yes, it's FINALLY back, (i say "finally" as if it's been on hiatus for years or something) but bravo's fashionable brainchild returned last night with a new batch of designers who have a new batch of personalities, styles, and annoying qualities. though the producers at ol' PR did take us on a trip down memory lane last night as the 16 hopefuls were taken back to the site of the first ever challenge: gristedes grocery store! waaaay back when in season 1, austin scarlett won the innovation challenge by making a dress out of corn husks. i know, hard to believe, right? but it happened. and because of that, austin was brought back to deliver the same challenge AGAIN! and to guest judge of course.

anywho, challenge aside, we were introduced to some fresh faces like kelli, who spoke of her store 'black market' , which i think is very genius. i love it when owners use clever, double-meaning-type-names for their stores/restaurants/whatever. also, korto, who's from liberia. her little intro pack included what i found to be the most interesting collection of everyone i saw. from what she's done up to this point prior to the competition, she could make it far.

there were also some not-so-fresh faces (if you know what i mean). take blayne, for instance. he comes across as being an ok guy, likes the athletic style of clothes, shows a nice, wearable background of work. but then when he starts to talk, it's just like "shut up already!". and the fact that he feels that he has to add "-licious" to the end of everything doesn't help one bit. not to mention he comes across as a 45-year-old ex-surfer/model, trying to parade around as a 23-year-old. word of advice, blayne... stay away from the tanning salons!

but back to the challenge. the designers were given $50 (i think) and 30 minutes to shop at gristedes, getting whatever they desired to make their garmant out of. daniel went for blue solo cups while kelli picked up vacuum cleaner bags and coffee filters. terri decided to buy out the store's supply of mop heads, and stella (STELLA!) got nothing but trash bags, and not even the heavy duty ones! gah! unfortunately, an overwhelming majority of the other designers played it a little bit safe (and a lotta bit boring) by selecting tablecloths. for the innovation challenge, wouldn't you, oh, i don't know, pick something a little more innovative? i mean if heidi and co. wanted a dress made of fabric, they would have just sent the lot to the old standby, mood, right? so how about getting something that doesn't scream "fabric's not-so-distant cousin"? that's like season 3's keith using a bed sheet while everyone else used duvet covers, coffee filters, and chandeliers. granted, he won that challenge, so i guess i lost that one, but still. just a thought.

it WAS nice to see, however, some of the designers take such a bland choice of material and create something amazing. korto managed to take a yellow tablecloth and make it into what i thought looked like a mix between a japanese komono and an indian sari. complimented with a necklace of fresh produce, the whole ensemble came across as totally chic and classy.

kelli and daniel were in the running for winnin the challenge. kelli, for her marbled vacuum bag skirt, complete with filter top and even fasteners made from a spiral notebook, and daniel, for his head-to-toe, or more along the lines of breast-to-knee solo cup dress. it looked very futuristic, slightly "jetson"-esque. the top prize went to kelli though, whose design was the most innovative of the bunch and looked really cool too!

my question is though, what about the other 10 who don't get any sort of crituque from the judges? in my opinion, i thought that jerell's outfit, was really cool, with the little umbrellas lining the top and the koosh ball thing as the sleeve. also, joe's pasta/oven mit dress looked like it could have been up for the win too. terri's braided mop top was well-made, but paired with the plain tablecloth skirt, it wasn't much to applaud at.

all i'm saing is that if i was one of those 10 who were 'in', i'd at least be curious to know where i ranked on the scale of 1-16. you may be safe, but you also could have been fourth from the bottom. and while we're talking about it, the outfits that don't go on the wall of fame/shame in the workroom, where do they go? i have always wondered that. do you think there's just some room in the bravo office that houses nothing but dress forms with the non-winning/losing outfits? that'd be awesome!

but to wrap up, jerry went home for making his shower curtain interpretation of cristian bale's serial killer parka from 'american psycho', while this season's elisa, aka stella, slid through to next week with her uninspired trash bag dress. i would have been one happy camper had blayne been sent home for his 'girlicious' (no, he actually named it that) monstrosity, which didn't look well-made, or like an outfit of any sort! that poor girl probably got made fun of all day for wearin that thing, and yes, "thing" is a nice way of putting it. i have no way to explain it without sounding exactly like everyone else before me: a cracked-out playboy bunny! i don't see him lasting too long.

so let's hope that the remaining designers get a little more air time next week! i really want to see more of leann, keith (with his hoodie!), kenley, and wesley... though i don't know how much more of him we could see, being that his shorts were shorter than heidi's dress! it's kinda cute, but we'll see how long that lasts.