Project Runway: S14 E13: "Finale Part 1"

I've long wondered about how everyone feels towards the first part of the PR finale. Getting to see Tim meet contestants parents and loved ones is always fun, and there's a practicality to meeting with Tim and getting a critique on your collection, but does it really add much to the overall proceedings of the season? In the past, there were "challenges" in this episode whereby the contestants who made it this far were asked to show a mini-collection and the person with the lowest score would go home. It added a healthy level of drama and raised the stakes of the episode. Who can forget the year Chris March made it this far, showed off a collection featuring looks made of human hair (looks that I personally found beautiful and fascinating) only to get cut and miss out on showing at NYFW? But when that element is missing, what you're left with is an episode going through the motions and a runway that's more obligatory than organic and only exists for the judges to sure up the final product to be shown at NYFW.

On the one hand this makes sense. PR has become so big and such a staple on TV as well as within the fashion scene that making sure they're not putting a total shit show down one of the biggest runways and most important fashion events of the world is only natural. Far be it for them to allow the contestants to sully their good name. And NYFW is something that's bigger and goes far beyond Project Runway itself. But on the other hand, does it make for a compelling hour of TV? Or more importantly, as is the case for this episode, a compelling two hours of TV? I didn't realize the episode was a full 30 minutes longer than usual when I went to watch it after How to Get Away With Murder went off, and when I did realize it, instead of turning it off and going to bed like I should have, I stayed up to watch it all. So you can imagine how miserable my Friday was. So that's the question I want to try to answer here: was this episode worth the 120 minutes the producers thought we needed to invest in it?

First there's the beginning which happens exactly as we all knew it would. I found it funny, and ultimately anticlimactic, the way Tim hemmed and hawed around it for so long, milking the moment for every drop of drama there was before finally announcing he was saving Edmond and he'd get to show at NYFW after all. You're not fooling anyone. And since we all knew it was coming, it struck me as a scene that we could have fast forwarded through to save a bit more time. In other words, it felt like a waste of time. Even the other designers can't bother to feign surprise over it. Tim walks in and says something about expecting to see sadder faces, and everyone's just like "Yeah right, buddy!" I do, however, think that needing to use the save here in the final episode is yet more evidence of the lack of talent for this season.

The first moment truly worth the price of admission comes on the runway as Heidi tells the contestants they're getting $9,000 and seven weeks to design their ten look collection. It's $900 a look for any math challenged people out there (I used a calculator. As I've always said, I was an English major for a reason), and suggests an ability to make really expensive looking outfits. It's here that Heidi actually turns to Ashley and tells her that they're hoping she'll consider doing a plus-size collection. Tim affirms that they'll get her the models needed for such a thing, and Ashley is all over it. OK I want to get one small quibble out of the way early here: I don't think it's "fair" to dictate to a designer what you think their final collection should be. This is about them, and their creativity, and I'd hate to hear that Ashley felt at all pressured or hemmed in by this suggestion. With that out of the way I'd like to say I loved this moment. It's not often that Project Runway actually surprises me, but at this moment, my jaw dropped, my eyes went wide, and I got all kinds of excited. Not only were we getting the plus-sized collection we all hoped for, it was being sanctioned and supported by Heidi and Tim from the outset. I can't help but to feel like this is just huge!

Ashley is the first visit on Tim's trip, and it comes five weeks into the challenge. She says something about worrying about not having much on the rack to show Tim and I panicked a bit at the thought that she hadn't done much and only had two weeks left. But in her workspace, you can see she's actually got quite a bit completed. She says she's drawn from 1950s era Mexico City for her inspiration. While I don't know what that means in a practical sense as I never really thought of 1950s Mexico City as a hotbed of fashion trends, it at least means she's going to her roots and tapping into something that's important to her for her collection and that's meaningful.

I'm not in love with her color selection for her pieces, but I do love the fact that she hand dyed all of them. I think soft and pastel colors, or black, tend to be expected on plus-sized women, and I would have liked her to amend that and open it up to more colors and prints. But there's a beauty and a sophistication to what she's doing. This stands out all the more when you factor in her use of lace which always either looks too old and matronly or too young and precocious. I feel like she's hit a sweet spot with it that just works. Tim's impressed, I'm impressed, and he gives her some sound advice about including more deeper jewel tones to make the collection pop, and it's off to meet the family.

Ashley's family is ADORABLE! Her father is hilarious, her mother is sweet and endearing on a ridiculous level, and her abuela is just so special. They all clearly love her so much and are so proud of her that I defy anyone not to get teary eyed during their dinner. But more importantly, the issue of her designing a plus-size collection is brought up, and everyone says exactly the right thing. It's not often that Project Runway gets it "right" when it comes to normal women, but they are really nailing it here. Dare I say it? I'm actually quite proud of these moments, and horribly excited to see Ashley's collection.

Candice is next, and her kids are just too cute for words. They start with a meeting on the beach, and there's more talk about Candice's mother's drug addiction, which I had forgotten all about. But it makes for some compelling viewing. And all throughout it there's Candice's kids just being adorable.

At her studio, the first striking thing to notice it the use of color in the collection. Specifically, the use of red. I don't think she's got any colors other than red, but baby steps. So she's got a white, black, and red collection that she says is inspired by her continued time in New York and spending time in China Town and some Asian inspired exhibit she saw. Whereas Ashley went into her own roots to find inspiration, Candice looked outside of herself. I'm not saying one is better than the other, it's just two different and equally valid ways to find the spark of creativity.

For what it's worth, I love what we see from Candice here. It's big and bold and makes a statement, but it still feels like her. The wood pieces she's created to add volume and dimension to her collection feel innovative and look interesting. Her collection says "High Fashion" and "Theatricality" to me. Tim, however, thinks it's a bit too busy and heading into the realm of Drag Queen. Which I don't think has to be a bad thing, but I've been to more than my fair share of gay bars and drag shows and I know what goes into such things. Either way, he reminds her to be editorial.

Kelly is next, and there's no easy way to say this so I'll just say it: Kelly's collection is a hot fucking mess. I hate it on a level that I can't remember hating anything in quite sometime. She had $9000, and claims to have spent all of it, and yet her clothes all look cheap, simply designed, and right off the rack. They also look ugly, did I mention ugly? I should have mentioned ugly. There's fanny packs, for some fucking reason, a lot of shiny sparkly looks that come off more as $5 hooker wear than NYFW, and there's a decided lack of cohesion unless the cohesion is in how tacky it all looks.

