Bravo Poll: Based on the scowl on Kenley's face, when do you think this photo of the designers was taken?
A. Right after the runway show and judging, when the judges did their best to topple the giant gramophone in Kenley's head that's constantly playing affirmations.
B. Right after Kenley realized that she's just doomed to be a misunderstood genius, cause no one will ever get what she's trying to do, cause they just won't listen to her.
C. What scowl? That's just Kenley's face at rest.
D. Scowlicious!
I'm not sure when they shoot these runway photos for the website, but since Kenley is wearing the same unhappy, pouting scowl in all of them, I would guess that it's a combination of A, B, and C.
Oh, Kenley. Honestly, can you get any worse? Has there ever been a contestant on Project Runway who possessed so much grating self-confidence–arrogance, really–but yet so little actual talent? Christian Siriano, last season's winner, was very grating and he basically oozed self-confidence, but he at least was a very skilled designer. Kenley is, at best, a sad rehash of Betsey Johnson, and at worst an FIT student who makes "vintage" dresses out of old upholstery to sell to Urban Outfitters. The original Project Runway villain, Wendy Pepper, wasn't a very interesting or innovative designer, and she seemed pretty confident–but even she listened to Tim. Wendy Pepper's arrogance never gave way to out-and-out rudeness towards the very people she was trying to impress–unlike Kenley who, whenever faced with even the slightest criticism, unleashes a verbal barrage of whiney excuses, hoping to drown out any voice but her own (it's easier to hear the gramophone of affirmations in her head that way).
Tonight, for the dress one of your fellow designers as a genre of music challenge, Kenley's excuses included: Leanne is a poser (wait…you mean Leanne isn't actually into hip hop?) who is not selling the look, and thereby ruining her outfit. Kenley was going for, you know, "classy, expensive" hip-hop, not that oversized hip-hop that makes people look like fools. Kenley could make a better outfit if she had three days, not one. Tim doesn't understand her.
But no excuse in the world could distract from the fact that Kenley's hip-hop look had nothing to do with hip-hop, and even less to do with attractive proportions and halfway decent (or interesting) design. High-waisted jeans with a bunched, twisted, and just wrong crotch, a hideous floral print tank top, and a shrunken leather jacket? Michael Kors was right to call it a very "mall" aesthetic, more specifically, it's the Strawberry sale section.