PR 14, Ep 12: The One Where I Was Stunned At The End … Or Was I?

Final Four! Final Four! For a lotta folks that’s basketball, but to me it’s the PR finale coming ever so much closer. We’ve got one challenge left and it might be the one that separates the man from the women …

We start with a Red Carpet, and Heidi walking it while wearing something chic and clean and sophisticated — unlike that schmata she wore to the Emmys — and telling the designtestants that this, duh, is a Red Carpet Challenge. Then she brings out Tim Gun … with the tickets!

Oh wow! London? Paris? Milan? Um, Hollywood? Has the PR gone budget?  In recent years the designers have gone to Europe, but this season it’s out west where they must use Los Angeles as their inspiration for a Red Carpet Look.

And, so off they go, winging their way to Hollywood and a … Best Western?  Oh, so this is a Best Western … product placement … Challenge and the winner will receive 100 free nights at any Best Western around the world. So says Best Western's Managing Director of Marketing and Advertising, Tammy Lucas, who then disappears for the rest of the episode, and is replaced by Keltie Knight … who … a correspondent for “The Insider” who explains that the looks must have drama, color, and fit if they want to be Best Dressed rather than What Was She Thinking. Then she, too, vanishes.

The designtestants have $400 at LA Mood and a day-and-a-half in LA before heading back to New York and the runway so … let’s rip …

KELLY

She is hearkening back to the Hallmark Challenge where she made a bunch of triangles out of greeting cards and glued them onto muslin. Only this time it’s leather triangles sewn onto a fabric base and then covered with a sheer shiny overlay. I’m kinda feeling it because Kelly really thinks outside the box …

Tim, though, is unconvinced. He likes the textile, but wonders why Kelly is doing a gown since she is the anti-gown designer. She says she wanted to do a jumpsuit — and a tight one at that — but thought it wouldn’t seem Red Carpet. Tim suggests she go for it.

WHAT SHE SAID

Even though I came off two back-to-back wins, I am still shaking in my boots.

WHAT I SAID

I love the back, and I love how tight and sleek and fitted it is. It rocks.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Heidi said Kelly has continually surprised her … and in a good way. She thought it a great sophisticated take on a Red Carpet look — which Kelly said was Katy Perry at the VMAs — and ended with an “It is good.” 

Guest judge, fashion designer, and past PR winner, Christian Siriano, thought it was cool, though he didn’t love it as much as Heidi. He loved the detail of the textile — especially during the Up Close — and thought the fit was amazing. 

Zac loved the hologram effect of the textile Kelly made, and loved the fit; he said the look was very Kelly, but a new, improved, more refined Kelly. 

Nina loved it, and loved how Kelly has grown; she said she never pictured Kelly at the end of the competition, but she’s really proven herself. She loved the sophistication and the fit, and said it was the most editorial look — and Dior knows Nina loves her some editorial fashion.

CANDICE

At Mood she goes black — go figure; she also wants to do a tight dress that is open at the hips, with a low low back and a long long train — go figure. Luckily, she finds a great black sequined lace, and, with the help of Tim, who nixes cut-out hips and nixes gold trim and nixes a long train, Candice goes for a more sexy and sultry, and not as slutty, design.

WHAT SHE SAID

When the light hits her it just shines.

WHAT I SAID

It’s nothing really new, though I love the spider web looking back of the gown. It’s just a little safe.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Heidi loves it all, from sequins to sheer to sophistication; she does wish the dress hit the floor in the front, but she liked this new “quiet” Candice. 

Zac said it was safe, but has a great taste level; he did, however say that, from the back, it looked a little Nancy Kerrigan skating to an Elvira medley. 

Nina said it was beautiful, though it would never be Best Dressed, unless Angelina wore it; she, like Heidi, liked this new perspective from Candice. 

Christian said it looked Old Hollywood Vintage, but not dated; he also loved the sheer detail that ran under the arms from the bodice to the back, and thought it was very well constructed.

ASHLEY

Once again, she forgoes the pinks and lavenders and chooses a bronze-gold-beige sequin fabric that, when brushed in one direction, looks silver. It looks very cool, but kinda seems like a cheap trick to me.

During Tim’s visit, he worries that Ashley is over-thinking the look, and suggests she change her design from two different fabrics to the all-sequin look. She also shows him a second, safer look, and he tells her to trash it.

At the model fitting, the top is dangerously close to being Bare Breasted because we learn that there is a difference between the plastic boning Ashley bought and the metal boning Candice said she need; Ashley adds a strap to keep the dress PG-13.

