Project Runway 1/23/20--"Project Runway X Ashley Longshore" summary

Previously on “Project Runway”: the designers were told to make whatever they wanted, inspired by their own background and heritage. Also everyone got phone calls from family members. Most of the drama was about Sergio, who wanted to honor immigrants (sure) by embroidering the names of the six children who have died at the US border on his gown (umm...not his heritage?). He ended up in the bottom, because his dress wasn't very good and I don't think the judges bought that he was moved to tears about it. Chelsey won, by making a letterman's jacket. Dayoung was a close second, for a lovely silk jacket. While Sergio was in the bottom, and Delvin flailed because he was given too much choice, Shavi's dress was a lumpy mess and he was sent home. (click for more)

Sergio and Nancy talk in the penthouse about...Sergio. Who says he's “living his truth” so at the end of the day, it's not about the judges. I guess, in the sense that anyone's fashion is more than this show, but come on. Sergio telling the judges he doesn't care about them is not some noble gesture. Someone knocks on the door and gives Brittany a gift bag with a note to meet Christian on the first floor of Bergdorf Goodman. Field trip! Bergdorf Goodman is a very high end department store.

Christian is there with Ashley Longshore, a pop artist. He calls her the next Andy Warhol. Also here is Linda Fargo, who is the fashion director of Bergdorf Goodman. They talk about this collaboration, which seems to mean insisting on everyone being themselves, but also collaborating with someone else. Chelsey really wants to impress Linda. Spoiler: Linda leaves and we never see her again. Their challenge is to collab with Ashley. They'll each get a print of hers, to make a high-fashion look. She's excited to see her art as fashion. Nancy says she's done this before (using someone's print to make outfits). Chelsey gets first pick since she won last week. She picks out a framed canvas with like, some money and different other prints there. Then Chelsey gets to pick who goes next, and so forth. These prints are very busy and hard to describe. Highlights include Nancy seeing a print of swear words (it looks like one of those collages you did as a kid, cutting words out of magazines and pasting them together) and picking it, not noticing that all over the print there are pink dildos. Heh. There's a lot of pink, like the overall color palate seems to be pink with other accents. Also Geoffrey looks at a print with smiley faces and then nipples, but it takes him way too long to figure out that there are nipples. Like I think he thinks they're pancakes at one point. Sergio is last, and Delvin snarks that of course he's last. Two day challenge, and they'll still get to go to Mood.

Everyone gets to meet with Ashley and show her the sketches. Geoffrey seems to be at a loss, or at least he's acting like prints are really hard for most of them. Nancy has sketched dildo shaped pants, because she's not mortified about the dildos. She's embarrassed her son will see her with this print. Marquise buys sequins. For some reason at Mood Christian chases Victoria down to demand an explanation of her sketch and what she's doing. He suggests she make sure she is using the print enough. Geoffrey I think is designing “spiky” sleeves, but not sharp spikes, more like nipples.

Back at the workroom, Delvin helps Chelsey with a corset, or making boning, because it's not sitting right. Sergio keeps interrupting to ask if Chelsey needs help. See, maybe this is a nice gesture, or he does actually want to help, but the time to offer is not in the middle of a conversation where someone else is helping. And then when you're ignored, to just keep repeating yourself asking if she wants the answer to her problems, until you just tell her what to do when there's a pause. Because no matter how pure your intentions, now you just look like a jerk who couldn't shut up. Delvin rolls his eyes and backs off, complaining that Sergio only makes circle skirts and is dumb. Sass.

Ashley arrives to see what everyone is doing. Nancy has scrapped the dildo pants, which is kind of too bad, to make a reversible jacket. Geoffrey tells Ashley he's doing giant nipples, and she immediately says she's worried about how literal this is. He didn't realize there were nipples in the print at first, and that's why the print is great. Sure. Dayoung has a long coat that Ashley loves. Delvin has interpreted his print as depression. There are different pictures to his print (sorry they didn't show it again so I'm not sure what exactly is on there) and he likens it to having a million things going on in your head. Ashley says she likes the interpretation, which to me means that's not what she intended it as, but it's close enough she's not going to correct him. Delvin says in confessional that designing is his outlet. Ashley is only worried about his design because there are a lot of ruffles. Victoria is making her usual cut out top with strong shoulders. She needs more print in her design. As Ashley leaves, she tells the designers to into the lounge to grab accessories from a cart. Or notions? There's like, feathers and rhinestones. I think these are from Bergdorf's. Day one ends, and when the designers go outside there's a buffet in the courtyard from Ashley. Victoria says it's been stressful and they need some alcohol, as if they wouldn't have gone back to the penthouse and had wine anyway. Everyone hangs out and they end up talking about their designs so I guess we just moved that conversation. Marquise asks the general crowd if anyone has extra white fabric. Then they all do runway walks and I think throw things at each other.

