Project Runway 6/13/19--"The Final Runway" summary

Previously on “Project Runway”: the final four returned to New York with their collections, and met Nina to have their last challenge. Nina went through each collection and asked each designer to make something specific that she felt was missing from their collection. There was a minimum of drama, even though Hester had sewn through her finger. Bishme wasn't finished with his collection when he arrived, and he had had a lot of personal stuff happen to him. His heart wasn't in it and he couldn't get it together so he was eliminated. I hope he finds the success he wants. (click for more)

Hester is relieved she's made top three. Her story is, of course, that she wants to believe she “has a place” in the fashion world. I mean, that white dress in her collection was straight out of “Clueless” so I'm pretty sure the fashion world is fine with it. It's not that I don't believe she's struggled to find buyers and customers because she's so niche. It's that, she doesn't want to be mainstream but she wants to belong to “the fashion world”. Which is mainstream? Maybe I don't get it.

Christian greets the final three and says he's proud and he's worked hard. Heh. They have four days until the finale show, which is in a gorgeous space with huge ceilings. Also they get to cast their models. As Christian is talking about hair and makeup consults, Hester is telling Sebastian they got him some heels he likes? Always uses? I don't know but it's pretty rude. Marni will be here eventually. Sebastian is glad because Christian has told him his clothes are overworked. How will a stylist help him with that? They will have to cut their collection down to ten looks. Garo has seventeen looks.

Model selection. Garo is actually looking for larger models, because of course he has a lot of corsets. He says corseting an already skinny model is not as impactful. Hester wants weirdos. Clearly. Some of the regular models come in and there are some fights. Christian tells them to go to their stations and takes great glee in waiting until they're there, so he can say “Oh one more thing”. Tomorrow they can go to Mood if they want. However going to Mood takes time they won't get back.

Everyone gets five models to fit right now. Hester is going to keep the look she made last week, but remake it since she threw it together in two hours. Christian helps her to decide what look to get rid of. He also begs her to put her models in different looks, just in case someone looks better in a different outfit. Instead of Hester's declaration that she just knew who should wear what. Garo is throwing out his suit that was so terrible last week. But he still wants a breather look, which will take time to make. He may have to choose between finishing and making another look. Sebastian doesn't want to keep his look from last week, which is weird because the judges loved it. He wants to present something different. OK but the judges pick the winner. Think about it. When asked if he wants to go to Mood, Sebastian says maybe to get some thread. Christian says if he goes all the way to Mood just for thread he'll murder Sebastian. Sebastian is starting to doubt himself because his competitors are making new things. Except that that's because they screwed up?

They do makeup consults which is always just a thinly veiled advertisement. When the day is over, Garo is still not sure what ten looks he's going to use and he's mad at himself for not having it together.

Two days until Runway Show. Sebastian shows up at Mood with coffee for Christian. He is the only one. Interesting. Garo and Hester both said they were redoing things, but they already have enough fabric? Sebastian I guess is going to make a flowy skirt. But he already has one! Christian makes no secret that he thinks this is the worst idea possible. Hester tells Garo he has too many options. When Sebastian gets back the other five models show up for fittings. Garo planned a gown based on one particular model, and he was way off in his measurements. So now he has to refit a corseted gown, which is a lot of work.

Marni appears and is loud. Garo has a lot of dresses, but he needs some more edge and to be very careful about shoes. The shoes can change the tone of his collection. So now that someone has told him that it's an edgy punk collection, magically he knows exactly what pieces to use. Sebastian has too many accessories, for the intricate details in his clothing. Marni does have good advice on things like, if you're going to put a bag on her belt at her hip, it immediately draws the eye to her torso so the torso has to have very smooth fabric. Hester has backpacks and wigs and whatever. She needs to have very basic makeup. When Marni leaves, Christian says they're all going to meet the guest judge tonight. Garo and Sebastian look worried, if not annoyed. Probably because they assume they'll have to lose work time to do it. Meanwhile Hester is rummaging around still working. Did she do this during the regular season? Always work while everyone else was paying attention? Christian tells her that she just doesn't have an pause button, does she? And Hester giggles and shakes her head, and then stands up and giggles some more as she asks if everyone is waiting for her. Christian just says “Uh huh” and looks away. If she shows remorse or apologizes, we don't see it. Hair consults today, which is another advertisement. Garo reveals he's thrown out one of the looks he showed last episode, the off-the-shoulder one with the sequins and the cape-like back. It didn't fit and he doesn't have time to deal with it. Sebastian bought some fabric at Mood to make a skirt, but he's not feeling it.