WHAT SHE SAID

My construction is great, and the color is just perfect.

WHAT I SAID

Ashley’s model Aube [pronounced Oh-b] rocks that dress. It’s slinky and sexy and sultry as she is; She.Is.Fierce. I want to be her.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Christian likes it, and loves the matte shine of the sequins — which he says are not as dated and prom-like as others; he does call Ashley out on the fit issues, but said the dress hangs nice, and looks expensive. 

Nina called it restrained but glamorous, and said it had a 3D effect in that it would photograph well from any angle; she was a little perplexed by the strap because it didn’t seem to go anywhere. 

Zac loved the fabric for a runway, but not a Red Carpet. He didn’t like the way the fabric changed color when brushed up against, and said, “Gold is old.” 

Well, Heidi said gold wasn’t old, and loved the fabric, and loved Aube’s cleavage in the dress; she also said Aube rocked the runway.

THE ADORABLE EDMOND™

Mood must have been in West Hollywood because The Adorable Edmond™ found rainbow sequins and has decided to go color-r-r-r-r-r-r! Well, except he bought some other fabrics—also colors—and might make two dresses because he’s stuck. He cannot decide what to do with the Rainbow and is afraid to cut it because once he does, there’s no turning back. So, for The Adorable Edmond™, Day One was a day of creating a flowy bridesmaid looking dress and staring at Rainbow Sequins.

Tim kind of likes the flowy dress, but says it’s too safe and suggests The Adorable Edmond™ use the sequined fabric and create something new and sleek. So, The Adorable Edmond™ takes the scissors to the fabric and once he starts cutting he cannot stop; the dress goes from long to mullet to short to shorter to OMG is that her …? And then he takes the long sleeves and leaves them open at the seam like wings. I’m a’scurred.

WHAT HE SAID

I put a lot of pressure on myself knowing that this was the last challenge and I am feeling tense.

WHAT I SAID

Funny. I’m feeling RuPaul at West Hollywood Pride circa 1992.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Heidi likes the fabric because Heidi likes color, but says the silhouette is nothing new; she also detests the wings. 

Nina says The Adorable Edmond™ has been a front-runner all season long … until now; she’s very disappointed. She likes that he took a risk but thinks the fabric got the best of him. 

Christian liked the sequins, but says the look seems dated and cheap, though he admitted some girls would wear it; he also said he could have made that dress in 10 minutes. 

Zac said it had everything from leg to cleavage to sequins and called it, of course, Rainbow Brite; he said it was not fashion forward and would never be Best Dressed.

The judges ask the designers who deserves to go to The Tents and both Candice and Kelly think Ashley should sit this one out, while both The Adorable Edmond™ and Ashley think Candice needs to pack her boning and go.

The judges, however, like Candice and she’s in. Then they give Kelly her third win in a row and one hundred free Best Western Nights.

It boils down to Ashley and The Adorable Edmond™ … and the judges say that although The Adorable Edmond™ has been good all season, the idea of “One day you’re in, the next day you’re out,’ means that The Adorable Edmond™ should be Auf’d.

The Adorable Edmond™.Is.Auf’d. I.Am.Dying.

Okay, so The Adorable Edmond™ is Auf’d and goes backstage to tell the girls, and we’re waiting for Tim to come in and tell him how good he is, but that he needs to clean up his station and go … or will Tim use the Save? Since the episode ended before Tim came in, I’m guessing that The Adorable Edmond™ will be saved and there will be a Four Designer Tent finale.

How.Surprising. I mean, it’s been clear all season that The Adorable Edmond™ would show at the finale so I’m gonna be shocked … and very angry … if he doesn’t get saved next week.

Kelly was the Dark Horse Long Shot all season long but she really has proven herself. Plus, when she teared up talking about going to The Tents, I got a little misty, too.

Candice is right; her show will be incredible. But I worry it will be all Morticia Addams and I’m hoping she tries to shake things up.

Ashley says she’ll do a plus-sized runaway show and I hope she does, and I hope it’s fabulous, because fashion could use that.

Aube. I am loving her. She's giving me severe Naomi Campbell and I've yet to hear that she's had anyone beaten or killed. She is fabulous.

Lastly, has anyone else noticed how much Zac Posen talks during the Up Close? I mean, he’s like that little kid who cannot stop talking and is constantly looking for a grown-up’s approval … in his case, Tim Gunn.

What did YOU think?