Project Runway 9/14/17--"Descending Into Good and Evil" summary

Previously on “Project Runway”: the “make clothes for one of Heidi's clothing lines” challenge was combined with the “make your own print” challenge, with the extra challenge of “your print will be made by hand”. Michael made a slip/nightie inspired by the Chrysler building, which I thought at first would be lame but ended up being beautiful. The twins made each other's outfits, basically, and irritated everyone. Deyonte just dyed his fabric sort of a mottled blue and then made a big tank top and drawstring skirt for his model, who was one of the plus-size models, so he was sent home. (click for more)

The girls talk about redeeming themselves. Well, Samantha and Kenya, mostly. Aaron didn't like being on the bottom either. I feel like this segment was longer/more interesting before.

Everyone walks up to a huge castle somewhere and gushes about it. Tim welcomes them to Lyndhurst Castle, which is in New Jersey and also calls itself a “mansion” on the internet. Anyway, he has two guests with him, Dove Cameron and China Anne McClain, who are the stars of “Descendants 2”, which is a Disney movie. The first one was about the children of all the original Disney villains going to school with the children of the Disney royalty and having conflicts and learning not to judge others and Kristen Chenoweth was Maleficent so she got her own song of course. I think the sequel involved Ursula's daughter? And a cotillion? Uh...I may have watched both movies. Anyway, the challenge is to create an evening wear look inspired by the movie. Some of you will be making a “good” look and some of you will be making an “evil” look. OK the last time they did this, it was about “Wicked” and everyone was also told they needed to incorporate 10% of the OPPOSITE theme into their garments, and then Lifetime cut out every mention of that requirement. So people had all black with random pink in it and I was like, why is there pink in an evil garment? But no one said a single word about it and it made no sense! Why cut that part out of the whole show?! Stupid. Michael won last week so he gets to assign everyone's looks. He wants evil. Also he looks like Viktor today. He also gives evil to Kendra, Samantha, Shawn, Margarita, and Batani. So good is Amy, Brandon, Kentaro, Aaron, Ayana, and Claire (ha). Everyone seems OK with their assignments. No costumes. $300 and two days. Twist alert in effect, especially since everyone is celebrating having two days to work.

Everyone takes off running to sketch, I guess to find somewhere inspirational. Claire is inspired by the “vibrancy of color”. Ugh. People talk about their models. At least Margarita makes a self-deprecating boob joke. Kentaro says he's been making a lot of black because it's more emotional, but he got in trouble for it so he can't. Plus, hard to make a “good” black look. Brandon has some streetwear sketches. Mood is Mood. People buy things, black and gold lace. There's something weird happening with the width of Kenya's fabric, I think? Not sure.

The editors would like you to know they moved everyone's workstations so one side of the room is “good” and the other side is the “evil” side. I was going to say how dumb this is, but then realized Shawn and Claire are now physically separated, which can only be good for everyone. Tim is coming tomorrow, models are tomorrow. I still smell a twist, because they never have two day challenges any more. Samantha bought ten yards of something but it's not enough. Kenya seems to be in the same boat. Brandon and Kentaro are cute about something and are brothers. Aww! Aaron is making muslin first to test out his design. Margarita is insecure because she has a “full-figured” model and can't fit her until tomorrow. Claire is now having a moment. Then...Brandon is calling time? Already? We're like, barely 10 minutes into the episode.

OK Day Two. Margarita complains that she doesn't do avant garde. That's not what this challenge is and no one does avant garde here anyway. She's doubting herself and then gets a phone call home to her parents. She complains that she makes women feel beautiful and doesn't do crazy shit and now she's crying about how she's not cut out for this or whatever. That sounds so bitchy of me but I have heard this many times before and it doesn't have the same impact on me. Also if you're going to harp on how much you are dedicated to making women feel beautiful maybe don't complain so much about having a plus-sized model?

