Project Runway Recap: The finale, and not a moment too soon

Emerging from my ennui to recap the runway.

So, we finally made it to the Project Runway finale, and it's a sad indication that the moment of highest drama, on or off the runway, was Carol Hannah puking in the bathroom.

Although, I might amend that to say that the moment of highest drama amongst me and my viewing companions was when Heidi came out on the runway wearing another horrendous ensemble. She really saved the "best" for last, in a hot pink, shiny "suit", featuring too-tight pencil capris, a weird short jacket and completely incongruous cranberry-colored lipstick. The horror. No, really, the horror. We decided that Heidi has looked less than her usual stunning self this season because Lifetime needs to free up some budget, stat.

Of course I might take the hot pink suit over the bizarre curler-left-in hairdo sported by guest judge Suzy Menkes. Honey, a British accent does not class up whatever that was nesting on top of your head.

 Even Tim Gunn seemed to be wigging out pre-runway (and you can read more about his feelings about Season 7 in this LA Times blog post.)

Which reminds me: This should have been the season I loved the most. I mean, I actually got to meet Tim Gunn this summer...I was predisposed to look kindly upon Season 6. Too bad there wasn't a designer to love or hate, and there wasn't a consistency in judging either.

So, since I'm not so excited to talk about the collections, let me tell one last Tim Gunn story. This summer Tide was bringing Tim Gunn to BlogHer '09 as part of their sponsorship. He was going to spend some time in their booth signing autographs, but we were also running a contest for one lucky person to get a "15 minute personal consultation", also planned to be in their booth.

A few days before the conference, we get a call from Tim's representatives saying he's "concerned". Of course, we start freaking out...Tim is concerned? What? What could it be?

Well, he was concerned that 15 minutes wasn't nearly long enough to connect with someone. And that doing it in the booth wouldn't really be personal at all, and certainly not private.

So, instead, he wanted to have the winner comes to his hotel and have lunch with him! In the end, a limo picked her up, took her to his hotel. They had lunch, which he paid for, not letting the publicist pick it up, and he spent over 90 minutes with the winner! 

Isn't he simply the best?

[PS-You can read Beth Terry's recounting of the tale here at her blog, Fake Plastic Fish.]

OK, back to the less warm and fuzzy matter at hand: The final runway collections.

You can click to see all 39 designs here.

1. Althea

I have never gotten the Althea-love, and I still don't. And I think Michael Kors was smoking crack when he said these pants were flattering, and that anyone would want to wear them. Yeah, give me volume at the hips and butt, but tightness at the ankle, you're so right, MK. Other than unflattering pants, Althea also specialized in such simple looks that they hardly qualified as fashion. She loves tanks, I get it. Tank tops, even tank gowns. But that's all she gave us most of the season. Well, that and too-tight, creased pants and inexplicable wide black headbands for every look...as though the model was about to wash her face, or had forgotten to take it off after getting her makeup done. I could have appreciated the celery green dress for its rare splash of color, but the jacket and styling were so heavy, its charm was obscured. I did admire her final look, a sleek, modern golden gown, but it wasn't really related to the rest of the collection

I was left wondering which "street" they thought Althea was so connected to. It all seemed a bit Forever 21 to me.

2. Carol Hannah

The rap on Carol Hannah is that yes, she used color more creatively than the other two, but that this was not a collection, it was merely a series of outfits. Totally true. There was really no sense of cohesion at all. Only a couple of outfits looked like they had anything to do with one another. Her first look, a sweet drapy cocktail dress, was adorable and got my hopes up. She had another gown or two that were pretty. Her final golden gown look, however, was almost exactly like her red carpet look, and was only okay, but overworked and unrelated to anything else. In between the four formalwear looks was, frankly, a mess. She had some hideously unflattering looks, some of which were matronly and old-fashioned, some of which could have been (or should have been) maternity wear! And she had some looks that seemed more like tutus than dresses. Not to mention the truly hideous Little Peacock Riding Hood look.

Carol Hannah had some of the best standalone pieces, no doubt, but she also had some of the worst. And the death knell for her was that, good or bad, the pieces seems random and unconnected.

3. Irina

This leaves Irina. Who presented a symphony in black. I mean, I know black is hip and cool and always flattering, but it was way too much. Irina won because, unlike Althea, her clothes seemed well-made, and, unlike Carol Hannah, they seemed to all come from the same designer. She also seemed fashion forward, while still wearable by regular people. 

What can I say? I "got" why Irina won, but this was the weakest finale in a long time.

What about you? Are you among the "Carol Hannah wuz robbed" camp? The "Althea is so in touch with what's hot" camp? Or the "Irina deserved it, for whatever that's worth" camp?