Project Runway 10/19/17--"Driving Miss Unconventional" summary

Previously on “Project Runway”: so the whole drama about Claire is that she was working in the apartments, with tools from the workroom, after hours. That's what they busted her for. Not for copying, even though that's all we saw Margarita and Michael talk to the judges about. They might have talked about the measuring, but it doesn't mean they didn't spend forever complaining about the copying. But she was kicked out, and then Margarita and Michael pretended to feel bad about it. The actual challenge involved avant garde and Shopkins. I know. However, Michael won with a “melted disco ball” look that was actually pretty cool. Ayana made a big lampshade that was also cool. Batani played with volume, but it didn't look deliberate, and Amy was too boring, so they were both sent home. (click for more)

Michael is thrilled with his win, and he's starting to embrace the challenges. He tells the other boys the lack of drama really let them focus on designing. Brandon points out that now we're down to six, and there are no more safe people. Kenya tells the girls that Amy had never been on the bottom, which is not true, because she was on the bottom when she was paired up with Kenya. But I think that was the only time. There were plenty of times she should have been on the bottom. But that doesn't count.

Heidi greets everyone by dodging caution tape and traffic cones. She says “Proceed with caution”. Sigh. Also it will be a “wild ride”. These puns are stupid. Anyway, the designers take their field trip to...somewhere, where there are cars. Everyone gets excited they might win a car. Tim introduces some guy from Lexus to talk about safety. Blah blah. Unconventional materials challenge. But not to cut up the cars, which has been done. Inside the cars are construction materials. Caution tape, that orange fencing, traffic cones. You know the drill. Kenya is not happy but she says she just can't go home. Ayana won the last unconventional materials challenge, so she's not that worried. No Mood, and one day to do this. Tim says not to conform to the rules.

3 minutes to get your stuff. Basically the stuff is not just in the trunks but like, strung up in the passenger part of the car. Ayana worries about getting enough material for a modest look. Margarita grabs reflectors and knee pads. Kenya finds a rubber boat of some kind. I think they've tied the caution tape and stuff to the car which is stupid. It just makes it harder to get it free. Kenya cleans out her bra. Heh. I feel you.

Kentaro jokes that Michael is his model. Hee hee. Tim gives them the usual “transform the materials” spiel. Michael says in confessional that Tim hasn't used his Save yet, and he hopes Tim never does, because everyone is too strong. That seems suspiciously specific. You know what I mean? People work at figuring out what they've grabbed and breaking down everything. Kenya worries that she's not picked up enough stuff, because she doesn't have a lot aside from her boat. Margarita wants something athletic. Ayana pounds reflectors with a hammer. She wants to make a mosaic, and then do strong shoulder pads. Michael gets to call his sister, and I'm noticing he's getting a ton of screen time. His sister is sweet. Brandon is confused and lost. He says he's never been challenged like this, somehow I guess not counting the last unconventional materials challenge. He asks Kentaro for help with his space blanket, but no one cares or is upset he's getting help. I don't care either, I'm just saying. Michael makes a harness out of bungee cords. It looks bondage-y, which is what he's going for. He wants a fetish feel to it. Ayana thinks the judges will hate it, but I'm not so sure. On the other hand, he did get a phone call home and then a statement about the Save. Kentaro makes things with fire hoses. He has Liris, because he's sewing something because she has “junk in the trunk”. Only he doesn't quite remember the saying and Brandon has to explain it to him. Hee. Kenya has her plastic boat and seat belts, and some bandages. She's begging people for stuff and it's not going well. Ayana says no one wants to share and it's very tense in the workroom. Well no one should share. It's a competition. I don't blame anyone for not sharing. Kenya is starting to freak out and everyone knows it.

Ayana says she is not scared. But everyone else is. Kenya has all black but she doesn't have much choice. She also gets a phone call. Jeez, they're just padding out this episode, aren't they? Still some flailing happening.

Tim Time! Margarita is very organized. She has a big harness to put on top of her dress and Tim loves it. Stop thinking so much and just do it. Ayana has her broken reflectors and a giant skirt out of orange fencing. Tim loves this too. Kenya is cutting her seat belts to lay on top of the boat plastic, to make a striped effect. Tim asks why she isn't weaving it, and she says that she doesn't have enough. If she made it vertical or horizontal, instead of diagonal, she'd have enough. Also all black is boring. Michael has most of his bungee harness, and part of his dress. The bodice of the dress looks really cool, it's straps arranged so they look like a superhero costume, with the strong stripes and points. Tim doesn't like the looks together and wants him to pick one. Kentaro cut his fire hose lengthwise, to get strips of fabric. But Tim is “concerned” because he's got fabric that he's just using as fabric. It's a good look, but I guess it's not creative enough? We've seen fire hose dresses before, though, and no one cared. Brandon has some shiny silver space blanket for a top, but it's going to look messy compared to whatever he's making his skirt out of. Tim feels it's his responsibility to tell Brandon he's “losing” Brandon. What is there to “lose” from Brandon but a bunch of straps and weird volumes? Whatever. Tim finally leaves, but not before saying he “seldom” has the privilege to work with such talented designers, and it makes him sick that one of them might leave, but one of them will. You still have the Save, Tim.

