S20.E14: The Finale

[WaltersHair]

How can this Kelly designer see anything with those dark glasses. You can't even see whether she has actual eyes.

[Lassus]

I would like to take a minute to complain like an old person about the direction of this finale.  Too fast, too many cuts, not enough gravity.

[Straycat80]

I liked Laurence’s, I think all of them were leather and some were with some other sheer material. Zac liked her the best I think, and he’s wearing a leather jacket. Still think Bishme has this. 

[Lassus]

I think Laurence has some not-great pieces, but I also think that her best looks were better than Bishme’s best looks.

I think Brittany did a great job but it just wasn’t high fashiony enough.  It’s was like she was in a different category.

[WaltersHair]

Most non-vegan collection goes to....

[rhofmovalley]

Strongly disliked the Hefty bag made for the curvy model. 

Mimi could sell a burlap sack. 

[Pi237]

14 minutes ago, Lassus said:

I would like to take a minute to complain like an old person about the direction of this finale.  Too fast, too many cuts, not enough gravity.

The models didn't seem to be walking to the beat of the music that was played which made a few look like bad walkers.

[Lassus]

Meh

[chitowngirl]

Bishme!! ❤️

[Thumper]

Except for the “anxiety dress,” I didn’t care for any of the plastic/latex/shiny-leather-or-faux-leather garments.  
 

I love seeing Brittany’s husband hugging Bishme’s mom!

 

Edited September 8, 2023 by Thumper

[nokat]

Fudge yeah, Bishme!

[Pi237]

Ah man, no Moms cry alone on my watch. That got me the sniffles. 

[Straycat80]

No surprise. Good for you Bishme. His Mom! I liked how they had the families and other designers on stage. Some of those designers I had forgotten about already. 
Laurence’s son is her twin. 
I hope we don’t have a very long wait until the next season. 

[EtheltoTillie]

I’m really happy Bishme won. I liked all the collections, though, but liked his best. 
I have a dumb question. Why were they sending them for hair and makeup when the designers were still sewing for two more days?  Was the timeline so mixed up?  

[mbaywife123]

Well that was fun!

Any one of the three could have won this.

They all had very different collections but in their style wheelhouse.

 

[Madding crowd]

Bisme had some great looks but his collection was not cohesive. I did like most of Laurence looks especially the ones with the sheer skirts. This finale bothered me a bit because it seemed like Bisme would win no matter what and this season seemed to be more about mentoring a young talent which meant people like Kortoe, Rami and Kara Saun had no chance. I was curious about Brandon not being there but I assume only Elaine matters now so maybe he thought he wasn’t needed. 

[njbchlover]

53 minutes ago, Pi237 said:

Nobody loves Mimi like Mimi does lol but she can have that crown cuz she's fabulous!

I wonder if Mimi struts down the streets of NY all the time - it seems as if she doesn't know how to walk normally.  

Mimi is a fabulous runway model, but you're spot on with the fact that she is very much in love with herself - unabashedly so!!! 

[TexasGal]

I liked Brittany’s more than I expected to but it was pretty Gwen Stefani to me. 
 

Laurence’s looks were my favorite but I love Bishme so happy that he won. I actually liked all the finalists for once so it wouldn’t have been upsetting for any of them to win.  

 

[njbchlover]

8 minutes ago, Madding crowd said:

Bisme had some great looks but his collection was not cohesive. I did like most of Laurence looks especially the ones with the sheer skirts. This finale bothered me a bit because it seemed like Bisme would win no matter what and this season seemed to be more about mentoring a young talent which meant people like Kortoe, Rami and Kara Saun had no chance. I was curious about Brandon not being there but I assume only Elaine matters now so maybe he thought he wasn’t needed. 

I'm happy for Bishme, but totally agree with your comment (bolded).  Even Laurance didn't stand a chance - she is 48 years old.

I'd like to know WHY Brandon didn't show.  

Bishme's collection was nice, but the entire collection did not wow me.  I loved the red and white coat and dress and the final gown was stunning.  The model who wore it was amazing, as well.

I want to get a hug from Bishme's Mom - she looks like an amazing hugger!!  

