This week’s show was definitely my favourite so far. Throughout this season, we’ve seen a lot of pretty dresses and immaculate pieces, but we haven’t witnessed anyone push the envelope (a la Santino Rice from a couple seasons ago). The challenge itself, creating an avant-garde look and a related, prêt-a-porter second look, called for designers to step outside their threshold of comfort and utility and put together fantastical and artistic pieces that could be translated to more commercial looks.

It was pretty clear early on that Chris (costume designer extraordinaire) and Christian (Mr. Drama himself) would make an amazing team for this challenge. Their avant-garde design, made of 40 yards of organza, was absolutely breath-taking and perhaps the most intricate and innovative garment we’ve seen throughout all of the Project Runway seasons thus far.

I’m still pulling for Christian to take the crown, but I think he’ll have some stiff competition with Jillian… who is actually growing on me. The trench she created to go with her model’s pony-hawk was rich and complex. She always manages to maintain a clear point of view, thinks big and doesn’t cut corners when under time constraints.

It was pleasing to see that the judges finally realized that Rami is a one hit wonder. Nearly every garment he’s sent down the runway has been a draped, one shouldered, Grecian-inspired look. Undoubtedly, his pieces are beautiful and well-constructed, but it’s about time that he dared to create something outside of his established repertoire.

In my opinion, Chris, Ricky and Sweet P are all in the same (expendable) boat. None of them have created anything jaw-dropping or cutting edge, and all have graced the bottom three more times than they’ve been safe. One of the bunch should have been eliminated in lieu of Kit this week, but they all smartly played it safe by letting their partners act as team leaders for this challenge.

Picks to make it to fashion week:
Christian, Rami, Jillian

Next to be cut:
Ricky