Spoilers! Project Runway, Episode 11

Project Runway, Season 6, Episode 11: The Best of the Best! Who’s the winner this week and who is “auf”?

Lesson for the week: Be inspired…by your own work!

The challenge: The designers must create a companion piece for their own previous best look.  For most of them, this is a piece that they won a challenge with.  For poor Logan, it was simply a piece that didn’t put him in the bottom three.

That means that they were to be inspired by their own best work, which you’d think would be fairly simple for them.  To get this far in the competition should mean that you’ve got what it takes not only to design a great outfit, but also to design entire collections.

Irina’s companion piece went beautifully with her other look

However, ahem…  There was an awful lot of griping and complaining last night about someone else “stealing my idea”.  Collars, sweaters, come on folks!  First, did either of you ladies invent the large comfy sweater?  I think not.  Second, do you think the judges are blind and won’t see the similarities and differences between garments?

There are many times in the jewelry design world where I hear people being accused of “stealing” someone else’s designs.  Sometimes it’s true and can be proved through documentation.  But many times, it’s just a matter of two (or more) people coming up with similar ideas at the same time.  Before we scream theft, we need to look very carefully to determine the truth.

We are working with a limited number of stitches, and a limited number of colors.  How we put them together is everything.  The stitches belong to everyone, just like the over-sized comfy sweater does.  The zipper collar?  That may have been a slightly different matter, but at least all the griping about that was kept off the runway, unlike the sweater issue.

Congratulations to Althea, but I didn’t like this winning look any better than I liked the original piece.  JMO.

Last Minute Note: Read this classy classy classy apology from Althea for her behavior.  She is now back in my good graces!

Images: MyLifetime.com