Project Runway: "Waste Not, Want Not" Challenge
by Erin Courtenay - Madison, WI 
on 08.17.06
Oh, pity those poor designers on Project Runway. With so little experience creating clever couture from repurposed materials, they really seemed to struggle through the latest challenge. In episode 6 the designers were taken on a field trip to Waste Management Recycle America, in Port Newark, NJ where they were given 30 minutes to source materials for their designs. Clearly these befuddled newbies could have used a little assistance from denim diva Tierra Del Forte or re-use pioneer Annie Langlois (both are featured amongst many other "waste not, want not" experts on the pages of the rockin' Umbrella Inside Out contest site).
Contestants sorted through paper, plastic and metal to collect the materials need to create a "wearable outfit." Michael was the clear winner, using a vinyl-coated burlap peanut sack to make a svelte skirt and gold mylar to craft a pretty lame' top. Vincent was up to his usual shenanigans and did his best to set recycled fashion back a few decades with a frightening gown spangled with bits of litter glued all over it. Unfortunately, the beloved Alison missed a beat with her manila origami dress and was booted from the show. Jeffrey was the dark horse, creating an eye-catching dress of newspapers faced with muslin and painted bright green, yellow and teal - even though he didn't get the winning challenge pass he won the audience-based "Rate the Runway" poll. ::Via ecorazzi
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Yes, but they also only had less than a day to come up with the design and create it and an hour in a craft store to come up with their idea. I'm sure that if they had more time and creative time then they would have come up with a better design. Still... some of those were pretty kickass for the time constraints
Sometimes that show gets so very frustrating (and yet still so very watchable)!!
I understand Alison's dress wasn't particularly flattering, but compared to the mess that has been Vincent's entire collection, it should have been a no-brainer.
Why? Why do they boot great designers over one-time mishaps and keep crappy ones that manage to be in the bottom three almost every episode, but just slide by???