Project Runway: What a Girl Wants

“Irina is actually a really good designer. The only problem with her is that she’s a bitch.”

It was a good week for Nicolas, and the above quote was the absolute highlight of an episode that featured yet another high-wattage guest star (and yet another infuriating elimination).

I haven’t been particularly kind to Nicolas in these recaps, but I’m more than happy to put our one-sided rivalry aside and give him credit for a very strong performance. He hit the nail right on the head when it comes to Irina. Unfortunately, I have to deduct points for his failure to realize that the same exact thing could be said about him - except, of course, the part about him being a good designer. (Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.)

Then again, I doubt that dig could knock Nicolas off of his Bob Mackie cloud nine, where he spent most of this episode. The designers met Tim Gunn and Sultan of Sequins Bob Mackie for the week’s challenge, which involved creating an extravagant stage worthy of a five-time Grammy-winning, multi-platinum selling superstar. And it just so happened the show was able to rope in one such superstar (Christina Aguilera) to serve as a guest judge. I appreciated that there was no confusion as to what the designers were supposed to do – “This is NOT fashion,” Mackie stated at the start and urged them to go for broke.

Back in the workroom, the designers seemed to be divided into the “excited for this challenge” camp and the (as Irina put it) “deer-in-the-headlight” division (hello Shirin and Carol-Hannah!) Obviously, Irina is as cold as Nicolas’ ice costume (nice to see a shorter version of you this week), but I actually don’t mind that she continues to talk trash about her competitors because she IS “a really good designer” and it makes things interesting. She’s sort of like an evil version of Padma Lakshmi. That’s being said, calling Carol-Hannah “annoying as f---” (or was it “annoying as s---”?) was too much.

We were also “treated” to some more Carol-Hannah/Logan showmance nonsense, which once again confirmed that there’s absolutely nothing interesting about Logan other than “he’s hot.”

Fortunately, Tim Gunn swanned in for his customary visit and we got to hear him utter the phrase “super-sexy slut” in regards to Christopher’s outfit being too restrained. Tim was also the first to point out that Nicolas’ outfit was a retread, but since none of the judges (besides Heidi) for this challenge were around for that, it didn’t really matter. From there, he tried to confront Gordana (who was basically in an extended meltdown for the entire episode, but had immunity) and Shirin, whose all-over-the-place outfit reminded him of “Guinevere meets Vampira.” (In fact, I think I saw a piece of that dress in my living room.)

The runway show came and went, and I have to agree with returning judge Nina Garcia (yay) – we didn’t really seen anything we hadn’t seen before.

The top three was comprised of Althea (personally, I thought the train was VERY questionable for a stage outfit), Nicolas (who I would’ve actually named the winner – gasp!) and Carol-Hannah who won Christina Aguilera’s heart with her classy, multi-layered black dress.

The worst look of the week belonged to Gordana, but since she wasn’t eligible for the bottom 3, Christopher, Shirin and Logan stood under the spotlights of shame.

Logan’s zebra print outfit was youthful, but reminded Christina of a cavewoman. Since he, at least, went for something hip (and since he’s hot) he was spared from the bottom 2.

Here’s where things get a little fishy. The judges absolutely slammed Christopher’s outfit for its concept (some nonsense about Christina covering Cyndi Lauper) its execution (Mackie didn’t like the corset and the whole thing belonged in a Pussycat Dolls road show) and lack of originality (Nina called it out for channeling “Lady Marmalade”-era X-tina.) The worse thing the judges said about Shirin’s misguided outfit was that the top was better than the bottom and that it looked like a high-end witchy Halloween costume.

So in what dimension does it make sense to send Shirin (making her bottom 3 debut) home instead of Christopher? If anything, there should be a rule that any designer making his or her THIRD straight appearance in the bottom 2 (as Christopher was) should be automatically sent home. (Call it the Mitchell Principle.)

Oh well, at least we have Nina back.

So what’d you think of this episode? Who do you find more tolerable – Nicolas or Irina? Did you notice how Christina only said, "I MAY" wear the design on stage? (What a jip!) Finally, how good are the nude pictures or sex tape that Christopher has and is using for leverage over the judges?