Project Runway 12/19/19--"Sleigh the Runway" summary

Previously on “Project Runway”: a nebulous connection to “Cats” asked the designers to make streetwear featuring animal prints. Supposedly they were supposed to use the prints in “fresh and chic” ways. Sergio made a gown but didn't get called out, because it's too early in the season for a good sewer to get called out for not following the challenge. Dayoung went to the hospital for exhaustion and lost a whole day of work. Her outfit was fine, though, and I think they were inclined to let her slide. Marquise made a blouse out of several prints and then some skorts, and he won. Veronica made some bloomers and an unlined cape-like crop top so she was sent home. (click for more)

So as far as I know, there is no episode next week but there is one on January 2^nd. I'll still be out of town, so it might be a few days until I can recap it. Also it's going to move a half hour earlier, which is great!

In the morning as people are getting ready, Tyler says it's wrong that Sergio was safe with a gown. He himself is glad to be safe, though, since he was in the bottom. Someone is jangling bells. Everyone rounds the corner and finds...Christian. I guess we're all going to pretend that production set up this elaborate scene in their living room and no one noticed. Sure. Also Geoffrey is in just his boxer briefs, if you're interested in that sort of thing. Christian greets them wearing an Opposuit jacket, which are those suits with crazy prints. I have told Kmanpat many times to get the one with a PacMan print, but he hasn't yet. We have a mutual friend who bought one of the winter prints (candy canes and snowflakes, I believe) and wore it to school for a spirit week thing. Anyway, the room is full of Christmas themed ornaments and garbage. It is nice, though, that they have a sizable number of menorahs. And a table full of food. Geoffrey says he's there “with my tits out” and that Christian is smiling, “but not because of my tits”. Christian gifts them all ugly sweaters (“Geoffrey, you need one...”) Time for the unconventional materials challenge! You can tell when Christian gives them their challenge that he enjoys it far too much. Make a holiday party cocktail dress. He specifically tells them not to break up ornaments and glue them to muslin. Two days (why?) but only ten minutes to get materials right now.

As everyone starts tearing the room apart, Christian runs away. Tyler says that it's like Black Friday at a K-Mart in Ohio. Hee. Shavi doesn't like the holidays, but he's suddenly talking about his grandmother, so that's something. Delvin isn't very happy about having to use this crap. Brittany gets a bloody nose and claims she's never had a nosebleed in her whole life. She can't get the ribbon she wants, not any of it. Sergio claims that this is up his alley, because at home he only uses upcycled things. Whatever, Sergio. Sketching is done in the apartment. Alan doesn't know what all he has. Victoria's cocktail dress has puffy sleeves. Nancy is making a coat, I think? Because once for Christmas her mom bought them all coats?

11 hours left in Day 1. Geoffrey tears up an empty box for shoulder shaping. Sergio and Brittany make boning jokes. This seems dangerous because they had ornaments in there and now they're broken and all over the floor. Alan says that his dad got deported when he was 15 and he hasn't seen him since. Aww. Don't make me feel bad for Alan and all of his flailing. Tyler is worried about “costumey” because that's what the judges yelled at him for yesterday. Nancy has some of those glass sphere ornaments in a basket, and she's crushing them with a hammer. Delvin says you usually forget Nancy is around until she starts doing something annoying. I can't imagine she's been hammering for an hour straight, you know? This is the challenge where people are going to be annoying. Alan tries on a midi black skirt. I think it's a tree skirt. Shavi says the following things about his outfit: “Laura Ingall's guest for dinner”, “Medieval Times does holiday”, and “Game of Thrones Red Wedding: The Day After”. Alan has a lot of material, but nothing goes together.

