NEW West Valley grad still alive on 'Project Runway'

Blayne-licious is still in.

Yakima native Blayne Walsh avoided the dreaded "auf Wiedersehen" for a second week on the reality show "Project Runway," which launched its fifth season July 16.

In the drama-fueled competition, aspiring fashion designers take on weekly challenges and vie for the opportunity to show their own line at New York Fashion Week. The show is hosted by supermodel Heidi Klum.

This week's challenge was to make a young, hip cocktail dress out of eco-friendly fabric. The twist was, the models did the shopping for the materials.

After landing in the bottom three last week with a design that Klum called, "Playboy bunny gone grunge," the 23-year-old Walsh's "green" black and pink dress saved him elimination -- this week.

Wesley Nault (the guy with the short shorts), 23, was out tonight, making Walsh now the youngest competitor this season.

After graduating from West Valley High School in 2003, Walsh (full name: Richard Blayne Walsh) left Yakima to attend the Art Institute of Seattle. For the past couple of years, he's been a barista at Hotwire Online Coffeehouse in West Seattle, where his artwork adorns the wall.

An obvious favorite of Liz Claiborne's chief creative officer Tim Gunn, who serves on the show as mentor to the couture cast, Walsh has been deemed one of the designers to watch. (At least according to the July 28 issue of "People" magazine. Although, so was Nault.)

Walsh is among the 14 contestants remaining on this season of "Project Runway," which airs at 9 p.m. Wednesdays on the Bravo channel.