Project Runway’s sixth episode of the tenth season, “Fix My Friend” had the designers facing their toughest challenge yet, designing for “regular” women.
Find out who came out on top and who is out in this week’s recap:
Last week, on Project Runway, the designers were split into teams and tasked with creating a line of clothing for professional women. Melissa’s modern styling and on trend color choice got her the win, while Raul’s poor construction and iffy fabric choices got him sent home for the second time.
For this week’s challenge, the designers were tasked with making over the friends of several “regular people.” Challenges where the designers have to design for regular folks, instead of models are always interesting, so this should be fun.
The designers were given 30 minutes to consult with their clients and sketch and one day to complete their designs. The designers were all randomly assigned a client to work with.
Ven was shocked and disappointed with his client’s “wide hip and waist lines,” because it is very different than designing for a model. Much of the episode would center around Ven making comments about how very “plus sized,” old and unstylish his client was and the other designers reactions to his remarks.
Ven complained several times during the episode that it was totally unfair for him to have to design for a plus size person, while other designers got to design for clients with more svelte figures. I can understand his point about having to design for someone who is more “full figured” than what he is used to, but this was supposed to be a “designing for the real world” challenge and in the “real world” sometimes, probably most times, you are going to have to work with clients with a variety of shapes and sizes.
Ven went on to tell Tim that he was in “shock” because his client is plus size, like OMG a SIZE 14!. Venn told Tim that his client had “no shape and no sense of style.” Fabio commented to the camera that he thinks Ven’s client is “beautiful and curvy” and he thinks it’s a shame that she came there wanting a positive transformation and she’s not going to get it with Ven. Elena was also displeased with Ven’s remarks, saying she “lost respect for him.”
Tim responded to Ven, that clothes when done correctly, provide a sort of “optical illusion.” Ven then complained about his client being almost 40. Tim scolded him a bit for calling 40 old.
Ven continued to annoy his client, his client’s friend and several of the designers by repeatedly making comments about how slimming his look was, pointing out that they didn’t have any belts on hand large enough to fit her and even remarking about how “shocked” he was to see how good his client looked after getting her hair and makeup done.
Chris tried to clue Ven in to quit pointing out how “plus sized” his client is, but Ven remained oblivious. Gunnar, Fabio, Chris and Alicia all made remarks about how rude they felt Ven was being to his client and how disappointed they were in his behavior.
Eventually, all of Ven’s remarks became too much for his client and she ended up in tears, prompting her friend to scold Ven for his harsh remarks. Ven seemed to be sorry he hurt his client’s feelings, yet somehow remained totally clueless, as he continued to make hurtful remarks for the rest of his time with the clients.
By contrast, Gunnar told us that he thinks designing for the average, everyday person is very important and said that is what he does every day. He was very sweet and encouraging with his client when she started tearing up over her measurements. This was totally unexpected for me. Gunnar has often been catty and bitchy with his fellow designers, so it it was surprising to see him being so nice and caring with his client. I’m starting to really like him.
Sonjia was also much more sympathetic to the idea of designing for larger people, since she is used to designing clothes for larger people. Chris, however, thought Sonjia was playing it safe and her dress was missing something. Nathan also didn’t think Sonjia’s design was up to par with her normal work. Dmitry thought Sonjia made her client look really, really bad.
Dmitry was also happy with his client, expressing that she was perfect for him because he does “timeless pieces that are comfortable.” Dmitry commented that he felt the designers would all need to tone themselves down for this challenge, since they were designing for regular people and not just for the runway. However, Elena didn’t understand why Dmitry was making his dress so “boring.”
Nathan had a hard time designing for his r&b artist client. She requested something “sexy with swag, but sophisticated,” and suggested the design should be form fitting with cut outs and a bare midriff, but shouldn’t look “all sexed up.” Nathan was understandably perplexed about how to fulfill all of these requests, but couldn’t find a “nice” way to tell his client that he didn’t like her ideas.
Fun Moments: We got a cute clip of Fabio video chatting with his boyfriend. Dmitry remarks that he was shocked to see Elena actually being nice to someone.
The next day, the designers were given three hours to get their clients hair and makeup done, since part of this challenge is a “complete makeover.”
