Project Runway 1/16/20--"There Is Only One You" summary

Previously on “Project Runway”: the designers were told to work in teams to make collections “inspired by Cyndi Lauper's iconic 80's style. A mix of punk and pop.” The winning team did a better job, I guess, but they only did punk and did all black and I don't think that fits the challenge. Also, Geoffrey told everyone (including judges) that Cyndi had changed his life and then he won. Too many years of producer manipulation make me very suspicious of this. I don't think his look was terrible, but it was all black. The other team used stripes, which was deemed terrible, and then Melanie was sent home. If you are going “Wait there was a Melanie?” then you can see why. I know no one agrees with me about the failure of the challenge last week so I'm going to try to get over it. (click for more)

in the penthouse, everyone chats about yesterday. Victoria for some reason tells everyone that she feels guilty for being in the top all the time. I hoped she would continue that sentence with “because I've made the same jacket all five times” but she does not. She interviews that her only competition is Geoffrey, Brittany, and Delvin. The producer asks her about Sergio, and she says of course not. Heh.

Both Karlie and Christian come out on the runway, which just emphasizes their height difference. The challenge today is to draw inspiration from “your heritage and your unique background”. Make whatever you want. Especially annoying because Melanie complained last week she never got to make anything with her minimalist style. Delvin kind of freaks out because “do whatever” is such a broad instruction that he's kind of lost. It's a one day challenge. Shavi screwed that up last time so hopefully he can get it together this time. Geoffrey has both immunity and first choice of model. Also Christian gives a makeup plug so I guess they're giving someone money. You know when they randomly emphasize how important makeup is.

There is mild fighting over models, but mostly because like, Dayoung wants the Asian model, and so forth. Delvin grew up without his dad (he died when Delvin was two from gang violence). They gave everyone tablets to “research”, and as Delvin is clicking around on his, suddenly a call comes through. And it says “Call for Delvin” which is kind of creepy. Delvin looks supremely confused, but answers the call and it's his mom. Who promptly says he needs a haircut. Heh. It's everyone's moms, which is so nice and also causes lots of tears. Chelsey is going to honor her grandmother. Shavi is thinking of his great-aunt, who had a light complexion and did a lot of things his grandmother couldn't. Sergio has a conversation with his parents about cotton. I'm not sure why he is speaking in English, because his parents speak Spanish. They could have translated him. Victoria is of course making something from Moldova (her phone call is her husband). Marquise's grandmothers both did quilting. Geoffrey's mom can't hear him. Hmm. That sucks though. Nancy's sister talks about Italian...food. Ha! Dayoung bursts into tears and tells us she's seen her mom once in the past couple of years. Her mom says not to kill herself trying to be the best. Aww. Delvin is discovering that his father's family is Mexican. He says he did not know this before. I can't imagine what it would be like to find out something like that on this dumb reality show. Anyway, he's still freaking out about not having direction because he is Mexican, black, Cherokee, and Creole, at least.

Mood is Mood. Victoria is buying baby blue. Christian tries to mess with her about it. Chelsey has a lot of colors. Christian sasses that she's sure she doesn't want to ask him anything? They didn't ask him any questions in the team challenge and look what happened...? Shavi is making a jazz singer outfit, but he has to buy a lining because the fabric he really wants is sheer. Delvin still seems confused, but I think he's doing French Creole meets French couture house. But he's picked out blue and orange and Christian says “college”. To Delvin's credit, he immediately realizes Christian's right and runs off. I think he buys...something? He at least has fabric.

11 hours to work. Dayoung wraps her head in a scarf because she thinks she has a fever. There is some good-natured “stay away from me” banter. Marquise did buy quilted material. I think he's making a jumpsuit? With denim and then some spraypainting? Nancy has a lot of wild stuff, because she wore a lot of hand-me-downs growing up and this is something she would have wanted to wear. Sergio (who is encouraging Nancy, weird) is making a cotton gown since his father's family owned a cotton farm. The sketch makes it look like a split skirt and other weirdness. But because it's Sergio, he also wants to tell the story of the children who have died at the US border and he's going to write their names on the hem. Telling a story about migration because you immigrated, sure. Of course. Putting children's names and saying your gown is white and red for innocence and blood, is no longer about you? I'm not saying he shouldn't talk about it or not be inspired by tragedy or anything like that, but this challenge is supposed to be about him, and it feels like when Josh heard “heritage” and made a print about how he was bullied as a child. It's a demand for attention. Plus you know he'll be annoying about it. Currently he's saying in confessional that he wants to change the world for the better. Nancy fully supports using fashion to express your political viewpoints. I wonder if he will get in trouble for not following the challenge. Geoffrey is making some military-inspired stuff.

