Project Runway finale—spoilers

[katfco]

What the crap??!!

Ayana was robbed.

[ECB]

So.... I was happy when it came down to those 2 as I knew I wanted to see one of them win. BUT when they announced Kentaro, I was bummed. I really wanted her to win.

Brandon - man, he’s talented but he needs to bring his ego down a notch or two. As someone said another week- his was a line, not a collection. And yeah,it got boring seeing the same print come out for EVERY look.

I also got tired of margarita’s “head being elsewhere”. I feel like that’s almost her excuse for why she doesn’t win a challenge. “ I was distracted”. She’s done that all season, it feels like.

Can’t wait for the reunion!!

[RoxMonster]

I love Ayana and would have been happy to see her win, but I LOVED Kentaro's collection and I am glad he got it. Last week only seeing two pieces from him, I was super underwhelmed, but seeing the entire thing together was awesome.

My favorite individual look, though, was Ayana's final dress. Gorgeous.

So happy Brandon didn't win. I ended up hating his entire collection when I saw it all together. Too much of the flamingo print, dude.

[bernsteincat]

Hate hate hated Brandon’s. Hated. I didn’t mind his individual pieces in individual challenges, though they were repetitive. But seeing that god awful print on EVERY pice and all of them having the same material and straps and loops and designs... it was horrible. It was like late 80s beach condo fabric. Ugh.

I didn’t care for Margarita’s first 3 looks, but I thought the rest were fun.

I wanted Ayana to win so bad. Her finale dress was out of this world. The show could have continued its season-long theme of promoting diversity by choosing Ayana. Disappointing.

And they said the audience was silent during Kentaro’s collection because they were in awe, but they did a crappy job of conveying that in their editing. That whole thing looked as awkward as Tim’s home visit, which made his win very jarring.

As for the reunion episode... My husband got rid of his horrific assistant director and our lives have been amazing this year, and I refuse to speak of that man anymore, because why bring ourselves down? That’s how I feel about the twins. The show was much better without them, so i won’t watch the reunion special and get pulled back in to their hysterics. I’ll count on y’all to fill me in.

[mmmomof2]

I think the judges got it right, Kentaro was the clear winner. His first red dress was stunning. If you look at the collections in this recap it's easy to compare the collections ew.com/recap/project-runway-season-16-finale/ Lots of ads though.

Margarita's collection was fun, but maybe not appropriate for NYFW? I thought resort wear has it's own season.

I thought Ayana's first few looks were fug and drab. They looked like a mom going to a PTA meeting. I did like the skirt look, the dress with the cinched waist, and her finale gown.

Brandon missed the mark and had no wow moment or piece at all.

[hermione]

Based solely on the final show, I thought Kentaro was the clear winner. I loved Ayana more consistently throughout the season though.

I would still categorize the winner as diverse.

[AndyCohen]

The editing on this show is so transparent. After the second time Kentaro said there is no chance he's going to win I was thinking "Huh, he going to win??".

I love Ayanna and I really wanted her to win. Kentaro had a great collection and if anyone had to win aside from Ayanna I'm glad it was him. I like that Ayanna's clothes can have mass appeal and be commercial. Kentaro's clothes are more artwork than something that's supposed to be bought and worn so I think him winning Project Runway is a downgrade. I mean they're making his clothes for JCP which is going to be an insult to his designs and who is going to buy whatever JCP comes up with that falls into his aesthetic?

Now that PR has teamed up with JCP I think they need to be realistic.

[ESF]

I thought Kentaro's collection was just stunning. I really, really loved it. That red dress with the deep v? Amazing. I don't get how it translates to JCP or is wearable by people, but I thought it was just gorgeous and showcased tremendous talent.

Ayana's green dress however was the best piece of the night. So breathtaking and it looked just stunning on that model. Her collection was great and I would have been happy if she had won too. That said, I agreed with the judges that the first three pieces were weak.

The Brandon thing...I found it so strange. They basically fell all over him all season to praise his stuff, and never gave him a shred of criticism. So I can kind of get why he was so surprised by their reaction. They were right in their criticism of him, but it's like, "you could have said this same exact thing like 8 episodes ago, so why now?" That said, it's absurd that it didn't dawn on him to create a show stopper or try anything at all outside of his comfort zone.