Sadly separating the twins has done absolutely nothing to keep them from collaborating. Kenya is still complaining about how little fabric she has. She asks Brandon for her model's inseam measurement (I guess Brandon had her last) and Brandon can't remember. Aaron is still working in muslin, because he says when he cuts into real fabric he fucks it up so this way is less nerve wracking.

Tim Time! Brandon has a weird top that is just the shoulders and sleeves of a shirt, over a dress. Claire babbles about fairies and princesses. She is not in a good spot. Michael has gold and black lace, but it might be too matronly. Tim asks if the neckline is low enough, but then tells Michael that that's a conversation for him and Liris to have. So you want him to not set the neckline in place until the end of the day? Ugh. Amy appears to have a print with birds and branches. I'm not sure. Tim says no. Ayana has some brown, which isn't particularly attractive. Tim tells her to put some tulle over the skirt. He is really giving picky advice. Shawn finally is doing something that feels like her. Aaron has...a top that you untie and it falls into a skirt. Why? Tim feels as I do. He tells Kenya to have an open back on her tuxedo look. Kentaro has two colors of fabric in his top? I can't even tell they're different. They're not contrasting enough so it doesn't look like like it's on purpose. There are too many things going on. Tim loves Margarita's details. Samantha is an unabashed fairy tale lover. Sadly Tim tells her it looks like a craft project.

Tim leaves without giving them another twist look. Everyone commiserates about how terrible their critiques were. Samantha is simplifying. Brandon is not really changing anything, while Aaron is now making “fly fronts” whatever those are. He's going to do whatever because he's tired of not having fun. OK fly fronts are the flaps of fabric that hide your zipper on your pants, or if you get a nice blouse and there's a piece of fabric hiding the buttons. Kenya is still freaking out about how little fabric she has. Michael tries on Amy's cloak and they giggle. Model fitting. Christina says all the models have a crush on Brandon. She also is praising him for asking her opinion which is annoying. No one cares what the models think. Kentaro's model knows Japanese which is cute. After the models leave, Claire goes running to Shawn to basically beg her to tell her what to do with her top. Michael is helping Aaron cut out fabric, because Aaron is only now cutting his fabric because he's been in muslin all day. But I think Michael offered.

Commercial Interlude: Claire has fucked up enough that she is basically out of fabric. She bought some mint green something and only got two yards, and has like six inches of the other colors. She and her sister and Margarita talk about overalls? OK basically what I got from that is that Claire can't do anything on her own, and also that her look is terrible.

Runway Day. Claire is finally doing something. Maybe. If she doesn't tear her dress on the sewing machine because she's tearing around. As she runs by, Kenya looks up with the perfect side eye. Aaron is freaking out. I don't remember him spending so much time on the muslin before cutting fabric before. Brandon's look is weird, and kind of covered up and shapeless. His model feels sexy (...no one cares, model). Claire shittalks him, which is hilarious considering the state her outfit is in. Samantha took in the bust too much, and now she's worried about fit. Margarita put her model in a very low cut top, so no bra, which is not ideal maybe. But the model is happy because I guess she has been feeling too covered up. Not hot makeup guy Scott. Aaron is also running around as the twins are. Amy opines that he has grandiose ideas and doesn't have the skills to back them up. Aaron has fucked up so badly his model has to walk around with her arms clamped to her sides because if she doesn't, the top of the dress will fall down and she'll flash everyone. Hey, no twist! An actual two day challenge! But everything still looks as shitty as it does when they only have one day!

Judges include Nina, who is now editor in chief at Elle! Congrats! Anyway, the two actresses are back to guest judge. Shawn: short black leather dress with a halter top. There is a swath of black fabric hanging off one hip down to the floor. Actually I think it's attached at the top of the bodice on that side and then belted. It's not very exciting but it fits, I guess. Kentaro: long dress in cream, with light pink tulle over the skirt. The tulle isn't uniform so it hangs in shorter pieces, and then over the camisole-style bodice there's a swag of slightly darker cream. But the swag is just bulky and lumpy. Like a baby sling. Margarita: long dark dress, black with some kind of design. I think she said it was laser cut velvet? It looks kind of sparkly. There is a deep neckline, and between earlier and now her boobs are taped or something because they look fantastic. Black feathers on the shoulders and a high slit. The skirt is a little sheer.

