PR 13 Ep 4: Fringe Suits You

This week’s challenge is a WTF-Hot-Mess-of-a-Challenge. The designtestants are caravanned out to a nearby — New Jersey? — Red Robin where they meet Tim alongside Jason Rusk, VP of Brand Transformation for Red Robin.

Oh, it must be the Create A New Uniform For Red Robin Challenge … but no. Rusk starts talking about hamburgers, specifically, the gourmet burgers for which Red Robin is known.

Oh, it must be the Take A Gourmet Burger and Translate It Into a Red Carpet Look … but no. Then, suddenly, out of the Robin come 13 male models decked out in 13 different, and horrendously ugly, suits; bad tuxedos, frightful leisure suits; creepy corduroys; neon suits and tweeds and florals all sorts of fug.

Oh it must be the Take an Old Suit and Update It Menswear Challenge … but no. This is the Create a High-Fashion Womenswear Look Using Vintage Men's Suits Challenge! Of course, they must make the suit fabric a prominent part of their look, but they have $100 to spend on “supplemental” fabrics at Mood.

And since Sandhya won last week, she gets to choose her suit first … and then she gets to pair the other suits with the remaining designers.  Some are okay with what they were given and lots … Amanda and The Mitchell … are not. Hernan on the other hand takes it all too personally and becomes alternate versions of Evil Bitch with the Foul Mouth Designer and Crying and Wants To Go Home Designer.

Now, let’s rip …

THE SAFES--left to right, each row

KORINA She went for a motorcycle jacket and instantly freaked out when Kristine was also going biker. There was a comparison of sleeves and so Korina decide to go sleeveless motorcycle jacket and long skirt. Cute, not high-fashion and not especially good.

CHAR I liked the collar — a version of last week’s omnipresent cowl — but felt it wasn’t edgy enough. Char is all kinds of edge but her clothes always seem safe.

FADE I didn’t like his look last week, and while this week’s doesn’t really say ‘high fashion’ I loved this dress. The mix of prints was very well done, and very cool. I may be leaning toward Fade. He should have gone Top Three over Alexander for sure.

SAMANTHA Meh. A cute Little Black Dress, that’s all.

MITCHELL Holy Glad Storage Container, Batman. It looks like a costume, and a bad one at that; it doesn’t move … though it moved me to tears … and it’s ugly. Note to Mitchell: Covering a hideous fabric in plastic doesn’t work, m’kay? This should have been sent home … or filled with leftovers and set in the back of a refrigerator.

SANDHYA You gotta give it to her on Originality, if for nothing else. It was edgy and colorful and modern and fun and she took her suit and turned that hideous fabric into a kind of cool patchwork fabric that looked modern and not Amanda Hippy Dippy Mess. I guess since she had immunity she was safe, but this wouldn’t have bothered me if it had gone Top Three.

EMILY I loved that she turned the plaid jacket into a skirt and pants. And all those pieces; pants and skirt, a blouse and a crop-top jacket; she should have taken Amanda’s place in the top with this edgy cool look.

TOP THREE

ALEXANDER

He’s a wreck this week after bottoming last week — though, if you ask me, and you didn’t, but I’ll tell you anyway, he enjoys bottoming under the right circumstances — and continually talks about “redemption.”

That sounds ominous to me, but when Tim stops by, even though Alexander is still worried, Tim seems to love the look. And I liked it better that first time, with the collar in white, than I did when it walked the runway and the collar was black on the outside.

WHAT THEY SAID

My model is working it. The skirt is moving [and] everything came together.

WHAT I SAID

It looked, to me, like he used more of the supplemental black fabric than he did of the white jacket and the black pants. It’s cute, but it’s too simple.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Heidi loved it, and called it stylish — I think Alexander may have fainted, while whispering the word “redemption” at this point but it was excised during editing. She loved the voluminous skirt and the nice simple crop top. Nina felt there was a nice balance between structure and flirtiness, and called it feminine but edgy. The Adorable Zac Posen™ said it was Alexander’s best work so far — and I think there was a second swoon at this point, too — but also said it was just ‘okay’. Guest judge, something called a "YouTube Sensation", Bethany Mota, called it elegant, classy and flirty, and she would wear it to a formal event … like the opening of an envelope.

WHAT HAPPENED

Alexander goes Number Three … and then he fainted.

KINI

Kini is a workhouse. I mean, he had a lot of work to do, cutting his pinstripe suit into strips, and making a structured skirt where all the seams and stripes lined up; and yet he finished with two hours to spare, where he had time to take a nap or run out to Red Robin for a “gourmet” burger.