Christian Time. Victoria...claimed the pillows off the couch? Not sure they were supposed to be up for grabs. She's going to add some cranberries, so Christian warns her not to make it look like a wreath. Brittany is doing the same thing, using cranberries. But she's going to use wrapping paper, and not fabric, and make a pattern out of it. Lots of work to do. Christian reassures Tyler that if his silhouette isn't costumey then he'll be fine. Sergio has cut up a basket and made a hoop skirt out of it. Right now his outfit is strips of muslin supporting a ring of basket around her knees that goes almost to the floor. He interviews that he doesn't need Christian's help because he's in love with his design. I'm not sure why that means he doesn't need help? Everyone loves their designs all the time. That doesn't mean they're any good. Also painting the basket doesn't magically make it not look like a basket. Shavi actually got hurt in the scrum. He's found some metal in the baskets to use in a corset. Christian warns him not to make it look heavy, but otherwise it sounds great. As he's talking to Delvin, Nancy starts banging around again, so Christian cracks jokes. OK this is the second time during this walkthrough that we've heard her making that noise, so I feel more sympathetic to Delvin now. Delvin doesn't really like his dress, and now he feels like he's wasted a day. Alan doesn't know what he's going to do, because Alan. Christian leaves them and says that models will arrive tomorrow. Delvin asks Tyler to try on his skirt. Melanie actually gets some screen time, but she just says that unconventional materials are hard.

Back at home everyone is very tired but it does look like they do not have to clean up.

Day 2. Victoria is mad because she has a more technical mind so she can't use these materials? I think? She rips something she was going to use. There is of course a lot of tedious working. Brittany was going to do a treatment over her whole dress, but she doesn't have time now. She managed to get the bodice done, but knowing how long that took, she doesn't have time to make the skirt in the same way, cutting on the bias and matching on the seams and basically making a print out of different wrapping papers. Now she's mad because maybe she could have done something else that would have been better, had she not lost a day. Sergio claims he'll help her if he gets done early. Tyler wears a poncho/apron out of muslin. Delvin hates this challenge. Alan has some strips of ribbon, and his model may be pretty exposed. Also, titscrepancy. Marquise is somehow almost done.

Model fitting. Marquise says he's ready to go today, so everyone tells him to shut up. In a genial trash talking way. Alan decides his top has the perfect amount of boob, but then backs up and says it's a lot of boob. “Wrong holiday party”. Brittany doesn't have the skirt put together at all. I think Melanie has “corn husks”, which is not really corn husks a la Austin, but raffia-type material.

Shavi goes outside to check on the bra he's covered in cranberries, only to find out the cranberries shrank. I don't know if it's because he left his bra to dry in the sun (and it's still summer time), or if they were always going to do that. It doesn't look great, and he needs to hide the muslin underneath, but he doesn't have time to paint. It looks like he's going to cover the bust with poinsettias instead. Alan puts Dayoung's headband on and struts around. Tyler has made a gold and white striped dress, which is fine, but he freaks out that he made a candy cane and the judges are going to yell at him again for costumes. Maybe just a little bit of stripes. Brittany is just going to make a skirt out of metallic wrapping paper strips, but they're not made for this and she says that the metallic is flaking off. So who knows what she's going to do. Someone asks Dayoung what Christmas is like in Korea, and she says that it's romantic, actually. Aww. Alan loves seeing boob. I mean, he basically says her nipple is covered so whatever. Multiple people tell him to get it together and put some more coverage on. “I'm just trying to bring titties on the runway!” Geoffrey has somehow managed to put a zipper in paper. Chelsey is making a textile out of ribbon, I think. Tyler lost some material because he moved things around, to avoid candy canes. So now he just barely can cover his model's ass. He says he's made a “freakum dress”, and the screen helpfully defines this as the dress you wear to the club.

Back home, Sergio gets a phone call home. Interesting. His boyfriend says he's learning a lot about himself while Sergio's gone. The producers attempt to make us like Sergio but it's not working. At least not for me.

Runway Day. I don't think Brittany has any kind of skirt done. Christian yells at her to make a skirt before any other accessories. Tyler says he has to do...something. It doesn't matter what he says, what matters is the instant he turns away so he and his model can go fix whatever, Christian turns to the camera and makes a horrified face. They're outside spray painting snowflakes so they are the right color. Will those dry in time? Sergio is gluing bells onto his skirt. Sure. I miss hot makeup guy Scott. Lots of hot gluing. Brittany's new skirt is tearing, so now she's back to the metallic skirt. Alan has knee high white platform boots with fur on them. Christian yells at him for overdoing the accessories. Those boots are terrible. The platforms are so high and it's ridiculous. Brittany gets her model into her outfit, and Sergio is like “It's looking good though” and they insert a shot of Christian making a “yikes” face and turning away. Backstage there is the same level of working. Brittany is in tears.

