PR 18 Ep 1: To Immunity and Beyond!

Yasssss Queens, and Queens adjacent, Project Runway is back for another season of grand design, bad taste, egos, and divas.

There is a Santa Clause, y’all. Karlie Kloss and Christian Siriano—along with judges Nina Garcia, Brandon Maxwell and Elaine Welteroth—are back for their second season which started at once in the first episode.

The 16 designers—whom we barely got to see and judge instantly—landed at JFK Airport, inside the old TWA terminal, which is now the new, retro, modern TWA Hotel. As Karlie tells the designtestants the TWA terminal first opened in 1962, what was also the first year an American orbited the earth, so this first challenge will be out of this world. The designtestants must create futuristic looks for a space station hotel and bar but then came the PR Twist™: this first challenge is a team challenge! Yes, these bitches don’t even know one another, and they have to create a partnership with one other designer for designing two looks—a jumpsuit and a happy-hour look—for a stay at a space hotel.

The designtestants are given cocktails and mingle time to create their teams: Alan Gonzalez and Dayoung Kim, Victoria Cocieru and Veronica Sheaffer, Asma Bibi and Jenn Charkow, Geoffrey Mac and Melanie Trygg, Brittany Allen and Sergio Guadarrama, Marquise Foster and Nancy Volpe-Beringer, ShaVi Lewis and Chelsey Carter, and Delvin McCray and Tyler Neasloney. Then it was off to Mood with $400 for two looks, and then the lion’s den, er, workroom.

It was all so fast I didn’t have time to pick my Husband-In-My-Head for this season. But, let’s rip …

SAFES

clockwise

Chelsey and ShaVi: First off, ShaVi is adorable so I did make a note of that right away. Chelsey’s space jumpsuit is simple but with a flash of kin in back, and ShaVi’s short metallic pink dress was hot. It’s like costumes for the reboot of Scandal on Mars starring Kerry Washington.

Veronica and Victoria: Veronica’s look was Space Nurse thought it was interesting. Victoria’s metal-and-white-bed-sheet look was as hot a mess as her language skills and her ability to focus.

Marquise and Nancy: Marquise’s cool off-the-shoulder jumpsuit had just the right amount of space bling, and Nancy—the oldest designtestants in PR history at 64—made the perfect LBD for zero gravity.

Tyler and Delvin: Tyler, a designer and a drag queen, kept his dress simple, while Delvin, who fancies himself a couturier—more on that later—crafted a simple jumpsuit. The dribbles of red down the front of each looked like blood after the models found a space door left open and they started to explode.

TOPS

Geoffrey and Melanie

They’re both into structure and architecture and they paired up at the Meet-and-Greet forcing Geoffrey to dump Asma whom he’s already promised himself to; it was a wise move on Geoffrey’s part.

Not so wise was there “story” of their client: they decided to design for a woman who is taking her military family to space and stops by the bar—kids in bars in space>--before going on safari …again … in space.

Geoffrey is a mess; at Mood he can’t find fabric; in the workroom he makes his entire look out of muslin before even thinking about cutting fabric. It’s a TWO-DAY CHALLENGE, Geoffrey! Get the scissors. Luckily Melanie is a minimalist, so her dress was a couple of squares and a strap.

Christian thinks their military concept is “cool” but worries Geoffrey is too slow and Melanie’s fabric is too heavy. Even without gravity you need movement in space!

WHAT THEY SAID

Geoffrey: I’m happy with the direction, it’s more utilitarian, with all the shapes and details showing more than I thought.

Melanie: I’m feeling grateful to Christian for his advice. It’s representative of what I offer as a minimalist designer.

WHAT I SAID

Geoffrey’s reads sexy mechanic, though it’s sexy girl mechanic .But his draping was very cool.

Melanie’s is a sack with strap, even after Christian’s advice. It’s a meh in a hideous color.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Brandon loves the draping on Geoffrey’s look and calls the sleeves “beautiful” and cool and thinks Melanie’s look is finished beautifully. Nina loves the form and function of a flight suit, but thinks Melanie’s fabric is “dull and heavy,” and that she’s lucky to be with Geoffrey. Karlie thought Geoffrey’s looks was chic, but that the two designs looked like two different women, while Elaine thought Melanie has an elevated taste level, but this, um, she called it a “sack,” was underwhelming.

