Hello everyone! We have some very cool news……Leslie MET Kenya! And guess what? She’s just as nice and sweet in person. We are going to try and convince her to come have a glass of wine and watch with us at some point. We love that the home team has a great contestant this season. And Kenya if you are reading this, we promise we are relatively normal. Les was actually able to come over tonight (which is a miracle, considering our kids schedules) so we have a LOT of input. I’m just going to start out by saying all our speculation about forthcoming episodes and accusations in the past MIGHT BE WRONG! Dun dun dunnnnnnnn (again)
Kentaro is very happy he won in a very sweet Kentaro kind of way. Brandon loves him even though he considers Kentaro his biggest competition. He feels like he has learned a lot from him and he is very appreciative. Claire is declaring that she needs to get out of her rut and get….Les and I pause show and make bets on what she is going to say. Les thinks it will be “Get on top where I’m most comfortable”. My guess is “Get on top where I belong”. CJ for the win! I make Leslie get me another glass of wine as my prize. Margarita is still bitter that Shawn won for essentially ripping off the her model’s own clothes.
The contestants head to a store and Les asks me if they are in a Kmart. Nope. They are where all the high end fashionistas go to shop. JCPenneys. Now before I get hate mail, this is supposed to be a show about high-end fashion. Nina Garcia was just named Editor in Chief of Elle. Zac Posen’s dresses run four figures. I’m guessing they don’t spend a lot of time in Penneys. Just saying. However, I point out to Les if JCP can do influencer lines with high end designers like Target does, this is a good thing. Fashion for the masses. There are male models wearing Fall outfits. Everyone immediately assumes menswear and Brandon is thrilled. Everyone else…not as much. Tim tells the designers they look apprehensive. He tells them they are NOT doing menswear and Margarita (who was panicking) is now breathing again. Brandon is now sad. Les and I want to comfort him.
Each model has two designers on a card. Those two designers have to use the fabric in the outfit the model is wearing to design a stylish fall outfit inspired by menswear. Once the designers pull their fabrics (which are conveniently in bolts next to the models) Tim announces that this is a team challenge. Brandon REALLY looks upset now as he has the same fabric as Shawn. Shawn in a rare moment of humility/sanity says that she has to up her game to keep up with Brandon. But in a twist, Tim tells them that they are designing in teams and that they cannot work with a designer that has the same fabric as they do. Brandon exhales. Since Kentaro won last week he gets to pick his teammate. He immediately picks his brother Brandon. Amy picks Kenya and Les and I are excited to see what they come up with. Claire picks Shawn. Shocker. Ayana points out that working together actually hasn’t helped them get to the top so far….so whatever. Good point. Margarita picks Batani and Ayana and Michael are paired by default. The winner will have their look sold in the NYC JCPenney AND online the night this episode airs!
The designers have an additional $100 to spend at Mood, but only one designer can go. (It’s Swatch’s birthday!) Tim uses the word cohesive which is always the kiss of death in these group efforts. Ayana wants to do a boyfriend style top and Michael will compliment it with a long tailored dress. Amy and Kenya seem to be working well together. Amy wants to learn from Kenya as she has been on top several times and Kenya is happy she’s working with a fashion professor. Shawn is bitching she has a “more curvaceous” model again. Les and I agree that the model she has is one of the best, if not the best, on the show and she should STFU. Everyone is working well together except for the twins who are arguing non-stop. Margarita is getting a little huffy about how much she has to help Batani, but that’s about the extent of the drama at this point.
Leslie and I pause to discuss which twin sucks more. Leslie says she goes back and forth on who is the dominatrix each week, in terms of who is choosing and moving design forward between the two of them. I point out that Claire has more technical skills and EVERY week is a team challenge for her as she is always doing Shawn’s detail work. She even seems to be getting annoyed at this point with baldy. Watching the brothers, who aren’t actual brothers, work together is a wonderful example of a respectful, collaborative effort.
