PR Episode 3: Designing for Mantis Girls

I think if we learned anything valuable from this episode, it's that stilt-walkers are creepy.

But I really liked this challenge. After eleventeen seasons or whatever, I'm sure it's getting harder to come up with good challenges that aren't just making a cute little dress. Designing for a weird client is always a fun challenge.

Too bad the results of a good challenge were a little disappointing. There were really only two looks I even liked at all. Let's get to it.



Top 3:

Anthony and Laura: This was the winning look, which Anthony let Laura have the win for. I'm not quite sure why he did that, but it was nice to see a team getting along nicely and... wait, no it's better to see teams fighting. Every single team should have been scratching and pulling hair by the end. Only half kidding. 

Anyway, yes this was beautiful and striking and dramatic and had nothing wrong with it. My problem with it was that it didn't really have a hint of weirdness in it. Kors loved it because it could have been a normal-sized beautiful dress, but if that's what they wanted, why didn't they have them just dress normal-height girls? Yes the feathery shoulders add interest, but that's so trendy right now that it doesn't really come off as weird or even whimsical. Nina did mention that it was referential to a famous designer, but I wish she had said who. Apparently his bird seed dress last week was too similar to an Alexander McQueen look. 

Kimberly and Becky:  So this was my favorite because it was beautiful and stylish and a little freakish. Not a costume, but something that a stilt walker should wear. I didn't even mind the half-collar like the judges did. I love the way they designed it to the style of this particular girl, showing off her shoulder tattoo and all that. I don't even usually like asymmetrical sleeves, but it all looked perfect for her.

Cecilia and Danielle: Ew. Eeeewwww. This was top 3. Apparently chiffon gives the judges wet dreams or something. Who cares if they did a great job with chiffon? Who wears chiffon anymore? The only good thing about this was the color of the top. I chose to show a picture from the back because I thought those "dramatic" huge sleeves just made her look like she had ginormous old-lady-arm-fat-flaps. The front was just button-up (all the way up) with a bejeweled collar. This is stylish? I'm confused. Even if I picture it without her awful hairdo, I choke on the imaginary smell of old lady perfume.



Stuck in the Middle: 

Olivier and Anya: As soon as they started calling this the dream team, I was hoping for a complete and utter disaster from these two. Instead we just got dead-center mediocre. That blue-ish material does look a lot prettier here than it did on tv. And the top just seemed like a lame idea poorly executed. Maybe if they had chosen a more contrasting material on top? This was a snooze and they are lucky so many other teams sucked this week. 

Bottom 3:

Bert and Viktor: I'm actually quite impressed at how quickly and completely Bert has transformed himself from the sympathetic favorite to this season's villain. Maybe it's part of his strategy. I was really worried Viktor was going to take the heat for this and go home. Not that I love Viktor or anything. He had his bratty moments but Bert was basically a much huger dick. I would have hated for Viktor to lose just because Heidi assumed that the older Bert would be more truthful and trustworthy. Isn't that like reverse agism or something?

As for the dress, there's nothing else to say besides baaaaaaad curtains. I couldn't believe this was the fabric they chose on their first trip to Mood. How unfortunate.

Joshua and Julie: Joshua is really not turning out to be as annoying as I thought he would. He kind of cracks me up-

        "Julie, anything in life can be pleated."

        "Julie and I could basically swap genders."

I was excited when I saw the fabric they chose for the pants. They really could have had a great Mondo-ish moment with those pants right? But the top was a disaster. It wasn't a bad idea to have a matador reference, but this wasn't just a reference. This was some little girl from Toddlers and Tiaras dressing up as a matador for the talent portion of the pageant. Those fabrics are so tacky looking, and then of course they over-embellished. Julie seems lost and might be expiring soon...

Bryce and Fallene: Hey, you guys remember when I said that Fallene wasn't that talented and would be going home soon? K, just making sure. I feel like this was an aufing we can all feel good about, even her. She knew she had come about as far as she could. Honestly, I would have been mad if that little fascinator business had saved her. Not that it wasn't a good idea, but those kind of things are for selling on Etsy, not winning Project Runway. (If you missed it, she was in charge of the bodice and they had to scrap it because she didn't know how to cut on the grain and it looked really bad. So Bryce had an hour or so to make a tube top and belt just so it could be enough to send down the runway. Of the whole look, she only made the headpiece.) I wish she had said something in her little exit interview about going home and getting some serious sewing training. If designing was your dream and sewing was your weakness, wouldn't you do what you could to remedy that? I hope she does. 

As for Bryce, I'm not sure why, but I really think he might have something interesting going on in his head. I hope he shows us soon, or he will be on the short list of near-aufing. 

Oh, and Kim Kardashian as a judge? It just took me a really long time to even remember who the guest judge was, so I guess she didn't make much impact. She probably should have brought a little more crazy to the show, right? I would have thought. 

So what did you guys think?