Christian shows up to bug everyone about one day challenges. Dayoung says her grandfather was a war prisoner when the Koreas split. Her look is like a traditional Korean garment. Christian tells her to make it really obvious and go for it. Shavi has a very gold gown. He couldn't find the lining he was talking about, so there's muslin behind it. It's a very tricky fabric and has to fit perfectly. Shavi also admits he has been struggling because he's not used to being around people 24/7.

As Christian goes up to Sergio, who is at the ironing board, the camera shot is from across the room and hiding. At first I thought they were pretending this was a private conversation, so they were acting like they weren't filming, but then there's a normal shot from close up so I don't know what that was about. Christian asks if Sergio wants to show him what he's doing, and Sergio (who has covered his ironing board with muslin) says nah, he's good. He interviews that Christian doesn't make him nervous because a designer should stay true to themselves. OK but then why not show him your look? When Christian presses him, Sergio says that it's very personal. You're going to show it to everyone else and the world on the runway. Also it's not personal. Is it? His father owns a cotton farm so is that too personal to share with Christian? He hasn't said why the children part of it is personal, except that he feels strongly about it. Or did he say something about his past in like the first episode and I've forgotten it? Anyway, Christian points out that he has to see something. Yeah, Sergio was arguing that being true to yourself was what the competition is about, but I'm sure there's a clause about cooperating with the mentor. Eventually Sergio asks if he could be further along first, and Christian rolls his eyes and agrees. Then Sergio is like “And we can show it to you tomorrow.” Nope. Christian has to see it today. Sergio's argument is that Christian can't have an accurate opinion unless he sees things closer to when they'll be done. So basically, if Christian looks at it now, he won't get it? Sergio is not good enough for this attitude. Also I'm exhausted with this and I'm not even there. Christian reminds Sergio that he's not there to satisfy himself, he's there to answer Sergio's questions or whatever, but if he's sure...? and then Christian wanders off. Sergio interviews that this dress is such a heavy topic that he just doesn't have the mental capacity to talk to Christian right now. And Christian isn't Latino. But is your “political fashion” only aimed at Latinos? Isn't it aimed at Christian? Sergio's family is immigrants and so he knows the struggle, and you can't explain that to anyone. Then how the fuck are you going to change the world? Isn't his whole point of being “political” to raise awareness? Because otherwise he's just putting dead children's names on his dress for his own self benefit because it speaks to HIM and people who aren't immigrants are incapable of feeling the same way so he doesn't care if they get it or not.

I know I probably shouldn't try to understand Sergio, but I thought he was just cocky. This is a big failure of logic. I know he said he does political fashion to raise awareness of ethical fabrics or sustainability or something similar, right? If that's true, then the whole point of that is to get people to understand and feel something, to hear your message and change their minds and do something. So this attitude of “Christian isn't a Latino so he can't understand the struggle” doesn't make sense to me because isn't the point of doing this to MAKE them understand? To bring awareness to the fact that there's a struggle in the first place? So they why not show Christian and see if you're getting your point across the way you want to? PLUS he just got done saying how you can't listen to anyone but yourself. So we all know if Christian had anything to say about his outfit, then Sergio would just ignore it anyway. It feels like it's all just drama because Sergio wants attention, and refusing to show Christian anything guarantees him screen time. He had no problem telling Nancy what he was doing.

And let's not forget Sergio's OTHER insistence that he only designs for rich middle aged women. Are you telling me rich 40 year old women come to you and you make them outfits with political messages? Come on.