Day Two. Dayoung says she has a cold, but then says in confessional she feels like she did earlier in the season when she went to the emergency room. Not good. 8 hours to work today. Marquise has found white fabric to work with. Brittany's print has butterflies in it, so she's taken some of the print and cut out the butterflies, then attached them to the garment so the print becomes three dimensional. She says she's always been extra.

Christian arrives for his critiques. Dayoung is making a coat, and Christian suggests she make an oversized sleeve. He also tells her to take breaks since she's not feeling well. Marquise's print is sort of abstract, but it's got a bird called a bee eater. So his white top will have bees on it. Nice. The top needs some work, but mostly because the fabric won't stretch so I think Christian is more concerned about the execution, as opposed to the design. Christian loves Brittany's butterflies. Nancy's reversible coat sounds great, but he suggests it's too big. But she makes oversized things all the time so I think she's going to ignore him. Victoria's look has very little print in it. She sort of puts some swatches on the top but she appears to hate all of it so Christian just kind of leaves. Then Christian leaves, and I would have liked to see Sergio pretend to listen.

Dayoung looks terrible, and everyone bugs her about if she's feeling OK or not. She's out of energy and beating herself up for being “delicate”. Oh, Dayoung. Not everyone is physically cut out for this. In the end it's a reality show and shouldn't count for anything. But it is nice to see everyone rally around her. A producer offers to get the medic but she refuses. But then she's in the back somewhere on some steps and the medic is talking to her. She really doesn't want to quit, so she comes back to work. Model fitting. Victoria has used the print to make the pants, but Christian say she still needs more. But she doesn't want to use more. Sergio tells his model she's going to start off in a cocoon, “to represent the struggle transgender people go through”. Why. No one involved here is transgender, you don't have the one non-binary model (who might not want to be voluntold they're representing everyone today), there is no reason to make this outfit about transgender people. Geoffrey's dress is a huge tent and Christian calls it an oven mitt. He does not see the puffy green ruffle Geoffrey is adding. Delvin's outfit looks kind of like pajamas, because the top has that kimono wrap look to it.

Brittany is using the embroidery machine to embroider hashtags that Ashley always uses on Instagram. Yes, there's an embroidery machine. Delvin says that due to his depression, he usually doesn't make bright happy garments, but he's feeling upbeat because of all the pinks in the print and how joyful they are, which he's translated to bright pink ruffles. See, this “my outfit has a deeper message” rings so much truer than Sergio. Dayoung is worried about finishing, and people are telling her not to push herself so much, but she doesn't want to quit. When they go home, there's a tiny bit of trash talking, but it's basically Victoria asking Delvin who he thinks is going home and he whispers “Sergio” in her ear and then they go to commercial.

Runway Day. Dayoung seems better today. Victoria says she's done, so she goes to help Dayoung finish. Plenty of last minute working and Christian still passing judgment. Nancy has various pockets in the coat, including a dildo pocket. Hee. Christian asks Victoria what she's doing, and it sounds like he's questioning if her look is good enough for her to be working on someone else's garment. Marquise has one of the plus-sized models, and so of course his top looks weird because apparently he's never made clothes for anyone with breasts before. He blames it on being self-taught. Victoria is finally worried about not using enough print. Geoffrey appears to be wearing a rainbow suit with black and white sleeves. Christian teases him, and then Geoffrey is like “you know I'm gay, right?” and Christian laughs. Marquise's solution to the crappy darts on his top is to have his model hold the jacket closed and not take it off.

