PR 18 Ep 4: Trash To Treasure To ... Trash

It appears that this week’s challenge starts right on the heels of last week’s ending. The designtestants are cooling their jets backstage when Christian Siriano comes in to order them back to the runway.

Quelle horror! On the runway, Karlie introduces them to Karla Welch, her very own stylist. It seems that Karlie will be going to a Council of Fashion Designers of America [CFDA] event in Paris and commands the designtestants to create a look; something “cool, original, wearable, think An American in Paris.”

I instantly picture a Gene Kelly sailor suit and so, apparently, does Tyler. But the look needs to be upcycled, which means no Mood, but a trip to Goodwill to find secondhand clothes to refurbish into something new and fabulous. Sergio is instantly thrilled because he already works with upcycled materials, while Delvin doesn’t like “used” things.

Except for that tired lab coat. There’s $150 to spend at Goodwill, which is a fortune, but just one day to make something Karlie won’t toss to the floor and set on fire.

Let’s rip ….

SAFES

First Row

BRITTANY I like it. It’s not Karlie because I think she’s more streamlined than giant sleeves, but it’s a look.

DAYOUNG Bermuda shorts? Karlie Kloss? Fashion? Paris? One of these things doesn’t belong. Hint: it’s the shorts.

DELVIN Karlie has legs for days so why not harem pants? The better question is why harem pants.

Second Row

GEOFFREY I liked his “jodhpur” sleeves. And it’s a sleek little sexy number like Karlie; or so I’m told.

MELANIE  liked the asymmetry on the bottom, but the asymmetry up top read like a mistake. Still it was her take and it was sexy and cool.

SERGIO This looks like a suit you find in a Kmart on the 50% off rack; and the bow in front made out of shirt sleeves looked exactly like a bow made out of shirtsleeves. For someone who upcycles all the time, he blew it.

TOPS AND BOTTOMS

NANCY

Eight pairs of jeans and a pink button-down shirt

Once at Goodwill, Nancy decides to use and reuse and re-reuse Karla, asking question after question. What will Karlie like? Is this enough denim? Guess my age?

In the workroom she’s chosen the denim to make a circle skirt. A.Circle.Skirt. You’re your bags, Nancy bec—wait a sec? A circle skirt with cutouts to show off Karlie’s legs. Not a bad idea, actually. But then she wants to top it off with a backwards pink button-down shirt and again I’m scared … until I see how she pleated the top. I’m coming around …

Christian thinks Nancy’s shirt pleats look “crazy” when they go on the model but she’s sticking to her guns. And Karla, who had thought Nancy’s design a hot mess—and so why she didn’t say anything gives me pause—loves it.

WHAT SHE SAID

It’s cool, clean, refreshing.

WHAT I SAID

I like it. I love the cutouts. But it feels a little too casual for Karlie and Paris.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Guest judge, the fabulous Laverne Cox, calls the look “wonderful;” she loved the cutouts and was pleased the whole thing didn’t look tortured. Karlie said it was “refreshing,” and thought the backwards shirt looked unusually good; she’d wear it to twirl in Paris! Nina gave it one of her highest scores and called it “effortless” and chic and practical and very America. Elaine, on the other hand, thought it “a little too conservative” for Karlie, while Brandon disagreed, calling it “light and fresh”.

SHAVI

Four pinstripe pants, green top, dress

ShaVi used to go to thrift stories with his grandmother to pick clothes they could take apart and learn how things were made. Now his grandmother has Alzheimer’s and so he’s pretty emotional.

And maybe that’s what got the best of him.

He used his Goodwill finds to create a patched together Motocross jacket and skirt in pinstripes. Christian liked the idea of the Moto jacket and ShaVi is off and running. Until he accidentally puts a hole in the skirt and falls to pieces. He tries to fix it, but then the skirt became a very short and tight pencil skirt.

WHAT HE SAID

My model is walking at the pace of molasses making it easier for the judges to see every mistake.