Chelsey's grandmothers are both school principals, and she says that sometimes her heritage doesn't encourage education, so in defiance of that she's making a varsity jacket. Maybe it could be a little more fashion, like a stronger shoulder. Delvin seems pretty down. His dressform has like, one side pink and blue blazer, and one side strapless gown with corset. Christian gently suggests the exposed seams imply the process of dressmaking, which is very Delvin. Brittany has a lot of denim. Also Brittany's husband was “Cowboy of the Year.” Hee! No one else is doing denim, and Christian does like what she has.

Sergio comes to get Christian at this point, so of course Christian has some sassy “Oh now you're ready for me?” attitude. Deserved though, and I wonder if a producer told Sergio part of the show is to talk to Christian so he has to. There is nothing on Sergio's workstation. It just looks like piles of fabric, the dressform is blank, nothing. Sergio says that his dad is an immigrant, his mom is Mexican, he's a political designer (I was right), so he's telling the story of the six children who have died in custody at the border, with their names on the hem of the dress. Christian says it's heavy, and so maybe the rest of the dress should be more dramatic. This is an important story, but it's not necessarily Sergio's story, which could be a problem. Also this attitude of “I am in control here because you won't get it.”

Delvin is freaking out that he won't get done. Chelsey tries to give him some tough love, and he seems to get it together. But that means starting over, which is difficult. Dayoung is trying to put curves in her jacket, like pagoda roofs. She says this is the first time in this competition she can write a message in her own language. Chelsey was raised by her grandmother, and she wants her to know that her hard work was not in vain because Chelsey made it.

Model fitting. Delvin is sewing and not fitting. He also says by this point he's always been finished, so he's not sure what to do. I mean finish, but other than that. Christian is still giving advice to Nancy, who has a whole muslin garment. He also tells Victoria to make a cutout in her top. At least it doesn't have pointy shoulders. Geoffrey's model promises his skirt doesn't look like a dick. Before he leaves Christian says it's a flash sale challenge, which is that thing where the fans vote for an outfit to be produced. Luckily this doesn't mean you have to do anything else.

As soon as Christian leaves, Sergio tells us he's making his gown a cocktail length, because he wants everyone to buy this dress and have conversations about the dead children's names on their clothes. Dude. You can't tell us “non-immigrants can't understand so you can't see it” and then turn around and say “I'm changing my design so everyone will buy my outfit.” You can't act all high and mighty about your meaningful message when you're so quick to change everything so you can make sales. Plus, you just said no one will understand unless they've been there, meaning you want people who don't understand the struggle, who you have deemed incapable of understanding, you still expect those people to give you money. “So that we can make a change together.” Then give them some fucking credit that maybe they can understand.

Brittany points out in confessional that Victoria could put literally anything on her model and no one would know if that's how things really are in Moldova. Dayoung is still feverish. Chelsey is regretting her detailed jacket. Shavi has a ton of work to do tomorrow, but he is sure he can finish it all. Delvin bought hot pink, even though he hates it, and I don't know that he knows why he bought it in the first place.

Runway Day. Geoffrey encourages Victoria to make her own hair bigger. When Sergio's model arrives, he tells her she's going to help him finish sewing names. I hate when people force their models to help finish the garments. Brittany makes a great face about this. Victoria can't get the top over her model's head. Sergio interviews that he can't possibly embroider six names in two hours, so he's forcing his model and any model around him to do it. Brittany is really pissed off about it, and then Christian asks how Sergio got the names on so fast, and Sergio just kind of shrugs and says that he didn't have a choice. Ass. Admit you forced the models to do it. Delvin is marking up the corset the way he would do if he was in the middle of making the garment. But the zipper is not lying flat, which seems like a bigger problem. Shavi's skirt looks very lumpy and it's a problem. It looks terrible. Delvin can't fix his problems either. Shavi apologizes to his model for making her wear his dress, which is kind of sad.

Guest judge is designer Fernando Garcia. Chelsey: it's a knee-length varsity jacket. It's boxy, and the skirt hangs away from her body a little bit, like an A-line. The body is royal blue, and the sleeves are white. Lots of volume on the sleeves, and initials and the year on the front like a real jacket. Actually I think it's like a swing coat. There's a simple yellow skirt underneath. Geoffrey: brown sleeveless dress in satin? Something kind of shiny. The top has frog closures and looks kind of quilted. The skirt is short and full, with the right side being longer. Like he wrapped the fabric and left it uneven. The top extends down the front of the skirt, as if it was a bodysuit she just didn't snap between her legs. Oh, the top isn't quilted, it's camouflage.

