Welcome to your extremely delayed Project Runway recap, dear readers!  It’s been a terribly busy week, so please forgive my lateness.

The Challenge: It’s the Lord & Taylor challenge, so whoever says the words “Lord & Taylor” most in one episode wins! Oh, that wasn’t actually part of the requirements? Sure felt like it to me. Anyway, the winning look gets produced by L&T, sold in their stores and online, and featured in their windows on 5th Avenue.

Guest Judge: Rachel Roy filling in for Zac Posen again, and some important Lord & Taylor exec.

MICHELLE LESNIAK FRANKLIN
Winner

Photo: Lifetime

Michelle’s look was head and shoulders above the rest – modern, chic, incredibly wearable, easy to reproduce for a profit, and everything else you could want in a sellable look. The inspiration of the Lord & Taylor rose was subtle (if it was there at all) – I mean, the model herself looks kind of like a flower, with her body as the stem and her hair like the top of a dandelion or something, but nothing about this recalled a rose, and specifically the L&T rose, in any way. But I still thought it deserved the win over everything else on the runway.

DANIEL ESQUIVEL
Top 2

Photo: Lifetime

Atrocious. By far Daniel’s worst work of the season, and in my opinion, he deserved the auf for this. The construction on this dress was horrible – the fabric was thick like upholstery, making that uneven, puckering slit in the skirt look absolutely terrible. I don’t know why the judges were raving over those uneven shoulderpads, because they only made this dress even more dated and unwearable than it already was. I couldn’t imagine any modern woman who isn’t employed as a professional Barbie doll wearing this dress.

PATRICIA MICHAELS

Photo: Lifetime

The matching shoes are killing me, and the back of that top isn’t nearly as nice as the front. But all things considered, I thought Patricia was going to have a much harder time with this challenge than she actually did. The pants are well-constructed and the L&T rose inspiration is clear, even if the styling leaves a lot to be desired.

STANLEY HUDSON

Photo: Lifetime

Way too ordinary for a design competition, and there was something a little funny about the length, but I loved the boat neckline and the cool, laid-back chic vibe I felt when this look walked down the runway. The color is phenomenal, but a belt or another design element would have helped.

LAYANA AGUILAR
Bottom 3

Photo: Lifetime

The print is awful – dated, tacky, and to borrow a phrase from Nina, “it’s aesthetically not pleasing!” I also thought the leather accents were poorly constructed, making the dress look even cheaper. I just didn’t think there was anything in this look that made it special or attractive to a modern client.

RICHARD HALLMARQ
Bottom 3

Photo: Lifetime

Cheap beachwear. Richard’s time on this show should have run out quite awhile ago; I’d have aufed Daniel for his terrible Barbie dress, but that doesn’t mean Richard still deserves to be in this competition.

SAMANTHA BLACK
Eliminated

Photo: Lifetime

I was sad to see Samantha go – she was the last person left in the competition whose personality I didn’t find completely impossible to stomach. But this twee little dress is overworked and underwhelming, and that heart cut-out was just a terrible idea from the start. Not so terrible that she should have gotten the auf over Richard or Daniel, but still pretty bad.

Judges’ Top 2: Michelle and Daniel
Diva’s Top 2: Michelle and Stanley
Judges’ Bottom 3: Richard, Layana, Samantha
Diva’s Bottom 3: Samantha, Richard, Daniel

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© Democracy Diva, 2013.
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