I did appreciate the bathing suit moment in Margarita's collection, and also really liked the long striped coat that was on the last model. I wish it wasn't styled so terribly though.

[sparrowsong]

Thank you for that link to the collections. My opinion is only based on those still photos and not video of the runway.

I would've voted Ayana. I think her collection was beautiful and modern and I liked her color palette. Agree that gown with the vine detail was gorgeous!

You know what I think about kentaro? I think he needs a job working for a ballet company doing costuming for both traditional and modern dance. The boy loves a tutu.

Margaritas was definiltty fun and joyful. It wS a lot to take in but there were a couple pieces I liked. Overall abut much for my taste but lots of eye candy.

I've been a Brandon fan all season along with the judges, even when the rest of you were bored. I'm still with the judges. The magic seems missing here. I still really like his perspective and hope he goes places, but he was 4th place for me with these collections.

[bernsteincat]

Nov 17, 2017 13:33:43 GMT -5 hermione said:

Based solely on the final show, I thought Kentaro was the clear winner. I loved Ayana more consistently throughout the season though.

I would still categorize the winner as diverse.

I’m sorry if I was unclear, I meant diverse in the population that would be served by the clothing, not the contestant alone.

[GilliC]

Nov 17, 2017 13:59:28 GMT -5 sparrowsong said:

Thank you for that link to the collections. My opinion is only based on those still photos and not video of the runway.

I would've voted Ayana. I think her collection was beautiful and modern and I liked her color palette. Agree that gown with the vine detail was gorgeous!

You know what I think about kentaro? I think he needs a job working for a ballet company doing costuming for both traditional and modern dance. The boy loves a tutu.

Margaritas was definiltty fun and joyful. It wS a lot to take in but there were a couple pieces I liked. Overall abut much for my taste but lots of eye candy.

I've been a Brandon fan all season along with the judges, even when the rest of you were bored. I'm still with the judges. The magic seems missing here. I still really like his perspective and hope he goes places, but he was 4th place for me with these collections.

OMG! Yes! I loved his collection, but the tulle and his quirkiness and the weird dead-cat music really make me think more of classic arts than fashion.

[insominac]

I'm happy that Kentaro won - I thought his collection was so elegant and I love the cohesion that ran through the collection. I think it was Jessica Alba that mentioned that the red dress had such a strong impact - similar to a downbeat or accented musical note.

I'm happy that Meisha had the wow moment walking in Ayana's beautiful gown - I think she is so awesome. She graduated from Harvard with an engineering degree, speaks fluent Japanese, and has such a positive energy - she's fantastic.

eta: I was happy that Margarita's family made it to NYC.

[GilliC]

I was soooo bored by Brandon's. And I haven't gone back to time it, but I was pretty sure that they gave more screen time to the other shows. I suspect they knew that most viewers didn't appreciate the subtle differences between one strap-embellished flamingo-print tunic and the next.

Margarita's surprised me. It was fun, and while it's NMS and not really NYC, aside from the weird glasses and the last-minute feathers, I actually liked it! As much as she has annoyed me during the show, I wouldn't have minded her beating out Brandon on the merits of these collections alone.

I would have been happy with either Kentaro or Ayana. I liked Kentaro's better, but that's because I've always enjoyed the more avant garde designers (e.g. Dmitriy and Elena from season 10). I think they were both deserving.

[ESF]

Nov 17, 2017 14:54:57 GMT -5 insominac said:

I'm happy that Meisha had the wow moment walking in Ayana's beautiful gown - I think she is so awesome. She graduated from Harvard with an engineering degree, speaks fluent Japanese, and has such a positive energy - she's fantastic.

I knew about the Japanese, but not the rest. I agree, she really does have great energy.

In general, I will say that I really loved that they gave models "speaking parts" on this season. I thought it was really cool and made the show so much more enjoyable.  I hope they continue it.

[crystald528]

Nov 17, 2017 15:16:09 GMT -5 ESF said:

Nov 17, 2017 14:54:57 GMT -5 insominac said:

In general, I will say that I really loved that they gave models "speaking parts" on this season. I thought it was really cool and made the show so much more enjoyable.  I hope they continue it.