Brandon: sigh. So the dress is pink with thin green stripes, and has a mullet hem. The hem also has big flaps, sort of like a car wash skirt but not as many tabs, you know? Maybe it's just in four big pieces like quarters and rounded like shirttails. It's not closely fitted, but now that I look at it, it's not as shapeless as I thought. Over the top of this dress is a white piece with long sleeves. The sleeves come down over her hands and have ribbons at the wrists hanging down. The white piece is really short, so it's like a crop top that ends under her boobs. From a distance it looks like all one dress. The back is open and there is some sideboob going on. I think it's ridiculous but I'm sure the judges will love the Fashion of it. Samantha: long gown with a mermaid skirt and strapless neckline. The skirt is black tulle from the knees down, and then the rest of the dress is a print, or possibly a bunch of fabrics all sewn together, mostly in dark colors but with a strips of dark pink and blue. The pink is a stripe right down the front. Aaron: pink jumpsuit with a strapless neckline. Technically there are two thin spaghetti straps holding the top up, but the model is hiking the top up as she is walking down the runway. Then on top of that, there are strips of the same pink and a lighter pink hanging off her torso everywhere. Not sewn at both ends to make flaps, but only sewn at one end. Also I feel like they're over her torso hiding an insane crotch.

Michael: gold and black lace over a tank and very short skirt/boy shorts, so there is a lot of skin. The lace goes down to the floor, and makes a V-neckline with a scalloped edge. There is also a headpiece of feathers, the kind where you strip most of the barbs off except for a little bit at the end, so it fans out from her head. The sleeves are very wide, or it's a cape maybe. No, I think it's a cape, also trimmed in the same feathers. It fits really well. Amy: big gray cloak, I think in velvet. Maybe with armholes? Maybe it's like a circle that you set one edge along your neck and then the armholes are in the sides? Whatever, you who know me know how I feel about cloaks. Underneath is a shiny pink dress that looks terrible and cheap. It reminds me of Gwyneth Paltrow's Oscar look from 1999 that I always thought didn't fit her in the chest at all. If you weren't alive then, 1. shut up, and 2. Google it. Oh wait, the back of this cloak has vertical stripes of color and the hem swags up. Also as the model turns away, it looks like the dress is cut so she appears to have a food baby. Batani: long black gown with a tulle overlay in the skirt. The top has a bunch of cutouts and appliques, with long sleeves and a high neck. It's got a good look and some texture, and along the shoulders it's just sheer with the appliques so she doesn't look like she's drowning in it.

Claire: long sheer skirt over granny panties. To be fair, there are a lot of layers in the skirt so it's not that sheer, but they all look like different colors so the final effect is muddled. The granny panties look huge, like the waistline should be lower. The top is just a lavender camisole top. It's just such a big nothing for all of her drama and trashtalking. Ayana: the top is white lace, long sleeves and a crew neck, and it fits wonderfully. At her hips is light brown to mid-thigh, then a darker brown to mid-calf, and then a thin strip of chocolate brown. The dress is the weirdest length, not a tea length but not quite ankle length for some reason. Over the whole skirt is a white fishnet looking layer, and some flowers at the hem. Oh, Ayana. I know you can do eveningwear. Kenya: tight pants and a long-sleeved top with a peplum, all in a dark red. The peplum is pretty full, but it hits her in the right spot. The wrists have black ruffles, as does the chest in a ruffled tuxedo kind of look. The whole thing fits really well. The top is backless.