Tim was amazed at how fast he works and how much he accomplished — while Alexander snarked that Kini’s dress was bland and had no design.

This from Crop-Top-Flirty-Skirt? Really?

WHAT THEY SAID

The dress looks gorgeous. I feel like I got out of that rut.

WHAT I SAID

I think “that rut” was designing for a more matronly woman, because this was cool and edgy and high fashion. I especially loved that the cut-outs weren’t “slut-outs.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Nina was almost speechless. She said, “Wow.” She said it looked extraordinary powerful, sexy; and she loved the tailoring. She said it was outstanding. The Adorable Zac Posen™ called it sharp suiting and polished, and he loved the use of neoprene to create the masculine shoulder detail; he called it runway ready. He also called it a winner. Beth Mota called it sharp, and she loved the cut-outs and the deep plunging neckline; she said he took a boring pinstripe suit and made it fierce. Heidi also loved it, and loved that Kini kept the pocket detail from the suit jacket as an embellishment to the back of the skirt.

WHAT HAPPENED

Standout. Spectacular. Stunning. A winner. But not on the POR last night; all that high praise gets you a Second Place finish because, apparently, this season Fringe Is King ….

AMANDA

Lordy, I am over her. I don’t get why she hasn’t been snacked when she acts like she’s the greatest thing ever. “Look at me! I took seventies ugly and made it amazing!” STFU already.

And seriously, all the whining over Sandhya choosing the floral print was ridiculous. Kristine got velour!!! Mitchell got a faux denim leisure suit!!! You got florals … build an effing bridge and get.over.it.

WHAT THEY SAID

This dress feels soooo me because it’s a little bohemian [and] a little graphic.

WHAT I SAID

And a lot of fringe, which you’ve done already in one challenge. To me, this was Ann-Margaret meets Stevie Nicks and it isn’t good, it’s sloppy.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Heidi wants it, so you know what that means. I don’t care what they say about the judges and the voting, when Heidi wants the dress, well, she gets her way. She called it, gulp, fantastic, and loved that Amanda tuned the fabric inside out; she loved the mixed patterns, the use of the white pants as a piping detail, and, why-y-y-y-y-y, the fringe. Beth Mota called it stunning and impressive and I called Beth Mota a moron. Just saying. Nina loved all of the fringe, the suit, the piping. Only The Adorable Zac Posen™ called it out for being not so imaginative, even though it worked.

WHAT HAPPENED

Fringe wins … again. And I imagine we’ll be seeing more fringe from Amanda. Oh … dear … god.

BOTTOM THREE

KRISTINE

Kristine gets a purplish-red velour suit and, for some reason, thinks biker jacket and organza. She’ll use leather details, and have open shoulders—because she got praise a few weeks back for cool sleeves, and if it ain’t broke, yet, don’t fix it.

But she’s struggling because the jacket is taking too long and she’ll hardly have time to make Jodhpur pants. I was truly hoping she’d run out of time because, well, jodhpurs, but she didn’t. She did, however, run out of fabric for the pants and so she added some organza cuffs—about twelve inches wide—to the bottom of purple velour jodhpurs.

That about says it all.

WHAT THEY SAID

I guess the Jodhpur pants don’t look that bad.

WHAT I SAID

Wrong! It’s a hot muddled mess, with everything thrown in on it. Sleeve details; leather trim, organza. Why, for the love of Coco Chanel, were all the other designers raving about it?

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

The Adorable Zac Posen™ said it wasn’t his favorite and worried that Kristine had no real point-of-view, which is design-speak for “talent”.  He called it boring britches, and tuned into Joan Crawford cleaning out Christina’s closet, about the organza-extensions of the pants: Why, Kristine? Why-y-y-y-y-y? He also aid he just could not look at another biker jacket. Beth Mota loved the shape—and I grow more bothered by YouTubers on the PR—but hated the organza cuff-things. Nina asked if the organza was intentional, and Kristine said it was because she ran out of fabric. Heidi asked why she didn’t make a skirt, and Kristine said she didn’t want to do a boring woman’s suit. Heidi said, with that sly German smirk, But that’s what you made … a boring suit. She said it had too many ideas, too much embellishment and was just too much. Nina did like … wait for it … the collar, but then she called the whole look ugly.

And, upon closer examination, The Adorable Zac Posen™ found that the hem of that jacket had been pinned and taped, rather than sewn. Uh oh.

