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Nov 29, 2023

'Project Runway' Season 20 All

The designers enjoy a trip down memory lane—and back to high school. Spoilers below. This week’s time travel episode is brought to you by the haunted look in Brandon’s eyes as the designers pound the

The designers enjoy a trip down memory lane—and back to high school.

Spoilers below.

This week’s time travel episode is brought to you by the haunted look in Brandon’s eyes as the designers pound the lockers of MoMA PS1 high school in Queens. “That entrance brought me back to a place that I’m not sure I was ready to go,” he proclaims—not exactly the cheeriest foreshadowing for the plaid, pleather, and puffer looks to come. In episode 6, “Totally ’90s,” the designers are tasked with dividing into two teams to dream up collections inspired by the ’90s. The key, however, is to make these dreams modern and coordinating. Oh, and no Clueless costumes!

The lead-up to the actual runway show (set in the aforementioned high school) in this episode is devoid of drama. The expected fallout from last week’s kvetching about Anna never comes to pass. (So much for “this right here is going to divide us.”) Korto meets with her fellow designer in Anna’s hotel room to discuss, briefly, why the latter’s ruffles caused such a fuss, but their resolution is swift and spice-less. “It’s a competition, things are gonna happen, but I don’t want you to ever feel like it’s against you and your personality,” Korto tells Anna. It’s a miracle of modern conflict resolution; they didn’t even need therapy-speak to get it done!

In the workroom, the teams meet to sketch out their collections. The blue team—Laurence, Bishme, Prajje, Korto, and Rami—theme their designs around hip hop-inspired streetwear, while the red team—Kayne, Brittany, Fabio, Kara Saun, and Anna—opt for bad-girl grunge. And at Mood Fabrics, the already stark divide between their approaches is widened: The blue team invests in leather, as well as multiple textured prints in florals and oranges, while the red team shells out cash for black lace, red and yellow plaids, and a dreaded roll of pleather.

As Laurence leads the charge for the blue team and Kara Saun for the red, we’re treated to baby photos of each designer—as well as a few tales of how they spent their ’90s. By far the most moving of these confessional asides is Laurence’s: When Christian greets her for his first round of feedback, she shares why “the ’90s was the best and the worst for me.” The story of her pregnancy and estrangement from her father, leading directly into her informative years of fashion school in Paris, gives her triumph on the runway this week a much deeper significance.

The runway itself is treated to the presence of Beverly Hills, 90210’s Jennie Garth; Elaine, Nina, and an amusingly nervy Brandon join her to applaud the models as they hit the laminate. A few thoughts on the looks from the blue team, up first:

And from the red team:

Almost every look this week is strong, but as far as I’m concerned, the best team is obvious—and the blue crew does indeed cinch a win. Amongst the judges, Bishme, Prajje, and Laurence are the favorites, while Brittany, Fabio, and Kayne hit the bottom.

After much deliberation, Jennie and Co. decide Kayne’s corset isn’t enough to rescue the clashing plaids of his mini skirt, nor the confused intentions of his cape. Still, his exit is one of the most uplifting of the season so far: He seems almost unsurprised by the turn of events, and repeatedly expresses his respect for both the judges and his fellow designers. “Going out with grace is the way to go; that’s how Dolly would do it,” he tells the camera as he packs away his sewing supplies. He, like Dolly before him, is an inspiration to us all.

Lauren Puckett-Pope is a staff culture writer at ELLE, where she primarily covers film, television and books. She was previously an associate editor at ELLE.

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