S15.E12: Bold Innovation

[yeswedo]

The first-ever hybrid challenge tasks the clothiers to fashion innovative avant-garde looks by using conventional fabric and unconventional metal-themed materials.

[Primetimer]

As the designers use hardware to create this week's looks, who fails to meet the (industry) standard? Your editors discuss!

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[Nordly Beaumont]

Roberi finding out his model speaks Spanish was hilarious!

[Beamish]

That was ridiculous. The whiny one should have gone home. There was nothing even remotely avant garde or innovative about a hose pipe coming out of the models lady parts. The Tim Gunn save saved him yet again.

Its when they pull stunts like this that any remaining credibility this show has just gets chipped away more and more.

The Tim Gunn save needs to go away.

[avecsans]

Either Cornelius or Mahjing could have gone, and since Cornelius got the Tim Gunn save, then there was no way he was going.  And I didn't like either of their outfits.  And I don't like Erin but at least she used a little color. 

I did not like combining avant-garde with unconventional materials.  Especially with hardware.  I thought Rik's dress was beautiful but I don't think it was avant-garde.

[susannot]

OK, so Who TF won?  I'm watching Top Chef Season 14.

[Broderbits]

The best thing about this episode was the extra helping of Swatch. I liked Rik's & Roberi's but they weren't very Avant Garde, just pretty. I continue to dislike Erin and everything she creates, but the judges are determined to "make it work".

[jacksgirl]

Can't stand Erin and I think she destined for top 3. Mah-Jing  is one of the classiest PR contestants ever. Rik, Roberti and Laurence for the win.

[slensam]

Yeah Erin used a little color. Yellow again!

[Wings]

How on earth did neither of them pick up on both speaking Spanish.  Very funny.

Loved more Swatch, too.

Erin deserved the win, loved it and love yellow. 

Laurence is a bore. 

Edited December 2, 2016 by wings707

[FormerMod-a1]

I would have sent Cornelius home.  I'm fine with Erin's win, it looked so much better than I expected.  I also liked Roberi's a lot.

[Straycat80]

I thought everyone did a good job with this challenge. I right away thought this is right up Erin's alley. And she won, not surprised. 

I thought Corny should have gone home. He just slapped those tubes on a black dress and it was boring. But he had the TG save. 

I liked Mah-Jing, his goodbye speech was heartfelt and full of grace. 

I missed who the guest judge was, she was too chatty, STFU escaped from my mouth several times. 

I wonder if they are going to have a final four, have a small runway show, voted one person out and then have the final three show at fashion week. 

[awaken]

Aww, I love mah jing!   I really want to be friends with him! He intrigues me for some reason. I wonder why he and his mom have been distant? And if the show really did bring them together as much as he seems to feel It did?

 Erin with the yellow again! I like what she did but I really didn't get paper doll dress out of it, as she was describing. 

 I think Nina should say uterus a few more times. I don't think she said it often enough. 

 I didn't see much Avant-garde, but then we haven't in several seasons. Cornelius's was very ugly, but I do like that he tried to do something different and thought-provoking. 

The guest judge spoke in a monotone and was not pleasant to listen to.

[susannot]

Erin won?!!  I liked The metallic spaceship dress.

[nb360]

I feel like everyone played up their design "thing" (or "aesthetic"): Erin stayed with yellow, Mah Jing stayed with denim, Laurence stayed with black and the shoulders, Cornelius stayed with parasitical designs, if not facial expressions.

There was nothing surprising about this episode.

Thanks, to Swatch, however, for getting Tim Gunn "into position."  Ha ha :)

[picklesprite]

The flat pockets gave Erin's dress a paper doll look for me. I liked her billowy trousers and thought they were a great balance for the hard stuff on top. You know, Project Runway paper dolls might be a fun idea.

Laurence, you have GOT to step it up with color or no shoulders, or something different from your usual black! You're playing it so safe you could safe yourself right out the door, and that would be a shame because you could probably put on a lovely, classy runway show.

Mah-Jing's goodbye was my favorite farewell ever on the show. And the copper was pretty.

Nina does love to speak of body parts. Vagina is also a favorite of hers. Vagina. Vagina. Vagina.

[buttersister]

You can stop saying uterus now, Nina. So in the beginning Erin's dress could make her model bleed, I tuned out and by the end, she'd glued all the ends? Of course! That made yellow the ONLY color on the model.

