PR12E11 Muse-ly (part 2: a-mused)

So we’ve met the muses in the previous post — let’s get back to our competition. After all, this is about the marvels of technology and how it can turn some inspired or uninspired doodlings into a fabric! As Tim Gunn reminds the contestants, the textile design is to be inspired by the muses, the garment can be “whatever”. I worry that we’re going to get a lot of “whatever”.

Designs submitted — someone off screen has overnight to produce them — they are off to Mood with a suggested budget of $100. Tim, however, undermines the suggestion by going around encouraging people to spend, spend, spend! This is no time to be saving money! Kate obliges and spends over $278! Hope she won’t need any extra money in a future challenge!

Helen continues her moping and wailing. ”Is anyone else ready to punch themselves in the back of the head?” Her fellow contestants are growing tired of how much time and space Helen takes up bemoaning her own challenges and then emerging ahead of those who have taken the time out of their own work to reassure her. Dom eventually advises her to just get something started if she wants to get some useful feedback from Tim.

Oh Tim! Some gems from his critique session:

• Justin’s: Keep the curves going!
• Helen’s: This is the print you have to work with, so make it work! (A dig at her creativity with the print, maybe?)
• Helen’s again: This might be a challenge that’s not in your comfort zone, but that happens. (He really trotted out all the cliché phrases to spur her into action.)
• Alexander’s: It’s looking a little clerical. Alexander’s response was that he was quite comfortable with that, because his last name is Pope!

Tim then shared that he was going to be like a worried Dad all night.

As usual, the designers’ comments about each other’s work are nastier and more entertaining:

• Justin on Alexandria: “Her skirt looks like a newspaper wrap-around.”
• Bradon on Alexander: “Just because his last name is Pope doesn’t mean he has to make priest costumes. My last name is McDonald and I don’t make dresses out of French fries.” Should I point out here that he has transformed his muse’s inspiration into something that looks plaid…aka tartan?
• Alexandria on Kate: “She looks like a giant tampon.” Discreet tittering between A and her model on that one.
• Alexander on Kate: “What is she thinking with that dress? I’m the first one to do too much and even I wouldn’t do that much.”

Several speculate that Helen will cry about how hard the challenge was and she will go through because of the tears, not because of her work. Kate shares with us that she has no idea about who might be in the top or in the bottom…is that because it’s so dark down there in the well, Kate?

To the runway, with the muses in tow. And here we get to see again just how ridiculous it is to pretend that the runway this season is anonymous. The designers have visible reactions to their looks walking down the runway and now they even have giveaway exchanges with their muses. Can the judges not see all the way to the other side?

Heidi is joined by Zac and Nina and guest judge Peter Som, fashion designer. And Tim, who is there to add to the discussion, but not to judge, being their mentor and all. As an aside, I truly did not like Heidi’s shirt-dress thingy and the dark collar on Zac’s shirt made it look like he had accidentally put his tie on over the collar and left it there. Ick!

Alexandria is pronounced safe and can go wait by herself in the waiting room (there are only three tops and three bottoms left after her). As an aside, and for all my snarky comments about how lifeless Alexandria seems to be, let me say that I would love to know the story of her necklace. Unlike many of the other contestants, she has been wearing the same necklace — a little red square on a chain — in every episode that I recall. Now, I have my own political reasons for being attached to the red square, but I would love to know hers.

It’s never as fun to share the good comments, so let me just say that Peter Som fell all over himself trying to get in the latest of lingo: Bradon’s dress was “sick” and Helen’s looked like “a star-spangled hipster”. Will he have any snappy nasty comments for the ones in the bottom? Let’s see…

Justin's

• Heidi loves the “I love you” in the print, but that’s all. She calls the back of the dress “old farty”.
• Nina thinks it’s fabulous and sexy from the waist up, but very drab down below. “Short is your friend!”
• Peter says the bottom half of the dress looks depressed and needs therapy, which Heidi thinks is oh-so-clever.
• Zac takes it by likening the dress to a snake shedding its dead skin on the bottom. It might have been inspired by Miss USA in that it’s a gown, but she would never have won in it.
• In the close-up view later on, Zac and Peter each take swipes at different cities with, respectively, “Looks like a cheap pageant dress in Miami” and “The grey overlay looks like L.A. smog”. Better not try to go on location in either of those cities anytime soon, kids!

Alexander's

• Alexander on himself and his relation to his muse: “Even though I’m super gay, I’ve never decorated a cake.”
• Zac says that chocolate is sexy, but the dress isn’t.
  Nina likes the print, but thinks he used too much fabric…like overindulging in chocolate cake.
• Peter thinks the fabric looks too stiff. Now I don’t know if there is a design element that would make that fabric look less stiff, but the designers didn’t get to choose what their fabric design would be printed on, so you can’t really hold that against him…IMHO, anyway.
• In the close-up, Heidi can only see white tape in a cross and keeps mumbling that over and over, while Zac tries to make a funny with “Let’s just say this didn’t become a holy experience”. [I’m here all season, folks!]

Kate's

• Nina thought Kate had overwhelmed her print by adding too many pleats, too many elements.
• Peter had two good ones: “It looks like she fell into a Kleenex box” and “Her bust looks like it needs to be set free, girl!”
• Zac fumbled this one, saying he didn’t find the blue very masculine (not sure what that had to do with the price of eggs…or a program to encourage girls to take up computer programming), Whatevs, Zac.
• In the close-up Tim chimed in: “Looking at the print as an uncut piece of yardage, Kate was wise to cut it up.” Suh-nap!

So Alexander is out. Justin is in. And, since Heidi always gives clues, like “one..or more…of you will be out” Kate is also out. I think I will miss Red Hair more than Kate. Oh, she thinks she has red hair, too? Whatever.

Dom won with her colourful number that was really quite lovely. And it’s really about time she won, so good on her.

Bradon really had an inspired dress design, with the two piece jersey-knit tube, and his french fry tartan plaid urban cyclist from above design, while pretty, was limited to the jacket. I’m surprised that the judges didn’t say more about the print being accessory rather than central, but it was altogether a lovely outfit. He’s also in.

Due to Helen’s whining and the fact that I didn’t even like her dress, I’m not going to bother showing it! But she’s in, and in the top three again. So much for the challenge being extra hard for her.

The teaser for episode 12 looks like everyone will be in, judging only from all the happy faces and positive comments. We shall see.