WHAT HAPPENED

What other designers love, designer judges loathe. But Kristine was safe.

SEAN

Gosh, I find him adorable—and, apparently, so does The Adorable Zac Posen™ — but I’m beginning to worry about his taste and talent.

Sean was gifted with a corduroy suit—you read that right—and decided to use the lining of the suit, as well as the corduroy to make some kind of deconstructed, frayed edges dress. When Tim saw it, he was worried, and Sean said he could turn the deconstructed side to the inside and show the finished edges, but he thought it too boring.

Tim said, as he does, don’t bore the judges … especially Nina … so Sean left it as is, and it nearly cost him.

WHAT THEY SAID

I know my look is not the strongest but my model is working it.

WHAT I SAID

I liked it, sort of, but wished he’d chosen a pop of color for his supplemental fabric, because the whole thing is a tattered beige WTF.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

The Adorable Zac Posen™ appreciated the deconstruction, but said the look seemed kind of “orthopedic” or like peeling skin. Yuck. Thanks for that visual ZP. He also said the top, made from the supplemental fabric, was a bad choice. And Nina agreed, saying the top looked like the model had undergone breast augmentation surgery and was still wearing the bandages. And when she said it doesn’t look like deconstruction, Sean made the huge mistake of explaining deconstruction. That’s when Heidi snapped, “We understand. This isn’t our first day here.” Note to Sean: don’t act like the judges are dumb. Heidi continued on to say that the look was a shredded mess.

WHAT HAPPENED

Sean is safe, thankfully, and we get to hear his adorable accent for another week, though I fear he may be falling fast.

HERNAN

I’m gonna call Hernan by his favorite word: “Bitch.” He called everyone a bitch; Sandhya was a bitch because she purposely chose the bad brown-and-white tuxedo for him; he called the fabric a bitch because he couldn’t work with it; and he called Kini a bitch because Kini can design and sew and tailor … which is why they’re on this show.

At the critique, Tim just shook his head and made faces, because, for a supplemental fabric, Hernan bought vinyl—or as he called, and thank goddess for subtitles, “vineal”. Tim pointed out how stiff the vinyl acted because, guess what, it isn’t fabric and can’t be treated like fabric or expected to drape like fabric.

So, Hernan rethinks the vinyl, removing most of it, but leaving enough to make quite the [bad] impression.

WHAT THEY SAID

It look beautiful. It look much better than I expecting

WHAT I SAID

And now appearing in The Vagina Monologues, Hernan! Why the hell would you place a giant vinyl V over a woman’s vadge? WHY!!!!!!

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Hernan began complaining that his fabric was so old, that it simply fell apart while he was sewing it, and had he had a better fabric, in a better color, and more time, and more money and more time, he could have made something better.

Uh huh. Heidi said there were so many things wrong with the dress, starting with the V; it was tacky and costume-y and cheesy. Nina called it a Vagina Superhero costume—Vah-Jay-Jay Girl, who shoots lasers from, well, you get it—though she did like the way the back draped. Beth Mota called it unflattering, and said it looked like Pop Star Halloween—and I could see BritBrit or Miley rockin’ this look at an All Hallows Eve Hoe-down! The Adorable Zac Posen™ called out the fit issues and the bad seaming, and, looking at it up close, called out the lie that the fabric was deteriorating. Heidi then cut to the chase, “You didn’t like the suit material so you bought vinyl?”

WHAT HAPPENED

Pack your vinyl and go, Bitch.

MY TAKE

I was surprised Hernan didn’t go off on Sandhya after he was Auf’d. He saved his scorn for those bitches he calls judges because he’s much smarter than they are. Vinyl. Vinyl?

Kini was robbed. His look was better constructed, better designed, better presented than Amanda’s. But Heidi likes some fringe so …

I liked how Sandhya picked the suits for the other designers. I don’t think she was being scheming or playing a game — except maybe for her choice for Hernan — but that’s just wishful thinking.  I think she was thoughtful and thought about what each designer des and what fabric might be best; I mean, c’mon she chose neon purple and yellow for herself!

Line of the Night: Alexander on Mitchell's look: "It looks like he put the awful blue polyester suit that he was given and stuffed it into a Ziploc bag."

I am so over, and sooooo over, Amanda’s smug, aw shucks, who me, attitude. She reeks of fakery. I.Loathe.Her. And her fringe, too. I mean, the last time she won, she won with a fringed dress, so what does that say about her aesthetic and how easily the judges can be manipulated?

"YouTube Sensation" Bethany Mota? WTF?

What did YOU think?