I don't need Laurence to be all chatty, her stuff is lovely and beautifully made. Fashion! Of course, it was amusing that in French, she said pretty much what she'd said in English.

[Misslindsey]

I really liked Erin's design. It was avant -garde and I thought interesting. I was concerned when she was going on about a paper doll dress, but when I saw it I thought it looked great. She does use yellow a lot, but I did not mind it. Sometimes I will just take color any way I can get it on this show.

I am fine with Laurence being a low key personality. I do think she needs to at least try to do something different with color, print, or something. She makes such well made and beautiful clothes that I would just like to see her step it up a bit more with her designs. It does not have to be crazy or anything, just a little something more than her usual. Overall I did like her design. It did need a bit more length, but she already knew that.

I liked how Roberi molded some of the metal for his dress. His design was nice. I thought it was a bit reminiscent of his unconventional challenge dress from the start of this season. It was lovely though. I laughed at him when he discovered that his model spoke Spanish.

Rik's design I thought was very nice, but it did not seem that avant-garde to me. I like Rik, but I kind of cringed when he raised his hand when Heidi asked something like who thought their design was best. I did not have that big of an issue with him doing that. It just seemed a bit random and stood out more because no one else raised their hands.

I though Mah-Jing would have been a bit better served if he used the copper pieces on just the skirt and put it all over the skirt part of the dress, instead of what he did. That would be heavy also, so who knows. His model did need straps on her dress. Mah-Jing had a class act exit. I have not liked all of his designs, but I did like him. 

I thought Cornelius should have gone home. I hate that it seems like the Tim Gunn save automatically seems to put someone in the finals. I do not know that for sure because I have skipped or stopped watching some seasons, but those I have watched with the Tim Gunn save the contestants have made it to fashion week. I thought his look was way worse than Mah-Jing's. I cannot believe he thought the placement of the tubes were great. He does not seem to take criticism that well. 

I like all the designers left except Cornelius, but since he has the save I doubt he is going anywhere.

More Swatch was good. Too bad Tim could not cheer him up with Pringles. I am not a Pringles fan, so I could understand Swatch turning them down. I could watch a show with just Tim and Swatch all day.

Edited December 2, 2016 by Misslindsey

[millennium]

Ah yes, the Avant Garbage challenge where instead of Paris fashion we are treated to parasitic fashion.

[DeeReynolds]

Was this actually the Home Depot challenge in disguise? Because I swear Rik's tiles are glued on my kitchen back splash.

[Vermicious Knid]

Apparently none of the judges are familiar with Metropolis.

Erin's...thing won? Urgh. The outfit she wore for judging is a crime against fashion too.

Cornelius made me think 'Borg'.

[GaT]

Laurence “ding dong” & “pom pom” LOL

The only outfit I really disliked was, of course, Erin's. Just too much yellow. It reminded me of when Beyonce's album Lemonade came out, in every papp picture she was always wearing massive amounts of yellow. I like color, but not blinding color. 

I actually liked Cornelius', it was weird, but interesting. I didn't hate Mah-Jing's, but his work wasn't as neat as Cornelius, so I understand why he got auf'ed.  I thought Rik & Laurence's looked nice, but they looked more “unusual material” than “avant garde”, Roberi had the only outfit that looked avant garde to me.

Edited December 2, 2016 by GaT

[le bordel chaud]

I'm already bracing myself for Laurence to get hosed. I've learned over the years that we can't have nice things on this show.

i.e. Cornelius should have been gone episodes ago. But we are stuck with him because of Tim's pity. Cry me a fucking river. 

I would have given the win to Roberi. That felt like attractive avant-garde to me. I thought Erin's look was hideous. As are her roots and delusion.

I hope they are faking me out with Laurence's edit and she gives them everything they want at the end and she wins. Anything else will be a disappointment TBH.

Edited December 2, 2016 by delicatecutter

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Man, Shiri Appleby! I remember her from Roswell. I guess at least she wasn't the typical celebrity judge who said she liked everything. She definitely had high expectations for avant garde.

I can't believe it took this long for the show to combine the avant garde challenge with the unconventional materials challenge.

I liked Rik's design. He used a lot of different of the unconventional materials to create a lot of different textures and without making it look like a bunch of garbage glued onto a dress. I didn't love the big patch of tiles on the back of the dress, but the front was really nice.