Batani, Amy, Kentaro, Ayana, Shawn, and Margarita are safe. Hmm. I liked Margarita's actually, and I thought her phone call home drama would mean she was in the top or bottom. Amy's was terrible though. Brandon says some stuff about flowing fabric and structure, and Heidi responds with “modern straitjacket”. Which is a compliment. Also she likes how the outfit is cut in such a way as to get a bunch of sideboob. They love the straps in the back and how fresh it is and not literal and blah blah. Zac is the voice of reason and says they see a lot of shirtdresses from him so don't be a one trick pony. Nina agrees. Claire just says she thought “Disney princess”. Not expensive enough and Zac says “Cinderella on her day off.” Nina is also bored because it's a cliché and she's seen it. It's a prom dress, except the sheer skirt over shorts make it too casual (and not appropriate for prom). Zac busts out the “I don't know you as a designer” criticism, which I normally hate but in this situation they DON'T know her as a designer. Because she's constantly begging her sister to tell her what to do. Kenya wanted a tuxedo look. Heidi does another fakeout thing, where she lists all that's going on but it all works together. It's tailored perfectly, and the black is used as a texture and not a trim so it works really well. Dove says her sleeves look like melted records, which normally I would gloss over but I thought it was a cool way of describing things.

Samantha was inspired by poison fruits. Zac asks about the bottom of the dress, which we can see ends in a ruffle, and then another two or three inches of black lace that is underneath that layer, hanging lower. You know? I don't know why that's there. Samantha says she just wanted some movement. Zac flat out tells her the fabric is ugly. Nina does that thing where she loves the clothes the designer is wearing, but not the clothes on the model. China wishes that last piece of lace at the bottom was the print from the bodice instead. Yeah, that probably would have been better. Heidi says it's an 80's prom dress. Michael says he draped the fabric and wrapped it, so there's no cutting, just some darts. It looks expensive and they love the headpiece. It fits perfectly, too. Aaron just says something about pink. It's a hot mess. All the seams are bumpy and then they have her turn around and the top is just tied at her lower back and it's all unfinished. I mean nothing is hemmed and there are threads everywhere. The pants are just cut and not hemmed and the top is not hemmed and one of the straps at the top is no longer attached to the top itself. No one gets the strips because they look like paper streamers.

When they look at Brandon's outfit, it's clear to me that the back doesn't fit right. I mean, the back gapes out from the model by a good four inches instead of sitting close to her back. But of course they love it. There's some piping down the sleeves. To me it looks dumb but as ever, it's very Fashion so that's fine. Michael's look is great up close, and Liris talks about how this is the first time anyone has shown her shape, which is obnoxious because she's talked about how much she has loved other outfits. Whatever. It is a beautiful outfit. Kenya's outfit looks expensive. I love that Zac is pulling on seams and checking hems on everything. Claire's outfit is super boring. Nina is irritated. Samantha's model keeps hiking up her top. It's kind of lumpy because of how much Samantha fiddled with the top, putting embellishments and whatnot. Nina doesn't think Aaron's look is good, because what is even happening with this outfit. They still hate it, because it's terrible and unfinished to boot.

Heidi busts out with “one or more of you will be out”. Whatever. Brandon wins again. Whatever also. He's the only one who got criticism, because they told him not to do shirtdresses again. But I guess we're pretending to be about Fashion and not about...whatever the fuck this show is actually about, I can't even tell any more. Kenya and Michael are also in. Claire's look was not modern or cool. Samantha's look had no fashion and was sad. Aaron made a hot mess and Heidi implies he's not ready to be here. Aaron is out. He's disappointed in himself. Samantha is in. She immediately bursts into tears. Claire is also in. Boo. Don't do that shit, Heidi. Dub over it if you need to, but there's no reason to say “one or more of you” when you have no intention of anything. Claire immediately has an interview where she says she's not going to grovel and thank the judges for not eliminating her because she didn't deserve to be in the bottom in the first place. She just smirks a little as she leaves. Girl the person you should grovel at is your sister because you clearly can't make any decisions without her guidance. She has learned nothing. Tim comes in and says he regrets that Aaron has to go out on a look that he knew wasn't that great. I guess as opposed to a look he stood behind. Aaron wanted to challenge himself, and he has cool ideas.

Next time: the models are the clients, which is the only time I want to know what the models think about anything. Tim has something to talk about. The twins are annoying.