Project Runway 9/17/08--"Transformation" summary

Previously on Project Runway: everyone had to make avant-garde clothes based on a zodiac sign. Should have been done with 12 people left, I think. But this way they could invite all the executed designers back to pair up with the people left. No one really did anything avant-garde. Remember Jeffrey’s yellow and red plaid dress from Paris? Anyway, Jerell was chosen the winner, chosen by previous Runway alumni. Then they kicked out Blayne for some weird fabric-pooping thing, and also Terri for a boring dress, or costume, or something. I really think Kenley should have gone home but that’s probably because I don’t like her. She was very defensive about how her dress was totally her sign, even though no one got it. And she insisted that she doesn’t look at other designers’ collections, which 1. actually is a bad thing, apparently, according to Kors, but also 2. so far, she is the only designer this season who gets compared to designers on a regular basis. When she won, with her 80’s print and poofy skirt? Someone’s fall collection of 80’s, high necked dresses. Her finale collection has been compared to others. It’s just entertaining that she’s so insistent that she is unique and great and she’s the only one that reminds people of someone else. (click for more)

Blayne is finally gone with his “licious” and nonsense. He was fine when he wasn’t doing that. Leanne guesses that they’ll be making evening gowns for infants. Kenley has no idea why she was in the bottom, so she’s basically saying screw you and doing whatever she wants. Yeah, that’s a good idea.

Heidi doesn’t even let them pick models before some older women come out. Cue the tootling “crazy model time!” music. Korto says she knows what happened the last time there were moms, and she doesn’t want to have to kick anyone’s ass for making her mom cry. Hee. Jerell knows these are moms, but they sure as hell aren’t his and Korto’s moms (that’s fo sho) so he doesn’t have any idea what is going on. Hey, he has a good point. Heidi clarifies: they won’t design for these women. Leanne is relieved not to have to design an “old lady outfit”. So their actual clients come out: some young women. Jerell thinks they are so young it might be another prom challenge, but as someone who works with high school students, I can tell you those women are in college. These are the daughters, and they have all recently graduated from college. So now they’re getting makeovers, I guess to join the workforce. Everyone gets paired up. I have a question: why are the mothers even involved in this challenge? Wouldn’t it have been just as good to only have the girls? Are we that desperate for drama? Kenley of course gets the girl with the retro glasses and the blond bangs. Leanne thinks her client is 12.

Joe is sketching even before Tim shows up. Tim points out that since he is sure the mothers will have opinions, in essence the designers have two clients. 30 minutes to caucus, $100 at Mood. Joe is convinced that if mom likes his design, daughter will not. Kenley’s client Anna tells her she’s cute. This is going to be SO GREAT. (Kmanpat: “You mean grate. *snort*”) She’s going to do her usual retro thing. Shocker. Korto is a hip mom so she feels like she is with it. She’s making a wrap dress. Jerell’s client is a designer but she wants androgynous. This translates to a pencil skirt, blouse, and men’s cardigan. Leanne’s client Holly is a teacher, so she wants comfort but also authority. Mom is kind of bossy. Avital (stuck with Suede, fun) wants an interview outfit but she’s a photographer so it doesn’t have to be that conservative. She wants pants which kind of freaks him out. But he sounds like he’ll do it. Laura tells Joe she has no job yet but has some interviews. He’s planning a skirt suit, and they talk about where the jacket should hit her so it looks good.

Shopping time! It looks like some of them bring bags to reuse. Korto interviews that now that Stella’s gone she’s the queen of leathah now. Suede has a “Pucci-esque” print. I don’t know if that’s spelled right and I don’t care. It’s not a bad print, I guess.

Tim gives them until midnight tonight and also all day tomorrow. Leanne is making a dress with what looks like a boxy jacket. She starts talking about her first job and the editors oblige with a photo. She looks 7. She was making clothes for someone else. Joe worked in the stockroom at Gucci. His picture? He is every 80s business man. Oh man. Hilarious. You can see the gel. Kenley moved to New York right out of school with no money, she’s not going to stop now, etc.

“Top Chef: New York”! Coming Soon! Woo!

