well, that was certainly a first

If I had to choose one word to describe the latest episode of Project Runway, it'd probably have to be, "awkward." So awkward. Horribly awkward. Uncomfortably awkward. Awkwardly awkward. I hope that by now, you get the picture.

Things were off to an okay start. The designers were still recovering from Michael C.'s win. I have to admit, guys, that I actually liked the dress. Sure, it wasn't that exciting. But that's what the lobster hat was for--to add the DRAMA. It was a dress that I would be happy to have in my closet. And you know what? I agree with the judges about Chris' design. There was way too much going on for you to admire anything about it. ANYWAY, back to THIS episode. This week's challenge forced the designers into 2 teams of 6, which only meant one thing: a collection. And that's what they were assigned. Each team chose one of each from a board with different concepts and textiles to design a collection for Fall 2010. We have Team Luxe: menswear as womens' wear in camel, and we have Team Lace Military: the name pretty much gives you the idea. What was interesting about the two teams was that Luxe was made up of all of the winners and Lace Military was made up of everyone else. So, basically, what we had here was--to reluctantly use a sports metaphor--the Starters VS. the Benchwarmers:

Team Luxe: Gretchen, Chris, Andy, Michael C., A.J., Ivy.

Team Lace Military: Valerie, Casanova, Peach, April, Michael D., Mondo.

Right from the start, everything was just SMOOOOTH SAILING for Team Luxe. Oh, we're all so good! Oh, we all get along! Oh, we're all going to work on separates and really make a team effort! They were all in love with eachother and although no leader was assigned, Gretchen (of course) pretty much took on that role. And from the looks of it, she dictated and overlooked everything pretty well. We all know she has a pretty strong opinion and isn't afraid to give it, but because of her history, her opinion is often trusted. So everyone was feeling good. Team Luxe seemed like it was all over the place, or maybe that was all in the editing of it? It looked like they were arguing and just couldn't figure out how to make their garments work as a collection.

To top it all off, Casanova--after getting yet another negative critique from Tim Gunn--left the work room, and put himself into the fetal position on the couch. Quitting was an idea running through that brain of his. But did he quit? No. I KNOW, I WOULD HAVE BEEN DEVASTATED. It just took a quick little pep talk from his waif of a good-hearted model to bring Casanova back and better than ever. Yes, I suppose she could have been motivated by the fact that if Casanova quit, her spot on the show would be in jeopardy. But I'd like to think she's better than that! Well, no matter what her motivation was, it worked. Casanova was back in the work room, and turned out quite a little number: skinny skinny sleek pants with a lacy black top. I know, that could be anything--but this looked great.

I would definitely say that Casanova was in a much better place than A.J. as he took on the shirt dress for Team Luxe. Yup, a shirt dress. And turns out, he spent most of his time working on that because it ended up being the only thing he presented when the time came on the runway. And Michael C. was coming off of a sweet win from last week but of course he was the only one who was happy about that, so all he got was teammates constantly criticism and dismissal of his work. Awww, just look at Team Luxe work so well together. They're just sailing away! Sailing right onto the runway and into the judges' hearts.

NO. That is not the way it happened. In fact that is not even close to what happened. If I could have foreseen the frightening event that occurred on that runway--I might have stopped watching. Just kidding, I probably would have made sure the volume was turned up all the way. OK, so, runway comes and goes. Team Luxe puts out an interesting collection complete with merlot, camel, capes, and shorts over tights--oh, and a shirt dress. I'm thinking to myself, "Hmmm, the colors are kind of random but this looks OK." I actually saw myself wearing the shorts-over-the-tights outfit. Team Lace Military puts out exactly that. I personally think it looks less like a collection and more like 6 outfits from one quirky person's closet. They're cool, I guess. The "collection" is fun and colorful and lacey and even Casanova was beaming.

And he had every right to beam, for he was the WINNER of this challenge. Imagine mine and Team Luxe's shock to hear that Team Lace Military had the top scores. But, no matter, I was so very happy for Casanova. He was literally beaming. Beaming Casanova is the best kind of Casanova. And I was happy for his teammates too. Sure, I'm not the biggest fan of some of them, but c'mon, it always feels great to be thought of as the underdog and steal the win right from the supposed A-Team. It's a classic pop culture storyline often found in film, tv, and literature and we saw it right here, on Project Runway. Sigh.

Oh, and guess what? We got another classic storyline. You know, the one where one character leads the rest on to think she's cheering them on when all of a sudden she turns on them like a Benedict Arnold? Yeah, that's pretty much what happened with Team Luxe. Here we have Gretchen, Ivy, Michael C., Chris, Andy, and A.J. standing together as one on the runway, in defense of their collection which apparently had the lowest points of the two. Even in the lounge, they all decided that they'd stick together and stand by their collection...and agree that Michael C. is just the worst. And that's what they did. Gretchen started to tear up. Ivy started to tear up. The guys silently and sadly nodded. Gretchen said the collection sucks. Yeah, she went from defending their work to basically ripping their work to shreds. It was awkward at best. But then things got worse. When asked who they felt was the weakest member of the team, mostly everyone threw Michael C. under the bus. Sweet and kind Ivy took it one step further and asked if Michael C's being weak was due to ignorance or being lazy. It was all very uncomfortable to watch. In the end, A.J. went home for making an ugly and cheap-looking shirt dress--and making only that.

And that's it. Tim came to get A.J. and OH WAIT A MINUTE, TIM'S GOT SOMETHING TO SAY. In what I think was a Project Runway first, Tim pretty much ripped Gretchen a new one and scolded her team members for letting her manipulate them. It was really scary. I hope to never see Tim upset again.

Michael Kors Quote of the Night: "Gretchen, someone's going down." I know, not very exciting, but it was all in the way he said it.

I guess we'll see who's going down next week.