PR Junior - An Avant-Garde Challenge

Keiless wrote a story for me! I'm over the moon, and spitting because I won't have time to sit and read it until I get to the shop and set up my laptop. But it does give me something to really look forward to and so I'm thanking her in advance because I know it'll be AMAZING! Whoot!!!

This was yesterday morning before I left for the
gym. Note the actual temp is -3 F, but the "feels
like" temp just below it is -20 F. Yesterday
was horrid. Today is worse - -8 F for my
actual temp, -22 F for the "feels like". We will
warm into the single digits above zero for
the afternoon, though. 

EPISODE SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ONWARD - YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Onward to fashion. Last night was the third episode of this year's Project Runway Junior and the ten designers left were separated into teams of two and instructed to design "En Garde Avant Guarde". With a budget of $300, each team was instructed to make an avant-garde outfit influenced by fencing and armor. (Tim Gunn looked pretty good fencing with Olympic Silver Medal winner Tim Morehouse as he introduced the theme.)

Allie and Chelsea were teamed together and created this
spiky armor of leather on top and a combination of
fabrics on the pants. I liked this look, it fit the
challenge well and their model looked fierce! 

Last week's winner, Teiler, was paired with Molly, a designer I'm watching because she's from Fort Collins, Colorado - a town I'm very familiar with. A'kai was teamed with Hawwaa and that teaming was a disaster - neither of them being comfortable in avant-garde styling and neither communicating well as a team. In fact, A'kai eventually sought out Tim Gunn for advise because he was so frustrated working with Hawwaa. On her side, Hawwaa walked away from him several times because she was so frustrated with how their look was progressing. Lack of communication in team challenges usually leads to poor results.

Chris and Rene designed this outfit - a boring jumpsuit
covered by a wonderful hooded oversized coat. I adored
the coat, but hated the jumpsuit. The judges agreed. The
judges felt it was too  costume and not enough fashion,
also it played it too safe for an avant-garde challenge. 

The team of Cartier and Izzy were declared "safe" (with a design that really was horrid, so they got really lucky that there were other designs even worse). That left four teams in the running. One person from the winning team would be the winner, one from the losing team would be sent home. Let's look at the fashion, which was pretty sophisticated given that these kids range in age from 13-17 years old.

A'kai and Hawwaa designed this pairing, A'kai did the
skirt and Hawwaa did the top and collar. Both had issues.
Would things have improved if they could have
communicated better with each other? Maybe. But with
team challenges, the design is only one part of the challenge.
Working together is the other part. They failed on both counts. 

Avant-garde is tough and hard to wrap the head around sometimes, but basically it usually is something the model has difficulty wearing, but that looks very bold and on-edge. Having a specific theme for their creations gave the fashion framework for their creations, but they were free to go a bit crazy. I think the problem with the bottom fashions is that they didn't go bold and crazy enough.

Teiler's coat and Molly's wide-legged pants stole the show.
It was a wonderfully designed piece from head to toe.
Teiler well deserved the win for this backward coat based
on a suit of armor. The judges all thought it was so fashion
forward it could have been on the Runway at Fashion Week. 

The judges decided to award the win to Teiler and Molly's outfit, with the episode win going to Teiler for that amazing backwards coat. It really was stunning, and this makes him a winner two weeks in a row! He's definitely got a vision, but he also worked really well with Molly and her wide-legged pants were integral to the overall look.

A'kai and Hawwaa were on the bottom, and A'kai was voted off. BUT - Tim Gunn gets a save in PR Junior too, and he used it last night, even though it was only the third episode. As in the regular Project Runway, he used it in a team challenge and he also said that he would have used it no matter which of the two young designers had been voted off. I get the feeling that Tim isn't very fond of team challenges, but I think he did the right thing here. The inability to communicate well between a 13-year-old and a 16-year-old is more to be expected and shouldn't be penalized.

So it's off to the cold I go once again. My cold weather gear is NOT fashion forward, but it keeps me warm in these intensely cold temps, and that's survival, baby!!! Have a great Friday and think warm thoughts (even though we won't get warmer until Sunday).