Auf Wiedersehen!

Greece is the word.

Aw, we feel a little bad. In a season where there simply wasn't a lot of raw material for the kind of bitchy joke-making that is our stock in trade, we zeroed in on Pocahontas/Peppermint Patty/Lesbian and let him have it.

Much like Irina's bitchiness, Nicolas at least added some personality to the season, even if we weren't ever completely 100% behind his designs.

Model: Kojii Helnwein

Until, ironically, this week. We think this is the best thing he's ever done for the competition.

But we also think the judges had a point in auf'ing him. Stylish as this is, it doesn't really say Greece in any way.

What he wound up with was an outfit that could be worn almost anywhere. Stylish, but not evocative in the way the challenge required.

We LOVE that top. It's once again in Nicolas's favorite non-color, white.

Granted, a Greece challenge practically requires white, but we can't help thinking how great this would look in a color.

And we like the pants well enough. There's a bit of a fit issue, unless he wanted a bunch of lines pointing directly at her vagina, in which case, attaboy.

The thing is, tight gray pants was where he went wrong. The top was a pretty strong piece. He could have done a ruffly white skirt and gotten away with it, but this was too urban while at the same time, too generic.

Although we have to say, we love those little horizontal pleats on the bottom.

He wouldn't have been our pick for the auf. He was off-concept but there were pieces on the runway that were off-concept and style-less, and this wasn't one of them.

Extended Judging:


Exit Video:



[Photos: Mike Yarish/myLifetime.com - Videos: myLifetime.com - Screencaps: Projectrungay.blogspot.com]


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The Forgotten Middle

Thankfully, we never forget.

Nicolas:

You want to hear something shocking? We don't hate this look.

Don't get us wrong, it's not stylish in any way.

And it's poorly executed, especially the pants.

But as a concept, it's pretty strong, mainly because it looks like something this hippy dippy chick would actually wear.

And you can't deny that he really transformed the wedding dress into something completely different. In fact, this entry may have been the most transformed out of all of them.

Althea:

This was also a huge transformation. Unfortunately, it was transformed into something kind of ugly.

The basic design is okay, although the hem's a little high for her.

But it's poorly executed and it just looks so sloppy on her.

Part of is the whackadoo dye job on this thing and part of it is the weird belt that doesn't go with the dress, but a big part of it has to do with those lines radiating out from her boobs. If you take a good look at her, you can see that she has a nice figure, but those lines make her look wider than she actually is.

And all that sloppy foofaraw on the back doesn't help.

Carol Hannah:

Gotta say, Dr. Whitfield knocked this one out of the park.

In fact, it should have been in the top three, easily.

She has a tendency to make these little shrug jackets that don't always go with the outfit, but this time it worked.

But it has a nice, light, breezy feel to it. It's a shame she couldn't get a better color out of the dying process because this drab gray doesn't help the look.

Still, it's probably our favorite piece from her all season.

Tim Gunn's Workroom Critique







[Photos: Mike Yarish/myLifetime.com - Videos: myLifetime.com/YouTube/CherMusicForever - Screencaps: Projectrungay.blogspot.com]


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Bye-bye Birdie

Let's keep singing the blues, ladies.

Louise finally showed a little personality with the bird noises and that was all she wrote for her. Let that be a lesson, future contestants: don't show any personality.

As an aside, does it strike anyone else as a little weird that, even though the designers all seem to get along for the most part, at the start of every episode they're all "Oh, so-and-so went home. Any coffee left?" You'll see more emoting at an Asperger's convention.

Show of hands: who else thought these two were a disastrous combination? Nothing about them, from personality to aesthetic, would lead anyone to think they'd make a good team.

And hey, bitchface, how about you discuss your concerns about the pieces with the team leader instead of with everyone else in the room, including the camera man? Way to be a team player there, Pocahontas.

We felt bad for her. She fell into that classic trap: "The judges said I was boring last week, so this week, I'm going to do something CRAZY."

Model: Kojii Helnwein

Well, she succeeded on that front.

Although to be fair, this wasn't all that bad.

Ridiculously basic, but not that bad.

Unlike Nicolas, we have no problem with ruffles (and someone who keeps returning to cheap flammable lace should probably think twice before expressing his disgust). It's just that these ruffles were kind of weird and weirdly placed. Had she or Nicolas come up with a better way to utilize them, it could have saved the dress.

Model: Kalyn Hemphill

On the other hand, we don't know WHAT could have saved this dress. And who picked those shoes?

It's not just that it looks like she has a fungus growing on her; it's that the dress itself is so badly made. Look at her left boob. Why does one cup look about three sizes larger than the other one?

And look at how wrinkly and puckery the rest of it looks. Why did they ever choose that fabric? Despite what the judges said, this doesn't look like a bridesmaid dress to us but we can't deny that that is definitely a bridesmaid dress kind of fabric.

And again, take away the frippery and it could be more basic of a dress. In fact, that was her whole problem: she made two very basic dresses that she tried to tart up with some very bad ideas.

At least it allowed Frau Seal to get her German on. With Nina gone, clearly She and Michael felt they had to step up the bitchiness.

"Nicolas, did you win the last challenge?"

"Yes , Heidi. I did."

"So that means you have immunity. Aren't you lucky that you have immunity?"

"Um...yes."

"Say it, then. Say, "I'm lucky I have immunity."

"I - I'm lucky to have immunity."

"Damn straight. Get off my runway."


Extended Judging:



[Photos: Mike Yarish/myLifetime.com - Video: myLifetime.com - Screencaps: Projectrungay.blogspot.com]


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Congratulations!

Uh-oh! Pocahontas won the challenge and the commenters are PISSED.

Last night couldn't have offered a better primer in the ways this show screws with the judging process. The most common judging fuck-up is one where the designers are given a challenge and then the judges decided to base their decisions on criteria that were never even mentioned to the designers. Were they supposed to design a workable costume for a film or were they merely supposed to be inspired by a genre? Who knows? The judges sure didn't!


In Nicolas' case, they judged him based on his costuming skills, discussing his dress in terms of how it would look on film and praising him for "working with" hair and makeup to create a look. Fine. No arguments there. But then they turned around and praised other designers for going off on flights of fancy and criticized still more designers for doing practical work. Color us two very confused bitches.

Model: Celine Chua

Which isn't to say we didn't like this entry. In fact, we have no problem with him winning it.


Oh sure, our sense of drama would have relished a smackdown since he spends so much time telling us how wonderful he is, but for once, he backed it up. This is a look that tells you a ton about the character at one glance and what more can you ask from a movie costume?


It wasn't shockingly beautiful or outrageously technical, but it did the job it was supposed to do.


To be honest, we can't point to any one thing and say "That, we love." It's all just alright. If anything, those feathers or whatever they are, look a little cheap and sloppy.


But it was the overall effect that won the judges over and like we said, that's something with which we agree. It DOES have an impact when you first see it.


Would it have been our choice? Maybe. Probably. There were looks on the runway that we felt were a lot more fabulous and better executed, but they failed on certain levels as movie costumes. Of course, some of those looks got high praise from the judges, so we're not entirely sure that even they knew what the hell they were looking for.

Let's say this: IF the challenge was to produce a movie costume, THEN this one is probably a clear winner. It's just kind of stupid that we don't even know exactly what the challenge was a day later.


Extended Judging:


[Photos: Mike Yarish/myLifetime.com - Video: myLifetime.com - Screencaps: Projectrungay.blogspot.com]


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