Project Runway 3/21/19--"The Future is Here" summary

Previously on “Project Runway”: new season, new host, new judges, new workroom, new mentor. Everyone had to bring a piece from their last collection to show who they are, and then they had to be inspired by a personal photo shown to them by one of the judges. They also had to take a social media pic for public voting. AND the Scrap Bin has a TV so you can watch the judging. Renee and Vinny did well, but Tessa won with a long tunic and pants with strap and button details. Frankie tried to make a bathing suit, but she ran out of fabric and it looked a mess. However, Cavanagh completely failed at making her tweed jacket, blamed it on the model being too big, and then just sent down a black top and skirt that were super basic. And then even though Cavanagh had many bitchy confessionals and seemed poised to be the villain of the season, she was sent home for being boring! And they saved Frankie who is a sweetheart! Guys remember when this show was good? I think we might be back there again. (click for more)

Everyone gets up at like 7am to get ready. I missed the nonsense and hanging out in the apartments. Renee was honored to be in the top last week, because she knows the talent level here. She says because she's older and has been married for a long time she knows that experience will help her. Afa's daughter is two months old and adorable. He gets a phone call home to see her on FaceTime. Aww. He doesn't want his daughter to ever live in a hut without electricity the way he did. Someone hopes their new challenge isn't unconventional materials.

At the workroom there is a fog machine and heads on top of boxes. Han Solo carbonite stuff and then the heads are alive so everyone freaks out. It's like, big boxes and the models sit in them with their heads sticking out. Like that “head on a platter” magic trip. Karlie is here to explain. This is a pop-up instillation called A. Human which is about if you could change your body as easily as you change your clothes. You will not be surprised to know Hester has several body modifications. The prosthetics are silicone. 5 teams of 3, each team will highlight one of the modifications. You will still design your own look, as usual. The button bag has a MAJOR upgrade, which is that it's a clear Lucite tall rectangle full of actual buttons. Team Shoulder Horns: Garo, Hester, Nadine. Garo fears Hester is too high-strung. Team Neck Ruffles: Afa, Sebastian, and Tessa. Team Scaffold: Lela, Venny, and Bishme. It looks like ridges down her back, like gills. Team Chest Feathers: Kovid, Renee, and Frankie. Renee is worried Frankie can't cut it. Team Necklace, which is a glowing choker of round circles: Sonia, Jamall, and Rakan. Winner gets immunity. Sounds like winner comes from the winning team and loser comes from losing team. Tessa won last week so she can trade models if she wants, and she takes Sebastian's model. The other model cards are on the accessory wall. $750 per team, and two days.

So of course it's a free for all for models. Hester talks about hard tulle and soft tulle. She interviews about doing collaboration with big names, which I feel like is probably affected by how she respects them and probably listened. I can't imagine she talked this much when she worked for Kate Spade. See, then she says she isn't a team player because she's always afraid she won't be able to do her thing. Because her thing is kind of odd. The scaffold does look like gills, so that team is thinking cooler earth tones. The necklace team needs to leave her collarbone exposed, while chest feathers wants all strapless. Tessa tells her team they should do different looks like Afa should do day, specifically wool, and Sebastian needs to do a cocktail dress and she's going to do evening but also wool because she hates sequins? She's really gotten bossy. I get that they need to coordinate, but it also looks like she's telling her team what to design.

Christian reminds them at Mood that they need to be cohesive. Garo says he and Nadine are not into the tulle, but Hester is so insistent they guess they'll have to do something with it. Christian is wandering around giving people advice, like color can't be the only thing cohesive about the collection. He also pops up and tells Hester she's killing him because there's so much blue tulle. Crappy bridesmaid blue tulle. Heh. He's doing what her team wouldn't, which is to tell her this isn't a good idea. What if the judges hate blue tulle? He tells them they'd better have something else. Then Hester's team of course is over budget by like, $100. Hester appears to make the decision to put back Nadine's fabric, not all of it but most of it. Why didn't anyone have anything to say about this? Nadine said “let's put back some tulle” and Hester immediately said “or this stuff, we got two portions” and took it. And then I guess they kept all the tulle.

