Thank you, Zulema, for bringing us the catchphrase for Project Runway. During last night's Project Runway Banana Republic Challenge, where designers had to pair up in teams and design an outfit that could go from day to night that would eventually be sold at select BR stores, Zulema browbeat partner Kara (thank you, Kara, for having a breakdown that required Zulema to crack that whip!) into working, saying Kara could cry, but that she would have to "cut and cry." "You're gonna cut and cry" - so awesome.
Naturally, after winning the last challenge, Santino was insane ("I'm going to design all the accessories in Hilton hotels") and everyone knew it. It was super cute to see who paired with whom - and that Nick was upset he was paired with Santino. The teams were Nick and Santino, Emmett and Chloe, Andrae and Daniel, Kara and Zulema, and Marla and Diana. Yeah, we knew who was leaving at the end of the episode as soon as the teams were formed. The first part of the challenge was to design an outfit, the second was to design a window display that expressed the day-to-night idea (with the model as "living mannequin") where people on the street would vote for the best displays. And because we don't want to spoil things for people who didn't watch it, the post continues on below.
Now, Gothamist has to say that we loved Chloe and Emmett's design the most. And we thought the Banana Republic lady's comment that it was too "esoteric" was BS, because we've seen some pretty esoteric stuff there. And we loved that Tim Gunn and Nina Garcia adored the design - and that Tim said, "It's more fabulous than I can say" when he saw their window display, which included lovely sketches of tall, redhead Grace in the day outfit and in the night oufit. Daniel and Andrae's design was nice, but too sacklike for our tastes (you've gotta be a rail to pull off that drop waist); their window display was spare and smart.
Zulema was smart to use the pattern for the dress, but Michael Kors's comment that the jacket was very "Mugler" had us rolling on the floor. While Santino and Nick's kimono-y outfit was dismissed by the judges, Gothamist thought it was ironic that Banana Republic was making their "Memoirs of a Geisha" -inspired line this past season. But Diana and Marla's outfit was really boring, even though we could totally have seen it at Club Monaco, and their window display was wickety-wack, so they were "out." While we are sad to see Diana go, we're thankful Marla is gone.
So, we're thinking that Daniel, Chloe and Nick make it to the final three. Santino is too combative. What do you think? And you can buy the dress online at Banana Republic here: It retails for $268. Or visit the Rockefeller Store to try it on in person - let us know if it's sold out already!