Jerell, who is working the jheri curl in his old picture, is brave enough to admit he started at McDonalds. Korto is worried about her jacket, which is not quite heavy enough to be tweed and instead is looking burlap. Suede is starting with the jacket because he’s afraid of the pants.
Tim brings in the clients for 30 minutes to fit. Jerell has a ruffled and sheer top, in a dark color. It might be cool. Avital asks Suede to make her less professional. Mom asks if he can make cuffs out of the print, but he thinks it’s cheap. The jacket isn’t so matronly, but with matching pants it probably isn’t great. Joe’s client doesn’t like pinstripes. Mom thinks she’ll look sharp. Jerell interviews that Kenley can only make 50’s dresses, as if we hadn’t figured that out for ourselves. Holly’s mom tells Leanne that the top of the dress makes Holly look flatchested. She wants it lower cut. She’s a teacher, it can’t be that low. Mom insists that if they were in a store they’d put it back. It’s not that bad. Now Leanne feels behind.

Korto tells Leanne she cringed when she heard her clients telling her to fix things. Leanne’s going to keep the detail but move it. It still puts her behind. Suede is draping his top long like a dress and he hates pants so much he is going to make a dress and just sell Avital on a dress. Joe is making…a pocket square? For a girl? Sigh. Jerell makes fun of him to his face, but Kenley does it behind his back. Jerell borrows some fabric to make himself a pocket square, in his close-cut blazer with no shirt on. Joe says he has so many opinions, like…he starts laughing and won’t finish. I don’t know.

Day 2. Tim brings the clients back in, sans moms. Cool. Joe thinks his client is more excited, and he wants to show off fit and tailoring. Korto’s jacket looks great. Holly loves Leanne’s new dress. Sadly Avital loves Suede’s dress and doesn’t want pants. I was hoping for some drama. Tim wants everyone to gather ‘round. Suede knows “gather ‘round!”s are never good so he’s just hoping not to have to design for the moms. Tim brings in a special guest: Jeanie Syfu, head stylist for TRESemme. The winning look is going to be in Elle. Woo. Now we spend time on hair consults. Everyone just agrees with everything, except of course Kenley tells the stylist what to do.

Tim time! He hates Suede’s pockets on the jacket and the sleeves because they don’t look even. Joe’s client is a graphic designer but his suit looks too much like a lawyer. Joe isn’t listening, because he thinks a professional look is the most important thing. Tim calls Jerell’s outfit stunning. Somehow…it feels fake. I don’t know, I just have a gut feeling that his statement was edited. Kenley has a vest going on, for some reason. Tim tells her that without a belt, the look is very masculine, the vest I guess. So the vest without a belt doesn’t go with the girly dress. He also tells her that the tulle could be the same length as the skirt, and we see that she has like 2 or 3 inches of tulle sticking out of the bottom of the skirt. Stupid. Kenley thinks Tim doesn’t get her so she’s not listening. Ugh, she bugs me.

Korto tells Joe she’s made her daughter some stuff. Her daughter is so cute! She’s always in Korto’s clothes. Korto can’t imagine her daughter at 21. Joe calls his wife and kids from the lounge. His main purpose for being on the show is to prove to his daughters that no one can stop you.

Back at the apartments everyone hangs out and trash talks people. Well, mostly Kenley says that Suede isn’t a good designer because, and I quote, “he can’t interpret his style into different looks.” Then she calls him a poser. I can’t even improve on that statement by making a comment. I’ll just let it sink in.

On the day of the show Tim gives everyone an hour with their clients. Joe’s client says a job’s a job, so she’s not concerned about the conservativeness of the outfit. Anna shows Kenley she’s been practicing her walk. There isn’t as much frantic sewing as there has been. Kenley thinks everyone else sucks and she’s sure she’ll be in the top three.

