Project Runway: Little Women

It’s pretty easy to make fun of Seth Aaron (pictured, right).

And I do, a LOT!

I mean, the guy’s face makes him look like he’s 50 years old, yet he insists on having jet black hair – the dye isn’t fooling anyone, dude! (And that’s assuming it’s not a wig). There’s also the fact that he goes by “Seth Aaron.” (If I made people call me “John Ruben”, I would come off as a douche too.)

Still, I have absolutely nothing but good things to say about the guy (even flopping himself down on the floor at Mood was worth it, since he found the houndstooth fabric he coveted) after his performance during the latest episode of “Project Runway.”

I’m not just talking about his two winning looks on the runway. In a challenge — create a look for an elementary school-age girl — that had many of the designers (and people at home) fretting and rolling their eyes, Seth Aaron’s enthusiasm and joy throughout the evening was a welcome breath of fresh air. (He has a young daughter himself, so he was particularly inspired

I’ll even give the dude the benefit of the doubt and assume that when he coined the word “comfrit” he meant it as some kind of combination of “comfort” and “fit.”

At the other end of the spectrum we had Jonathan, who was completely freaked out by the kids. Or, as he put it, “They are very small.” Alrighty then. At least Anthony found a funny way to deal with his annoyance, asking a few of the girls if they had an “off-switch.” (The irony of Anthony — who can’t stay completely quiet for more than 14 minutes and 56 seconds — telling someone else to stop talking seemed to be completely lost on him.)

The designers appear to be getting all savvy on us, correctly anticipating that the challenge would have a twist. (My girlfriend Erica gets extra bonus points for calling exactly what the twist would be before it was even announced there would be a twist.) The contestants would have to create a corresponding “mommy” look for their models (of the runway).

With a more manageable number of competitors left, we seem to be getting more peeks into their personalities. For example, we now know that Amy likes to wrap a black towel around herself and pretend it’s a real outfit. We also know that Mila’s self-aware button appears to be broken. After complaining of feeling isolated last week, Mila insisted that her fellow designers were beginning to accept her. She seemed to be oblivious to the fact that Emilio and Co. were actually mocking her affinity for color blocking, so I’m not going to be the one to burst her bubble.

Speaking of Emilio, he uttered what’s usually a death sentence on this show: “I’m going to play it safe this week.” And play it safe he did. Though I actually liked his tight, pink, poofy-shouldered adult dress, his little girl dress was about three sizes too big and was SO mailed in that the only thing missing was a postage stamp. Then again, I’ll be damned if Emilio isn’t destined to wind up in the top 3 because he actually ended up being safe.

Seth Aaron was joined in the top 3 by Jay Nicolas and Jesse (and his alarming lack of a middle name). Jesse’s work was the most ambitious (two good dresses AND a jacket), while Jay Nicolas’ designs were arguably the most beautiful.

Still, the challenge was to design an outfit for a little girl, and Seth Aaron’s work was the most FUN. (Or it had the most “whimsy” as the judges said.) It was also excellently executed, highlighted by the houndstooth jacket that Michael Kors called it the “best-tailored garment” they’ve seen all year.

Speaking of Michael Kors, Jonathan appeared to predict his own bottom 3 fate earlier in the episode with a solid Michael Kors impersonation. (On a scale of 1 to Santino’s impersonation of Tim Gunn, it was a 6.) I actually felt a bit bad for Jonathan. He announced that he’d played it safe up to now and was ready to take a chance and have his breakout week. (That’s actually smart strategy because when there are 16 designers, you have a much better chance of sticking out like a sore thumb than you do standing out in a great way.) The problem was that he over-designed in a challenge that required a relatively simple (and fun) look.

Still, I’ll take a guy who tried to do too much over someone who is completely uninspired (and uninspiring) — which brings us to Janeane.

Janeane and Amy made up the bottom 2. I actually really liked Amy’s pants in motion on the runway, but seeing them still and under the judges’ withering gaze, the petals on her “clown pants” looked frayed and sloppy. And although her little girl was dressed a bit like Punky Brewster, I’m not really sure what guest judge Tory Burch was talking about when she said the colors orange and blue were not complementary. (I thought they were the definition of complementary.)

Still, Amy has been such a strong competitor that there was no way she was going home. (Again, I’m grateful for the judging continuity this year, which was able to recognize Amy’s talent.)

That meant Janeane (with her plain coral tank top — which she seemed to think looked pink, but actually looked orange — and her busted adult jacket) were sent home. At first, I found her self-deprecating attitude about her lack of skills funny. Eventually, it got depressing. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again — if you don’t believe in yourself, why should I believe in you?

So what’d you think of this episode? Are you going to start going by your first and middle name? Were you as happy to see the return of “thoughtfully” (and the inclusion of “strategically”) in reference to the Bluefly.com Accessory Wall? Finally, whose kids were those?!