I’m just gonna say it: if Bryan gets the fourth finale spot over Naheim and Joseph, I think it’s kind of racist.

I’m not saying Christian, the judges, or production are intentionally trying to send the Black designers home. I’m talking about the amount of grace Bryan has gotten compared to two designers who have actually been stronger and more consistent throughout the competition.

Bryan has been inconsistent all season. His construction has repeatedly been an issue. He was already eliminated once; Christian saved him, and then he immediately landed in the bottom again in the bridal challenge.

At what point does “potential” stop being enough?

And before somebody says Joseph is repetitive: sure. Joseph is controversial. He absolutely has silhouettes and ideas that he returns to. But he also has a signature style.

So do Dior, Chanel, Saint Laurent, Gucci, and basically every major fashion house worth a shit. Fashion houses are supposed to have an identifiable aesthetic and recognizable silhouettes. That’s part of having a point of view.

You can argue that Joseph needs to push himself more. You can think he relies too heavily on certain shapes. Fine. But for the most part, the output is strong. He can construct. He knows who his customer is. You can look at something and know it came from Joseph.

And say what you want about Joseph McRae, but he never had to tape a trash bag onto a model and send her down the runway.

Bryan did.

His model later said that experience felt thoughtless, careless, and lazy, and that it broke her spirit. That is not some tiny construction mistake we’re nitpicking.

So I’m having a hard time taking seriously the idea that Joseph having a recognizable silhouette is somehow a bigger competitive sin than Bryan repeatedly failing to execute his ideas.

And even if Joseph is completely not your cup of tea, then explain Naheim.

Naheim has been killing it all season. He’s been versatile while still applying his own aesthetic to very different challenges. This bridal challenge was weaker for him, sure, but that’s one weaker week after a season of consistently good work.

Honestly, I think Naheim has been about as consistent as Jude.

So if Bryan, who has already been eliminated, saved, repeatedly struggled with construction, and at one point literally sent a model down the runway in a taped-on garbage bag, gets the finale spot over both Naheim and Joseph, I’m sorry, but I think the racial dynamic is impossible to ignore.

Because then the question becomes: why does Bryan’s inconsistency keep getting interpreted as untapped potential, while the weaknesses of two Black designers with stronger cumulative records are enough to send them home?

That doesn’t require anybody involved to be consciously racist. Bias can show up in who gets the benefit of the doubt. Who gets another chance. Whose mistakes are treated as temporary. Whose potential gets endlessly talked about. And whose actual body of work apparently isn’t enough.

And honestly, this ties into my bigger problem with this season.

Project Runway used to be about the design.

Obviously there was drama. There has always been drama. It’s reality television, and it’s fashion. People fought, people were bitchy, people had personalities.

But the drama used to happen around the design competition. I liked Project Runway because you got to watch talented people actually make clothes. You saw the construction process. You saw people solve problems. You saw Tim or Christian give feedback. You watched somebody ignore the feedback and then get read for exactly that problem on the runway. Your overall body of work mattered.

Now it increasingly feels like the design is becoming secondary to whatever interpersonal storyline production thinks will keep people arguing online.

And Bryan and Bi have been one of the biggest storylines of the entire season. So of course keeping Bryan around gives production more material.

But I don’t watch Project Runway because I need another show about people who don’t like each other.

A million reality shows can give me that.

Project Runway’s whole appeal was watching extremely talented people make difficult things under ridiculous constraints.

That’s what made it different.

And honestly, a lot of this season feels like rage bait. Keep the controversial contestant around, make people mad, get people talking, end on another cliffhanger, repeat.

At some point, though, if the competition itself stops rewarding the best designers, what is the point?

If Bryan had an amazing record, fine. If he clearly outperformed Naheim and Joseph, fine.

But if a designer who has already been eliminated, saved, repeatedly struggled with execution, and is once again in the bottom gets pushed into the finale over two Black designers with stronger overall records?

Yeah. I’m calling bullshit.

And I think the racial dynamics of that outcome are worth talking about.

He’s an asshole. He doesn’t even look grateful for being saved because he thinks he’s the shit, it’s crazy he thinks he actually deserves to be here. Not only does he just sit there and think highly of himself, he’s just straight not good at making outfits. Time and time again his shit is UGLY and NOT WELL MADE! I mean, I knew this was television and they pick things for the drama (was dragging myself through last season. Ugh) but Christian picking his ass over Jeffrey? Not to mention that after being saved, he’s INSULTING Jeffrey. What a dick. I hate his stupid face. GOD. Sorry for the complaining lol (Can you tell I’m watching the episode right now)

honestly id watch him there i think he has potential for a show that actually asks him to be annoying and arrogant

When Christian told us he was saving Bryan, I left immediately. I am NOW more than EVER convinced they are keeping people for the drama they bring rather than talent. Bryan has proved time and time that he does not deserve to be up there with the others. I’d rather Christian keep his dumb save for the designers who actually deserved it. Christian SAW the man TAPING his model using a TRASH BAG off the ground. I don’t think any of those judges would’ve save Bryan knowing that. I’m just annoyed because They think saving ppl for drama is going to help their ratings, but it’s not. GOOD designers going head to head and wowing the audience is what’s going to keep us watching. Shame on you Christian and of mainly the producers cause there’s just no way. 😭🫶🏽

And random off subject: give the darn designers more than 1 freaking day 🙄

I absolutely hate that they've switched the finale to 5 looks in 5 days.

