramon's win all the sweeter!
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