Project Runway 10/15/08--"Finale pt. II" summary

Previously on Project Runway: the producers wanted to get rid of Jerell, but he kicked ass, so they let him win but then refused to eliminate anyone. So all four of the designers had to go make collections, and then show up to New York to compete one last time. Including Jerell. When they left, Heidi told them each to make a wedding gown, which isn’t too weird. The home visits were fun, and not that exciting, except that Kenley either has no friends, or didn’t want her friends to meet Tim. Which can’t be true, because if I was a designer on this show, and Tim was coming over, there’d be a line around the block. (Kmanpat: “True dat.”) Anyways, when they all get there, Tim tells them that of course the wedding dresses aren’t enough, they have to make bridesmaid dresses too. Jerell’s wedding dress and bridesmaid dress combo are deemed the worst and he’s sent home. You thought I was kidding before, with the producer thing. May I remind you of last season and Chris and Rami. He still got to show, so that was a great thing. (click for more)

With 3 days left until the show, everyone is getting ready to get to work. Korto is sad Jerell went home but I’m sure she’s glad to still be there. Leanne reminds us it’s a PR first to have 3 women left. Weird, it is. Oh well.

In the workroom Tim welcomes everyone and gives them two important pieces of information. He reminds them they will be able to present 10 looks, and then a dubbed-in voice over says “You’ll need to edit two before the show.” so…were their wedding dresses not supposed to count in the 10 they were told to do? Were they originally told 12? Or 11? Whatever, doesn’t matter except it explains where the extra looks came from. The second thing is that they all need to go to model casting right now.

Model casting goes as well as can be expected. Not exciting. Korto wants girls with hair. Some skinny girl says she’s tall, and she looks kind of familiar but I can’t place her. Leanne asks for an alien-looking girl. Kenley for some reason is telling Leanne who to pick. Shush. Then Morgan walks in. MORGANZA!! Oh, I miss her and her drama. She made season 1 so much more interesting. Now I can’t be bothered to remember the models’ names. She can still walk, even. No one seems to care, and Kenley is all, she better not act up or anything, all fake threats.

Tim time! Kenley is up first, and Tim confirms that they were told to make 12 looks. She shows him her look that seems to be a repeat of her New York inspiration outfit, that one with the high neck and long sleeves and the diagonal cut in the skirt with two fabrics. Tim critiques the black rope she has as a divider between the two fabrics. Upon closer inspection she’s made the smaller swatch into rosettes. Sigh. He says it’s contrived. She insists on disagreeing. “My decisions are final, and I’m done with it,” said in a bratty tone of course. Kenley, hon, you’re erasing all the good will you might have earned last week. Her signature dress is her wedding dress, the one that she copied from Alexander McQueen. Tim is all, sure about that? And she’s like, um, duh, they loved it. Tim responds with “Is THAT your interpretation from yesterday?” Awesome. He reminds her about how it’s a knock-off, and Kenley gets her defensive pants on and says that they’ve done that four (!) times already, and she’s sick of it because it’s insulting. Four times?! And she still thinks there’s no truth to it whatsoever. Won’t even admit that they’re right, the looks are similar, but she didn’t copy. Now we are approaching Keith territory. Tim just does an eyebrow pop and is like, it’s on your head. As he walks away the look on his face is priceless. Korto has 11 looks, but her bridesmaid dress doesn’t count. She knows that her wedding dress wasn’t well received but she loves it. Tim won’t give her advice on what look to throw out. Leanne can’t make up her mind at all. Her least favorite look is her only pair of pants, so she doesn’t want to ditch it. The pants need work too. Kenley calls Tim back over. Apparently, the final judging, where each designer gets one model with one look to stand by them? Those looks are their “signature” looks and are supposed to represent them. So Kenley’s plan is to have her “signature” model wear something else, but still run the wedding dress last for impact. Well at least she gets it a little bit.

