The challenge: a high fashion design inspired by Loreal’s new line of eye shadow. Design will be featured in a Loreal “advitorial” in Marie Claire. Designer also receives $20,000.
Second day twist: add a ready-to-wear design.
Top three: Mondo (winner), Andy, Gretchen.
Bottom three: Ivy (out), Valerie, Michael C.
Safe: Christopher, April.
It’s episode 9 of season 8. You’d think the designers would’ve figured out by now that they’ll have to make an extra piece, especially if they’ve been given extra time. Ivy in particular took a big hit from not planning for this. Her high fashion look (“bridesmaid under the sea”) could’ve been salvaged into something nice, but appeared thrown together. Her ready-to-wear was just pitiful.
Valerie is exhausted and ready to go home. That will happen in the next two weeks. Her high fashion was blah, and her ready-to-wear made the model look very butch.
April’s designs were derivative of the design she previously won with. These looks might be worn by Cher onstage.
The challenge called for a fabulous over-the-top design, and the top three all got this.
Back in the first episode, Mondo was presented as being a fragile, depressed, self-styled genius. He’s turned out to be a tough competitor. He gets the job done without drama, and the results are fabulous. His vision and style outshine the other designers, and his construction is amazing.
Gretchen now believes that she owns certain colors.
You got me cracking up at ‘Gretchen now believes that she owns certain colors’. I mean, you just threw that in there as a deadpan afterthought…as if it isn’t even an odd thing, since we are talking about somenoe like Gretchen.
I liked the top three’s designs, and I completely agree with the judges that Gretchen’s showpiece looked much better in the back and that her pret-a-porter looked cool from the sides, when the splits show.
I know Ivy is shocked, shocked, that Michael C. is here after she’s gone.
I didn’t think Micheal C’s was that bad. I guess when you get to this stage, every little thing will cost you.
Ivy’s was completely unwearable, it looked like something an amateur could do and it was not impressive at all.
Valerie’s was at least better looking even though is was very “Miss Guatemala”.
I wasn’t wowed by Gretchen, maybe it is because I hate her. I didn’t like the fabric choice for the high-fashion look, but I did think her ready to wear look was good.
It was hard to choose who I like better between Mondo and Andy. Both did a great job, but I think Mondo’s ready to wear was just a touch better than Andy’s.
Exactly. Working with the stripes like he does and getting it to look so perfect and lay correctly cannot be easy. He has got to get extra points for making it look effortless. They all had the same amount of time.
I’m not sure I understand why a costume from a 1930s German sci-fi movie counts as high-fashion, but I liked Andy’s look. I might have gone with Andy as the winner here, if only because he seemed to be stretching himself a bit more than Mondo.
The OP makes several good points. They were stupid not to anticipate a twist (although the previews totally oversold what was going to happen). And April is turning into a one-trick pony.
Seeing Tim’s facial expression when Ivy described her dress was fantastic. Also enjoyed watching him chasing Swatch around Mood.
That Gretchen is a piece of work. Someone needs to let her know she’s ugly as sin so she’d better develop a better personality. Also, I hate her old lady bohemian shit.
At the beginning, I thought Mondo was going to be gone within three weeks, but now, I fully expect him to make it to Fashion Week*.
As for Gretchen, that …thing looked like it was pulled out of some old artistic hippie chick’s closet in Sausalito. It must have looked a hell of a lot better in person.
I half expect her to start whining “He’s using *thread *to put his dress together! I was using thread first!”
Those sneaky producers… Nothing earth-shaking here, but I’ve hidden it for the benefit of those who want each week’s episode to be a complete surprise. [spoiler] Ten Runway contestants presented at Fashion Week. Several of them have already been eliminated from the show, so there’s a lot of decoy action going on. I’m still thinking Mondo is a “real” competitor.
That must have been wierd for the dropped designers. You’re off the show, but we still need you to produce a line for Fashion Week that nobody is going to pay any attention to. [/spoiler]
I was really confused by Gretchen being in the top three; I thought her high fashion dress was horrible and bizarre in a bad way, although I did like her RTW look.
I thought Christopher should have gotten her spot, although I admittedly do not remember his RTW piece at all.
Mondo and Andy were really the only two that got anywhere close to what I would consider high fashion looks. I think Monday won because his look was more accessible to a make-up shoot than Andy’s warrior, but the latter has skills to make that get-up in the amount of time allotted. I was impressed.
The guest judge on this one should be a regular. He seemed to be generally interested in constructive critique instead of nose-wrinkling, even though there was a LOT to hate.
Random aside: Has April ever worn her hair down? I’m curious as to what it looks like.
Can someone explain what “editorial” means? Other than making Nina moist, I mean.
I want Mondo to take it all, but I’m very nervous about the previews for next week…
The irritating word in question was “advertorial,” and that grated on me all night long. You might say that I have an adversorial relationship with that word.
One thing you can be sure of is that the previews are misleading. The previews for this past week made it seem like someone had died, at the very least.
True, although, didn’t one contestant get burned last week by the fact that they had already made an extra piece, and then Tim said she couldn’t use it and had to make a new one?
I have a prediction that next week, April will make something in black, with a lot of straps. Her work isn’t bad, it’s just gotten very, very, very boring.
And I was amazed that Gretchen’s wasn’t in the bottom 3. I don’t know what they saw in it - but it looked like some bad SCA/elf convention costume. It was awful.
I liked Michael C’s ridiculous train - but I can see how it didn’t make sense according to the challenge. And Andy’s was awesome.
Even though I liked both Mondo’s and Andy’s pieces, I thought Andy’s looked more couture, like something you’d see in Vogue or Harper’s Bazaar. I hated the way the bodice on Mondo’s piece stuck out, but I love, love, LOVE his palette.
Gretchen: Really? An oversized robe of a feather duster is your high-end look?!? As Tim would say, “Those crack-smoking judges…”
No, Singuarl1 is correct. The word used on the show is “editorial.” No one used the world “advertorial” so there’s no need to be irritated.
To answer the question: AFAIK, they’re using the word to mean looks that are more dramatic or creative (think Mondo’s or Andy’s) as opposed to more commercial imagery. Editorial photography would be something akin to what Grace Coddington does for Vogue whereas more commercial photos would be used to sell accessories.
They used the word “advertorial.” They do use the word “editorial” many times, but what they were designing for last night was an “advertorial.”
If you read magazines, occasionally you’ll see a “Special Advertising Section” that is 4 or 5 pages that look suspiciously like real magazine articles and pictures, but is actually a 4 page long ad for some company or other. That’s what they were designing for last night.
Interesting. Didn’t see last night except for the very end…but I thought they had already done a challenge where the prize was a feature in Marie Claire?
So what do you think, for the next challenge we will see the return of some of our ball-grabbing aufed designers?
1st to last -Mondo, Andy or Christopher, April, Gretchen, Michael C, and Val.
I do wish they would play more of that tune created for the designer’s profile segments. Searching, and found this PR soundtrack, new one is not on there, but love the scores. Very advertorial!