Reality TV Updates

Project Runway

When Laura Bennett throws down, wise mortals take notice.

And not for the obvious reasons, which I’ll get to in a minute.

But because, this is a woman who will not let reality get in the way of her commitment to style. Ever.

On leaving the “Project Runway” apartment forever, to go off and design her own collection for two months, she didn’t even bother getting a cab.

Girlfriend picked up her Louis Vuitton bags and walked home. In four-inch spike heels and killer shades.

I have to hand it to a woman who is four months pregnant yet rocks it so very hard in that particular New York City way.

Pregnant? Tired? Whatever. Laura will not be separated from her heels and her look. And for that, I must say: Respec’.

Now, we knew either Laura or Jeffrey Sebelia was going to bring the drama on Wednesday, the first half of the “Runway” finale, in which we learned touching things about our heroes in up-close-and-personal home visits (i.e., Uli Herz was a poor kid in East Germany who made good making dresses for sun-and-fun people in Miami; Jeffrey was a drug addict and tried to kill himself; Laura, despite being able to afford a 2-acre loft in Manhattan, just can’t seem to find the dough to start her own fashion line; and Michael Knight… has really unfortunate taste in wall paint, which the visit to his house made painfully clear).

Anyhoo, Laura told Tim Gunn, as we’ve all known for weeks, that she thought Jeffrey had help with the sewing for his collection.

I don’t dismiss her concerns out of hand — Jeffrey did bring a lot of pieces, and completed them while working on his own collection for Cosa Nostra.

But let’s review: I know we all have come to dread Jeffrey’s endless name-dropping, but the man did sell clothes to top rockers, actors and stylists for several years. His business would not be a success if he tried to pass of badly made garments, it’s just as simple as that. I don’t think Jeffrey cheated, despite Bravo’s semi-deceptive promos.

Why do I think the promo for next week’s finale, which has Tim Gunn intoning the word “unfortunately” as Jeffrey collapses in tears, was semi-deceptive? Because the entire world knows that Jeffrey actually did show at Olympus Fashion Week. The pictures are all over the Internet (and speaking of the collections and of what we saw in the work studio Wednesday, I have to wonder, when did Kayne and Michael switch bodies? Bling upon bling upon bling. Michael, you’re not making a pageant dress for a video hoochie-mama).

And speaking of Fashion Week, I did a bad thing. I looked at all four of the finalists’ collections online. And I even tried to get Tim Gunn to talk about them — I e-mailed him my thoughts, and he e-mailed me back, to say, ever so politely of course, that he can’t say a thing until the finale is over.

You can be sure I’ll grab Gunn for a chat if I can after the “Runway” finale airs. But if you must know, here’s what I e-mailed to Tim about the four finalists’ collections (and don’t peek if you want to remain in the dark about the Bryant Park shows).

Photo: Laura Bennett of “Project Runway”: Don’t make mommy mad!

I thought Jeffrey’s collection was very impressive. It was a coherent, well-thought out series of looks, and I could completely picture in my head the woman who would wear those clothes. I could see her before my eyes — an edgy, confident, modern, young woman who has a completely individual style and has her finger on the pulse of what’s hip. Jeffrey really seems to know who he’s making clothes for, and in fashion, that seems to me like so much of the battle. And can I just say that I want that green-striped blazer so much that my teeth hurt? All in all, I thought his collection was great.

Uli’s collection wasn’t as varied, I thought, but it was pure Uli. It felt so light and young and airy. I was particularly impressed by the pure silver long-sleeved dress she showed — I can see Jennifer Aniston or another star wearing that on a red carpet, and making a lot of style points in the process.

Laura — what I can say. She did what Laura does. I think she and Chloe Dao should go into business together and make giant sacks of money from moneyed women who attend a lot of benefits. But I was pretty bored by Laura’s collection, as you might guess. It was a bunch of form-fitting dresses with the same necklines over and over, with those bits and pieces hanging off the dresses, this time in distinctly odd ways. Those feathers on the shoulders — eek. Did Vincent help her with that dress? The whole collection was well-tailored, but underwhelming.

Still, the biggest disappointment for me (and apparently many other people) was Michael’s collection. It wasn’t awful, but it came close. I loved Michael’s work throughout the season, for the most part. And the fact that he seems like such a nice, down-to-earth guy really made me root for him. But I wanted to like his collection  more than I did. Where was the brilliant hip-hop-meets-the-Hamptons sportswear that we’d come to expect from him? And that green minidress — it was a poor fit on the model and it frankly looked frumpy. I don’t know, the whole collection came off as “Barbarella as a video vixen.” It wasn’t a great moment for Michael, but then I still think he has a brilliant future in fashion, no matter what.

I must warn you, if, in the finale, Nina swings everyone around to give Laura the win — shades of Season 2’s Chloe shocker — I think I will go insane. Really, I think this is Jeffrey’s challenge to lose (providing he didn’t do anything untoward in the preparation of his collection).

By the way, one final comment — I thought Jeffrey and Uli’s collections were stronger than what Jay McCarroll showed during Fashion Week. There were certain looks I loved, and the whole collection was pure Jay, but there were also some unfortunate color choices (which was surprising, coming from Jay, who usually does color really well). Strangely enough, I liked a lot of his menswear looks. Who knew he’d be so good at that?

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