Occasionally, Project Runway gets it wrong. This episode was one of those times, but more on that later... Lexus sponsored the first episode of the season where designers had to team up. Always a challenging challenge with heightened drama because it's done so early in the season. Some designers played well together while others did not, hence, making it a very entertaining episode. 

The designers teamed up in pairs of two and were challenged to design and create a look worthy of the red carpet Emmys. Easy enough you'd think... Of course not. Their client(s) were former PR designers. Some of them were sweet and friendly while others were pushy, bitchy and lacking empathy (Irina!).

Season 3 finalist

Laura Bennet

t in a dress by

Elena Slivnyak

and

Buffi Jashanmal

. The waistband and bodice are lovely but I'm not wild about the skirt. I did like the overall design and felt that it suited Laura well. Elena and Buffi had their share of differences. I'm going to give Elena only half a "bitch slap" because even though, once again she has shown us what a brat she is... there was someone else as annoying and unpleasant as her. The design was safe, btw.

The cap sleeve, neckline, silhouette and fabric choice were successful. Designers

Sonjia Williams

and

Nathan Paul

worked well together and produced a red carpet ready look. I thought they would place in the top three but they were just safe.

Enter drama and disaster. I don't know what's up with these two.

Christopher Palu

needs to grow a backbone and

Andrea Katz

, I think, oversold her resume. This dress is ugly. But I don't need to tell you that. Christopher placed all the blame on Andrea's lack of urgency/speed but he failed to be proactive and demonstrate any kind of leadership. Instead he whined himself to tears on the runway while "defending" himself to the judges. I wish I had a buck from every designer who tearfully proclaimed themselves as wanting "

this

" more than any other designer.

It was the end of the runway for

Raul Osorio

. They both should have probably gone home because they equally failed.

Alicia Hardesty

and Raul didn't stick to their instincts and it cost them heavily (especially Raul). What's crazy is not that they designed a bad dress when their strength lies in tailored menswear - it's that they were given the oh-so-fab 

Mila Hermanovski

as their client/model who can rock, I mean really rock, a fucking suit! Such a missed opportunity.

Random

- Does Gunnar look like a gay boy scout or what?!!

Kooan Kosuke

and

Gunnar Deatherage

struggled with the making of this dress. It didn't help that they had to work with the unpleasant Irina. (Look at her face & body language.) She gets the other half "bitch slap."  At the end, the boys "made it work" and their design landed them in 2nd place.

AND this is the dress that should have won. It was so flattering on

April Johnston

. It moved well, had presence and you can tell she enjoyed wearing it. April made a great designer dream team with

Dmitry Sholokhov

and

Melissa Fleis

. The

gothy

- threesome worked well together and communicated. Their dress was certainly Emmy-worthy.

Fabio Costa

, Boy George called... he want's his look back! His teammate,

Ven Budhu

took the win for the second week in a row. The winning design was a perfect match (and fit) for client

Kenley Collins

. The design definitely had Ven's stamp on it. The dress was impressive and well constructed, but for me, it had about as much "wow factor" as Ven's personality.

Yawn

.

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. Congratulations on your 4 Emmy noms!

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