Project Runway review: Powerful women don’t need costumes

PROJECT RUNWAY — Episode 1706 — Pictured: Sonia Kasparian — (Photo by: Karolina Wojtasik/Bravo)

In this week’s Project Runway review, the designers move beyond the real world and into the virtual one to prove that powerful women don’t need costumes.

Get your controllers ready. Project Runway is stepping off the catwalk and walking into the virtual world. In this week’s episode, the designers must create both a video game character and a fashionable look for that character. Was there a thin line between fashion and costume?

Looking at this challenge, the premise is as important as the designs. Video games and the gaming world need strong female characters. More importantly, the conversation needs to change the perception of who is and what is the look of that character.

In some cases, the designers understood the concept of creating a woman with “powers” and other designers seemed to just be confused. Like any challenge, the vision needs to be clear or the look will just be confusing. Unfortunately, some of the same people are continuing to make the same mistakes.

Looking back at the premise of the challenge, the design needed to be both functional and fashionable. The function aspect was a huge debate. In some ways the function was more about applying the character’s persona than actually being able to wear that look into that “woman’s world.”

Since it is still early in the Project Runway season, the designer with immunity can get a huge save. This week, Bishme (last week’s winner) really needed that immunity pass. His look was so over the top, overly costume that it was a huge disaster. In a way, it looked like the Queen of Hearts costume meant for a bad haunted house. But, he was safe thanks to that immunity pass.