PR 18 Ep 6: Be Yourself. If You Know Who That Is ...

Well, this week the designtestants are challenged with making whatever they choose—evening, daytime, athleisure, trash—just as long as it’s inspired by their personal heritages. What could go wrong? Right? Freedom is good, but where do you go? Constraints might help lead you in a  better direction, or any direction, eh Delvin?

Oh, and it’s a one-day challenge so, yeah, pressure’s on.

Let’s rip …

SAFES

clockwise

BRITTANY She’s a cowgirl from Arkansas so a swing dress in denim seemed a good choice. Did it really?

GEOFFREY His heritage is the military and death; quite the optimistic picture. I liked his edgy modern camouflage look but he had immunity from last week so he’s safe.

MARQUISE He also went denim but added some quilting and patchwork and painted fabrics to create an edgy street look. I like his unisex approach to fashion; I’d wear some of this look myself.

NANCY Her heritage was Italian, but it was also hand me downs and so …yeah, I don’t know what any of that has to do with what she made. It’s interesting but what does it mean?

TOPS AND BOTTOMS

VICTORIA

Victoria got it in her head to use blue to create a modern look for the Moldovan woman who is always dressed to the nines. Trouble is the blue was baby blue, and even Christian is worried about the shade … and the design … which is strikingly out of this world, and not in a good way.

Even Victoria, who normally loves her work, is worried; staring at this creation she mutters … "I don't understand what I don't like." … and the entire world nodded in agreement.

WHAT SHE SAID

I’m confused about my feelings. I like it and I don’t like it.

WHAT I SAID

No confusion here. It’s creepy and extraterrestrial and modern and the model looks twelve-feet- tall. I am fully afraid of it.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

After Victoria said she wanted to make something ageless and timeless, Brandon points out that it’s neither of those things.  He wasn’t bored, and it’s perfectly tailored, but … what is it. Guest judge—and new member of the Husband-In-My-Head squad—Fernando Garcia wants to know how it connects to Victoria’s heritage. Short answer? It doesn’t. Elaine thinks it was a “missed opportunity” in color and culture and said it “fell flat” in terms of how it connected to the challenge; it was more superhero than heritage. Karlie called it a bold choice and a risk and was stunned it was done in one day. Nina said she lives for the moment when a designer surprises her. “I love it,” says Nina, even though it’s strange; read: alien.

SERGIO

Sergio calls himself a political designer and he has a story to tell; damn the design, he’s gonna tell a story!

Inspired by his grandfather, who had a cotton farm, Sergio will make an evening gown that tells the story of the six children that _____ murdered at the border last year. I thought it was a good message, but it dies on the runway.

He chose white cotton for their innocence and not-quite-blood red lace for their blood, and he’s going to embroider their names in the hem. Bold move, bad execution. The statement became more important than the dress. As well as his statement that he doesn’t need any advice from Christian on his look. He tells Christian, "I don't think you can have accurate opinions until you see things closer to being done."

Oh, but you can, Blanche, but you can, and had he been open to a simple conversation, this dress could have been saved.

WHAT HE SAID

I feel so proud. It’s a classic salsa dress with a powerful message.

WHAT I SAID

It’s a mess. It looks cheap and unfinished and you can’t even read the names. If you have to stop and explain it, the message is lost.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Sergio weeps:

“We need to have this conversation because nobody is less than, so I’m pissed off as a person, and I want to tell these stories.”

Elaine liked the story but reminded him that they are there for fashion. She thought the cotton cheapened the effect. The Gorgeous Fernando Garcia™ wished Sergio had elevated the Latino concept and said it was more comic book than modern. Nina hated the “mullet shape” also said it looked unfinished; Nina and I are on the same page! I.Could.Die. Karlie thought it’s be a better message on a better garment.

SHA’VI

Right out of the gate Sha’Vi is worried about another one-day challenge, so he was behind the eight-from the jump; mixed metaphor, no extra charge.