Okay there is a scene in the sewing room where Claire is next to Michael and she is droning on and on about her design issues and time management issues and blah blah blah and he just gets up and leaves. She keeps talking. Leslie and I lose it. It was a perfect scene to illustrate how the other designers feel about the twits.
Tim’s Critique
Tim loves the idea of Batani toughening up the wrap dress. He is worried that Margarita has bitten off more than she can chew with her ambitious detail work. She looks completely freaked out and he says she seems “undone”. Les thinks she has decided to be a one man band in this team. I point out that if she had no problems throwing her model under the bus……..well, Batani just better pray they are not in the bottom. Tim has only one critique of Kenya and Amy’s looks and that is that the bow on the blouse is too matronly. They untie the bow and he’s happy. Tim is ok with Michael’s look, but worried Ayana’s looks like a hospital gown. She assures him there will be more elements added to it and he is placated. Even Tim calls Kentaro and Brandon the dream team. He’s not thrilled by their looks though and they take in his criticism with surprise. Michael hopes their confidence will throw them off. Over in the chaos corner Shawn tells Tim that she and Claire have never really done plus size design. Tim points out that neither has most anyone else. He is horrified by their bandeau over t-shirt idea and basically tells them what to do. He suggests a tunic, or as Shawn calls it, a TOOOOONIC. Claire doesn’t agree with him and decides they should do a sweatshirt dress. Les and I think, yeah, that worked out well for you last week, go with that……Then Shawn goes into the sewing room and asks Kentaro if she can rip off his leggings he did for his winning design last challenge. At least she asked? Amy and Kenya are devolving. We thought they were getting along? What happened? Where did tension come from?
The next day Kenya and Amy seemed to have gotten it together. Kenya doing a sexy walk demo for her model has made my night. Girl, come on over. We have wine. Ayana and Michael are very happy. Claire and Shawn are still running around like spastic toddlers.
The Runway
Heidi walks out and Les mutters: pleather. That is a very pleather looking dress. With a very high slit. There have been some better looks this season. Baby steps I guess. The guest is Asia Kate Dillon. They are an actor from Billions and Orange is The New Black. Two great shows I have never watched.
Leslie points out that Michael and Ayana’s looks are not very cohesive. She wishes we could see asymmetry of top, but the fabric is too light. Michael’s dress has a VERY high slit and Les says that, “At least Heidi will like it.” We both like his jacket but we both think these looks are meh. I think Kenya’s is ok, but a bit bland for her. Les thinks she should have gone with bow. Les liked Amy’s suit, just not with that collar. I think they TRIED to design for a JCP customer rather than being themselves and that hurt them. Les thinks Kentaro and Brandon’s looks are too casual. I think even though they have an athleisure vibe, they are the most cohesive group and the models are the coolest looking on the runway. Claire and Shawn are still in Bennetton redux circa 1985. I ask Leslie for her thoughts and she said she has never cared for anything they have done so she feels no need to start commenting now. Batani has done a cute Betsey Johnson-esque take on a suit dress which Les loves. I LOVE Margarita’s asymmetrical shirtdress. Les agrees it is perfection. We both pick this to win hands down. We pick either one of the twins to go home. At this point we just don’t care. Send one away. Hopefully the other one will soon follow.
Judging
Heidi is in love with both Brandon and Kentaro’s looks. Nina loves the effortless ease and versatility of everything. Zac says it is the most cohesive and an incredible collection. Asia loves the “cheekiness” of it. Heidi pulls the typical PR bullshit: who do you think should win. The brothers maintain it was a collaborative effort and refuse to pick. Heidi insists. She then asks which piece would be the most favored. Kentaro succumbs picking a top, but Brandon refuses and tells the judges it’s up to them. We love him. Margarita, on the other hand, has no problem saying she her look was the best. Fortunately for her, they all agree. Zac is in love with it. Heidi is in love with it. Nina thinks both are sophisticated but that Margarita’s is spectacular. Asia says both the looks are “one and done” as you put them on, and you are good to go. Margarita picks hers as the best and then basically tells the judges that Batani picks her own as the best. Batani stands there and smiles.
