Project Runway, Project Runway, Project Runway. . . what else?

Wow. I haven't liked this season of Project Runway as much as I liked the last one, but even I must say, this last episode was really, really good. Thusfar, I've been really disappointed with the eliminations--I couldn't believe that Alison Kelly, Keith Michael, Malan Breton, and Robert Best were all eliminated before the season was halfway over, especially considering that Angela and Vincent stuck around so long. Don't get me wrong, I'm not judging their characters, I just didn't particularly like their designs. At all.

But anyhow. Back to the episode at hand, it looks like we're finally down to a group of designers who are somewhat evenly-matched. I miss the way that the designers had fun together and supported each other last season, but now we've finally got a group that should at least be interestingly competitive. I'm sick of hearing Laura and Jeffrey whine about the other designers, but Kayne, Michael, and Uli all seem really, really cool on top of being awesome designers. It's interesting the way that they pretty much all have a singular aesthetic, but have managed to stay in so long. Last season, the designers managed to express themselves without sticking to one motif. I mean, it was easy to tell a Chloe dress from a Santino dress, but they were all flexible. I think that, even though I like the others, Michael is the only designer left with that kind of flexibility this season (Alison definitely had it too, but she was tragically eliminated when Vincent's abomination looked like an art school accident). Laura only designs dresses that have deep v-necks and some permutation of a pencil and/or A-Line skirt. I love what Uli does, but she definitely never ventures far from the mixed prints, empire waits, and halter necks. In my opinion, Jeffrey has three big hits--his recycled dress, his outfit for himself, and yes, ok, his couture gown. Everything else he's made has looked like it was patched together from fabric scraps by a desperate teenager who's trying to look edgy. Needless to say, I'd kind of like to see him go home next. But more on that later. Kayne's one-hit wonder is anything glittery. His dress for the Miss USA challenge may have been perfect, but rhinestones don't always translate into other things.

Speaking of Kayne, though, I thougth that a lot of the criticism aimed at him in this past episode was harsh. Ok, yes, his dress was overdone for couture, but hey, it really was gorgeous. I mean, as far as the detailing goes, there was too much of it, but if you ask me, it was all well done. The appliqued flowers looked really nice from afar, and I loved the sophistication of the velvet ribbon. The movement in the skirt was beautiful. I mean, it didn't really scream "Parisian elegance" to me, but I think he created something that was, yeah, beautiful.

But back to Jeffrey--Robert was eliminated for creating something boring and simple, even though it was nice and flattering. On that challenge (the every day woman challenge), Jeffrey created something that was boring, simple (I mean, a muu-muu?!? Com on.), unflattering, ugly, AND he made his model cry. I mean, does it really seem fair that Robert got cut for a design that was good enough but uninspired, while Jeffrey got to stick around despite have made an ugly dress just because it had a "point of view?" Oh well. You can't change the past, I suppose.

And, oh man, regarding the future, I cannot WAIT to see next week's episode!