Project Runway - Drama and Design and a Drop to Final Four

It's Project Runway night, and two contestants will be sent home tonight. Last week, Nancy won with Victoria as the runner-up while the designers worked for Olympic and Paralympic athletes, designing outfits per their client's specifications. This week it's avante-guarde, possible the toughest challenge yet for the six remaining designers. They'll have to allow their personal design aesthetic to shine through clearly while being inspired by the architecture of "The Vessel". 

Brittany Allen used brilliant pink fabric and
embellished with butterflies throughout. I wish her
butterflies had been other than translucent
plastic, but loved the color of her oversized
coat. 

This is a two-day challenge. Nancy, last weeks winner, gets to begin by choosing her model. As often before, she chose DD, our favorite Trans model. Victoria is the final designer to choose her model. For their Mood shopping trip, they each have a budget of $600 and a full 60 minutes to shop. With The Vessel as their inspiration, they are all looking for something unusual, amazing and totally unexpected. It's their last chance to make it onto the final stage for Fashion Week, but it's a large hurdle they have to jump over before the doors to the final show open for them. I'd be plenty nervous and if they aren't, they're probably robots. (Of course, Victoria might BE a robot - LOL.) 

Geoffrey Mac apparently used to own a latex
company and made latex outfits for Katy Perry
and other very well known popular musicians.
I had no idea. He put structure into the
short jacked and translucency into the attached
cape and it was all latex. With this fabric, he's
a master. Who knew? 

Geoffrey originally chooses a stiff satin, but Christian says an emphatic "No!". Then Geoffrey chooses latex. I have no idea why the hell he keeps digging himself into holes with his fabric choices. He's a talented designer with no fabric sense! Latex is a total bear to work with. His choice is already stressing me out. Brittany is going crazy with pink. Victoria is piecing together multitudes of small pieces of faux leather for her look - she says "1000's of pieces of fabric". If it truly is 1000's of pieces, even with a two-day challenge, I suspect she won't be anywhere close to being done on time. 

Marquise Foster wanted to stay with his
menswear foundation and did chained pants
that I totally loved, along with a pleated
under shirt and a structured silvered-fabric
jacket. I could have done without the
jacket. The basic outfit was great, though. 

On Day 2, Christian takes the designers into a room where he has all of their previous outfits hanging on clothes racks. They are told that they will show the look they are currently making, but may also accompany the new outfit with two of their previous looks to make a mini-collection. They will also each be given the use of a professional seamstress for the day to help them with their outfits and any alterations they may need on the older outfits they have chosen to showcase. I can't recall any time in the past when help assembling has even been an option. Having a seamstress is like a gift from the Gods. - that extra pair of well-trained hands that may well rescue them from total face-plant disaster. 

Nancy Volpe-Beringer dressed DD in smoke and
as it moved, it was rather amazing. This photo does
NOT do the outfit justice at all. If you get a chance
to watch the episode, pay attention to how this
outfit moves. It's really rather remarkable. 

The show is scheduled for dawn, so everyone is expected back in the workroom at 3:00 am. (Suddenly the designers are on my kind of schedule - LOL.) It should be an amazing show moving up and down the staircases of The Vessel while the sun rises over the horizon and the Hudson River backdrop. It's an extraordinary building hosting an extraordinary fashion show. Those of you who have been reading my blog for years know that architecture is near and dear to my heart, so having architecture of structure as well as fabric merged together is like the fulfillment of a long-held and never expressed dream. No matter who wins, loses, stays or goes home, my Project Runway Season 18 has just become my personal perfect storm of a dream. 

Sergio Guadarrama decided that this week's
political statement would be to honor the female
samuri of Japan and the thought that women can
do everything, including being a bad-ass on the
other side of a very sharp sword. His dramatic
outfit, along with the makeup and hair design
he chose, pulled back to Galliano and McQueen,
however, and that was instantly noted by the
judges. Nina Garcia called him out on that. 

Brandon Maxwell apparently suffers from vertigo and is unable to take the elevator to the viewing level chosen for the judges. He make it up a few floors by stair, and will look at the show from a much lower point of view. Opera glasses are provided for all of the judges and the show begins. What follows is possibly the most amazing Runway show of walking fashion I've ever seen - down the stairways, grouped in threes, the models descend from the top level down to mid-range height. Each grouping of fashion has so many things going for them. Each new design shows the aesthetic of both avante-guarde and the specific designer beautifully. Do I agree with all of the choices made? Hell no. But it was an extraordinary show. 

Victoria Cocieru said this week's color palette was
her favorite and one she used often, so why had we
never seen it before? She made her own fabric by
cutting 1000 small squares of faux leather, then
sewing each onto onto a sheer backing in a way that
made the outfit sparkle like raindrops. I liked the
technique a lot. I still dislike her as a designer. 

So - who stays and gets to make a collection for Fashion Week and who goes home? I'm going on the fence and saying Brittany will be sent home and ... I think it's very possible that Sergio may also be sent home. He's an amazing craftsman, but he can't seem to show himself away from political statements. It might be Victoria instead of Sergio, though, (although that might just be my inner desire coming to the front), and then there's Marquise who's also on the fence in my eyes. Damn - I'm totally flummoxed. I truly can't decide because this show was so strong and they are all neck to neck contenders. 

WARNING - SPOILER AHEAD SO ONLY READ IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHO GOES HOME AND WHO CONTINUES ON TO FASHION WEEK. 

So, realistically, although there might be a winner for this week, in reality, anyone passing on is a winner. To focus, there are no winners, only two losers, and those two are still amazing designers. Who's going home? Brittany, for sure, but who will be joining her? 

The final four are Geoffrey, Victoria, Nancy and Sergio. That means Marquise and Brittany are out. The Final Four are assigned the task of making a 10-outfit collection for Fashion Week with a budget of $10,000 and five months of work time. That's actually a lot of pressure and not a lot of time - two Runway-ready outfits each month for five months. With their return to their home studios, suddenly real life will start to interfere with personal schedules and they will have a lot of self-doubts and questions without people to bounce ideas from or other people's work to push and inspire them. It's actually going to be really hard!