Time for a field trip. Christian wouldn't tell them who it was, but they all know when they pull up in front of Diane von Furstenberg. They get to come up and talk to her for a little bit. She tells them to be true to themselves, because if you make a mistake, at least you're still yourself. She also points out that moment when everyone thinks you're a success, doesn't always look like it in the moment. That's true.

One Day until the finale. Hester is futzing with her opening piece which I think she wants to be her showstopper. Christian comes in. Sebastian tells him that he's not using this new fabric he bought two days ago, because he's just not feeling it. Christian rubs it in that the trip to Mood was pointless, and Sebastian says no, he bought thread. There is a whole stack of things on the table that I guess he's not using, and Christian is glad. He also suggests he wants one of the belts Sebastian is not using, and Sebastian's like, you can take it right now. Christian asks about Garo's shoes, and then Garo casually says he's not using the sequined dress from last week. Christian almost misses it, then says he's going to black out because that's the only dress they liked. Garo insists it doesn't go with the other pieces he's using, too much sparkle, not cohesive enough. Christian pulls a random dress from the rack and says the sequined dress is stronger than this one. Just think about it. Hester gets almost no reaction. She's fixing the red dress, so that's fine. Christian says Diane loves prints and color, and Hester knows she uses much more subdued prints and color. But she's not going to get rid of them, clearly. And that's it. It's weird compared to how much joking and nonsense was with the boys, and then we're shown like, 30 seconds of him talking to Hester. Tonight they have to pack everything up. They get three dressers tomorrow. Garo talks about making the finale, and trying to walk the line between costume and fashion. When time is up, Christian says this is hard and emotional (Hester is listening this time) but it's great. He also thanks them for letting him mentor them and says he hopes he was helpful. Aww. Group hug.

Runway Day. The space looks like a glamorous train station, or a fancy bank, or something. Sebastian says that he's gotten the confidence to know he's doing something people like. He doesn't always have stories behind his designs, but his collection finally has a story. Hester always had a vision, but other people put her in boxes so I guess she didn't know if her vision was any good. She's had the most wins, but she then says that the end of the competition stressed her out. Maybe her attitude is bothering me because usually when someone says “I'm not going to fit in this box you're putting me in” they don't then turn around and ask for validation. You know? They just say “This is me and I know I'm good.”

Backstage time. The dressers show up, followed quickly by the models. Sebastian tells all his models no one is to sit in the dresses, or eat in them. Garo had to take in that one dress so much that he put a zipper in, and he's still sewing. Christian is stressed too. Sebastian wants his model to have a white line down the center of her face, to represent indigenous people in his country. Hester appears to be running up and down the line telling each individual hairstylist what to do on her models. Garo discovers some garment with holes in it. He says it got damaged on the last runway. I think it's the gold overlay that was over the teal dress, that was removable? Why hasn't he looked at it before now? Anyway, he has to just take scissors to it and trim off the part with the holes. Christian can't watch. One of Sebastian's dresses has a stain. He seems to be sprinting around. Garo's zipper is wavy but he's out of time. Suddenly Hester is changing into one of her looks? And is asking the dressers to put her shoes on? Christian walks off and addresses the crowd in general that he loves that she has three dressers and they're dressing her. I can't tell if all her models are ready to go, but if they are, then whatever. It's just Hester being extra and quite frankly, I'll take this over her refusal to pay attention to Christian when he's addressing the group.

Sebastian is up first. His collection is inspired by his memories of Colombia. He begins with the orange look from last week, with the woven skirt. The orange is repeated a lot. He did end up putting the flowy dress from last week. There are more woven pieces in the arms of a jacket, like a horizontal band around the arms. Lots of satin, but it looks amazing. Also lots of sheer with the stripes, in different colors. He has a whole dress made of the woven leather, with just a wide belt. It's really cohesive, it all feels like the same person owns it and you can tell the same person made it. And it looks very well made. Backstage he thanks all his models and then starts crying. Aww. I know I didn't say a lot about it, but it was great. So much color and everything looks expensive and well made. The woven leather looks expensive and very “fashion.”

Garo says “Get ready for a detour through my cosmic mind”. Sure. The first girl has just a long shiny dress with a corset. There isn't a lot to it but it does look expensive. Lots of sheer and lots of sparkles, and of course corsets everywhere. It is edgy though, and I'm not sure if that's because it's black or what. But the flowy pieces aren't edgy . Sometimes the corsets are very dramatic. One gown in gold with a corset, and then a rhinestone V coming out over the top of the bodice and sitting above her boobs. Or maybe it's pasted on her skin. On this particular gown the skirt is very narrow, so it looks hard to walk in, but also the bodice is doing that thing where the whole top of the dress moves as the model walks, as if she's not filling it out at all. The dress he's been working on this whole time, that model looks very uncomfortable. She's walking carefully instead of slowly, if that makes sense. And I know it's a corset, but that makes the whole dress from the waist up all move as one unit. Plus I think we've seen this dress before. Didn't he put a plus-sized model in a gold dress with a draped neckline and a corset? And her boobs were just out there? The last look is a long gold gown with sheer gloves. The gloves have gold rhinestones on the hands, swirling up the gloves. This one either fits better than the last two, or somehow this model is able to walk without making it super obvious how stiff the corset is. Nina knows he got rid of the look she liked. They also know the zipper on the gold gown he took in is jacked up.