Working, Kenley says to Korto that she doesn’t care, she’ll use her wedding dress. Korto is cutting hers because she knows that it wasn’t that great. She’s cutting her bridesmaid dress too, so now she has to make 2 new looks. She’s glad to listen to the judges but she’s annoyed at having to do so much work.

In the morning everyone goes to meet Collier to do makeup consults. Nothing super interesting happens.

Back at the workroom it’s fitting time. People are fitting, although Korto is still sewing and she’s only halfway done with the one dress. She’s hoping she doesn’t have to do a lot of alterations. Leanne’s fitting some clothes on a black model, which is overlaid with Kenley in interview saying that Leanne doesn’t know how to use color and her collection is boring. Leanne responds by calling Kenley’s collection “Holly Hobbie” and “amateurish” like someone’s children have been painting on it. Nice. Korto still has one look to make, and it’s midnight.

One day before the show, and it’s time for hair consults. Korto has giant fake buns. It makes me giggle.

Korto is still sewing. More fittings. Korto tries one of her new dresses on her model. Kenley has noticed that Korto is stressed because her new clothes have to be perfect. I kind of expected her to insult Korto’s clothes but she doesn’t. Korto thinks she can finish. One of the models brings her dog. Oh. Oh no. the dog poops on the floor while the model laughs. Girl, if your dog ruins someone’s clothes you cannot imagine the firestorm headed your way from the internet. Even Kenley. Tia (the model) picks up the poo while still wearing Leanne’s gown, which I’m sure took a few years off Leanne’s life. Tim appears for a gather ‘round. Kenley will go first, then Korto, then Leanne. Tim is so proud! He manages not to cry this time. Group hug!

Everyone gets up at 3am (!). I think everyone is nervous. Everyone thinks they will win. Inside the tents, they get their first look at the space and start freaking out. Kenley is crying because her parents are coming and they haven’t been in her life for 3 years.

Now is the frantic working time of the show. Everyone’s got students to do last minute sewing. Korto immediately puts her students to work sewing, while Kenley tells us no one can touch her clothes because these students don’t know how to treat her painted fabric and she acts like they’ll tear things on purpose. Shots of celebrities! Oo, there’s Nick. One of Leanne’s tops is limp and it doesn’t fit right anymore, so she’s forced to swap out clothes. The model is in tears. Tim points out that this is her “signature” model so it has to be perfect. Korto is glad to have added her new pieces. No one is screwed by any late models.

Show time! Heidi greets everyone, looking actually demure in black. Weird. Usually she’s got something more crazy going on. Kors is wearing sunglasses inside. Heidi tells us that Jennifer Lopez was supposed to be the guest judge, but she had a foot injury. And let me tell you, she ran in a triathlon like, a week or two later, and Heidi was PISSED, and she should be. So guess who our guest judge is? Tim! Woo! Backstage the three finalists are shocked, but Kenley seems the most worried. She says, “Are you kidding? OK, maybe I should have improved my attitude.” Yeah, maybe. Tim is happy to fill in and promises to be unbiased and works “metaphorical” into the conversation. Kenley says that she was inspired by painting and “fantasy things” and this is her dream wardrobe. She thanks her family for support. Kenley's collection. That rope that Tim critiqued is still in her collection. She wanted everything to be dramatic and unique. The black dress with the feathers has a hem of rope. Her wedding dress seems more limp and saggy than last week. Heavier. The judges seem to be clapping politely, but one can never tell. Korto sasses out and talks about her nature inspiration, and she dedicates the show to her daughter and husband. Then she asks us if she looks hot. She does, I like her dress. Korto's collection. I think Nina says “I like that” to Kors. I can’t read lips though. The white pants have beige piping down the sides. The girl in the long white gown is picking up her feet like a horse because I think the dress is too long. The long green dress is long too but since it’s slit up to her lady parts the model has no trouble walking. Leanne seems to get the most cheering. She calls her collection “beautiful” and she says she’s in love with it. Leanne's collection. That top that didn’t fit right? It’s drooping a lot in the back. The pleats and flaps in all her clothes move really well and make it interesting. You can tell the long blue gown doesn’t fit in the bodice, but in still shots it’s great.
After the show we have the usual round of people praising everyone, where they find someone to say something nice about each finalist. However they do cut the part where people say who they think the winner is.

