Headlines Make Fashion

Never before has fashion been made so accessible to the general public. Internet, print media, and television have all made it possible for people to be able to appreciate what it takes to design and model fashion. Project Runway is just one television show that openly displays the competitive nature that is designing. Here is a recap of this weeks episode: Episode 5 of Season 6, "Fashion Headliners".

The challenge this week was to design something, anything, out of newspaper. The designers, most of them anyway, stepped up and met the challenge. The guest judges this week were Tommy Hilfiger and Eva Longoria Parker.

Christopher created a gown with a full and feathery skirt, complete with armor-like plated bodice. Althea's extremely wearable cocktail dress took on a single repeated picture, fanned and shaped to create a stunning pattern.

The winner was Irena with a trench coat that Tommy Hilfiger deemed in line with the greats, stating that it looked like "Coco Chanel meets Yves St. Laurent meets Givenchy in the '60s and '70s." For a newspaper coat I'd say that's a pretty big statement, perhaps going a tiny bit overboard.

Now for those who didn't quite make the cut. Who said "auf wiedersehen" Thursday night?

Johnny pulled out what Heidi states makes her look "like she's going to work. Like work, work." For those of you who didn't get the quite so subtle, or not so subtle, hint, what she really means is that she looks like a hooker. Johnny then starts in with a sob story about how his original design was destroyed by a steaming accident - in reality, Tim Gunne just didn't like it. This is where Nic decides to declare Johnny a liar...

And then the judges decide to tear his design apart. What Nic calls a punk dress, most see as a prison stripe look. I think it is somewhat reminiscent of a stripy "punk" dress Jeffrey Sebelia designed in Season 3 - only not nearly as well constructed, even in newspaper.

In the end, Johnny says "auf wiedersehen" and Nic goes back to his competition, only to bad mouth Johnny. Johnny has been kicked off, why is it necessary to continue to trash talk? But, surprisingly (and uncharacteristically) Tim Gunne joins in! This is a side of Tim I would not like to see again...

Who do you think the winner (or loser) should have been? What do you think of Johnny's "little white lie"? Tim Gunne's "slip of the tongue"?