PR 13 Ep 6: It Ought To Be A Shotgun Weddding

This episode opened with a WTF is happening moment as Amanda and Korina sit in their apartment in silence. We learn that, at some point, though it’s oddly not caught on camera, that Korina called Amanda a ‘phony.’ It was strange that we saw the aftermath of the call-out but not the actual call-out itself; makes me think the producers are trying to create some drama, even though Korina has been kind of nasty to other designtestants. Doe she hate Amanda because it’s her second time on the PR, or because Amanda’s won a couple of challenges while Korina usually languishes in the safe to bottom zone?

That’s all forgotten, for now, as the designtestants are taken to Webster Hall for what appears to be some kind of wedding. Enter Tim Gunn with Dita Von Teese, fabulous style icon, burlesque performer and lingerie designer to introduce the challenge: Create an alternative wedding dress and a dress for the reception on a budget of $00 for both looks and one day to do it. 

There are no rules to the challenge, but there is a twist: teams. Oy. Show of hands for those of you who knew instantly that Korina and Amanda would be paired together? Yeah, now that “forced drama” from earlier makes sense, I guess.

Let’s rip …

THE SAFES

KORINA and AMANDA

Even with all the “drama” about a riff between them, they basically worked well together, though Korina worked so long on the jacket that Amanda had to make the pants and make them too tight. Now, I am not a seamstress or fashion designer — though, apparently, I play one on this blog — but even I’ve heard of the designer’s using seam allowances to make sure their looks fit. You’d think that after being on two seasons of the PR, and creating a look for a model she’s never designed for, Amanda would have known that, too. She doesn’t … or it was an attempt to get Korina Auf’d should they land in the Bottom?

As for the clothes? Korina’s suit was awful. The lapels drooped and sagged and while the jacket bore more than a passing glance as a maternity coat, the pants were shiny and tight; never good.

Amanda said she was super happy with her super cute dress and I thought it was cute, minus the super. It was beige, not in color, but in feeling; neither here nor there.

THE TOPS

SEAN and KINI

These two seemed to have an affinity for what they wanted to design almost from the get-go and there was no stopping them; there’s never stopping Kini because he sews like a madman, so much sew, er, so, that he finished Sean’s top while Sean got stuck laboring the pants; a sticking point for later on. Their looks, they said, were for a lesbian wedding; a chic, not so plaid, lesbian wedding.

WHAT THEY SAID

Kini: The volume of the ruffle looks perfect to me. The structure of her jacket fits her perfect.

Sean: The top flows and floats behind her beautifully and the pants are sharp, crisp, well-finished and expensive looking.

WHAT I SAID

Kini’s is a wow; it looks chic, urban, upscale bridal, while Sean’s is urban party, tastefully done. It was clear from almost the start of the show that these two would win.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

The Adorable Zac Posen™ called Sean and Kini the ‘Dream Team’ and said their work was the best of the best. While he loved Kini’s look, and the skill and speed with which Kini works, he went with Sean’s for the win.

Nina loved their play on masculine and feminine and called Sean’s look effortless; she loved the fluidity of the top and Nina loves a Tuxedo pant, y’all.  She did think that the flounce on Kini’s — she called it an appendage — looked a little too flamenco for her, though. She was definitely Team Sean.

Heidi loved Kini’s flounce — she was Team Kini all the way — and loved that it was clear that both looks were for the same girl; she called their designs impeccable.

Dita Von Teese said she would wear both; Kini’s out-and-about and Sean’s on any Tuesday.

Fellow guest judge, Italian style blogger Chiara Ferragni, called the looks timeless and chic, but she came down on Team Sean as well.

WHAT HAPPENED

Sean gets his second win and Kini gets the Sour Apple Award, complaining that he made his look, and made Sean’s top, while Sean only made the pant; more on that in MY TAKE.