In talking with his mother about their heritage ShaVi is inspired by looking back to his grandmother’s sister, Ella, who was Cuban and black, but could pass for white. And since she could pass, she was able to get a job singing and dancing at Harlem’s Cotton Club.

And so, he wants to create an evening gown in gold to bring back that jazz club glamour. And that’s the issue; Sha’Vi doesn’t buy any lining for his flimsy fabric and so he uses muslin to line it. Trouble is the muslin makes the dress stiff and buckling and puckered and all kinds of bad.

Christian sees the look, loves the gilded gold fabric, but warns Sha’Vi that the fit needs to be perfect.

WHAT HE SAID

The judges can see the skirt is buckling. It’s a bit of a mess.

WHAT I SAID

I don’t know what it is; a solid gold sack? It doesn’t read Cotton Club or jazz singer or even elegant.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

The Gorgeous Fernando Garcia™ thinks he should’ve just thrown the fabric on his model and tacked it a couple of times; he thinks Sha’Vi didn’t “listen” to the fabric. Nina loved the story but called it a basic dress she’s seen before in every size and every price range. Karlie said his story didn’t come through in the dress, and when Sha’Vi apologizes for disrespecting the judges, Brandon assures him he didn’t; he says Sha’Vi just had a bad day. . It was just a bad day and probably would have worked out better if he had more time.

CHELSEY

Chelsey instantly knows that she’ll use her grandmothers as inspiration since she says she comes from a long line of independent black women.  Since both grandmothers were teachers, Chelsey wants to make a varsity jacket.

Really? It seems very simple and basic, but … At Mood Christian spots her basket and worries about the multitude of colors, but Chelsey ain’t playing and dashes off quickly.

In the workroom, he also seems less than thrilled with her look, and suggests she make it more fashion and less literal; perhaps something with the sleeve?

WHAT SHE SAID

She looks like a strong, educated, confidant, black woman.

WHAT I SAID

I like it, though I wished the striped banding at the collar had been used at the bottom like a true varsity jacket.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Karlie thought it was “striking, fresh and cool,” and said Chelsey nailed the challenge in both “execution and the meaning behind it.” The Gorgeous Fernando Garcia™  loved that she kept it simple and loved the sports reference; he dubbed it “Balenciaga goes to the tailgate.” Nina also loved it and called it fashion forward.

DELVIN

He’s lost from the beginning. For all his bravado about being a couture designer, he thrives on instruction and guidance. Of course, it doesn’t help that when he chats with his mother about his heritage, she tells him he’s black, Cherokee, Creole … and Latino; something he never knew. So, how does he take all that and make it work? Well, he hears Creole and he thinks French, so he’s going to make a Creole Couture blazer-and-corset look.

At Mood, Christian spots his color palette and notes that the blue seems a little “collegiate blue,” and so Delvin runs off for … magenta? Ma-effing-genta? Is there a color that doesn’t make any dress look dated? I think not.

But, when he designs the corset, Christian likes the muslin pieces and suggests Delvin use that as a symbol of his couture identity, and show, on the dress, how the dress is made. “It needs to be you,” Christian says, and Delvin runs with that idea … right into a wall, because of the color, and the skirt he’s made that looks cartoonish and has a buckling sipper; and that effing magenta!

WHAT HE SAID

I want to die. It’s like walking torture. It’s trash.

WHAT I SAID

I agree. That’s all.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Elaine wasn’t a fan of the color, called it Dynasty in color and shoulder and styling; she was disappointed. The Gorgeous Fernando Garcia™  thought the deconstructed corset, with the exposed writing, should have been the whole concept; this, he said, was “muddled.” Brandon also loathed the color, especially since it called attention to the imperfections; that zipper! He called it the wort look of the night. Nina thought it was an ambitious idea, but he got caught up in it.

