ThatsDarling

I'm disappointed to see Carrie go so early, as her first look showed that she has great potential. I understand why she was frustrated about her elimination; Sandhya would have gone had she not had immunity, and it seems like many of the designers don't think she deserved the win that saved her. Also, those eliminated at this point don't get the opportunity to design a decoy collection for NYFW, which is a major bummer for a fledgling designer. Still, she should have tried to be more gracious about her loss, at least on camera. Who wants to be remembered as a sore loser? Amanda is getting the Kate edit: veteran designer redeeming herself as she pursues the title for a second time. Like Kate, I suspect that the judges will eliminate her the first time they have the chance to do so. Their egos are probably too big to crown someone they previously got rid of mid-season. I hope I'm wrong, though, because I like her and think she's been doing great work so far.

Absolutely. It's a shame that Kara Janx was the last person eliminated before the finale. Had she been eligible, I think she would have easily won for her fabulous collection.

I love that you mentioned Jillian as one of your favorite designers. She's incredibly talented and I always thought it was a shame she was on season 4, as there was no way the judges were ever going to give the win to anyone other than Christian that year (although I much preferred Jillian's collection to his McQueen and Westwood emulations). I would be interested to hear how other fans of the show rate the winning collections. Jay's and Leanne's stand out as the best to me, but I also loved Irina's and Michelle's. Seth Aaron's was bold and editorial, but some of the pieces were too referential and dated looking for my liking. I loved the concept behind Dom's collection and the styling was fun, but the execution was very unsophisticated. She had many issues with fit and print placement, and it was difficult for me to envision her customer. I found Dmitry's collection to be a bit cheap looking, and thought Chloe's suffered from a poor color story and fabric choices. While Anya was no master of construction, she did, as Oholibamah pointed out, produce a cohesive collection with a thoroughly distinct point of view. Gretchen displayed a strong understanding of her customer and was on trend with the look and styling of her collection, but I disliked her fabric choices and thought several of the garments lacked impact on the runway. Christian's was far too derivative and repetitive for me, but Jeffrey's remains my least favorite. Terrible fabric choices and styling, strange proportions, and too many extraneous details.

"You don't have a yacht, Sonja." I loved LuAnn this episode. Sonja is certainly delusional, but I do get a kick out of her..."I'm a mentor to all kinds of people; the homeless! LGBT!" I bet she advises them on how to live in an alternate universe.

I'm by no means a Gretchen fan and agree that her win was undeserved, but I think she was a better designer than most PR viewers do. She had an easily identifiable customer and knowledge of what was relevant in the industry at the time of her season. Her jumpsuit for the Marie Claire billboard photographed beautifully, and the look she made out of garlands and paper bags for the third challenge is one of my favorites of her season. She really did stumble after that, though, and the bulk of her finale collection was very catalogue. Ironically, those granny panties probably helped her win because they were on trend for the runway. I definitely think that the uproar over Mondo's loss and his predetermined All Stars win gave him a big head and, consequently, stunted his growth as a designer. There was a lot of nonsense coming out of the judges' mouths during the S8 finale, but I remember Nina astutely observing that Mondo had a tendency to over-embellish and that his work could skew junior. Having Tim Gunn and the audience refer to the panel as "crack smokers" in the wake of his loss, combined with the excessive praise he received on All Stars, likely made Mondo think that he's a gift to the fashion industry with no need to evolve or be self-critical.

I recall a moment during the S12 reunion when Tim Gunn was asking Alex how she felt about her narrow loss and, while she was answering diplomatically, Dom made a mocking expression that struck me as very cruel. Then there was her "Oh no!" response when Alexandria said she was going to fashion week, her insistence that Alexandria's collection didn't merit a place in the finals over her BFF Helen's, and her cruel behavior on social media (this, after A helped Dom by giving her extra zippers when she lost hers while finishing her collection). She also said that she wasn't sad to see Alexander go because he was "only a costume designer" and sucked at construction (pot, meet kettle). It bothered me that she was praised by Tim and the judges for her "sweet, adorable, fabulous" personality when she always struck me as nasty, immature, and cliquish. Point is, this show has a history of rewarding the designers who display bad behavior, so I am fully prepared for, say, Korina to become a judges' darling even if her work is uninspired.

Or last season when Alexandria was the resident punching bag. Mean girls have won two seasons in a row, but I hope that trend ends this year. I think that Dom benefited from this as well. Many of her heinous designs slid by or were met with praise because they were considered fresh and interesting to the judges. None of the looks were really new, and I don't hold that against the designers. The judges go on and on about innovation, but fashion is mostly just variations on a theme. And I think that black is fine for a spring collection. Contrary to what Nina says, there are a number of successful designers (such as Rick Owens) who never use much color.

I'm happy that Amanda was chosen to return. She seems like a lovely person and is a very talented designer. Of the three people who were considered for Runway Redemption, I think she has the highest chance of succeeding on this show. This episode reminded me of why I really dislike Zac Posen as a judge. He's all about bold, distinctive clothes that make a statement, even if they happen to be hideous. Notice how he was unimpressed by Amanda's chic ensemble...not enough embellishments! For someone who never should have been invited to guest judge, Julie Bowen had no qualms about opining loudly and frequently. Her "geisha hooker" comment about Angela's garment was awful.

I always liked Alexandria; she focused on her work, was extremely passionate (her "Why I should win" speech was heartbreaking), and had a quiet dignity. I actually think that her loss to Dom was just as unfair as Mondo's to Gretchen. Her collection looked like an actual collection that you would see at New York Fashion Week...it was by far the most well made, cohesive, and modern, and nearly every review singled her work out as the best. Dom had a great concept, but I thought her execution was very unsophisticated. To make matters worse, Dom, Kate, and especially Helen were so mean to her on the reunion show because she critiqued other designers' work in confessionals (which everyone did). Helen went so far as to post a picture of her father doing a mocking impersonation of Alexandria on Twitter. Dom said in a post-win interview that she didn't think A's collection merited a place at NYFW. In retrospect, I think S12's winner must have benefited from very flattering editing because she doesn't seem very nice to me.

Spoiler below.... "You tried to kill me with a plastic bag so you can sell mascara in prison."

I hope that Amanda was chosen to return. With the exception of Alexandria, Bradon, and Kahindo, I have no interest in seeing anyone from season 12 on television again.

Orange's submission in the Comedy category here and at the Emmys is strategic. Netflix submitted the show as a Drama to the SAG awards and Golden Globes; it was shut out at the former and only received one nomination at the latter. Had it been campaigned as a comedy, I think it would have done much better. Nurse Jackie and United States of Tara are other dramatic shows that benefited from submitting as comedies. As for Uzo Aduba, these awards reflect the first season, for which she received guest billing. Then again, I believe Laverne Cox was also credited as a guest, and yet she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress. Huh.