Project Runway: Threads Episode 7 Recap: Cover Look

This week on Project Runway: Threads, Vanessa introduced three new contestants to their prize package totaling $25,000 and a chance to launch their career in designing. Host Vanessa Williams shoe and clothing designing expert, is joined each week by Christian Siriano the youngest designer to win Project Runway, YouTube fashion guru Ingrid Nilsen and special guest Gina Kelly, fashion director for Seventeen Magazine. With the prize package including $10,000 for any Joann fabric and craft store, a scholarship for a summer program offered by FIDM, a Brother home set of sewing and embroidering machines and having one of their designs showcased in Seventeen Magazine it’s a dream come true.

The teens going head to head this week were Alex, Julia and Molly. They start off by showing their pieces of work they brought with them from home in the “Show Us Your Style” challenge. Vanessa and Ingrid will be the judges and decide who will win an advantage in the week’s challenge.

Alex is a 16-year-old from West Covina, California who is a self-proclaimed perfectionist. He tends to incorporate Russian military themes into his designs. His father saw Alex becoming a doctor but Alex wants to become the next Michael Kors. Michael has brought his father Voislav with his as his assistant. Ingrid loves the element of surprise that Alex incorporated into his design when the model revealed the cocktail dress underneath the coat. However both Ingrid and Vanessa think the fabric choice might’ve been a bit too mature. I’m not a huge fan of the oversized coat but the dress underneath it is cute. I agree that it would’ve looked better in a different fabric.

Julia is 15-years-old and from Lafayette, California. She likes to use many colors and mixed prints in her designs. She started sewing at the age of 9 and likes to wear her own designs. Julia is such a great designer that she’s already selling her own line of yoga pants in stores. I wonder what they look like and where she sells them. Julia brought her mother Karin as her assistant who happens to have good sewing skills and is very competitive. Vanessa likes the mixing of patterns on the top and skirt but thinks that with the jacket added to the look, it becomes too much. Ingrid also enjoys how Julia mixed prints because Ingrid does this herself. Going forward, Ingrid advises Julia to focus on one thing versus many others. While the judges like the look I don’t think it’s my favorite. I think there are too many patterns going on for me to enjoy the overall look of the piece.

The last contestant this week is 16-year-old Molly from Washington, CT. Her designs include Asian inspired looks that are clean and sophisticated. She’s already attended classes at FIT and wants to one day design clothes for Broadway. She’s brought along her mother Pat as her assistant. Ingrid loves the color of the dress but both Ingrid and Vanessa are worried about the deep plunge line. They’re worried about the dress revealing too much skin and tell Molly to watch out on how much skin she shows in her next look. The dress was beautiful and I thought the best design out of the three. I really loved how Molly incorporated her Asian roots into the dress because it adds a new appreciation to the look. While the dress was a bit revealing in the front I think it would be appropriate for a red carpet look.

In the end, Julia is the winner of the “Show Us Your Style” challenge gaining an advantage in the week’s challenge. Vanessa hands Julia two stop signs that will allow Julia to stop her competitors from working for a duration of 30 minutes. This might be the best advantage that the show has given the winner. It’ll be hard for the other two competitors to just stop and drop what they’re doing for a whole 30 minutes.

Ann Shoket the editor-in-chief at Seventeen Magazine, delivers this week’s challenge to the teen competitors. She lets them know that they’re going to be creating a look that is Seventeen Magazine cover worthy. In addition to the other prizes that the winner receives, they will also win a special trip to New York to visit the Seventeen headquarters. I may not be 17-years-old anymore but I still have a subscription to the magazine and it would be a dream come true to visit the Seventeen headquarters. This week’s winner will be the luckiest of all the other Threads winners.

As the designers start to create their cover worthy looks, Vanessa interrupts them to deliver the “Surprise Door Twist.” Now the teens have to create a second look using all the same components that are in a bag. The items include a basic white dress, sequins, black fringe, purple dye, blue satin fabric and drawstring. Every competitor must somehow incorporate all the items provided into their second look. While the winner is getting a special trip to New York this challenge is much harder than the other challenges have been. None of these items seem to go together.

