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| The Final Five l-r - Ayana Ife, Margarita Alvarez, Kenya Freeman, Kentaro Kameyama and Brandon Kee. Who will be the winner this season? That gets determined next week, but after tonight's episode, one of these five designers will be our of the competition. |
Tim Gunn took a fall the day before starting his studio visits, so he's sporting a flesh-colored bandage across his brow, slightly above his eyebrows, covering stitches and bruising. Although the bandage size decreased as he visited each location, he had it throughout his home visits.
His first visit was to Ayana in Salt Lake City, Utah. Here, Tim met her mother and her best friend, Jaz. After a chat in the park, Tim joined Ayana as she showed him her collection where she is sticking to her modest clothing design collection ideals. What she had so far looked interesting - earthy colors and lots of wonderful textures - but I want to see what she pulls out for her two-outfit preview.
Tim's second visit was to Atlanta to see Kenya and her large family of strong women. I really liked her family - loud, brash, and unafraid to express an opinion; they were super supportive of Kenya and her long road to make it in fashion. After an amazing meal, Tim and Kenya moved to her studio space where she showed her collection inspired by sea, sand and water. The colors were all on the edge of pastel and although the actual designs were interesting, the colors inspired "...a snooze-fest..." according to Tim. Time to brighten the look by bringing in a bold color or two as accents and support pieces.
The third visit was to Kentaro's home and studio in Los Angeles, California. The home was lovely, but his collection was all over the place, and Tim finally gave up and sighed. He told Kentaro that he didn't have a single collection, he had four completely different ones. Kentaro said that he didn't want too much cohesion ... I think he succeeded in that goal. After playing Tim an original piano piece that he composed to accompany his designs, Tim left with a worried look on his face. I suspect he was more confused and less certain about Kentaro than he ever was in the New York PR workshop. (Of course, the statement of Kentaro's that he buried a dead cat that he found in the road, then put his ear to the ground and what he heard was what he put into his composition was just over the top! My first thought was "...was the cat alive when you buried it?". OMG!)
Visit number four was a trip to the warmer climate of San Juan, Puerto Rico to see Margarita. She based her collection on a print inspired by a 1980's couch owned by her parents. It featured bright colors and swirling patterns, but had a very resort wear feel. Tim told her to take the beach out and put the street in. If she does that, she might have a winning collection.
Visit number five was to San Francisco to visit Brandon. Brandon's collection, mixing and matching a bold flamingo print that he altered in some ways and accented in others, was the only collection that Tim loved from top to bottom. Brandon's designs seemed thoroughly thought out, drawn out and paired with color swatches. As a collection it was cohesive, mix and match, and generally something I really loved with the small look we got.
Back in New York two weeks later, the designers moved back into their apartment and gathered once more in the Project Runway workshop. The five are friends, but also competitors, and their looks are completely individual. The two-outfit preview is not going to make choosing the final three easy by any means. We'll go through the Runway show and final choices for New York Fashion Week in tomorrow's post, but I really liked most of the looks that walked the Runway tonight. Everyone brought their A game!
Heidi's surprise announcement before the final cut-away is that they are choosing four designers for New York Fashion Week. I think Kentaro may be off, based on his white outfit and his styling which was bizarre, to say the least. I think the judges are torn between him and Kenya. I adore Kenya, think she's a totally wonderful designer for large-bodied women, and want to see the rest of what Kenya designed. I'm hoping she might have wiggled her way into the final spot. Margarita is also one of those maybe or not made the final designers, although her final looks tonight were strong and well received by the judges. Who is out? You'll find out tomorrow in my blog, or you can cheat and look it up on-line if you didn't watch the episode.
There was also a short preview for Project Runway All Stars. A new season starts in January, peeps! I'm already looking forward to it! Have a totally fabulous Friday and I'll be back with pictures and spoilers tomorrow.
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