[jrzy]

1 hour ago, nokat said:

Bishme,don't quit now.

That was so obviously edited for drama, Bishme was going to win regardless of the of the quality of his collection. 

[mbaywife123]

There were only three looks that I didn’T care for.

The pink spandex tube dress, too simple and seemed like filler.

The green jacket/skirt combo. Too simple and blah.

The purple jacket/pant combo. Material and fit was bad.

[buttersister]

Yay, Bishme. As expected. I’m not mad, though. It was made for TV. And he’s exactly who mentorship was made for. So stray thoughts. Besides that Laurent is an artist and a craftsperson.

I miss the fashion show finales. And collections that were a designer’s vision over weeks of development. 

I didn’t miss Brandon. Zac is always good. Billy seemed to have been heavily edited, surely he had more to say. Shut it forever, Elaine.

Ha, I wonder if Korto thinks Bishme stole Rami’s look. 😀

[Pattycake2]

I found many of Bishme’s looks boring.  Nothing new.  And yet the judges were acting like he was the second coming.  I do agree he was going to win no matter what.

Did anyone else think Bishme’s final look was influenced by the gowns in Christian’s atelier?

Edited September 8, 2023 by Pattycake2

[njbchlover]

17 minutes ago, mbaywife123 said:

There were only three looks that I didn’T care for.

The pink spandex tube dress, too simple and seemed like filler.

The green jacket/skirt combo. Too simple and blah.

The purple jacket/pant combo. Material and fit was bad.

I agree - that purple suit was Christian's suggestion, but I don't think that was Laurance's choice of what to do with that fabric.  I felt like that was a throw-away to appease Christian and to come up with an 8th piece to the collection.  It didn't look like Laurance's point of view - it actually looked like KaraSaun's POV, without feathers and embellishments.

[Passing Strange]

People said all season that this was being set up for a Bishme win. I thought it was possible, but didn't want to believe it. But after the designers talked to the Fashion Institute guy, I believed. That part of the prize was obviously for a young up-and-comer, so Laurence was out. Brittany was never going to win because, as she herself said, she doesn't do couture. I thought some of Bishme's pieces were lovely but the big shoulders and the baseball cap veils were ridiculous. Laurence showed range and talent, but the fix was in. Boo, PR.

[Fellaway]

So, of all these collections, Brittany's is the one you single out for possibly looking costumey off the runway? Okay, Zac Posen. I still wish you were a regular judge, rather than Brandon or Elaine, but agree to disagree on that.

This is the first time I came into a PR finale not caring who won and, after seeing the final collections, I still didn't care. My favorite look overall was the look Laurence had at judging. I thought Brittany's collection was the most cohesive, but nothing wow about it, and Bishme's... Shrug. It seemed kind of a mess to me and forgettable. The only look I remember is the final look and that's because of the mountain of tulle.

Agree that this was Bishme's to lose from Week 1, at least on Elaine's part. Her slip has shown all season. Also, agree that the mentorship is an inherent flaw in the competition, as it put the older, already more established designers at a disadvantage. That said, I do think all three of these designers are talented. I wish they'd been given more than eight days to produce collections. Oh, what we might have seen if they'd had the time they did in past seasons.

I would've loved to have seen a final collection from Rami, given the proper time. He would've brought the couture.

Winners and loser aside, this wasn't a very well put together finale. It seemed to lack a lot of the substance we usually see in PR finales. This one seemed bare bones in more ways than one. Hopefully, we'll get another season, and hopefully it will be better. In more ways than one.

[allirish47]

2 hours ago, Straycat80 said:

I hope we don’t have a very long wait until the next season. 

As long as it's minus Elaine!

[T Summer]

The mentorship is meant for a young designer?

and that's why Bishme was set to win from day 1?

Brittany and Bishme are exactly the same age. 32.

 

[Angeleyes]

I think the purple suit lost it for Laurence, as well as maybe the green outfit on the plus sized model. The CFDA guy asked her to show range beyond just leather. I’m sure his comments were given to the judges since they were providing the prize. When she didn’t deliver that had to count against her. 
I’m happy for Bishme. I would totally wear the two piece outfit that had a black off the shoulder top and knit skirt. I think he can do both couture and ready to wear. 

