A Psychedelic Yeti and the Witch is Gone: Project Runway recap, Season 13, Episode 11

BUH-BYE!!!

Again, I am so sorry for the lateness of this recap, but I was SOOOO sick for the past few days, I just really couldn’t have cared less what happened on Project Runway, or anywhere else in the world. I did have the show on while languishing in my near-deathbed, but I couldn’t even sit up enough to look at it. I did manage to listen to bits and pieces of it in between rounds of vomiting, and basically, what I took away from it was a bunch of nonsense about a psychedelic Yeti, which I thought I was hallucinating…. a bunch of bitching and witchiness from Korina….and then I just kept thinking “Ding, dong the witch is dead,” because the fact that she was sent home did make it through my fog and made me feel just the teensiest bit better.

So I finally felt well enough to sit and actually watch the show tonight, and I have to say…..while I’m still glad that Korina is gone, I can understand why she was so upset and I do not at all agree with the judges’ (or actually, just Nina’s) opinion of her team’s runway looks and I would definitely have put Sean and Char on the bottom. So she really did get screwed. Although that’s still no excuse for her wretched behavior.

In the beginning, we were down to 4 girls and only 2 boys left this week. Wow. Heidi sent them off to meet Tim at the Brooklyn Navy Yard where they got paired off into teams. Everybody wanted Kini for a partner, and Amanda was lucky enough to get him. Korina and Emily seemed happy enough to work together. And Sean was pretty nice about getting stuck with Char, although he did say that she couldn’t sew….long, long pause….as well as the rest of us. Ouch.

The teams are confronted with five storage units. Nobody knows what’s inside, but they’re going to have to bid on the contents, and those are the materials they will have to create their looks from this week. The first one is a pile of old upholstered furniture & Korina gets it for $25 because nobody else wants it. The second one has a bunch of plastic toys & junk but Amanda has to have it because she spies a “psychedelic Yeti” painting in the back. Kini doesn’t get it, but Amanda pays $190 for it. The third one has almost nothing in it, but Sean buys it for $65. The fourth one is full of textiles and has a wedding dress. Sean really wants it and trumps Korina’s opening $25 bid by shouting out “$300.” However, Korina ups him another $5 and he lets her have it. So that means Sean and Char have the most money left and practically no materials yet. So they have to buy the last one and they can’t lose. Lucky for them, it’s got a lot of stuff in it that they think looks pretty good, although it looks like junk to me. All I can think is….are there actually people somewhere who once owned all this crap and who are now watching it being sold off on Project Runway? How freaky would that be?

Back in the workroom, Sean is modeling a hideous floral dress from his unit, and teasing Kini that it’s the dress he made in the first challenge. LOL! Not far off! Char is going to make a bomber jacket and Sean is going to make a trench coat. Amanda’s talking about making pants out of a tablecloth and Kini’s going to make a skirt out of soccer balls. Sounds ambitious, but like Amanda says, he’s Kini, of course he can pull it off. Korina’s going to make a cape coat and Emily’s doing a structured vest with faux fur trim.

Sean’s having to help Char with the construction of her jacket. A lot. It’s slowing him down, but he’s being a good team player and not too worried about it. Korina says that Char is dead weight, and that “If you don’t know how to do everything, you shouldn’t be here.” Damn, she should bite that wicked tongue.

At the end of day one, amazingly, everybody seems to be pretty happy with their teams and their looks. Kini loves Amanda’s use of color. Sean’s ahead, so he’s fine with helping Char. And even Emily and Korina are getting along, although they’re working more independently than the others.

On Day 2, we see that Kini has a cute fur bomber jacket to go with his soccer ball skirt and bra top. Amanda is feeling so happy and says they can’t lose. But uh-oh, here comes Tim Gunn and it’s too early for critiques, so what twist does he have up his sleeve? Guess what? They all have to make a third cohesive look for their collections. And it has to be made of real fabric, so they’re going to Mood.

Char says there’s no way they can finish a third look. Since she needs to keep going on her jacket, only Sean is going to Mood. Likewise, Amanda and Korina go for their teams. Amanda picks a hot pink brocade and some blue graffiti print fabric because she wants to go for it with the color. Korina can’t make up her mind between two sweater knits, changes her mind at the last minute, grabs a colorful one and goes. Sean says he is obviously going to be in charge of this third look, since Char still hasn’t finished her one, and picks some blue fabrics.

Tim comes back for critiques. Korina has made a cape coat and a fringed Southwest skirt, which she’s paired with a floppy hat, and she’s making a vinyl shirt with what looks like rag rug trim to go underneath. Amanda says the looks has “so much going on,” and if Amanda says that, you know it’s a lot. But I quite like it myself, especially the skirt.

