RUNWAY SUNDAY | Project Runway Recap | Season 15, Episode 7

THE CHALLENGE:
Use the jungle roller coaster experience as inspiration to create street wear for the "urban jungle."

My Top 3:

1. Nathalia JMag
My only criticism of this is that I wished Nathalia had made a top with a little pop of color. Design wise and construction wise, I have no complaints. I would wear that jacket, I would wear those pants. She played with volume in just the right way, and she designed according to the challenge perfectly!

2. Jenni Riccetti
Jenni's pieces were definitely more basic, but she chose a great print and her styling, while not my personal taste, is on trend and would sell well. She definitely understood the challenge, and I think she deserved to be in the top instead of just safe.

3. Laurence Basse
Laurence won this challenge because she made an amazing jacket and her styling was great, and I’m happy to give her props for that, but I took issue with some things, too. Her pants definitely made her model look like she had a hefty package – NOT okay under any circumstances, and she acknowledged that she messed them up, but they were really awful. I appreciated that she made a jacket style that was different than her standard shoulder detail, but it was a little too reminiscent of Michael Jackson’s “thriller” look for my taste.

...the fact that each of my top looks still had problems with them should give you a hint that the rest of the designers were a hot mess.

My Bottom 4:
(That's right, 4. Hot. Mess.)

1. Cornelius Ortiz
I’ve taken issue with Cornelius’ attitude and taste level before, but this pushed me over the edge. The pants were constructed well, but the fact that Nina Garcia considered them to be “current” was insane to me; they remind me of everything NSYNC wore in 2001. And if the dated pants weren’t enough, he gave us a poorly made, poorly designed top to go with it. That. Top. Is. Awful. Send. Him. Home.

2. Dexter Simmons
This was another scenario where Nina Garcia was completely off base – she applauded Dexter for being innovative and trying something new, but new for the sake of new doesn’t make it acceptable. The jacket shoulders are absurd. The high waisted + Bermuda length shorts are hideous (and he didn’t even finish the hem. Ugh.) The only thing I like about this look is the top underneath the jacket (which you can’t see) and the finger-less gloves (which I can buy at Target.) And if we’re being really honest with ourselves, this isn’t street wear. What woman would ever wear this in her everyday life?!

3. Brik Allen
I don’t know if I agree that Brik should have gone home for this because his construction was better than quite a few of the other designers, but as far as taste-level was concerned, it wasn’t too great. I wished he had patterned the pant print so it was symmetrical along the center seam, and I wish he had used his top print as-is instead of deconstructing it into a top that didn’t go with the pants at all. I think Brik struggles with designing well under pressure, and if he had more time to look at his design he would be able to see that his look wasn’t successful.

4. Erin Robertson
It would appear that Erin is losing her way, and she CAN’T because I’ve already pinned her as the season winner and if she screws that up I’ll be mad. But I can’t deny that this look is pretty crappy. The top isn’t the worst, but the embroidery details on the shorts were unsuccessful and the fit of her shorts were off, too. If she had used the embroidered sections as sleeve details on a jacket, that might have worked, but on shorts they just look silly.

I think the theme park aspect of the challenge confused a lot of the designers and they simply got lost. If it had just been a matter of creating street wear, they probably would have done better. Maybe. At this point, I have no idea what some of the designers are capable of, so we'll see where we go from here.

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All photos from www.mylifetime.com

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