Project Runway 5/9/19--"The Stitch Is Back" summary

Previously on “Project Runway”: Morena Baccarin showed up to tell the designers they needed to work in groups of three to make a capsule collection for a trip to Rio. So they have to both make swimwear and also match a client's style. Then Karlie and Nina weren't even on the runway, which kind of maybe explains what went down. You know Nina wouldn't tolerate this. So Hester made a swimsuit, which was sort of OK except the backside did not fit at all. It was way too large, so it was wrinkly, but it also gave her a wedgie. Not one word was spoken about this. Even Hester acknowledged it was jacked up, but the judges not only didn't mention it, they gave her the win. I know. When she got back to the Scrap Bin, Tessa flat out told her that her look sucked and then acted like she wasn't being petty. Renee tried to make pants in a new way but they were terrible and she was eliminated. (click for more)

There is a dress form with a male outfit on it outside, complete with feathers. Inside are more outfits, and Christian. He says the outfits belong to Sir Elton John. Today's challenge (given by the costume designer of the upcoming biopic) is to make a “performance piece” for Sir Elton John in the 70's or 80's, at the height of his popularity. Jamall says he plays with menswear already so he's thrilled. It needs to be showstopping so they need some help. Oh, it's eliminated designers. I guess. “Random” draw to pick out who you want. Everyone is happy to see each other, except Nadine is still 100% done with this show. Tessa is almost at the end, and manages to appear to complain about how she has to pick between Frankie and Cavanagh. She doesn't come out and say it, but you can tell she's thinking it. Two days, and an extra trip to a notions store for sequins and whatnot. A total of $700, but no more immunity.

I feel like there are a lot of blazers happening. I mean, blazers with fringe and sequins, but still. Cavanagh manages to irritate me in the 30 seconds of screen time she gets, because of course she has made stagewear and Sebastian is very lucky to have her even though she was picked last. Hester says “rooster” and Kovid doesn't agree, but it's not his design so he doesn't say anything. Venny has chosen Nadine, and he seems to be handling her passive-aggressive opinions pretty well so far. But it's early. Jamall designs a bomber jacket with as much crap as he can throw on it. Sebastian gets overwhelmed at the feathers and trim store and he seems pretty lost.

Kovid tells us Hester put him in charge of making the whole jacket. That's a lot, but he says he excels at jacket making. Oh, we also have male models, so let's hope this turns out better than that time they tried to make a suit for Tiki Barber. Venny is going to make bell bottoms that have a train somehow. Bishme makes a T-shirt with a picture of a girl in a bikini on it, which...doesn't exactly seem on brand for Elton John. Model fitting. Time for everyone to drool over how hot the male models are. Tessa says she is starved for “straight males”, and she doesn't know how many of these models are straight, but they smell good. Sigh. Lela is designing chaps, and Renee is not really that thrilled. Venny has been getting criticism for not showing restraint, but he knows today is not the day to care about that. Sebastian starts talking about his family and how he hasn't seen them in three years, which is not the best sign. He seems worried about his design, but Cavanagh is being helpful. Tessa claims Frankie is a good sewer, which we really didn't see when she was here? She had a lot of construction issues. Right at the end of the first day, some of the male designers put on the huge sequined platform heels they have for this challenge. Jamall tells us about “Candy”, his 60-year-old white woman alter ego. As angry as I was about the judging last week, I am glad that we've gotten back to just goofy nonsense in the workroom.

Everyone goes out to what looks like a real, working restaurant for pizza and wine. Lela tells everyone her dad had two bands in the 70s, and he was the frontman for both. So she's really just basing this outfit on what he would have worn.

Day Two. Bishme gets a call home to his mom. She asks if his model for the challenge has a butt, because “you know I like butts”. Heh.

The helpers arrive and are put to work. Renee is discovering that men's thongs exist. Christian appears, and I am excited because the Met Gala just happened, and Christian put Ryan Murphy in a pink suit with a cape, covered in crystals and pearls, which would have been perfect for this challenge. Sebastian says something about angels, but Christian isn't that impressed. All his usual detailed stitching is missing. It's not really “him”. Garo has a big sequined collar and a corset. He's a little grumpy because Sonia has piped up to claim parts of the outfit, and he thinks Sonia thinks this is her challenge as well. But he's done performance outfits for plenty of celebrities, and menswear, so he should be in good shape. He interviews that he had two shops before 9/11 happened, and it's been hard but he's still here. Christian reminds Venny to watch the fit on his pants. Jamall looks like he's got a huge oversized coat that is kind of shapeless. He probably needs to make it more tailored, and less shapeless. Then Jamall says something about a mesh shirt, except he and Rakan can't find the fabric they bought for it. So he sews all his scraps together to make a turtleneck, the front made of the zebra print sequins of the jacket and the back from Lycra from somewhere else. I guess we're not allowing people to go back to Mood to get things anymore?