Hester says get ready for extra. She opens with what I thought would be her final look, which is a tutu and a bodice with this Renaissance print on it. Like, angels and cherubs or whatever. Also some straps around the shoulders, on the legs to look like garters, and a Marie Antoinette wig. Then next is very high-waisted pants in a loud plaid with a shrug of the fake red fur. Everything has at least one print, if not more than one, and it has a very late 90s “Clueless” vibe. Also she loves to do bra cups that look like shallow cones. Like, cut out a circle, then cut a wedge and sew the edges back together to make a cone. At least one frankenskirt. There's one sort of gown, that has clear vinyl around the neck and sides of the bodice. It's very loud and very Hester, and I don't know if all of her print combinations work. But it does look well made.

Judging time. Sebastian took something artisinal (the woven leather) and made it high fashion. Everything looked effortless and casual, but extremely refined. Diane loved a wrap dress with layers, so there were tabs and pieces everywhere. Karlie liked the satin track pants with the lines down the side. But they wouldn't have opened with the look he used first, the orange one from last week. But many women would buy and wear his pieces. Elaine says he has amazing potential.

Hester was extra for sure. The first look was extremely editorial, but Brandon was disappointed because he thought the whole collection was going to be “Marie Antoinette Clueless” but then the second look was high waisted pants with an inverted V waistband and ruffles at the calves. The first look was disconnected. Her accessories were on point. Nina was crazy about it. Elaine says she's a vibe. They all love the prints, but Brandon didn't like the loud plaid. Which she tried to merge with the light blue, soft sort of watercolor print. Hester says her collection wasn't punk rock enough with just the light blue prints. It felt like two different collections. Diane says she doesn't agree, because Hester is a young woman with every emotion and with humor. It says Fuck You. Fair. She then says “if you don't win you can work for me” which is both hilarious and sweet. Except we know Hester has worked for a major fashion house and she felt stifled.

Garo had a lot of very wearable pieces. Karlie loved one of his trench coats, and Elaine liked a pair of wide-legged white pants, with a gold crop top. It's a sexy collection. They bug him about the sequined dress from last week. Brandon noticed that the zippers really stood out, and the one on the gold dress was sloppy. Elaine does tell him that America has seen his tailoring, and he should feel good about that. But that's all they talk to him about.

Elaine believes the winner should push the industry forward. Brandon hates to say it, but Garo should be out now. Yeah, I can see that. There was a lack of focus and some technical issues. Sebastian's collection flowed well, and had details both from far away and up close. Nina says that he walks the tightrope between art and commerce. That's an interesting way to put it. He knows where he's going. Elaine feels Hester has a strong identity, and then says there's a new generation that is just as interested in the persona behind the fashion, as the fashion itself. OK first of all, is that so great, and second, you can't award Hester the win because she herself is aggressively quirky. Nina admits they do need innovators and creative people. She's very talented. Seriously this win should not be based on which designer you like better personally. Hester's personality shouldn't factor into this at all, in as much as she's not a total jerk. Brandon declares that you can be trendy and cool, but at the end of the day, women want to feel beautiful and Sebastian nails that. Nina adds that his clothes could leave the runway and go directly to closets. Elaine counters that Hester has raw talent, which no one disagrees with, but she needs to be mentored. So are you arguing that she should win because Sebastian doesn't need to? Like, one of the prizes is a mentorship and Hester would get more use out of it? I mean...I guess, but I don't like it.

Karlie praises everyone and then Sebastian wins! He immediately starts sobbing and everyone hugs him. Nina says he is the personification of the American Dream: he came to this country, worked very hard and never lost track of his goals. Christian gives him the bottle of champagne and orders him to drink from the bottle. Heh. Christian is also hugging Garo and Hester and giving them praise, and then there's a shot of the dark workroom, and Christian says “Let's leave the lights on. New designers are on the way.” So another season in the fall.

Thank you so much for reading! I feel much better about this season than the recent seasons on Lifetime. I hope you will be back in the fall when Project Runway returns. I don't have anything planned for this summer (except Kmanpat's Amazing Race recaps) but if you have anything you'd like me to talk about, let me know. Weird reality shows always welcome.