Brittany and Sergio

Brittany calls her aesthetic "if Dolly Parton and Betsy Johnson had a baby and that baby was raised by Anna Wintour." This could be huge; this could be a d-i-saster. And she’s paired with Sergio who designed a gorgeous look for Billy Porter and now thinks he’s on the same level as Christian Siriano and Brandon Maxwell. Oh, and he calls his aesthetic "politically-driven evening wear."

Take a seat, Sergio.

Brittany is doing a sleek jumpsuit with a high neck and a low back, while Sergio is doing the dress, with monstrous sleeves; seriously, it’s like jellyfish sleeves. Christian is slightly confused about their “badass reporter” story to their designs and warns the pair to watch their proportions, before Sergio takes time to remind us:

“I don’t know if he understands how technically advanced I am as a designer.”

Um, Sergio? I thought I told you to sit down!

WHAT THEY SAID

Brittany: My model looks unbelievable. It brings me to tears.

Sergio: My look is elegant and well-made.

WHAT I SAID

The ankles on Brittany’s look scared me a little, but it seemed to work with the whole sleekness of the look.

Sergio’s mullet dress with bell jar sleeves was mother of the bride who ordered online.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Brandon listens to Sergio talk about too many people on Earth and so we have to go into space and become the human race as one. Then he says:

“I love the story, but when this walks by, I’m gonna judge.”

He thinks Sergio’s dress is “beautiful” but doesn’t like the puffy sleeves, which are luckily removable. Elaine also loves the sleeveless look better, but Nina likes the volume and the sleeves. Brandon thinks Brittany’s is the best jumpsuit of the night, while Nina thinks Brittany’s look is a good blend of “futuristic” and “classic … This is the future Audrey Hepburn” and Brittany’s is Elaine’s favorite look on the entire runway, even the “mullet ankles.”

You can get up and leave the stage now, Sergio.

BOTTOMS

Asma and Jenn

Jenn and Asma are the team that doesn’t work well together, doesn’t talk, and yet jabs the other in confessionals, as when Asma said:

“On a scale of 1 t0 10, I’m “100% irked about this.”

Jenn is making a simple navy jumpsuit with some spacey sleeves, while Asma is going neon pink and plastic and fully covered model; Asma is Muslim so she is a “modest” designer who shows little to no skin. She also shows little to no taste, and little to know ability to sew or pick the right fabrics, or even enough of them.

And while these two rarely speak, they each run out of time and scramble to finish, or not, their looks.

Christian is no fan of Jenn’s all-blue look, but he likes the sleeve detail—which will not make it to the runway; he takes a look at Asma’s, deep sighs, and says it’s “a lot.”

Yikes.

WHAT THEY SAID

Asma: Compared to the others my look definitely stands out.

Jenn: I’m just devastated … it’s not even in the same galaxy as the others.

WHAT I SAID

Asma’s look does stand out among the rest, as just about the worst look out there, anywhere, ever.

Jenn at least saw that hers was a hot mess, a basic hot mess.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Elaine thinks Jenn veered away from who she is as a designer because Jenn says she is modern goth and Elaine says this isn’t even modern bride. Nina says she has no idea who Jenn is as a designer, though she does see, and wince, at Asma’s “overabundance of ideas,” none of which were executed very well. Brandon keeps it short:

“What in the actual hell.”

Elaine notes the bad seaming and bad fit on Asma’s, who blames it on cotton; seriously? Cotton? Karlie dislikes both looks but feels Asma’s is too much. Nina adds that Jenn at least sewed a jumpsuit while Asma sewed a tent.

Alan and Dayoung

Alan is that gay designer who flits and flits and thinks everything is about him; he evens says his designs have, ahem, ‘Alan-tude.’ God, I wanna throw a shoe through the TV.

Dayoung is high-strung and uptight, but just flighty enough to bond with Alan. He’ll do the cocktail dress, and she’ll jumpsuit. And it all goes well until Alan discovers that he left his organza at Mood; His Alan-tude Mood Ring goes black, I’m guessing.

He explains to Christian he’ll rethink his ideas and use some of what Dayoung calls the “cyber Monet” fabric. But Christian warns him about showing a simple  flair dress after two days work.

