I’m not saying Gordana deserves to go to Bryant Park. But all through this season, the judges IMO have been way harsh on Gordana. Even when she came in 2nd in the 10/22 episode, Heidi had to throw in that “Your problem is lack of confidence” snap.
Then last night Gordana DID have the confidence to stick up for her design, and the judges all laughed and put it down in the meanest way - they sounded like a bunch of “Heathers”-type highschool girls. Again, Gordana’s design last night might not have been the best thing I’ve ever seen on PR, but I did kind of like it. Gordana expressly said it was intended as work attire. I can relate to that more than I can relate to Irina’s, which everyone agreed was intended to be worn by a trophy wife or the type of women on the show “Dynasty”.
And much as I like Carol Hannah, I have not been impressed by either her 10/22 or 10/29 designs, yet the judges put her in 3rd place both times.
I do acknowledge that Irina is the most talented and deserves the high rank she is now in. The woman is like a machine when it comes to meeting every challenge thrown at her. Gordana has weaknesses, but so do all the others except Irina and Althea.
So why do they treat Gordana like a dog and act like she should be so grateful to be there at all? The woman has had her own clothing company. Carol Hannah used to work for Gordana, for petes sake.
Does Gordana remind Heidi of someone from her past or something? I ask because I just can’t see that Gordana’s work has been as bad as they make it out to be. So I keep thinking there is some other reason, something that is triggering such hostility.
I used to think Tyra Banks was the most insane egomaniac ex-supermodel hosting a reality show, but I see now that I’m wrong. Heidi is about 1000x worse. I really don’t know what her problem is, but I’d like to.
I also don’t get the Gordana hate. This has been a really lackluster year and they are dumping on one of the few who can actually construct a garment.
My theory is that without a stable lineup of judges, Heidi has become much more powerful than usual. Without Kors and Nina to rein her in, she’s able to favor her favorites and dump on anyone who threatens to upstage her accent with their own.
One thing I will defend is the dig about Gordana needing to stand up for herself last week (two weeks ago?). I think she had a real shot to win that challenge, but when she explained the garment, it sounded like she thought she was in the bottom and was trying to justify what was wrong with it. I said at the time, “she just talked herself out of first place.”
Hmm, you make excellent points. As to the last one, I admit you are right that Gordana was kind of lame in explaining her garment. However: 1) after what she’d been put through for the past several weeks, who can blame her for being a little beaten down. 2) I’ve often seen other designers on the show start out talking about their garment less than confidently, and the judges seemed to enjoy surprising the designer with the news that they loved it. But with Gordana, they go the other way.
Yes, this season is definitely lackluster. It’s pretty sad when they are told to take as inspiration Bob Mackie designs for Cher, etc., and get a chance to make something for Christina Aguilera and the results are STILL boring!!
Heidi has been throwing out more biting insults this year which I think is boring and uninformative. I like to hear judges on competition type shows give honest feedback giving us viewers insight into the intensely competitive world of top chefs, designers or whatever. I can come up with a bunch of lame put-downs without knowing anything. I think Mizrahi on the Bravo designer show did a better job of informative insider style critiquing.
After seeing Heidi’s silver shorts/flowered shirt outfit, I don’t think she is in any position to insult anyone about taste or style, ever.
Quoted for truth. What the fuck was that, anyway? Of course, we’re talking about a woman who feels free to talk about someone’s design being vulgar while wearing a dress she wouldn’t have to hike up to get a gyno exam, so I guess wanting rationality and self-awareness is expecting too much from her.
Now that you mention it, I’ve hated most of Heidi’s clothes for the whole season. I assumed she was pregnant again for a while, with all the tunics.
I hated Gordana’s outfit (I think I owned that suit in 1989), but I do think the judges have been unduly harsh to her all season. It was surprised at first to see Logan sent home, but I think it was the right decision. He hasn’t had a single top-three outfit, and I think the judges kind of looked at him up there and thought “Who are you again? Well, we can’t be bothered figuring it out at this late date. Off with you.”
I have definately noticed that the judges have their favorites this year. From about 3 weeks ago, I knew that Irena, Carol Hannah and Althea were going to the Bryant Park no matter what comes down the runway. Everything else is just justifying this decision.
Hmm, it will either be Gordana or Christopher. They’ve made it clear that the final 3 will be Irina, Althea, and Carole Hannah.
They may keep Gordana around another week just because they like having someone to abuse.
One of my theories about why they kept Logan & Christopher as long as they did was they didn’t want to get down to all females too early - since it was clear almost from the start who the final 3 would be. Then again, if they wanted to keep guys around, why not Epperson, who had some real talent? I know, I know, he did genuinely blew the wedding dress challenge, and if they weren’t going to let him go to Bryant Park, I guess they figured they’d go ahead and auf him right then.
THis is my first season watching, so what happens at Bryant Park? I know that is in NYC, but how is it different than other challenges. Are there extra perks for the designers who make it to BP? WIll it be a 2hr special, will they bring back any other designers?
I predict Althea will make a suit, CH will make a gown, Irina will do a 6 piece ensemble…
At Bryant Park, the three top designers do a whole line, not just a single piece. They have several months, IIRC, to do this. It’s very different from the prior challenges, it’s actual realistic.
I mean, someone is aufed for not being able to make a dress out of old bottle caps, that’s not a realistic challenge, and it says nothing about their design ability.
Bryant Park is the site of New York’s Fashion Week, when the major American design houses unveil their new collections for the spring or fall. Getting to put on a show there is a huge deal for an unknown–it gets your work out there in front of high mucky-mucks at the big design houses, buyers for major department stores and upscale boutiques, and celebrities.
The final three (and typically one decoy) will be given a budget of something like $10,000 and a few months to put together a 12-look collection. They’ll work at home, and Tim will come to visit them somewhere in the last 6 weeks or so. Then a week out from the show they’ll come to NY and have model casting, fittings, and last-minute prep. Usually Heidi will have a surprise extra outfit for them to make during that last week. After the show, the judges have a confab and talk to the designers to pick a winner.
Also, it’s worth pointing out that in real time the designers actually presented their collections in February at Bryant Park and all the photos are available on-line, if you want to check it out. (None of the designers’ names are on the collections, just Designer 1, Designer 2, etc.)
I think I disagree with this statement. I mean, what judges? Nina and Michael weren’t there for half the challenges. There’s no way they could favor anyone when they weren’t there. I think Nina really liked Ra’Mon, and he got auf’ed while she was gone and couldn’t protect him. I agree that Heidi has her favorites, but that’s it.
One of my favorite PR moments (I don’t even know what season it’s in, possibly the year with Santino) was when Nina told a designer something along the lines of “nothing makes a woman look cheap faster than too tight and too short.” Heidi was wearing one of those that day. There was not even a glimmer of awareness when Nina said it.
It’s more like three decoys, actually. I remember the first season had only Austin Scarlett as a decoy, season 2 had Kara Janx, season 3 had no decoys at all, season 4 had Sweet Pea Vaughn and Chris March, and season 5 went insane with 4 decoys - Joe Faris & Suede Baum:rolleyes: & Jerell Scott.
Apparently there will be no decoys this season, as only three designers showed a line at Fashion Week in February.