PR 16 Ep 13: The Final Five, Four, Three ... Four?

We’re down to the wire on this season of the PR and the Final Five designtestants—Brandon, Kenya, Kentaro, Ayana and Margarita—have only a few minutes, and $10,000, to create a 10-look collection for New York Fashion Week.

After final instructions from Tim and Heidi—only three … or more … will go to Fashion Week—they each dash to their corners of the globe and design. Meanwhile, Tim gets his frequent flier miles in gear and heads out to visit each one, and critique each one, and then it’s back to New York for the designers and one last runway show, where they will show two looks from their collection and the Top Three … or Four … will get to the Finale.

Let’s rip …

KENYA

Tim finds Kenya at her space in Atlanta and she, as usual, is blocked and worried and, well, kinda glum. She calls her collection a “Summertime Dream” and based on ocean, sand and sun, but all I get is pale flesh tones of someone who slathers on SPF 186. And Tim is also less than pleased, and calls her color palette a snoozefest. He suggests she add some saturated colors, like a merlot or a navy to liven things up and Kenya seems like she’s got it.

As she returns to New York, and another critique from Tim, she’s once more in the dumps. I don’t see a lot of those saturated colors he spoke of, but I do see a black dress Tim calls matronly in a sea of youthful silhouettes; so he suggests a sheer beaded with pearls cover-up to tone down the Mother if the Bride-ness of the black number. He likes the other piece she chooses to show the judges but at the last minute, she changes a beaded with pearls coat for the first look with a far simpler cover-up.

WHAT SHE SAID

She looks classic and beautiful. I hope [the judges] respond to the sophistication.

WHAT I SAID

The first look seems like sportswear under a bathrobe, while the black dress is kinda dowdy and shows a lot of sagging boob.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

After Kenya says her collection is now “Vacation, Dreamy and Business” Zac Posen gets right to it. He loves the pearled cover-up, and wonders if the theme is cover-up; he also wonders about the fit of the black dress that he says is moving all over the place.

Heidi is also not excited; she says the silhouettes are all over the place and the looks are all over the place. In fact, she echoes Tim’s original critique that this is a snoozefest.

Nina Garcia loved the fabrics and the details—pleating and pearls—and called it luxe, spoiled by bad styling; she said there were too many things and that the looks needed a more youthful edge. She does not get the cover-ups at all.

AYANA

She is also in a rough spot when Tim arrives in Salt Lake City, but not because she’s stumped, but because her apartment had flooded. Luckily her collection—which she says is based on the woods and nature and earthy things—was unscathed. Tim likes shat she got done, which isn’t much, and tells her to work smart, and, yes, make it work.

And, again, like Kenya, once she’s back in New York, Ayana is perplexed by her collection and doubting every thought. She shows Tim her two looks for the judges—and to me they are the same dress in two different fabrics—and Tim is not happy; he likes he more edgy sportswear looks and says she should show those so the judges will see her evolution and want to see more.

And, for a hot minute, after Tim left, Ayana almost went back to her two dresses, but she ended up listening to The Gunn.

WHAT SHE SAID

The pieces are teaser pieces. I hope I selected the right ones.

WHAT I SAID

The first look is very street and sexy and urban; I forgot about her “modest” aesthetic, even though the model was fully covered. The second look has the same distressed pants, but the top seems more like a nighty to me.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

And, again like Kenya, Ayana gives the judges a different description of her collection than she gave Tim; she’s calls it an “Evolution” and about her life.

But that makes no difference because Heidi loves it; the color and the ease and the slouchiness and the rock-n-roll of it all.

Nina Garcia loves the juxtaposition of distressed and refined fabrics; she calls it luxe active-wear and loves that she also forgot about the modest aspect because the clothes looked so good.

Zac Posen was mad about the jacket on the first look and intrigued enough to want to see more. When Ayana said half of her models would wear the hijab, he suggested she think of a new version of the head wrap.

KENTARO

Next up is Kentaro in Los Angeles. He tells Tim his collection is based on music, and a piano; pleats represent the keys and black for the color, and red for … well, Kentaro likes red.

Tim worries there is no cohesion, especially when Kentaro says he didn’t want to create a cohesive collection; he calls it three collections or ten sonatas and then is even more confused when Kentaro plays his Dead Cat Sonata as a way of further explanation.

In New York, Kentaro picks two looks that are quite similar to show the judges and worries they will think the whole collection is more of the same; he wants to show a spare white origami piece and Tim says he should own it, even though they are two very different vibes.