Back in the Work Room everyone has the prosthetics so they can figure out how it will work. Nadine is going to make a jacket but off the shoulder to highlight the shoulder horns. She says her mom bought her a sewing machine and it was her lifeline. Hester rambles on about how she still doesn't know what she wants to do but I guess it will involve tulle. It's five minutes into the future but it still needs to be wearable. Frankie wants to make a backwards coat, but somehow it'll be lower cut so the chest feathers are exposed. Renee says it is a competition, but she wants everyone to have a voice, just like she always wanted her children to have a voice. Aww. Somehow there are straps? But it's still low cut? Tessa is telling people how to make things and saying “go sew me a sample so I can see it?” Sebastian is falling into subordinate mode, because he's used to it, but he's not thrilled about it. Tessa and Hester decide to have a conversation about how they're in the future, or whatever, and Nadine interrupts them to tell Hester to shut up and sew something. It was in the previews, edited like it's the middle of some dramatic fight, but Hester doesn't really argue, and agrees that she talks a lot. Nadine is frustrated that if Hester fails, it will bring them all down. Lela says her team is ready to all have backless outfits to show off the scaffolding. That seems the easiest to showcase. Tessa wants to sew a wool skirt made out of bias strips, which she doesn't know how to do, so suddenly she is asking her team how to construct it. Why were you so insistent on everyone doing what you want when you don't even know what you are doing? And it looks like Sebastian's making it for her? So she's both telling them what to do, and having them make her look too, and she's immune. When it's pretty much done, she says “Thank you! Now get to work.” Rude. Sonia is saying she can't finish what she's doing until she knows what everyone else is doing. So they can go together. I think their team is maybe not cohesive. Tessa tells Sebastian to change up what he's doing, so the pointed oval design is not pointing at her crotch, and he is way behind because she told him to make her garment also. I wish they had abandoned Tessa to fuck up and let her immunity keep her safe. I mean, if her look isn't done or is half-assed she can't go home.

Day Two. Afa comes to ask Sebastian about something, and he says he's not answering questions because he needs to focus. To be fair Afa and Tessa leave him alone. Kovid wants to make armor, because to him women are strong and really inspire him. He's jumping up and down because he's realizing his team is good.

Christian arrives to investigate. Team Necklace has all nude colors, but Christian is worried that that's all that makes them cohesive. Christian then goes over and stands near Renee and Kovid and they don't notice him. Hee. He tells Frankie not to be sewing backstage. Kovid's fabric is a dark champagne satin, and it's maybe old. But if everyone goes for clean lines it is better? They maybe don't go together at the moment. The scaffolding team has dark tones, but with silver accents, and tailoring. He says don't make three old lady power suits. Team Shoulder Horns tells Christian that their collection is three sisters who inherited horns and powers. Well, Hester says it. The color is problematic, because it makes most people think of bridesmaids. He totally brings up how he told them this yesterday. Hester acts like he didn't tell her this yesterday and she didn't completely ignore him. Sebastian is now cutting vertical ruffles that remind me of Leanne's petals. Everything on this team is beige. This looks expensive and Christian is pleased, and I feel like some of this is because Tessa got so bossy the whole collection is all her designs. So this is probably the most cohesive collection.

Hester is now saying she is making a jumpsuit instead of a skirt, and she's telling Nadine she needs her fabric because she has to get rid of the tulle. Tessa is over there for absolutely no reason, trying to ask Nadine to change her design. But Nadine rightly refuses. Hester refused to even entertain the idea that she shouldn't buy all that tulle, to the point where she put back a bunch of Nadine's fabric. Now she wants Nadine's fabric, and Nadine says she insisted on the tulle, so now she has to make something with tulle. Exactly. Hester brought all this on herself. If she'd listened to Christian yesterday they wouldn't be in this position. Nadine says Hester will just have to wait and see what's left after Nadine's done. Bishme thinks his team is doing well, and since they've had the bare minimum of screen time I would agree. I think Nadine eventually agrees to give Hester the extra fabric, which is too bad. I think Hester should have to use the tulle she was so obnoxious about getting. Now Nadine is scrapping parts of her design so Hester can get her way.