Guest judge today is Kiernan Shipka. Sergio: white strapless sweetheart neckline, and a bell skirt. I mean this skirt goes straight out in a cone from her hips. The lower foot or so of the tea-length skirt is the baskets, and the other material (I think it's wrapping paper) sits on the hoop part perfectly so it looks like it's all one piece. Also there are bells. Victoria: slim dress with an asymmetrical wrap hem. It comes down past her knee on one side but it's pretty short on the other side. There's a wide part around her torso that I think is gold leaves, almost like an obi. Or a big flower? The top is strapless, but around her arms are cranberry wreaths. It looks like she just put a wreath around her shoulders, almost. And I'm pretty sure most of it is the pillow fabric. Geoffrey: gold knee-length pencil skirt and a top in a slightly different material. The skirt has a chevron pattern to it. There's a gold belt and then the top has a deep V down to the belt and long sleeves. The shoulders are very pointy and 80's, but the whole thing fits perfectly and looks just like real fabric. It's all wrapping paper and ribbon?

Tyler: extremely short white dress, made from wrapping paper and ribbon, I think. The bodice has some gold details and across her chest are some snowflake ornaments. It's a good idea but it looks like he spent all his time thinking about the bodice and then ran out of time to make a skirt. They're not blurring anything so I guess that's something. Marquise: red plaid halter top and a tinsel skirt. The skirt is all tinsel fringe, and the top is I think ribbon. In addition to the regular halter top, there are ribbons running over the tops of her boobs and around her arms, and then for some reason a diagonal black strap. Like she's wearing her cross-body purse still. Alan: OK so first of all, behind the scrim he has his model throw fake snow or something. Calm down. It's basically a bra and skirt combo. The top has a titscrepancy, one boob covered in silver leaves and the other just in sheer fabric, or ribbon or whatever it is, with a strip around her arm. It's also got weird straps too: the silver leaf side has a regular bra strap, and the other side has a slightly wider strap that splits and goes around her neck. The skirt is short and sheer. I think he covered her hips and crotch with more leaves, and then there are sheer strips of ribbon.

Delvin: knee-length skirt with a short flounce, made of fur? I think a tree skirt? He's trimmed it so there are horizontal stripes. The top is long sleeved and gold, but also off the shoulder. Melanie: beige dress that is made out of “corn husks”. The top has very accentuated lapels, where it looks like she pleated the raffia to make a V. The skirt is just a pencil skirt, but over this she's shredded the raffia to make threads that hang down to the floor. The back is open and the extra leaves or whatever that outline it look great. Shavi: short tight dress in red, covered in petals. It's probably fake poinsettia petals? The top has a lot of volume over her chest, then it's more fitted in the waist, and then the petals put some volume on the skirt. But the skirt is fitted and nips in at the knees, so his model looks kind of round? I don't hate it though.

Chelsey: strapless gold dress with a miniskirt. It seems pretty stiff as the model is walking down the runway. It looks like she put a lot of different ribbons together in vertical stripes to make an interesting pattern. Brittany: long skirt that hits just below her knees, in a bronze wrapping paper. Her model is walking very carefully. The top is a strapless bodice in a zig zag pattern, with strands of cranberries hanging off one side near her arm. Nancy: big full coat that the model immediately takes off so we can't see it. It looks like maybe it's a tree skirt that she didn't do a lot to change. Also I think that's where all the crushed up ornaments are, as details along the edges of the coat. The dress underneath is an off the shoulder sheath dress that I think is made of ribbon, that looks like a regular dress. I mean she's lined up the design so it looks like a print and it lines up perfectly. Dayoung: white metallic dress, with a halter top and short skirt. The top has part of a gold wreath outlining her boobs, with feathery parts sweeping upwards. Then her midriff is sheer, and the skirt has more sheer strips hanging down past the solid part of the skirt. The wreath stuff is also arranged at her waist to cover the top of the skirt so it's not just a straight skirt.

