Meow - The Project Runway Season 16 Reunion Show

Those of us who watched Project Runway, Season 16 throughout were floored by the back and forth of the Terrible Twins - Shawn and Claire. Last night, in the Reunion Show, I was waiting for the claws to come out, figuring they would be directed at the Twins. They did, they were, and for a chance, even though once again I sacrificed some sleep time to the show, once again I also found the sacrifice well worth it. MEOW indeed - those claws were sharpened! 

The Terrible Twins - Claire and Shawn (l-r) Buitendorp from
Michigan, were raked over the coals for the cheating scandal as
well as their speech patterns and how much they finished each
other's work on the show. 

After a nice conversation with the five finalists, and some behind-the-scenes footage and "in the box" filmed asides, Tim Gunn (the host for the night) had a second group of designers enter the room. These additional six designers, (later joined by the final five to make a complete complement of sixteen), included the Terrible Twins. The nice, easy and friendly atmosphere clouded up and anger and accusations once again raised their heads. 

Amy Bond, the fashion designer and educator from Los Angeles,
California, earned some deep respect from her fellow
designers for sharp skills and innovative design. She ended
up in 7th place. Not too bad for someone in her late 40's
competing within a younger crowd. 

Amy started things out. I don't think I had heard her speak as much during the actual show, but she started point-blank asking Claire about the infamous "tape measure" incident that had resulted in Claire being disqualified from her win and ejected from the show. Now, in this initial response as well as a more in-depth response when others in the group forced a more expansive answer, Claire changed her story! 

Now, instead of her having the tape measure in her hotel room and measuring a "tank top and crotch on a pair of pants", she suddenly had forgotten to leave the tape measure on her workbench. She continued that she had merely carried it to the hotel room for the night, and that all of her measuring had happened in the bathroom at the workshop. She said this even when Michael said, again, that he had seen her using it and writing down measurements at the hotel apartment. 

Despite the claws, the rest of the group seemed to get along really well. I was surprised by the respect offered to Amy from several of the finalists. Several said she was one of the best designers they knew, innovative and bold with amazing skills. She seemed to garner a lot of respect among the rest of the designers. I was surprised because none of that seemed to come out in the actual show, but it was really nice to see and I admit she had some really excellent designs on the runway. 

Ayana Ife was praised for staying true to her vision of making
clothing designs for the modest woman, as well as being
a wonderful spokesperson front-and-center for the modern
Muslim woman. She certainly thinks out of the box - she won
BOTH unconventional materials challenges. 

Ayana was praised for sticking to her goals of designing for modest women. I really enjoyed her design views and her final dress on the runway was a show-stopper. 

There was even a short segment where five of the models joined the designers on-stage. Tim told them that Marie Claire Magazine wants to do an e-feature focusing on Liris and Jazzmine, talking about the larger, more curvaceous woman and fashion in general. They were floored and absolutely delighted. I was really happy to hear that Nina Garcia was the push behind the e-feature and that the magazine plans to continue their broadened focus and move into more than just small-sized models. 

So, Project Runway Season 16 is officially over and I can look forward to Project Runway All Stars in January (although I still don't know the dates). It was a great season with five very strong designers in the final five and some very distinct and talented voices in clothing design. If you are interested in the stats, a complete list of designers and models, and other in-depth information, check out Wikipedia 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Runway_(season_16)#Episode_1:_One_Size_Does_Not_Fit_All) 
and while you're at it, donate a little bit to the Wiki to help keep information available to all of us on so many subjects. 

On that note, I wish all of you a wonderful Friday and December 1st. I'm still on track to get my holiday cards in the mail by middle of next week, but need to get some serious work done before opening the shop today.