Emily’s vest looks like a couch cushion with sleeves stuck on it because that’s what it is. She has added a fur collar and a colorful sash, but I’m with Tim on this one. It still looks too much like a couch cushion. He tells her he’s concerned that it looks like Spongebob Squarepants. She’s also made a colorful sweater with the fabric Korina bought at Mood. I like it. He tells the girls to carry on.

Sean has made a long blue bomber jacket with sporty athletic trim out of an old moving quilt and some lamp shades. Tim says it’s remarkable. It’s pretty cool, I guess, although I’m not overwhelmed. Tim thinks Char’s jacket should have the same trim to match Sean’s but she doesn’t agree and Sean says, hey, it’s her look, so he’s not getting involved with that decision. Sean’s going to make some skirt out of a lampshade for their third look.

Kini’s made a cute skirt out of the soccer balls, but he’s paired it with a shiny black bra top and the fur bomber jacket. Tim says she looks like a teen-aged hooker. Amanda’s made a cute top out of the Yeti picture, but Tim says she just cannot drape the tablecloth skirt like that, because it looks lackluster, drapey and droopy. He says they’ve got a lot of look and is very concerned that Amanda and Kini will be on the bottom and makes them worried. Kini is shocked to get a bad critique.

Korina is totally confident in her team’s collection. Amanda and Kini have to regroup and figure out what they’re going to do, since they don’t really have much fabric to work with, since all they bought was a unit full of plastic toys. They finally decide to make cigarette pants and crop top out of their pink brocade fabric, turn the soccer ball skirt into a dress, and make a giant skirt out of the troublesome tablecloth fabric. When it’s all done, it looks pretty amazing. I take back everything I ever said against Kini. He is a genius.

Emily decides to ignore Tim’s advice and keeps her couch cushion shoulders. Korina keeps going on about how they are Team Win or Team Winning Team. She is way too confident not to realize she’s heading for a fall.

Kini is happy that his look is no longer a teenaged hooker, although he think’s Sean’s is now, since he’s put the mesh in his skirt way to high and it’s showing off the model’s coochie. Also, the model cannot move her legs enough  to walk in his lampshade dress.

Korina says Sean’s and Char’s looks are boring and is going on about how much she’s looking forward to going to Fashion Week. Dang, even if I didn’t already know what happens, I would know it from all this foreshadowing.

Christian Siriano comes back as guest judge this week. Amanda and Kini start the runway. Their pink cigarette pants and crop top are okay. Not that impressive, but cute. I do love the fur jacket Kini made, and the soccer ball dress is very impressive. Not so much because I would love to wear it, but simply because it’s made of freaking soccer balls! Tim still looks concerned about it. I really do love the Yeti top and giant tablecloth skirt. This is my favorite of their looks.

Sean’s blue coat is okay, in my opinion. I like it, but I’m not super-impressed by it. And whatever he has underneath just seems like a throwaway. And for some reason, this model can’t seem to walk either. Then Char’s model comes out and she’s even slower. I really don’t care at all for either that jacket it took her two days to make or the skirt, which is too short and tight. Then the last model comes out in the lampshade dress and she’s even slower than the first two! It’s highly amusing,  the snail’s pace this collection is making down the runway. The dress is kind of cool, but she can’t walk!

Nina be damned, I personally love the first look that Korina and Emily send down the runway. I would totally wear that big colorful sweater. I guess in Nina’s book, I have no taste. Whatever. I think it looks great paired with the leather leggings, booties and hat, and I would rock that look. Heidi, at least, is smiling. I like Emily’s look too, and Korina’s. Yeah, it’s a lot of layers, but I dig it. I would want to wear this collection most out of all of them. This is why I understand Korina’s frustration.

Amanda says her team’s collection is an American pop star in Tokyo and Heidi deems it the most creative. The judges are pretty positive about it, and especially ga-ga for that soccer ball dress. I mean, I get that it’s a cool dress because it’s made of soccer balls. And it does look nice. But it’s not something I would ever pick to wear. Personally, the Yeti top and skirt is the only look in this collection that I would actually want to put on.

Zac tells Sean that it’s the kiss of death to make the judges feel bad for the model because she can’t walk. He calls Char’s dress hoochie, and the walk of shame. Sean tries to take credit for the lampshade dress, and Char jumps in and says, well wait, he constructed it, but we collaborated on it. Then later, he does acknowledge that the blue in the back was her idea. Nobody likes the screen/transparency on the skirts. Christian says it’s been done too many times, Nina says she’s sick of seeing it and the only thing she really likes in this collection is Sean’s coat. I wouldn’t want to wear anything in this collection. I do not understand why they’re not on the bottom. I don’t like you, Korina, but I am feeling you, I am. I think this runway was totally unfair.