Lots of gluing. Michael feels Tim didn't like the dress. Or at least the bralette he made. I liked it though. This also means that when Tim said to pick something, Michael picked the bungee cord harness which is just a bunch of straps. Brandon continues to sew the space blanket, until he rips it, and gasps loudly. Ayana is taking over the entire aisle with her skirt. It's huge. In a nice change of pace, Margarita talks about how she saw how crazy Ayana was getting—and realized she needed to step it up. I thought for sure that was going to be “I don't get Ayana at all” so that was nice. Margarita cuts up some hard hats for shoulder treatments.

Model fitting. Kentaro is using his fire hoses and cutting the top as it's on Liris. Ayana shrieks in glee about how great her top is. Oh it looks great. It fits well and it's really cool. Kenya is struggling to tailor her skirt because the seat belts are really thick. Margarita has a bunch of shit happening that hasn't come together yet. Michael's model has been dying to work with him, but she is naked. It's just straps, there aren't any panels to hide anything. It's worse than the candy bikini and it's worse than the washers and pink cord. Brandon's whole top falls apart because you can't really do anything with space blankets. Oops. Margarita thinks her top is too simple, but Kenya tells her to shut her face. It's all good-natured shittalking, which I enjoy. Michael is nice to her too, and Margarita interviews about how he's such a support for her. Yeah they're really editing this like Michael goes home. Brandon makes a new top out of life jackets. Ayana seems frantic but she also looks like she is done? Like the outfit looks completed. Michael goes over to Kentaro and wraps bandages around his head like a mummy. Why...? You know what? This reminds me of like, season 2 and doing Tim impressions and all the boys talking about when they came out. Back when the show was good and everyone liked each other because they were cast for talent and not for drama. When Michael is done Kentaro says “Thank you bitch”. Hee! Michael finally has like, a bralette and some kind of skirt that will cover his model. But no one likes it.

Commercial Interlude: Ayana describes how she made her top out of a black plastic boat, smashed up reflectors, and some foam pieces from life preservers. She and Kenya joke about their looks. Again, it's nice to see people joking and getting along.

Runway Day. There is plenty of working and running around. Lots of hot glue. Both Michael and Kentaro are adding shit so it doesn't look too boring. Brandon has a complete outfit. I think everyone does. Except for Michael. He shittalks Ayana but his model has her ass hanging out on purpose so whatever. Not hot makeup guy Scott. Oh I guess Michael made a skirt. Some of the models are complaining about their looks but I still don't care. At the last minute part of Ayana's sleeve falls off. She just glued it so she's praying it stays. Kenya's zipper breaks and she doesn't have time to fix it. You'll notice she also did not ask Tim for time and was not given extra time like Char in season 13.

Guest judge is actress Carly Chaiken. Heidi talks to Tim about the Save, but he's used it on the final 4 before so whatever. We get it. He's about to use it. Brandon: short skirt in black with white zig-zags. It's a full skirt with panels like a cheerleading skirt, which I don't remember him talking about. The top is a big crop top with one side black and one side orange and yellow. The top is stiff and sticks out like a bell. It's very graphic but the skirt is really short in the back. Also, straps hanging off it. Kentaro: short pleated skirt and a long-ish crop top. It's made out of fire hoses, so it's a kind of dull white, and then he added horizontal stripes of like, broken reflectors and shit shaped like little chevrons. The top has elbow-length sleeves. He put Liris in long pigtails and unfortunately this makes it look like a broke-ass American Indian costume. It fits, though. Michael: royal blue bralette and short dark pencil skirt, with the harness of bungee cords on top. Unfortunately when viewed from far away the cords blend into the dress so it looks really boring. There's some black netting on top of the skirt, where it looks like it's being held on by the bungee cords.

