Top 10! Top 10! The lovable amateurs of project runway were cut to ten this episode as the competition began to heat up with roughly two thirds of the field remaining.  The challenge this time was laid out by Runway’s own Michael Kors and the task was to design a creative, workable outfit of -get this- hardware store supplies. While everyone showed a willingness to adapt, only a few were able to pull some style out of those metals, meshes and wires.

Jay went the garbage bag route in an attempt to make two pieces that looked like leather, but there was a catch. You had to create a workable accessory as well and what could you hope to create out of garbage bags? Anthony, our southern beau, chose to mirror softness out of the apparent unruliness of his materials but would it be innovative enough for the judges? Ben, Seth, Jesse and Jonathan went with copper as their medium of choice, and Tim did not show mercy addressing the choice and he was right. Not only is the metal difficult to work with but it’s also costume-y and easily overdone; think Gladiator meets 300 in a dress. Emilio originally chose pink yarn and washers in an effort to create a dress that didn’t quite pan out, and was forced to  either shift gears into resort wear just to compete, or risk the first bottomless showing in Runway history. Would they be able to overcome their choices?

After bringing it down to the wire -no pun intended- of last minute fittings, a distraught group of competitors and models and a skeptical looking Tim, the judges finally chose Jay’s leather out garbage bag ensemble to take the win! His garbage bag pants were stunning in their ability to fool the judges into thinking they were leather but the kicker was the braided garbage bag belt that looked like fine braided leather. Mila and Maya round out the top three with fairly strong showings. In the bottom three were Emilio’s showgirl inspired string bikini with metal washers and wire, Anthony’s wire mesh dress and Jesse’s tulip ballet dress made out of copper. It came down to Anthony’s bikini and Jesse’s tulip dress straddling the stage and in a surprise move they ousted Jesse from the competition! Somehow Anthony escaped his disastrous showing to design another day! The judges really took offense to Jesse’s copper and wire mesh ballet dress and they let him have it. Only on Project Runway which is why we watch it so religiously.

-Andre Grant, Contributor