Original Run: July 16 – October 15, 2008
No. of contestants: 16
No. of task: 13
Note: This is the final Season featured at Bravo.tv before the production moved to Lifetime.
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Episode 1: Let's Start from the Beginning
Repeating the first challenge on Season 1 of Project Runway, the designers were asked to create a look using only materials purchased from a Gristedes grocery store. The designers were given 30 minutes and $75 to shop for items, and then one day to complete the outfit. Most designers were criticized by mentor Tim Gunn for utilizing fabric-substitutes such as tablecloths in their looks, which wasn't what the challenge was about. The winner received immunity for the next challenge. The guest judge, Austin Scarlett, competed on Season 1 of Project Runway and won this same challenge with a dress made of corn husks.
Judges: Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, Michael Kors
Guest Judge: Austin Scarlett
WINNER: Kelli
OUT: Jerry
First Aired: July 16, 2008
Episode 2: Grass Is Always Greener
The designers were asked to create a cocktail dress with their models as their clients. They were asked to use environmentally friendly or conscious fabrics from Mood, with their models doing the fabric selections without their consultations. They were given $75 and one day to finish their garments. The winner did not receive immunity, but did get to sell their garment on Bluefly.
Judges: Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, Michael Kors
Guest Judge: Natalie Portman
WINNER: Suede
OUT: Wesley
First Aired: July 23, 2008
Episode 3: Bright Lights/Big City
The designers were tasked to create a look of their choice inspired by the vibrant nightlife of New York City. Tim Gunn drove the designers around the city via a sightseeing tour bus, then provided them with digital cameras to take photographs of their inspiration. Four groups of designers were dropped off at different stops and had an hour to take their photos. They were given $100 and one day to complete their design. The winner received immunity for the next challenge.
The four groups and their assigned stopovers are as follows:
- Suede, Daniel, Leanne, and Jennifer at Columbus Circle.
- Blayne, Keith, Stella, and Kenley at Times Square.
- Korto, Joe, and Kelli at the New York Public Library.
- Terri, Jerell, and Emily at Greenwich Village.
Judges: Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, Michael Kors
Guest Judge: Sandra Bernhard
WINNER: Kenley
OUT: Emily
First Aired: July 30, 2008
Episode 4: Rings of Glory
The designers were brought to the Armory Track and Field Training Center by their mentor, Tim Gunn, and were introduced to U.S. Olympian and speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno. Their next challenge was to design a womenswear look for the 2008 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremonies. They were given 30 minutes to sketch and draw inspiration from the National Track and Field Museum, after which they were given $150 and one day to complete their designs. The winner received immunity for the next challenge.
Judges: Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, Michael Kors
Guest Judge: Apolo Anton Ohno
WINNER: Korto
OUT: Jennifer
First Aired: August 6, 2008
Episode 5: Welcome to the Jungle
Working in teams of two, designers were asked to make an outfit that could transition from day to night for Brooke Shields's character Wendy Healy on the television show Lipstick Jungle. The winning design was to be worn by Brooke Shields on Season 2 of Lipstick Jungle. Each team was given a budget of $150 and one day to complete their designs. After sketching individually for 30 minutes and pitching their ideas to Shields, six designers were picked by Brooke as team leaders (team leaders shown in bold below). The team leaders were picked in a random order and selected a teammate.
- Blayne and Leanne
- Keith and Kenley
- Terri and Suede
- Korto and Joe
- Kelli and Daniel
- Jerell and Stella
The winner did not receive immunity for the next challenge.
Judges: Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, Michael Kors
Guest Judge: Brooke Shields
WINNER: Keith (teamed with Kenley Collins)
OUT: Kelli (teamed with Daniel Feld)
First Aired: August 13, 2008
Episode 6: Good Queen Fun
The designers were asked to make an outfit for a
Drag Queen. Chris March of Season 4 made a guest appearance to deliver the challenge. The designers were picked at random to select which drag queen to work with. They were given $200 to shop for supplies and two days to complete their designs. The winner received immunity for the next challenge. The designers' models were not used in this challenge.
