PR sneaks in every season the challenge where the designers have to design for real women. And by that, it means there model for the week is not a model, but rather your everyday woman. This season was a bit more special in that the real woman makeover would be for members of the PR crew. This would also be a Sally Beauty challenge as Libby Bisanz and Gregory Patterson of Sally Beauty joined Tim to hand down the challenge details. So each designer would have their woman and was responsible for their own look — no blame games! They were to create a look going from workday to runway extraordinary. And the sky was the limit in terms of the direction of the look.
Gregory was on board this week to work with each designer/woman team for their entire makeover effect — new cut & color. So with the details set forth, everyone began with excitement for this 2-day challenge and a budget of $200. The initial excitement soon faded though with Merline in jacket woes, Ashley in tears, and Swapnil back on the smoke train.
As day 2 began it was soon time for not just Tim-time, but also fittings. Tim was quite invested in this challenge because it is the PR crew. Tim advised Kelly she might need more. With Candice, he was seeing oatmeal. Did Edmond have a camel toe issue? But it was Swapnil who was again the center of attention. Tim was over the BS and then dropped the F bomb. While other designers were having issues with their looks, Swapnil was have issues with his look and really working with his model’s needs. Tim ended up telling everyone that they truly needed to rally and they could have another fitting. But even with the 2nd fitting, Swapnil was still having issues.
The morning of, Swapnil was still having troubles and as always, Merline was running around! Guest judges this week were the starts of Lifetime’s new show Unreal, Shiri Appleby & Constance Zimmer.
So my main issue this week, with this challenge, is that I only feel like 1 designer kind of stepped up to the plate here and that was the winner, Kelly. Last week was a disappointment and I don’t think these looks were much better. It seems as if too many designers as of late are resting on their laurels and not really pushing themselves. I know the heavy focus for this was put on Swapnil the past few weeks. But really, quite a few others have too been dropping the ball and I wouldn’t have put all of the heat on Swapnil.
Shout-out — Love the new Sally Beauty do, great job on a clean, natural makeup look by Mary Kay, also great accessories to the look, JustFab
I’m not sure if I could rock Kelly’s look for Ashleigh, but Ashleigh sure does. Kelly created a look that was great looking, but also what her client wanted. It was also still very much Kelly’s voice in the piece, which many other designers were looking.
Shout-outs — another great makeover look from both Sally Beauty & Mary Kay!
I guess a runner-up look this week was Merline’s 3-piece set for Katie. Although runner-up has a little meaning here since the rest were all very so-so. I think it was great Merline did create a jacket because outside of that she made a tank with a slit skirt, not much there! But really the jacket was ok, nothing to stellar. And ultimately, Katie never wanted a jacket. Merline found fortune in that everyone else kind of blew it this week, but I’m still not that impressed with her output this week.
I guess then in the standards of everyone else not stepping up, this meant too that Edmond was either safe or in the top 3, which is utterly odd with his creation for the week. It was just such a yawn and the raincoat and dress had such a disconnect. With Kelly being the winner this week, I see the standard as give your client what they want, make it be exciting, and it should represent your designer aesthetic. It seems as if Edmond pleased Desiree, but again, the look wasn’t exciting and I didn’t see Edmond in the look at all.
To start off the bottom 3, we can then move to Candice. At first glance I didn’t hate this, but upon closer inspection, the positives do start to fade. I do see what the judges are saying in that this kind of crosses a line. It’s not Candice’s best work, although Monique didn’t seem to mind. I think Candice just had a hard time thinking more RTW, just as the last challenge, but also maintaining her voice.
It was kind of clear that Swapnil was going out this week, but I think if the judges had sent 2 designers home, Ashley should have been in the mix. She has had some great looks this season, but she has also put down the runway some not so great ones. And when she is on the not so great line, it really is not great! The most disappointing aspect was this was Ashley’s challenge, among all of the others. She prides herself on designing for plus-sized, everyday women. But to see that this is what she created, it’s like really?? I believe Ashley tries to rely to much on prints, but what makes it worse is then the use of a print in an unimaginative silhouette, such as here, a fitted dress with peplum, woohoo! Poor Nicole!
So yes, this meant that Swapnil was out. My thinking on him is just that PR is not for him. I’ve seen his work pre-PR and it was super stunning. I’ve caught an eye at his decoy collection for the finale and it was too mesmerizing. This to me would never scream Swapnil. But I will say that Jennifer was quite a difficult client. I think any other designer who could have been paired with her would have run into some issues. I’m not sure she was getting the concept of “makeover”, or even that she wanted one. With a makeover, you should seek something special and really collaborate to fulfill a fantasy. Swapnil did get lost here and out of answers as to what Jennifer wanted. Such a shame, but I would be very intrigued to have seen what this girl would have been pleased with that would have been showstopping on a runway!
