Project Runway Season Seven Episode Three

I was shocked when I read Fashionista the other morning and found out that Project Runway's Ratings are down, way down. Only 2.9 million viewers watched the season 7 premiere, down from 4.2 million who watched the season 6 premiere.

When Fashionista interviewed Robert Thompson (Director of Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture) he said it all came down to casting. Of the season 6 cast he said, “you didn’t have those break-out, interesting characters like in the past.” This is true. Did anyone actually like Meana Irina? Perhaps everyone compares the other designers to the fantastic Christian Siriano. Can any season ever top that one? What are your thoughts on this? Do you think Project Runway is on the outs? Let's hope not!!

Ok, so episode 3, "The Highs and Lows of Fashion." It definitely wasn't as great as episode 2. There were a few questionable garments but that's the way it always goes in the beginning. Tim Gunn takes all of the desingers to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and shows them ten iconic vintage looks by the most famous and legendary designers of all time. They were selected from the Curatorial Department of the Costume Institute. Tim asks the designers to create a high end piece inspired by these garments. Of course they are paired in teams! Each team is given 500 dollars (the highest amount ever given on Project Runway) and two days to create their looks.

After the designers choose their fabrics and work on their garments for one day, Tim Gunn comes in and informs them that they will be designing a second "look for less" based on another team's garment. They are given 50 dollars or 10 percent of their budget to create their second look derived from another team's look.

This was an extremely difficult challenge because not only did they have to create one couture inspired garment, they also had to create a second look in a limited time frame. Ping and Jesse fought the whole time and it was clear throughout the show that they were at least going to be in the bottom. When it came down to it, Ping was out and Jesse safe. Mila and Jonathan won the challenge, even though Mila only designed the coat. The judges were just ecstatic to see a "separates" look. I liked the jacket (see last image) she created but I wasn't a fan of the racing stripe pants to go with it. The jacket would have looked great with a plain pair of pants. It just looked too "workout wear" inspired to me. Thoughts? What's your favorite look?

Emilio's Design
Partner Anna

Janeane's Design
(Partner Ben)

Jay Nicolas's Design
(Partner Maya)
Inspired by Ben and Janeane's Design

Jesus's Design
(Partner Amy)
Based on Ping and Jesse's Design

Maya's Design
Partner Jay

Mila's Design
Partner Jonathan
(Images via lifetime.com)