[Ancaster]

 

19 hours ago, Pattycake2 said:

I found many of Bishme’s looks boring.  Nothing new.  And yet the judges were acting like he was the second coming.  I do agree he was going to win no matter what,

I agree - I thought his collection was dull dull dull.  And why didn't he use Christian's mask/cap that gave him the avant garde win instead of the stupid veil cap?

I would have put Bishme third with either Laurence first and Brittany second, or even vice versa.

And Nina said it - there's nothing wrong with active wear.  A runway doesn't have to be couture. Ralph Lauren has major, important runways every year I'm sure - he's not exactly known for couture.

Bah humbug.

Edited September 8, 2023 by Ancaster

[lovesnark]

I'm okay with Bishme winning, but I really wanted it to be Laurence. 

I wish they would auf Elaine  and have Zac take her place? 

[Fukui San]

Man, I haven't watched a full season of PR in a minute. When did they lose the interval away with the home visits? That was the best part! Tim Gunn (or in this case Christian) having to go to Podunk USA to meet with the hoi polloi? What a let down!

Anyway, congrats Bishme. I have no strong feelings about this.

[LennieBriscoe]

Mimi FTW! 

Oh, right. The designers.

So how could Laurence not have planned her collection ages ago? I didn't see "the dark side of Paris." 

I really liked Brittany's  collection---for what it was. I could see Kim K in one piece, her sister Kendall in another. But popular or not, Active Wear doesn't strike me as Haute Couture.

Bishme had a cohesive collection, one with a theme that was carried by the styles and colors. Dollars to doughnuts says that the silhouette as the gown's bodice was of his sister. 

Bishme deserved the win, IMO!

 

[CherryMalotte]

I wonder if Rami did a decoy collection.  I'd like to see that.

[chitowngirl]

1 minute ago, CherryMalotte said:

I wonder if Rami did a decoy collection.  I'd like to see that.

Perhaps, maybe that’s why he wasn’t one of the helpers of the final 3. But would they really need one in this situation? They didn’t have months to plan and didn’t show at Fasion Week? 🤷‍♀️

[Pi237]

7 hours ago, lovesnark said:

 

I wish they would auf Elaine  and have Zac take her place? 

Yes, as a judge, Elaine doesn't add much. She mostly laps up the sob stories. Brandon seems to be over it. There has to be one judge that's a designer who can critique the looks not the backstories.

Ever notice once a designer makes it big, they start designing the same normal looks you've seen before? I love Christian and he's done great work for the non size zero celebrities, but a lot of his dresses we saw would've been called out on the show as 'we've seen it before.'  I guess you have to be super unique to make it. Then, you can relax and do less flamboyant dresses and mostly normal pants (other than skinny is in or bell bottoms are in etc)

[Passing Strange]

10 hours ago, T Summer said:

The mentorship is meant for a young designer?

and that's why Bishme was set to win from day 1?

Brittany and Bishme are exactly the same age. 32.

The CFDA guy talked about branding, merchandising, and the like. The older designers already had these things established. Not that they couldn't have used the help, but this sounded like a program planned for someone getting started in the industry.

Brittany doesn't do couture. As much as the judges loved her work, and she is good, the show wants to be part of the couture, fashion is art mystique. The finale was as good as it was going to get for her.

10 hours ago, allirish47 said:

As long as it's minus Elaine!

If it were up to me, it would be minus all of them. I wanted to slap Nina last week when she asked to see a fun, laughing Laurence. Nina has been sour for 19 years. Suddenly she became kind and tolerant, so it was fine for her to be critical of someone as sour as she was. Nope. Elaine is an intelligent woman who acts like an ass. Brandon can be amusing sometimes, but mostly he's just kind of bitchy. And his little anus-shaped mouth is kind of creepy.