Kelly's come on strong these last couple weeks. Need I remind you that she's won the last three challenges in a row? So how does she go from here, to here, and even here, to the things she's showing Tim? And for that matter, why does Tim not have stronger things to say about what he's seeing? First of all, her entire collection is done in all of five weeks depending on how long it took him to get to her from Ashley, and it clearly looks like it's been slapped together in no time at all. But he only uses the word cheap to talk about one of her looks when it could be used on all of them. Someone please point me in the direction of an outfit here that appears to have cost $900 to make.

Her family is fine if somewhat typical. It's all at least what I expected from Kelly's life. Her cousin, whom I suspect of being gay, is totally adorable. And her boyfriend looks exactly like what I always assumed and imagined her boyfriend would look like. The deli where she works creates a sub named for Tim and it's a cute moment, but none of this is as good as what came before it. Kelly's a sweet girl and I'm happy she's got a support system, but her section lacks the weight of Ashley's and the touching heartstrings of Candice's, and the talent found in the collections of both. This is a low point in the two hour slog that is this episode.

Edmond's got the least amount of work done on his collection at this point, and the work he has completed is the most quizzical. Not because it's not beautiful, though that can be said for a couple of the pieces, but because it feels the least like him. Say what you will about collections we've seen thus far, those designer's signatures were all over those pieces. That's not the best thing in Kelly's case, but still. Edmond's collection is elegant and well put together, but it's not Edmond. The word sexy gets thrown around a lot in relation to him, and there's no sex appeal to the pieces we're seeing. And to make matters worse, the silhouettes of those dresses do not look new, creative, or innovative at all. There's nothing really special here.

Edmond talks a lot about being happy Tim saved him and how hard he's going to work to be worthy of that save, but is he? Tim saving him was expected, but was it deserved? Based off of what we see of him in this episode, my gut is telling me no. It's not that the looks he's got now would make for a bad fashion show, it's just that nothing I'm seeing from him bespeaks "winner" to me, or is even at the level of his better looks from the season. He's also still got three looks to complete, so I guess I can reserve judgement for a bit, but I certainly think he can pick it up a notch.

Back to New York where everyone is happy to see each other and eager to get back to work. Tim tells them they'll be showing a mini collection to the judges for some last minute remarks, and one of those looks has to be created today. This is where we get to the show trying to interject some drama into the proceedings. As I said earlier, this pretty much exists so the judges can offer feedback in the interest of ensuring the final product is up to snuff, but I don't understand the point in forcing everyone to make a new look. For someone like Kelly who has all of her looks done, why not give her the option to either make something new, or to just take the extra time and money to enhance what she's already got? If you've already got ten looks you spent seven weeks on, and are happy with, what are the chances that the one look you create in a day and with a $250 budget is going to be the one that makes it into your collection? It reeks of false and manufactured drama and I'm not a fan of it. On the other hand, Edmond still has three looks to make, and this strikes me as being a good excuse to use this time to just start on one of those three looks. It would mean he wouldn't have to sketch out something new since he already should have plans for those last three looks, and it would give him an extra bit of money and some supplemental fabric. I don't know that he used it that way, but that would have been his best course of action.

I'm not a fan of this particular development, and I feel like I've rattled on for more than enough of our time, so I'm going to move on to the runway. No guest judge because no one's going home.

The Runway:

Candice: 

Look 1: Why does it feel like we’ve seen more pants on this season than before? It’s a good thing whatever the reason. I think it’s interesting she started with her red look, I might have put it in the middle. It’s cute and well made as we come to expect from her, but I’m not blown away by it. 

Look 2: Who doesn’t love a fabulous church hat? Whereas the last one looks well made, this one looks like it was made in a day. Which is fine since that’s the challenge, but it stands out for all the wrong reasons from the rest of the collection. I'm not impressed with anything other than the hat. 

Look 3: Separates, separates, separates! That fucking jacket is to die for. There’s something about the lace and sheer aspect of it that I simply love. It’s clearly the statement piece of this outfit, but I like the rest of it too. 

Kelly:

Look 1: My oh my. I realize I might be in the minority here, and I also realize there’s a clear cut ready to wear aspect to what she did, but I fucking hate it. It looks simple, easy, and cheap to me. I can’t see much innovative design in it. It certainly feels like her in a lot of ways, and the long shirt / skirt look is certainly something, but I’m not impressed with this at all. 

Look 2: I’ll say this about it, I think the short shorts are more sexy than tasteless, which is a good line to walk. I don't think they're exceptionally well made, but still. As for the rest of it, I’m bored. And about the fanny packs, if Kelly’s dream is to dress a modern girl, then what young modern girl does she know who’s wearing fanny packs? If she’s looking to single handedly bring back the fanny pack, I’m out. 

Look 3: Those bell bottoms fit her like a glove. The back of the top is the one element that sets this look apart as something that I don’t think you could go to any store and buy right now. But the rest of the outfit just bores me. And cohesion in a collection is about more than just using the same fabric twice. 

Edmond:

Look 1: This I like. I think it’s sexy and sophisticated and expensive looking. It fits perfectly, and it at least whispers Edmond. It's sexy in a refined and toned down way instead of a bombshell way and I like that. I can’t get passed her styling though. Her makeup is way too noticeable and not in a good way. 

Look 2: I hate it. I can’t quite put my finger on why I hate it, but I hate it. Maybe the judges will hate it too and better explain to me why I hate it, but either way, I hate it. 

Look 3: I like this, but I don’t love it. There are little things about it that pull focus in an odd way for me. The details around the hemline are noticeable, but I don’t know if I like them. The way the bunching detail that trails down the dress isn’t connected to the body of the dress at the bottom looks cool but also looks like an odd afterthought. One thing I do like about these three looks is that they seem to go from sexy and showing more skin to being more covered up in a way that tells a story. I also think the same girl could be said to be wearing these looks, so there’s cohesion here, but I can’t say for sure that these three looks make me want to see more from him. 

Ashley:

Look 1: She’s worried about the bra being visible, and I don’t know what kind of bra she needs to make to be happy with this look, but in all actuality it’s the bra being visible that makes this look for me. Admittedly, I like the bar being seen through the lace a million times more than the bra strap in the back which looks a bit wonky, but still. Without that detail, it feels a bit matronly. But with it, with the amount of skin showing, there’s something youthful and sexy about it. There’s also something about that feels more like a celebration of her full figured girl. Whereas other people would want to cover up as much of their plus-sized model as possible, I respect that she’s going the other way. But that’s more political than anything else, the point is I like this look. 

Look 2: I love love love love this. I could do without the glimpse of panty under the skirt, but the rest of it is gorgeous. I hope that doesn’t make me a hypocrite. But I do think there’s a difference between some bra showing and some panty showing. I’d also point out that it doesn’t feel like there’s a lot of difference between the cut of this top and the top from the first look, but I’d have to see them more closely to know for sure. The color is fabulous though!

