Project Runway Season 5 E-4: An Olympic Challenge

Since so many of you tell me the only Project Runway you enjoy is what I post in my blog, I'm starting to feel responsible (blame the only/eldest child syndrome) for keeping you posted.

So, here's a four minute video re-cap and a better look at the winning and losing designs. For the life of me, I can't get the composite photo of all the looks to post (weird), but you can click through and see all of them here.

The challenge was to design a look for the female athletes to wear for the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics in Bejing. I thought this was an excellent concept and made for a very interesting competition. The celebrity judge was Olympic gold medal winner, speed skater Apolo Ohno. Not sure what he knows about women's fashion, but he looks good in a onsie.

The challenge winner:

This is a great design, although the fabric is a little translucent for my taste. But, overall, very wearable and fairly athletic no matter your body type (and I'm thinking here of the heavily muscled girl). It does bother me that these slacks are improperly hemmed giving the illusion that the model has no feet.

The loser:

I don't know where this girl is going, but certainly not to the Olympic medal podium. Maybe a junior league garden party. The look gives me the feeling that that, if her skirt blew up, one would glimpse a pair of granny panties and a Kotex maxi-pad. This designer earned her audting.

Again, my opinions differed slightly with those of the judges. I placed their winner second and this one first:

The tailored jacket is to die for and I love the sophisticated take and mix of the red white and blue through pattern. The outfit says USA in a very retro and identifiable way, but is fabulous in and of itself. Sort of an Amelia Earhart power suit. Which is, to me, the perfect kind of vibe for a female Olympian.