It would be nice to have a whole new spin on judging. They want this show to be about fashion as art, so one judge should be an actual artist, someone who knows about color theory, proportion, and so on. Another judge would be someone who currently does garment construction, not someone who used to do it before he became famous, so maybe the supervisor of a designer's workroom. The third would be a fashion event planner, someone who knows how garments should look walking down the runway, in various lights, that sort of thing. Then they could have as guests all the stupid people whose only contribution to the judging would be "I'd wear that" and we could safely ignore them.

Edited September 8, 2023 by Passing Strange
Corrected CDFA typo.

[Pi237]

4 minutes ago, Passing Strange said:

Nina has been sour for 19 years. 

lmao Gold.

[njbchlover]

After digesting this all, I think that the finale show was a bit of a letdown.  As mentioned above - the designers were only given 8 days to create an 8 piece collection, and all done in the confines of the show workspace.  That's a lot of pressure and personally, I miss the "at home" visits and critiques.

The final collections - none of them completely blew me away.  I liked certain pieces from each collection and disliked others.  Overall, I was about 50/50 on each collection.

Brittany's was street/athletic wear, but I can't really see people wearing a lot of it while working out or while walking around city streets.  The garter things on so many garments were distracting and would create a safety issue around gym equipment as well as walking around.  Could you imagine riding the subway?  Unfortunately, the garters are open invitation to crime/assault, or even getting caught in the train doors or turnstiles.

My issue with Bishme's collection was the hats.  I knew he would include the hats since they got such high praise during the season, but the attached veils reminded me of a nun who was trying to be cool and modern, while still wearing her habit and headwear.  Again, I don't think they would translate well into ready to wear (maybe they aren't supposed to?)  My 3 year old  granddaughter also often takes scarves and tucks them into hats to pretend some type of bride play - the hats were also reminiscent of that.

Laurance's issue, for me, is that she really does not design anything for anyone that is not 20-30 yrs. old, 5'11" and 110 lbs.  Most of garments are gorgeous, but would not translate well into ready to wear for the average person.  The purple suit showed that.  Also, there was another piece with those cone things on the bodice - is that a thing in fashion now?  Unless they are fitted exactly, that is not going to look good on the average person.  And even then, that look is horrible, as evidenced by the model.

All in all, most of knew that this was going to be Bishme's win, so I'm glad that worked out for him and wish him success.

[Fellaway]

9 hours ago, T Summer said:

The mentorship is meant for a young designer?

and that's why Bishme was set to win from day 1?

My opinion is that both are true, though the second not because of the first.

28 minutes ago, Passing Strange said:

The CDFA guy talked about branding, merchandising, and the like. The older designers already had these things established. Not that they couldn't have used the help, but this sounded like a program planned for someone getting started in the industry.

Exactly. It seems like someone from the CDFA should be on the finale judging panel. After all, they'll be the ones spending a lot of time with the winner, possibly more than PR itself did.

7 hours ago, Fukui San said:

When did they lose the interval away with the home visits? That was the best part! Tim Gunn (or in this case Christian) having to go to Podunk USA to meet with the hoi polloi? What a let down!

I don't remember exactly when they stopped doing this, though I'm pretty sure I remember Christian doing it as mentor at least once. Sadly, like so much else, I think it fell victim to budget cuts.

[IndyMischa]

I feel bad for Bishme but I am sick of hearing about his grieving. 

[barshi50]

Quote

12 hours ago, Lassus said:

Mimi is not a new model, this has been what, her 4th or 5th season?

 

We first saw Mimi in Season 17, Sebastian's season. On the first challenge she was the model for Kovid, and she said she was the first transgender model on Project Runway. Kovid was honored.

24 minutes ago, Fellaway said:

My opinion is that both are true, though the second not because of the first.

Exactly. It seems like someone from the CDFA should be on the finale judging panel. After all, they'll be the ones spending a lot of time with the winner, possibly more than PR itself did.

I don't remember exactly when they stopped doing this, though I'm pretty sure I remember Christian doing it as mentor at least once. Sadly, like so much else, I think it fell victim to budget cuts.

I think CoVid had a lot to do with it.

[jrzy]

12 hours ago, Jordan Baker said:

I'm disappointed Rami isn't there.

Yes!

[Thumper]

A question about the larger models.  Do the designers (a) have an outfit in mind, and then “have” to put the larger model in it?  Or (b) does the model come first, and the designer then makes the item to flatter the model?

