It’s the fifth Episode of “Project Runway” Season 14, and just as the designers are starting to find their groove. Boom! It’s time for another team challenge. This week’s episode involved a game of paintball, Tim in a white jumpsuit and sunburnt, a team full of mean girls, plus one of the best collections I have seen in a long time on “Project Runway.” Let’s get started.
As the episode begins, Tim and Heidi saunter onto the runway wearing white jumpsuits and holding paint ball guns. Gee, I wonder where this is going? Before any announcement of a “Project Runway” paintball game, first things first: picking teams. Blake begins the process since he won last week’s challenge. He chooses Swapnil. I give Blake points for that pick. These two have had their disagreements. I’m glad that Blake put that aside and realized that having Swapnil in a team would be good, since he is arguably one of the best designers this season. Blake may not know how to tell time, but at least he knows that much.
Next, Candice is first named for the second team and she chooses….Amanda?! This goes back and forth between the guys and the girls in a high school P.E. class manner. It quickly becomes boys vs. girls. And most surprisingly, one of the most talented contestants so far, two-time winner Ashley, is left last. Candice and her “cool girls” brigade do their best to make Ashley feel worthless leaving Heidi dumbfounded at the situation–me too!. You see Ashley’s confidence plummeting before your very eyes.
Following this whole “we’re back in high school” moment, Tim Gunn, Team Blue (boys + Merline) and Team Red (girls), meet up at what could only be described as a paintball graveyard, to play a game of “Capture the Fabric.” The challenge is to get as much fabric as you can while getting pounded by the paintballs.
Post-paintball and we find out that Princess Blake barely got paint splatter on his jumpsuit. Thank goodness Tim calls him on it. Nice segue into Tim announcing that indeed it is a team challenge and that they are to create a six piece cohesive mini collection mostly using their paint-splattered jumpsuits as well as the captured fabrics. Or in Princess Blake’s case, he won’t make anything. (Tim double snaps!)
Back in the workroom, Tim enters, looking like a Fashion Lobster from all the sunburn he acquired during the paintball sojourn. He now has an addendum to the original challenge directives: there will be white sheets in the workroom to use as “blank canvases” as well as paintball paint and grenades. Side bar: why, oh why, did we have to go through this whole paintball game, since now the designers have actual paint to splatter on their jumpsuits? I have to admit that a little part of me thinks that this was a result of a producers’ meeting, realizing that Blake had a pristine white jumpsuit and therefore, barely anything to work with. I’ll just put that out there for the “Project Runway” conspiracy theorists. I think it would have been far more interesting to let Blake make something out of his all-white/no-paint jumpsuit and then have to answer to the judges.
The Blue team (boys + Merline) are working great. No issues there. It’s the Red team (girls) that are not so good–they’re disjointed and crumbling right before our very eyes. Team Blue has a cohesive story–50’s, volume, cinched waist. The girls, however, are all over the place and their creations are quickly becoming, as Tim Gunn correctly states, an Easter Egg Festival. Eight hours left in the day and all of a sudden, the girls realize they need to actually come up with a THEME. (Ya think!?) They decide on (wait for it) PURPLE. That’s the thread that will make their collection a winner. Not so much.
Runway show day and it’s looking pretty obvious that Team Red will be on the bottom. No amount of editing can hide that. Former “Fashion Police” maven and judge on the upcoming “Project Runway Junior,” Kelly Osborne, is on hand as one of the guest judges, along with fashion designer and “noted art collector” Lisa Perry. In case you’re wondering her husband, Richard Perry, owns Barney’s NY. The contestants should smile at her. ASAP. The team collections come out and as predicted, Team Blue’s designs are OUTSTANDING. In fact, they’re marvelous.
Team Blue’s collection was so cohesive, I would put it up as an example for whoever makes it to the finals as to how to make your final collection look unified. My favorites are Edmond, Jake and Swapnil. I absolutely love Jake’s fluid top and capri pants look–it’s fresh and chic sportif. Swapnil’s gathered bubble skit and draped top is worthy of a Met Costume Insitiute inclusion, especially since it was done in less than two days. But my top winner–and the judges–was Edmond’s halter gown. That gown was a vision of perfection.
And now, the bottom. No surprise there, it was the Red team. Their designs were not cohesive, and yes, reminiscent of a “Barney & Friends” fashion show. Backstage, as the designers await their results, Team Red decides to actually come up with a theme and vision besides PURPLE! I just about spit out my red wine as Candice said, “San Francisco!” All of a sudden, two days and many hours after the six piece collection has been made, these ladies decide on a story and WHO their woman is? Just for that, they ALL deserve to be out. TWO DAYS and NO ONE could come up with, “She’s on yacht in the South of France,” or, “She’s a young actress and this is her six piece wardrobe collection for her current movie promotions.” I. Can’t. Understand. These. Girls.
Well, neither did the judges. There was not a single good design on Team Red, but I will be honest in saying that Ashley’s design was one of the least creative. But I do think that she is one of the better designers in the entire group, so personally there was no reason to send her home. During the dreaded “Who Should Go Home” session, the “mean girls” naturally dumped on Ashley. Just another turn of the Ashley vs. the “cool girls” knife.
Amanda was on the bottom, again. Her design wasn’t so bad, but it wasn’t good either. You could definitely argue that it was more dramatic than the looks by other team members. I think that the judges thought that since Amanda had been on the bottom so many times, they weren’t giving her another chance. Should this have influenced them? Not so sure. “Project Runway” goes back and forth with its judging decisions: Do they judge on the one outfit in front of them or take past work into account? They like to say no to the latter, but this time, I think it was a yes. So it’s bye bye to Amanda. Let’s hope that Ashley can regain some confidence. As Kelly Osbourne said, “Fashion is a ruthless business,” and we aren’t even halfway through the season.
