Well, jury duty was delayed until this afternoon, so I’m happy to get this posted before I head out.
The Challenge
The designers walk into a room with four birds. A cockatoo, an owl, an Amazon parrot, and a raven. The designers will be placed in pairs (puke.)
Each pair is assigned a bird at random to inspire a high-fashion look:
Anya and Laura Kathleen: Raven
Joshua and Bert: Amazon parrot
Viktor and Kimberly: Cockatoo
Apparently poor Owl got shafted, he (or she) doesn’t get to be a muse :_(
It turns out the pairs are competing against one another rather than working with each other. One from each pair will be on the bottom, the other will be on the top. What a twist!
The Workroom
After buying fabric at Mood and getting started on their looks, Tim heads in, so I’m sure there will be a further twist.
The designers have to create a second high-fashion look inspired by their birds. But…why? This doesn’t seem to serve any purpose. These shenanigans are just irritating.
As a note, this season has just totally let the wind out of my sails when it comes to recapping the workroom. I’m not really enjoying the workroom process any longer. I feel like in earlier seasons there was stress and drama in the workroom, but also moments of fun and silliness. I don’t see those moments very often anymore. There’s just not all that much enjoyable to comment upon. All I want to do is snark on what the designers send down the runway. This is supposed to be fun for me, so I’m just going to do abbreviated recaps, mostly just the runway recap.
Oh, but there’s another twist. Only one look will head down the runway. Whatevs.
The Runway
The special guest judge is Francisco Costa who design’s for Calvin Klein.
All images from myLifetime.com
Viktor: This dress is fine. I wouldn’t call it one of his best pieces, but it is pretty enough. I kind of wish he used a lighter hand with the material on the bodice, it looks a bit overworked to me. I’m normally not a big fan of sheer long skirts, but I think that this one is quite tasteful in that the opacity of the fabric keeps it a bit demure. The feather detailing is fine, if literal, and I’m not sure I like the yellow-y peach he used. It does flutter beautifully down the runway, though.
Kimberly: I find this look rather vulgar. The slit all the way up combined with the diagonal chest cutout, the bare shoulder, and the half-bare back makes it reveal too much skin for my taste. The pearl accent on the bodice looks very cheap and plasticy. I do like the flow of the fabric and the peek of peach, though.
Bert: I hate the top of this look. The shiny silver with the sweetheart top just looks cheap. I have no idea why Bert would have picked that ugly fabric out of the thousands of fabrics available to him. The skirt is okay, I guess. I like the acid green and think it is a pretty, modern color choice. I think the flashes of teal in the lining is pretty, too, and an interesting combination with the bright green. Why he chose to pair these pretty colors with brown and taupe, I don’t know. Frankly, I am just left a bit confused by this look.
Joshua: I’m not responding as positively to this garment as Tim or the designers did. I love the boldness of the orange, but I find this dress leaves a lot to be desired. In close-up it appears that the edges of the dress are sloppily finished, which is just lazy, considering the simplicity of this dress. I also wish the flourish at the shoulder were place a bit higher, it seems a bit low for my taste. The back is draped beautifully, but I can’t help feeling that this dress was kind of a lucky fluke, and that not a lot of actual design went into it.
Anya: This dress is suspiciously similar to Viktor’s look from Episode 4, the “Dress Nina” challenge: the simple black dress with the exaggerated shoulder, the accentutated hip, just the overall shape of the garment. I didn’t love Viktor’s look from that episode, but his was done more masterfully than hers in my opinion. I don’t think the volume at the hip is flattering on the model, the shoulder treatment seems sharp and amateurishly constructed. I also am not a fan of the hemline that is longer in the back. Not strong enough for me this late in the game.
Laura Kathleen: First off, I love that she did pants. Although I wish they weren’t super shiny pants. The jacket is pretty cool and fits the model well through the shoulder and bust, though I wish it were a touch longer and the fabric didn’t show wrinkles so easily. I don’t find the neck detailing too overwhelming or too literal an interpretation of feathers. If I’m seeing it correctly, the fabric she chose has just a touch of sheen and dimension in a red or purple, which is a great way to interpret the raven. On the downside, the back of the jacket sticks out funny. It looks like a bird’s tail. Which may have been the intention, but it isn’t very pretty on the runway.
So, My Top 3:
Viktor vs. Kimberly: Viktor
Bert vs. Joshua: Joshua
Anya vs. Laura Kathleen: Laura Kathleen
Thus, my bottom 3 are:
Kimberly
Bert
Anya
I fully expect my top three and bottom three will be the exact opposite of the judges’ based on how things have been going lately.
The Judges’ Top 3:
Anya
Joshua
Kimberly
The Judges’ Bottom 3:
Laura Kathleen
Bert
Viktor
Anya wins (again.) I think she could take have an attack of the stomach flu all over her dress and the judges would laud her for such a beautiful and avant-garde print, and how brave of her for “making it work.”
Joshua is in.
Kimberly is in.
Viktor is in (thank goodness!)
Laura Kathleen is…IN!? Which means Bert is OUT!? (Jaw totally on the floor. I did not see that coming at all! I mean, Bert was the only designer that the judges and I agreed on being on the bottom . But I am still quite shocked. At least he had a redemption arc, so we don’t all still think he’s a grouchy, bitter man.
Plastic Runway 