Nancy, Geoffrey, Marquise, Delvin, Chelsey, Melanie, and Dayoung are safe. I really liked Geoffrey's but fine. Sergio explains his basket and how he sewed it all. He brags that he's really good at sewing and then tells them to come look at it and yes he's annoying, but it is very impressive. Everyone loves it. Tyler tells the judges how he wanted the snowflake ornaments to look like lace. OK, they do look like lace from a little distance, I'll give him that. He also admits he's not happy with the construction. It doesn't fit, and then Nina says it's a costume. It's far too short, and Brandon doesn't even think it works conceptually. Brittany blames her shitty dress on the fact that she got a bloody nose and couldn't get the materials she wanted. She's already crying. The top has a zig-zag pattern that is made of a bunch of different wrapping papers, and I think this is what she wanted to do for the whole dress, but didn't have time to do. Brandon points out that “wrapping paper is a shitty material” is not going to fly when Sergio has such a perfect garment. Nina liked the concept but the skirt is too stiff. She even likes the berry fringe that Brandon hates.

Victoria is sure she's in the top, which she is. This represents her. It's sexy and has texture. Yeah but it's fabric? No one is going to care about that? They just give her praise for how great it is? Fine. Shavi used a garland for all the leaves/petals, and when we get a close-up of the bodice, it looks woven. Brandon was worried about the silhouette, but then when it came out he loved it. Nina loves that her waist is defined, so all the other volume is perfect. Elaine declares it a couture piece, which is maybe pushing it. But they love it. Alan says he's happy about the skirt but then admits he didn't think about the top. He claims he had a lot of materials, and he tried everything, but nothing worked. Nina is tired of the excuses. He's been judged one time before this, so I'd be more tired of Victoria doing the same look twice, but fine. It looks like he wrapped ribbon around her boobs and called it a day. She wants a finished garment. Elaine calls it a Burning Man outfit.

Lots of tears backstage. Everyone really loves Shavi. Nina says Shavi was joyful, Sergio was polished, and Victoria was resourceful. She used a pillowcase. Whatever. Kiernan and Elaine think Victoria's look was the weakest, comparatively, so it's down to Sergio and Shavi. I hate to say Sergio's dress is more impressive. Kiernan wants Shavi to win because she likes that dress better, but Brandon argues for Sergio because unlike Brittany, he was able to handle the wrapping paper.

Brittany's skirt was too stiff, and it was basically just a paper skirt. Brandon tells Elaine and Nina they're wrong for liking the cranberries, but that was the only movement in the dress. Chelsey's dress was stiff too, but maybe because it was short no one cared? The judges are also upset Brittany gave up. Tyler didn't embrace the unconventional materials, plus the construction is terrible. It got worse the closer you got to the dress. Alan ignored the challenge, and just had excuses. Plus they hate the boots.

Victoria is in. Sergio is the winner! I know, it's Sergio, but he really made something amazing. Shavi is in. Of course Sergio knew he would win, because he's so great. Brittany is in. Tyler wasn't innovative and didn't have good construction. Alan didn't make a holiday party look, and the styling was all over the place. Alan is out. Tyler is in. When the boys go to hug, we can see that Alan is wearing the boots his model had on. Sigh. Brandon appreciates that he took a risk. Dayoung is especially upset. Alan says he just needs more time. Christian does not Save him, but does say that even though Alan drove him crazy, he'll miss him.

Next time: design something for Karlie, but from Goodwill? Delvin picks up mens pants, Laverne Cox.

Christian is already done with this interview which is hilarious. They talk about how Alan had the most material, but the nakedest model. Alan then has the balls to say they really could have used Christian to help pick out a shoe, because he was so lost. But Christian was there, he questioned those dumb boots, and Christian is not hearing this. Then Christian says that he has special guests, and he brings out the fur boots. Ha! Then they talk to the boots, because I guess they're both tipsy. Alan claims that everyone else in the room blew smoke up his ass and said the boots were great. Also we can see that he got his own pair, so backstage it's him and his model in matching boots. Christian is like, see remember how I'm the mentor? You should listen to me. Alan somehow thinks he will win. Christian says, “Um....do you know where you are right now?” This is kind of fun. You want to hear this crazy story? Alan is all, so picture the finale, after the fashion show, boom, Siriano Save, I win! Twist! Christian just shakes his head and says it's not gonna happen. Well it was worth a try. Alan says his company is full of his energy. “What is too much?” Well that certainly fits his personality. They start talking about touring and just being dumb. I love this aftershow, honestly.