My guess is option (a), based on what I saw last night.  As a size 14, I’d be considered “plus” in the fashion industry, I guess. Waist and belly are my issues.  It just irritates me to no end to see these models in tight clothes that draw the eye to their bellies!   It’s saying “oh well she’s fat; nothing I can do about it” to me.  Could they not loosen up the clothes, make a skirt more a-line or with a flowy fabric, not skin tight?  I felt for those models last night — but maybe they are used to it.  (Brittany’s skin-tight garment and Laurence’s green leather dress (?) come to mind.)

Or, maybe the models have a more “body positive” outlook than I do.  🙄🥴☺️

 

Edited September 8, 2023 by Thumper

[RoseAllDay]

Just started watching this on DVR, and I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that they had to make 8 looks in 8 days, when the finalists in other seasons had — what? — three months? 

[BradandJanet]

1 minute ago, RoseAllDay said:

Just started watching this on DVR, and I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that they had to make 8 looks in 8 days, when the finalists in other seasons had — what? — three months? 

The designers got an assistant, but still. Eight days?

[RoseAllDay]

1 hour ago, BradandJanet said:

The designers got an assistant, but still. Eight days?

Have to say, I am damn impressed by what I’m seeing.

[SemiCharmedLife]

Just chiming in along with many of the posters who miss the former format with the huge runway show at Fashion Week and the extra time needed to prepare.  Those were the days!

This was a difficult finale for me to choose a favorite. They all had beautiful garments, with a few misses.  I wasn't the most impressed by Bishme's, but that final gown may have won it for him.  Gorgeous, from the silhouette on the bodice to the miles of tulle!  (The unique runway did a disservice to the larger trains like this one.  The model had to hold up the gown for most of the way, except for one spot for a pose.)

I loved almost everything Brittany made for her collection, with the exception of the pink tube dress.

I was originally rooting for Laurence, but she had a few looks that didn't meet expectations (purple suit, green outfit, cone bra).  I was disappointed she didn't have a plan or sketches.  She did amaze me with many of her designs, though.  What a talent!

 

[RoseAllDay]

2 minutes ago, SemiCharmedLife said:

Just chiming in along with many of the posters who miss the former format with the huge runway show at Fashion Week and the extra time needed to prepare.  Those were the days!

This was a difficult finale for me to choose a favorite. They all had beautiful garments, with a few misses.  I wasn't the most impressed by Bishme's, but that final gown may have won it for him.  Gorgeous, from the silhouette on the bodice to the miles of tulle!  (The unique runway did a disservice to the larger trains like this one.  The model had to hold up the gown for most of the way, except for one spot for a pose.)

I loved almost everything Brittany made for her collection, with the exception of the pink tube dress.

I was originally rooting for Laurence, but she had a few looks that didn't meet expectations (purple suit, green outfit, cone bra).  I was disappointed she didn't have a plan or sketches.  She did amaze me with many of her designs, though.  What a talent!

 

Happy with Bishme…I also would have been happy with Laurence. The tailoring of her pants…wow. Flawless. I thought Bishme’s explanation of his collection was more of the usual existential claptrap, but I got what he intended when I saw it. The man can design gowns.

I’ll give Brittany credit for her collection being mix and match, but there was really nothing there that wowed me. 

Can we please swap out Brandon or Elaine (or both) for Zac Posen or Billy Porter?  And while we’re here, can the judges not be mic’d up during the runway shows? I miss Michael Kors’s sunglasses and poker face. I prefer not to know what they’re thinking.

[MamaGee]

I guess I am the only person in the room who doesn't appreciate Mimi and her skills. Her modeling is less "let the clothes do the talking" as it is Mimi doing performance art. Can you imagine any of the TRUE supermodels (Cindy, Christy, Linda, Naomi, etc.) pulling that crap at a designer's show? Those supermodels gave the clothes they modeled a great frame and walk, then let the clothes shine. And not through the arm movements, high kicks or back bends that Mimi likes to employ. I don't get it. 

Edited September 8, 2023 by MamaGee