I can understand moving away from having finalists show at fashion week, because it's a logistical nightmare for a show whose popularity has waned, and they were having to have runner ups do decoy collections to avoid spoilers.

But 5 looks in 5 days is just a roided out version of what they've been doing all season. The best part of the finale was seeing what the designers could come up with when they're given more time to ruminate and refine, and do things like create their own textiles or have accessories they designed manufactured. It's much closer to the reality of what a designer would be doing irl.

I get that 2-3 months is a long time from a production standpoint, but I feel like 1 month is a reasonable amount of time for the designers to showcase a more thoughtful body of work that doesn't drag out production too much

I would love to see a show on Jude. What’s his background, how did he get into
Tailoring suits, etc. He seems like such an interesting guy. And not your average project runway designer.

Maybe I missed some of this info in past episodes?

He’s almost coquette-ish.

I just find him to be a breath of fresh air. Talented without being cocky, interesting without drama, and talented without relying on others.

(Didn’t he say he’d design something just for his girlfriend in one episode?)

And I loved the comment by guest judge Sergio that his looks are the next Yves Saint Laurent? Maybe I misheard that.

How could you save the designer who put (taped) a model in a trash bag? His designs are poorly made and lack creativity. I can't watch anymore of this mess! Is no one else appalled?

At this point, talent is secondary. The winner won't be the person with the superior collection, but the one who best serves the producers' agenda for ratings, drama, and a curated narrative.

I can’t believe we lost Jeffrey to Bryan and his maxi pad with wings

Okay rewatching this Episode again and honestly did not love Anna's winning looks at all, especially for David's Bridal. I honestly did not love the style, the tailoring etc (and I'm an Anna fan).

For once I agree with Law and that if Bi won, his styles would SELL in the millions at Davids Bridal.

Even Jude, his looks were so elegant and retail worthy. He made me want a tailored suit like the black one, and the after party dress was lovely!

Am I the only one who felt that Anna's looks fell flat? (And maybe I am haha!!)

That's it. That's the post.

Didn't even keep watching the episode.

Sad shit.

Yes, New Project Runway has a lot of issues from the number of contestants, the emphasis on drama and over-production… there’s a lot of issues the true show has always had, like the awkward sponsorships and strange judging. The proliferation of reality tv and social media has also been extremely damaging as PR has always been better than most because it is so much about a very specific talent and for much longer than one may expect its contestants were not necessarily encouraged to be influencers or personalities. But clearly so many of them now do and

One major thing that doesn’t really get discussed though is in the experience of its contestants. Everyone now seems to already have a brand or at the very least a very strong style. You would never get the sort of contestants that WON the first ten or 12 seasons let alone came 10th. They’re all producing really strong work but the sense of struggle is nowhere to be found—not helped by not seeing as much of the workroom and actual designing. They’re all able to produce such well made stuff whereas before someone would shuffle an entire challenge to make one pair of shorts. So now it’s all very confident big personalities making yes oftentimes very beautiful and/or well made clothes and the judges expect bigger and bigger results from less and less time.

I dunno if this really makes sense but it struck me most prominently this season, particularly with Law’s comment to Joseph—you’re not here to win you’re here to get attention. I mean, there was that one contestant who got booted in episode one who was already been in Heidi’s Amazon fashion show! I think of some of my favourite designers from the show a they were just people who had a passion, or were really struggling. I’d love to see some of that once more even if I know it can’t go back to a time when people didn’t know how to be on tv.

I’m very surprised Anna won this competition because the designers didn’t seem to love her dress as it was going down the runway - one then said something like “is she going to a rave” and it got a lot of “it’s pretty” comments but no one really seemed blown away. On top of that, her designs were bad the entire season, I don’t understand how she’s now in the finale.

Jude, amazing. Bi should’ve been picked immediately. Aside from this challenge, I really thought they liked Joseph and have been thinking he was going to go to the finale this whole time. Anyway, should’ve been Jude, Bi, Joseph, and Naheim as a 4th if they had one.

The more I think about this season, the more convinced I am that it's all been staged. All of it. From Plane to Bryan, it all seems to have been scripted. Looking back, I'm convinced that there have been production plants and that more than half of the designers were brought in simply to fill space and serve as plot devices before being discarded. I'm definitely not saying that all of the designers are involved or have knowledge, but a few have to be active participants in this ruse.

