Project Runway Recap - Episode 8 - Working with a Legend!

First, I would like to say if there was no Project Runway on Wednesday, I might have seriously lost my mind. Secondly, I have to apologize for the delay in this recap and posts. Honestly, I have been all too consumed with politics the past two weeks and its been not only bad for my stomach its been keeping me from posting. My thoughts on everything political will be in another post later, so let's get to dishing Project Runway.

This week's episode had a great premise and unfortunately it was beyond filled to the brim with product placement. At the end of this season, I seriously want to take some time and count the total time the program devoted to advertising. Anyways, the designers were informed that there were going to be designing a piece to possibly be in the Fall Collection of Diane Von Furstenberg, yes the iconic designer synonymous with sexy elegance and the creator of the wrap dress. The living legend greeted the designers in her Meatpacking District studio and allowed them to utilize fabrics from her own collection to create an inspired look, worthy of walking down the runway with DVF on the tag. Most designers enjoyed the challenge, even with the extreme pressure of designing something for Diane, yet I am not sure everyone refined their palette enough to present their items. Her collection is based on the Marlene Dietrich film A Foreign Affair.



Honestly, I think only Leanne and Korto truly understood the magnitude of the challenge and produced pieces that reflected that. While most put together decent designs, they weren't truly DVF worthy, nor good matches with the already existing collection. Terri produced a varied version of the same three piece look she has each week, tailored pants, work blouse and jacket/vest thing. While I know this woman can sew well, her designs are pretty boring and other than the drag queen challenge, I can find most of her stuff in the women's section of Macy*s. What did shock me was Joe's literal take on Shanghai, with the creation of what looked like a cheap geisha style waitress uniform for some Japanese chain restaurant. It was terrible and worthy of being sent home, but it was Stella, who had consistently produced shotty work, went instead with her odd suit/capelet thing.

Leanne's and Korto's were inspired, with a wonderful play on the sexy siren aesthetic of a film noir spy film from the 1940's. Korto, with the additional play of the color yellow throughout her black and white pattern gown, was wonderful. But truly Leanne's was beyond runway ready. The rich tone of her dress and the beautiful detail on the back made it beyond covet worthy. For the runway, Diane was a guest judge, as was Fern Mallis, the Director 7th on 6th and NYC Fashion Week. Both women, along with Michael Kors and Heidi Klum brought Korto, Leanne and Kenley's simple Asian influenced dress to the top three discussion. Leanne came out on top and her piece is not being sold through DVF, for $605 to American Express card holders only. After this week's challenge, I am fairly certain the top three this go around will be the ones sticking around till the end.