Lifetime
Go Home, Project Runway Sponcon Cocktail Dress Challenge, You're Drunk
A product-placed vodka brand is the 'inspiration' for this week's looks. Who belongs in recovery? Your editors discuss!
Our Players
The Talk
The silver lining to any disappointing week on the Project Runway runway -- as I agree with Zac Posen that this one was -- is the buffet of Posenfaces you get as a result.
Our man's "who farted?" game was in rare form this week, but I wish he'd directed a couple of those pusses at Jenni's look, which I can only imagine won to make up for other designers implying that she copied Erin's technique. Incorporating the same appliqué in a different color and for a different purpose isn't plagiarism, and I'm glad the judges sort of rolled their eyes at that, but that doesn't mean you give a very simplistic flapper shift the win.
Simplistic AND in such a blah colour scheme. Admittedly, I don't drink, but I feel like Depression Beige isn't a shade that puts the wearer in the mood for a fun and festive party. The other side of Jenni's supposed copying was that the supposed source of her inspiration was part of the episode's big shocker: for the first time all season, and after rapturous praise since the premiere, Erin ended up in the bottom. I didn't really like her look either -- that brocade was so heavy, and the feather sleeves made it cartoonish -- but sometimes the judges like it when they go over the top like that. The more I watch this show, the less I can predict their reactions.
That was overbashed (note: not a word) but it also looked a lot better on the dress form than it did walking, which sometimes happens. I did have a feeling they would come for her, and Dexter...
...when they were feeling every inch of themselves in the lead-up to the runway. Which was obnoxious, but not as off-putting as Nathalia openly gloating at Erin's crit. I do not understand how Nathalia didn't go home for that nonsense -- that top, madonna mi. It's like a cardboard costume shield draped in a curtain from a fortune-teller. And the back, oy.
I thought for sure Nathalia was getting the loser edit when she didn't appreciate the gravity of Tim's workroom critique. Yes, it looks like a skating costume because of the stupid halter neckpiece. Also: EVERYTHING ELSE ABOUT IT.
I also don't know why they bother with the "and I made it in four hours" argument when they're on the bottom. No, girl, that only works when you're on the top. Nathalia's really lucky that Tasha choked so hard. You know how recent seasons have told the story of designers' over-reliance on neoprene as a surprising, edgy material choice? The story of this season might turn out to be that it doesn't work with dark denim, either.
Ha, you're so right! And I can't say Tasha got jobbed, exactly, because that lewk was laaaaame: like a more garbagey version of a Forever 21 party dress. "Forever 19"? "21 For A While"? I like Tasha a lot personally and was glad she fit in a valedictory "Boss Man" for Tim, but that was not cute. Neither was the work from the guy most upset to see her go, Mah-Jing. He didn't get clocked for sending a cheap-looking ABC summer-thriller wardrobe reject down the runway, but he should have.
But at least Mah-Jing's look was just safe. I couldn't believe Rik made it to the top for his "sexy blacksmith" costume. To me, that wasn't sexy at all. It looked so stiff! And I don't care that the ribbon in the back was just there to hold the thing together, as Zac said; it looked wrong.
I liked Rik's in theory, but I couldn't get past the color; I adore that caramel leather in a boot, or a vintage coat, but in a cocktail dress, next to the face? The rivets he used worked, and I see where he wanted to go with it, but it didn't really work for me. It landed a little "try-hard light-bondage burlesque" for me. ...What do I know, I kind of want Heidi's cornflower-velvet Colonel Sanders suit.
[advpoll id="103" title="Advanced Poll" width="270"]
My other big stunner of the week was that after all the love lavished on it, Laurence's look didn't win. That was the one that seemed the most like its maker had bent the laws of time in order for it to come out so polished and beautiful -- way more than Jenni's, even.
What a gorgeous garment that is. It's so fierce but also so wearable, and the sleeve has a vintage feel with the quilting that speaks to me. And then the back keeps it from feeling too heavy. I get from a season-construction standpoint why it didn't win, I guess, but the judges' attempts to inject suspense by "complaining" that they've seen her sleeve work over and over again was so so strained. When Nathalia's sending shit down that wouldn't pass muster for a Girl Scout badge? Please.