Look 3: Immediately, I hated it, but then I looked at it more and I realized that I like it a lot just not on this model. The fit is all wrong and it makes it look like the fabric is doing weird things. There are details in the top that are striking though when they catch your eye. She worked hard on this look and it shows. The skirt is just wonderful though. The fabric is perfection and I love the length a lot. It’s well designed and only the zipper leaves something to be desired. She just needs a bustier model to pull it off perfectly. 

The judges don't hold back in their critiques and it's a bit liberating. They complain about the lack of Edmond's signature sex appeal in his collection, and Heidi says she thinks three different girls are wearing his looks. We disagree on that last part, but it's not the first time I've disagreed with Heidi and it won't be the last. The constant complaints about the lack of sexy in his collection makes me wonder is the judges just expected him to send down ten Bombshell looks one after the other. I don't disagree that Edmond's collection doesn't really look like him, but I also don't think we want to see ten variations on the theme of sex appeal either. So while I can agree with their remarks, I also think they could tone it down a bit. 

Where Heidi and I are in more agreement is on her comments about Kelly's looks. And thank God someone said it because Tim didn't seem willing or able to. She points out that they all look like they could be store bought right now, and they all look like she created them in a day. Nina's remarks read like someone trying with all their might not to actually use the word "cheap" but clearly thinking that cheap is the only word to use here. Zac's got the most helpful advice when he points out that on this kind of ready to wear collection the tailoring either needs to be impeccable or the styling needs to be extreme and over the top. Kelly's looks have neither of those things going for them. 

They hound Ashley for construction issues that I admittedly missed initially. And Zac's points about making the exposed bra on the first look seem more purposeful is a good idea. I like the peaks of bra and skin on her looks because they are totally not what you expect from a plus-size collection. They also mention the fit issues and how perfect they have to be. This is accurate of course, but I also think Ashley might have been at the biggest disadvantage of everyone else. Did she meet her models and get their measurements before she started work on the collection? Was she able to design her looks with specific women in mind? If not, don't you think she's just kind of flapping in the wind and hoping she's got models who can fit each of her looks? The others can make clothes in standard model size and be sure that each of their girls will fit them, but Ashley's models are far more likely to be different sizes and she's more likely to need more information. 

The all seem to hate Candice's looks and I have to say I'm honestly shocked by that. While I wasn't as impressed by the three looks Candice selected for this mini collection, I still left it thinking I'd be interested in seeing more from here, which is always the core point of this episode. The judges on the other hand want her to scale way back and I'm left wondering, given how much work she's done and how little time she has left, is that really possible? Everything she's done seems to be so intricate and detailed that I don't see how she can parse it back without losing a lot of what she's trying to do.

Either way, that's her task. Given the comments, I think Kelly and Ashley have the least amount of tampering to do. Ashley can easily go back and clean up the construction on her zippers and hems and such, and Kelly can just change the styling on her models and have hit the main marks given to her. But I don't think that that automatically marks them as the favorites. Or at least not Kelly since I got the impression that even the judges viewed changing the styling of the models to be akin to arranging deck chairs on the Titanic. In the end, everyone has a lot of work to do, and I don't know that we learned anything new about any of the designers. I don't think the first part of the finale is a total waste, but I do think they could eliminate the "make a new look" challenge and just have them show off three of their pieces to the judges and shave off a solid 30 minutes. It was good, but the episode was still just way too long. 

Loose Threads: 

--Nina was on fire this week. Her and Heidi go back and forth about Ashley's flower crown things. Heidi likes them and Nina shoots off a quick "In the end, do you want people talking about the dresses or the flowers?" to Ashley and then has the most smug look on her face with Ashley says dresses. Nina's face says "Take that you skinny German bitch!" and I love it. 

--Nina to Candice: "Alexander McQueen can do Alexander McQueen, you cannot."

--On the trip to Mood for their last look, Edmond spends way more money than they were budgeted and has to do the totally embarrassing thing of putting stuff back instead of buying it. It's funny but also interesting that this is the only time this season that we've seen that happen. Given the scant trips to Mood, you'd think this would be a more common occurrence. 

--In the latest edition of Ashley vs the mean girls, Kelly gets a stain on her dress and Ashley offers to help her get it out and Kelly proceeds to treat her like shit and doubt her abilities. Really?

--Tim talks a lot about proportion in Ashley's and Kelly's looks this episode and it made me realize that that's a specific something my eye isn't really trained to notice. I'll do my best to catch it more often from now on and try to get it included in my reviews. Look at Tim Gunn helping make me a better reviewer for the show. If only he could actually help make the contestants better too.... (burn!)

--Still no word on Swatch! I am seriously about to write a strongly worded letter to Mood!

--I'm wondering if Ashley's ability, desire, and encouragement to do a plus-size collection doesn't maybe open the door for more unique collections in the future. For instance, if someone is more at home in menswear but makes it to the finale on the strength of their dresses, would they be able to request making a menswear, or better yet a gender mixed collection? Point being I'd like to see PR using this as a jump off point to keep pushing its own boundaries.

Project Runway: S13 E13: "Finale Part 1"

Ok here we are at the first part of the Finale, AKA the most boring episode in the show's run. Don't get me wrong, meeting family and loved ones can be fun, and the early looks at collections are always nice, but no one goes home, no one wins, nothing really happens in this episode. I don't think I want them to scrap it because its a PR staple, but I wouldn't mind them making it a bit more interesting if possible.

Along those lines, the designers are sent to Rome for three days for inspiration. Needing to be inspired by The Eternal City is an expectation for the collection, but it doesn't feel like a real parameter for a challenge. In the case of Amanda and Sean, I think the inspiration is palpable. Kini and Char's collections feel like something they would have done even without the trip overseas. And no one is ever criticized for not being Rome enough, so there's that. This season lacks the element of needing an unconventional materials look that we saw last season, and I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing. I guess it just kind of "is" at the end of the day.

The trip to Rome is rather uneventful, but it fills the time better than the meetings with families does. The designers get the equivalent of a high school book report on the city and the sites therein from Tim. It was cute, but I was left thinking "Yes, Tim, we know. We took social studies in high school too!" There are a couple of touching moments as Tim sits with each of them and asks them about what's coming up next. Sean's need for a design space before he even gets into thinking about what to design is compelling, but not overly dramatic. I think we all knew he'd have a space in enough time to have looks put out before Tim comes a callin'. During lunch, Tim looks at Char and asks what it's like to be the only designer left who has never won. It felt a lot like "Hey Char, how does it feel to be a loser?"