Now that the teens have another look to worry about time is more precious than ever. The models come in for a fitting and before they leave, Julia decides now would be the best time to use her advantage. Both Alex and Molly aren’t allowed to touch their stations for 30 minutes while Julia continues to work on her designs. I love how Julia felt so bad about using her advantage. You can tell this girl isn’t very good with confrontations. After the 30 minutes are up, Alex and Molly are relieved to be able to return to their work stations. Vanessa pops back in to let the teens know that they’re going to participate in what’s known as the “Be the Boss” challenge. Each teen will have 10 minutes with a photographer to direct a photo shoot with the models in their cover look designs. The final cover shot will be displayed to the judges at the runway. This challenge doesn’t seem like a hard time but more like a time to relax and have fun. I’d like to take my shot in directing a photo shoot.

It’s runway time and Alex is the first to get his looks evaluated by the judges. Ingrid loves the first look especially because the floral print doesn’t appear too mature looking. Christian even says that he could see Ariana Grande in this dress and loves how Alex made a masculine tuxedo neckline become feminine. I couldn’t agree more with the judges, this first dress is adorable and screams Seventeen Magazine. Gina appreciates how Alex mentioned that he did his research on Seventeen in order to understand what they stand for. She says this look would fit perfectly in their magazine. Unfortunately, Alex second look isn’t as much of a hit as his first. Ingrid and Christian feel that it looks like a pageant sash is going across the dress. Vanessa also mentions that she wishes Alex would’ve changed the white dress more because it still appears to be the way it was originally. While Alex’s first dress was spot on, I think he missed it on the second look.

Molly is next up and Ingrid mentions how she likes that the shape of the first look is sophisticated. She also appreciates that Molly took their critique on not showing too much skin. Christian feels that the first look might be a bit too sophisticated looking and not fit the readers of Seventeen magazine. However, Christian loves the scarf that Molly made for the second look but doesn’t think that it fits well with the dress. I think Christian is correct in saying the first look wouldn’t appeal as much to the Seventeen audience. The cover shot even makes the dress appear more couture and appealing to an older audience. This just wasn’t the best look for this challenge.

Julia is the last of the contestants and she made some beautiful designs. Gina loves the skirt material in the first look but thinks that the collar on the crop top looks a bit crafty. I guess I could see where she is coming from but Julia was trying to make the collar look more appealing to the eye. Ingrid loves the first look so much that she wants to wear the skirt right away. She also enjoys how Julia stayed true to herself by continuing to mix patterns and colors in her looks. In Julia’s second look, the black fringe around the shoulders might’ve been a mistake because both Gina and Vanessa feel it resembles armpit hair. I get where Julia was trying to go with placing the fringe here but as the fringe falls so long under the armpit, it does appear awkward. Ingrid mentions that she wishes the second look popped and stood out more on the runway. Besides the possible mistaking of black fringe for armpit hairs I think Julia had two solid looks.

The judges had a hard time deciding who the winner would be this week. They were obsessed with Alex’s first look but weren’t sure if that would overpower how they felt about his second look. While they enjoyed Molly’s sophisticated and classy looks, they weren’t sure if she understood the challenge of staying in touch with the Seventeen Magazine audience. Julia had some mistakes in her pieces but overall they were happy with both looks she delivered. After debating who should win the competition this week Julia ends up winning this Project Runway: Threads episode.

What were your thoughts on this episode? Do you think Julia deserved to win the competition this week? I think overall she delivered two consistently appealing looks and did deserve to win. I think my favorite piece of her looks was her blue floral printed skirt. What was your overall favorite piece? I couldn’t get over how gorgeous Alex’s first look was. He really understood the concept of Seventeen Magazine and what would appeal to their readers. It’s crazy that he was able to grasp this idea since he never read the magazine before. What would you create if you were asked to create a cover look for Seventeen Magazine? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Watch Project Runway: Threads Thursdays at 10/9CT on Lifetime.

Photos: Bobby Quillard Copyright 2014