Project Runway Recap | Season 14, Episode 5

This episode was a train wreck.  You may have seen me rant about it on twitter, but it was essentially an episode dedicated to proving the notion that women become catty and horrible when put in groups together.

In this challenge, the designers chose their teammates and formed two groups.  The groups had to compete against each other in a paintball war to "capture the fabric," but the fabric they were fighting for ended up being their supplemental fabric, and it was revealed that their main fabric needed to be their paintball-stained jumpsuits.

Once they got to the workroom, the teams were given extra white sheets and more paint to work with.


TEAM BOYS + MERLINE

The Boys (and Merline) were the clear winners.  Their unifying theme was "1950s cinched waists," and they really worked together to make every look cohesive with the next.  The jumpsuits were used to their top potential and the additional textile that they created was completely stunning.  They EVEN PAINTED THE SHOES.

Blake's Look
I, once again, have to eat my words with Blake.  He didn't really participate in the paintball activity, which left him with clean white fabric to work with.  The textile on the bottom half is gorgeous, and I would wear this dress in a second.

Joseph's Look
Joseph used the jumpsuit in it's entirety, which was really smart and successful.  He shrunk the top into a jacket, cut the bottom into panels and made a skirt, and turned the sleeves into the tie around the waist.  Still a little bit on the matronly side, but significantly better than his other looks.

Swapnil's Look
This was such a beautiful 50s style dress.  While it was mostly supplemental fabric, he used the jumpsuit top as the tie around the waist and took the ties from a shoe for the corset back.

Jake's Look
This look was probably the most modern and fashion forward.  It took inspiration from the 50s but brought it into this year, and the styling kept the model fresh and cool.

Merline's Look
This is very classic Merline (architectural, coat shape) but much more refined than some of the other work she's done this season.  The dip-dyed fabric made this shine.

Edmond's Look
The judges declared this the winner, and I can understand why.  To take the jumpsuit and turn it into a sexy open-backed top was completely genius.  The design had an urban quality to it but the textile and styling kept it soft and feminine.  It was the perfect finale to a beautiful collection!


TEAM GIRLS

Annnnnd here's where the train wreck happened.  The girls were catty when it came to picking their team members (Ashley was picked LAST, which was a very bad move) and they had no cohesion from the start.  They each came to the team with an idea of what they wanted to make and didn't care if it didn't go with what another team member wanted to make.  They ruined their white sheets with Easter Egg inspired painting skills, so they were left with supplemental purple fabric to work with.  The results were horrendous, as you'll see.

During judging, Candace tried to save them and say they worked well together and their girl was "going to San Fransisco," which was never discussed or agreed upon.  She and half the team decided to throw Ashley under the bus to save themselves, and luckily the judges were having none of it.  Guest judge Kelly Osbourne called it a "Bitch Fest," and I've personally decided that should be the name of this collection.

Ashley's Look
Not the worst, for sure.  She had originally made pants, but they ended up being too tight on the model so she had to scrap them and go with a boring purple circle skirt.  The top was made from the jumpsuit material, which at least had detail and promise.

Laurie's Look
This look was cute enough, but it wasn't really runway worthy.  The top was originally the Easter Egg fabric and had to be painted over, and the bottom was supplemental fabric, so she didn't really work with the goal of the challenge.

Lindsey's Look
This was probably one of the better designs of the bunch, which isn't really saying a lot.  The coat (seen on in the previous picture) was made of the jumpsuit material and had a good look to it.  The top and pants underneath were not awful in terms of design, but had poor fit.

Candace's Look
Candace talked a big talk on the runway, but this look was completely hideous.  Talk about OVER WORKED.  Ugh.

Kelly's Look
This was definitely the worst of the bunch to me.  She came into the design group saying "I want to make a five panel mermaid skirt and a harness top," which had nothing to do with what anyone else wanted to make, and never would have even if the fabric was better.  The skirt was made poorly and the top had to be sewn onto the model.  Complete.  Disaster.

Amanda's Look
I predicted the previous week that Amanda would not last long in the competition, and I was right.  That said, I don't really think she deserved to be sent home for this look.  Yeah, it's kind of boring, and the judges felt like she was "dead weight" in the competition, but she used the textile color the best out of all the designers on her team, and the movement in the skirt had decent runway impact.  I didn't hate it, and I felt she should have been allowed one more chance.


It would seem the judges can't decide whether their policy is "one week you're in, the next week you're out" or whether previous low points count to being eliminated.  The latter sent home Amanda, and that was understandable, but still a bit of a shame.

Hopefully next week we can MOVE ON from team pettiness and get back on track.

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All photos from mylifetime.com
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