Zac Posen unleashes on the twins so badly that Leslie and almost feel bad for them. Almost. He says there is no cohesion and the dress is trashy and “banal”. (How’s that for a vocab word Shawn?) He says the T-shirt is just bad design. He tells them they had the opportunity to demonstrate what his magical sisterhood could build and he is NOT IMPRESSED. Damn. Asia says everything looks like an afterthought. Nina thinks it’s boring. Heidi says it looks like they have no idea what’s actually going on. Claire says they were trying to be influencers for JCP. Zac is so offended by this he doesn’t know what to do. Please let me explain. Stores like Target will sometimes hire very high end designers to make limited edition capsule collections for fashion that is accessible to people who could normally not afford their labels. Influencers. So Claire is basically saying that they are on the same level as Stella Mccartney, Alexander McQueen, ZAC POSEN, etc (naming things from Target collections in my closet) He essentially tells them they have no brand. Heidi asks who should go home and Shawn says me. Claire says me. Les and I say, perfect! Send them both home.
Heidi thinks Kenya and Amy’s looks are boring and can’t figure out what went wrong. Asia thinks the looks look like flight attendant uniform rejects from the seventies and Les yells: And yet they are STILL better than the twins outfits!!! I raise my glass to her and say: Indeed. Zac says he’s getting wackadoodle and snoozefest. Nina says the models just look old. I turn to Leslie and tell her that I will be throwing the TV into the pool if Amy or Kenya get sent home before one of the twins. When Heidi asks, Amy chooses herself to go home. Kenya tries to say it in a diplomatic way, but she chooses herself to stay. We are still very confused as to how all this dysfunction happened. We like them both so much.
Margarita wins for her incredible dress. Margarita, we hope your friends and family are safe. God Bless Puerto Rico. Kenya AND Amy are safe. We both exhale and gleefully await Shawn’s aufing. BUT WAIT. The judges decide that they don’t know who to kick off because they don’t know who has been doing what. There will be a sudden death one hour challenge!
Wait…what? So not only will we not know the results until next week…..that means the cheating had nothing to do with the twins? In the preview Margarita says something and Michael storms off? We rewound that 3X but I think the wine had kicked in. ANYHOO, next week a twin will be gone and the Yolanda Foster episode FINALLY happens. We are all a tizzy! Which twit do you think is going home? What do you think the cheating scandal is about? Until next week…..dun dun DUNNNNNNNNNNNN………
Thanks for the recap. I’m watching the up close judging now.
The ONLY thing I liked was Margaritas.
I’ve never disliked a runway this much.
Love that look. Beautifully crafted. Wish it were for sale as the devil would make me buy that dress. Dang!
Well since it is for sale as of midnight last night, I’m assuming the devil made you do something, lol.
The jcp fabric choices were awful. That’s a huge part of it.
First of all sorry for the delay getting this up. I had to take anxiety meds yesterday and they kicked off my narcolepsy.I tried to stay up to watch it late last night and fell asleep. Then this morning I watched it on demand because I somehow managed to delete my recording in my sleep. Then I kept falling asleep during judging again today. So I barely saw this crazy episode,
And yet I have so much to say,
I too had to rewind what Margarita said three times and I think she said, “I was not raised to through people under the bus.” This is priceless because just last week she threw her model under the bus, drove the bus over her, and them backed it up to roll over her again.
I think the judges asked them who was cheating after Michael made the allegation. I think she was probably asked why, if she saw Shawn copying other peoples work week after week, she didn’t speak up.
I don’t know what my problem is but I really liked Kenya and Amy’s look. It is totally something I would wear to teach in.
Although we have done a face off in the past, I think this time it is totally a way to prove one and for all that Shawn can’t sew a stitch and has been cheating all season.
I do wonder why so many other people are crying. It also somehow feels right that Yolanda is the guest judge for this shit show.