DAYOUNG

Dayoung’s mom tells her not to kill herself trying to be the best and I wonder if she’d seen that first week with Dayoung’s collapse. But they have a sweet chat and Dayoung is suddenly inspired by Korea, the colors and its ancient architecture.

She’ll create a silk jacket in a gorgeous almost painted-looking fabric, with arches reminiscent of Korean buildings. Christian likes the fabric and the idea but warns her that it needs to be modern.

WHAT SHE SAID

It’s finally time when I can speak about my own heritage.

WHAT I SAID

I lovelovelove the jacket, but the skirt seems old and doesn’t quite match the beauty of the jacket.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Nina loves it and dubs Dayoung the “quiet designer” whose work speaks for itself; she calls it “polished and elegant,” and “very expensive.” The Gorgeous Fernando Garcia™   would have liked to see the jacket with a trouser instead—he noted on the runway that the skirt and jacket are for two different customers—but also agreed that it looked “polished.” Brandon felt like it “nailed the challenge” because it was all Dayoung; he also liked that any woman, any age, any size, could wear the jacket. Karlie said the jacket looked like it walked out of a painting.

Well, the aliens may have landed in Moldova, but they don’t get the Top Spot. It boils down to Dayoung and Chelsey and the modern varsity jacket bests the Korean painting jacket. Congrats to Chelsey.

As for the bottoms, Sergio, luckily, was safe. That leaves us with Delvin and Sha’Vi. Both were awful, but only one can go home, right? And I think Delvin’s deconstruction edged out Sha’Vi’s bad construction.

Sha’Vi goes home, but, and I love this about him, he takes full ownership of his bad luck, and quotes his grandfather who said:

“When you mess up, you gotta clean up.”

I’ll miss cute Sha’Vi and his with and designs.

I'll miss Sha'Vi. He was adorable and sweet and talented, but he just made rookie msitakes. I''ll miss his humor and his shade.

Fernando Garcia, the co-founder of MONSE and the co-creative director for Oscar De La Renta, is hothothot. I have already written to the PR producers and asked that he be on next season as the sole designer, the sole judge and the sole occupant of the designer’s s penthouse where cameras run 24/7 … even in the shower. I’m shallow; sue me. He’s delicioso!

I loved Nancy’s chat with her sister about heritage and the siter only talks food … “Meatballs! Pizza! Ricotta!” … until Nancy reminds her this is a fashion design show.

Brittany annoys me; her ego is becoming almost Sergio Level. I mean, she’s annoyed the models helped him embroider, but has no problem with designers helping designers? Same thing., honey Oh, and her annoyance that Victoria is always in the top? Here’s the tea, BritBrit: you made a jean flirty dress while Victoria made a perfectly tailored, sewn-to-within-an-inch-of her-life ultra-modern suit. Did you really think denim was gonna get you in the top three? You’re not Chelsey, girl.

And, while Delvin and his ego annoy me, the little smirk on his face when Sergio talked about political designing was priceless. I feel a little bit in like with him over that.

LINES OF THE NIGHT

Victoria, talking about her competition:

"Geoffrey, Brittany, and Delvin."

And when an off-camera producer her asks about Sergio being competition, she says:

"Nooo! Of course not!"

Oh.The.Shade.

Geoffrey’s model, on his skirt:

“I don’t think it looks like a dick at all.”

Good to know.

Geoffrey, responding to Brittany whining about Sergio’s politically inspired look:

“At least make it beautiful.”

Facts is facts.

As for The Tents …Victoria, much to Brittany’s chagrin. Geoffrey seems to be gaining; Delvin has a stumble, but if he recovers. Nancy and Chelsey have a shot, though Nancy’s work doesn’t get the critiques often. Marquise and Dayoung are both strong but need to get stronger and stay stronger. Sergio? After this week’s mess? Oh honey. And Brittany? Keep her until the last challenge and then send her packing.

Next week, the designers will be collaborating with pop artist  Ashley Longshore. It could be good, until Dayoung has another medical emergency. Tune in.

What did YOU think?