The remaining Project Runway designers take a reality inventory based on the results of last week’s show. They’re nervous about what lies ahead, and many of them are discouraged by their position in the last challenge. Althea starts out the next challenge with immunity, as a result of her win last challenge, and the group heads off to meet with Tim for their black and white challenge.

The Challenge
The designers arrive at a newspaper printer where they meet LA Times fashion critic, Booth Moore…. they are going to use pages of the newspaper to create their next look. The fabric for their new design will be newspaper.

They have three minutes to grab as much paper as possible. They are allowed to use muslin as a base, but it cannot show in the design. The designers get to work, penning their designs and trying to figure out how to work paper into the shapes they want. Tim checks in and offers his advice to the designers,

The Runway
After dressing and accessorizing their models they head to the runway where Heidi is waiting with guest judges Tommy Hilfiger, Zoe Glassner and Eva Longoria Parker from Desperate Housewives. After the models walk, Johnny, Nicolas, Christopher, Gordana and Irina are called forward and the others are safe from elimination. They love Althea’s design. They are bored by Gordana’s design because it is too conventional. Irina’s design blew them away. Johnny’s dress does not impress them, and they can tell he didn’t put a lot of time on it. Nicolas’s design does not ikmpress either, and they feel it looks like an insect. Christopher’s dress is artistic and his design is very creative and glamorous. It was a tough call for the judges, but in the end they chose Irina’s design as the winner and she’s granted immunity for the next challenge.

Sometimes I think without Tim’s advice, these designers wouldn’t even make it through the challenge at all. On the other hand, a designer like Johnny throwing his entire dress away based on Tim’s feedback shows a serious lack in creativity because he didn’t stand behind his design. It is that type of attitude that in the end saw Johnny eliminated from the competition. An important lesson in anything you do, whether it’s design clothing, write novels or cook food. Stand behind your original ideas, show the world your vision and never let anyone’s opinion or feedback  cause you to compromise your vision.