Yawn.
Previously: We had a disappointing street style challenge that should have ended in Char’s elimination, but didn’t.
The Challenge: Tim takes the finalists on a whirlwind trip to Rome, which would be a lot more fun if they weren’t also forced to use Rome as their inspiration. Not that Rome doesn’t have plenty to be inspired by, but I thought the whole point of the Fashion Week collections was that the designers FINALLY got to choose their own inspiration. The “working under arbitrarily-imposed design/style restrictions” thing is supposed to be for the challenges, not the final collections. But I digress. Anyway, Tim visits everyone in their hometowns as per usual (with bonus making-weird-noises-while-learning-to-hula), and the designers reconvene in NYC for a last-minute three-look preview with the judges. And by “preview,” I of course mean “the ability for the judges to influence the designers heavily enough so that whomever they have already cast as the winner actually ends up winning.” (See also: the season of Anya.)
AMANDA VALENTINE
Photos: Lifetime
Amanda’s was my favorite of the four mini-collections, but I won’t pretend that’s much of an achievement. The standards for being the best are just about as low as they’ve ever been on this show. This looked alright on television, but it doesn’t photograph particularly well. And I think the colorblocking over the tummy is pretty unflattering.
Photos: Lifetime
Better, but not by much. I’ll admit it, I very much like this textile, but she didn’t use it to its full potential. I like the plunging neckline, but the strangely wide center-slit looks terrible. It’s got a street-style chicness to it that I appreciate, but overall, it’s only okay.
Photos: Lifetime
I liked the movement involved in this one, and that it felt very “Amanda” without seeming like a total rehash of something she’s already done. (But we’ll get to Sean in a bit.) The jewelry that she designed is exceptionally cool and will probably be the reason they give her the win. Which is disappointing, because her clothes shouldn’t need to be literally covered in accessories in order to make a statement, but I can’t expect much more from Project Runway anymore. Anyway, kudos to Amanda, and thumbs down to Project Runway, because the only thing more disappointing than Amanda being the clear favorite from the beginning is that she ended up being my favorite too. Not because she’s that good, but because there are no other options available.
CHAR GLOVER
Photos: Lifetime
I didn’t hate this. It’s not for me, but I could see the cool young pop star who would wear this on the red carpet. But the styling is all off – I just don’t think the girl who wears this also wears professional, slicked-back buns, at least not WITH this outfit. If anything, she wears her professional, slicked-back bun to the office job that she definitely doesn’t have, and then lets her hair down to party in this romper.
Photos: Lifetime
Terrible. Atrocious. Disturbing that she believed even for a second that this Steve Urkel pencil skirt was New York Fashion Week-ready.
Photos: Lifetime
This was probably my favorite piece that we saw during the episode. If Char’s entire collection could be as sporty-chic, laid-back, and fabulous as this, she could easily win this whole thing. Sadly, Char’s biggest problem is that she’s wildly inconsistent. Her three looks had virtually no cohesion, and I don’t expect that her full collection will have much more of it. This awesome, funky shrug-dress-thing represents the best of Char’s aesthetic – but the styling is still out of touch, and I have no faith that anything else in her collection will match this level of excellence.
KINI ZAMORA
Photos: Lifetime
Kini’s mini-collection was by far the worst of the group. He proved once and for all that his skills are all speed and no design. That white top might be salvageable, but literally every other piece in his three looks have no place on a runway. I have never understood his obsession with denim, or why he thinks he’s the first person in the history of the world to try and make denim be high-fashion. He’s not, and he’s not particularly good at that, either. He tried so hard to turn up the volume, but only turned up the average age of his client by about sixty years. And the styling is so dated, it’s almost funny. Burnt-to-a-crisp stick-straight hair and sky-high black eyeshadow? I had no idea it was the late 90s again!
Photos: Lifetime
The top is half tee shirt, half shoddy Chanel knock-off. The rest of the look isn’t worth discussing.
Photos: Lifetime
Overworked, unoriginal, and not anywhere near as impressive as Kini seemed to think it was. It was marginally better than his other two looks, but it’s just so painfully stuffy. Even if you’re shooting for an Upper East Side clientele, this is fussier than Elaine Stritch. As a baby. With Ebola.
