‘Project Runway’ winner Irina Shabayeva

 

Tonight’s “Project Runway” did have a certain level of suspense, given how Tim’s yelling was played up. But mostly it was a showdown between three quite talented designers — and Irina Shabayeva, whose collection was both beautiful and technically, walked away the winner.

Those last couple of days before the show were a long haul, with everyone scrambling and Carol Hannah so sick. Irina’s struggling with Gordana as an assistant, partly because she has so much work to do and partly because Gordana doesn’t seem to be the quickest draw in the east. At times Althea appears to be coming apart at the seams.

But for all the talk about things being so frantic, Carol Hannah, Althea, and Irina manage to pull off some of the best and most polished 13th looks of any season’s showing. Carol Hannah’s one-shouldered teal jersey goddess dress is really beautifully draped and looks very finished. Althea’s put together an outfit of separates — a top, a pair of silk khaki pants that Michael and Nina later go bananas over, and a black jacket with exaggerated shoulders that looks nutty on the mannequin but very nice on the runway. Irina’s bitten off a lot with a beautifully constructed, architectural, layered skirt and a basic black tank — and she goes even further balls-out by putting the 13th look on her muse model. Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid, girl.

All the promos featured Tim saying he was about to lose it and scolding the designers for being incredibly late in getting their models and looks together. Which is ridiculous, because Tim’s far too big a gentleman to ever froth at the mouth, and his upset was so calm that I could fight with him every day of my life and still have a very pleasant and unfettered existence. How much do we heart Tim? Thiiiiiiis much.

Althea’s up first, and explains that she was inspired by sci-fi movies of the ’50s and ’60s, and interpreted them as a vision of what the woman of today would wear tomorrow. She has some beautiful pieces — the black dress, suits with fitted pants that still looked comfortable, and a very cute silver top with a gray skirt that looked so insanely narrow at the bottom I couldn’t believe the model didn’t fall down. Althea’s knits, though, looked kind of a mess — not particularly futuristic and stretched out several inches over the models’ hands. The whole collection contained just one shot of color — a green dress under a black jacket that was really cute — but was otherwise incredibly muted.

Carol Hannah really played with her usual combination of draping and tailoring, and the first dress out was just beautiful — a combination of neutral and dark, structured and sleeveless with a high crew neck on top, with a short, draped skirt on the bottom — totally flattering. Her collection had a lot of interesting shapes, a few fussy embellishments, and a much better use of color than her two competitors. In addition to black, silver, and taupe, she also threw in some gold, some eggplant purple, and that pretty but not overwhelming teal. Of the three, I think this was by far the most colorful and playful collection, but it didn’t lose its sophistication.

When we got a peek at Irina’s collection last week, it was obvious she really has it going on in terms of craftsmanship — her detail and structure are really beautiful. If only the people who were actually shooting the fashion show had bothered to zoom in on some of the detail, we could’ve seen it better. Irina’s premise was that her collection was about both comforting and shielding yourself as a woman in New York — both protection and safety. The look was lots of woman warrior — leather, pieces constructed somewhat like armor, knits that enveloped the models but didn’t swallow them up, and hats (shaped like helmets, which I wasn’t crazy about), boots, and purses. Irina’s collection was definitely the most cohesive, but it was also almost all black with a little gray and beige thrown in. Nina warned her last week about going all black and all the detail you lose editorially, and made a point of giving Irina the stink eye on that point during judging.

Suzy Menkes, editor of the International Herald Tribune, joined the panel of judges and seemed to have some sort of accident with the front of her hair that I couldn’t figure out. I want to make a joke about Heidi’s shiny pink suit and brooch that she may or may not have stolen from Madeleine Albright’s jewelry collection, but it’s too easy.

Judging

Carol Hannah: They all went crazy for the first dress, and Nina commended her for a spirited collection that was impeccably done, even though she worked with difficult fabrics. They understood that the dress with the inverted pyramid tulle skirt was a show piece (thank goodness — no one with any kind of hips could wear that thing), and they loved her use of color. But no real connective thread held it all together, and she was the first one sent from the runway. Carol Hannah then proceeded to be the most lovely and gracious non-winner in “Project Runway” history.

Althea: The judges all agreed that Althea has a great sense of cool, and seems to really have her finger on the pulse of what’s going on. Nina loved the green dress, and Michael was in seventh heaven that someone showed sportswear, which could work as separates. But they were quite right that her last three pieces were off. Althea was sent from the runway, and was just as adorable as Carol Hannah about how she handled the loss. Amazingly, those two are both only 23 — what a future they have ahead of them.

Irina: Nina loved the T-shirts. Michael said the “woman warrior” thing wasn’t exactly a new character in fashion. Heidi said she’d like to own a lot of these pieces. Michael loved her showmanship and her accessories. And everyone agreed that the collection looked cohesive and finished — if lacking in some badly needed color. I haven’t been a huge fan of Irina’s, even though the bit with her family last week was adorable. But when they announced she was the winner she really lost her bitchface. Her reaction was really quite touching, and seeing how her parents took the news pretty much got the waterworks flowing all over the place. When Nina Garcia tears up, you know you’re seeing something pretty powerful.

Congratulations, Irina!