Garo is still annoyed that Sonia won't just shut up and let him design. She's not really insisting he do what she wants, he's just tired of the opinions. Hester claims she can't design the rest of her outfit until Kovid finishes making the jacket. Why? Didn't you tell him what it should look like? Why can't you make other things based on what it's supposed to be? This seems unnecessary. More model time. Tessa suddenly loves this challenge, or maybe it's the models. Tessa, you lost all your good will last week and I'm not laughing at all your thirstiness right now. Venny's bell bottoms with the train are exactly that, and I worry his model will step on them and fall. Nadine wants to cut them off but it's not up to her anyway. Lela is still planning on a thong. Hester wastes time because her model is just standing around not trying on anything, because apparently she can't do anything until the jacket is done.

After the models and Christian leave, Hester finally gets the jacket, so she starts sewing feathers into the lapel, and promptly declares it a turkey jacket. First of all, there was no reason you couldn't have done the major sewing and left Kovid to put on all the embellishments, and second, as we have seen, the judges do not care what you do, they think it's amazing. Or is this the week they turn on her? Third, most of this look is black which is its own terrible decision that has nothing to do with how the feathers look. Lela can't cover her look in rhinestones like she wanted because there's too much tailoring left to do.

Runway Day. Lots of hot glue happening today. Lela irons her jacket and discovers someone got hot glue on the iron and then was an asshole and didn't clean it, so now there's glue on her jacket. That's a dick move. Jamall appears to be cutting a facekini.

Karlie comes out in a black sequined suit, which I mention because this woman went to the Met Gala in a strapless minidress and it was boring. Boring! And the theme was “camp”! Nina is back so that's good. Guest judge is Julian Day, costume designer for the biopic. Bishme: long blue jacket with multicolored leg of mutton sleeves. The whole front is silver rhinestones. Under this is a pair of bell bottom overalls (denim?) and the graphic T-shirt with a woman on it. The overalls are super high waisted, so they come up to his nipples basically, but they fit like a glove. It almost looks like a corset on top of pants, with more rhinestones of course. Then big sunglasses and a hat with a feather. Tessa: high waisted pants (not as high as Bishme's) and a matching jacket in different shades of gold. It doesn't look like a print so much as it looks like she cut different fabrics into strips and made vertical stripes. Then a gold sequined crop top. There are a lot of feathers and fringe and whatever hanging randomly off the jacket. The pants have a big flare, but they also have a dropped crotch? Actually because the waist and thighs are tight it looks like she just failed at the crotch fitting.

Venny: sequined coat that looks kind of like a blazer, with lapels and a big oversized belt. It's in blue, with a big poof of red and blue feathers at each shoulder. Under this is a silver sleeveless waistcoat and matching pants with the train. So basically there's like six inches of fabric dragging behind each foot, but he cut them so they don't hang down quite so far in front. But it's still a hazard. As the model turns around, there's a heart cutout lined in jewels on the back of the vest. Somehow the coat is too long, or not long enough, or something. But the rest of the outfit is fine. Hester: tight jacket, in black with orange and yellow lapels. So the lapels are supposed to be covered in “feathers”, but the feathers are really just fabric and they're small so they just lie flat and make the collar of the jacket look wide, but they don't extend past his shoulders, so not wide enough. Also tails, with more yellow and orange. The pants fit well, but are cropped flares. It looks terrible and cheap, but then Hester reminds us she has immunity because of course.

Sebastian: a white coat with a complicated collar. It has several sets of lapels, and the collar looks like he wrapped himself in a shawl to keep warm, so it's a flat piece that lies across his shoulders. You know what I mean? Then there are two wings, literal wings, on the back. But he had them wrapped around himself when he walked out, so I thought it was like a narrow feather boa. The shirt and pants are nothing exciting, but they're also white. Jamall: huge sequined zebra coat. It covers his entire body and is pretty oversized. On the top is a V with pink feathers. These feathers (unlike Hester's look) are pretty long and stick out past his shoulders. Also it's not really a facekini but a hood, in the same zebra print. No sleeves on the jacket, and on the back is horizontal strip of fabric that is quilted and hangs down. It looks like a shelf. I guess there is nothing underneath the coat because the model never takes it off.

Lela: dark blue jacket and pants, with fringe and a white feather boa. The boa looks lopsided, like they didn't glue it on properly, and there's not a ton of sparkle in any of the pieces. Andre the jacket is a white sheer top. I think there's some long fringe in the back, but it's the same color as the jacket so it's hard to see at first. I think it's still chaps? But all we can see of that is a tiny peek at the hips. Garo: silver bodysuit with long bell sleeves and a stand-up collar. The inside of the sleeves looks like black sequins, which match the collar. He's also got a helmet, like one of those leather aviation caps, also in silver, and then tall silver platforms that Garo put flames on. There's also a corset, which works really well in this context. It's very sci-fi.

