PR15 Eps 8 & 9: It's a Two-fer!

PR15 Ep 8: Pop Up Goes The Weasels

Okay, a quick recap since I was outta town last week ... in another Team Challenge the designtestants will have one day and $600 to create a cohesive three look Fall Collection inspired by a color palette: Red, Blue, and Neutral. Their designs will be modeled in a pop-up window display where the public will vote on which looks they like best; the mini-collection with the most votes gets a 20% boost to their overall judging.

TEAM NEUTRAL

Jenni, Nathalia, Mah-Jing

Mah-Jing once again worries that he’s paired with friends who will drive a bus over him if they lose, but, luckily, the public gives them the most votes.

Sadly, just like Hillary Clinton, the popular vote doesn’t matter and the Electoral Fashion College of Heidi, Zac, Nina and guest judge Kelly Osbourne declare the Blue Team the victors.

TEAM RED

Dexter, Erin, Cornelius

Trainwreck! Chip’n’Dale, er’ Erin’n’Dexter love each so much that they refuse to listen to Cornelius who suggests they avoid an all-red color palette.

Well, that is until Tim comes in and suggests they avoid an all-red color palette which is too late because, yes, all they bought was red. Tim then suggests they break up their looks and Cornelius suggests moving his plaid skirt—paired with a plaid jacket—to yet another one of Erin’s coats. But, since Erin never made a skirt for her look, Cornelius scrambles to create a new skirt for his design while Erin’n’Dexter yuck it up on a couch somewhere.

The judges don’t exactly hate their collection, but they hate the all-red from hair to clothes to socks—all Dexter’s ideas. And when the time comes to decide which loser will go home, Erin’n’Dexter naturally hurl Cornelius under the bus, even though his ideas would have saved them and had he not given Erin his skirt her model would have been waist-down-nekkid.

TEAM BLUE

Roberi, Rik, Laurence

I kinda knew this would be the winning team ... oops, Spoiler Alert ... because these three are the most calm, the least drama, in the entire room. But Tim was less sure when he came by; he worried there was going to be over-designed looks in blue and wasn’t happy about that.

The judges were very sure, however, that the Blue Team was the winner, though they disagreed on who would take the top spot. The Blue Team made pieces that could be interchangeable with any of the other looks—smart—and they didn’t go just blue, but blue patterns and fabrics, with blacks and whites thrown in for a difference.

Well, as expected, Cornelius was sent packing; I wasn’t happy about that because of the Mean Girl Team of ChipErin’n’DaleDexter.

On the blue side, it came down to Roberi and Rik, and, well, Roberi pulled it off.

In the backstage room, Cornelius and Dexter traded barbs about Dexter being a bitch and it looked to get ugly until Mah-Jing literally sat between the two; but the ugliness may rise again, because Tim came in and said it was unfair to send Cornelius home when he worked so hard and did so much for his team, and the Tim Gunn Save was employed, giving us Cornelius for at least one more week.

Gregory Patterson, who gave the designers the challenge alongside Tim, is just so freaking cute I cannot stand it. Just sayin’.

I’m glad Tim saved Cornelius—even though I don’t really care much for him or his designs—because no one should be the workhorse for two divas, doing a great deal of their work while they eat bon-bons and chat, and then be Auf’d because the Mean Girls are besties.

Erin and Dexter are slowly losing their appeal and their talent to get to The Tents. Rik is in it, and Roberi’s moving up. Laurence needs to stop with the leather jackets every single week, no matter how good they look, or she’ll be in the audience at The Tents. As for Nathalia, Mah-Jing and Jenni? Well, thanks for playing ....

What did YOU think?

PR15, Ep 9: Second Chances

Okay, this is the week of the tears, both in the workroom and on the runway and it’s clear that Mah-Jing is the Biggest Crier in PR History!

But I’m getting ahead of myself ... Tim and Barbara Shipley, Senior Vice President of Brand Integration at AARP, tell the designtestants that this challenge is about women facing changes in their lives and then surprise the designers by bringing their loved ones into the room where the tears flow ... though from Mah-Jing they flood.

The challenge this week will be to take $250 and two days to create new looks for their loved ones’ next chapter. Plus .... big plus ... huge ... the winning designer wins $25,000 from AARP and the winning designer’s loved one also gets twenty-five G’s.