I also liked Roberi's dress. It was so smooth in its curves. I loved how he used the unconventional materials to create something sleek and futuristic without being too robot-like.

Hated the tacky neoprene/tubing dress that Cornelius created. While I agree with his assessment that the dresses/silhouettes created by the other designers weren't very avant garde, neither was his. He made an ugly neoprene dress with a simple silhouette and glued pieces of tubing to it. Ha, and I LOVED that he was complaining about other people doing the same thing every week and then Zac called him out for doing that stupid cowl again.

Laurence made a beautiful little black dress with interesting details. I actually support what she said about how she likes to create things but she doesn't like talking about what she's created. I respect that she wants her work to speak for itself. I was cracking up when Nina said she wants Laurence to break free and have fun because all I could do was stare at whatever she was wearing. It looked like a red sequined tank top over a black long sleeved t-shirt. I agree that her style is very restrained, but I'm okay with that. At least I never question her taste level, unlike some of the other designers.

Erin's design definitely looked avant garde, but good lord, another yellow outfit? Her poor model. When she said that the metal was hurting her, I thought girl, this is just Project Runway - there is no need for you to suffer for someone else's crappy version of art!

Mah-Jing's was interesting. The copper shapes he created were pretty on their own, but I hated that he used denim again. If he had used another color, the copper would have popped more. His farewell was classy and so sweet.

Best thing about this episode: Swatch! I was already happy seeing Swatch and then he got Tim Gunn down on the ground with him - hee!

[millennium]

None of them even tried to do avant garde.   Based on some of their comments in the workroom, I am convinced they don't know what it means.

It makes me think of the idiots who go on Survivor without knowing how to make fire, or how to swim.

Glad to see that blubbering mess Mah Jing gone though.  I knew he was doomed in the first minutes of the show when he boasted that he had his "hand on fashion week."

Obviously Cornelius should have been sent home.   Somewhere the Borg are laughing.

[Wings]

I think Corney was on the bottom until they took a closer look and were impressed with the construction. That moved him up one slot .  He also has more potential for a final  collection. 

[Lizzing]

I now know what the Chicken Lady would wear if she walked in a fashion show, so thanks?, Erin.  I've had it with her and the use of yellow, especially that neon yellow shade.  Sure, there's always a raft of basic black on the runway and color breaks up the monotony, but it seems that yellow is Erin's "black": her go to for damn near every challenge.  And what the hell was up with letting her slide on not putting a hem in the pants?

And I will never believe that gluing what appeared to be black lace panties to some glasses frames is avant garde.

[Day2Day]

All I can say for this lame group of "designers" ......  I know they don't come along every day, BUT... if only we could have another Christian Siriano !!!

[Jobena]

Why Erin always looks like Daisy Mae from Lil' Abner?

[NorthstarATL]

I liked Rik's a lot; Laurance's reminded me of DEVO's headgear, and thought if they had had backup dancers, this is what how they ought to dress. I got Erin's idea, but the finished product was not pleasing to me. But what do I know? I agree that Cornelius was likely saved because he had already received the TGS, and is somehow immune.

[terrymct]

Weird results to me. I thought Rik's was the best outfit by far, but now that I've had the night to think about it, he would win an unconventional materials challenge but was a little weak on the avante garde aspect. I think that's why he didn't win, although I'd have picked him myself. Erin certainly and thankfully broke out of her mold. No oversized jacket with patch pockets. Hallelujah. Her outfit was definitely avante garde and different from most anything we've seen. I'm ok with her win, but thought Rik made a more interesting outfit. Roberi's metal swoops were straight out of the Jetson's and just about as fresh. Meh. Laurence's dress was gorgeous, but was pretty much standard for her. She deserved the middle. Cornelius deserved to go home. That was his usual dress with some duct work applied in an inartful manner. I think he was saved not by the quality of this dress but by his work up to this point. Mah-jing, yeah, that wasn't great but it was more interesting than Cornelius. He went home because he's been on the bubble too many times. He's really shined a couple of times, but mostly squeaked by.

[jrlr]

Ugh, Erin.  Ugh, Erin's dress.  It looked completely costume-y to me, like something Glinda would wear in a futuristic Wizard of Oz.   I guess it's Erin for the win because the judges. . . uh. . . why?

