Do we really have to start using the word "Feminazi?"

I have to admit being a little confused after last night's Project Runway. The challenge was simple: create an evening dress for Miss USA to wear when competing in the Miss Universe pageant. Each designer would show Miss USA sketches his or her proposed design, and Miss USA would choose half of them (seven) to be made. The designers who were chosen would become "team leaders" and would each choose one of the remaining designers, resulting in seven teams of two.

Miss USA, apparently oblivious to Vincent's "kooky" hat debacle of last week, chose him as one of the team leaders. He was the last to choose a partner, meaning he was forced to pair up with Angela. For those who remember week one, Angela was the person who created the leather skirt and very low-cut top. I actually really liked her design (except for the flowers she attached to the back of her model). This week, before Miss USA made her choices, instead of sketching something Angela spent all of her time chatting up Kayne (who creates pageant dresses for a living), trying to convince him that she would be a good partner. It's really not very encouraging when a designer doesn't trust herself to the extent that she would rather ride someone's coattails than even attempt to be chosen as a team leader herself (she went into her meeting with Miss USA with a blank sheet of paper).

But putting all of that aside, from the way the show was edited at least, Angela tried to help Vincent with his design. Of course, Vincent would have none of that. While all of the other team leaders were consulting with their partners, Angela would ask Vincent if there was anything she could do and he would tell her no or ask her to step away from him. He had zero interest in collaborating with her, or even in giving her tasks to complete. He viewed it as his vision and had no desire for anyone else's input.

Of course, Vincent put a different spin on that to the guys in their loft, complaining about what a nightmare Angela was, to which Jeffrey replied "one word: Feminazi." Ummm...are we in middle school? Do grown men use the word "Feminazi" anymore? Especially grown men who work in the fashion industry? More disturbing was that at least one other man in the room (Vincent) seemed to find that both an apt description and quite amusing.

When it came time for the runway, most of the designs looked pretty good. The editing really didn't leave much question as to whose designs would be the bottom two: Malan and Katherine's brown creation, featuring what looked like dead moss sprouting from the breasts and a too-short, unfinished hem (about which Katherine had warned Malan), and Vincent (and Angela's--since she had no say, her name belongs in parentheses) lime green number, most notable for its poorly-sewn, puckered seams and sleeves that looked like something the Wicked Witch of the East might have worn on her feet.

What surprised me so much about the episode was the conversation that occurred on the runway. Angela was totally reamed for "trying to be too much of a leader" and trying to take control of her partnership with Vincent. What? That's certainly not what the viewer saw. It also isn't what Tim Gunn saw, if you read his blog. It is obvious that the judges don't watch tapes of the designers putting everything together, because this complaint about Angela was just so incredibly unfair. What was also unfair is that Vincent--who showed a complete lack of ability to work with others--was declared "in" while Angela was left to languish with Malan as one of the worst two of the night. The entire dress design was Vincent's vision--he should have had to bear the responsibility for it being in the bottom two. I was really shocked at how presumptuous the judges were to assume that Angela (who had been "in" the week before) was the problem while Vincent (who was in the bottom three in week one) was the one trying to keep everything together.

In the end, it didn't matter, as Malan was the one eliminated. To which I say good riddance to bad rubbish (that sounds like a Malan saying). Everything about Malan was just so overwrought, from the story of how his mother stomped on his sketches to his teary goodbye. Nothing he did ever struck me as genuine, and his snobby demeanor (comparing the people he lived with to cattle, questioning their level of taste, complaining that he likes to use better fabrics than those provided in the first assignment) was just not endearing.

Oh yeah, and Kayne and Robert won the challenge. Not surprising, considering Kayne's experience. Their dress was pretty cute, and probably the most pageanty of the bunch. Personally, I liked Keith and Bradley's number, but I guess it didn't really scream "Miss Universe."