Week 12: The Art of Fashion

This week's episode is somehow already the last episode before the finale! The designers meet Karlie at the riverside warehouse to hear about this week's challenge. These days, designers are combining fashion with art, architecture and pop culture to create full experiences for fashion shows. For this week's challenge, the designers must create a an experiential fashion show within the warehouse's rooms with a bold look to show the judges who they are as a designers. The show will have industry insiders walking the rooms and experiencing the shows.

To get the designers excited about the prize of winning a mentorship from the Council of Fashion Designers of America, Christian brings them to a meeting with Steven Kolb, the president of the CFDA. Stephen Kolb explains to the designers the benefits of having a mentor to help them boost their brand, company, and designs.

After each designer previews their room with their consultant, Sebastian freaks out because he doesn't feel like his design and room have anything to do with one another. He says he wants to go home and leave right now -- luckily, he takes a minute to relax and ends up being one of the top two designers from this week!

This week's episode doesn't include a runway show, but it does include some very important guest appearances, including Cardi B, who is without a doubt the trendiest guest Project Runway has ever included. Linda Fargo, of Bergdorf Goodman, will also be a guest judge for this week's episode.

Because this is the week to decide who is going to design collections for fashion week, the show has included a new element where the workroom is filled with each of the designer's past works from the season. I'm sure this is super helpful for the judges to be able to see each designer's body of work from the season, so that they can decide who they want to see more from.

THE ROOMS/PSEUDO-RUNWAY

Hits

Sebastian Grey

Sebastian's room was supposed to be a Greek palace room where a living sculpture is trying to live in her dream palace. Sebastian really struggled this week, but it didn't get the best of his design. Cardi B said, "I feel like I could wear this on a red carpet, but it don't really go with the room." 😂

Winner: Garo Sparo!

Garo's room was supposed to be a robotic intergalactic changing station. The judges absolutely loved that this look could be stripped down, and different pieces could sold instantly and separately. Elaine said, "This is the most elegant, wearable, and, like, futuristic piece that we've seen from you."

Misses

Bishme Cromartie

Bishme was inspired to create a room inspired by Baltimore blossoming, as he has such a deep connection to it. Although he has been inspired by this idea before, the judges love the idea that no matter where you're from you can bloom and blossom. However, the judges did notice a lot of imperfections that they're not used to seeing from Bishme. Brandon said, "I think it's very clear the story you've been telling the entire competition, and now we've come to see you quite literally and figuratively bloom."

Hester Sunshine

Hester had a very clear room-look in mind right away with four words: aggressive Rococo bondage picnic. The judges loved the room, as it was such a fantasy. The judges did not think that this was a very strong look, especially coming from Hester, who has had plenty of show-stopping looks over the course of the season. Karlie said, "I wasn't impressed. I thought it was poorly made."

Out: Tessa Clark

Tessa's room was supposed to be a studio inspired by her mother, who is a self-taught ceramicist. She wanted to incorporate Japanese influences and the Wabi-sabi worldview of imperfections being beautiful. The judges really appreciated that Tessa tried to push herself this week; however, the look and room weren't great. Karlie said, "Even though you're maybe pushing yourself to the limit, I feel the quality of it doesn't quite feel finished"

So, was Project Runway Season 17 Episode 12 in or out? This week, I have to say in. This challenge was interesting, different, and new. While I wish Sebastian had won over Garo, I think they definitely picked the right 4 designers to advance to fashion week. I can't wait to see what the designers come up with in the next 5 months!