Project Runway: Finale, Part 2

December 23, 2016 10:31 PM - Season 15, Episode 14

Fashion week is finally here and the designers rush to put the final touches on their collections. Four designers live their dream of showing at New York Fashion Week, but only one designer will reach the ultimate goal of being crowned the next Project Runway winner!

The final four react to their critiques, and with little time left, they rush to Mood one last time. We have the show, the final critique, and a winner is named. Guest judge Zendaya joins the panel.

posted by filthy light thief (13 comments total)

And no one is terribly surprised that Erin wins, despite the judges not actually wanting to wear her clothes.

#TeamRoberi
posted by filthy light thief at 10:33 PM on December 23, 2016 [3 favorites]

Whhhhyyyyyyyy

I really hope Laurence and Roberi have opportunities coming out of this, I'll be so excited to see what they produce. Laurence's collection certainly didn't bring out everything she has but I did love it. With Roberi, my heart broke when he moved to the red heels - with the flats, the looks were much more cool and interesting.

But, ugh, Erin. Her personality got more grating and false until her awful speech at NYFW, and it just wasn't exciting. The yellow-as-edgy effect was baffling (man, even I have minimalist/volumey chartreusey yellow in my wardrobe) and beyond the textiles, which were fine but nothing stunning, Roberi was right about it being quite basic.
posted by carbide at 2:49 AM on December 24, 2016 [2 favorites]

The judges' points about runway impact really did point to Erin, though - I think Roberi scored well on it too but perhaps without the advantage of a pop impact.
posted by carbide at 2:58 AM on December 24, 2016

A late challenge from Roberi but yeah, glad that Erin won. The judges said nice things about Rik's collection but that denim was deadly, so heavy. Laurence, too department-store-tasteful but hopefully she'll be back on the next All Stars. Roberi was most improved, I loved the first skirt that came out, the striped piecework, but I didn't like any of his jackets. Erin, loved her colors, actual bright colors on the runway, she's fearless. Loved the volume and the crazy embellishments and like the judges said, it looked expensive. I like how she dresses herself and she lives in Boston where no one ventures far from navy/brown/hunter green and black. So good on her for the win.

Now how did they film the final runway shows? Fashion Week was in early September when the show had only aired a couple episodes at that point (maybe only one episode, I forget). Several of the auf'd designers were decoys and I read that the collections weren't introduced, they were anonymous, BUT in this episode, you can clearly see the designers walking with their models and the audience is in the foreground. Why does PR keep to this insane schedule when they don't film at Parsons anymore?
posted by TWinbrook8 at 5:08 AM on December 24, 2016

An answer to my question of scheduling, it's Lifetime which wants to air the show in mid-Summer, resulting in a mess of decoy collections at FW.

Here is Cornelius' decoy collection.
Mah-Jing's decoy collection (except the first look is by Laurence)
posted by TWinbrook8 at 5:27 AM on December 24, 2016 [1 favorite]

I've always wondered how much of the personality we see comes from editing. After spending a few hours with 3 of the final 4, I think those three presented in real life in a very similar way they did on the show. I think with time the experience just wears you down and it's impossible to fake anything.
posted by Lil Bit of Pepper at 7:16 AM on December 24, 2016 [1 favorite]

Erin's clothes always look to me like Hyperbole And A Half come to life. Big, kinda shapeless, with random, childlike embellishments. Some of them are kind of cool, but very few things I could imagine wearing or even really admiring. Maybe that means I'm officially An Old.

I think Laurence took the judges' critiques about her use of black and consistent silhouettes a little too much to heart, which means we ended up with a final collection gutted of her edge and fierceness. She's extraordinarily talented, so I definitely hope we see a lot more from her, on and off PR.

Rik... meh. No matter what he did, that denim just did not pair with his black and yellow leather.

I was most impressed by Roberi, although he wasn't a favorite throughout the season. I thought he really pulled it out for the finale, though, and showcased his perspective. I was hoping he'd be the winner when it was down to the final two.

Overall, though, I thought it was a good season and an interesting final show, which is more than I've been able to say for some seasons.
posted by Superplin at 7:29 AM on December 24, 2016 [7 favorites]

Listening to, like, Erin, like, speak, was like totally painful. Could she, like, sound anymore like a total, like, airhead?
posted by MsVader at 9:27 AM on December 24, 2016 [2 favorites]

I loved Roberi's collection and think he should have won. His craftsmanship and vision shone through in his work. But it's been obvious from about Week 3 that Erin and her unwearable garments were going to win. I thought Laurence's collection was competent but a bit dull, and I hated Rik's 70s throwback embroidered denim.

Erin's speech was embarrassing to witness. If she's not deliberately channelling that 'quirky', irritating personality, I feel sorry for her.
posted by essexjan at 4:22 AM on December 25, 2016

I think I must have just aged out of the demographic for this show. I have found the winning collections for past two seasons bafflingly hideous and most of the contestants are super annoying. Add that to the complete lack of two-day challenges and I'm just....done.
posted by bq at 4:24 PM on December 27, 2016

#LaurenceWasRobbed

(Also Rik's collection was waaaay better than I expected. That was great. Erin... ehhhhhhhhh)
posted by Itaxpica at 8:09 PM on December 27, 2016

I disliked both Erin's and Laurence's. I like Rik's and Roberi's but thought none of them were all that great, to be honest. Just a big fat meh overall.
posted by the webmistress at 10:03 PM on December 27, 2016

#TeamRoberi all day every day -- I thought his collection was the most complex and the most emotional. I felt like it really communicated this sense of dreamy, wistful, cosmopolitan rootlessness. Erin definitely deserved to be in the top, and I like her nerdy anti-fit tendencies, but I felt like it didn't tug at me as much as Roberi's.

Her collection does hit a lot of the typical notes people ascribe to snake people -- awkward, funny, cerebral, childlike, ironic, "meta", characterized by repetition, etc. -- but I was still annoyed when they talked about how in tune with her generation she was, because I know when I'm being marketed to as an impersonal demographic and I tend to resent it.

I thought a lot of Laurence's work for the challenges was stronger than what she presented here, and I agree with Superplin that she probably got psyched out by the judges and didn't play to her strengths. I would have actually placed Rik above Laurence based on their final collections. I also don't know what they're on about not knowing who he is as a designer because I feel like his aesthetic has been very consistent all season: he does sharp, graphic, wearable sportswear with bold colors and a raver-y edge, right?

I'll give Erin the benefit of the doubt about her speech. I'm not about to criticize someone for up-talking, and sometimes people get weird and performance-y when they have to talk in front of big groups.
posted by en forme de poire at 9:39 PM on January 1, 2017 [1 favorite]