Dayoung: straight skirt, just below the knee, in turquoise. The jacket is silk and also in turquoise, but it has a tie closure in the front and a pink lining. The hem is curved in the back, and it looks like it has shoulder pads, but this may be the curves she was talking about. It's a gorgeous jacket, but I think the skirt maybe was an afterthought. Sergio: short red and white dress. It kind of looks like red lace over a white lining. The bodice is cut straight across, with red ribbon straps both off the shoulder and then over the shoulder. The skirt has weird volume at her hips, almost like a bubble skirt, and it ends with a straight hem above the knee. Then attached to this is a white piece of fabric, probably cotton, sort of full, sewn to the red lace and hemmed with the ribbon. The front is open, so the white frames her legs like a mullet hem. The white is a little longer at the front edges, so it looks uneven. And the embroidery is impossible to read and looks terrible. You can't use regular thread in a straight stitch in four inch letters, it looks like a child did it.

Shavi: long gold gown, with a high slit up one side. The bodice has one shoulder. The fabric is lovely, but the entire thing is puckered and buckling so it looks like she bought the wrong size. And then she turns around and her ass looks like she shoved a pillow in there! Poor Shavi. Nancy: very wide legged plaid pants, a brown crop top and a big jacket in a different plaid. The pants look great, and we don't see a lot of the jacket, but it's got fringe of course and looks fine.

Brittany: denim dress with a very deep V and wide sleeves. I think the sleeves are like full skirts. You know? One shoulder has a cut out, so it's a couple of straps and a cold shoulder. Most of the dress is very dark denim, but she's got some lighter strips in the full skirt and in a belt that peek out here and there. I think the skirt might be alternating light and dark panels. Delvin: hot pink skirt with a slight flounce. Maybe a trumpet skirt? It hits just at the knee. Then the top has two sides. Her right side is a blazer in the hot pink, with a dark lapel. The other side is a strapless corset, with some pink but mostly white muslin with markings in sharpie. The zipper in the skirt looks as bad as Shavi's.

Victoria: long pants and a tunic in baby blue. The pants have thin cutouts just above her knees, and then flare at the ankle. The top has long sleeves and a high neck. On one side there's a big cutout, which is basically the whole side of the top. Think about the part that would be covered if you put a corset over the tunic, it's that much. On the other side, it's covered, but there are two strips of fabric that hang down to her knees. There's a silver fabric where the cutout is, otherwise she'd flash a boob. The pants fit perfectly, but she looks like an alien. Marquise: I think it's overalls? One shouldered dark denim overalls with wide cropped legs. There are two white stripes around one leg. Under the overalls is a high-necked patchwork shirt in different shades of denim, and then over all of this is a long jacket with more white stripes and the word LOVE across the back. DD is working the shit out of flipping this jacket.

Geoffrey, Brittany, Nancy, and Marquise are safe. Brittany is salty about Victoria being in the top again. Are you sure she's in the top? Yeah, probably. Brittany is really salty today about everyone else. Victoria says something about timeless and sophisticated. Brandon says it is not those things, but he's not bored and the pants are fitted perfectly. The connection is that Victoria says women in Moldova are always dressed up, but the color doesn't have any meaning. Elaine accuses her of just making an outfit she wanted, so she missed her opportunity to tell everyone about where she's from. Karlie says they were split, but apparently it's so amazing she's in the top. Sigh. Nina says she was surprised, and it's hard to surprise her. Delvin tried to connect Creole and French fashion houses, so the corset is exposed on purpose. He explains the markings, and they come to look more closely. Fernando thinks that he should have made the whole garment exposed with construction markings. The other elements muddle this. He also usually doesn't use bright colors, so he was trying to move out of his color story. It's kind of 80s, plus the color makes the screwed up zipper way more obvious. He didn't know what to do, and his garment reflects that. Nina thinks he just got caught up in it, and it could have been more organic.