WHAT HE SAID

I feel a little nervous … please let me go to New York Fashion Week.

WHAT I SAID

The first look is glaringly white with a huge black tumor dangling from the waist; I don’t get it. Especially when the second look walks so effortlessly and elegantly and musically.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

He also changes to description of his looks from music to a Japanese Dry Lake, which makes even less sense.

Heidi says his white look is “questionable” but she loves the other look; she worried about cohesion.

Nina Garcia says there’s a disconnect between the two pieces and while she likes the second look, she doesn’t like how Kentaro gets too conceptual. She hates the styling because it takes away from the clothes and the models look like robots.

Zac Posen says he doesn’t know where this is going and says it’s just not enough.

BRANDON

Tim meets Brandon and his girlfriend Dina, also a designer, in San Francisco. She worries about his bold print and all the skin in his collection and that scares Tim. But upon seeing the actual work, and the way Brandon manipulated the flamingo print, and the fact that “all that skin” is just slivers here and there, Tim is less worried and more thrilled.

In New York, when Tim asks what Brandon will show the judges, he says he has several choices in mind, but in the end, he’d like the model’s to decide what they feel best wearing; of course, since one of his models is Liris, he might be right letting her help in the selection process.

WHAT HE SAID

My looks are totally me … fun, flirty, romantic in my style … hip hop.

WHAT I SAID

Liris rocked look one, but I kinda felt it was too matchy-matchy top to bottom, and the top looked like a diaper. The second look was perfection.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Nina Garcia completely gets the collections calling it a female version of Brandon, “in his clothes.” She loved the second look, but thought there was too much in Liris’ look and maybe it could use a simpler top.

Heidi loved it all, too, and agreed about a different top for Liris.

Zac Posen said Liris deserved a “wow moment” on the runway and a better top would do it. He called everything else crisp and precise.

MARGARITA

In San Juan, Puerto Rico, before the hurricane, Margarita tells Tim her jumping off point was a wild fabric couch from her parent’s house in the 1980s. She worries it might be too much, and too kitschy, and Tim worried about the crocheted details and the gold hoops; he tells her to make sure the girl is more New York and less resort.

In New York, she shows off her glittering bold prints in pants and a body suit; Tim loves the looks, but wants her to create a simpler companion piece that might tone down the brilliance of the fabrics.

WHAT SHE SAID

She is killed. I can see Zac and Nina’s faces, eyebrows arched.

WHAT I SAID

The pants on the first look, with the exaggerated bell-bottom look like a Cher costume … and that’s not necessarily bad. As for the second look the shorts Margarita made at the last minute are bunching up and that’s not a good look. I’m getting a cartoon vibe, though …

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Zac Posen says the print borders on “hideous” and “feeling right.”

Heidi calls it gutsy and loud—she likes it—and loves the sparkle, but worries it’s not enough New York because it’s too Miami.

Nina Garcia calls it resort wear and not in a bad way; she loved the exuberance of the print but thought the looks needed to be toned down so as not to be off-putting.

Heidi asks each designer to describe why they should show at New York Fashion Week and we get the pat answers:

I’ve been working my whole life at this.

This is everything to me.

I have a lot to say.

But Kentaro stumbles and seems to say he is not quite ready to show; Heidi is now worried, too.

But, as we know, Brandon is in; as is Ayana. Then the third spot goes to Margarita—a surprise, I must say—and finally, it comes down to Kentaro and Kenya.

He’s in; she’s out.

Line of the Night, of the Season, of the whole Freaking Series, goes to Kentaro who told Tim how he came up with the musical score for his collection:

“I found a dead cat on the street, so after I buried the cat, I put my ear into the ground and this is the kind of sound I heard.”

J’adore Kentaro and his quirkiness.

Heidi on a movable screen was kinda funny, but even judging from 3,000 miles away she was still on point.

I was surprised at the choice of Margarita; I mean, the clothes were nice, but kitschy and loud and kinda cheap to me. I had assumed it’d be a three person show, with Brandon, Ayana and Kentaro/Kenya, but am still surprised at the inclusion of Margarita into a four person show.

And I think the winner will be Brandon—I’m still oogly over his smile when he was talking with Tim and Dina—but Ayana may give him a run for his money. Margarita, I feel, is there for the loud factor and Kentaro is there for the drama—his pieces he showed to Tim were all over the place but very dramatic.

What did YOU think?

Who do YOU want to see win?