WHAT I SAID

It’s a Carol Burnett Mrs. Whiggins sketch look. And that is no compliment.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Laverne called it a “dystopian bargain-basement office party” and ShaVi stared to smile until she added, “and it’s not a party I want to go to.” Karlie called it uninspiring while Brandon said what we were all thinking … the skirt was too tight.

VICTORIA

Two blazers, pants and belt

Victoria doesn’t do upcycle and thinks she won’t find anything useful. But when she learns an entire man’s suit can be had from $29, she mutters, “Where’s the logic?”

And so, she buys suits—one she’ll wear herself on the runway—and turns them into an asymmetrical belted wrap dress with cutouts and pant legs for sleeves.

She asks Christian if the bottom is too big, and he likes it; but he says the top is too big, and she likes that. So, no real changes, until Karla comes in on runway day and suggests a couple of belt loops that are going unused should be removed.

WHAT SHE SAID

I think my dress is perfect look for Paris.

WHAT I SAID

She’s right.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Elaine loves it, saying, "This to me is the only piece that actually feels like a fully formed idea that was executed to perfection." Karlie also “loved it,” while Nina notes that it’s both Karlie’s and Victoria’s aesthetic and ready for Paris. Laverne said she “gasped” when it came down the runway.

TYLER

Two prom gowns, four pants

Tyler is a Bottom Dweller and he needs a win, or at least a Safe, to redeem himself.

Sadly, Tyler gets locked into an idea and will not let go, until the last minute when he scarps half of it and starts over.

He’s going for a Jackie O, East Coat, perpetually perched, vibe. Um, okay, but this is about Karlie and Paris, not Jackie and Montauk.

Christian worries, again, that Tyler’s idea is too much like a sailor outfit and another costume. Tyler doesn’t see it.

:::cue ominous drumming:::

For some reason, he scraps the wide-legged pants and creates a pencil skirt. A plain old pencil skirt, with an ivory ruffled top. That doesn’t scream Paris, France, it screams Paris, Texas, on a rack at the back of a Walmart near the bathrooms.

WHAT HE SAID

My look looks like East Coast money.

WHAT I SAID

Ah, but it should have looked Paris fashion show. And seriously? Two prom dresses and four pants for this? Gurl, bye.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Brandon wants to know what Tyler calls “the things” running down the front of the top. He reminds Tyler the look should be [A] supercool, [B] wearable, and [C] chic, but Tyler only got wearable. When he says he cannot see Karlie wear it, Tyler says:

“Not even to dinner with the Kushner’s?”

Sidenote: Karlie is married to Mr. Ivanka _____, Jared Kushner’s, younger brother.

Karlie is uncomfortable for a moment, and then says it isn’t for dinner, it isn’t for Paris, it’s not what she asked for, the pockets are bad, and it looks cheap. Ouch. Elaine was surprised that Tyler thought it a good look, even before KushnerGate, while Laverne thought it was the worst thing on the runway, and an odd 50s or 60s moment. Nina said it wasn’t modern, or innovative or even fashion.

CHELSEY

Twelve jeans

While others—Hey Sergio—thought this was their challenge, it might just be Chelsey’s. She’s tall, so she makes clothes for herself that seemed to echo Karlie’s vibe. And the pants she wore on the runway while Karlie and Karla gave the assignment, were just what Karlie and Karla loved.

At Goodwill, loaded p with jeans, Karla listens to Chelsey’s design idea; she loves it, but suggests maybe a crop top. Crop top? Karlie Kloss in Paris in a denim crop top? Is there gone be a hoe down, or will it just be “Ho, down.”

Christian is worried that it’s an all denim look, but he also likes the crop top, though he wants more innovation.

WHAT SHE SAID

This look is going to put me on top.

