Project Runway season 18 episode 8 review: Seeing the female form
Making a woman feel beautiful is always a goal of the Project Runway designers. In this week’s episode, everyone saw the female form more clearly.
In this week’s Project Runway episode, the drama wasn’t limited to the runway judging. From beginning to end, this episode seemed to show more than any of the designers had intended. Has the design competition taken an unexpected twist?
As the designers learned their challenge for the week, the commentary was more than just laying out the task ahead. As Karlie Kloss and Brandon Maxwell explained the challenge, they reminded the designers of their goal.
While a stunning look might be impressive, a designer needs to create clothes that makes a woman feel her best. From feeling beautiful to standing confident, all of those adjectives should be used in conjunction with the design accolades.
This week’s design challenge required both a keen eye and smart execution. The designers needed to create sheer, barely there, editorial look. The idea is to see and celebrate the female form.
Currently, sheer designs are trending. They can be sexy without being obvious. It isn’t about exposing a woman; it is about making her shine.
After the Project Runway challenge was revealed, the unexpected happened. Throughout the season, Dayong has had health issues. As the episode began, her health had failed again and she decided that the competition was too strenuous. She chose to leave the competition.
With one designer leaving, another designer returned. Having been eliminated in last week’s episode, Marquise returned to the competition. Although the designers seemed excited to see him receive a second chance, the reactions were mixed. Both sad to see Dayong gone and potentially scared that a talented designer was returning.
As the designers started to create their looks, it was clear that Victoria was struggling. While she stated that she didn’t understand the challenge, it seemed more than a language barrier. Looking at her sketches, she was doing another asymmetrical, cut out dress. That type of design does not work with sheer.
At one point, she decided to quit. While the other designers rallied around her, it was uncomfortable. It seemed that if she could make an asymmetrical dress, the same one she has made over and over, she didn’t want to be in the Project Runway competition. It was rather disheartening.
Granted, she decided to stay, but her look was a disaster. It was clear that her look would definitely be on the bottom. Everyone had to wait to see if the judges would give her another reprieve.
One of the top looks was quite obvious. Even though he has brought a lot of shade, Sergio’s gown was simply stunning. Although the fringe was controversial, the sheer gown was expertly made. It was pure perfection.
As the judges said, the model was totally nude but it didn’t reveal anything. She looked beautiful and confident. This design epitomized the challenge.
In another surprise, Nancy had a top look. It was very editorial and had a huge sense of drama. It felt relevant and was well made. She definitely redeemed herself from last week.
In a decision no one saw coming, Marquise was a top look. After being eliminated, he had a big redemption moment. The design honored his model’s body yet played with dimension and her figure. It was a strong look, but still could not compare to both Nancy’s and Sergio’s designs.
Winning this week’s Project Runway challenge as well as the season’s last immunity was Sergio. Given his perfectly executed design, it was well deserved.
Unfortunately, two of the bottom designers are fan favorites. While everyone knew that Victoria’s yellow, asymmetrical disaster was on the bottom, no one wanted either of the other two designers to go home.
In a disappointing moment, Chelsey was on the bottom. She knew that her look was not a good choice. Although she pivoted from her original idea, the look was a big miss.
The sheer trench-ish dress had technical issues. In this case, there were too many misses to be overlooked. From a poor sleeve to just lack of vision, this look was clearly a bottom.
Geoffrey had a bottom look, too. While his model was comfortable showing her body, it was just too far over the top. In a way, it was a more of a stage design.
Still, he stood behind the look, which earned kudos from the judges. In some ways, being confident in a design is better than falling on his sword.
Clearly, it was a decision between Chelsey and Victoria. For some reason, the judges choose to save Victoria and eliminate Chesley. Personally, the judges got it wrong.
While Victoria has been the judges’ darling, her inability to push her design and her emotional temper tantrum should have got her eliminated. If she does another asymmetrical, cut out look next week, the judges did Chesley a disservice.
Still, Christian Siriano has yet to use his save this season. Everyone was waiting for Christian to save Chesley, but he sent her to the workroom at the end of the episode. Maybe there will be a reprieve at the beginning of next week’s episode.
Next. Shavi Lewis highlights sexy, confident design. dark