Chelsey talks about her grandmothers and what all the letters and whatever mean. Karlie loves the silhouette, and it's simple but fashion. Fernando says “Balenciaga goes to the tailgate.” she really nailed the challenge. Shavi talks about his great-aunt, and how he didn't have a lining, so he doubled the fabric, but that still wasn't enough. He put too many seams, so the fabric is too tortured. They all loved his story, but the dress is terrible. Shavi gets emotional and says he feels he disrespected the judges. Brandon tells him no way, if you had more time you wouldn't be here.

Sergio talks about how his family is immigrants, and here is why he is so irritating to everyone: instead of just leaving it at “immigrants” he adds on “we come from just, the most humble working class” which just makes me roll my eyes. Also he's political. So he explains what the embroidery is about, and then starts crying and grandstanding about how nobody is lesser and he's pissed off as a person and he wants to remember those kids. Like he is sobbing. I don't want to dump on him because I agree with him about this issue, but he hasn't earned any slack from me. Elaine thanks him for explaining the context of the garment, but now they need to talk about the garment itself. The whole garment is cotton, and it makes the whole garment cheap, and Elaine can't get over that to get into the issue he wants to raise. Back in the Scrap Bin, Brittany and Geoffrey agree that political fashion isn't bad, but it has to be fashion and beautiful. This dress wasn't inspiring. Fernando says that as a Latino, he wishes it had leaned more into “the Latino concept”. That's a nice line to call back to Sergio's complaint that Christian doesn't get it because he's not Latino. Anyway, it's not modern and he needs to push himself. Sergio thanks him for the advice, and I can't tell if he's sincere or not. Nina hates the mullet hem (and she calls it a mullet hem). He could have done better. Dayoung wanted her jacket to flow like a painting, and she talks about the pagoda roofs. Nina says she's a quiet designer, but her work speaks for her. Also her jacket looks expensive. The skirt doesn't quite go, though. Brandon says it nails the challenge: it's very Dayoung, but any woman would look great in this jacket.

Victoria's look is perfectly tailored, and it's very unique, but it doesn't fit the challenge. Chelsey made something very chic and fashion forward, and it's very personal. Dayoung's jacket was very sophisticated and lovely. As for the bottom, Elaine is shocked all three of them are there. Sergio could have been more modern, it had potential though. Nina nails it and says the story took center stage instead of the clothes. If his dress didn't suck, his message would have a wider reach. That's pretty harsh but it's true. Shavi's dress was very basic, and then it was poorly constructed to boot. Brandon thinks a coat and a belt and it's fine. Nina yells at him that they've seen that dress a million times in every price range. Delvin has potential, and if he had made the whole dress with the muslin and sharpie it would have been great. Nina is worried about the dated color and the ill-fitting zipper. Brandon says he had the worst garment today.

Victoria is in. Oh phew, I thought they were going to give her the win for a second. Chelsey is the winner. I liked both of them. I wonder if they thought Dayoung's jacket would win the flash challenge if she didn't win the main challenge. Chelsey is very thrilled. Sergio is in, because I can't imagine they'd eliminate him after that. Delvin is in. Shavi is out. Yeah. He knows he screwed up, which is sad. Christian doesn't save him, so he is out. His craftsmanship is above anything he's made here. That's probably true.

Next time: collabs, I think, Dayoung gets the ambulance again.

Poor Shavi. He had a bad day, but he was on the top so it's not like he has just been lingering in the bottom. He says that the workroom doesn't have the right machine to make the lining he wanted, and putting muslin as the lining didn't work with the fabric he bought. He talks about his grandmother, and how she taught him to sew, and he wears her rings every challenge. Shavi and Christian joke about people going through their stuff after they die, and how confused they'll be by all the gowns. Also Shavi names his hats. He also talks about being more introverted, but meeting Alan and Chelsey and everyone help pull him out of his shell. These two also talk about Sergio's “breakdown”. They don't seem to believe him 100%, and I'll say that they show it again and I'm not seeing a lot of actual tears? Shavi doesn't want to downplay anything anyone Latinx has gone through, but this was supposed to be about your personal story, and that particular story isn't personal so it's not appropriate for right now. Shavi says your garment should inspire people to ask you about it, rather than leading with the issue. Shavi doesn't quite know what he's going to do now, but he's going to build his brand. Delvin could win, if he keeps his head together.