Bravo
(Season 5, Episode 13)
To be quite honest, I’ve been waiting for this season to end since the very first episode. Sure, my negativity has probably tainted most of my reviews, but there has always been this underlying hope that the episodes will get better once the worst designers are weeded out. And by “hope,” I mean “desperation.” Things have slowly gotten better, even though the amount of tears and back-sass has been more than just a little irritating. Fingers crossed that the finale episodes will be epic enough to reward us for putting up with so many episodes of just whining and bad hems.
The extra “twist” in this episode was a bonus challenge. Cue the designers’ best shocked faces. Sure, they probably couldn’t see the specific bridesmaids challenge coming, but they must have expected one last curve ball, right? I mean, they’ve seen Project Runway before. I think. I hope.
Naturally, the Kenley tension carried over from the last episode.
Korto: Her wedding dress looked fantastic on the mannequin but looked terribly unflattering on the model. Aren’t those ladies, like, wafer-thin? Korto somehow managed to make her look lumpy and muffin-toppy even in places I didn’t know could go muffin-toppy. I think she should have taken those layered details and pulled it in a more armor-inspired direction, focusing more on shape and tightness in silhouette. Right now, she’s just making these skinny ladies look blobular. Is “blobular” a word? Well, it should be for Korto’s runway piece this week.
Leanne: Leanne and Tim on the tandem bike was too adorable. Her wedding dress and bridesmaid dress looked beautiful individually but also worked extremely well together. I liked how the bride’s dress was clean up top and detailed at the bottom and the bridesmaid’s was detailed at the top and cleaner at the bottom. Smart move. I’m looking forward to seeing her work on the runway and she’s my favorite for the win right now.
Jerell: At first, I was really into Jerell’s wedding dress, but when his model wandered out, my eyes wanted to explode. I guess it was one of those outfits that weren’t meant to be in motion. I’m still not quite sure how I feel about Jerell’s work, because sometimes he does decent work and then other times he does… things like his Olympics outfit. I’m glad he was the one to go home, though, because Korto definitely had the stronger season.
Kenley: Oh, Kenley. Kenley, Kenley, Kenley. This girl has got something going on, but it’s hidden under a lot of really annoying traits and bad patterns. I liked her hands-on approach to customizing the fabric, even though I thought it looked horrible. Her wedding dress and bridesmaid dress looked okay. She was definitely hamming it up too much on the runway, reminding me of all the things I can’t stand about her. Sigh.
Well, this season hasn’t been that great and I still don’t have an overall favorite, but at least three of the strongest made it to Bryant Park. I mean, not that being the best of a really crummy pool is much to brag about, but still. As things stand right now, I think Leanne will pull first place, followed by Korto (if she truly takes the runway critiques to heart) and Kenley in last place.
Clacked by Annie Wu 
on Oct 08, 2008 @ 21:58 EST5EDT
Good review (since we agree!) and I’m with you on Leeanne winning the whole thing. I do hope she shows well. She has been the most consistent with her designs. I thought she was too meek in the beginning but she’s grown on me.
Kenley shoots herself in the foot, week after week, with her attitude. I wonder if it’s in the editing or if she really is that bad. I also think the others are mean to her, but that could be editing, too.
Looking forward to next week’s show and your review!
Jerrell’s wedding ensemble was definitely the weakest, but last week he should have been guaranteed a spot since he won. It feels to me like the producers have been trying to kick him off for a while and keep Kenley (despite her terrible outfits the last few episodes) because she is more dramatic.
That said, Kenley’s BP collection is better than Jerrell’s so who knows. I think Leanne’s collection will definitely win though, with Kenley probably second. I enjoyed Korto’s but it just seems rather boring compared to the other two.
I really wanted to see Leanne, Korto and Jerrell go to Bryant Park, but in looking only at the collections, I felt Jerrell’s was the weakest. Like Tim said, he needs to learn to edit. But then again, if that’s not his style, so be it. He’s obviously talented and I’m sure his style as is will appeal to some people.
I kept my own scoring chart from episode one (yes – I have too much time on my hands) and I had Leanne pegged as my favorite from nearly the beginning so I hope she takes it with Korto coming in second. I have nothing against Kenley. She can be obnoxious, but this is a design show and in terms of design, she’s the most “one trick pony” of them all. Leanne has her own look, Korto has her own look, Jerrell has his own look. Kenley has the 40’s and 50’s. She does her look well with some updated spin, but nonetheless, it’s all pretty much been done before. She has her niche, but I don’t see how you can be a top designer if you pin your whole look to the style of one era. If she had said she dedicated her current line and BP collection to her late grandmother, it would have been touching and made sense, but I think she’s firmly entrenched in that one style only and it’s too limiting to garner her the top prize.