Project Runway Season 6 Ep 13: Finale Part 1

All images courtesy of Lifetime.com

*Tires screeching*  Wait, part 1?  I was worried they wouldn't find enough dramaz to fill the hour with three short BP shows, and they're doing a 2-parter?  Oh, boy.

(They totally could have done it in an hour.  Just saying.)

Previously on Project Runway, we got a rushed, lawsuit-ridden bunch of challenges that resulted in the crappiest overall collection of garments we've ever had on PR.  The wackiest designers got auf'ed immediately, which I thought was great at the time but now realize was a mistake.  There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth from fans over the inconsistent judging, the lame challenges, heidi's larger role in the judging process, and the general lack of awesome.  On last week's episode, Gordana got auf'ed for one of the best dresses she made all season, Chris was finally sent home to hopefully go to school, and then there were three.

Tim and Heidi present the finale challenge: $9000 and an undetermined number of months (Heidi says "a few," and Tim says "a couple").  Then there's this:

Which made us here at Chez Boogie feel simultaneous amusement and embarrassment.

Tim first visits the lovely Carol Hannah in Huntington, NY, where we get images of A Very Special Tim Gunn Family Dinner.  For real, check this out:

and this:

and this:

There is so much cute gay love going on I can't stand it.  There was much squeeing and "awww"-ing during this portion of the program.  Tim in the apron!  Hee.

We get a peek at CH's inspiration:

Duke University's architecture, which she saw on her way up from South Carolina to New York, blew her away.  Tim's already a little worried, though, because she has a real tendency to froof things up and make things really complicated and heavy:  Favorite Tim comment: "What is that, and why?" to a "matronly" little capelet.  The colors are so heavy and dark that it's hard to see some of the excellent detailing she's doing.

After the above-referenced adorable dinner with CH's family, Tim's off to visit Irina, who lives on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.  Tim is greeted by her dog, who is, of course, one of those little fucking poodles named, I'm not kidding, Princess.  Princess brings Tim a toy.  Awww.

Hilariously, the same woman who claims to have invented Giant Sweaters is using copyrighted fabric for her Coney Island-inspired collection:

About this, some fans have said "No big deal," but yes, it is a big deal.  As an artist with friends who sew, I'm very much aware of copyright issues, and it's so frustrating when someone who should know better breaks the law.  There's this excuse that "kids these days" think that if something's on the Internet, you can just use it, but that's not an excuse.  Irina should know better.  If she wasn't such a catty bitch, I'd feel bad that she has only 10 days to replace those fabrics.  But she is, so I don't.

We meet Irina's family - wow, she's the spitting image of her mother.  There's some stuff about her unsupportive, old-fashioned dad, but I don't even care because it's boring.  Let's move on to Althea, who's in Dayton, Ohio.  Tim ascends in The World's Scariest Elevator to her studio, where she shows him her SciFi-inspired sketches.  Tim says he's "intrigued," which, along with "not bored," is what he says when things are probably going to go fabulously pear-shaped:

I must confess having the same reaction when we were shown this:

And this:

Yikes.  Tim advises her not to lose sight of who she is, and "edit, edit, edit."  With that, it's off to meet Althea's family, friends, and boyfriend, who all seem really fun and down to earth, though he and Althea both nearly break their necks getting up the snowy/icy walkway and steps. (Tim sweetly worries about Althea falling, giving her his arm, though he's the one who'd probably break a leg if he fell!  Can you stand how gentlemanly this guy is?  Love.)

Time to see what these kids have come up with.  Irina and Althea arrive in NYC, where there's the most horrendously awkward and fakey-fake reunion with Irina:

I'm pretty certain they were in that hotel room for ages, not allowed by the producers to watch tv, read, use their phones, or do anything else except sit and talk to each other, when it was palpably obvious that both of them wanted to do nothing more than get the hell away from each other.  We all felt embarrassed for both of them.

Tim comes to tell them that CH hasn't arrived because she's got a terrible stomach bug and will be late.  When CH finally rolls her case into the workroom, the poor thing looks like hell; she feels terrible and has to somehow get through this grueling process.  Man, that poor girl.

Tim seems frustrated with Althea's collection, which is still somewhat disjointed.   He mentions the plethora of knits.  We are shown Irina making this face:

Classy!  Irina then openly accuses Althea of copying her knits again.  "You've got a great memory," she says.  OMFG I hate this bitch.

CH's focus is her favorite thing to do, evening wear.  Wow, there's so much heaviness, with mostly dark colors.  Irina's collection is very black and heavy too; some of her pieces remind me a lot of Jillian's military-influenced work.  Jesus H., she's got more fur.  Please stop it with the fur.  Oh, her "reasons to love New York" t-shirt design isn't original either.  Still classy!

After the model casting, which was covered more extensively (but not more interestingly) on MOTR, it's back to the workroom, where hey!  It's Nina and Kors!  Together, in the same room again!  They've come to give some advice to the finalists.  That's pretty awesome.  Kors advises on runway order, self-doubt, and having guts.  Nina tells the designers to take out anything that's been seen before.  Irina foolishly ignores Nina's advice not to have an all-black collection.  Okay, then.

We go through fittings, and work continues.  Here come Heidi and Tim!  The expected "wrench in the gears" challenge is presented: a 13th look to complete.  But they'll have help:

O, HAI!  Chris will be assisting CH, Althea will be assisted by Logan, and Irina will again use Gordana as her servant.  There's a budget of $250 for Mood (real Mood!) and 30 minutes to sketch.

Chris is his usual "aw shucks, I'm so nice" self, basically just being a sounding board for CH's thoughts.  She feels that she needs one more "wow" piece.  Gordana has true class: she's determined to help Irina be confident in her collection, and is ready to work hard.  Which is a wise thing to do in this situation: it's an opportunity to show yourself well.

How disappointing that they're at the real Mood, with its massive inventory, and everyone immediately reaches for the blacks and grays and beiges.  CH is running into some self-doubts.   I'm doubting whether any of these people can actually see color.  Oh wait, CH is getting blue.  It's a very muted blue, but at this point it's looking positively bright.  Aww, Mood has a little Boston Terrier named Swatch.  Cute.

Back at the hotel, CH gets stomach-sick all over again. The poor thing is barfing in the bathroom.  Althea holds a pack of ice to CH's neck.  Cliffhanger!

Next time: Season 6 will finally limp to a close (unless they trick us and stretch this shit into three parts, which actually wouldn't surprise me at this point).   Will CH make it to the tents?  She's still really sick.  Will Irina get all her garments finished?  Will the inefficiency of the designers' backstage prep make Tim "lose it?"  Tune in to find out and see the final collections.