PR 18 Ep 3: Ho Ho, Ho!

We’re supposed to believe the designtestants woke up and found their penthouse decorated for Christmas, with Christian stopping by with a buffet? Um, okay? I mean, menorahs, fully decorated trees, ribbons, paper, garland, wreaths and ornament just popped in?

And poor Brittany was given the obvious line—“It looks like the holidays threw up in our living room”—and will clearly, dearly, pay for that later.

See, it’s not just Christmas, with Christian on a shelf; it’s the dreaded Unconventional Materials Challenge™, the one that makes some, and literally breaks others. Let’s rip …

THE SAFES

—clockwise

Chelsey used ribbon and pillowcases and leaves to make a pretty …safe … outfit. And she actually thought this was a top look. Oh dear.

Dayoung chose streamers, tinsel, glitter tree twigs and bows to make this Christmas Sprite. I love the ethereal quality to it.

Delvin started out with silver tin man wrapping paper but switched it up with an Abominable Snowman tree skirt and ribbon. Delvin is an up-and-coming courtier, y’all, and he does not do arts and crafts; clearly, cuz this stinks.

Geoffrey grabbed ribbon and wrapping paper and redeemed himself from Week 2 with this chic uptown look.

Marquise had immunity from last week’s win but took a risk with ribbon and tinsel to create his Tina Turner Christmas Look. This was a top look for me, but Safe for the judges.

Melanie gave us Mrs. Scarecrow Christmas with corn husks and ribbon. Cute, but bland, and not at all festive party.

Nancy used ribbons and a tree skirt for this chic look, with a jacket to boot; and a boot purse with lights!

TOPS AND BOTTOMS

ALAN

Alan is more interested in shrieking and playing than designing and winning, so he had no plan at all to get his materials; he just grabbed whatever he found and ended up with “a lot of nothing.” But he also reminded us that “your boy don’t come from much” so he has this, right?

Uh huh. Alan started with a green velvet tree skirt to make a green velvet skirt, and ShaVi wasted no time in calling it a dress for a “Laura Ingalls’ dinner party guest,” or a “Medieval Times does holiday” or maybe it was “Game of Thrones Red Wedding the day after.”

Alan thinks he can shade? Honey, ShaVi schooled you on both shade and design.

Day one and done, and Alan had nothing for his model to wear, and so he made a choice—blue ribbon and silver leaves and sheer insets and lopsided asymmetrical boobs—which y’all know Nina will love. Christian took one look and gave him a word of advice: “Focus.”

Alan’s model ends up showing a lot of boob—he seemed pleased to bring “titties on the runway”—and the sheer inset was so short there was a glimmer of the Fine China … a look and a line most PR fans will remember from the Peach days. And then to add insult to lopsided boobs ,Alan creates a Yeti Boot for the model to stomp the runway. The look on Christians’ face at the sight of the boots was priceless.

WHAT HE SAID

I went way out the box … I love it.

WHAT I SAID

The skirt is kinda fairy and elf, but the boobs and the boots are the worst choices ever.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Elaine nails it when she says, “if this were the Burning Man challenge, you’d be in the top three." And when Alan seems pleased, she adds, “But Burning Man doesn’t happen in December.” Nina hates all of Alan’s excuses week after week and says there’s nothing but ribbon and no construction. Brandon says Alan “spray-painted a bird and stuffed it on her breast”  and added that there were no ideas and no taste. Karlie was simply stunned by the boobs.

SHAVI

ShaVi isn’t a fan of the holidays—he sips wine while the others grab goodies, which leads me to think we’d be great friends—but he likes making something out of something else; he once made a Emmy dress out of his Grandmother’s drapes, so he’ll either go great guns or Carol Burnett Show skit.

He chooses garland and red and gold velvet ribbon for a “dark, romantic, monochromatic” look. He painted the gold ribbon red, and created a corset, topped by a Cranberry Bra, over a floral poof skirt. The idea is fabulous until the cranberries wrinkle and shrink making it look like California Craisin Titties—something Alan might have liked. He scraps the berries and uses more garland floral, though Christian warns him to make sure the look isn’t bulky.