Heidi is rocking a green dress that is apparently one of Rami’s. Guest judge today is Cynthia Rowley. Why is Jerell wearing a flat cap covered in feathers? He looks silly. Joe: pinstripe skirt, wrap blouse in stripes, navy blazer with red piping. And a leopard print pocket square. I’m sorry, but his client isn’t that big, and this suit makes her look huge. She looks like a man. There’s no excuse for that. AND he popped the collar on her shirt. Leanne: boxy gray jacket with elbow length sleeves and a circular pattern on one shoulder. The pattern is in dusty rose and charcoal. Then the dress is a navy with a block of rose down the bodice and a gray belt. It looks pretty cute, actually. She still looks young, but whatever. Jerell: pencil skirt in black, chocolate brown silk top with ruffles and a sheer piece over her upper chest, and a black cardigan. I think for a designer you could wear that to an interview. Korto: wrap dress in a green leaf-like print. It is pretty short for someone that works in a lab. It’s short for work, period. The jacket is camel and has black piping so it accentuates her curves. It closes just under her bustline and then is open up to the high collar so it has a keyhole opening. I really like it, even though it has bracelet sleeves and I think bracelet sleeves look like you shrunk your clothes by accident. Suede: the jacket, which his client whips off really quickly, is brown with lavender piping and flares out at the wrists. The dress is one shoulder, with braided straps at the opposite shoulder, in the purple print. The straps cross in the back. Kenley: first of all, she put one of her feather sprays in the girl’s hair. You know those aren’t on the Bluefly accessory wall. She’s got her usual retro dress with a pinkish print. Then there’s a brown vest and a wide peach belt. It’s unfortunate because the belt is really, really close to Holly’s skin tone so from far away it looks like a cropped top and skirt combo.

Heidi kicks the moms out of the room, and makes everyone stay on the runway. Kenley gets to go first. She tries to kiss ass and say she thinks her look would look good in Elle. Heidi says she created a mini-me. Ha! She did! Nina labels it “charming” and Cynthia likes it too. Damn. Joe gets slammed for making a suit, because you can be professional without a suit. His client admits she likes it better without the jacket. Uh oh. Kors implies that Joe is too old and starts talking about a pocket square, and then Kenley starts laughing. And Holly too. Will no one say anything? Seriously, it’s so unprofessional and rude, and this isn’t the first time she’s done it. I hope Joe yells at her in the waiting room. Nina labels it cliché. Korto made a fun outfit to fit her client’s age of 21. Everyone loves it and it’s well made. Leanne’s outfit looks much much better without the jacket. I guess they thought the jacket hid her body. I think they like the dress but not the jacket. Heidi loves everything about Jerell’s client. Nina likes the cardigan with the frilly blouse. Suede’s jacket, you can see now, has purple swirly piping on the sleeves, and the same color on the pockets. Avital wanted something to go day to evening, and Cynthia says she should just change clothes. Oo. Nina doesn’t like it and she clams up. I will say, that dress and that jacket don’t really fit. I think the jacket might look better with pants. Just maybe not matching pants.

Good: Jerell (a wonderful transformation, sophistication without being old), Kenley (interesting print, done well, worked for her client), Korto (perfectly tailored jacket that looked expensive). Bad: Suede (ridiculous jacket, looks 20 years older and not like a photographer), Leanne (didn’t look fresh, old fashioned, frumpy), Joe (out of touch, poorly done, not contemporary, cliché). Sadly, unlike on “Top Chef”, there is no drama backstage in the waiting room.

Korto is in. Whatever, I want that outfit she made. Jerell wins. Take that, Kenley! I am a small person so I am glad that she looks pissed. He’s thrilled of course. (Tim’s Take says that the feathered thing Jerell was wearing on his head was originally for his model to wear on the runway. Can you imagine?) Kenley is in. Leanne is in. Joe aged his model (25 years for him), and Suede’s look was impractical and silly. Joe is out. He doesn’t think he deserved to leave, he’s got some versatility, he thinks he’s proven that he can follow his dreams. And he still got to show at Fashion Week.

Next week: “unique”, says Tim. Jerell wants to sabotage Suede. Tim flat out tells Kenley to “remove the sarcasm and facetiousness”. To which Kenley replies, “What does Tim know?” (Kmanpat: “More than you, honey.”) LL Cool J is here! Korto says they’re leaving Kenley out to dry. Woo!