I’ve passed the halfway mark in my quest to complete all the design challenges from Season 9 of Project Runway. I wasn’t sure how many challenges there would be, but Anya mentioned on this week’s episode that there will be 13, so now I know! I’m still trying to decide how I’ll do the final collection challenge at the end… I certainly don’t have time to make ten looks, but perhaps I could do three?

EPISODE 8: WHAT WOMEN WANT

This week’s episode opened with Heidi and the famous button bag, the appearance of which always makes the designers groan. When she announced that they wouldn’t be using their regular models this time, and a series of men came out on the runway, I was just as convinced as the designers were that this would be a menswear challenge. We were all wrong, though, and we soon learned that the men were the clients, but not the models. The men would provide input to the designers to come up with a garment for their wives or girlfriends. How fun!

My first thought for completing this challenge at home was to grab McGeeky and let him help me design something for Jo. However, Jo reminded me that I actually know her taste pretty well, and it would be too easy for me to create something she would like. Hmm, that was a pretty good point! So I reached out to some dear friends of mine who have been following along with this series and asked the husband for input. It took a little bit of prodding, but we finally came up with the following major design points for me to consider when designing for his wife:

• Pants would be better than a skirt
• She likes dark shades of red, orange, and brown
• Something “flashy” would be good
• Sleeves are optional
• Imagine she is going out to a fancy dinner

With that in mind, I headed straight to the workroom and created something I hoped she would like. When I showed them the finished product, they both really loved the design and the color, and said, “The fabric is spot on!” I certainly didn’t expect to be making pants again so soon, but it was what she wanted, so that’s what I did! When I first started this series, I actually thought doll pants would be really hard to make, but it’s actually not that bad, and I’m really getting the hang of it. I kept the top pretty simple so it wouldn’t outshine the bold pants, but I ruched it, which was a new technique for me.

The designers created an interesting mix of garments this time. Even though his model seemed quite happy with Anthony Ryan’s sailor/cheerleader dress, neither I nor the judges were big fans. He is really hit-and-miss with his designs. I was not really impressed with Olivier’s attitude or his top and pants. He really does seem terrible at time management, because there was not much to that outfit considering he had two days! Under the “boring” category, let’s file Bert’s coctail dress, Laura’s gown, and Kimberly’s top and skirt. They were all fine, but nothing special. I think it was hard for some of the designers to meet the clients’ needs and still be fashion-forward. This was definitely not the case for Viktor, though, who did a bang-up job with his quirky top and skirt. They suited the client perfectly, and while the look was not really my taste, I completely appreciate the effort he made and the impact it had on the client. I don’t know why Bryce was so afraid of that bright pink, because it was the only good thing about the pocket dress he made. I guess that emphasizes what I’ve thought for a while now… his whole design style is way off, so the judges sent him packing. I am not broken up about it, are you? As usual, Anya’s dress was gorgeous. Some of the judges threw a fit over the sleeve, and I think the dress would look equally pretty with or without it. It really was pretty, unique, and perfect for the client, and I liked it better than Joshua’s little black dress. His was a great little dress, and suited the client perfectly. but I think it only won because Joshua had to work so hard to edit himself that much. Had another designer made it, it wouldn’t have been quite so well-received. But congrats to Joshua for his second win!