Project Runway: Johnny Drama

“Project Runway” season 6 premiere, we hardly knew ye.

With the All-Star edition of the “Runway” franchise inexplicably taking up two hours, we hardly got a chance to meet the 16 (well, 15 by the end of the hour) designers vying for the sixth season crown. I mean, what would you rather have? Two hours with Santino whining about a broken needle, Chris March napping and a bunch of designers we already know or an extended premiere so that we can better decide who to get behind with this new batch of contestants?

As a result, a handful of personalities dominated screen time, while we’re left to wonder about the majority of the designers. Here’s a sampling of the notes I took during the premiere to help me remember people: Gordana = like her accent. New Uli? Nicolas: douche-y guy with a stupid haircut. Irina: inspired by her dog to make handbags. Louise: I didn't know Diablo Cody was a designer. Epperson: I didn't know Bobby McFerrin was a designer (courtesy of my girlfriend, Erica). Carol Hannah: pick ONE name. Shirin: ?? I’ve got nothing.

The people we DID get to know included Johnny (pictured, right), who had been repeatedly rejected for the show on the count of his meth addiction. (Maybe he should’ve tried one of the VH-1 shows.) Midway through the first challenge – creating a red carpet look for $200 – the stress of the competition caused him to have a meltdown. While it may seem discouraging to completely lose your s--- during the FIRST challenge, I’m surprised this doesn’t happen more often. Sure, most of these people work in the fashion world, but the insanely short amount of time designers on “Runway” have to finish their challenges seems insane, and it was actually a little refreshing to see someone crack under the pressure.

Fortunately, this afforded Tim Gunn the chance to remind us why he’s the most awesome person ever, gently telling Johnny to let it out and talking him off the ledge.

The rest of the drama in the workroom centered on Ari’s outfit, which Tim dubbed a halter diaper during his mid-challenge checkup, and the fact that Mitchell’s measurements for his models were WAY off. (According to Mitchell, this was the model’s fault.) As a result, Mitchell had to improvise and ended up sending his model out on the runway in what looked like a sheer bed sheet, turtleneck combination that looked like it was both WAY too revealing and incredibly constricting.

This week’s guest judge was actress, “singer” and “designer” Lindsay Lohan. All kidding about her credentials aside, I found her scowling and barely-hidden contempt for some of the looks highly-entertaining.

With 16 looks making their way down the runway, I honestly don’t remember too many standouts besides the ones the judges named to the top and bottom 3. (Maybe if the show had developed each designer more, I would’ve given a crap and paid more attention to each of their work.)

The top 3 was comprised of Ra’mon (nice use of an apostrophe), Christopher (Minnesota-nice novice designer) and Johnny (who managed to create a pretty and flowy – too flowy for my taste – red dress). Though Erica preferred Ra’mon’s pretty, purple, not totally-original asymmetrical dress, I agreed with the judges’ decision to give Christopher the victory for his hipper, more interesting dress. It goes to show you don’t need to know what smocking is to win a challenge on “Runway.” (Part of the reason I like Christopher is because I have no idea what smocking is either.)

The bottom three was made up of Qristyl’s “Two-Face” dress, Mitchell’s nightie and Ari’s “Planet Disco Soccer Ball” (good to have you back, Mr. Kors). The decision came down to Mitchell and Ari and I was certain the show would dump Mitchell, since quirky personalities usually win out over blah design and poor execution. So I was a little surprised to see Ari sent packing and Mitchell live to see another day. (Maybe they’re positioning Mitchell to be one of this season’s bad-ish guys seeing as how he threw his model under the bus – see “Models of the Runway”)

So what’d you think of this episode? Were you left wanting more? Did you see any major differences with the show being in L.A. (the rooftop scene looked sunnier than usual and the workroom was more spacious) and on Lifetime? (Not really for me, except for the “Army Wives” and “Drop Dead Diva” commercials.) Finally, who are some of your favorites? I’m anointing Ra’mon as my Ridiculously Early Pick to Win it All. He seems skilled and his braininess (dude was studying to be a neurosurgeon) should lead to some interesting work.