This week, in a familar challenge, the designers were taken out into the city, where they had an hour to take inspirational pictures. Tim Gunn escorted the designers on a tour bus, where designers were let off in groups at Columbus Circle, Times Square, NYC Public Library, and Greenwich Village. The upside: the nighttime social scene was happening; the downside: it was raining. Overall, I thought the designers took some creative pictures–especially Kenley & Emily. Stella tried to stir up drama after she became irritated with an inconsiderate, distracted Keith, but it didn’t rile Kenley who backed his competitive, “in the moment” attitude.

The designers each selected one picture to inspire their design for a fabulous night out on the town. For the first time, the designers headed to Mood to pick out their own fabric. Stella kept running around screaming, “who’s helping me?,” but no one seemed to hear or care. Has she never been in a fabric store before, or does her store only sell “leatha?” In the workroom, it was interesting to watch everything come together–I was holding my breath for Kenley, Blayne, Terri and Emily who took risks with bold, splashy colors.

Kenley’s design instincts were right on cue, as she won this challenge, receiving immunity for next week. Her throw-back to the 80s was modern, playful, and perfect for a flirty girl on the town. However, I thought Leanne’s fabulous and chic separates would be hard to beat; her design was so interesting, classic, and most wearable by all women. While I had doubts about Terri’s graffiti inspired backless dress and pants, it made a fabulous showing on the runway. I also loved the sophisticated ambiance and deep olive color of Jerell’s design and the rainbow of electric colors on Blayne’s design.

While most of the designers succeeded in creating appealing garments for the runway, there were a few that were no where near making the cut. This week, we said auf wiedersehen to Emily. I loved her inspiration photo–with the moving light of NYC, but her execution was just plain awful. The ruffles were unflattering, had poor placement, and did not flow with the garment.

Personally, I liked Keith’s inspiration photo–there was something so intriguing about the battered magazine, but I was disappointed by the execution of the garment. I agree with Michael Kors’ comment: “It looks like toilet paper fluttering in the wind.” Jennifer rounded out the bottom three with her matronly frock. There are no words for it other than boring. Nina Garcia made the infamous remark, “no comment.” That is when you know it was bad!

Make sure you bid on your favorite design from Bright Lights/Big City in our auction this week. I think I might bid on Kenley’s ode to the 80s–it would be fabulously fun for a night out with my girls.

I still get excited looking at all the Project Runway originals we have in our office. Some of the designers were innovative in their design and execution of their garments from the first challenge, promising much talent for future challenges.

We put Terri’s garment on the mannequin–it has been one of the few that has been big enough to actually fit our bust form! Terri used safe materials to create her garment: a red plastic tablecloth for the skirt and mops for the halter top. Even though the materials were ordinary, Terri’s execution of detailing and construction were well done. She made a simple a-line skirt, but added ruffles to the back to add interest and create volume. The skirt had seams to make it fit well, but it didn’t have any closures, so I’m not sure how it stayed on the model. It was obvious Terri spent most of her time creating a braid pattern for the halter; the pattern was intricate and well designed. My favorite part was the open structure of the back–very sexy. This was sewn onto the model, so we had to use a rubber band to dress our mannequin. Even though Terri played it safe in design and fabrication, her work was solid. In last week’s auction, her dress was continually bid on by three persons and went for $70.

I also got to examine Wesley’s paper tablecloth dress–which had been completely cut off of the model! This dress was among my favorites as it was with viewers. In last week’s auction, this was one of the top dresses, with a max bid of $115. The same bidder nabbed both Terri’s and Wesley’s garments. Wesley, like many of the designers, played it safe with a paper tablecloth, however, his keg cup and flyswatter flowers added a pop quality to his design. Wesley used a muslin base for his dress, allowing him to create a good shape and movement.  Most of his time was spent cutting out individual petals for his flowers, but his craftsmanship and attention to detail were evident. The rubber gloves were interesting–they were tacky in design, but on trend in design conception. Wesley used rubber kitchen gloves adorned with a smashed keg cup. This dress was good, but the color is what made it standout on the runway.

Make sure you place your bid in this week’s auction and I’ll keep you updated on all the dirty design details!