I CAN’T WAIT FOR NEXT WEEK!
Get rid of Shawn.. Claire has the talent and skills . Let her shine. Indeed .. let the wicked copying designs witch be gone!
Wow, quite the ending. I hate having to wait for the twins to implode as well as the “Scandal” ugh, wish it would have been a two hour show, lol.
Can’t wait for next week either, although I think delaying the result of the Claire/Shawn faceoff was cruel. I actually badly wanted it to be a double eviction and for them both to be sent home. Well, one out of two ain’t bad – the most irritating twins EVER! I wasn’t crazy about Margarita’s dress, but then what do I know? Maybe the fact that I think she’s a total douche is coloring my impression of her. Amy’s pant suit was wrong on so many levels – too much boobage, a jacket that flared out unattractively at the hip line – not an attractive look, and Kenya’s was horribly uninspired, although not unattractive. Michael’s model looked like she was dressed to go to a business conference, but then there was that slit. With the way she was styled, how would that fit in with the rest of the dress in the real world? It would probably look inappropriate. I felt that, once he decided to go with the slit (which I would have loved, with different follow-through), she should have been accessorized differently. Well, one good thing about next week is that we’ll (hopefully) get to see Shawn go home. In the preview, it looked as though she were really losing it. Fun.
Is there any doubt that Shawn should go home? Just so we can tolerate watching the rest of the season. It’s Claire’s choice to be a doormat, so I can’t cry crocodile tears for her.
Worst runway yet. Kenya’s dress I wore in 1985 and Amy is usually so restrained…. what happened? That collar was bad. I did like kentaro and Brandon’s outfits. I wasn’t as in love with Margaritas look as others are. Couldn’t figure out where I d wear it…too sexy for work, too daytime for a night out, but it was interesting.
Great recap!
The episode does feel unfinished. If the ratings down this season could the twin show down might be to boost ratings?
Project Runway has to know how unpopular they are and we all like to watch the ones we dislike.
Amy!s outfit did look school teacher type . Kendra’s reminded me of the black pencil skirt with sweater top. They channeled the 90’s.
Maybe the cheating was when the twin copied her own design? Maybe one twin is a plant not a designer at all? Remember the year someone had design books and another guy went awol NYC for a few hours?
Didn’t someone sneak a phone in?
Its cool Penny’s was featured. Hope the company does well, we need large stores to keep prices down. I shop online but shop those stores also.
I have wondered the same thing about the twins being a plant to create drama in the workroom. All I know is it would be hard not to clobber Shawn.
Uh Oh – Oh please excuse the 1st sentence, I edited some words out – oops
I was actually expecting the twins to turn on each other. While they weren’t high fashion, I actually didn’t mind most of the clothes except for the the pants with extra sleeves that the twins did. Even the sweatshirt with a some editing was OK. While I think the suit needed something under it and a bit of collar work, I think they should have said something along the lines that “their girl” was not a 20year old.
I did like the winning look. I saw it online for about $50. The picture looked good but I am assuming they simplified some of tailoring for mass production. I would be hesitant in buying without seeing it first.
I am hoping depending on how how things turn out that Brendan and Kentaro do a line together. Their meeting in the middle really worked for me.
I am guessing that the scandal is that the twin who won actually duplicated something, maybe Shawn asking Kentaro about copying his leggings was foreshadowing. The judge either didn’t catch it during the twin off or chose not to bring it to amp up the drama.
Oh my goodness, IvyCeltress, while watching today, I too was thinking I would love to see a line designed by both Kentaro and Brandan. I just love both of these men and they work so well together. I am hopeful they both make it to the end.
As always, thank you for the great recap. I am excited for next week. I did get a bit stressed with the twins in the previews as they seem to be spending more time consoling each other than working. I kept thinking to myself, “yo only have 60 minutes, get to work”.
I know several sets of identical twins, and this is the most codependent I have ever witnessed, it is a by alarming.
Loved the winning look but thought the dream teams separates were more fitting for the JCP challenge..
