Project Runway Season 15 Recap: Don’t Drink and Sew
By Ani Bundel
Image via Lifetime
Heidi is wearing….a sky blue velvet 1970s women’s leisure suit, complete with skinny black pussy bow. Alrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrighty then. Zac Posen and Nina Garcia are in residence. The guest judge this week is model Emily Ratajkowski who is here to continue to promote her crossover into acting and to have a frenemy relationship with Heidi on screen this evening. The TimGunn Save™ is mentioned this evening, and the AnthonyRyan Rule™ is also name checked.
Mushy Middle
Image via Lifetime
Cornelius: It’s godawful. The skirt is too large, the bust is too small and the print is completely non evening wear.
Image via Lifetime
Brik: Star Trek cocktail waitress.
Image via Lifetime
Mah Jing: The construction issues are obvious from all the way upstairs in my comfy chair on the second floor. But hey, it’s not a blood stain.
Image via Lifetime
Roberi: He dropped the bad skirt and stuck with the Native American knit print, but reused it in a way that made it passable.
Image via Lifetime
Dexter: A walking beard. He is told he would have been in the bottom if he had not had immunity.
Top
Image via Lifetime
Rik: The see-thru jelly show like strap around the back of the neck is a little gauche, but I love how the leather apron turned out. Nina calls it a dress for a woman who is “very confident” which is a nice way of saying “only Heidi Klum could wear this.” Heidi Klum loves it. Zac calls this a smart fabric choice and a smart use of it.
Image via Lifetime
Laurence: I love the quilted shoulders. That the rest of it is an LBD is probably the right choice. Zac, who admitted he hated basically everything this week, is over the moon about this look. He loves the reference, and that it’s both high fashion and accessible to anyone to understand. Nina calls the tailoring “impeccable.” She clearly should have won, and that she did not was a crime, and travesty and the judges were clearly smoking something. Robbed!
Image via Lifetime
Jenni: The appliques were all she paid attention to, so the rest of the dress is like an ill fitting nightie. But the appliques apparently overshadow the awkward fit? Maybe not, as it becomes uncomfortably clear she is in the top because the judges mistook this to be Erin’s outfit. Nina writes that off as “Jenni being unconsciously inspired by the others,” while Heidi is less certain it wasn’t deliberate…. and yet somehow she’s the winner. WHAT? I don’t get it either.
Bottom
Image via Lifetime
Erin: The cocktail dress is ok, but the feathers aren’t a success, and the back is even worse. The styling and hair choices do *not* help here. The judges hate it. Heidi calls it “silly.” Zac says “Priscilla, Queen of the Swamp” and “cheap and feathery.” Nina is appalled, she clearly voted for it to be out, not thinking it was Erin, and she’s upset by that.
Image via Lifetime
Nathalia: She bought that half yard of beadwork, and she made it work without looking like an ice skater. The open back is kind of a misshapen disaster though. Heidi calls it a teen prom dress. Nina says it’s not luxurious. They are horrified at how much she spent on the beaded fabric to turn out something so cheap. All except Zac Posen, who says grading on a curve this is, not so bad.
Image via Lifetime
Tasha: She finished! And it doesn’t look like she made it in half the time with whatever she could find in the workroom. Kudos! She knows her dress is too plain though. The fit had to be perfect to get away with it, and the fit wasn’t perfect. Nina calls her out for the only decor being “a piece of ribbon at the waist.” The others shrug at the lack of anything to talk about.
Next: Project Runway Season 15 Recap: Make Up Teams
With Erin having so many visits to the top in a row before this, she isn’t going anywhere. And that’s despite the judges being clearly peeved that, not only did they vote wrong and put her in the bottom, but they mistook someone else’s garment for hers. (Is that why they gave Jenni the win? Just to punish Erin?) That means that even though Nathalia had Zac in her corner during the on stage critique, they can’t immediately dismiss her as safe, as that would give away the ending. But all this is moot, as we know Tasha is the only one in danger, and therefore going home. Tasha accepts it with grace, and thanks god and Tim Gunn for the opportunity.