Project Runway is Back!

The first episode of Project Runway, Season 5 aired two days ago, bringing with it a whole new crop of aspiring fashion designers. Tim Gunn even mentioned on the show that they were the most diverse group of designers ever. Regardless, there are plenty of the original people we've come to expect from the show.


The first challenge was a flashback all the way to Season One. The designers were brought to Gristedes and briefed by Austin Scarlett (the winner of a very similar challenge in the first episode of Season One, and also guest judge for this challenge) about their first challenge -- to create a look using items from the store. The budget? $75. And that's all 16 of the Season 5 competitors, above, racing to get into the supermarket first...

Many of the designers opted for using tablecloths. Of course, there were also many designers who thought better of it -- one of them being the winner of the challenge, Kelli. Her dress, the skirt part which was made from dyed and bleached vacuum cleaner bags, was probably the most creative and innovative approach to the challenge. Her dress was also impeccably detailed with gold push-pins, a closure in the back made from the binding of a spiral notebook, and burnt coffee filters that resembled lace:


Even Heidi Klum had to admit that she thought it looked expensive. There were a few other great (and not-so-great) designs on the show, though. Kelli's winning look was my favorite, but I also loved Leanne's design:


Even though she was one of the designers who used a tablecloth as her main material, I still thought her dress was adorable! Kenley also had an awesome tablecloth dress design:


The judge's favorite tablecloth dress, however, was Korto's, and they have reason to think so. First of all, it was impeccably made and definitely stood out (the color and the sheer volume were so much different from the majority of the other designs), but it also was the only look that utilized actual live produce:


Two other designs I personally loved: Daniel's dress and Terri's skirt-and-top look. Daniel created a dress entirely out of blue plastic party cups, which he was tediously cutting out and ironing flat throughout the challenge. It paid off, however: the judges loved his unique design:


Terri was one of the few designers who created two separate pieces to form their design. I loved the top that she made out of mops, and it looked great with the color of her skirt (which was, granted, another tablecloth):


And, although it's unfortunate, there were those designs that were simply hideous. Although the judges disliked Blayne's "girlicious" look, it essentially came down to two designers: Stella and Jerry. Stella wanted to put her own Rock n' Roll background into her look and decided on using trash bags to create a pair of wicked pants. She discovered, a little too late, that the trash bags she had purchased were way too thin to form a suitable garmet. She ended up sending an extremely flimsy "dress" down the runway:


Jerry, on the other hand, bored the judges with his strange, all-white look (nope -- not a tablecloth this time -- a shower curtain with "fabulous" white hooks!) which was paired with yellow rubber gloves:


In the end, the judges eliminated Jerry. I guess his design just creeped them out way too much. Only based on their first challenge designs, though, I personally would have kept Jerry and eliminated Stella. Jerry's design actually had a discernible shape -- the jacket, and Stella's was pretty much just a few trash bags, sewn together.

What are your opinions on the designs and their designers?


CREDITS: Delivery Agent, Inc.; ProjectRunway.com; ProjectRunway.com; ProjectRunway.com; ProjectRunway.com; ProjectRunway.com; ProjectRunway.com; ProjectRunway.com; ProjectRunway.com.