Fashion Finals

Season sixteen of Project Runway is drawing to a close, and all that remains is fashion week. The judges have made their calls, and sadly my personal favorite designer will not be showing her collection.

We made it so far.

I continued to root for her through the ups and downs. I even cried along with her. 

I love Kenya Freeman's style, personality, and ability. It hurt to watch her be eliminated, but I agree completely with the judges words of encouragement to her. We have not seen the last of her. Yes her collection will not walk the New York Fashion Week runway, but she has been exposed to the hungry eyes of the fashion world. Someone out there will give her another chance to shine and show what she can do.

Plus there's always hope to see her on a new season of All Stars!

Now I'm stuck with a new problem. Who do I want to win this season? I had moved all my chips onto Kenya and now I'm broke.

First lets take a quick look at who will be showing their collections.

Bradon Kee started off as a dark horse, having never really done women's wear prior to Runway. Yet, he has been the judge's golden boy this entire season. With three wins to his name and generally nothing but universal praise every week it seemed natural that he was going to make it to the end. 

His designs are cool and fun. It's nice to see something different, yet you can always tell when a look is his. I'm not saying that's bad. He has a signature. His perfect record just kind of makes me not want to root for him. It feels like he already has it made, and we didn't get to see any real struggle with him. As a designer he has worked hard and is good enough to win, but I still don't want him to.

I will say that I love his fabrics. That peach leather is fabulous, and the flamingos are so out of left field that it just makes you smile.

Ayana Ife was the other clear choice for a top contender. She always has interesting ideas and that fact that she executes them in a modest sense is a nice change of pace. She had two wins to her name, but unlike Brandon she's been in the top and bottom when it came time to be judged.

I'm not crazy about Ayana's collection. I think it's interesting, and will make for a good show. It just doesn't grab me personally. I'm more invested in her as a person. She makes things that are different yet still chic and current. I just don't see myself getting excited over it. 

Her color pallet is a little drab, but her silhouettes will make up for the lack of color power. I sound wishy washy about it, but I am excited to see her collection walk. I feel like I only want her to win so that it expands the modest fashion market. I'm not a client for that market, I just like seeing something different get a boost.

Kentaro Kameyama is another designer that I liked from the beginning. He makes me smile. He makes me laugh. I love his minimalist approach, which is kinda funny because I normally love bright loud colors. 

I usually really like what Kentaro makes. He does a lot of gorgeous pleating, and has made some very cool looks with traditional Japanese influences. Yet as the final has gotten closer a weird streak seems to have jumped out. 

During his home visit with Tim Gunn, he shared with him a piece of music he composed to go with his collection. It was very somber but pretty. It seemed a bit odd to me since he'd explained his collection was inspired by classical music. Tim asked him what has inspired him to write the piece, and Kentaro's reply was that he had found a dead cat on the road. After he buried it he listened to the ground, and that was what he heard.

What?

I don't claim to understand composers, or designers for that matter, but that was just odd to me. Even Tim seemed to look confused and took his time replying to the explanation.

Strange story aside, I still like his collection. It's a bit disjointed, but it is intentional, and I have the same complaints as the judges. His styling is just plain odd and takes away from the line. The thick eye brows and top knots just do not work. Personally, I got a "one of us" vibe that just made me feel weird. If you ask me, it makes the models look ugly or in some ways manly. 

Not a good mix.

I really hope he takes the judges advice. I would still like to cheer for him, but this hard left turn into bizarro land is making it hard. 

Finally, we have Margarita Alvarez. She loves loud bright colors.

Me too!

Yet, I still don't really like her, and I feel bad about that! I can't explain why, but I do. 

Tim used his save on her just before the final, so she has had quite a bit to prove. She also really wants this big win and is not afraid to voice it. She has a lot of color and sparkle. I should love all of this, but I'm just not behind it, at least not one hundred percent.

I do love that she was inspired by a loud ugly couch from the 1980's enough to use it as inspiration to create her own print. That part is pretty freakin' awesome. I still just tend to like parts of her looks, but not them as a whole. It makes it hard for me to want to support her. 

I am excited to see her show though. I know it will be bright and eye catching, but will it be tacky? 

All and all I guess I want either Kentaro or Ayana to win, though I'm pretty sure Brandon will take it all home.

We'll see next week, but I still wish Kenya was showing.