'Project Runway': Divine Diane

Some of the claws came out tonight, and it wasn't from the usual suspects.  We've all seen Stella, Korto Momolu and Terri Stevens get snippy on "Project Runway," but I would never have thought Leanne Marshall would take down Kenley Collins, who seemed like something of a mean girl earlier in the season after giggling with snippy Daniel and bursting out in laughter after he made a jerk of himself on the runway.  There was only one part in tonight's episode when Kenley wasn't crying, and it was when she was defending her (pretty but not spectacular) dress to Heidi Klum and Diane Von Furstenberg, talking over them and being obnoxious.  Leanne, meanwhile, has been breaking out of her breathy handcrafted shell, creating strong designs and getting a little goofy.  I could have done without her "spy" routine, but I did enjoy it when she rolled her eyes as Kenley went on and on about her dress on the runway.

The product placement this particular episode, between Von Furstenberg and American Express alone, was a bit much, but for anyone who knows anything about fashion, it was worthwhile.  It was fun to see which of the designers tried, successfully or not, to emulate DVF, who descended the stairs of her store like a mature disco angel. Anything that looked vaguely '70s was already halfway there (like Terri's three-piece sets), and the same with a bold but simple print: I loved Korto's dress but it <i>almost</i> looked like a Von Furstenberg dress I'd seen before.  While Diane's stuff to me is a little more everyday, Leanne beautifully interpreted Von Furstenberg's international spy image -- the purplish-midnight hue alone of her dress was drool-worthy.

I'm sorry to do this again, but come on, seriously, judges.  You're telling me that Blayne Walsh's clown pants, like the kind you'd see on a little porcelain doll for sale in the French Quarter in New Orleans, passed muster?  I almost hope he does make it to Fashion Week so that I can laugh and laugh at the retrospective of his work: There are the clown pants! And the lopsided gay pterodactyl.  And all the rest. Joe Faris' "Shanghai" outfit, of course, did also deserve some criticism -- it looked a little bit like he had created it out of the pink sailor outfit he made for the drag queen challenge.

From afar, I didn't mind Stella Zotis' outfit but I think her time on the season had come in general. I'm going to miss Stella, who looked very sexy standing in her black leather holding onto Heidi and bidding her adieu.  I'll miss how the tone of her voice and expression on her face never changed and how she definitely did do her own thing.  "Everything else looks perfect and I"m not listening to anything."  She was pretty funny this episode, too, making fun of Rachel Zoe's dress on the prior episode, and rolling her eyes when being corrected on Diane's "A Foreign Affair" vision.  But the great thing about Stella was that she did her own thing because she knew she could.  Rock star gear, with all that hammering leather, costs a pretty penny and it's not hard to believe she has a devoted following.  Rock and roll, Stella!

--Claire Zulkey

[Photo credit: Bravo]

Comments

[josh]

STELLA?!!!!!

Even though she construed every challenge as an invitation to make pants and a vest, it is crazytown that she got the boot so soon while Joe's shoddy costume kept him alive, and the wondertwins of awful escaped a deserved judicial thrashing. Can we just bring her back as a commentator?

[Katie R.]

Stella made me so uncomfortable when the show first started, but she definitely grew on me, I'll miss her.
Leanne rocks! And not just because we have almost the same exact hair, I think she is creative and talented, and even though I can say the same about many other contestants past and present, I really really want to wear the stuff she makes.
I like Kenley even though she is definitely on the obnoxious side. But Blaine and Suede grate at my nerves much worse. THANK YOU for noticing her talking over the judges though! She apologized to Heidi for interrupting her and then went right on and did it two more times! Hilarious! And Rude! Great Reality TV!