Project Runway Season 15 Recap: Metal Hybrids

Image via Lifetime

Project Runway devises new forms of torture with their “first ever” hybrid challenge: a half- avante garde/half unconventional materials look.

Once again, we rejoin the Top 6, already in the process of cattery in the hotel. As is common at this point, the sense of relaxation among the contestants now that they’re crossed the invisible line of demarcation between those who will and won’t get to show at Fashion Week is conspicuous. The show may not admit to it on camera, but the change in attitude is unmistakable, even to those who don’t know that the fight now is only about who shows their NYFW collections on camera and who doesn’t.

Meanwhile, it’s the yearly Lexus challenge. This year the branded car supplier for the production is once again sponsoring an Avant Garde challenge, but at least this time it won’t be based on their actual vehicles. Instead it’s an unconventional materials challenge, made up of pieces from a car factory. But since that would be a little too much, it’s a “hybrid” challenge–like the cars, right? They’ll also have $150 at Mood for fabric and notions to go with the metal factory parts, and two days to make their garment.

At Mood, the contestants gravitate to their stuff they no the best to complement the stuff that’s hard to work with. Laurence gets leathers, Mah-jing gets denim, Erin gets yellow, and Swatch gets Tim to get down on the floor and play. Yay Swatch!

Image via Lifetime

With the relaxation of the contestants, comes a sense pf peace to the workroom as the contestants spend their time focusing on their work than sniping at each other. Erin feels like she’s back in comfort zone with returning to the world of unconventional materials. Rik actually seems the most at sea, and like he doesn’t have enough of anything to make anything properly.

Tim doesn’t come by until the second day, in order to leave the contestants that have marched off in the wrong direction the least amount of time to course correct, as always.

• Rik: He’s tiling his gown like it’s a kitchen backsplash. Tim worries that his safety pins are cheap. (Clearly filmed prior to Nov 9th!)
• Roberi: He’s making a oddly simply Tin Lady gown. The metal bodice looks like armor. Tim calls it (and the sharp edges) edgy. Total dad humor.
• Mah-Jing: His making metal coral reef pieces on a denim minidress. Tim worries it’s too heavy and costumey.

Image via Lifetime

• Erin: She lost a day making flowers that didn’t come out, so now she has metal IKEA shelving like mesh and a bunch of yellow pleather and not much put together.
• Laurence: She’s making a stairway dress. I’m just not sure it’s big enough, or different enough, or going far enough. Tim asks the same question.
• Cornelius: He’s talking about butterflies with a little black dress on his dummy with nothing on it but a painted pink oval on the belly. Tim looks at the oval and says “Put Baby Bump Here.” 

The model fitting finds many of them stuck figuring out how to combine the fabric and metal pieces together. Cornelius goes into a panic about his design, since Tim didn’t like it, and goes nuts adding vacuum tubing to his dress in desperation to make it interesting. Meanwhile the others note the tubing is coming out of an unfortunate place and looks rather… phallic.

Day of runway, and Erin is bringing back the cut flowers from day one. She’s hot gluing them to the metal mesh framing muttering about her models nipples being exposed. The Product Displaying Make Up People and the Name Dropping Hair Salon get major points for keeping straight faces when presented with some of the designer’s ideas of their models this week.

Let’s see if the judges agree with Tim that at least this week’s runway will not be boring.