Ashley is here as a guest judge. Brittany: the top is a halter top with a bunch of straps, and then some sleeves that start halfway down her upper arms. The skirt is a yellow pleated skirt that hits above the knee, but then down her left side, the print continues and makes a longer skirt that sits over the pleats. Actually I think it's two halves of the skirt sewn together. There is a yellow ribbon framing a triangle on her back, and hanging from her wrists as an accent. Geoffrey: very short dress that's basically a tent. It has wide full sleeves, and hangs down from her shoulders. There's no waist definition except for one green ribbon, which is repeated on her arms as big circles. The skirt is very short, but it's not indecent because there is a big shiny green ruffle accentuating the hem. It bothers me that the ribbon is matte while the ruffle is not. The back of the dress doesn't have the belt so it's just voluminous. Delvin: basically a suit made out of the print, with slim pants that are cropped a little bit, and a wrap jacket with a belt. Everything, even the belt, is made from the print. I know I'm not saying much about the prints, but so far we've had three, and they were all “pink background with stuff on it”. Anyway it fits well.

Marquise: jacket and skirt in the print, which in this case is a blue background with a white bird that's been flipped and reflected to make a more geometric print. The top is just white with applique bees. The jacket has a mullet hem and is fairly oversized. Not tailored the way Delvin's blazer was. The sleeves of the jacket are bracelet length, and there's some yellow that goes to her wrists, echoed with a yellow collar. Nancy: long coat, that is reversible. One side is hot pink, and the other is the print. Then there's a simple pink crop top, and the pants are all in the print. It looks like she's made a skirt over pants? Like a long sarong over pants. Either that, or each leg of the pants has the pants leg and then a flap of fabric in the back, lined with pink. Chelsey: a tailored dress with long sleeves and a knee-length pencil skirt. I think she's cut up the print, so it looks sort of patchwork, but I don't remember seeing this dress at all today so I'm going to assume she's safe.

Victoria: a wrap top that looks similar to that silhouette she's done for half her garments. A cut out on the side and front, and then a piece that wraps around and attaches to her hip, and long sleeves. The top is all in white, with one strip of the print down one arm. The pants are in the print, which is black and white stripes with roses. The pants aren't tight, they seem like cropped pajama pants. The piece attached to her hip hangs down almost to her knee on that side. Everyone else used so much print. Dayoung: a fit-and-flare dress in the print with purple accents. There are two panels of the purple that hang down on either side, and then the back of the bodice is purple. It looks like this is a coat over a dress, because there are lapels and it looks like pockets, but there's a thin belt and the model never removes it so I'm not sure. The sleeves are long, but have cut outs just under the elbow that look like the bottom of the sleeve might fall off. Sergio: so the model appears in a cocoon, which looks like a garment bag. Karlie tells Brandon to “wait for the reveal” which is hilarious. The inside of the cocoon is yellow, and then the dress is a strapless sheath dress in a red-orange print. The skirt hits at the knee, but there's a very high slit on one side, and a dark belt. Attached to the back are several lengths of fabric that I think are supposed to be wings. Actually, I think there are only two lengths of fabric, and then the skirt is full in the back? Like, it's a regular straight skirt in the front, but the back half of it is full? I'm not sure but it's basically a bustle.

Ashley loved the show. Dayoung, Victoria, Delvin, Marquise, Nancy, and Brittany are the top and bottom. So we don't get to see Geoffrey's rainbow suit anymore, but we don't have to listen to Sergio either. Delvin kept it classic. Ashley loves it, because the design is simple but it sings. Delvin removed all the ruffles he had planned. Karlie points out the double lapel, which she is calling his signature. All the judges praise how well he's worked with color, because he doesn't always use it. Brandon especially praises his tailoring, saying he should stay in that lane because he'll be recognizable. Victoria says something about being sporty, and Brandon wants to know if she was done early. I guess because she should have fixed it. Victoria is on the bottom, mainly because she didn't use the print in the top. She says she's afraid of print and she doesn't know what she's doing? Ashley likes it, but she also knows Victoria could do better. Could she? I guess she could have had more print. Sometimes you have to design outside your comfort zone. They hate the chain on the belt, and the one super long earring. Victoria has no explanation, it was just a feeling.