Model fitting. Kovid is upset because his bodice isn't fitting at all. He needs to ignore the pants to focus on the bodice. Team Necklace is in a good spot. Christian comes over to try to push Hester in a direction, and she's like “I hate this fabric.” Hester. I already was irritated at her aggressive quirkiness and now she's at best just thoughtless and at worst completely selfish. Christian says the fabric is looking tortured so do what you need to do at this point. Suddenly Hester is making tulle something. Nadine is PISSED. She says she'd love to do her original design but “Freddie Kruger over here cut up the fabric into half strip stripes and didn't use it.” Hester does apologize but honestly. Change your mind all day but not when you're fucking over your team. She sort of says “So I'm Freddie Kruger” and that I think Nadine would be justified in calling you much worse things so maybe just apologize and be quiet now that you've screwed over another person. Kovid fucked up, and Renee and Frankie ask if he can fix it in an hour, and they tell him do it. He's crying and upset but I think also it's because he's disappointed in himself, not because the girls hurt his feelings. Afa tries to give him a pep talk. Hester complains about how upsetting this challenge is, or being on the show is, or something. But she's complaining to Nadine which is possibly the dumbest thing to do. Nadine says Hester was born high strung.

Runway Day. The models come in with the modifications ready to go. Frankie freaks out for some reason and asks Renee if she's got more leather, because she wants to remake the skirt. I think Renee is mostly done, so she says sure, use whatever. See that's how it's supposed to work, HESTER. Renee says she's desperate. Not in a negative way, it feels like she knows Frankie has some fight. Kovid has no bottoms. Nothing even cut. His team is going to have to help him. Frankie tells him to go cut a circle, right now. He is really struggling. Jamall tries to cover some shoes with fabric but it's not working that well. I like this backstage last minute futzing and frantic hand sewing. Christian tells everyone he's nervous.

I'm so used to guest judges and there aren't any. Team Scaffolding. Bishme: black dress, with a below-the-knee skirt and long sleeves. The skirt is slit very high over one thigh, and there is a V neck with some white vertical piping. I think the sleeves have a bunch of ruffles? It's hard to see. The shoulders are pointed, like big shoulder pads, and then there's a keyhole back that frames the scaffolding. Venny: black jumpsuit with a halter neck and a narrow keyhole. There is a long ruffle down one side, starting at her armpit. Then the opposite pant leg has a mullet hem with a ruffle. But just the one leg. The collar is silver, and of course backless. Lela: long black skirt and silver ruffled top. It's basically one big ruffle over her chest with a strap at the neck holding it up and no back.

Team Shoulder Horns. Hester: baby blue...it's not overalls, exactly, but it is shorts with two straps over her shoulders. The waistband comes up to a point between her boobs, and then there are two narrow straps that sit on her shoulders. Then tulle wrapped around each arm and around her torso, so the horns are framed by the strap and the tulle. Also a bunch of tulle as a skirt, and black and silver boots. Actually it might be tulle pants? The straps don't really sit that well, and the back part of the skirt/pants/whatever has panels attached exactly at her butt. Nadine: tight pants and a sleeveless ruffled top in blue. The pants have a slight flare, but are kind of shiny and so therefore unforgiving. The ruffle in the top is pretty big but has a darker fabric as an accent, and there's a small peplum. Another ruffle frames her face. When the model turns around, the back of the top has straps and is arched over her butt. Like the hem isn't flat, so it hits above her butt right in the back, then curves down so it's at her hips at the sides. Garo: blue tight strapless dress, with a short ruffle and a very small mullet hem. It hugs her curves, but she needs more support on top because it looks like she'd be pulling the dress up all night. The back comes up high and there's a collar. The center panel looks different from the side panels, and I think it's just the same fabric turned inside out.

Team Necklace. Sonia: long floaty dress in a nude color with a silver print that kind of looks like roses. The skirt is higher on one side than the other, and there is visible boning and a strapless neckline. Rakan: nude long dress that looks like two rectangles sewn together. There's some vertical pleats, maybe sewn into the dress, and it is not cinched at the waist at all. There's a train, and it's down to the floor, but there's no shape or color. Jamall: OK basically I think it's a coat that's off one shoulder but it looks like she wrapped herself in a down quilt. Same non color, same big volume. I think it's also nude leggings, and you can see the shoes sticking out from the fabric because he couldn't get that done.