WHAT HE SAID

Even though it’s not my original vision, I’m happy with it.

WHAT I SAID

It screams festive fun holiday party, though my one quibble was that I might have liked another color in the mix.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Brandon had misgivings when he saw it behind the screen but fell in love when it walked. Nina loves the color and proportion, and the defined waist and the exuberance. Elaine called it a “couture piece … job well done” while guest judge actress Kiernan Shipka wanted to wear it. 

VICTORIA

Victoria used the same strategy as Alan, which was grab everything, but then she was able to refine her “stuff” into an actual idea and a look on Day One.

She has pillowcases and cranberries wreaths for a shoulder detail and Christian warns her that it cannot look like the model has a wreath around her neck. But then he also worries that her unconventional materials—pillowcases—may appear too normal; luckily, even with a slight language barrier, Victoria takes his notes and runs with them.

WHAT SHE SAID

I can’t believe I pulled off an unconventional challenge.

WHAT I SAID

She listened and used bits and pieces of cranberries and leaves and ribbon, glued to the dress, for extra festivity. It wasn’t just a wreath on a pillowcase.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Karlie asks Victoria if she's in the top or the bottom, and she says she’s in the op, and then adds:

“I’m not confident person, but I have eyes.”

Indeed. Nina “loved” the dress with its texture, sexiness, dimension and drama. Kiernan called  it’s “vibrant” and “eye-catching.” The other judges also liked it, but also said it was not the Best of the Best this week.

TYLER

Tyler called the run at the materials “worse than Black Friday at a K-Mart in Ohio.” Ouch, for Ohio, though …

He’s got ribbons and stars and ornaments that can be read as lace, but he’s also afraid of being called costume again. Christian assured him that last week’s look was costume-y because of the silhouette, so this week he needs to keep that in mind.

Sadly, somewhere along the way Tyler loses that thought and his mind. The stars are gone; the ornaments as lace are used sparingly, and all the ribbon he has left cane barely cover the model’s ‘ass’ets. He’s left with what he calls a “Freakum dress,” which, thanks to the producers and an onscreen explanation, I learned was “a sexy dress, usually worn to the club, to freak all the boys and make them want you.”

Yeah, I don’t think he hit that mark either.

WHAT HE SAID

I’m just glad I finished.

WHAT I SAID

It’s a gold and white sack; it’s awful. It won’t make the boys want you, it’ll make the boys want to run away from you.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Brandon said, “Call me conservative, but that is short” and added that it was “conceptually and technically” poor. Nina thinks Tyler is “cute and funny,” but the dress has “construction problems, fit problems” and it “reads [again] like a costume.” Karlie said it was “too short” and crossed a line. Kiernan thought it was a bad fit, had no shape and wasn’t at all creative.

SERGIO

Sergio likes the Unconventional Challenge because in his own work he uses up-cycled materials. Um … okay. But I don’t think that means baskets and wrapping paper like he took this week.

Yes, he grabbed a very large basket he’ll use at the bottom of a skirt utilizing a kind of a hoop skirt under it, with a wrapping paper dress. When someone calls it bell shaped, Marquise suggests adding bells to it—sabotage?—and Sergio goes for the idea. Seriously, it had bells in the skirt that jingled when it walked.

Christian likes the look but then Serg-ego comes out and says he doesn’t really need Christian’s approval. Ack; this guy. And when he gets the Call From Home, for a hot minute I think that’s the ominous clue and he’ll be going home?

WHAT HE SAID

She literally looks like a holiday dream.

WHAT I SAID

It’s chic, but the basket wasn’t used in a new way, and the wrapping paper, though meticulously sewn together, was just wrapping paper.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Kiernan loves a dress with a soundtrack and called it fun and flirty and wanted to wear it. But, as she said, if it came down to a choice between ShaVi’s look and Sergio’s dress, she’d prefer ShaVi’s. Karlie loved the exquisite tailoring and said it, oh yes she said it, “rang her bell.” Elaine called the tailoring “insane” while Brandon said Sergio was really feeling himself, though, as the viewers know, he feels himself all day long.