Karlie tells Hester she's very lucky she had immunity. She and Sebastian are safe. Yeah, OK, this week that makes sense. I mean, we all know Hester's was terrible but she's not going home so fine. Jamall loved this challenge, and he was imagining what Elton's stagewear would be if he was performing today. I can see that. This is a great updated version of his style. I know the brief said to imagine if he came to you in the 70s or 80s. And I think they also do, because that's basically all they say to Jamall. Venny tried to do the best he could, he says. He wanted to go for it. Brandon seems annoyed the feathers are back, except for the part where basically everyone had feathers, and then he hates on the pants. Nina feels that the red, white, and blue of the jacket make it look like a cheap costume. The wrong kind of extra. Tessa just put flares on things. It's sort of Elton John, but more his daywear and not performance pieces. Nina just flat out says it wouldn't have worked out. Tessa tries to give the excuse that she's never designed for celebrities or made performance outfits. But not many people do, so it's not like everyone else has. Right? It doesn't fit properly, and of course Tessa says she doesn't do menswear, but then Brandon claims no one else up there does menswear either, and I don't think that's true. She was trying to be safe, and not taking a risk. Her excuses also rub me the wrong way because they kind of feel fake? Like she's trying to present herself as this poor innocent girl who just couldn't concentrate with all these hot men around, hee hee, I'm so embarrassed. I got the same feeling off her confessionals and it hits me wrong, I guess.

Bishme made his look out of stretch denim. Nina loves that when the jacket is off, it's still eye-catching. The colors in the picture on the T-shirt are the same colors in the sleeves. That is a great detail. Julian says he wishes this outfit was in the film, which is amazing. It's a fantastic outfit. Lela does admit to the judges that the feather boa is there to hide the glue on the jacket. She says “glam rock cowboy”. The silhouette isn't really there. It's a bad costume. Nina is sorry but she has to be honest. Garo loved this challenge, and this is what he thinks “Rocketman” is. This would really fit in to the movie also. Elaine loves that there is a bedazzled codpiece. Back in the Scrap Bin, Sonia tells everyone that was her idea, and that she sketched it. She looks pissed, but it's not like she had the chance to get back in? I'm not sure what she expected Garo to do here. He tells the judges she helped him drape and stuff.

When everyone gets back to the Scrap Bin, Sonia tells Garo she's not talking to him because when everyone was praising the fit on the pants he should have told them actually it was Sonia who did all that. But he did! Just because you were too busy feeling offended to listen, doesn't mean it didn't happen. Sonia doesn't look good here.

Jamall had a great fabric, and it's very conceptual. It's a great piece of fashion. Garo was inspired. Julian points out that his outfit will look good both from a distance and on a big screen during a concert. And he embellished the boots. Everyone loves Bishme's T-shirt. Brandon feels that this is the best-fitting garment up there, and also that he would love to actually own this outfit and wear it around.

Brandon clarifies that it's not that he hates feathers, it's that Venny can't use them properly. So he wasn't wrong to bring them back, per se, but this outfit looks cheap and other designers used feathers much better. Tessa didn't make a performance piece, and she still has unfinished hems (I guess because it's her signature). Julian says if the challenge was different, he'd actually really like it, but it doesn't fit the challenge she was given. Brandon is tired of neutral colors, but Nina does admit it looks expensive. Lela's outfit looks like it might fall apart at any moment. The judges take off the jacket and discover a pin holding the pants up. Oops. Also they're not chaps, they're just pants with a big keyhole on either side of his hips. But they might as well be, because when they show it from the side, you can practically see all his business. The top also is weirdly shiny. The color is nice, and some of the star design, but it's got no silhouette.

Bishme's execution is perfect, but Garo's design is amazing. Julian would put them both in the film. It's between Lela and Venny for the bottom. Venny has been more inconsistent (I think that's what Elaine says) but Lela has been pretty forgettable.

Jamall is in. Garo is the winner! Really, either of them could have won. Everyone cheers for him, and then Sonia fakes being happy and interviews that she “just needs to let go”. For real, girl. Tessa is in. Lela's look was poorly fitted, and Venny's look was cheap. Lela is out. Venny is in. Then they ask Lela why she's crying, like they're all morons. You just eliminated her. Of course she's crying. What kind of stupid ass question is that? She knows it wasn't her best work.

Next week: make a look based on a cause you care about. Also twist: make yourself an outfit. Ugh, double looks. Great.