Commercials. Apparently everyone decided Korto is the fan favorite, but since we’re not having a reunion show this season, she doesn’t get her giant novelty check on TV. Weak.

The judges get some chit chat in before the three girls come out. Everyone has their own identity, and it’s easy to find in each collection. Heidi congratulates everyone for making it this far, but reminds them that only one of them can win. This year in addition to all the product placement prizes they get a year of representation from a design house, I think. Heidi introduces Tim as a “hot hottie” which makes me uncomfortable. Not that Tim isn’t hot and doesn’t deserve a fabulous husband. But Heidi saying it squicks me out. Kors tells Kenley her show had personality and spirit, and praises her for doing all the painting herself. The one skirt/blouse combo he called “playing with separates”. Tim and Nina praise it also, except that Nina tells her that the hand painted silk dress, with the flowers, was too much like Balenciaga. Kors and Heidi agree and Heidi says other people told her that. Kors explains to her that she has to be aware of what’s going on, because even if she doesn’t know, all the editors watching her know. So Kenley brats that yeah, maybe she should do some research. I’m not convinced she never looks at collections, but whatever. Korto gets praise for putting her background into her clothes without making them costumes, and her collection was perfectly cohesive and the colors were fabulous. The short taupe dress with the big sleeves, was one that Tim loved. But both Nina and Heidi tell her that some of her looks are overlooked. Leanne explains that her top was over steamed and stretched, but Kors likes the tone she set. The workmanship was perfect, and her range (shorts, pants, skirts, jackets) was very broad. Heidi loved to see the petals, which was new, but she and Kors worry they might become a gimmick. Kors gets in one last sound bite and says “You might become known as ‘Petals Marshall’ which sounds like a stripper”, as if he knew what stripper names sounded like. (Kmanpat: “Not female ones, anyway.”) Nina worries it’s too one note. Korto thinks she deserves to win because her show was amazing, she knows she can do it, and she wants the chance to show it. She had to gather herself first before she could get that out. Leanne is innovative, half her collection is sustainable textiles, she has the talent and ambition. Kenley moved to New York because she’s so passionate, she’s good at it, she can take this far.

Time for the judges to have their last conversation. Kenley had the fit down perfectly, and the collection was cohesive. Kors can’t get over the fact that her looks look so much like other designers. Leanne’s clothes look easy, and the fact that she made clothes from sustainable fabrics mean she’s looking ahead to future trends. Their one worry is that she might make petals forever. Korto had great silhouettes, especially when they have details that look easy. But only when not overworked. Also she can dress “many sizes”, although how they saw that in her final collection I’m not sure.

Kenley is out. And Heidi tells her “You’re out” instead of just telling her she didn’t win. She interviews that it crushes her, and no one likes to be called a copycat when they’re a “true artist”. She calls that BS. Look, I don’t know if she is copying or what. But I feel like she can’t even admit that her clothes are similar. The judges tell it’s too much like some other designer but instead of saying, “I didn’t copy” she’s saying “It’s not like that other designer at all”.

Anyways, back to the final two. Congratulations to Leanne! Korto’s head drops. Aww. But woo Leanne! Korto is devastated and sad and disappointed. She says it’s not the last of her, but her heart is bleeding. Aww! I love your clothes! Leanne is cutely excited. She does a dorky dance behind the scrim.

That’s it for now! Who knows when we’ll be back again, if ever. It’s been fun, and I appreciate everyone’s comments. Thank you so much for reading, and when/if “Project Runway” comes back on the air I’ll be back!