First of all: Yay, Leanne won!
Second: Zzzzzz. What a boring finale. There was no drama, no surprise, no energy. We didn't even get a reunion, robbing the designers - and us - of a chance to take a few more whacks at the rage piņata that is Kenley Collins. It's almost as if Bravo itself was totally over the show.
But ultimately it's about the fashion, and none of the final collections sucked. They each had some strong pieces, and they all had flaws. Here's my breakdown of how the designers did.
Kenley definitely came in third in my book, and the moment of the night was when she discovered Tim Gunn would be filling in for Jennifer Lopez as guest judge. (Speaking of: how lame of JLo. A foot injury doesn't preclude you from judging a freaking fashion show. I wonder if this is the final nail in her career's coffin.) Kenley's response: "Oh, you've got to be kidding me. Maybe I should have improved my attitude..." Yeah. Maybe you should have. Anyway, her clothes were well made. Colorful. They definitely had a point of view. But despite what Tim said at judging, there was absolutely no cohesion in that line, from color choice to fabrication to concept. She was all over the place. But worse, she was derivative. The judges called her out on the Balenciaga knock off, but beyond that, Kenley was ripping off herself. One dress was a scaled-back version of her ridiculous astrological sign gown; she had another one of those awful goiter skirts, and so on. I know you can't plagiarize yourself, but for someone who prides herself on being such an innovator, we'd seen a lot of Kenley's line before.
Korto decided to make two completely new dresses in the few days leading up to the runway show, a decision that still baffles me. They were lovely and looked beautiful, but really summed up what was wrong with her show: there was no wow factor. Most of the pieces were pretty and wearable - a good thing, no doubt - but nothing was being pushed here. Nothing was really being said. I really loved her nature-inspired color palette, especially the vibrant greens. (And, shout out to ANTM alums Danielle and Bianca, who both walked in her show. Surprisingly, C9's Bianca kicked C6 winner Danielle's ass on the runway.) I was perplexed as to why she chose that green dress as her final statement instead of one of the voluminous white looks she placed earlier in the collection. Yes, they were overly fussy, but they had an impact. The green dress, though clever and pretty, was just kind of typical.
Leanne's collection was beautiful, masterfully crafted, and innovative. She had a wide range of clothing types - gowns, dresses, pants, shorts, skirts, tops, vests, jackets - but the look of the line itself was repetitive. She took her wave-inspired petals/pleats and worked them in way too literally for my liking; the show didn't really build to anything. It maintained a consistent, structured tone. That's not a bad thing, but I was hoping for a little more drama in the collection. Her second-to-last number - a gorgeous icy blue gown in which the wave motif was much more deconstructed - was breathtaking. She deserved the win, but it wasn't the knockout I had hoped for.
And thus concludes Bravo's final season of "Project Runway," by far the worst of the bunch. I read an article yesterday that said that NBC Universal's lawsuit against the Weinstein Co. and Lifetime will keep the next season off the air until at least late next summer. So that's a pretty long wait. Here's hoping that the move to Lifetime isn't as disastrous to the show as I fear it will be, and that, more importantly, next time they do it right. They've certainly got the time on their hands...