Other than that, nothing much happens. The group goes to the single most expensive fabric store on the face of the earth, but no one is required to buy fabric there. Tim convinces Char to spend a bunch of money on some of the ugliest fabric you'll ever see, but whatever I guess. Not that I'm suggesting he's trying to punish her for forcing him to explain why he used his save on her or anything. Because I don't think Tim would do such a thing. But you guys can make up your own minds about that.

The big shock from the home visit is that Kini doesn't actually have an entire collection or two created already. He says he hit a wall when he first got back and has been slowly working past it and doing what he does best: well constructed denim. The few pieces he does have are great, so I don't think he has anything to worry about. Kini's family is adorable. And Tim Gunn does a hip roll. I can now die happy, Runaways. Honestly, I don't know that I didn't die and this is just my ghost writing the review.

Char and Amanda's visits are kind of similar in how simple and boring they are. Tim points out moments in both collections where things bump up against being a bit too much or a bit too costume and tell the girls to scale it back where needed. Amanda's designed and had someone create a lot of really nice jewelry that accents her pieces exceptionally well. But she's looking like she's bit off a little more than she can chew. Char's looks don't appear to have much direction or anything to say, but that's to be expected.

Sean's visit starts with a clean shaven Sean having a skype date with his parents, then cuts to a grizzled looking Sean in a confessional and then waiting for Tim. The cutting of these two scenes is really weird and seeing these two versions of his face in scenes that are supposed to take place in the same day (he tells his parents that he's got a meeting with Tim that day) is very jarring. Also, Sean shouldn't try to grow a beard. Let it go buddy. He tells Tim his Rome inspiration is about the betrayal Caesar, and so his collection will progress from light to dark to murder. It's a great concept and a very unique thing to be inspired by, but I don't know about the execution at this stage. The first looks are boring. He keeps using the word "Bright" but the colors are just white and grey, so how is that "bright?" The transitional look and the looks of the murder are nice, but Tim points out that they don't seem to go together. Sean says he might have to scrap it all and start over, but I thought it was just an element of needing to pull aspects of the later designs into the earlier looks. Hopefully the elements he pulls through won't be fringe, but no promises.

Everyone gets back to New York and unpacks their collections and compliments and complains about each other as expected. There's hair and makeup stuff, and then the "surprise" that the judges want to see the looks before hand. Char says "In my mind, I’ve been thinking I’ll see the judges at fashion week" and again I wonder have you not watched the show before? Of course you're going to show a mini collection here, it's how the justify making this its own episode. 

The Runway:

Amanda

Look 1: The pop of the blue back literally made me OMG out loud. I love this. I love it because it doesn’t scream Amanda to me, which is a back handed compliment, I know, but still. The cut of the top isn’t my favorite, I feel as though it’s open in a way that feels messy or lazy instead of conceptual, but I also wonder how I’d feel about it on a less busty model.

Look 2: This one lives or dies by the print. I don’t see anything interesting in the design of the dress, but the print pops in a cute way. I can’t tell if I like it better from close up or from far away though.

Look 3: This one is probably my favorite because I like the color, I think the jewelry works well, and I really like the cut of the dress. Down towards the bottom it almost looks like they could be pants instead of a dress. I like the cohesion of the collection as far as these three pieces go. I also feel like it just doesn’t scream Amanda, which I like. Or at least it doesn’t give in to Amanda’s baser tendencies.

Sean

Look 1: hm…. I like how clean and simple it looks. I love the draping. I love it a lot when paired with the Caesar inspiration—it has a kind of toga feel that I appreciate. But I think that’s all the good things I can say about it. The orange fringe piece on the back looks very out of place without any context attached to it.

Look 2: I’d love this look 100x more without the fringe. I think the cut and tailoring on those pants and that top are to die for. The way the neckline plunges and then honestly plunges some more if you look closely at it is just brilliant. But I think the fringe is distracting and makes it feel like the look exists in a no man’s land between dress and pants that I don’t find flattering.

Look 3: This is fringe done right. Granted it’s fringe done the same was a he did Heidi’s red carpet look, but still. It’s the best use of it out of the three we’ve seen. The top I like from the front but don’t like from the back. I don’t know what that is called, but I hate it when tops are cut that way in the back, it looks horribly unpractical. But there’s a nice symmetry in those last two looks where the neck line plunges on the first but then the slit comes up from the bottom on the second. I like that. I’m not in love with these three looks, however. I think he could have done better.

Char

Look 1:  No. I hate it!

Look 2: This I like a lot. The shear fabric is perfect. I love the length of the dress for some reason, I don’t know why but that really stood out to me, and I think the two pieces (is it two pieces or just one?) really went well together. I also even like the bow on the shoulder, which I didn’t expect.

Look 3: Is the hemline elastic? It looks like it is a bit, or it’s just puckered in an odd fashion? Either way, I like this look except for the hemline. I’m going to question the cohesion of Char’s collection based on these three looks. I think the last two go together well, but the first one comes out of left field. I can’t bring myself to believe that the same girl is wearing all three of these.

Kini

Look 1: My breath is gone. I have no breath. The top is the best portion of this for me. It’s just so well constructed and everywhere I look I see something new and pleasing. The skirt is cute too though I don’t know how I feel about the one band that just going around the middle of it.

Look 2: Another out loud OMG moment here. I don’t even know where to start with this. I have never worn a dress in my entire life, but I want this for myself. Oh My God! It’s just perfect!

Look 3: Ok here’s the thing, I think this look is exactly what it should be. It’s bold, it says something, and it’s so Kini, but I hate shoulder pads. It’s a personal nitpicky thing, I know, but I hate them. So the boxiness of the top throws me a bit, but I don’t think that has to detract from the look overall. As for what these three looks say about the collection as a whole: they say that Kini will win this season. There’s no other option here. 

 So the judges are just here to offer a little feedback, no strings attached. They like Sean’s looks a little bit more than I do. Nina’s point about him being brilliant but not needing to narrow in on the Fringe is really accurate. I want to see more and everything from him too, and I know he can do it so it’s disappointing to see him narrowing his view. 

Heidi points out the lack of cohesion in Char's collection, and no one really has anything overtly positive to say about her looks in general. Nina hates the look that I actually like the most. But nothing here is surprising. They all tell her that the looks need a little more of her own personal style brought into them so we'll see how that works. 

I like Nina’s point about the jewelry on Amanda’s looks making the dresses look more expensive. And they want her to get rid of the second look which I find interesting. Or maybe at least shorten it? After I just complimented the length. Yikes. 

