PR 16 Ep 10: Driving Miss Crazy or Caution! Bad Fashion Up Ahead!

Okay, with The Twin Demons Sobbing and Cheating gone, we can get down to a little less drama and a little more design ... and another Unconventional Challenge!

That’s right! Tim meets the designtestants with three Lexus’, and Brian Bolain, a bigwig with Lexus—a proud sponsor of Project Runway™—and tasks them with creating a high fashion look out of safety materials ... traffic cones, safety netting, seatbelts, knee pads, reflectors, rubber boats, harnesses, and bungee cords amongst other things.

The designers have three minutes to grab what they want from the cars, and then just one day, and no Mood trip, to complete their looks. With just six designers left, there are no more Safe Designs, and no immunity, so let’s rip...

TOPS AND BOTTOMS

KENYA

Kenya hates the unconventional and, like the last time, she is struggling. She didn’t grad a lot of useful thing—not even a bra full of earplugs is of any use, though it was kinda fun seeing her pull them from her top—and so she’s struggling again. She wants to use black seat belts but doesn’t have enough—and the other designers are not keen on sharing—so she resorts to seatbelts and bandages, adorned with some high gloss black paint.

Tim likes the idea but worries that all-black isn’t pushing the envelope as far as he’d like. But Kenya keeps on keeping on and finishes strong until the inevitable last minute sipper break as they’re walking to the runway.

WHAT SHE SAID

She looks great!

WHAT I SAID

It’s kinda hippy and just a little lopsided. But she did manage to semi-hide the busted zipper.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Heidi loves the detail and especially the seatbelt belt; she also loves the little cocktail hat Kenya made. She does, however, call out the broken zipper, but does that mean much?

Zac Posen liked that Kenya painted the dress because it gave the basic black dress some added dimension. He did note that the shape is not the most flattering.

Nina liked that the dress gave drama without throwing “everything and the kitchen sink” at it.

Guest Judge, Mr. Robot actress Cary Chaiken, called it classic and simple, but hated the tacky hat.

AYANA

After her near win last week—and I still think she was robbed—Ayana is once again going ‘out there’ in her look. She’s smashing reflectors to make a mosaic! She’s cutting a floatation device in half to make shoulder pads! She’s using orange fence netting to make a huge skirt! And she put her girl in a hard hat!

Tim loves her look and tells her to go for every idea she has.

WHAT SHE SAID

Everything I wanted to bring is right in front of me.

WHAT I SAID

Wow. She rocked it, though the hard hat kinda threw me at first.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Heidi calls it fantastically over-the-top, and loved the hard hat and the sleek, chic, modernity to it all.

Zac Posen called it hot, wow, bold, big, fun and tactile, but he wasn’t a fan of the 80s shoulder pad detail; he was, however a fan, of all the other detail including the handpainted underskirt hidden by the mesh.

Nina Garcia said it was insanely on fire, and loved the caution tape and hard hat hijab; she also loved the elegance and the drama of the skirt.

Carly Chaiken just loved the pop of blue that seemed to tie the whole look together.

MICHAEL

Even while waiting to get his goods from the car, Michael had his mind set on making some sort of corded and tubed bondage-inspired sophisticated look and that was all he could think about. He toiled hard creating the twist of tubes and cords, but then struggled with what to put under it.

Tim sees the bondage dress and a blue top made of straps, and wonders if the two even go together. But Michael is undeterred and continues on his path, using the blue top and then using bandages to create a skirt beneath the bungees.

WHAT HE SAID

I‘m very pleased with what I produced.

WHAT I SAID

Bungees over bandages aren’t really fashion, are they?

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Nina Garcia said it was not her favorite because it lacks drama—she’s seen this look before—and lacks a certain freedom that the unconventional challenges bring. She ended up saying it was a bandage dress on a backup dancer and somewhere in New York, Michael Kors was saying, Yasssssss!

Carly bluntly called it hooker-ish and tacky.

Heidi said it was “kinda” hot but compared to the others it didn’t look like Michael did very much.

Zac Posen said the blue was good, and that was about it; the bra-let was smashed beneath the straps and he is disappointed.

Up close Heidi said, “I’m not hating it.” To which Nina replied, “I hate it.” Ow.

KENTARO

Kentaro grabbed several fire hoses and when he began to cut the fabric off the hose, he realized he had fabric and that was his jumping off point.

Tim, however, noted that, yes, the fabric did come off the hose, but it was fabric and nothing new or unconventional or creative; he urged Kentaro to rethink, which Kentaro did, by adding yellow and orange plastic arrows to the look. He also had his model, the fierce Liris, wear a Native American looking hair style and shoes.

Oh no ....

WHAT HE SAID

I’m not happy.

WHAT I SAID

Oh honey, no one is  ....

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

I know she isn’t a judge, but Liris called it when she said the look was “Pocahontas about to play football.”