THE UPPER MIDDLES

EMILY and FADE 

They, too, got along well, and, after urging from Emily, opted to go Goth in their alternative wedding universe. Emily does the gown—in lace and black, with cutouts, over a peach color fabric; peach? That doesn’t read Goth to me. But she did a lace hood which was cool and long lace sleeves as well.

Fade took on the reception dress and began creating his own fabric with the lace and some paint, a few paper clips, some wire and bits of hair that Korina pulled out of her head while she struggled with her jacket.

WHAT THEY SAID

Emily: I feel like my dress, in relation to the others, is a lot darker … but more artistic.

Fade: If you get a close-up look, you go, ‘Oh, it’s actually cotton and lace and painting.

WHAT I SAID

I loved Emily’s hood, and the reveal; very cool. I hated the skirt because that does not read Goth at all. Fade’s look was beautiful and cool, but is not at all Goth and so the two looks don’t work well together.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

The Adorable Zac Posen™, on Emily saying her model had finally met the man of her dreams, muttered, “You mean the corpse of her dreams.” He then says not even Elvira would wear that look.

Dita, who had her own Goth wedding, said Elvira keeps it simple and chic. And then she called Emily’s attempt at Goth a ‘parody’ and a ‘cliché’ ; she actually said it made her want to laugh, and she pointed out that, not only would these two looks not be worn by the same girl these two girls wouldn’t hang out together at a wedding.

Chiara doesn’t mind the long dress — says it might photograph well — but doesn’t see any cohesion between the two looks.

Heidi, though, liked the wedding look, though the Goth look was too funereal for her, and she loved the draping of the top; she did say that Fade’s look missed the sexy by an inch or so in the neckline.

Nina loved Fade’s textile, and called it beautiful, but hated the too-long sleeves on Emily’s dress, calling them overpowering; she did like the lace hood, though.

WHAT HAPPENED

They weren’t bad, but they weren’t good either. So, we’ll called them Upper Middle, and Safe.

THE LOWER MIDDLES

ALEXANDER and SAMANTHA 

It all went downhill at Mood with the choice of Oxblood lace; I mean, does oxblood sound like a good color on a wedding dress? On any dress?

When Tim stopped by he pointed out that the two dresses were actually quite similar and it was hard to say which was wedding and which was party. So, Samantha added oxblood colored feathers to hers and Alexander tacked grayish white appliqués to his.

WHAT THEY SAID

Alexander: I love the look. It’s something completely different from what I’ve done. I was concerned it might be top heavy, but it didn’t read that way at all.

Samantha: She looks good. The color is great. There’s nothing I see that I would want to change.

WHAT I SAID

There’s was an old movie, called Fantastic Voyage, in which a submarine filled with doctors was shrunk down to blood-cell size and injected into the body of a man who needed some kind of brain surgery. One of the doctors — Raquel Welch ... go figure — was “scuba diving” in the arteries when her body was mistaken for some alien form and attacked by the man’s immune system. These things attached themselves to her scuba suit to try and neutralize the threat.

That’s what Alexander’s dress looked like to me.

Samantha’s dress was cute but nothing much; even the feathers couldn’t help it. Feathered Blah.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Nina said the only thing missing from these looks was rhinestones since Alexander and Samantha seemed to throw everything else on them.  She called them #ThrowbackThursday, the 80s are back, which can never be a good thing. Then she actually said the word “Ugh” and called them overwhelming, though she said Samantha’s was a little better.

Heidi hated the bulkiness of Alexander’s appliqués, saying it looked like one dress worn over another; she did, however, like the lace, though she called the look cheesy. She gave slight praise to Samantha’s bird look.

The Adorable Zac Posen™ pointed out the organic quality of the looks, and then the giant seam in Alexander’s skirt. His one compliment? The looks do seem like they come from the same world and are for the same girl. He then called them cheap—ow—and pointed out the badly done ombré effect on Samantha’s dress that look like A] spilled red wine or B] the girl walked into the pool. Ow. Again.

