"Project Runway" 7.09 Recap: "Takin' It to the Streets"

On tonight’s Project Runway…  Amy has to step it up. Mila is ready to redeem herself. Maya expresses her frustration at being the only designer to have not won a challenge.

At the meeting with Heidi Klum (when is she going to have that baby?)…  The designers learn that they will be getting “into a New York state of mind” for tonight’s challenge. Tim Gunn, along with L’Oreal Paris makeup man, Collier Strong, further elaborates: “Create a look inspired by a New York City neighborhood.” The four choices are: Chinatown, the East Village (or as I like to call it, the “EVil”), Harlem, and the Upper East Side.

The designers must work in teams of two (which we know they all hate), and create two looks (day and evening) on a $300 budget. Names are drawn to pick team leaders, who then choose their partners. The pairings are: Amy and Jonathan. Anthony and Maya. Emilio and Seth Aaron, and Jay and Mila.

Right off the bat, we learn that Jay and Mila do not want to be working together. In fact, Jay says he “can’t breathe” after the pairings are announced, and Mila admits she “doesn’t like Jay.” I don’t think I realized this before, but it’s a continual theme throughout tonight’s episode. Apparently no one wanted to work with Mila, including Emilio, whose childish and immature behavior makes him lose a little respect from me after tonight’s episode.

The teams are sent on their way…  First we follow Emilio and Seth Aaron to Harlem, where Emilio tells us he’s lived for a time. To him, Harlem is liquor stores, fried chicken, and denim.

In Chinatown, Maya and Anthony (who’s never been before and takes an interest in the cooked ducks hanging in the windows) decide that it’s all about “structure” and “red.”

For Amy and Jonathan, the Upper East Side holds “high end, luxury, stark, gray, static, no movement.” (Makes me want to move there right away!)  They will use the ornate, wrought iron doors found on many of the townhouses as part of their inspiration.

All bets say that Jay and Mila will go with “graffiti” for the East Village, which they do, along with key words: “modern but past, Rock ‘n’ Roll, gritty, industrial.” Again, Mila is super worried about working with Jay, who she deems “scattered.”