Nina says there is nothing contemporary in the collection except Emily’s look. They all actually like the couch cushion shoulders. Bad on Tim. Nina says Korina’s cape is awful and she absolutely loathes that sweater fabric. Heidi says the collection is actually more innovative than Sean and Char’s and Zac agrees that it has more soul. Korina, not to her benefit, points out that it’s wearable. Nobody really seems to have a problem with it but Nina.

Nina then tells Korina that she’s seen the Southwest look from her four times already, and that “you always go back to that.” Korina is just steaming at this point, and I really don’t blame her. Really, Nina? Out of all the looks we’ve seen this season that have been the same thing over and over….all that stupid fringe….NOW you decide that somebody’s repeating themselves too much? That’s really not right. And I don’t think it’s true either. I agree with Korina when she says she’s only done the Southwest look once, and it was the coat that she won with. She did try to put that story on that crazy metallic “Thunderbird” thing she made once, but that really didn’t look Southwest in any way, so I don’t think that counts. She shouldn’t have pointed that out so nastily to Nina on the runway though. Talk about the kiss of death.

Korina further endears herself to no one by pointing out that her clothes are wearable and she would never wear a dress she couldn’t walk in. Sean mimes a stab to the heart. “Make that two dresses you can’t walk in.” Sean stabs himself again. Back in the green room, Char calls it a shady runway, and says she can’t believe Korina would throw them under the bus like that. Really? I would never have believed she wouldn’t.

Awful as Korina is acting, and just is, though, I don’t agree with this decision at all. Apparently, Nina rules the runway. She is the only one really hating on this collection, and she even said that she only liked the one garment in the other, so I don’t understand how it comes down to a sew-off between Char and Korina. Okay, maybe that vinyl shirt didn’t fit too well and was possibly a bit “shoddy” as Nina said. The cape wasn’t that great, either. But I loved the skirt and I liked the look overall. And I loved that sweater that was giving Nina the heebie jeebies for some reason. What could be the reason for givng Char yet another chance, when everyone agreed that her look was hoochie and boring?

Anyway, of course, Kini is the winner. And they decide to make Korina and Char create one more look to determine the loser. They have one hour, their partners to help, and can make anything they want. Char wisely chooses a stretch jersey fabric which she can easily work with. She also wisely follows Sean’s advice and goes with something flowy when he points out that she probably shouldn’t go with her first instinct and make it tight and hoochie again. He says it feels a bit weird to be helping the competition, but he’s okay with it, because later on she’ll be an easy sheep to slaughter. Evil laugh.

Korina wants to make something graphic so for some crazy reason she’s doing a 16-piece pattern dress. WTF? In an hour? She was just so mad and frustrated she fell to pieces and couldn’t think straight. Instead of focusing on smart design decisions, all she could do was keep bitching about how much better of a designer she is than Char and how she doesn’t deserve to have to compete with someone who was already eliminated. She should have cut the trash talk and put that energy into her dress. It was so bad, even Emily no longer really wanted to help her, and correctly predicted that the bad energy and resentfulness would show in her work.

  VS. 

So, this is what it boils down to. Even though I think Korina got screwed in the original runway decision and should not have been forced into a sew-off, when it came down to that at the end, Char clearly beat her. Char’s dress was flawless. Korina’s was unfinished, sloppy, and looked a bit ill-fitting. She wasn’t smart about it, and even admitted she wasn’t proud of it, and then kept challenging Nina about her comments. She just had no chance at that point. She knew she’d already blown it. Nina saw how upset she was and actually said the words, “I’m sorry.” I thought I would die of shock. But it made no difference.

Did Char deserve to stay over Korina? No. Based on the original collections, I completely disagree with the judges’ decision. And I don’t think Char was in any way capable of making that final dress without Sean. It was a great dress. Flowy is always the way to win. But that was Sean’s idea. And she admitted that he’s the one who sewed the cape. So even though her dress was the best, she didn’t deserve to stay. Much as I can’t stand Korina and am happy to see her go, she was right in her opinions this week. She just wasn’t right in her spirit and attitude. And that’s what killed her.

So next week they’re going to do street-style looks. And then they’re bringing back eliminated designers as helpers. And of course, they pair Korina with Char. I hope they don’t expect us to believe that’s a coincidence. How dumb do these producers think we are? Looks like Korina can’t take it and storms out. What will they do to save Char this time when she gets left without a partner? Can’t wait to see.

What do you think will happen? Will Korina really leave for good? Will Char have to work on her own? Do you agree that the judges were off their rockers this week or do you think they did right? Let me know!