PR 15 Ep 3: Some Looks Are Better In No Light

It’s a Flashdance Flashback this week because, as the show opens, we find Heidi and Tim backstage by a biiiiiig switch; and when that switch is pulled the designtestants, waiting by the runway, are plunged into a Disco Black Light Nightmare, with Heidi and Tim like glow-in-the-dark live sized dolls!

Heidi and Tim dance onto the runway and give this week’s challenge — which is oddly inspired by … cue heavy product placement … Transitions Optical lenses—to create a daylight to blacklight look that will transform on the runway. And the winner gets the added perk of appearing with their design in an exclusive spread in Marie Claire.

There is one day and just two hundred bucks for this challenge so let’s rip …

THE SAFES

ALEX — left

It’s pretty but, like others, missed the mark; under the blacklight the dress didn’t transform, it was just the same dress in a different color.

BRIK — right

It’s a simple dress, kinda abstract structured, but since he kept the blacklight color to just blue, it looked like the dressed was glowing from within; Carlos said it looked like an ice cube, and he meant that in a good way!

DEXTER — left

Generally, I like a fringe, but in day light it’s kind of like Missus Clean at the Rodeo; under the black light it was better but nothing transformative.

LAURENCE — right

I don’t get the look at all … hot pants? Scorchingly hot, short, pants! And the blacklight just made it a different color.

NATHALIA — left

Again, there is no transformation other than the color; it’s like the same dress in a different fabric choice.

ROBERI — right

This was my favorite of all; it looked like a fun cocktail dress, perfect for dancing, in the daylight, but under the blacklight it looked like the feathers of a rare bird. Very cool.

SARAH — left

All I get is ‘maid’ in the first look, and ‘maid who spilled bleach on a blue skirt’ in the second.

TASHA — right

Meh; this could have gone into the bottom and I would have been fine; it’s nothing.

THE TOPS

CORNELIUS

Cornelius is making a plain white dress and plans to do some color-blocking with the blacklight dyes. Tim is not having it, and tells corny to take it up a notch.

So, he scraps the color-blocking and then decides to tape out some emojis on the dress and then pain over them; emojis … I can’t with that. But he creates a simple, calf-length medicinal looking dress with a cowl to hold the glasses — being an eyewear challenge, and I still don’t get the tie-in, all the models wore specs.

WHAT HE SAID

The blacklight transformation pops!

WHAT I SAID

I don’t like it; the transformation is good, but it’s childish graffiti on what was a stylish dress.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Heidi loved the bright colors under the blacklight, calling it magic. Nina loved “the element of surprise” and the cowl glasses holder. The Adorable Zac Posen™ liked the use of the emojis, though he pointed out the bad construction at the puckered vaginal area—oddly revealing a happy face under the black light. Guest judge, actress and designer, Jamie King, thought the paint gave the look dimension but also loved the starkness of the daylight look.

JENNI

Jenni had the make it work moment of the night, and maybe of all time, as she created about four utterly different looks and then still came out in the Top Three.

Tim loathed her ‘grandma’ fabric choices, so Jenni tried again, but she hated that look and so she gave it another shot; no good either. Finally, she decided she liked the clear plastic sofa cover she bought so she made a coat and skirt and then handpainted flowers in the ultraviolet paints. The clear coats and skirt seem to vanish under the blacklight leaving nothing but flowers.

WHAT SHE SAID

The look is really strong.

WHAT I SAID

I don’t like the swimsuit-ish thing underneath, but the coat and skirt are amazing.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Heidi liked the look head-to-toe and was amazed by the handpainting. Jamie King loved the delicate flowers—even the one peeling off gave it texture, she said—and thought they were placed perfectly. Nina liked the transparent material that allowed the piping, collar, cuffs and flowers to be the standout pieces. The Adorable Zac Posen™ called it fresh Blade Runner and loved the play with dimension.

ERIN

Erin has ideas, and she rarely strays from them; that can be good, and so far it has been, but it can also be bad if you don’t ever consider changing. She wants to create a baby-doll dress that will go from Daylight Sweet to Blacklight Slutty in a baby blue fabric that she decorates with some handmade beads.

It is sweet, and it is slutty, as the blacklight reveal a bra and nipple pads under the dress; Erin is apparently, a lover of The Nipple.

WHAT SHE SAID

It goes from innocent to raver vibe.

WHAT I SAID

I like that she didn’t go neon in her ultraviolet choices, and this girl can do a lot of work — that beading is so cool — in a short time.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Heidi calls it fashion forward and loves the fabrics Erin used to create her own textile. Nina called it demure and sexy and loved that, under the blacklight, it looked like a jellyfish. The Adorable Zac Posen™ called it sophisticated and said Erin’s work rivals many famous designers. Jamie King called it stunning and elegant from top to bottom.