Ayana: so her model comes out with two pieces of caution tape crossed over her chest, and I guess Ayana told her to tear it off before walking down the runway. Tight rubber top, with a high neck and long sleeves, that is covered in broken reflectors like a mosaic. There are very big square shoulders. Then a huge skirt made from that plastic orange fencing. On her head is a hijab made out of red caution tape, and a hard hat worn at a jaunty angle. You know what this made me think of? Remember Christian's finale show? He had that long sleek dress, that was a high neck and long sleeves, covered in feathers, and the model had a hat on and the whole silhouette is looking familiar. I love this though. It's so dramatic. Kenya: strapless black dress, with exaggerated hips and a big tulip skirt. The skirt bells out really far at her hips and then keeps that shape, coming back in at the knee. It's all seat belts, so you can sort of see stripes but not that well. The back is still open though. Margarita: pencil skirt made out of red caution tape, with reflectors around her hips. The top is two shoulder pads for bra cups, then a bright blue harness, and cut up hard hats over her shoulders. There is so much going on here. The harness and shoulder pads together actually make a decent top. But it's very busy.

No one is safe today, because there's only six of them. Heidi pretends that there's nothing they don't like, and Zac and Nina make non-committal noises. Heidi clarifies that there's nothing “hate-hate” like sometimes. I had to listen to that four times, Heidi. Use real words. Brandon used a life raft and some fire hose for trim. He admits he had no idea what to do at first, but leaves out the part about the space blanket. Zac loves the colors and textures. But he does admit it's too short in the back. Nina says usually his clothes are rigid, which is not true, Nina. He has big voluminous clothes and straps all the time. Anyway, they fall over themselves about how great it is. It's not as terrible as some things he's made and they've praised for no reason. Michael talks about bondage. Nina is bored, because it's a bandage dress. A tacky cheap bandage dress for a hooker. Heidi thinks it's sexy (of course) but compared to everyone else it looks like he didn't put as much work in. Zac at least likes the blue. Kenya just used a boat and seat belts, and some paint. She does admit to the zipper breaking. They like it. What? This dress is more boring than Michael's dress. Seriously. It's like, vaguely shiny and the zipper is broken. I think you want to force Tim to use his Save so you're going to get rid of Michael for no reason. Nina talks about drama, because of the hips and how it's shiny. I love Kenya but this is some horseshit.

Ayana's top has some blue reflectors too, in addition to the red. It's so over the top and the judges love it to death. I'm not sure what Ayana did to the skirt but it doesn't look like the fencing anymore. Maybe she painted it? It looks more tattered somehow. It's dramatic and the color is cool and she gets well-deserved praise. Margarita is the designer this season who is going to kiss up to the sponsor, because she's talking about the car and how it inspired her. It's superhero-y and the top especially is really cool. Zac praises her use of materials, because I guess they don't see it the way I do, which is a bunch of shit thrown together. Zac does say it reminds him of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and then says he doesn't know what Margarita's style is. Sigh. That's such a dumb complaint. Kentaro describes his look, and Nina thinks this is a lack of vision and now it's a Native American costume. Heidi thinks she looks like a doll, which I immediately am suspicious of because that's exactly what Liris said in that stupid model confessional room. It's basic. Zac thinks how he used some fringe, and the text on the hose, was all he needed, not the chevrons. They ask Liris what she thinks and she doesn't hesitate to say there's something cutting into her arm.

In the Scrap Bin, Kentaro and Michael discuss how it's probably one of them. Ayana's look is so great, and under the netting there's a long skirt that she painted for no reason because it's covered in fencing. Margarita's is well-constructed. I still think it's busy but whatever. Brandon's top is a giant tent, but I guess it's well done. It does look like a real textile, with edging and print and stuff. Kenya's volume and painting gets praise but I think this is boring and they do acknowledge the zipper. Zac and Nina hate Michael's look, plus Nina points out that they've seen a bondage dress from everyone already. OK that's fair. So Kentaro's skirt isn't just a pleated skirt, it's solid until just under her butt and then the pleats. But they hate the chevrons and Nina still thinks it's a costume. Zac says it's at least sewn really well.

Heidi praises the top three, and Kenya. Ayana is the winner! Good. She can't stop shrieking. Aww, she's cute because she's so excited. Margarita, Brandon, and Kenya are in. Michael didn't do enough for this challenge. Kentaro made a costume, and then styled it poorly. Michael is out. I told you guys. Kentaro is in. Michael seems pretty at peace with leaving, as Margarita cries. Tim comes in and says that he should feel great because he won twice, and then...sends him to the workroom? Wait he's not Saving him? That's...not what I expected at all. I mean, clearly he was going to be sent home, but then he talked about the Save a bunch of times and I thought for sure that meant Tim would save him.

If you guys didn't hear, Mychael Knight, who was on season 3 of this show, died earlier this week. I liked him a lot, because he was low-drama and made some great looks.

Next time: warrior women, some yelling, some cursing.