Laurence should win everything! But that LBD in particular was killer and had it all over Jenni's dress. I actually liked Rik's leather dress better than Jenni's dress, too. Her dress was fine but nothing special to me.

I knew both Dexter and Erin were toast when they kept going on and on about how they were sure they were going to be in the top three. It's like, "Have you ever watched the show before? Do you even Project Runway, bro?" That said, I didn't think Erin's dress was that bad. Yes, it was a little costume-y, but I think there were worse looks that walked the runway last night. (Wasn't a fan of Brick's look at all) I think they just wanted to take her down a peg after her being in the top or winning on every single challenge to date. Whatever. This is PR. Drama has to happen. And my fave didn't even make the top three. Roberi! He doesn't get the props he deserves. I don't know why his aesthetic seems to not be connecting with the judges, but I loved his look. He listened to Tim and backed away from the original skirt he was planning on, but he stayed true to his vision and to that print and I thought the final look was gorgeous and unexpected.

Tasha seemed very sweet and totally in over her head, so I wasn't surprised to see her go.

I didn't get Roberi's look. It was pretty, but looked like a day dress to me. And I really liked Brick's, for once. It's the one I would be most likely to pick out to wear myself, probably. But Laurence's and Rik's are better dresses. I don't care for that grosgrain (I don't mind the zipper) across the back of Rik's, but I love it from the front, and Laurence's is exquisite. I like Jenni's vision with the gold, but I don't love her silhouette. I think there might be a proportion issue? Or maybe it's just shapeless. Kinda looks like a pillow case that's been cut down, to me.I would have loved it if it was more of a sheath or shift, I think. Narrower.

Dexter's did not go the direction I was hoping for when he got his Tim Critique. I was hoping for, like, accents of long fringe at the neck, not all the way around. I thought Emily's looked better in the workroom than on the runway, for some reason, like the feathers started wilting? And that's a very short skirt to have a bit of a slit. Nice color, though. I think the placement of the feathers was lazy and obvious - kind of the same issue I have with Dexter's. With a little more thought she could have doe something a lot better with the same materials, I bet.

Poor Tasha. She just never got her feet under her on this one. I have to agree with Nina, I'd wear Tasha's over Natalia's.

I don't care for Heidi's blue suit, either or maybe just the tie. No, I think the whole thing.. Really liked what Nina wore to the press thingy. I think I like the green thing she was in for judging, but it's also kind of unsettling with those fasteners hanging in midair.. Kind of hate Natalia's platform shoes, though I suspect I would love them with a different outfit.

Did anyone watch Fashion Startup? I am kind of intrigued, just because the occasional more business oriented challenges on PR have been very interesting, but from the preview I saw I don't think I like the judges.

Erin's dress would have been better at a midi length. It would have reduced the costume aspect and made it more sophisticated.

Also, she needed to be taken down a peg.

Both of those sound right to me.

I looked at Jenni's dress again and it looks like a shift dress- a sleeveless v neck shift dress. But it's called "Easy and effortless". And Nina has been hard on shift dresses in the past.

It's fuller than I would like? Kind of trapeze-y to my eye. Was she the one who mentioned baby-doll? I guess that could be it. I don't think I always hate baby-doll dresses, but I often do, so it's probably just not to my taste and not actually wrong.

But, hey, I don't know enough to go by anything other than my taste, questionable as it may be.

Jenni's dress was very pillow-esque. Perfect description. I didn't hate it but I just didn't love it.

I agree that Roberi's look maybe wasn't very "cocktail" but it was my favorite dress that walked the runway and I thought many of the looks were not all that "cocktail". The theme seemed to be very loose this week.

I'm so very tired of fringe. I don't know that there was any saving Dexter's look for me. It was been there, done that. Also, that poo brown is a really hard color to work into a chic cocktail dress. I just wasn't feeling it at all.

Where I thought Dexter was gonna go with it would have been something Sean did in his Julius Caesar collection, or close to it, yeah. Would have been a different problem, at least.

You are right about the theme - I was surprised that the judges made almost no references to the putative inspiration.

When Mah-Jing was talking about the condensation I thought he was going to do .. some kind of beadwork or take a bronze fabric and use a shiny on top (like Brik did) to create an effect at the bottom. And maybe use just a few beads to evoke water droplets.