Seth Aaron the elemental darling of Project Runway 7, Ep. 8

By Erin Flesch, NEAT contributor

There is an obligatory ’70s Earth, Wind & Fire band reference to be made for this week’s Project Runway 7, episode 8, entitled “The Elements of Fashion.” Alas, we at The Neat Sheet are far too youthful to come up with any (let’s just pretend, okay?).

The challenge for this episode was for each designer to create a look based off one of four natural elements. An interesting and promising concept, for sure, but the fact that the entire episode was one big product placement ad for a certain green-bottled hair care company kinda put a damper on the fun.

Portland area designer Seth Aaron Henderson was initially less than thrilled with being given the element of “air” to work with, but once he stumbled upon his midnight-sky-in-the-city concept he was ready to rock. Mila Hermanovski, the color-blocker extraordinaire, had to put her thinking cap on after getting “earth” for her element. Apparently if it can’t be black, white and geometric, she is at a complete creative loss.

By the way, we don’t know if this season’s editing has gotten more obvious or if we have just become Project Runway connoisseurs, but at this point in the competition we can call who is going to win and who’s going home before the clothes even hit the runway. Expert tip: The one who is shown calling home will in fact, go home, and the winner will be the one with all the good sound bites for that particular episode.

On the runway the clothes were shockingly drab given the colorful nature of the challenge. Anthony Williams should have lit the place up with his element of fire, but he chose to do a smoke colored evening gown instead. Amy Sarabi got too stuck in her wind tunnel concept and sent her model down the runway with what looked like 30 pounds of fake hair growing out of her boobs (Heidi’s extremely appropriate reaction: “It’s just BAAZAHR…”). Sarabi’s look (above, right), along with Ben Chmura’s shark attack gone wrong suit ended up in the bottom two.

Faring much better was Henderson, whose stylish black leather interpretation of air (top) won the respect of guest judge Roland Mouret for being so innovative. Henderson was clearly pleased upon receiving such high praise from the famous French designer.

The winner of the challenge was Jonathan Peters for bringing a little romance to the stage and creating a uniquely pretty, light and airy party dress (above right) that perfectly complemented his model’s pale complexion. Quiet, understated Chmura was thrown to the sharks in the end (shark chum, ha!). Sick of playing it safe in the middle and wanting to take a risk, Chmura attempted a pantsuit (his first ever) that, according to the judges, he was not capable of pulling off. Bye bye, Ben.

Next week’s episode looks intense and we can’t wait to see what happens. Something big is going down for sure. Stay tuned! And in the meantime, watch Henderson’s video blog from last night’s Elements episode, in which the judges rave in atonishment over Henderson’s hot metallic skinny jeans + black leather combo:

Project Runway Poll! The votes are 49 percent YES vs. 51 percent NO right now! Do you think Portland-area designer Seth Aaron Henderson has what it takes to win Project Runway Season 7? Cast your yes or now vote now in our poll in the right sidebar of The Neat Sheet’s home page. Also, don’t forget to join The Neat Sheet for Project Runway viewing parties and cocktail specials at Tanker Bar every Thursday.

UPDATE: For more national Project Runway action, visit the official Blogging Project Runway blog – they included The Neat Sheet in their recap roundup this week.

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