Nina Garcia was also less than impressed. She said it wasn’t good, it lacked vision, and was a Native American Costume; she ended up saying it was more “Project Tailoring” but she didn’t come on the show to judge a costume.

Heidi said it was too stiff and that Liris looked like a doll, but not in a good way.

Carly Chaiken said it didn’t feel like fashion, and was ruined by the hair and shoes.

Zac Posen liked some of the details—the frayed edges of the hose and the graphic print on it, but said the piping and the colored details weren’t good. He called the top JPB ... Just Plain Bad.

BRANDON

As with Kenya, Brandon does not like the Unconventional Challenges—“I want fabrics! Gimme fabrics!’—and he also struggled with what to do, what to use, and how to make it work.

When Tim game by Brandon showed him a simple circle skirt with a geometric pattern and one of those tin-foil-looking things that paramedics use as blankets as a shirt. But he didn’t know what to do with the tin-foil-ish stuff and it was looking to be a very hot mess—especially when he tried sewing it and it easily ripped... or when he tried it in his model and it easily ripped. So, Brandon had a make it work moment and created his own fabric, print, and textile for his top.

WHAT HE SAID

It has a lot of flow, despite the rugged materials.

WHAT I SAID

It’s totally his vibe, but different because of the materials.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Zac Posen said, “I adore this,” and called it spectacular work; he also said he was happy for this challenge because it made Brandon stretch and play with color and texture. He did say the skirt was short in the back but called the overall look the “top of the top” and said he wanted to see a Brandon runway show

Nina Garcia also loved seeing him play with movement, especially given the stiffness of the fabric, and said she loved his cool, street print that stayed true to his aesthetic.

Heidi loved it, calling it flirty and hard at the same time, which, I’m guessing, is what Heidi likes.

Carly Chaiken wasn’t sure about the thing on the wrist, but she wanted to rip the top off the model and wear it herself.

MARGARITA

One thing I’ll give Margarita is that she’s organized. Once back with her treasures, she laid everything out on the tables, and organized it all, so she could see what she wanted and how she might use.

I’ll take away from Margarita because, apparently, there wasn’t much she wanted and hardly anything she didn’t put in her dress. But, Tim liked the idea of a knee-pad bustier and straps and hardhat shoulder pads, so Margarita went for it.

WHAT SHE SAID

My look has so much inventiveness to it.

WHAT I SAID

It’s a lot, and just kinda looks like she tossed everything at the dress form and what stuck, stayed there.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Nina Garcia got a superhero vibe, not necessarily a bad thing, and loved the innovation of the reflectors and the straps.

Carly Chaiken was stunned by the hard hat shoulder pads, saying the model could have been wearing just those and a trash bag and she would have loved it; she did, though, wished some of the blue colors on the top were used in the skirt.

Heidi said it was modern and chic and something out of Paris ... a Paris car show?

Zac Posen loved the graphic nature of the look, the dimension, the helmet shoulders and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle-ness of it all, but said even after all these weeks he didn’t know who Margarita was as a designer.

Kenya, Brandon, Margarita ... Margarita? ... and Ayana are all the Tops and, while I wondered for a moment that the winner was not going to be the right one, Ayana got the well-deserved win.

That leaves Michael and Kentaro; who goes home, the Hooker or Pocahontas? Honey, the hooker always goes home.

Bye Michael.

I liked that Michael and Margarita both tried to dog Brandon. Michael said Brandon was running out of ideas, and Margarita thought he might be a “one-trick pony.” But Brandon made an outfit true to his aesthetic that used the unconventional materials and looked like fashion, while Michael tied his model up and Margarita didn’t find a piece of garbage she didn’t want to sue and still has no apparent POV.

Plus, Brandon has that smile.

I also thought it funny Margarita said she didn’t want to be obvious in her usage of the materials but then made a skirt that you knew right away was caution tape.

I loved when the designers found out who their models were and Kentaro said, “My model is Michael.” I also loved Kentaro telling Brandon that his model, Liris, has “chunk in her trunk or trunk in her junk.”

And I’m glad we’re down to real designers now and the show-offs and wannabes are gone, which leads me to The tents: I’m with Zac, I want to see Brandon’s show; I also want to see what Ayana will bring now that she’s kinda pushed herself into some fabulous places. Kentaro needs to listen, and learn, and try harder or he’ll be a guest. Kenya keeps getting high marks lately, though this week was a wee bit safe for me, but Margarita’s look, I thought, was just too much and too awful. Maybe we’ll get a three-designer show with Brandon, Ayana and Kentaro ... or maybe Kenya. I can’t see Margarita there unless she really pulls out a POV that everyone can see.

Next week? Boxing. Seriously? Why not keep the twins around for that so the others can take a shot at them? Just sayin’.

Lastly, on a sad note, Project Runway alum Mychael Knight died this week of an intestinal disorder. He had just had a show in Atlanta and was working on his next collection. 

He was one of my favorite designers his season, and always seemed like such a sweet and talented man. He was just thirty-nine years old. RIP

What did YOU think?