Project Runway - A Heritage of Fashion

The photos of the Runway fashions were up last night, so I can finally post Thursday's fashions and Project Runway breakdown. Thanks to all of my readers for your patience. As always, the fashions are shown in alphabetic order of the designers. 

So ... on to fashion, clashing personalities, and detailed analysis - I can hardly wait! Now there are ten: Brittany, Chelsey, Dayoung, Delvin and Geoffrey, Marquise, Nancy, Sergio, Shavi and Victoria. The challenge is to make an outfit based on the individual designer's heritage. I have a feeling there will be some communication with family members too. Here we go ...

Brittany wanted to focus on her Western heritage with
this updated cowboy look in denim. I loved the boots
and the hat, and the dress itself flared beautifully on
the Runway. As a girl who grew up in the West, I'd
totally love an outfit like this. 

Chelsey was raised by her grandmothers when her
mother was unable to cope due to addiction problems.
Since her grandmothers were both educators, she
chose an athletic jacket style to honor them with
specific lettering for Season 18 of Project Runway,
as well as initials on the front and one name across
the back. 

To do a challenge to make any type of fashion can be hard. Do you want to make it short or long, how about tight or loose fitting? Then you throw in the "based on heritage" twist, and things can become downright difficult. Many people know where they come from, but some people, like me, have no idea. If you were faced with designing an outfit, or maybe writing a story, based on your personal heritage, what would you create? My heritage is completely unknown, but the families who have taken me in are Jewish, German, immigrant, with a bit of Lakota Sioux thrown into the mix. My married-into family is Scottish, German and Irish Roman Catholic. Then there's Dad's family from the Czech Republic and my extended family on his side living in Israel. My heritage is all over the damned globe. I'm relieved I'm not designing for this challenge. 

Daeyoung wanted to use a rich brocade as her
fabric and celebrate her heritage with an updated
Korean jacked style. The jacket was lux, but the
color tone didn't really match with the skirt color. 

Dayoung's design celebrates her grandparents who were separated by the Korean War. Her grandmother fled to the south while her grandfather was imprisoned in the North. Shavi is working in glittering gold lame to celebrate his grandmother who sang at the Cotton Club. Sergio wants to embrace both his Mexican immigrant heritage and a political statement by highlighting the deaths of six immigrant children over the past year while they were being held in Trump's holding camps. He's also using cotton for his cocktail dress since his grandfather raised cotton. Marquise is going with a patchwork quilt motif to honor his grandmothers, both of whom quilted. 

Delvin never was able to decide on his heritage so he
worked with the heritage of construction instead, leaving
the side panel of the gown as plain muslin with
markings written on it for assembly instructions. It
was a great idea, but the dress fabric was a poor choice.

I was rather "meh" about Geofrey's dress this time, but
he had immunity so whether it was good or bad, it
didn't really matter. He wanted a military look, but I
don't think that came across very well. 

Nancy has some super fabulous fabric - glimmery and multi-colored. She wants to make something new and shiny since she dreamed of new clothes while growing up wearing hand-me-downs. Chelsey is making an athletic jacket to honor the grandmothers who raised her when her mother was unable to. Both grandmothers were educators and the athletic jacket seemed to fit that imagery for her. 

When Marquise was talking with his family, it was
mentioned that all of his female relatives had
quilted. He decided to honor them by using quilted
and striped fabrics in his blocked design. I really
liked this one, although I would look for more color. 

Victoria has become the Blue Fairy, using the color because it reminds her of the flag of Moldova in a pant and long offset duster-style jacket. I'm really not sure why the light blue color. Moldava's flag is a tri-color and the blue is a Royal Blue. Brittany is going modern-day Western to honor her lifestyle as well as her husband who was "Cowboy of the Year" in 2002. Delvin had a really difficult time with this because he has not idea what his heritage is. He vacillated on design for a long, long time, then finally decided to focus on the heritage of couture and show the interior design elements of some of his outfit. 

Nancy's choice of fabric was lux - the jacket just
shimmered down the Runway. I wasn't a fan of
the pants, but adored the jacket. Although I like her,
she's still lacking confidence in her design decisions. 

Of course, Sergio was originally going to design
a gown. After his family told him his grandfather
had raised cotton in Mexico, he switched his
fabric to 100% cotton for this design, which I don't
think did him any favors. He also changed from
gown to a cocktail dress. The names of the six
children are embroidered around the hem of
the skirt, so not visible in this photo. 

Did the designs come together? If I judge by the final two hours in the workroom and the final fluff and trim behind the stage at the Runway, I'd have to say that many of the outfits are excellent, but there are some serious disasters walking the Runway too. I can hardly wait to take a closer look at the styles and hear what the judges have to say. So ... on to the Runway. 

Shavi wanted to honor his grandmother who was a
dancer at the Cotton Club in Harlem. He chose a
gold lame fabric that gave him issue after issue. Basically,
his design was damned by bad fabric choice, and
in the end, turned into a poorly executed gown in
a style that has been done for decades. 

There were some definite problems - fabrics that stretched or bunched where they shouldn't and looks that were confusing. There were some winners too. I loved Brittany's Western look, I thought Nancy's look was fun and had flourish, and I loved Marquise's quilted and striped look. What did the judges like? Which outfits were their top and bottom looks? Let's find out. 

Victoria's choice of style and fabric color mystified
me as well as the judges. Although it was impeccably
put together and fit her model like a glove, there
really wasn't anything of her heritage in it, so she
didn't meet the challenge parameters. 

Nancy, Brittany, Geoffrey and Marquise were safe. I'm going for ... damned. I'm totally torn between Dayoung and Chelsey for the win because I would wear either garment and I'm quite sure a lot of people would love either one too. For the loss, Shavi has been in the bottom several times and Delvin messed up big-time. Sergio will be safe because the other two were worse. I'm going with Shavi for the loss, but it's by a whisker. So ... am I right? 

SPOILER BELOW THE CUT - DON'T READ AHEAD UNLESS YOU WANT THE RESULTS. 

Chelsey takes the win with that wonderful Varsity jacket. I loved the jacket. I'd totally wear it. Shavi is being sent home. Although it could have gone either way (Delvin or Shavi), I think Shavi's dress was a style that has been done over and over again, and the fabric was just the wrong choice. So, now we're down to nine. Who is next to go home? We'll find out next week when the designers each collaborate with Ashley Longshore and Bergdorf Goodman (I hope I spelled these right). I have to get going, have a lot of snow to shovel. Have a great Saturday and I'll be back on Monday.