BRITTANY

Brittany got hit in the nose and spent the ten-minute-Grab-Your-Materials time stemming the blood loss, so she was left with a cranberry wreath and wrapping paper, and not a single idea, or way to make it work.

Still, she has a plan for some cranberry fringe and a way to use different papers to create a new pattern in a chevron design. Christian likes the idea, but warns her that it’s a lot, and she might not have enough time.

And she stumbles; she can’t do the chevron; she stumbles; she can’t do a full-on cranberry fringe. She ends up with a chevron bodice, a copper paper skirt, and sad little cranberry strings hanging from the top,

It’s a literal mess.

WHAT SHE SAID

I am absolutely mortified.

WHAT I SAID

Rightly so. It’s awful. It’s what I would do, with wrapping paper and a pitcher of margaritas.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Elaine is shocked that this is a Brittany look, while Brandon is scandalized by cranberry placement. Nina and Elaine like it, because, as Nina says, it’s the only part of the dress that moves. Brandon tells Brittany that even though she got bad materials, she’s better than this d-i-saster, and not to blame the paper because just down the runway is a flawless wrapping paper dress. Nina called the concept “OK,” but hated the stiffness of the too-tight skirt. Elaine says the look never moved beyond the wrapping paper aisle. Kiernan got the deciding vote in what Brandon dubbed Cranberry Armpits and said she, too, hated them.

It comes down to Serg-ego and ShaVi for the top spot, and while I think ShaVi’s was a better unconventional look, and use of materials, the judges gave the top spot to Sergio.

As for the Bottoms, they are clearly Alan and Tyler. As for being in the Bottom, Brittany gets a pass this week, and so it comes down to bad taste Alan-tude or Tyler’s better, at least last week, tailoring.

Luckily, Bad Taste gets the fur covered boot and Alan goes home.

Alan is gone and I’m glad. He’s that reality show contestant who isn’t there for the competition, but just to be on TV. I mean, he wasn’t very good, but he was loud and laughable and show-y. And now he’s gone. Good.

I was . Her ribbon dress and coat was stunning. But I wondered where the ornaments she spent so much time smashing went to until I remembered …

Last week Nancy noted that Delvin wasn't helping Dayoung complete her design while others were, so maybe she used the hammer and ornaments to make him a little on edge?

I, for one, don’t hate the idea.

Sergio? Ick. His ego, and his obvious dislike for Christian is annoying. Every week, Sergio dismissed Christian’s critiques, but this week was the nastiest when he said, "I don’t really need Christian’s advice on this one because I’m honestly in love with my design. The judges are going to gag when they see this."

I am so waiting for it all to come to a head, and for Sergio to get the ego check he deserves … from Christian.

I loved Geoffrey coming out of his room on that first day with his “tits out” as he said.

LINE[S] OF THE NIGHT

Tyler—and he really is funny—shading Sergio’s win last week:

“Congrats to Sergio for getting through a streetwear challenge with a ballgown.”

Tyler doesn’t want to be a “salty bitch” but I live for it, and I want him sitting next to me while he does it.

Tyler, again, as he pondered his placement in this episode:

“It’s funny, usually I’m not mad about being on the bottom.”

Oh, gurl, we already knew that.

Geoffrey, on Alan’s look:

“I’m not really sure what party she’s going to, but she’s going to be on drugs.”

Drugs are what caused that outfit.

Tyler, yet again, after being torn apart by the judges:

You have roasted me like a Christmas ham, And I deserve it.”

Nina was right; he is funny.

Christian, as the designers head to the runway:

“I feel like there’s a lot that needs to be done … and glued.”

And thrown away, amirite?

So, who do I like? Nancy is interesting to me; and Marquis, too, both in looks and designs. ShaVi is stepping up, and so is Dayoung. Even Victoria, whom I thought would be the Language Barrier Joke, had some great ideas this week. Tyler is sinking; Melanie and Chelsey are fading; Sergio and Delvin need to get a room and et their egos battle it out. If Geoffrey settles, he could go far.

Next week: the designtestants go to Good Will to design a look for Karlie Kloss for a Council of Fashion Designers of America event.

And the fabulous Laverne Cox is the guest judge.

What did YOU think?