[candall]

If you look at the outfits lined up side-by-side on the PTV Review, Roberi's is the main one that falls within the diluted version of "avant garde" that these judges are willing to accept.  The silhouette isn't naturally human, but the dimensions are.  He created fluidity with sheet metal, for crying out loud.  And it was beautiful.  (Was that the fatal flaw?)  I'm pretty much willing to stamp a "robbed" on this one.

 

I don't care about Mah-Jing going home.  I laughed when he criticized someone for not being more innovative and his very next sentence was "I'm using denim!"  To my eye, he made a standard little (denim) strapless dress and stuck some medallions of twisted copper wire on top, in the obvious, matching, places.  Big deal.  He could have at least had a big spray of copper wire shooting off somewhere asymmetrical or something.  Maybe a head cage:  It's a lobster trap on my coral reef!

Cornelius did exactly the same thing as MJ--made a standard dress, stuck some "unconventional material" on top.  Asymmetrical placement, though, so . . . yay.

I don't even have any energy to slam Erin's bright yellow daisy try and fail at Betsy McCall.

That glass tile swath in Rik's dress IS Home Depot!  I did my whole shower stall in the pearly/translucent/opaque pale green version and I still think the mix makes a beautiful effect.  When you buy it, the little pieces are pre-attached to a flexible grid that you have to firm up with lots of painstaking grout application--royal pita--but perfect for a (weighty) cloth substitute.  So, pretty, but not even close to avant garde. 

Laurence?  Seriously?  Have an espresso, madame.  You need to shake yourself awake.

[jrlr]

Betsy McCall - LOL!!!!!

[bourbon]

I look an unconventional challenge, but I don't care if we never see another "avant garde" challenge. Inevitably, there is a very pretty dress that the judges love but its not avant garde (I'm looking at you, Rik), and they try to justify with "Well...avant garde doesn't have to mean *crazy* and *not wearable*, does it?" (I'm looking at you, Heidi.) No, but it does mean something more than just clever. Rik's dress was clever. But it wasn't avant garde. Unconventional material challenge is kind of avant garde by definition. To be in the top, it seems like you must do something more than just hot glue tiles and dog tags on a very simple shift. But it was pretty, so of course. 

[TattleTeeny]

Did Erin get the Gorilla Glue hardened bubbles off her buttons? I tried to pause and look, but ever since I got the multi-room DVR, pausing is a complete nightmare. She should have listened--as soon as I saw that bottle, I was like "NOOOOOOO!"

Haha, Tim's conversation with Swatch is very familiar to me, although with couches and cats.

Edited December 2, 2016 by TattleTeeny

[azshadowwalker]

Two straight weeks of instructions to be either avant-garde or editorial, with the brief for last week explicitly stating that it shouldn't be something you would see on the street, and the majority of these people go for basic dresses with a few boring embellishments. Last week, they even gave the win to a basic dress 

Laurence needs to go. She is one note. Dexter went home for doing the same shoulder twice. She's done the same thing almost half a dozen times, and doesn't even end up in the bottom. I have seen enough of that, thanks. 

Rik? Not impressed. Not avant-garde. Not interesting. Just stop. 

Cornelius skates by on the pity skates. Amazing, considering what an asshole he is. 

This season is extremely difficult to care about. I guess that's why I keep forgetting to watch it until it's been rerun. 

[Wings]

4 hours ago, Day2Day said:

All I can say for this lame group of "designers" ......  I know they don't come along every day, BUT... if only we could have another Christian Siriano !!!

Ohhhhh how fabulous that would be.  So may designers  from the first 4 seasons would have done better than we have seen since the change to Lifetime.  Laura and her cocktail dress collection, Uli and her colorful Miami wear, Korto, Santino, I will stop now. 

I like avant garde challenges but combining that with unconventional materials was a fail.  

[Nanu160]

Ooh I  sincerely Love how Erin finds ways to always use Neon Yellow!    SAID NO ONE EVER.

[Day2Day]

38 minutes ago, Nanu160 said:

Ooh I  sincerely Love how Erin finds ways to always use Neon Yellow!    SAID NO ONE EVER.

.... should we ever be exposed to another 'creation' in that dreadful shade !!!  I cringe at the thought of the judges allowing her to proceed to Fashion Week.   All I can say is...

[meep.meep]

I loved Erin's paper doll creation. 