So, the designtestants and their friends and family client share a lunch and talk ideas and designs, and then it’s off to Mood for fabrics and back to the workroom ....

Let’s rip ...

THE SAFES

left to right

CORNELIUS uses a  rope print and yellow leather insets to make a very cool modern suit for his mother. It’s classy, but edgy and fun and modern.

DEXTER creates a knit dress with boning in it and balloon sleeves for his best friend, and then, as Tim called it, Dexterizes the look with buttons and studs. It’s oddly shaped and top heavy.

LAURENCE is reunited with her very tall daughter and makes a leather jacket, top and skirt ... it’s a well-made yawn and nothing new.

THE BOTTOMS

JENNI 

She has issues because her mother has several ideas, all very different, and then suggests Jenni do whatever she wants.

Cue ominous drumming. Jenni goes sporty with a dark gray sweater with her added popcorn details, worn over a too-short white shirt and atop a pair of green and white abstract pants.

Um, Jenni, wasn’t it just a couple of weeks ago you lamented about Brik’s bad fabric choices and mixing of patterns? It was and when Tim worried about Brik’s choices, he did the same this week with Jenni calling the whole look confusing. And soon to be ill-fitting because Jenni moans that her dress form isn’t the same size as her mother and so she cannot check the size of the pants and they turn out too big and ... and ... and ...

Cue ominous drumming.

WHAT SHE SAID

This look is embodying what I wanted to create for her.

WHAT I SAID

If you wanted her to look short and dumpy ... success!

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Heidi called it the worst; she called it sloppy; she said it lacked sophistication; she threw her shoe at Jenni. Zac called the shirt frumpy and said the look wasn’t at all powerful. Nina said there was no seriousness and that it looked like clothes for a young girl. Guest Judge Katia Beauchamp said that while there was some interest to it, the fit was awful.

ERIN 

This one talks a great game; she tells a great story but the design doesn’t really match up. She used the idea of a caterpillar metamorphosing into a butterfly for creating another voluminous jacket in a puke gray color, worn over yet another lace dress with a light blue fabric backing.

Tim is no fan of the blue or the lace, but tells Erin outright that the jacket is very close to many things she’s done this season. But Erin doesn’t listen because Erin knows it all. Soon she may have to know how to get to the airport and go home, I think ... in a giant coat.

WHAT SHE SAID

I think she looks really amazing.

WHAT I SAID

Another bulky coat with patch pockets and another lace dress, though this time they are both awful.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Nina said the coat was too minimal and the dress was too girly—mismatch! She added that none of it worked and there were too many messages. Zac said it more cleanly: it was a winter coat worn over a summer dress. Heidi liked the blue, but not the coat or the lace; she said the look didn’t suit Erin’s mother. Fashion expert—is that a real thing?—Olivia Culpo noted the bad hem on the dress and the bad sewing in the lace to the dress; she said the proportions were bad and the story doesn’t work.

NATHALIA 

She wants to create a traveling outfit for her mother; separates, including a big coat—seriously, it’s the Year of the Big Coat—worn over a blousy top and wide legged pants.

That’s a whole lotta fabric, Nat! Tim worries the leather is too hard and that the jacket will have to be perfect to work. Sadly, Nathalia doesn’t listen to him either and when she tries on the jacket, it’s enormous on her, and will be huge on Mom.

In an effort to fix the flaws Nathalia runs out of time and sticks pins in the hem ... and perhaps pins into the voodoo doll of her career as a designer.

WHAT SHE SAID

The jacket looks oversized ... I’m nervous.

WHAT I SAID

It looks like her mother has recently lost two-hundred pounds but is still wearing her old clothes.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Nina said it was a good idea filled with bad proportions and too much fabric; plus the tailoring was awful. Zac called out some of the pins—Nathalia said they were left by mistake... liar liar—while Olivia Culpo said it was too billowy on top, too wide on the bottom and hidden by a too big coat. Katia Beauchamp said it was unacceptable not to have a finished look, while Heidi noticed even more pins in the look; she said the look swallowed Nathalia’s mother and was too hard and looked very cheap.

