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When Rob donned the headband, my first thought was, "Wow, way to resurrect the Mike Reno from Loverboy look." Then I looked at recent photos of Mike Reno. Yikes. With that said, if Tim Gunn tries to convince Rob to wear red leather pants next week, I'm outta here.

My boyfriend and I (both avid PR fans) made a pilgrimage to Mood during our trip to NYC in October, and I give the designers a lot of credit for finding fabric in Mood that keeps them under budget. Hoo boy, is it expensive in there.

Random thoughts and musings: - I agree with the poster upthread about Alyssa and her Studio 54-inspired look, except that I thought that she ate a disco ball. - I never, ever want to hear Zanna instructing anyone to "inject the sexy" into anything again. Ever. - Justin's dress was adorable, and his relationship story was a huge "Awwwwwww!" moment for me. - Helen of Cry managed to create a literal expression of her perpetual sad face with her Frown Gown. Ugh. - Kate? Between the babydoll dress and constantly declaring how much time was left, were you trying to tell us your biological clock is ticking? Hmmmm. - Seth Aaron looked fabulous. I coveted his Union Jack socks. On a side note, happy Thanksgiving to my fellow forum mates! Enjoy the time with your families, and be safe.

At the elimination, Chris looked like he was channeling Jeffrey Sabelia when Jeffrey was aufed during the last PRAS. The only thing missing was a sad grandpa cardigan. (Sigh.) On the bright side, I saw Chris's line of "Big Fun" holiday merch at Target the other day. He's doing just fine without a PRAS win, thank you very much.

Random thoughts and musings: - I'm glad I'm not the only one catching a bit of a Gretchen vibe from Amanda's preview collection, especially the jewelry. With that said, I don't feel the same blind rage over Amanda that I did with Gretchen. I'm not as enamored with Amanda as the judges seem to be, but she's growing on me. - Dear Judges: Way to go with waiting to dump on Kini at the last minute. I get that they were trying to offer constructive feedback, but to see all of the bouncy enthusiasm sucked out of that poor man was painful to watch. I wanted Swatch to jump up on Kini's lap and lick his face until he started giggling. I hope Kini can snap out of his funk and send an inspired collection down the runway. - Another Kini observation: I thought his coat was very architectural, and could easily have been described as being influenced by the columns and arches of Rome. YMMV, of course. - Oh, Char. Your preview collection wasn't full-on hootchie-mama, but those shorts? No. Just NO. You're a lovely woman with a great attitude, but the Tim Gunn Save would have been better used on Fäde. - Sean's collection as seen during Tim's visit was disjointed; his choice to set aside the striped looks was a wise one. I'm sure he'll have a non-fringy surprise for the judges in his final collection. - I'm not overwhelmed by anyone's final collections as yet, but I'm hoping for a Kini win.

My very dear friend and I took a trip to NYC this past weekend, with the primary intent of seeing the Jeff Koons exhibit at the Whitney Museum (which, by the way, was incredible; NYC people, see it if you can before it closes on 10/19). However, being the rabid PR fans that we are, we incorporated a trip to Mood into our itinerary. Unfortunately, Swatch had the day off, but other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed the visit. The only decent fabric store within a 10-mile radius of my house is a JoAnn Fabrics, so I was very happy to wander through three floors of fabrics, trim and notions whilst helping my traveling companion look for ascot fabric. My takeaways: - Given the prices per yard of some of the fabric we saw, I'm impressed with what the designers are able to do on a limited budget. $200 does not go very far. - "Thank You Mood" swag was plentiful and not terribly expensive; I got an embroidered apron to match the Mood bag my son went out of his way to buy for me on a class trip to New York a few years ago. - The funniest thing I noticed was a small round table near the entrance, where a few very bored-looking men sat and played with their smartphones while their wives/girlfriends shopped. After coming back home on Sunday, my friend and I watched the latest episode of PR online, and it was quite a thing to recognize parts of the store and some of the staff, including the guy with the long gray braid. On the whole, it was a fun visit!

I would pay some serious coin to see Gotham West done up as a villains' lair: "Meanwhile, at Gotham West..."