Chiara hated Samantha’s look; it was short and transparent and tight, while Dita hated Alexander’s use of white appliqués and red lace, and called Samantha’s something she’d already seen at a rock-and-roll wedding.

WHAT HAPPENED

There are worse things on the runway so Alexander and Samantha live to die another day.

THE VERY BOTTOMS

SANDHYA and CHAR 

Their problems started just before Mood, when, while designing their looks, Sandhya said she wanted to go bright yellow and Char, who hated the idea, kind of let that battle go.

Big mistake. Huge.  When  Tim checked in he called them out on the color, saying you could go bold yellow but then the looks have to be impeccably crafted; yeah that ship has already sailed when Char couldn’t work her leather into a top that didn’t look like torpedo breasts.

Torpedoed. That’s what happened to them. Self-torpedoed.

WHAT THEY SAID

Sandhya: I can see it’s a little unfinished. My draping is not one of my strengths.

Char: I didn’t get a chance to finish my look.

WHAT I SAID

Sandhya’s top was interesting. That’s all. The rest was a thruway. Please. Throw it away.

Char’s dress looked like leftover pieces of fabric discovered in a dumpster behind Parson’s that were tacked onto a badly made leather bodice, with a peek-a-boo ass show out back.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Heidi calls it a shocker and an epic fail. Heidi agrees and goes on to call out the haphazard way the skirts on both looks were constructed. Char’s top was crooked, and Sandhya’s skirt looked like a bed sheet. On closer inspection, Heidi spotted the badly sewn, stapled, glued, pinned, tacked, tacky backside of Char’s skirt

The Adorable Zac Posen™ calls it Big Bird and Tweety Bird. He added that there were too many ideas and settled on both looks being a “toilet paper accident.” He also pointed out the dress under Sandhya’s bed sheet skirt that was so badly made that Dita said it looked like something a fiend would make at a Wild Party Craft Table.

Nina echoed Tim’s sentiment that better made looks, and perhaps simpler looks, would have been fine in that loud yellow fabric.

Dita thinks the girl looks like "a lemon heiress," which was a fabulous line, and may have worked had either look been worn with a lemon shaped headpiece.

Chiara didn’t hate the color — if you wore them to a wedding in a field somewhere … like a scarecrow wedding? But she agreed that both dresses were a mess.

WHAT HAPPENED

Sandhya, I guessed based on her two wins, is safe, and Char, based on never winning at all, is Auf’d.

Tim said that if it was later in the season, he would have used his Tim Gunn Save on Char. Char seemed pleased, but I thought it sounded like I would have saved you but your look is crap and had it been a few weeks down the road and you made blah blah blah.

MY TAKE

Best Line of the Night: Alexander, on Sandhya’s look: Sandhya’s dress looks like a corn cob…after you eat the corn.

I loathe Amanda, but she seems to be getting The Hate from the other designtestants. First, Korina ALLEGEDLY — since we didn’t see it — called her a phony, and then we learned that Char told Amanda to her face that she shouldn’t have been allowed back in the PR. Ouch.  

All that Kini nonsense about how he should have won because he helped Sean by making the top: let me make this perfectly queer, Kini: you sewed Sean’s design. You didn’t design it, you sewed it together. It’s like if Zac Posen had made a gown and everyone called it beautiful and then a seamstress stepped forward and claimed credit because she ran it through the Singer. Sean won for his design; you don’t win for sewing, or sewing fast.

That said, I think Kini will be in it for a while because he is very talented. He just needs to ratchet down the Pity party because no one’s coming.

Sandhya dodged a bullet because, when I saw that dress under her dress and how ridiculous it looked I thought she would be dragged from the runway and thrown onto 7th Avenue. Still, she’ll go soon. I think.

Sean and Kini seem destined to show at The Tents. Who else? Fade? Perhaps. Amanda? The editing seems to suggest it, but I hope it doesn’t turn out like Wretched Gretchen’s season and Amanda wins.

What did YOU think?