I agree with this.  They wanted to celebrate "real" women and did so not just by having models of all sizes but allowing us to hear from them as individuals and not just a variety of mannequins. I loved seeing and hearing their reactions to the clothes. 

[ufcasey]

Brandon bored me to death - how did NO ONE he knew tell him "hey, this is all going to look the same on the runway because they literally are all the same fabric - you need to add visual interest"? I just don't understand.

And Ayana's last dress - I gasped! It was so beautiful! I wasn't digging her victorian prairie dresses though (which isn't a thing, but that's what I think of when I see them).

Margarita picking an ugly couch as her inspiration is so Margarita.

I thought Kentaro deserved the win and that his music composition really added a lot of drama. I agree with sparrowsong that his stuff looks like it could be in ballet, but that's what makes it interesting - you see the movement of the dress when someone is just walking. It's so graceful. That last piece of his I just wanted to watch walk down the runway again, it was so weird and different.

ETA: I almost wished Meisha was in Kentaro's show only because she was his muse for the winter outfit which I just loved. But the dress she wore for Ayana was STUNNING so I'm good.

[GilliC]

Can we talk about the JCPenney collection

a) I know they have to simplify things compared to the runway pieces, but these just feel so sad! The commercial version of Margarita's shirt dress stayed fairly true to the original aesthetic. The recreation of Kentaro's runway pieces are depressing:



b) A lot of it is completely boring. This sweatshirt and these jeans? Yawn.
 

c) Was it really all Kentaro? It definitely seems to be channeling some of the other designers.
Hello, Brando straps:


Ayana's ruffles:



And the twist detail on this shirt reminds me a lot of the navy top that Margarita included in her two looks last week:



Maybe they were hedging their bets in case of a disaster where they had to choose a new winner after wrapping the original filming (like what happened with ANTM a few years ago)?

d) WTF is this?! Was it created by the twins?

[AndyCohen]

Yep GilliC this is my only Problem with the Kentaro win. You can't give designers a JCP collection as a prize and then choose a high fashion couture winner. The fact that draping is a huge part of Kentaro's design aesthetic means that nothing he makes will work for mass market.

[AndyCohen]

Also I'm dying at the plain pink sweatshirt that you could buy from Hanes or a million other brands.

[meshaliuknits]

Nov 17, 2017 15:30:39 GMT -5 GilliC said:

Can we talk about the JCPenney collection

a) I know they have to simplify things compared to the runway pieces, but these just feel so sad! The commercial version of Margarita's shirt dress stayed fairly true to the original aesthetic. The recreation of Kentaro's runway pieces are depressing:

There's a lot of WTF on that page, but this skirt just makes me sad.

[GilliC]

Nov 17, 2017 16:13:22 GMT -5 AndyCohen said:

Also I'm dying at the plain pink sweatshirt that you could buy from Hanes or a million other brands.

To be fair, it does have some kind of lace-up thing going on in the back, but it's still not very exciting.

[katfco]

I can admire Kentaro’s talent, but he is much more of a conceptual artist than a designer. I can’t see a lot of women wearing his stuff, but maybe that’s just because it’s not my style at all.

Ayana, on the other hand, made really beautiful and wearable clothes.

I was thinking they were leading us to a Kentaro win with his comments, but was hoping I was wrong.

I do feel bad for Brandon, because it seems like they pulled the rug out from under him. He never got much constructive criticism, so he kept doing what he’d been doing. Even Tim didn’t give much at the home visit.

[al320]

I hated brandons. So much. It was so boring.

I was surprised by how much i liked margarita's. I thought it was so fun.

Ayanas first three looks were awful, then the rest was amazing. I loved that second to last dress that heidi also liked. But i also loved kentaros. Im ok that he won, he didnt have any looks i didnt like. So much of it was just so stunningly beautiful.

[notsopicky]

I just watched it today. I was hoping Ayana would win. I agree with her 1 million percent that she brings something unique and fresh to an underserved market, and could have done (even more) amazing things with a win.

I teach at a school with a very large Middle Eastern/Muslim population, and my girls and their moms LOVED the things she created this season.