WHAT I SAID

I loathe the top, and the pants are way too long and look a little raggedy … unless that was on purpose. It doesn’t seem at all like Paris.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Nina said it was “very smart” to pick denim since it is so “identifiable as American” and also a big pollutant when it comes to making them; she called the look eco-friendly “extraordinary.” Karlie loved that it looked expensive—it did?—and seemed effortless and cool. Brandon thought the top had fit problems but loved the pants and the waist band. Elaine called the top unique, while Laverne loved the concept and the “inventiveness.” 

MARQUISE

Blazer, two white shirt

Marquise isn’t going to “deconstruct” his secondhand clothes; he’ll simply tailor the jacket and use two shirts to make a dress. I think he’ll get dinged for simply cutting the shoulders off a jacket and calling it a jacket.

Christian comes by to see the finished look and dubs it The Britney Spears Schoolteacher Look and Marquise thought that was praise. Christian’s bug eyes tell the real story, especially since Marquise won’t change it.

Meanwhile, he’s giving Marquise the side-eye for his “Britney schoolteacher look,” but Marquise loves it. Karla, on runway day, notes the fit issues with the blazer and Marquise reaches for the double-sided tape. Uh.Oh.

WHAT HE SAID

I’m feeling a little nervous about my look.

WHAT I SAID

Oops, you did it again. A blazer into a blazer? C’mon, man, get it together.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

When Elaine asks what it is about Karlie Kloss that suggested this look, Marquise muttered:

“She’s tall.”

Yes, he did. Brandon called out the bad fit, the use of the tape and what he labeled the ‘Chippendale Lapels.’ Nina said the outfit “looks forced” and not “stylish and practical,” and noted Marquise’s own style would have been a better look. Laverne thinks there are “cool elements” like the double-collar but says it’s “over-designed.”

It’s decided that Chelsey is a Top Three, but not a Top Two. It comes down to chic and urban and Paris, and Cotton-eyed Joe at the Branding Iron Saloon.

Chic and urban and Paris win for Victoria.

Now, the loser. I immediately thought it Tyler, though not for the Kushner remark as many people thought, but because he actually said he liked his look. Oh honey, nobody ever won the PR with a ruffled shirt and pencil skirt in cheap fabrics.

Tyler is out …of the competition. The PR’s Favorite Bottom™ is gone.

Watching backstage, Delvin says “no one’s going to buy” Chelsey’s look and, yeah, I think he’s right. About that one thing only.

I loved the Karlie Klones marching into the work room. Legs for days.

LINES OF THE NIGHT

ShaVi, trying to fix the hole in the skirt:

“Now it’s so short it’s sexy secretary trying to get a raise.”

Secretary for an adult video company.

Tyler, on Sergio’s ego:

“You make one dress for Billy Porter and you think you’re f**king God.”

And, of course, Serg-Ego:

“I’m always open on helping anybody. I feel like no matter what I know it should all be shared because at the end of the day, if I die, and I’m the only one that knows that specific thing, then it dies from the entire world.”

Um, Serg-Ego, you design clothes, you aren’t curing cancer or AIDS. Take a breathe, and take a seat.

Backstage, after apologizing to Karlie for his remarks, and swearing he meant no disrespect, Tyler waits, and actually thinks Christian will use the Siriano Save. Christian walks in, dramatic pause, and tells Tyler to clean up his space.

I like Tyler; he’s high-larious, but he’s delusional AF if he thinks his looks are the best.

Now, for The Tents, though it’s clear there’s no real front-runner: Victoria, most likely; Britany, perhaps. Delvin? If it’s a Lab Coat finale. Serg-ego? I hope not; he needs to be taken down a notch. Nancy? Dark horse; the Old Gray Mare, if you will. Melanie? Dayoung? Geoffrey? I know, “Who?” right? ShaVi and Marquis; my two hotties? If they stop with the mistakes and the bad taste and step it up.

Next week: Cyndi Lauper and a Team Challenge. The claws will be out.

What did YOU think?