And then there's Kini... Every so often, I watch this show and I write these reviews and I admit to you guys that I know nothing about fashion. And this might be one of those moments, because in spite of all my glowing praise for Kini's looks (which I totally stand behind, mind you), the judges hate them. They make points about the styling, which I agree needs work, and they point out that he could do without the coat, which I have to agree with since it's my least favorite piece, but the rest of it? I felt like they didn't actually engage with the clothes themselves so much as talk about overall elements of the show and the outfits. So when they say the clothes aren't sexy enough...well what does that mean for the outfits themselves? I don't disagree with the point, I didn't look at any of the clothes he sent down and think to myself "WOW she looks sexy as hell!" but if his collection isn't meant to be sexy, is that a bad thing? Doesn't he have that right? The fact is the clothes are impeccable, the looks are gorgeous, and a lot of them are also really wearable. So why is he thrown under the bus so much for not fitting his looks into some kind of nebulous poorly defined idea of sexy? The only reason I can think of is that they all really like Kini and want to offer him responses that will push him to be even better. Also I'm betting the show wants to add more drama to the finale. So when Kini pushes through his stress and changes one or two looks and then gets the win, it'll be this great heroic kind of a thing. Either way, I find this highly problematic. His looks didn't deserve that kind of a reaction, and I for one feel like it might cheapen instead of enhance his eventual win because of just how staged it all feels. But that's just me.

The Eternal Thoughts:

--Sean in that sleeveless shirt in Rome did very funny things to me. Yummy!

--Amanda's boyfriend sitting on the porch swing waiting for Tim is the most staged thing on the face of the earth. 

--I was planning on pointing out the hypocrisy of complaining about Sean's fringe (which has clearly become his thing) but not complaining about Kini's use of denim, but since the judges didn't praise Kini's denim, or his anything for that manner, I guess it's moot. But honestly, do you guys think that's fair? Because even I have a problem with the abundance of fringe and the one way monkey (hahaha) aspect of it. But I also think that if that's going to be his signature, then there's no reason for him not to use it. Just like I think of Kini's denim.

--I felt like Amanda's looks don't feel like her, but I will say that the color blocking aspect of them did. And that's a good thing because I think that that's something she does well and that I don't mind seeing from her. 

--In the "previously on" segment, they show Korina's bitch fest again. They've done that for the last couple of episodes, and it's left me wondering if they aren't doing so in an attempt to poison the well for her amongst potential clients? It no longer has any bearing on the action going forward, so I'm left wondering why they feel the need to bring it up again and again.

Under the Gunn S1 E13: "Finale"

On Monday, I finally got the chance to attend a weekly screening here in Seattle of Rupaul's Drag Race, hosted by Ben DelaCreme, a local drag queen. Luckily, this week was also co-hosted by last year's winner, the amazingly awesome Jinx Monsoon, who was a local drag force.

Stay with me for a little while, and I'll tie in the relevance of Drag Race to Under the Gunn. First, I'm not a normal Drag Race watcher (Bad Gay!), so this story is about a first time watch for this season. Anyways, if you watched Rupaul's Drag Race this week, you know that there was a total of THREE HOURS of Drag Race this week, with 2 back to back full episodes, followed by 2 episodes of Untucked. And, if you watched this week, then you know that Dela was on the chopping block in the first episode and almost on the chopping block on the second episode.

What was amazing when watching Drag Race with a local crowd who all knew and loved Dela was the sheer amount of caring and relief that happened this week. The event is a free event, with a cash bar and dinner, please tip the volunteer staff. It happened in a huge ballroom, and the whole house was standing room only. I stood for 2 of the three hours (because people needed to leave before midnight, instead of the usual 10:30pm), plus an additional 90 minutes before the show in order to secure my section of the wall. Doors were open at 6:30 for a 9:00 showtime. People were lined into the hall. Of course, this was in Seattle's gayborhood, where we all know and have loved Ben Delacreme. We've seen him perform. He does theatre shows here in Seattle. 

Everybody in that packed ballroom was charged when Dela was on the chopping block and had to lip sync for her life. When Darienne, the chopping block teammate, was declared the lip sync winner the house was on the edge. And, when Dela got a pass, the whole room cheered and was practically a riot. Namely, because we were invested in the contestant who was on the chopping block. 

While watching Drag Race, I realized just how intimately Drag Race allowed us to get with the contestants. One of the things that Drag Race does is give all of their contestants the room to breathe and to tell their life stories. We see them relate to each other as they are working to create. In the two hours, I learned that Joslyn was a young queen who idolized Courtney because they were from the same scene, and that Courtney felt she was above Joslyn. Bianca is a mother hen who took people under her wing and criticized people in order to help them develop throughout the show. Laganja is a very young queen (24) who, like all the other queens, used her persona in order to project a powerful image...but was also rather fake and constructed drama around herself. Trinity was an insecure queen who was taken under Bianca's wing and finally gained the confidence to fly. In 2 hours, there were enemies, friends, constructed plots, and drama...all while they were also working on whatever bits they were working on and creating their costumes for the next day.

The same care was not given to Under the Gunn and its editing. Throughout this season, Under the Gunn has struggled with being overstuffed and trying to minimize the drama. Which is OK considering the mega drama that happened with last fall's Project Runway. But, what Under the Gunn didn't keep in, at least until the last minute, was our designer's personal lives. In turn, Sam's reveal last week of his bullying felt more than manipulative. The other thing that has happened is that, of all the designers left, the only two that have a point of view are not the ones that make good clothing. Sam and Asha both are trying to have distinctive looks to their clothing, but they're both inconsistent. Nobody has a singular style like, for instance, Patricia (like her or not, she had a vision), or even Portland's steampunk style. 

I know I'm beating a dead horse one last time, but the construction of Under the Gunn is overstuffed for its running time. It wants to focus on the creation process, focus on the designers' interpersonal team relationships, and focus on the mentors and their relationships. Of the mentors, the only one who had a positive learning arc has been Uncle Nick, who learned to let his designers breathe...over and over again. And...there wasn't much room for anything else. Mondo didn't learn. Anya didn't develop. The designers had emotions from exhaustion but...they didn't lead to anything

Who am I rooting for, while going in to the episode? Oscar. He's a great tailor and has made some really good outfits, even if I can't quite see a running throughstyle. He has time management, and probably could be a decent businessman. And, he's genuinely nice. Second choice would be Shan. Sure I've been ribbing him for being one of the femmiest straight boys on the show, but he's good people and he also makes solid looks for the most part, though generally I haven't seen much of a throughline. Sam is too underdeveloped as a designer. And, Asha...well...admittedly I kind of like some of the pieces she does, but she really pulled one out on Natalia.