THE TOPS

RIK 

Rik wants to make a suit for his mother who is in school to get her Bachelor’s Degree, so he goes for a simple black dress that he embellishes with a heart—which could have been too cutesy—and seam lines reminiscent of a Mariachi outfit; he also made a modern take on a checkered black-and-white jacket with red accents.

Rik is pleased; Mom is pleased; Tim is very pleased. Rik, and yes I’m saying it again, is just adorable and so sweet about his mother; he even says if they win he’ll give her his $25,000 for all she’s done to help him with his career.

WHAT HE SAID

She’s full of energy ... working that runway!

WHAT I SAID

I like the little details—even the heart—but it does seem kind of simple.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Olivia loves the heart and the coat, while Nina called it great work, and loved the proportions and the fact that it was perfect and dignified for Rik’s mother,. Zac loved the modern edgy coat and the treatment of the red details in that coat, while Katia called it classy and smart. Heidi finished it off by saying it was a real designer dress and looked very expensive.

ROBERI

His client is his best friend, who is a graphic designer living in Panama, and he wants to create a very graphic dress for her. He is also mixing patterns, though doing a much better job than some others ::: cough cough ::: Jenni.

Tim does worry that it might be a tad overdesigned, but Roberi has a vision and, again, unlike Jenni and Erin, he listened to Mr. Gunn.

WHAT HE SAID

I love my look ... it’s magical.

WHAT I SAID

At first glance it seemed a bit big and odd, but I loved his use of the pink piping and the color of the skirt.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Olivia loved it and called it sweet and perfectly fitted to the client. Zac loved the mix of textiles and the colors that pop and the pink piping, while Katia called Roberi very talented and a great designer. Heidi called it a perfect dress and loved all the details while Nina loved the neckline and the sophisticated silhouette.

MAH-JING 

He will be designing for his mother, whom he apparently does not see all that often; but she’s a hip-hop DJ ready to start her own music label so he wants to create, and cry, a kind of warrior kimono outfit for her.

Tim loves the idea and Mah-Jing’s mother, but worries that it might be too much work even for two days.

WHAT HE SAID

It’s strong ... it’s confident.

WHAT I SAID

I’m guessing that mom was trying a mood for the look because she seems angry and defiant and tough and powerful, just like the look.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Nina called the look badass, a wow, and powerful, while Heidi dubbed it cool and confident. Katia said the whole look was on point and Zac also noted the forcefulness and the power of the piece, saying it was high fashion. Olivia noted that Mah-Jing’s mother had swag ... but I think she’d have swag in a housecoat and slippers.

It seemed for a moment the judges were gonna swing toward Roberi, but in the end Rik ... so adorable ... got the $25,000 ... and mama did, too.

As for the Aufee, it boiled down to Jenni’s horrid looking sportswear mess and Nathalia’s gigantic travel balloon of a dress. And, as we learned a couple of weeks back, the bad mixing of patterns is the ticket home.

Goodbye Jenni.

A fashion and beauty expert is a judge? What exactly are the credentials involved to be that expert, Olivia Culpo? And, well, it was an outright plug to Lifetime’s new show, Project Runway: Fashion Startup, to have another of their judges, Katia Beauchamp.

I again loved Tim telling Cornelius, and the workroom, that he was saved because someone else should have gone home ... DextErin? Tim's funny!

And Mah-Jing; I have never seen a straight man cry so much! Happy? Tears! Sad? Tears! Angry? Tears! Hungry? Tears and a sammich.

I am so over Dexter and Erin’s attitudes that they are all that. Erin has now been in the bottom more than she’s been in the top and yet she still thinks she’s the Madonna of the workroom; bitch please, even Madonna is over. And Dexter? No, gurl, you are not so Zen and happy; you play nasty and mean and you are less in the top than you are in the middle. You both best be careful or no Tents for you! Or Laurence because, yes, leather jacket. God, if this was only Project Runway: Leather jacket ....

Rik will be at The Tents and possibly Roberi. Mah-Jing stepped it up, but it may be a one week thing. Nathalia seems next to go, unless her BFF Cornelius beats her to the door. So, yeah, The Tents, Rik, Roberi, Erin and/or Dexter; two great designers and two Mean Girls with bigger heads than designs.

What did YOU think?