They should have sent Laurence home - she barely featured the metallic pieces and it wasn't avant garde in the least.  And I like her a lot.  And someone needs to start spoon feeding her model some chocolate pudding.  It was disturbing how thin she was.

[Canada]

I never thought I would say this... but it's too bad Dexter wasn't here this week.  I feel like then we might have actually got an avant garde look.  Unlike the design we did get, which were definitely not.  Even Nina at one point, when critiquing Erin, says something about how wonderfully her editorial look would photograph.  Editorial?  Once again, the judges just make shit up instead of actually following what the assignment was.

Bye Mah-Jing.  You seem nice, but you should have been gone a long time ago.

Roberi or Rik should have won this week.  None of the looks were avant garde and they had the best of what was presented. 

Erin sends another arts and crafts monstrosity down the runway and, once again, the judges orgasm over it.  If she wins, I might have to stop watching this show, as it will be Ashley all over again.

Cornelius' design made no sense.

[HunterHunted]

Did Cornelius' dress remind anyone of the Comme des Garcons tumor dresses from 20 years ago. Those dresses had those weird bumps, lumps, and tubes under the fabric of the dress. It was definitely provocative and unsettling.

[BananaRama]

Wouldn't it be great if during the instructions that the designers are treated to a mini avant garde fashion show?  It would be great for the audience too, because I used to think I knew what avant garde meant (or looked like) but after 12 years of Project Runway - I have absolutely no idea anymore!

[millennium]

The most bothersome aspect of Cornelius' dress, other than its sheer ugliness, is that the concept was a product of the design, rather than the other way around.   Compare to Rik or Roberi who seem to have had their vision and theme in place from the earliest stages.

I suspect Cornelius looked at the tubing, possibly eschewed the idea of using it as sleeves (Danger, Will Robinson!), came up with that half-assed butterfly idea, and once that failed thought, "Well, it's kinda snakey/wormy so ... ding!  parasite!"   Yet he presented it like it was a concept piece from the start.   He had a lot of nerve in his talking head saying "I think it would be unfair if I'm sent home."   The unfairness is that he wasn't sent home.

Edited December 2, 2016 by millennium

[meowmommy]

I didn't get uterus.  I got whole body liposuction.

Anybody notice Zac not only mauling the models as usual, but actually drumming his fingers on the metallic chest of Roberi's model?

Best Swatch footage evah.

Flashing back to Chris/Christian avant garde, and then this....<head shaking like Lurch>

Edited December 2, 2016 by meowmommy

[Jobiska]

Roberi did not discover that  his model spoke Spanish.  Erin was asking (I assume it was her own) model what languages she spoke and she said "Spanish...." and Roberi, nearby, realized he could have used her to translate.  I barely pay attention to who has which model now that stealing models has not been a thing for a long time now, but due to the mask-thing I noticed that Roberi's model was pale with short blonde hair, and the person who answered "Spanish" was darker-skinned with long dark hair.  

I think it's weird when they just provide binsful of fresh shiny new things they bought elsewhere, like dogtags (how did Rik make those spiky?  And NO she could not have sat down in that dress, as one of the judges said, even if the spikes were facing outward) and tile and so forth.  It was much more innovative when they had to find things at the grocery or dollar store or whatever.  This feels more spoonfed somehow.

I really like Mah-Jing and I hope he continues on his upward trajectory toward self-realization and happiness and good times with his mom.  I'm in Philly and I usually have a soft sport for the Philly folk.  Loved his gracious exit both on the runway and afterward.  

I really hope there wasn't a mouse under the shelves at Mood that ran away before Tim got down there.  If one of my cats were that persistent I'd be sure that's what it was!

[Whodunnit]

What bothers me is that the judges somehow missed how extremely uncomfortable Erin's model was and kept talking about how safety conscious Erin was even though she did not do anything to protect the model from the jagged edges of the wire mesh on the bottom half of the garment and we saw that she did burn the model with the hot glue gun earlier! 

I caught a little of Monsters in Me earlier yesterday and when I saw Cornelius's parasites womb dress I felt like it was deja vu...

[njbchlover]

I think that if Mah Jing could hook up with Kini, they could totally rock the denim world....not necessarily in making jeans, but in creating some great dresses, coats, etc., out of all kinds of denim.

[HunterHunted]

I think Laurence was the one who asked if Roberri and the model both spoke the same language. Roberri asks "You speak Spanish?!?!"