Random thoughts and musings: - Dear Korina, Part 1: there's a big difference between defending your own work on the runway and criticizing others' work to make yours look better. Guess which approach is the smarter choice? - As much as I hate gameplay, I was impressed with Sean's frankness about why it benefitted him to help Char in the one-hour challenge. - While Kini's soccer ball dress was incredible, I would wear the psychedelic yeti blouse/black skirt combo in a hot minute. Nicely done, Kini and Amanda. - Char's one-hour challenge dress was a joy to see after all the hootchie-mama looks she's sent down the runway. She seems like a very nice woman, but she'd be on her ninth show life if she were a cat. I suspect next week will be her last gasp, despite the Tim Gunn Save . - Dear Korina, Part 2: I will not miss your stank entitlement attitude. Don't let the doorknob hit you where the dog should have bit you.

Random thoughts and musings: - I'm convinced that Zac Posen is the Waylon Smithers of the Project Runway universe, with a secret stash of American Girl dolls and accessories that takes up roughly the square footage of my entire house. He was positively gleeful, gushing over the ins and outs of the American Girl canon. - Nina and I agreed on the Mondrian influence in Korina's outfit. This frightens me. - I actually liked Korina's and Amanda's looks. This frightens me more. - If Kini made that coat for a slightly older girl (OK, a petite woman), I would buy it in a hot minute. I admit that I haven't seen every season -- I came in about 2/3 of the way through season 5 -- but Kini's outfit was the second-best children's look I've seen on the show. (Seth Aaron's mother/daughter look still takes that prize for me.) - I really liked Emily's sweater/top; the skirt, unfortunately, was a good idea that kept getting uglier as it went. Emily should be thankful that Sandhya sent that awful I-don't-even-know-what-to-call-it down the runway. - Speaking of Sandhya, I'm almost sorry to see her go. Her portfolio from the "Road to the Runway" had such a strong yet playful point of view, and that just never carried over to the challenges. I'm waiting until the finale to look at the designers' Fashion Week collections, and I'm hoping I will see Sandhya's aesthetic more accurately reflected there.

Random thoughts and musings: - I didn't miss Jillian one iota, nor did I hate either of the new trainers. - A second tribute to the former greatness of NBC's Thursday night lineups, besides Jen/Ellie Kemper: Mike could be Ron Swanson from Parks and Rec's dad. - Rob screaming at Dr. Death (aka "Dr. Man-Perm") in the "coming up this season" previews: AWESOME. - Back to the voting again? No, no, NO. We have enough drama with Woody's late wife, Lori's miscarriages and Mike's son. Bring the red line back, stat, and get rid of those awful curio cabinets of sinful treats in the voting room. - I'm glad the Cult of Bob is confined to Comeback Canyon (for now), though Top Chef did it better with "Last Chance Kitchen". - While I think Zina was a very nice woman and was sorry to see her go so soon, I'm pleased that TPTB didn't fawn over her (as the most recognizable name in the bunch) a la Rulon Gardner or Ruben Studdard and find some way to keep her on the show. - I'm reserving opinions on the contestants until I can get more of their names straight.

I was on vacation from work last week, spent too much time binge-watching HGTV, and found this show for the first time (when I turn on HGTV at night, it's usually showing some version of "House Hunters". Sigh.) I'm a part-time interior design student, and really enjoy shows like this that aren't overly full of manufactured drama or dealing with multimillion-dollar homes that my potential client base could never afford. The dynamic between Chip and Joanna is refreshing, and I was excited to see that Joanna uses SketchUp for her client presentations, like I do in class. With that said, one of the episodes my mother and I watched featured the couple who was moving back to Texas and had lived in a hotel for months. The reno looked great, but my mother and I were mystified by one thing: did the family own a television? We couldn't see a TV in either the living room or the den. My mother was also horrified by the lockers-as-credenza unit in the den, but I was OK with it as a nod to the couple's teenaged children (it looked like something from the PB Teen catalog).

