Oh Shit, here we go! Round 6 of my favorite unscripted television show. A new season of Project Runway isn’t just an event, it’s a reason to get out of bed in the morning!

Project runway has evolved over the years into one of the premiere reality competition based T.V. shows. I know to a lot of people that may not seem to be that much of a compliment considering the quality of most reality T.V. shows, but let’s not paint them all with the same brush.

The production values, editing, qualified guest and regular judges, and genuine talent on Project Runway all coalesce into one heck of a show.

The first episode of the new season aired on Thursday, and it was something.

So, we start off with some introductions of the designers, as they all introduce themselves to each other as well. Ra’mon left neurosurgeon school to do something REALLY important, that could really help people, i.e., to become a fashion designer. Good choice.

Logan is “definitely different that a normal fashion designer. [He's] more of a guy’s guy.” Which, ironically, is him telling us that he’s straight. So all you fags, take note!

The token straight guy
Johnny couldn’t get more than 60 seconds airtime before PR decides to let us know that he’s a former meth addict, which judging by Ra’mon’s face is probably something a little too personal for an initial conversation.

What’d you say?!
P.S. I thought meth was supposed to make you skinny?

Other intro awesomeness: Gordana (this season’s Uli, early prediction final 3!) Gehlhausen’s quote, “If you give me a sheep, I can make you a sweater”. Cute Irina cheerfully admitting that the main inspiration for all her clothes is her tiny pooch Princess. No joke, her dog’s name is Princess. Carol Hannah apparently previously worked for Gordana, interesting!… Which, out of the two of them, I’m surprised Carol remembered. “I surprise people a lot. I’m blonde, I’m from the south. People don’t usually attach those things to like, … intelligence or… just, I don’t know, things… Sorry, I lost my train of thought.” Precious.

Side note: EW! ARI’S WEARING MOM JEANS!

Fashion Victim Foreshadowing?

After all the designers get to know each other, Heidi and Tim greet them on the roof for a little champagne. Cue more intro clips.

Malvin claims he comes off a little androgynous. No Shit. Not just gender androgynous, but gay androgynous. With that haircut, and that flannel, honey is one Subaru away from becoming a lesbian.

Self-taught Christopher Straub has a saying: “Someday you’ll be amazing”, which is less of a saying as it is more of a sentence. Or a school lunch note from mom.

Next, we find out this week’s challenge. Design a dress for the red carpet. Tim Gunn announces the challenge and then brings the designers to FIDM where he introduces them to where they’ll be working. They have a budget of $200 and 2 days to execute. Considering previous initial challenges, this is quite a tame, open-ended way to ease the designers into the competition.

The designers are off to a familiar place to buy their fabric: Mood! Even though they switched coasts, and channels, there’s still quite a few Project Runway staples that the show has kept.

While in Mood, Mitchell confuses PR for his manhunt profile: “I love pressure! Give me as much pressure as you can give me!”

Back from Mood, the designers get to work. Johnny starts breaking down immediately and needs a confidence talk from mentor Tim Gunn. I really hope this is the last we hear of his unfortunate, but ultimately annoying addiction problem. This isn’t ANTM, the show is interesting in and of itself without having to exploit drama from its contestants.

By the way, where the hell was Tim for Project Runway Canada season 2 when Jaclyn had her breakdown! There just isn’t enough of you to go around, is there Tim?

Malvin is a little full of himself. “My dress is ineffable. You can’t really describe what it is. Nobody can ever really describe the types of garments I do, there’s not a vocab [sic] for them yet.” It’s fabric. Calm down tranny.

On Day two, Tim enters the work room and talks with each of the designers about their outfits. He has apt warnings for Christopher, Ari, and Ra’mon. Mitchell greats Tim with a cute, sheepish “Hi Mr. Gunn”, as he shows him his modern take on a Victorian inspired dress that looks quite promising.

Unfortunately the fitting with his model didn’t go well, and he has to scrap all but the collar.

In typical Project Runway fashion, not all of the designers get much air time (with 16 of them, that’s understandable). You can already tell before the runway who’s going to either be in the top or bottom three. Christopher, Ari, Mitchell, Johnny, Ra’mon and Qristal all have had face time on camera, so we can expect them to have to defend their garments.

On runway day, Mitchell is under time constraints to get his model into a reworked garment and Ari decides that she’s going to take over the hair for her model.

That model looks worried. I would be too, considering what Ari’s garment looks like.

The designers make their way to the side of the runway where Heidi Klum introduces the judges. Back are American fashion designer Michael Kors, Editor of Marie-Claire Nina Garcia, and special guest judge Lindsay Lohan! Everyone’s jaws hit the floor. I don’t know if it says more about how respectable a show PR is to get such a famous guest judge, or if it’s more of a sign to LiLo’s disastrous decline as a “celebrity”.

After the judge introductions are finished, It’s show time!

Likes: Christopher, Gordana, Shirin
Dislikes: Mitchell, Ari, Qristal, Johnny, Carol
Ambivalence: Everyone else

After, the judges get the designers to line up and announce the six designers that make up the top and bottom three.

I have to say, I’m a little shocked to see Johnny make the top three. I really thought his red dress didn’t fit. Michael Kors claimed “if you really pictured it black, with just a bun and like a really sexy sandal, without all the sequins I think the shape was really kind of cool”. Well, sure! If it was an entirely different dress, and styled in a completely other way it could be fabulous!

Qristal’s dress deserved to send her home. Poorly made, poor taste. I don’t think she’s going to be around for much longer.

Mitchell also deserved to go home for his translucent atrocity. Which is a shame, because I had hope for what he was doing in the beginning.

Christopher’s dress was super. I loved the texture / silhouette. He deserved the win, over Ra’mon and Johnny.

When questioned, Ari claimed her dress was for “the VMAs, like, 2080. I want her to also go and receive her Nobel Peace Prize on the same night.” You just know Bono’s sitting at home going “Finally, a designer makes something for me!”

Ari’s dress was compared to a Halter Diaper, a Disco Soccerball, and a piece of space garbage (that last one is mine :P). She did deserve to go home, but I sort of wished she could stay a couple more weeks so I could see what else she could come up with. Her avant-garde spaceiness reminded me a lot of Elisa Jimenez from Season 4.

It always sucks to be the first to go, but I’m sure Ari will have some success somewhere.

Overall, not a bad first episode. We still haven’t seen much from about half the designers so I’m looking forward to the next episode. The switch from Bravo to Lifetime goes unnoticed. The same production quality is there, and all your favourite hosts are there. Welcome back Project Runway, I missed you.

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• Project Runway 6: Meet The Models
• Project Runway Season 6: Meet The Designers
• Saturday: Meet the Project Runway Designers