Dayoung wanted her silhouette simple? I guess it's simple. Nina loves it, especially where the solid purple is because it's perfectly placed to work off the print. It breaks up the print in just the right way. There are also tiny bits of green that everyone likes. Brandon knows the dress was an afterthought, though, and Dayoung does admit that Victoria helped her a lot with the dress. Brandon says it's not his favorite but it's beautiful. Nancy demonstrates the pockets, which is hilarious. Ashley loves her enthusiasm, but it doesn't fit right. Nancy makes oversized coats so “anyone” could put them on, but Elaine says her model is drowning in fabric and it doesn't fit. The pants are well constructed, and once the jacket is off, they love the outfit. Brandon clutches his pearls at the dildo pocket and the fact that the words on Nancy's print include “orgasm”. Then Ashley says the pants “flood her basement” which is hysterical. I have only ever seen that phrase on the Rupaul's Drag Race subreddit. Brandon completely loses it and then pretends he doesn't know what that means. I mean you can probably figure it out, Brandon.

Marquise loved the print, so he talks about the bees and his bomber coat. They have the same complaint they had about Nancy, which is that the coat is too big. They ask to see her without the coat, and then they go to commercial like he's going to refuse or something. Of course now they can see the top is horrible. I like the idea of the seaming, which has diagonal lines from the crew neck to her armpit, basically. But you can tell it's not right. He had planned a sequined top, but it didn't work the way he wanted when he got it on the mannequin. Nina says the print has taken over, so there's no Marquise in the design. Brittany promises she's not trying to kiss ass, but Ashley is her favorite artist and she shows her the hashtags embroidered into the ribbons. They love it and the 3-D butterflies. It was also Elaine's favorite. The yellow is hand-pleated, and Brandon wishes it was something more flowy but he also admits he's nitpicking. Nina tells her it honors the artist but there's a lot of Brittany in the look too.

Victoria doesn't know how to lose, she tells us in confessional. Dayoung's piece had wonderful movement. Nina says she's a minimalist, but this piece was fun. Brandon didn't like it though. Delvin's look was luxurious and executed perfectly. It turns out that when Ashley designed that print, she had a pantsuit in mind. He approached the challenge the way Ashley would have. Brittany brought Ashley's artwork to life. She had a perfect collaboration. Elaine says that Victoria was the worst in her opinion, and then Nina says she didn't recognize it as Victoria's which is silly. It's obviously Victoria. Brandon is like, it's another bandage cutout top, come on. Nina didn't think it was well made, and Elaine points out this is the second week Victoria has ignored the challenge. Now is the time for the judges to turn on Victoria and suddenly hate the look she's been making over and over, and getting heaps of praise for. She can't break from this narrow range. Brandon thinks Marquise was worse, and he and Elaine fight about this. The darts were unforgivable and Nina hates the styling. Nancy ended up with “too big” and not “oversized”, and they know it's not the model's fault. They loved Nancy's pants, though, but they're mad about the coat being too big.

Brittany is the winner! Aww. She gets immunity. Delvin and Dayoung are in. Victoria is in. Nancy is in. Her oversized coat was not as bad as Marquise's construction issues. Marquise is out. Aww. Karlie says he's very talented and he's going to go far. Just not here. He says he thought he was going to go home on day one, so it means a lot that he's made it this far. Christian comes in and says they're starting to nitpick, but he does not save Marquise. He wanted to show the world who he was, and he did.

Next week: make an editorial look with sheer fabrics, I think, Dayoung gets medical called again, Victoria threatens to quit?

I am enjoying the aftershow. Marquise doesn't have the experience the other designers do. But he knew it was his third time in the bottom. Also we discover Ashley has a grille. Marquise has a bottom grille and Christian never noticed which is kind of funny. Marquise wants some fangs, and then Christian asks if he should get fangs and there is silence. Then they play a game where you put a card on your forehead and the other person gives you hints so you can guess. It's pretty basic, except Christian keeps looking at his cards like a dork. Geoffrey is described as frantic and Christian as short. Hee. Marquise has Diane von Furstenburg, and Christian says “invented the wrap dress” and it takes him a minute. Christian gets “Swatch” and says “He's really little, and multicolored, and runs around Mood a lot.” Marquise says Sergio and Christian completely loses it. Marquise is in one of his ballroom outfits, and he describes ballroom a little bit. It's an underground fashion show, with models who can be themselves. All the houses are named after fashion designers. Marquise found a category that worked for him (he's not super feminine) and he's making his own clothes and doing very well. Christian hopes there's a house named after him, and Marquise says there might be. He wants to get into couture and do costuming. He thinks Brittany has a great chance of winning.