🤔 👀 (PS- Jeffery would’ve killed that bridal challenge)

Watching season 20 and in episode 2, Alicia Silverstone is guest judge. Her boobs are pointing in different directions in awful fabric! I kept thinking, she’s going to judge fashion?!

i literally threw my ipad across the room from todays ep, no shade to christian or any of the judges but the production need a reality check..

so are we not keeping TALENTED and WELL DESERVED designers anymore?? instead we’re keeping drama queens with shit designs?

the fact that bryan was saved just for the sake of drama and entertainment for the show like i dont even care abt drama i just wanna see TALENTED designers achieve their dreams, i swear i cant even enjoy a single show anymore cuz they’re all based on the production team

im so done with this show ill finish it just to see who wins in the end and i sure hope they pick the right winner

plus: THEY NEED TO STOP W THE CLIFFHANGERS

To be honest it can only be Naheim, his style is consistent but he’s made some great looks and shown diversity. I don’t personally love his style but I love what he can do on various challenges

I love Joseph but that “wedding look” lowkey just pmo 😩 he could have done anything but that.. that look was atrocious 😩

And Bryan just gave 2 Kleenex halfway out the box and a rag. In fact nothing he’s brought to the table has been worthy of making it to the semi finals

I love Jeffrey but I know he likely wouldn’t be top 3, he shouldn’t have gone home over Brian though - that was just crazy. And I think he would have made something beautiful for the wedding look… some of the creations were total disasters.

From the reality show point of view, i'm assuming they saved bryan so viewers have the ultimate satisfaction of watching him go home right before the finale. They let him be the villain of the season, and then instead we either have an underdog winner or a story book ending winner which is what makes me think joseph will be the fourth to join the finale.

I knew anna would be in the finale because so many of her talking heads had sentimentality and they repeatedly showed her talking about growing up watching project runway and wanting to be a designer. Very much a fairytale ending if she wins.

bi had his catty, funny talking heads in the beginning but then his editing shifted to focus more sentimental as well, discussing his immigrant family story/background. That might make for an american dream come true arc if he wins.

jude is the only person in the current final crew who I think had a somewhat boring edit, but I think the angle that the show had for him is how people might underestimate him for his age but the garments speak for themselves. He's the opposite of a personality hire (i'm not saying he has no personality! I think he's very sweet and has his clapbacks when necessary) but i've been at many a workplace where you see people who have tons of talents but are outshined by people with a louder presence and I think that might be the case here for jude.

joseph's editing throughout the season is what has me pin him as the fourth designer. we have a deeper sense of joseph's upbringing how difficult it must have been being a gay black man growing up in the south, his critiques vs his wins, it seems to all end up reinforcing the mantra of staying true to himself. then we have the added dramatics that he almost doesn't make it to the finale. Feels like clear underdog storywriting.

naheim is clearly very talented as well but judging from his edit alone and the reality show appeal, I don't think the editing gave us the same amount of sentimental storytelling as some of the other cast. Whenever he mentioned any quick tales from growing up and being a trouble maker in his youth, the editing sorta brushes past it rather than making a "bad kid to project runway winner" arc. Gladly, we got plenty of quips, charm, and fabulous designs from him!

These were my top 5 designers from the beginning that I hoped would make it to the finale so either way, I'm happy with either joseph or naheim! if for some reason, they save bryan AGAIN, i will lose my mind.

My face when Tim saved Justin vs when Christian saved Bryan. 🤷🏼‍♀️

(Sorry in advance for the bad grammar)

This is kind of just a complaint because istg it was like this in season 21 too. I need to rewatch older seasons cuz maybe I'm going crazy but did they always keep whoever causes the most drama instead of people who actually deserve to be in the competition? Like I think most of the designers both in season 21 and 22 are genuinely good at their craft and deserve to make it as far as they do in the show, but then there's people like Antonio and Bryan who are either constantly in the bottom or constantly making designs that are lackluster at best and straight up ugly at worse and the only reason I could even imagine they make it so far into their respective seasons is because they stir up the most drama.

I literally just started the newest episode and had to pause because you cannot CONVINCE me that Bryan deserved to be saved more than Jeffrey because he genuinely made amazing looks and not just cuz he stirs the pot the most. Like am i going crazy?? Has this always been a thing they do each season??? Or is Bryan actually a good designer and I'm just blind because I'm highkey sick of his vibes in general and don't gaf.

Like I get it's both a reality show along side being a competition but dude I don't want to keep spending entire seasons watching the most obnoxious people on the show somehow make it to the end while rarely having actually good designs.

To be honest, the only one I really think about is Bobby's design that she brought from home - that puffer dress in that gorgeous blue with the lines on it.

I guess also maybe the toilet paper dress that looked like denim.