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'Project Runway' - 'Finale Part 1' Recap
by Michael Pascua, posted Apr 16th 2010 12:28AM
(S07E13) It's crunch time for 'Project Runway' as the contestants make their ten piece final collection at home. While Seth Aaron and Emilio are sailing pretty, Jay and Mila had to face-off. Tim's visits are probably the best episode for Tim fanatics. He gets to interact with the contestants, but also becomes human watching him eat meals and ride bikes. I need to have a looped gif of Tim on the trampoline from this episode.
On the whole, I'm impressed by the unfinished collections of all the contestants; they all look like they were closer to finished product than previous seasons. The contestants have very distinct points of view so it will be very interesting to see how the finale pans out.
Seth Aaron - Vancouver, WA - Seth Aaron has this insane idea of getting 20 outfits ready for fashion week and paring it down to the ten that he's feeling. I guess he would have been safe if there was a random twist involving making more clothes. His collection stays true to himself with a lot of leather and interesting pieces that follow the rock aesthetic. Seth Aaron manages to get Tim not only to bounce and fall on a trampoline, he gets Tim to play Pictionary. Tim screaming "fallopian tube!" as his guess for stethoscope was amazing. I want him on my Pictionary team.
Emilio - New York City - Emilio explains that he came from a rough upbringing in 70s Bronx and that gritty attitude was part of his inspiration. While showing Tim his collection, Tim isn't as enthusiastic about it. He probably was the sharpest with Emilio than he has ever been with any of the contestants (Kenley from Season 5 comes to mind). I wasn't feeling the graffiti/zipper jacket or Emilio's attitude to Tim. Kenley's attitude came to bite her in the ass, so I'm hoping that Emilio gets a karma smack.
Mila - Los Angeles - It seems like no surprise that Mila's inspiration, shadows, continues her love for black and white. It seemed like her life surroundings are black and white, including her dog. There was something really boring in general during the Mila segment, ranging from her sedated interviews to her passive dog.
Jay - San Francisco - Without even getting to the clothes, I have to love Jay's mother pointing out to Tim how she taught Jay about sewing dresses and pants. She is the typical Filipino mother and it made me smile. Jay's clothes are inspired by the Japanese Samurai and he brings a lot of interesting concepts to his collection. While I don't think that a lot of his clothes are easily transformed into ready to wear, I think that some concepts like the ripples could be translated. I never really thought much of Jay for comic relief, so his "Cuckoo Chanel" response to Tim was golden.
The contestants all arrive at New York. Mila and Jay are shocked to find out that they have only three hours to prep their muse models and two assigned models. They are all sent to hair and make-up, but neither really do anything outlandish with their styling. The only judges are Heidi, Michael, and Nina. As the clothes walk down, Mila's was well tailored, but still very Mila. My favorite of her pieces was probably the fish-scale dress because it was silver and not so black and white. I was more impressed by Jay's collection as a whole because it was a very head to toe collection. Sure, the jackets were a bit over the top, but just a bit of tailoring would have helped.
The two faced the judges. Mila's was different but cohesive, but the judges worried that her point of view was too narrow and her collection was not modern enough. Jay was complimented on his footwear, but was criticized that he may need to tailor his looks down. Mila advanced to the finale.
I'm really disappointed that Jay didn't show his final collection, because as much as I liked Mila's collection, the whole collection was a bit too old for my tastes. I do think that Mila was given a big advantage when the judges told her to style more youth into her makeup and hair. If she had made it to the finals without this face-off, she would have easily lost because her collection would have skewed old with the hair. Jay's was interesting and innovative. He could have easily toned down his collection to appease the judges.
I also wonder if having the face-off desensitizes the judges. I doubt Mila will win, but seeing three of her best pieces could have made the impact less. How did you find the elimination? Leave comments below.
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