Seth Aaron is the first -- and, I think, only -- designer that I've accurately picked to win the thing. Love that man. I've had the pleasure of meeting Jonathan, since he lives in my neck of the woods; he did a little talk and Q&A at my local Macy's. He's closing StyleWeek Northeast later this week, and is cofounder of a stylish little boutique in Providence. I've also seen and spoken with Joseph from S11 a few times at the faculty/alumni art sales my alma mater holds in the fall and spring. He's very sweet.

A "rock" wedding, eh? If Amanda makes a mention during this episode about those halcyon days of "laying down some sweet tunes" with her brother, I will throw a rock through my television.

Since I don't have the desire or patience to go back and view Amanda's looks from past challenges, I'm throwing this question to the group: is it just me, or did the bodice of Amanda's dress completely flatten her model's chest? That bothered me a lot.

Not that Bravo is the reality TV equivalent of PBS, but I've been of the opinion since the switch that PR's move from Bravo to Lifetime has been perceived by the public as a huge downgrade in quality and prestige. Bravo can and does produce excellent reality programming (cf. "Top Chef", "Queer Eye", etc.), but what does Wifetime have to offer in the general public's eyes? Trashy made-for-TV movies featuring Meredith Baxter-Birney, and "Dance Moms". I would posit that the decline in cachet in the judges and sponsors is not only due to budget issues on Bunim/Murray's part, but also a general "dumbing down" of the program to fit Lifetime's perceived demographic. I'd be interested to know the average Bravo viewer's demographic (age, income level, etc.) versus the average Wifetime viewer's. In no way am I trying to bash Lifetime's regular viewing audience, but I suspect TPTB feel that the average housewife wouldn't know haute couture if it bit her on the backside of her mom jeans. Terribly insulting, but there it is.

Because I'm awake wayyyyyy too early on a Sunday morning, I decided to give the runway another look and confirmed my love for Fäde's creation. I would have substituted his dress for Amanda's in the top three in a hot minute. Emily's look was really cute and deserved more attention than it got. I find it interesting that the episodes so far this season have not had a blurb from Tim at the end about why he didn't use The Tim Gunn Save on the eliminated designer, though I suppose his "it had to be someone" dig at Hernan this week said it all. I guess next week's Shocking! Double! Elimination! isn't such a shock now, unless it becomes a Shocking! Triple! Elimination! This would be okay with me, as it'll make it easier for me to remember who's who and thin the herd a bit.

No dissing intended! I love Swatch and have missed him so far this season. Slightly OT, but to prove the point: my love of Mood and Swatch is so well known in my house that my 18-year-old son took the time during a trip with his friends to NYC to go to Mood and buy a tote bag for me for Christmas. He didn't see Swatch that day, but he earned Son of the Decade honors for that bag, eclipsing the Doughnut Plant doughnut he also brought back for me. (I didn't have to wait for Christmas for the doughnut, though.)

Color me horrified that Amanda created a look to accompany Emilio's beach ensemble. Not surprised, just horrified. Can we trade her in for Alexander Pope now? If we hadn't had to look at so much workroom drama during this episode, perhaps one team would have been declared safe after the runway show, with the end result being much more feedback from the judges on the remaining looks. I would have liked to hear a detailed critique of Sean's work and Char's ticket dress, if nothing else. It's hard to care about these people when we don't see that much of them. Alas. Since Scott Patric (aka Mustache Man) finally made an appearance this episode, perhaps we're easing into the usual PR routine and will be treated to a trip to Mood and a look at Swatch next week? Here's hoping!

With that turban, I was expecting Rachel Roy to go all Norma Desmond and tell Tim she was ready for her closeup. For me, Oscar is the PR:UTG equivalent of Fabio from Top Chef: likeable, talented, great accent, most quotable. I'd be thrilled if he or Shan wins the whole thing. Next season -- if there is a next season -- they should fly Swatch out to L.A. and have an episode featuring Swatch and West Coast Swatch (the four-legged Oscar) as judges. They could use the worst look as their personal fire hydrant (taking the phrase "eliminated designer" to a new level), and show more decision-making capacity than this season's judges in the process.