Team Neck Ruffles. Afa: tight white pants, and a simple bodice that has a deep V and spaghetti straps. I think there's a belt or a sash, maybe? Or that might be the top. Over this is a jacket with big sleeves, the kind where you sew a fan of fabric onto the shoulder and let it drape down over her arms. Tessa: long white dress with long sleeves. I think the very bottom of the skirt is not sewn together so it's like a car wash hem. The sleeves are loose but gathered at the wrists. The waist doesn't look right, like it's too loose. Then an off the shoulder neckline. Sebastian: so basically he cut out wavy pieces out of beige, where they curve out and in to make pointy ovals. You know? The curves don't like up and make squiggly waves? Anyway, these are sewn vertically onto a sheer base so there is one row as a bodice and a longer row as a skirt. The bodice is only a front, the back is just sheer illusion netting.

Team Chest Feathers. Frankie: strapless black leather dress, tea length. Then a jacket, but instead of just a regular jacket, the front is just a center strip (like where a zipper would be) and the hem. Then sleeves and a back. This way the feathers are framed between the dress and the center strip and sleeves. Kovid: gold dress, strapless with a full skirt, with the same center strip and collar like Frankie had. The skirt looks really uneven. Renee: black pants and a strapless top in a dark gold diamond print. There is also a cardigan or jacket that sits on the tops of her shoulders, to frame the feathers. The top really doesn't look like it fits properly. When she turns around, it looks like the jacket is just a length of fabric wrapped around her arms, so she can't bring her arms forward. The other problem is that compared to the other body modifications, the feathers kind of blend into the skin, and don't stand out.

The winning team is Team Neck Ruffles, with Team Scaffolding a close second. Team Necklace and Team Shoulder Horns are in. So Team Chest Feathers is the bottom team. It's too bad Hester won't get called out. Tessa immediately says she took over, so at least she's honest. Elaine says there's no such thing as bossy women. But there are. She was bossy. In this case it really helped them have a cohesive collection, but let's not sugarcoat the fact that she made Sebastian do her skirt for her and then told him what to do with his own look. It could have really backfired. Her top isn't perfect, but the skirt is amazing. She tells the judges Sebastian is responsible for how the skirt looks. OK that's great. Nina can't get over Afa's pants. She loves them to death. They also love the cape/jacket, and he covered his shoes. But it was so well done Brandon gets up to high-five him. Sebastian's dress is organic and one of the best things they've ever seen.

No one on Team Chest Feathers was a leader, and it was chaotic. Nothing is futuristic, and the construction is bad on everything. Also the looks are kind of old. Renee's jacket that restrict her model's movement is weird. It's not her. She went out of her comfort zone and she fell short. Kovid's dress has some movement but the execution is terrible. He starts to cry and Nina tells him not to cry. But he says he's disappointed in himself. Brandon knows it's not his best work but he clearly cares about his work. Kovid talks about the women in his life, and that's what he needs to have, inspiration and respect. Frankie has given them a basic black look. The dress could be tighter. It would be better without the jacket. Brandon tells her that in the real world she won't get any chances to explain herself.

Brandon says he's going to be medicated when this season is over. Sebastian's dress looks like the ribbons are attached to her skin. And the ribbons are wool, but are delicate. Afa made a very expensive look, and it ends up being a jumpsuit with a belt. And the pants are perfect. Tessa's dress should have shorter sleeves. The judges agree it is better. I also notice Sebastian and Tessa's models have their shoes off.

Renee's look is very poorly done and it's boring. Kovid made a bad bridesmaid dress and it's not even sewn well. Frankie's jacket is poorly made and is boxy on top of it. Nina is mad she's supposed to design for plus-sized women and she can't dress this skinny model.

Sebastian is the winner! Good, because he made half of Tessa's look too. He has immunity for next week. Tessa and Afa are in. Renee is in. Karlie tells her to never compromise her vision. Frankie didn't flatter her model. Kovid didn't finish his dress. Kovid is in, so Frankie is out. Aww. I liked her design philosophy but she never executed it. Kovid is upset, because he's a sweetheart. Frankie says she was freaking out about being on the bottom, and it messed her design up. Christian arrives to take her to get her stuff, and I wonder if there's a Save anymore. She's ready to figure out where to go next.

Next week: prints. So I'm sure there will be some ugliness.