SEAN KELLY
Photos: Lifetime
The future Mr. Democracy Diva pointed out that the back of this dress looks like an abstract tampon, and I can’t un-see that. And probably never will.
Photos: Lifetime
We get it. You like fringe. The judges were right to call him out for overdosing on fringe – I mean, it’s their fault he used so much of it in the first place, since they always complimented his use of it and considered it his “signature,” – but I’m glad they took a firm stance on it. It shouldn’t have had to be explained to Sean that putting fringe on everything isn’t a great idea, but at least the judges bothered to do that much.
Photos: Lifetime
The only decent look of his collection, and it still wasn’t that great. It’s just his Creative Arts Emmys dress, paired with a white top. It looks high fashion enough, there’s just only so much of his two-layered, two-colored fringe that he somehow thinks is ombre that I can take.
Next time: It’s FINALLY time to end this shit-show of a season in S13 E14 – Finale Part 2.
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© Democracy Diva, 2014.
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The Democracy Diva 
[…] Next time: The designers go to Rome – ROME! – so I can’t even be mad that Lifetime is still stretching the finale into two 90-minute episodes in S13 E13 – Finale Part 1. […]
When TLo are bailing than you know it is bad. Cheer up, at least there are some decoy collections worth discussing.
I was really sad to read that TLo’s giving up, but I completely understand why. Maybe I’ll get some of their readers looking for a PR fix, but even so, I’ll miss their recaps terrible. I’ve been a Bitter Kitten for so long, it’s hard to imagine what was once Project Rungay being without Project Runway! But again – I get it. It really does feel like we’re watching 90 minutes of commercials, and that just sucks.
Thanks for the reminder that I REALLY need to work on those decoy collection posts….
Well, you’ve already got me, but then, I’m a recap addict. I’ll stick with you and all the others I’ve been reading, but I sure am going to miss TLo’s snark.
Every PR blogger on the planet is lucky to have you as a reader, Mo! But we all know we’re all playing second-fiddle (at best) to TLo’s epic snark.
I felt utterly gutted when I read TLo’s announcement. Although I could totally see it coming, it still makes me sad. I found their blog when I caught S2 on television and became so addicted to it that I ran to the Internet to try and find more about this show. TLo’s blog was the first hit on Google after the Bravo website, and that amazing caps post of Tim criticising the final 3 had me in tears of laughter for days. I’ve never stopped reading them ever since. To know they are stopping to recap the very reason why I found them makes me feel like when I finally finished the last Harry Potter – it’s the end of an era.
And this is really all I wanna talk about, which says a lot about the episode itself…
(I might cry in the corner when Mad Men is over because that means no more MM recaps or Mad Style from TLo too…)
I’m glad this is a place where we can come together and mourn the end of TLo’s PR recaps. Your Harry Potter analogy is spot-on for me as well. That’s exactly how I feel.
The end of Mad Men & thus Mad Style recaps will break my fucking heart. I read a LOT of TV recaps – too many, for too many shows – and I always maintain that there is nothing better on the internet than TLo’s Mad Style posts.
Well, they are now covering the TV Week in general. It’s not like they are totally gone.
@swanpride – No, far from that. I read them for everything and anything in terms of fashion and celeb stuff – in fact, their posts and DD’s are the only ones I read, because they’re the only ones who are good enough IMO and because my time is quite scarce nowadays. But PR and MM are two shows that have a very special place in my heart, and it is sad once you realise TLo’s recaps for those will soon be over.
They are covering other TV shows now, as you have rightfully pointed out, but so far nothing that I follow (if they’d cover House of Cards I’d be such a happy panda!).
(I forgot to add, in regards to the last paragraph, that the fact that I’m neither American nor living in the US might add to it aswell…)
Flattered to have made it onto the very short list of recaps you make time for! ❤ Just wanted to say how much I appreciate it 🙂 And echo your House of Cards comment.
Future Mr. Democracy Diva is a keeper!
You don’t have to tell me!
I want to wear Char’s romper next summer. I’m convinced it would change my life for the better. I also love that zipped sweater dress. I won’t even comment on her other look. Kini’s was painful to look at. Sean’s was OK to me. Amanda has a good eye for styling. I’ll give her that. The jewelry is great.
Looking forward to reading your final recap, despite how underwhelming the actual collections were.