‘Project Runway’: Stitching and little that’s bewitching

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It must be getting hard for the producers of ‘Project Runway’ to come up with new challenges because two of the last three have been recycled. Like in Season Two, the designers last night were given cameras and set loose upon New York to capture an image of the city and transform it into an evening look. While the designs seemed stronger than in the last few episodes, it feels like the judges are forced to overlook some hot messes simply in the interest of moving the show along. I can’t believe that Jerell Scott escaped scrutiny for his over-long, olive green asymmetrical cha-cha dress, and that Blayne Walsh escaped all scrutiny for a dress that seemed like a variation on the same theme as Emily’s Brandle’s losing dress.

I think the judges/producers have fallen a bit in love with Kenley Collins, but for superficial reasons. She’s a cute girl, but for all her ‘modern calendar girl’ aesthetic, I haven’t seen too much of that in her besides her red lipstick and Bettie Page bangs. I appreciated the novelty of her turquoise bubbly dress, but where I thought Terri Stevens had her licked was that Terri’s dress said ‘New York’ and Kenley’s didn’t -- and didn’t one of the contestants snipe that Kenley’s looked very Palm Beach?

That leads me to my own snipe -- why are the contestants picking on each other so much? It was irritating last season when Christian Siriano had nothing good to say about his fellow designers, but at least his talent was undeniable. On last night’s episode, it seemed that everybody had something bad to say about something -- Emily’s dress, Stella Zotis’ hammering, Kenley’s dress, Keith Bryce’s dress. Perhaps that’s why the designs have been so substandard this season, since everyone’s been running their mouths instead of actually working.

I really hope we don’t hear more of Tim Gunn saying ‘Holla atcha boy!’ It was cute and all, but I’m sick of Blayne and his unoriginal catchphrases, almost as much as Claire is of Suede Baum and his sometimes-third-person. But I will end on a positive note: Tim looked fabulous in his trench coat.

-- Claire Zulkey