Designers and Drag Queens:
- Blayne with Miss Understood
- Daniel with Annida Greenkard
- Jerrell with LeMay
- Joe with Varla Jean Merman
- Keith with Sherry Vine
- Kenley with Farrah Moans*
- Korto with Sweetie
- Leanne with Sharon Needles*
- Stella with Luisa Verde
- Suede with Hedda Lettuce
- Terri with Acid Betty
Judges: Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, Michael Kors
Guest Judge: RuPaul
Special Guest: Chris March
WINNER: Joe
OUT: Daniel
First Aired: August 20, 2008
Note: Sharon Needles and Farrah Moans have no connection to the Queens who appeared on seasons 4 and 9 (respectively) of RuPaul's Drag Race. Acid Betty, on the other hand, participated on the eighth season of the show.
This episode contains the following tropes:
- Drag Queen: The challenge consisted on designing a stagewear outfit for the drag queens accordint to their personalities.
- Drama Queen: The designers labeled Hedda Lettuce as this for saying that Suede was "too lazy" to make sleeves for her garment. In a later interview, Hedda Letuce explained that the show edited the situation to make her look like a primadonna and she simply approached to the challenge as a real client, since she didn't agree with Suede's idea of "lettuce garden on her gloves".
- Real Men Wear Pink: The designers are shocked by the contrast of seeing all the campy drag queens as regular guys the following day.
Episode 7: Fashion That Drives You
The designers were required to make an outfit made entirely out of the spare parts and raw materials from a Saturn hybrid car. They were told to walk to 142 West 31st Street in Manhattan. After taking an elevator to the roof of the building, they were instructed to collect as much of the recycled car parts from within the parked Saturn vehicles. They had four minutes to collect the materials and one day to complete their outfits. The winner received immunity for the next challenge.
Judges: Heidi Klum, Michael Kors
Guest Judges: Laura Bennett (sitting in for Nina Garcia), Rachel Zoe
WINNER: Leanne
OUT: Keith
First Aired: August 27, 2008
This episode contains the following tropes:
- Can't Take Criticism: Keith was still moody about Michael Kors calling his Drag Queen outfit "Sad Disco Chicken". Michael just told him to walk it off.
Episode 8: Double 0 Fashion
The designers were taken to the Meatpacking District and brought to the offices and design showroom of living fashion legend and current CFDA president, designer Diane von Fürstenberg. Their challenge was to create a look for her Fall 2008 collection inspired by the movie A Foreign Affair, starring screen legend Marlene Dietrich. They were given free rein and 15 minutes inside Diane von Fürstenberg's fabric sample room to select fabrics for their designs. The winning garment was produced in limited quantities and exclusively sold to American Express cardholders, with proceeds going to the CFDA Foundation. The winner did not receive immunity for the next challenge.
Judges: Heidi Klum, Michael Kors
Guest Judge: Fern Mallis (sitting in for Nina Garcia), Diane von Fürstenberg
WINNER: Leanne
OUT: Stella
First Aired: September 3, 2008
Episode 9: What's Your Sign?
The designers teamed up in pairs with eliminated designers to create an avant-garde garment around one of the two astrological signs of their group. They had one day and 8 hours to complete the look. The night before the runway, they were brought to the American Museum of Natural History in New York. There the designers were greeted with surprise guest appearances of former Project Runway designers and winners Kara Janx, Alison Kelly, Jay McCarroll, Robert Plotkin, Christian Siriano, Daniel Vosovic, & Carmen Webber, who all voted on a winning look. This episode featured a surprise double elimination & the winner no longer had the advantage of immunity going forward.