It is with this mindset that I sat down to watch the final episode of Project Runway: Under the Gunn.

It seems that it's not only I who thinks that the designers aren't well drawn, nor are their character arcs. The show opens with a brief series-long recap of the designers. But, even these brief pre-credits recaplets stays rather shallow.

• "Asha has been improving all season, and winning one challenge!" 
• "Sam has been a judge's favorite, but has recently begun struggling with self-confidence." 
• Oscar is a "charming Cuban-American" who was "once a long shot." 
• Shan "has impressed not only with his designs, but with his speed and skills."

But, we only have an hour to get through everything, and there's a LOT stuffed in this episode. There's 3 days of designing, finishing the designers' stories, 4 runways of 5 outfits each, finishing the mentors' story arcs, getting in all the marketing, and a couple additional marketing bumps we've not seen before.

So, today's is sponsored by a car company, who loans the designer groups use of a car to go to Mood. The designers have 3 days to do 5 outfits in a mini-collection. So, it's an All-Star styled finale as opposed to a full season finale. Just in case you didn't guess.

During the initial sketch period, we're also attempting to solidify people's story arcs through their clothing. Sam wants to do a story of a girl whose armor disintegrates throughout the five looks, reflecting the breakdown he put on last week. Nick encourages Oscar to tell his story of being a Cuban-American and the struggle to get here. Shan needs to pull from his heart because he's exhausted. Asha wants to do an Egyptian Queen in Brooklyn...because she has an ego. Or something.

We head off to Mood where the designers have 1 hour to spend $2500. ZOMG. And, then, there's a brief in-show commercial for eyebrow waxing or sculpting or something. Whatever. It lasts all of 17 seconds, and you barely even notice that it existed. Because, we don't have time!!!

Next we get reintroduced to the last designers eliminated, because the designers get helpers. On Day 2, the designers get a visit from their families. Because the designers aren't robots, despite them not having much of a story, and have families and boyfriends and wives and whatever. Oscar's mom is so adorable, but she only is on for a brief shot. But, they're only there to say that these people have families as their back stories aren't highlighted, but the designers' success are highlighted because...I dunno. Family segment: 2min 15sec.

We end our first block by doing one half of a mentor critique, for Asha.

And, it's time for our first commercial break!

DAMN!!  So, when I wrote the first part of this recap, I hadn't yet watched the episode. I wrote it earlier in the day today, and was truly my feelings about the show overall. I didn't realize that the Finale episode would exacerbate and highlight and underline all of the issues that I have with the condensed over-filled format that Under the Gunn took on.

So, the mentor critiques are interestingly buzzy. Asha is regressing back to costumes. Sam gets a confidence boost from Tim Gunn when Mondo was critiquing. Shan is basically told to find himself. And, Oscar is making a greatest hits collection.

We don't get any time for model fittings. We don't get any time for interaction between designers. We get some confessional critiquing of each other's work, and defense of their own work. And then it's time for our second commercial break. Whole time of second block: ~5 minutes.

The third segment begins with 40 seconds of fellating the theater and stage. We get a brief period with makeup and hair. And then another 20 seconds of fellating the event/red carpet. And, it's time for runway already!! Jebus!

Tonight's special guest judges: Heidi Klum, Neil Patrick Harris.

Sam
His runway really started off strong and slightly experimental ready to wear. But, as the armor elements fell away, the clothes just started getting more and more normal. The first outfit is a glam showstopper for a winter collection with a glinty hard-edged look that just looks gorgeously asymmetrical. The second continues, but has an interesting green highlight tab. It's almost a bit Christmasy and overly simple, but the vertical graphic of the stripes really sells the look. Then, it goes straight into off-the-rack. The third look is pretty, but it's a shirt and skirt. The fourth look is the same, but the fifth look is the worst because we've all see that dress time and again. So, much like the competition, he started off strong but then petered away. I don't think he intended the petering part.

Shan
Hard and Soft. Leather and Lace. This collection was ALL over the place. I really liked all of the individual pieces but there was a lot in each piece, and their color disparities just was all over the map. What he didn't really do was spend time crafting a runway show, even by choosing the order correctly. He starts off with a bad-ass warrior bitch goddess outfit straight out of Tomb Raider or Resident Evil, jumps into earthy and brown leather and lace that's just hectic, goes straight into a booming red simple outfit, which leads back into a medium simple beige look, which comes back to red and black leather with a bomb ass jacket. It feels like a cohesive collection that could have been helped by a lot of reordering. Open with the second look that has all of the confused elements that make up everything, lead that into the fourth kind of boring look, have that bleed into the red simple dress, which leads into the bombing leather jacket look with then finishes with the video game heroine look. It tells a better story at least. A lot of these elements are damned awesome (A LOT), but it's all a bit much and confused.

Asha
Costumes. I thought they were IJ costumes. But, Studio 54 did cough up many of these outfits. There isn't much that I like about any of the pieces. The best piece were the awesome red leggings under the caftan that everybody was going gaga for.

Oscar
It's a cuban-tinged greatest hits look. His collection suffered because of his first look, which is dull. and should have been hidden much later in the collection. Pieces 2-5 were kind of amazing. The second look especially. But, I keep wanting one more piece after his final look. He needed to end on a showstopper, and his final look was sort of dull. He needed one more wow moment at the end. But, he only had 3 days to create the whole collection, so mad props. However, other than the lace, this collection didn't feel all that cohesive. It was just a lot of really good fashions from a bunch of different designers.

Not so surprisingly, I found myself constantly agreeing with both Heidi Klum and Neil Patrick Harris. Sam had the most cohesive collection, but it was really ready to wear and started fading after look 3. Asha was a complete miss. Shan was good, though it was a touch much. And, Oscar had great pieces and was a good designer, but he didn't have a solid point of view. So, who do you choose? They were all deeply flawed in a way.

Personally, I would probably have given it to Sam because he has a point of view, but I don't know that he had that adventurous of a style in order to make it in his own line. Oscar is good, but he doesn't have a point of view. But, I don't feel disappointed in the choice they made, which was to give Oscar the win.

And, so ends Under the Gunn. Oscar wins. Which, yay. And, is surprising to me because I underestimated him at the beginning due to his tendency to overdesign. But, I can't say that this format worked for me. There was too much time spent on the mentors who ended up not having much of a character arc, and not enough time getting to know the designers. By the time Under the Gunn realized that we didn't know who the designers were, it became too little too late. This format would have been better in a 90 minute format.