Most of the girls would get new hair cuts and color courtesy of L’Oreal (product placement!)
The Judging:
This week’s guest judge was British fashion designer Alice Temperley, who has designed for the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Beyonce and Catherine the Duchess of Cambridge.
Top Three:
1. Dmitry – his client loved the look and said”it’s changing my life.”
Heidi – said she could feel his client’s confidence and she looked very sexy, but not slutty on the runway
Nina – said she looked edgy and cool and the color was very good on her. She liked the styling and thought it all worked.
Michael – thought the fabric choice was smart
Alice – said she looked very comfortable, but would have liked to have seen a bit lower neck line. She thought his accessories looked “the most modern.”
2. Fabio – his client doesn’t like dresses, because she feels they make her look “weak,” but she loves Fabio’s dress.
Nina – was very pleased and felt it looked phenomenal and that his client looked like a professional with an edge.
Heidi – thinks it was genius and that if she had never met his client before, she would think she was an artist (which she is)
Alice – loved the way the seam lines created a pattern and that it was feminine and comfortable, but she thought the belt was “too fussy”
Michael – liked that it was a transformation, but “still her.” He quipped that “it takes a boy in a dress to get you into a dress.”
3. Gunnar – his client thought the look was “fabulous” and just what she wanted
Heidi – said that Gunnar’s client was the best model on the runway (I agree. I loved how sassy she was!)
Michael – said the dress was flirty, but not childish and brought out the client’s personality
Alice – thought it was a successful makeover
Nina – the transformation was phenominal, but she would have preferred a slightly lower neck line
Bottom Three:
1. Ven – his client was not happy and felt Ven did not listen to her at all
Heidi – found his statement about working with a “real woman” to be “amazing” and wants to know which women he is designing for are “not real.” she said that she didn’t think the look suited the client at all and it wasn’t something she could picture her wearing.
Michael – said she looked like she was in a turquoise smock and the look “chops her in half” and he wasn’t “doing her any favors.”
Nina – thought the skirt was great, but from the waist up “she didn’t know where she was going.”
Alice – didn’t think the turquoise was appropriate and the shiny fabric didn’t look comfortable.
The client’s friend was in tears over how poorly she felt Ven treated his client and said that she felt like Ven didn’t bother to ask her anything about her life. The judges criticized Ven for not wanting to delve into his client’s life, and tried to make his client feel better by pointing out what a good friend she had.
2. Sonjia – her client felt Sonjia took what she wanted into account and says the dress made her feel sexy
Heidi – didn’t think the knot worked and that the dress was too short, which made it look “slutty.”
Alice – wanted to pull the knot down to the center of her body and said the “proportions were all wrong”
Michael – thought the “dial went too far.” he comments that putting so much fabric on a petite client really pulls them down
Nina – doesn’t think Sonjia looked at her client and worked with “the best that she had.”
3. Nathan – his client said she wasn’t really sure what she wanted, but she was very comfortable in the dress. her only criticism was that the dress needed to be “tightened up a little”
Heidi – didn’t know it was supposed to be a dress for the stage and said the dress “gives a certain message.” She thought the dress looked very cheap and said the client looked like “a hoochie mama”
Nina – called the dress “a mess” and “a disaster.” When Nathan tried to blame the dress on his client’s requests, she shut him down.
Alice – didn’t think the dress looked comfortable
Michael – said he ended up with “every cliche combined,” and “no human being should wear tight satin.” He thought Nathan threw away a great opportunity.
Ven blamed his being in the bottom three on his client being “fashionably challenged,” but Alicia called him out stating that it “wasn’t even about his client’s size” and telling the camera that if you can’t design for people of all sizes, then you aren’t a “real designer.”
Winner: Fabio – they loved how his look was unexpected and pushed his client out of her comfort zone
Out: Nathan – they thought he played seamstress and let his client dictate the design
I would have been happy with any of the top three getting the win this week, because I really like how they listened to what their client wanted and designed a look and makeover that made their clients feel better about themselves. Because they made their client’s feel good about their looks, their clients really sold the look on the runway and in turn made the design look better.
While I agree that Nathan’s look was the weakest this week, I’m really sorry to see him go. He seems like such a nice, sweet guy and in the end I think it was his inability to say “no” to his client that did him in.
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