Project Runway Season 16 Episode 2 Spoilers

Chickie spent yesterday at the State Fair, eating and looking through the vast variety of exhibits throughout the day and into the evening. She was good - she texted regularly, attaching photographs of the various foods she ate and things that she saw. DH is experiencing Fair withdrawal since we usually go over there on the first Saturday night. He says he may go over on his own for a few hours tomorrow and I'm pushing him to go ahead and do it. He hasn't had a chance to wander the Fair solo for many years and I'm only one text away.

Now - if you haven't seen Project Runway Episode 2, I'm warning you here -. SPOILERS AHEAD!

As I said in yesterday's post, it was the Unconventional Materials challenge. Along with Zac Posen and Nina Garcia, the semi-obligatory B-list celebrity (Maggie Q from Nikita and Designated Survivor) was a judge, and this time they were also joined by Anne Fulenwider, Editor in Chief of Marie Claire magazine. The magazine was planning an issue revolving around sustainability, and the winning team's fashions would be featured as a part of that issue. Fame was on the line (as well as possible future employment).

Team 1 - Kudzanai, Michael, Kentaro, Deyonte and Margarita

Team 2 - Aaron, Batani, Kenya, Brandon and Ayana

Team 3 - Sentell, Samantha, Amy and The Twins (Shawn and Claire)

After returning to the workshop, the teams began designing with their trash. Team 1 became "Team Wabi-Sabi", Team 2 named themselves "Team Ballin' on a Budget", and Team 3 became "Team Tsunami". Tim Gunn's critique was sharp and to the point with each of the teams:  Toss out the trash; make the remaining components fashion instead of junk; and, make sure there is cohesion within the collection. There were a lot of changes based on his criticism - designs were destroyed and completely reworked - but in the end there were some successful fashions on the Runway.

Team Wabi-Sabi was declared safe. There were three good designs and two "meh" designs, but the winners were stronger and the losers were weaker, so Team Wabi-Sabi was safely standing on a small island surrounded by an ocean of riptides. That left Team Tsunami and Team Ballin' on a Budget.

Team Ballin' on a Budget's designs by Aason, Batani, Kenya,
Brandon and Ayana (l-r). Brandon's checkerboard and Kenya';s whitewashed
newsprint became the touchstones of the collection. 

The winning team was Team Ballin' on a Budget. The five designs looked cohesive - the closet door was opened and the clothes all looked chosen by a single person. The checkerboard design was Bradon's lightbulb, the whitewashed newsprint was Kenya's brainchild, and the brown and coral accent fringes were Ayana's contribution. It was a strong collection and Nina loved the bottle cap buttons going down the back of Ayana's piece.

Team Tsunami wanted to design clothing to wear by the ocean or at
a resort. Instead they got swamped by the wave. The designers from
left to right: Sentell, Samantha, Amy, Shawn and Claire. The judges loved
Samantha's twined and braided top and off-set skirt, and they tolerated
Amy's strange raincoat with plastic discs skirt, and Claire's silvery
crinkled fabric for Liris' skirt. Shawn's blue-fronted sheath and
Sentell's decent top with a wrapped garbage bag for the skirt didn't
make the mark. 

Team Tsunami was on the other side of the coin. Amy, Samantha and Claire had designs that pulled them through to safety, leaving Shawn in the bottom (again - that's 2 for 2 for this ditzy twin), and Sentell who had ended up with a free hour at the end to help Shawn assemble her outfit. In fact, it came out that quite a few of the others had helped Shawn complete a Runway outfit.

Ayana's fashion goal is to design
fashion forward modest clothing.
Here she made a fierce, high-necked
battle dress and it totally rocked. 

Who won and who lost? The winner of the challenge was Ayana - the lovely Muslim woman from Utah whose goal is to design fashion-forward modest clothing. Even with junk, she designed a beautiful outfit that was fiercely shown by her model. Steller designing!

If Sentell had dome something - anything -
with his skirt, he would have been passed
and Shawn would have been sent home.
The Twins make for entertaining TV, but
if Shawn is falling apart every episode, does
she really deserve to be in the workroom?
Still, Sentell was sent home this time and
Shawn lives on to annoy me again. 

The losing look? Although I suspect it was VERY close, Sentell was sent home. If he had put any effort into his skirt, he would probably have been allowed to pass on and Shawn would have had the door hit her on the way out. Shawn kept complaining about not being used to designing for "curvey women". Maggie Q burst in with "If you think that's curvy, you're going to have a real problem designing in the United States." I suddenly really liked the celebrity judge for this week's show. As it turned out, Sentell had just gotten married to his husband the day before he left for the show, so he wasn't devastated at leaving. Honeymoon time beckoned to him.

Have a great Saturday, and make it work! I'll be back on Monday.