What allows The Voice to work more than Under the Gunn is that The Voice has 3 hours every week. A two-hour episode on Monday and a one-hour episode on Tuesday. Or, maybe that's Tuesday/Wednesday. It gives everything room to breathe, and doesn't feel so overstuffed. Maybe with a 90-minute format, at least, the show would have been afforded more time to get to know the designers in the beginning and thus let the viewers invest in the designers, even if they didn't have specific design voices.

And, it seems the Project Runway year is over. One of Project Runway prime, one of All Stars and one of Under the Gunn. Whew. Good luck. Thanks for reading!

Random Observations

• "Your son's hands; I am in awe." Teehee!
• "He makes clothes that are functional and believable." - I'd hope so...
• "I hate coutour" - Oh, Sam.
• "I call my collection 'Hipster Nonsense.'" - Ugh
• "I was getting 1920s circus carny coutour. Not my favorite." AMEN!!
• "I also liked Sam!" - Heidi Klum, always being difficult. Love you, Heidi!

Project Runway S12 E13: "Finale Part 1"

One of the biggest issues with what Project Runway did last week was that it eliminated all of the stakes from the proceedings. If no one goes home, then what's the point of the competition? One way that competition reality shows have learned to up the stakes again when they avoid sending someone home one week is to send two people home the next week. This is a tried and true reality TV method, and one that we enter into the traditional pre-fashion-week-home-visit episode expecting. So after the three designers on the bubble show their mini collections on the runway, two of them will be eliminated and we'll be back to a solid top three for fashion week.

Now that we've got that totally accurate prediction out of the way, on with the show. There's been an added element to the final challenges: one of the looks has to be an unconventional materials look. That makes this the third (maybe fourth?) unconventional materials challenge this season. I don't know if I want to make fun of that fact as the unconventional materials challenges tend to be some of my favs, but that does seem to be a bit much.

This year, the home visits are split up between the two contestants with promised spots at fashion week and then the three losers who have to grovel to the judges for a spot. This brings us to Dom's home in Philadelphia where Tim arrives, uninvited, to a private lunch she's having with her mother, brother, and their waiter? Oh no wait, that cute chubby white guy is actually Dom's boyfriend. So that nubian goddess is dating the Pillsbury doughboy? Moving on: Her loved ones all express the typical platitudes of how proud they are for her, except her boyfriend who doesn't say too much at all; I'm guessing he's more the fat strong silent type. Tim and Dom leave to go check out her collection and we're introduced to the first of what will be a recurring theme this finale: designers creating their own textile. I guess all the HP talk from this year really did pay off. (Haha I can't believe I got that entire sentence out without laughing) Her collection is called (or inspired by) Retro Futureism which I'm pretty sure is an oxymoron. Her unconventional material is door jamb repair pieces which look pretty cool. Her designs look great, her textiles look beautiful, and she's using color; she should be in great shape.

Off to LA to see Bradon and his very tall (and hot) boyfriend Josh and their cute doggy, Eddie. Bradon's collection is inspired by spring in New York and the first flowers breaking through the snow and his unconventional material is clothing line. It's a mix of floral prints and sold metallic fabric. And I would like to see it on the models before I pass judgement because right now it looks like he went with some of Jeremy's worst old woman tendencies. Afterwards, Bradon and Josh take Tim to their very favorite place which happens to be a secluded spot on the beach. This leaves us all (and by all I mean me) wondering what the two of them like to do on this secluded and private stretch of beach....at night....when they're all alone... Where was I? Oh right, Tim Gunn at the beach wearing a suit jacket and pants because he's Tim Fucking Gunn. And to be honest, would we have it any other way?

Since we're already in California, Tim heads over to San Mateo, which I'm pretty sure is a made up place, to see Alexandria. Her collection is called Neo Nomadic Punk which I actually like in spite of myself. While the name is cool, the look is exactly what everyone would have expected it to be. She's sticking with white, black, grey, and tope, so no color on this one, and her unconventional material is the phone book woven into a nap. Oh wait, sorry, I meant to say that I took a nap during her segment; the phone book is being woven into a dress or something. Moving on: further confirming the idea that no one on earth likes Alexandria, we don't get to meet any friends or family. I'm guessing that she doesn't have any. Instead, we're taken to the sweat shop where she's chained up a few inner city kids to do all of her sewing for her. It certainly explains how she's already got 30 looks created and ready to go in 4 weeks time. The kids are cute, and precocious, and as Tim is leaving and hugging them all good bye, I think one of them slips a plea for help into his pocket.

 Union City New Jersey. I'd tell you who lives there, but I'm sure as soon as I said Jersey you guessed. Helen is another of the designers to create her own textile and it goes well with her inspiration of “Clairvoyance” because it's a print of her boyfriend's eye. Ok that was a lie, I have no idea how Clairvoyance and her boyfriend's eye go together, but then again I don't know how that can be an inspiration at all, so let's just go with it I guess. She's using color, she wants her capes to be a focal point of the collection, she's using bath mats as her unconventional, and I'm so horribly unimpressed that I got up and went to the bathroom in the middle of her and Tim's conversation. Good times were had by all. Back with the family, we meet yet another really tall boyfriend, this one with seemingly model good looks (by which I mean he looks like he could be a model which might be good for some people but totally didn't do it for me); he and Helen look odd together and he doesn't say much. Tim asks her family about Helen's tendencies towards great self confidence followed by crippling self doubt. Translation: Why does this bitch cry so much? They're all used to it, and Helen breaks out with the grand confidence that not only will she make it to showing at fashion week, she'll win the whole thing. I'll just leave that comment there and move forward.

Justin lives in Raleigh North Carolina where Tim crashes a nice family dinner with mom, dad, and sister. We learn that Justin's sister won't let him design dresses for her. I guess she's not into the whole foamy vag thing, weirdo. And also that Justin was once an architect. Did we know that already? It's amazing either way and I am more impressed with him than I ever was before. His collection is inspired by his own journey from being totally deaf to getting his Cochlear Implant and finally being able to hear. Also, I swear I'm not crying, I just snorted a lot of pepper because that's a thing I do. He's using 3D printing to create some of his accessories, he's also created his own textile for a look or two, and his unconventional material is test tubes which he seems to be just gluing all over a dress. Again, I'll reserve judgement.

It's back to New York where Bradon and Dom hug when they see each other, then Helen arrives and they all hug tightly, and then Alexandria arrives....then Justin arrives and he, Dom, and Helen all hug. Not that that means anything, right? We head to the new work room where Tim introduces us to someone whose name I didn't even get because she's a rep from Tide to tell them that everyone who makes it through to Fashion Week will have to make a new look for Tide that can be machine washable. So for those of you who were complaining that there wasn't enough product placement this season, here we go for one last shameless plug.