THE BOTTOMS

RIK

Rik used to be a raver and so he thinks he has this … uh oh. Then he makes a corset — a warrior look as Tim called it — out of silver holographic material and neon yellow cording.

It’s the skirt that goes haywire, because it, too, is laced up and so the model’s ass is on display — Heidi is not a fan of asses out … boobs, yes, butts, no—and it just doesn’t mesh with the structured top.

WHAT HE SAID

I think I definitely have a standout piece.

WHAT I SAID

It’s like a blacklight hoochie in a red-light district; plus it doesn’t really transform too much.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

“Am I seeing cheeks?” Heidi asks; yes, Heidi. And so she dubs it cheeky and tacky; a hoochie mama in a bad music video in daylight and a Christmas tree in blacklight. Nina wonders about Rik’s taste level and says it’s a lap dance dress.  The Adorable Zac Posen™ loved the top but says the bottom is nothing but problems, from fit to ass cheeks. Jamie King is literally incensed by the bows, telling Rik he cannot do that to a woman; is she a bow-ophobe?

MAH-JING

After Alex wishes Mah-Jing a Happy Father’s Day, Mah-Jing gets the phone home and the ugly, ridiculously long, cry. I begin to think the cry will send him home, but, nope, it’s the dress that does him in.

He tells Tim he’s creating a wedding dress for his fiancé — at which point Nathalia freaks out because the groom isn’t supposed to see the dress before the wedding … settle, grrrrl—and Tim hates it; it’s not well-made and Tim wants it scrapped.

Mah-Jing starts a new “sexy” look and then throws a metallic rope around the color and starts splattering it with ultraviolet paints; he thought he was only using dyes that are clear in daylight but light up in blacklight, but, sadly, he isn’t, and the dress is ruined by pink stripes and splotches. He tries to fix it … by adding more! It’s bad, y’all.

WHAT HE SAID

I feel as if my look is strong in blacklight but dull in daylight.

WHAT I SAID

My first thought: don’t let Dateline NBC blacklight this look, streaked with the DNA of a thousand guests.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Nina says the daylight look is fine, but the blacklight dress is a crime scene; Heidi, like me, because dirty minds think alike, instantly thought of dirty motel sheets. The Adorable Zac Posen™ called it a forensic disaster. No one likes it … no one!

KIMBER

Kimber picks a floral print — though she never uses prints — and then makes 75% of the dress out of white because, she believes it will pop.

Tim almost popped her in the head; the white is too much, and the two different floral prints she picked don’t work together; Tim calls the look ugly … he was being kind, in my book.

In addition, the floral print doesn’t do much under the blacklight so Kimber tries to paint it, but the paint seeps into the fabric and virtually disappears. That’s an omen if I ever saw one.

Also, she makes one of the simplest dresses ever on the PR: an asymmetrical A-line, raggedy hemmed thing. That’s an omen, too.

WHAT SHE SAID

Thank God I changed the dress.

WHAT I SAID

It’s nothing … it doesn’t change. The only change I saw was when Nina’s face went from disinterested into full sneer.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

The Adorable Zac Posen™ called it wearable and cute but was sad that it didn’t transform. Heidi was bored by the look and Nina said the last thing she needed to see was another A-line dress; then she threw her drink in Kimber’s face and stormed out … in my mind at least. Jamie King liked that Kimber liked the dress but told her she needed to step out of her comfort zone a bit.

I thought for sure Mah-Jing would go home because what looks like a cum-stained dress should never be seen on the PR without killing the designer immediately after.

Still, Nina’s rage fueled the fire and Kimber, doing something boring, is sent packing.

As if there was any doubt, Erin gets the top spot, for the second time in three weeks.

Roberi’s look should have been in the top; daylight it was cool, blacklight it was stunning. That was a miss by the judges who chose Cornelius’s look to be in the top.

I mean, emojis? Current? Yeah, they’re current and fun and new but in about six months they’ll be out, with this dress leading the way.

Favorite quote #1 from Nathalia:

“Tim is literally opening my eyes to this whole new world of…sophistication.”

Honey, you can’t learn it; you either have it or, well, you don’t.

Favorite quote #2 from Tim:

“I’m not a nipple guy.”

We knew that, but still it was fun to hear him say it.

Cornelius, backstage, dogging Erin’s look because he thinks his spraypainted, taped off, doctor’s disco dress should have won. I cannot wait for the hens to come flying at him.

Erin seems like a shoo-in for The Tents, while not one of the others stand out yet; maybe Dexter is he steps up his game, and maybe Laurence.

Brik? Gosh he’s just so sweet and nice and really works that hair, but is he a designer? I’m not sure. Mah-Jing seems headed for a breakdown, while Tasha gets a Meh, and Sarah gets a Meh, and Alex gets an Okay … a skosh above Meh.

Rik; he’s just so adorable in his little onesie! I wanted to put him on a high shelf with the rest of my dolls.

What did YOU think?