Dayoung gets the Meltdown edit, and the crowd of designtestants telling she is good enough. I hope she won’t become the PR 18 Crybaby™.

WHAT THEY SAID

Alan: I love a good twirl. It’s so Alan-tude.

Dayoung: I’m not satisfied with my garment, but I think my model is pulling it off.

WHAT I SAID

Alan’s look makes me cringe: flowers in space? He loves a twirl? He’s a twirl.

As for Dayoung, I’m bothered by the breast reduction surgery bandage and the fact that the jumpsuit doesn’t seem to fit.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Nina—Goddess bless Nina—also loathes Alan’s flower pattern and says the look “doesn’t look upscale” or streamlined. She “didn’t mind” Dayoung’s design—not the highest of praise, mind you—but says she has to be more meticulous with her execution. Elaine Welteroth questions Alan’s taste level, or lack thereof.  She also questions the strap and then, in a slam dunk, says his look is like "old-school Destiny's Child." Elaine is channeling her inner Nina and I’m there for it. Brandon doesn’t like the fit on Dayoung’s look, or the strap around the chest and the shoulders on both looks.

The winning team is … Brittany and Sergio, as expected, but it’s Brittany who takes the Top Spot; Sergio remains seated.

As for the losers, it’s a Battle to the Death between who goes home: Asma or Jenn. And, well, in a shocking move, both are kicked to the curb.

Ouch.

Karlie says they’re “changing things up a little bit this time around” and then explains the Siriano Save, which is really the Tim Gunn Save but for this reboot only.

I love a good team challenge, but not when the designers don’t know each other. I like it better when the Button Bag comes out and the two designtestants who loathe each other and on the same team because you already know there’s gonna be fireworks.

The Double Elimination was a shock because we really didn’t   know these two at all, though, to be fair, after that mess of a show, they should be happy they weren’t bitch-slapped by Nina …or Brandon. Or maybe even Asma, who threw Jenn under the bus after their elimination when she said:

“I don’t know what she has to offer”

She may be a modest designer, but she has full-on egomaniacal tendencies. Look at your look, Asma.

As for other egos? Take note of one Delvin McCray, who brought an actual lab coat that he ironed and put on before going to work.  He says it what the couture ateliers in Paris wear but apparently he doesn’t know who he is, or where he’s at.

And then, the morning of the show, he takes a nap. And this sends Christian into a tizzy:

“You’re done? It’s so beautiful … so perfect? I could rip it apart right now. If you have time you should be checking ev-ery-thing.”

Devin stayed on the couch.

Sergio Guadarrama is as bad, or worse, as Delvin in the ego department. Yes, he designed for Billy Porter, but that doesn’t make him on the same level as Brandon Maxwell and Christian Siriano, who have their own brands and fashion houses. I am waiting for the day Sergio comes for Christian or Brandon and their tear him to shreds.

I’m loving Nancy Volpe-Beringer who, at 64, is the show’s oldest contestant in history. And she’s good with that and I like her.

Alan-tude. No.

One of the model’s is DD, who is gender neutral and uses they/them pronouns. I love seeing how the PR breaks barriers every season.

DD is Tyler’s model, and Tyler is also a drag queen who goes by the name Kimono, not because she’s Asian, but because that’s short for Kimberly Onassis. Okurrrrr.

LINE OF THE NIGHT

Christian, at Mood, when Alan flits by and asks what he should do:

“Honey, throw that poncho away.”

He needs to give that note to Tyler, as well. Why is that gay men, some gay men, think a poncho is fashion? Stop.

Alan will annoy me. While working with Dayoung to get their looks together,  she mentions there are Macaroons at the break table and suddenly he flits out of the room for a cookie. He’s too much and needs to be stopped.

Victoria Cocieru, a native of Moldova and will be the designtestants with the English problems. At Mood she was running around looking for “fox leather” and no one could help her until they realized she meant “faux leather.” In the workroom she called someone a “workaholic” and Christian hears "alcoholic." I heard it, too. Best of all, was during Christian’s critique of her team’s work, Victoria decided to visit other designers’ tables until Christian said, “Uh, hello?”

It’s too early to pick a favorite, though I did note some of the more annoying designers. As we whittle things down, we can decide who gets to The Tents.

What did YOU think?