But before we get there, we've got one more challenge to get through. Tim comes back for a meeting with the three competing designers and he looks a little different than he did the day before. Is it a haircut? No not the hair. Maybe the outfit? No certainly not that. Oh I know, it's the cuts and bruises and busted lip that he got from “falling down some subway stairs.” I've watched a lot of TV and lived a lot of life, and I think I know what “fell down the stairs” is code for. As such, I'm gasing up my car to drive up to New York right now and kick someone's ass!

In his bruised and battered state, Tim rips Justin and Helen new ones for sloppy construction issues, but leaves each of them with a lot of positive feed back and he even gets choked up as he's leaving. Justin also gets choked up and says something about them all feeling like family, and I'm not sure if it's all generally sweet or if it's just sweet because it's coming from Project Runway's Sweetheart. And so starts the last minute scramble to get things ready for the runway. Helen decides to sew in a liner to one of her capes, and seeing how much work must be done, Dom jumps in to help her. Justin rushes to get his models into their outfits, and understanding how much work it is and how important it is, Bradon jumps up to help him out. Do I even need to say it? Ok, I'll say it: No one helps Alexandria.

At the Runway, Heidi is very careful not to say that 3 people will be showing at Fashion Week. Instead she say things like “After today, we'll see.” But we've already established that two people are going home so that's not setting off any red flags or anything.

Runway:

Alexandria

Look 1: I wish someone had a line of coke for me to do so I could wake up enough to give a shit about this outfit. All in black, the vest is boring, the pants do have the cool pocket thing going for them, but that's really the only good thing I can say about it.

Look 2: The grey top and the stark white pants look good together as color combinations go, but that's about it. There's something about the cut outs on the shoulder and the tie in the back of the jacket that just look off to me. And the pants are just another pair of oddly baggy pants from Alexandria. They aren't drop crotch, luckily, but they aren't very interesting either.

Look 3: Didn't this bitch say something about Punk in her description? Did the meaning of the word Punk change without telling me? Of her three looks, I will say that this is the closest I came to really enjoying, but that's only because I think the asymmetrical cut of the pants is kind of cool. It's also the closest thing to Punk in her collection, but that's only because the cut is a bit modern and edgy. The look is still in tope and I just don't think that tope can ever be the first thing to come to mind when someone says Punk. The top is OK. And I want someone to burn that fucking hat.

Helen

Look 1: Little black dress which is actually blue. The construction is nice, but it's still just a little black blue dress.

Look 2: Baggy red dress with a cool acrylic belt. I could say that the construction is nice but the look itself is simple, or I could just say see above, so I think I'll just say see above... oh wait... damnit!

Look 3: Um.... wow. So this is the boyfriend's eye print, and there's a cape, and all I can think about is how screwed her model is if someone were to push her in a body of water since she can't move her fucking arms. What the hell, Helen? No, just no!

Justin

Look 1: I think the cut and fit issues that Tim pointed out in the work room are evident here. The outfit swallows the model whole and does very unflattering things to her shape. But I can't say that I don't like the look itself. There's something simple and toned down about it that I respond to positively. Plus I'm a total sucker for an open back and the cut out window in the back is rather stunning and elegant.

Look 2: I can't explain enough how much I love love love this look. I said last week that I was worried that given too much time, Justin would have way too many elements in his outfits. Initially, I thought that this would be the dress to prove that. Between the 3D printed belt, the designed textile, and the spray painted skirt it all should have been too much. But seeing it on the runway, my God does it work!

Look 3: At first it's hard to get over the loud noise the dress makes while walking, but when you just look at it, it's beautiful. It moves amazingly, I love the 3D printed collar, and it's glamorous and elegant in a way that test tubes shouldn't be glamorous and elegant. This look is a show stopper to be sure.

The judges talk to Justin first and have nothing but positive things to say about his looks. And when you hear him explain how the first look is parsed down to represent his life as a deaf child, the second look is all about the chaos of finally having the volume turned on and it driving him a bit crazy, and the third look is all about coming to peace and learning to live in the world now, your jaw can't help but drop to the floor. Honestly, I gained a whole new respect for the first look after his explanation, and I've always believed that that's what an outfit's story should do: take a good look and make it great. He's obviously going right on to Fashion Week, so the show is over and Helen and Alexandria can go on home, right?

Heidi and Zac have mostly positive things to say to Alexandria until Nina acts as the voice of reason and points out how boring the collection is and how pathetic it is that she didn't use any color. At this point, Zac promptly snaps out of whatever day dream he was in and joins Nina in bashing the collection. Heidi holds fast to her (vastly insightful) position of liking the little pocket thing. Nothing good comes from the judges talking to Helen.

So the writing is on the wall. Justin is the only person with truly positive reviews so he's going forward and the other two are going home, and we can go to bed. Heidi compliments Justin, tells him he's going to Fashion Week, and sends him off the stage leaving Helen and Alexandria behind. She then explains that she liked Alexandria's looks, but no one else did, and after the longest pause ever tells her that she's showing at Fashion Week too... And I'm speechless. Helen goes home, Bradon, Dom, Alexandria, and Justin will be showing, and Project Runway can go fuck itself. Great job keeping the stakes up, you guys. See you all next week for the finale!

Stray Observations:

--In all honestly, my roommate (who isn't a PR fan btw) was watching with me and she said “Oh he's totally going forward.” when she saw the mini collections. At this point in time I said, “He's going, but someone is going with him. Heidi is being way too vague about the final number of people showing, which means they've already decided to have 4 finalist.” She then said, “Wow, so this show is that predictable?” I could only laugh.

--I know I made a lot of fun about Dom's boyfriend, but I really didn't mean any of it at all. I just thought it sounded good in the review. The truth is I think love can be found in any number of places, and also I thought he was totally fucking adorable. So please don't hate me; I sometimes sacrifice my true beliefs for the sake of trying to make people laugh, or just writing something that sounds pretty good.

--With that being said, I kind of think this is the best batch of boyfriends we've gotten from the show in awhile. I was either personally attracted to, or at least fully understood how someone could be attracted to each of them.

--I'm still not fully sure how I feel about Justin seeming to ride his disability for all it's worth. I don't know why, but it feels like this kind of extreme focus on it came out of nowhere.

--Tim Gunn: “Eddie's trying to dig to China. Eddie, once you get there, you'll want to come right back.”

--Alexandria: “I'm in.”
Dom: “Noooooo. I mean congratulations.”
Yes, Dom, and so say we all.