Teams:
- Blayne and Stella (Libra)
- Jerell and Jennifer (Sagittarius)
- Joe and Daniel (Aries)
- Kenley and Wesley (Aquarius)
- Korto and Kelli (Aquarius)
- Leanne and Emily (Scorpio)
- Suede and Jerry (Libra)
- Terri and Keith (Leo)
Judges: Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, Michael Kors
Guest judge: Francisco Costa
WINNER: Jerell (teamed with Jennifer Diederich)
OUT: Blayne (teamed with Stella Zotis) and Terri (teamed with Keith Bryce)
First Aired: September 10, 2008
Episode 10: Transformation
The designers were assigned recent college graduates and were given the task of giving them a fashion makeover to help them enter the workforce. Each designer was to gear their look to their client's specific profession, whilst keeping their style and pleasing both the clients and their mothers. The clients wore the outfits down the runway; the models were not used in this challenge.
Judges: Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, Michael Kors
Guest judge: Cynthia Rowley
WINNER: Jerell
OUT: Joe
First Aired: September 17, 2008
This episode contains the following tropes:
- Author Appeal: Kenley basically dressed her client as her "Mini-me" version.
Episode 11: Rock N' Runway
The designers were given the task of designing for each other. The looks were to be inspired by different genres of music. The designers wore their outfits down the runway; the models were not used for this challenge.Teams (Designers names are in bold; genre applies to teammate):
- Jerell designed for Kenley (Pop music)
- Kenley designed for Leanne (Hip hop music)
- Leanne designed for Korto (Country music)
- Korto designed for Suede (Punk rock)
- Suede designed for Jerell (Rock and roll)
Judges: Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, Michael Kors
Guest judge: LL Cool J
WINNER: Korto
OUT: Suede
First Aired: September 24, 2008
This episode contains the following tropes:
- Never My Fault: Leanne's genre was Hip Hop, and Kenley made her an outfit with high-waist jeans and grandma prints. Everybody else except Kenley could see it was clearly NOT Hip Hop, but she blamed Leanne instead.
- The Quincy Punk: Korto won the challenge by giving Suede this look.
Episode 12: Nature Calls
Drawing inspiration from nature, the remaining designers headed to the New York Botanical Garden to design an evening gown.
Judges: Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, Michael Kors
Guest Judge: Georgina Chapman
WINNER: Jerell
OUT: None (However, all four are on the elimination block when the final three are determined in the next episode).
First Aired: October 1, 2008
This episode contains the following tropes:
- Can't Take Criticism: When Heidi told Kenley that her gown didn't look sophisticated, she bluntly responds "I wasn't going for Sophisticated, Heidi!", which earned a baffled reaction from the judges and the fellow designers.
Episode 13: Finale, Part 1
The designers were given the task, prior to leaving to create their collections, of creating a wedding dress for their collections. In addition to the wedding dress, they were judged on an 11th look, a bridesmaid dress to go with it. This is the first time that all of the finalists were of the same gender (female).
Judges: Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, Michael Kors
FINALISTS: Kenley, Korto, and Leanne
OUT: Jerell
First Aired: October 8, 2008
This episode contains the following tropes:
- Suicidal Over Confidence: Jerell was so sure he was going to get into the final three that he didn't listen to Tim when he adviced to edit down a lot of the stuff in his collection.
Episode 14: Finale, Part 2
Prior to the runway show, the finalists, who each had twelve outfits ready for the runway, were informed that they would only be able to show ten, forcing last minute editing of their collections. The guest judge was originally scheduled to be Jennifer Lopez, but she was unable to participate due to a foot injury and was replaced by Tim Gunn. Following the presentation of all three collections, the judges stated that Leanne Marshall had created the best collection and named her the winner of Season 5 of Project Runway.
Judges: Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, Michael Kors
Guest judge: Tim Gunn
First Aired: October 15, 2008
WINNER of Project Runway Season 5: Leanne Marshall
OUT: Korto Momolu (1st Runner-Up), Kenley Collins (2nd Runner-Up)