The Swatch tshirt was adorbs. Hmmmmmm.. wonder if that’s for sale??
OMG next week’s episode is going to be epic! I don’t care which twin goes..they are both annoying as hell. I’m tired of of Shawn reminding us every episode that she doesnt usually work/design for plus sized models. It’s so insulting!!
I was looking forward to this recap and it was better than expected! Thank you CJ and Leslie!!
Hi Kenya if you are out there!
I vote this the least interesting runway show ever, too. The fabrics were so bad. They looked good on the bolts, and so cheap and flimsy made up, especially the shirt fabrics. I did like one of them, the bold check Kentaro and Brandon worked with. I thought theirs was the winning look.
I will be so glad when the twins are gone. How much everyone hates the twins is the major topic on any discussion of PR on the entire internet, and it was boring weeks ago. I don’t mind them; I think they were cast for the drama-God knows it wasn’t for their design skills. You want a show of 15 Batanis and Michaels and Amayas? A tank of goldfish has more personality. I could live with that, but that show wouldn’t be Project Runway.
I kind of fell out of like with Kenya last night. Something got to her and she turned poochy lipped and sullen to Amy, who seemed to be nothing but respectful towards her, too much so on the runway in particular. Kenya was cold and selfish in the judges’ critiques, and Amy was kissing her ass for no reason. Amy seems to be an all around good sport.
Believe it or not PR is a show I would be happy to watch free of drama. There’s enough manufactured and real crap out there to watch if I wanted drama. I just want to see good design.Period.
I totally agree!
Me too!
I agree as well. I was recovering from surgery this summer and did a lot of binge watching of both PR as well as SYFY’s Face Off, which is a similar competition for SX/makeup artists with fantasy, SciFi, horror, and whimsical challenge, After the first couple of seasons, the producers really backed way from Dramas! and backbiting. For all their Severed heads Yay!! attitude the contestants seem to have on the average higher emotional IQ than those of PR.
I agree. I enjoy the design process, Tim’s critiques, the judges’ critiques-I wish they’d do all of them and not just a few.
I remember the twins work from their audition and I had such high hopes- those leather jackets were awesome. I feel sorry that the producers have exploited them so badly, sure they gave a lot of ammo but I hate seeing people vilified for cheap entertainment.
Kentaro has always been my favorite from the auditions on. Brandon is a genius and very now but also kind of one note and heavily influenced by Yeezy type designs.
Margaritas dress might have deserved the win but I don’t warm to her personality.
I’m loving the recaps! Thanks so much! I’m torn on the twins. Shawn isn’t able to sew which should automatically disclose her. Claire can see but doesn’t seem to be able to design.
Disclude Shawn, Claire can sew. Proofread!
Love your blog …I am sure you know this already but check out the old show Twinning … they were on it and won!!! Just watched a few mins of them and their voices aren’t as bad as they are now but they were definently on their way … ???
Brandon is just too cute & I’m glad Kenya did not go home!!! #BYEBOBBSEYTWINS
Don’t insult the Bobbsey Twins! They were nice and treated others well.
JCP could have provided more interesting fabrics. It reminded me of swatches to make pillows in grade school! Also they can’t provide a casual shoe/sneaker on the accessories wall? Brandon and Kentaro’s models walked in athliesure (sp) in chunky heels. Also I think their model (the Brazilian one who says she’s obsessed over multiple looks) called Kentaro Kristina. This episode was just bad and I love this show!
Yolanda? Why?
I don’t know, but Yolanda’s got to be better than the unintersting nobody tweenies they’ve been inviting. Bet you the producers help them come up with lines to say. I have zero interest in any of them.
I love Asia and I loved that they weren’t too nice in their critiques. But, I would prefer more fashion industry judges rather than just actors/singers. Cannot wait for the next episode.
The reason we are looking forward to the Yolanda episode, isn’t about Yolanda, it’s because they showed us that the shit hits the fan the week she is the judge.