Project Runway Season 8, Episode 1 Re-cap

Did you catch Project Runway- And Sew it Begins ? If you missed it you may want to check out the full episode online before proceeding. There are also some fabulous blogs about last nights episode by Fashion Me Fabulous and CraftStylish/ Threads Magazine. Oh! And did I mention that I did a little preliminary guessing on who the top and bottom contestants would be?

Here's my quick PR Recap:

This season began with 17 contestants, instead of 16. At the beginning of the show, the contestants met each other in NYC and gathered at the Lincoln Center complex in Damrosh Park- the new home of NYC fashion week. There they were met by Heidi and Tim and told that they were still auditioning for PR would have to complete the first challenge before officially beginning the show. For their first challenge, contestants were asked to take one item of clothing out of their suitcase and pass it to the right- this item was to be refashioned into their final look. Contestants were given 5 hours to complete their looks, send their models to the Loreal hair salon, and accessorize models with the Piperlime wall (instead of Bluefly). In the end, Gretchen was the clear winner, and six contestants were in the bottom (McKell, Casanova, Jason, Ivy, Nicholas, and April). Although the judges threatened to kick off more than one contestant, only McKell was sent home.

Gretchen's winning look
http://www.threadsmagazine.com/assets/uploads/posts/15192/gretchen-full_lg.jpg

McKell lost due to poor accessories and styling
http://www.threadsmagazine.com/assets/uploads/posts/15192/mckell_lg.jpg

My thoughts:

I agree with the judges winning look, but I did not think that McKell's look deserved to be sent home. Even Tim Gunn said it was cute!

I thought that the worst design of the night was Jason's backwards kimono. The fact that he didn't sew anything and sent this thing down the runway with pins and staples in it was unforgivable and I think he should have been the one to go home. I was also not a fan of Casanova's "stripper in Dubai" outfit and thought it was wayyyy to naked.

Jason's backwards kimono thingie
http://www.threadsmagazine.com/assets/uploads/posts/15192/jason_lg.jpg

After watching last night's episode, I made a few adjustments to my PR picks. Originally I had Ivy in my top 3, but I was really disappointed in the outfit that she made. Even though Peach gave her some ugly, Trompe l'Oeil, mom-pants to work with, I wish Ivy would have manipulated and refashioned them into something better than ugly, Trompe l'Oeil, mom-capris. Plus, after seeing what Andy could do in just 5 hours, I had to add him to my top picks list. I also swapped Sarah out of my bottom picks list and replaced her with Jason and Casanova.

Andy's outfit
http://www.threadsmagazine.com/assets/uploads/posts/15192/andy_xl.jpg

New Top 3: Valerie, Gretchen, and Andy
New Bottom: A.J., Jason, Casanova, and Peach