‘Project Runway’: Tim Gunn, the original surfer dude

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Attention everyone: Tim Gunn wore flip-flops on tonight’s episode of ‘Project Runway.’ They didn’t look bad (it was for a challenge he announced at the beach), but it just seemed so not Tim. What’s next, an Ed Hardy sweat shirt?

The challenge in question was for the designers to a.) design a surf look b.) focus on good hair and c.) work in teams. I might have missed something but it seemed like the third part ended up being the main focus of the challenge, as I didn’t hear surfing being brought up much on the runway later on, although the designs were indeed sporty. Well, half of them, anyway -- the teams got thrown a second challenge, to create an avant-garde look to go with the surf design.

It was clear from the get-go who the problem teams would be. Rodney Epperson and Qristyl Frazier did not get along from minute one of the challenge. It was hard to figure out -- rarely do you see two people so fiercely at odds for no apparent reason. Meanwhile, two-time bottom-two-er Mitchell Hall chose Ra’mon Coleman as his partner to help ‘carry’ him, but Ra’mon didn’t appreciate having to essentially carry the whole load when Mitchell was ostensibly team leader.

On the runway, Qristyl and Rodney’s first look, a green and white botanical dress with unusual volume on the bottom looked all right, but their brown swimsuit was one of the most unflattering things to come down the runway.

I really liked the beachy look of the white skirt, sheer brown top and macrame back from Johnny Sakalis and Irina Shabayeva, and although they made it into the top two, I didn’t think their big brown avant-garde dress was especially attractive or elegant (but I know those words aren’t always synonymous with ‘avant-garde.’)

Shirin Askari and Carol Hannah Whitfield’s blue ocean-like gown was beautiful for their avant-garde look, although in retrospect, it wasn’t perhaps very avant-garde. I loved Althea Harper and Louise Black’s black avant-garde gown that glittered with zippers and pins at the bodice -- that’s my only problem with this show during the early stages, that you don’t get to hear what the judges say about all the designs.

Similarly, I would have liked to know what the judges thought of Logan Neitzel and Christopher Straub’s handmade hat, white jeans with gold glitter (that looked kind of like they’d been peed upon) and messy tulle avant-garde look, but we never found out. No surprise though that the judges had a problem with Nicolas Putvinski and Gordana Gelhausen’s tight lacy avant-garde look, which, with garters, looked like something from an extremely trashy ‘80s rock video.

In the end, Ra’mon was given the win for pulling off the majority of the looks that the judges liked -- the silky blue and brown flowy dress was pretty, but his bright green neoprene dress with the hand-dyed blue splashes on it was what won the challenge for him. Despite Qristyl and Rodney’s uncomfortable bickering on the runway, Mitchell was sent home -- ‘Three strikes and you’re out,’ according to Heidi Klum. I felt bad for Mitchell -- he seemed like a nice guy but it was unfortunate that he got so close to being sent home based on his own work and then was eliminated for avoiding doing the work.

Meanwhile, what body part do we think Tim Gunn will reveal next week? A little chest hair? Hubba hubba!

--Claire Zulkey

Photo: Lifetime