Runway Roundup: Shiny is a color, right?

https://twitter.com/ProjectRunway/status/789271912300081152

Like the first episode of this season of "Project Runway"(2004–present), this week’s show starts off with a party that — surprise!  — isn’t actually a party but an excuse to introduce the week’s challenge. The designers sip cocktails out of Absolut Vodka’s tacky, copper pineapple-shaped “drinking vessels” and chat with the show's resident judges until Heidi breaks the facade and announces why everyone is actually there: The designers must create a cocktail dress inspired by Absolut's new Elyx vodka (What’s new about it? We don’t know!) and the bar crafted to represent it.

The next day, the designers meet up with mentor Tim Gunn in the morning to visit the fabric store Mood Fabrics. Tim is sporting a brown and blue striped tie, making us the proudest we have ever been to go to Tufts. Equally in love with Tim and his tie are our guest judges, sophomore Paige Spangenthal and junior Sam Weitzman. Sam had never before watched "Project Runway," but as a dedicated fan of our column, he was already a lover of Tim Gunn (a.k.a “the ideal Machiavelian Statesman”) and was super enthusiastic to join us this week, despite his self-described lack of fashion sense. Paige is a fellow writer for the Arts section of the Daily. If designers won their spots on "Project Runway" based purely on the clothes they wore, she would be there in a heartbeat.

Despite being in love with Designer Erin Robertson’s taste in clothing, Paige and the rest of us were simply annoyed by Erin and Dexter Simmons’ bravado this week. The “bigheaded” duo spent the duration of the challenge sauntering around the workroom with a frustrating air of self-importance. We were thankful that both of their looks also left judges unimpressed. Erin’s dress, which was deemed “Priscilla Queen of the Swamp” by judge Zac Posen and “a costume from 'The Lion King'” by judge Nina García, inspired Ana’s Halloween look.

This week’s top three were Jenni Riccetti, Laurence Basse and Rik Villa. Paige, Sam and Emily loved Rik’s sophisticated leather interpretation of the bartenders’ uniform while Ana preferred Laurence’s “Bentley of the little black dress,” as described by Nina. Unfortunately, Jenni was the winner with a look that wasn't that bad but underwhelmed us. Our dear Tasha Henderson was sent home after struggling to blend her urban streetwear style with the demands of the challenge.

Honorable mentions this week go to Brik Allen and Nathalia JMag. Sam aptly described Brik as looking like he wandered onto the set of the wrong reality show, but that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t get airtime, as he deserves to showcase his talent! Nathalia is very talented and has a lot of attitude to boot. We keep trying to mention her every week but, like in the show, she keeps getting edited out. She made a controversial look this week that was loved by some judges and hated by others. We saw great potential in it that will hopefully translate to more time in the spotlight for her as the show progresses