Agree w/ PP re: the twins. Just go the f*** home, already.

[Jalapeñomel]

I really disliked Ayana’s collection, so I was glad she didn’t win. I did like that finale dress, but that was it.

[Jalapeñomel]

Nov 17, 2017 15:25:35 GMT -5 ufcasey said:

Brandon bored me to death - how did NO ONE he knew tell him "hey, this is all going to look the same on the runway because they literally are all the same fabric - you need to add visual interest"? I just don't understand.

And Ayana's last dress - I gasped! It was so beautiful! I wasn't digging her victorian prairie dresses though (which isn't a thing, but that's what I think of when I see them).

Margarita picking an ugly couch as her inspiration is so Margarita.

I thought Kentaro deserved the win and that his music composition really added a lot of drama. I agree with sparrowsong that his stuff looks like it could be in ballet, but that's what makes it interesting - you see the movement of the dress when someone is just walking. It's so graceful. That last piece of his I just wanted to watch walk down the runway again, it was so weird and different.

ETA: I almost wished Meisha was in Kentaro's show only because she was his muse for the winter outfit which I just loved. But the dress she wore for Ayana was STUNNING so I'm good.

Also, I assumed the music was laid over by sound editing, not what is actually played during the collection.

[RoxMonster]

Nov 17, 2017 21:32:43 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

Nov 17, 2017 15:25:35 GMT -5 ufcasey said:

Brandon bored me to death - how did NO ONE he knew tell him "hey, this is all going to look the same on the runway because they literally are all the same fabric - you need to add visual interest"? I just don't understand.

And Ayana's last dress - I gasped! It was so beautiful! I wasn't digging her victorian prairie dresses though (which isn't a thing, but that's what I think of when I see them).

Margarita picking an ugly couch as her inspiration is so Margarita.

I thought Kentaro deserved the win and that his music composition really added a lot of drama. I agree with sparrowsong that his stuff looks like it could be in ballet, but that's what makes it interesting - you see the movement of the dress when someone is just walking. It's so graceful. That last piece of his I just wanted to watch walk down the runway again, it was so weird and different.

ETA: I almost wished Meisha was in Kentaro's show only because she was his muse for the winter outfit which I just loved. But the dress she wore for Ayana was STUNNING so I'm good.

Also, I assumed the music was laid over by sound editing, not what is actually played during the collection.

I think Kentaro said he composed that piano piece himself, so I think it was what played during his collection.

[sparrowsong]

I remember in at least one previous season they mentioned that they got to pick music. I think it's was Gretchen's season because I remember I liked her choice in music more than her choice in design.

[AndyCohen]

Nov 17, 2017 21:32:43 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

Nov 17, 2017 15:25:35 GMT -5 ufcasey said:

Brandon bored me to death - how did NO ONE he knew tell him "hey, this is all going to look the same on the runway because they literally are all the same fabric - you need to add visual interest"? I just don't understand.

And Ayana's last dress - I gasped! It was so beautiful! I wasn't digging her victorian prairie dresses though (which isn't a thing, but that's what I think of when I see them).

Margarita picking an ugly couch as her inspiration is so Margarita.

I thought Kentaro deserved the win and that his music composition really added a lot of drama. I agree with sparrowsong that his stuff looks like it could be in ballet, but that's what makes it interesting - you see the movement of the dress when someone is just walking. It's so graceful. That last piece of his I just wanted to watch walk down the runway again, it was so weird and different.

ETA: I almost wished Meisha was in Kentaro's show only because she was his muse for the winter outfit which I just loved. But the dress she wore for Ayana was STUNNING so I'm good.

Also, I assumed the music was laid over by sound editing, not what is actually played during the collection.

I think they lay over the music for better sound quality but I always assumed it was the same music that was played during the show. The music is all part of a fashion show and I feel like changing the music would be like changing the designer's vision.

[al320]

Nov 17, 2017 21:44:38 GMT -5 sparrowsong said:

I remember in at least one previous season they mentioned that they got to pick music. I think it's was Gretchen's season because I remember I liked her choice in music more than her choice in design.

In very early seasons, maybe just the first, they showed them picking music. They used to show them fighting over models too.