S13.E02: Unconventional Movie Nite!

[magpye29]

I am 0 for 2 on agreeing with the judges decisions so far. Am I that out of touch, or are they intentionally messing with my mind?

 

Nina's living in the Land of Delusion, where she's 25 years younger and impossibly au courant.  (BTW, did anyone else catch her call something "groovy" today?!)  In reality, she's bitter and startlingly out of touch.  She has said some unbelievably blunt things already, like calling Angela's slits "sluts" and the comment I mentioned earlier about the judges defending their decisions to the contestants.  I think they're pulling weird crap out of their butts because they want to seem edgy and unpredictable with subpar challenge parameters rather than demand that the show allow a little more time to let the contestants get the job done in interesting, thoughtful ways.

 

Oh, and how is there REMOTELY any anonymity about whose design is whose when the contestants are all dewy-eyed with delight as they see their creations come down the runway, and high-five and congratulate each other and nod approvingly at how they turned out?  Show, there was a reason the earlier seasons were far more successful and continue to be beloved.  Find other ways to trim the budget without trimming the time the contestants need to make good, creative fashion;.

[AwesomO4000]

Funny how Sandhya was making a skirt remarkably like one on the winning team and then ended up with that dreckitude. TM Andre Leon Talley.

 

For me it was funny that I agreed that her skirt was bad, and when I saw the see through shower curtain dress with the Sesame Street alphabet on it, I thought "whoo good thing she didn't make her original skirt like that. That is bad." And then I said, "but knowing how bad I am at this, this group will probably win." Sadly I was correct, because I thought that group was really bad and at least second worst if not the worst. *Sigh* I liked most of the other groups so much better. And Mitchell's dress was awesome, so I'm glad again that he didn't go home last week. (I was also glad last week, since for some reason I liked the guy - but then again I liked Josh, too, - especially when he fan-girled over Wendy Pepper - so there's sometimes no accounting for my taste. Heh)

 

I didn't feel too bad for Sandhya. She had immunity, and in my opinion, she could have saved herself a lot of grief if she had been more flexible in the beginning. I'm not sure why she expected the rest of her team to respect her vision or whatever, when she herself had nothing to lose. That's all fine and good to take a chance when you are also on the line, but when you aren't, let those who are on the line decide their own fate... For me that is the polite thing to do. For me she should have said "Well, you guys are the ones on the line here, what are you thinking..." and then make the best garment possible based on their vision. If I heard correctly, deciding to go along with your teammates when there are like 4 or 5 hours left is much too late a time to compromise in an unconventional materials challenge. You'll have plenty of time for your vision when only you're own butt is on the line.

Edited August 1, 2014 by AwesomO4000

[QuePasa]

What Sandhya should have done on the runway was explain that she started with a different idea, but because she had immunity she went along with what the other two wanted because they were at risk and she was not. That would have made her look like a team player and countered the others' statements that she was the worst.

I also really hated those two basically blaming Tim for their loss.

[izabella]

I was underwhelmed with Char's look last week, but I loved her blue ticket dress. 

 

Hated that entire green dress collection.  Amanda made the same mistake Emilio Sosa made in thinking she could string small objects like popcorn and turn that into a dress.  And she didn't make a dress out of unconventional materials; she made a muslin dress with long fringe. 

[Madding crowd]

My favorite was Mitchell's dress which came across as purple on my tv, but I know the judges would never reward something pretty. I didn't like Amanda's dress or the others in her group but the colors were cool. Amanda's dress looked like she draped a few necklaces over muslin-even I could do that.

 

I thought Sandyha's group were being mean to her, but she is also not cut out for this competition. In a group challenge with cohesive looks, you cannot just tell your own story, you have to have a shared story and she can't seem to get that.

 

Tim continues to seem kind of bitchy to me and I never cared for Zak Posen and still don't. I always felt Michael Kors' comments were tongue in cheek and not personal, and I don't feel that way about Zak. Nina doesn't bother me too much-just because she is over 40 doesn't mean she doesn't know fashion or have a right to judge the looks. She is right that the structure of the show means the judges don't have to justify their decisions to the loser. And Tim wasn't responsible for the identical looks-it was Carrie and Hernon who insisted that cohesive meant almost identical.

[ThatsDarling]

Re: Amanda getting the Kate edit: I agree; I do not think she stands a chance to win this season. Redemption on Project Runway, thy name is Project Runway All-Stars (hosted by Alyssa Milano).

If you're a male fan favorite from the Lifetime era, that is. ;)

 

I agree with many of the posters that the judging panel needs to be shaken up, but I would drop Zac before Nina. They're both humorless and make questionable decisions, but I find that she tends to be more thoughtful and has more sophisticated taste. 

Edited August 1, 2014 by ThatsDarling

[millennium]

I loved it when Tim spiked Hernan's griping right back at him: "Would you be willing to take the bullet, then?"

 

Like any bully, Hernan backed down: "I can't even think right now."

 

Listening to the winning team describe their creations, it became apparent that duct tape was a primary component of their outfits.   I don't go to the movies much these days (because there's nothing on the screen anymore to justify the astronomical ticket prices), but no matter how hard I wrack my brain I can't remember any occasion when duct tape was part of the movie-going experience.

 

Or heavy-duty chain link (also among the materials available to the designers).

 

It was one of those episodes where I frequently thought, "I can't wait for this to be over."   There were no creative breakthroughs, no comic relief, nothing to relieve the tension.    And all that bitter, ugly sniping at the end ...

 

This is the second week in a row where the editing has tried to make you believe designer A (Hernan) is going home, only to see designer B (Carrie) sent to the workroom.

[Quilt Fairy]

I thought this was the best unconventional materials challenge they've ever had. There were a number of really good looks, and I even liked Angela's. The one team where I said out loud 'Oh, that's bad"? Was the winning team. Of course.

[phoenix780]

I didn't really hate any of the outfits.  The judging right now is clearly storyline-driven, imho, right down to poking the unstable Angela and stirring up more drama around hyper-sensitive (imho) Sandhya.  I'm not sure how much I care about that, though, because it's too early for me to think that people are being robbed if they get sent home for storyline purposes.

 

The team on the bottom...I watched "Under the Gunn" and didn't take issue with Tim, but I hated his comments about Hernan tonight.  Hernan didn't come off like a bully to me.  He came off like a legitimately frustrated and desperate person who finally decided to just push everyone through.  And, similarly desperate, they choose to follow his lead.  Also, I didn't think he or Carrie were being rude to Sandhya on the runway, because I thought they were referring to Angela as the designer who should have gone home.  Even if they were suggesting it be Sandhya, Heidi stirred that shit up.  I couldn't blame them for following through.  

 

I guess what I'm saying is- I saw no victim there, and I didn't appreciate the characterization of Hernan.  I am however thrilled we got that little clip from the season previews dealt with.

 

Oh, and how is there REMOTELY any anonymity about whose design is whose when the contestants are all dewy-eyed with delight as they see their creations come down the runway, and high-five and congratulate each other and nod approvingly at how they turned out?

 

I love you for this.  Tonight I tried to imagine that maybe the judges are so into the runway show that they don't see the contestants, and I noticed that people were chatting when it wasn't their looks so maybe that would throw the judges off,  And then there was a high five...by the winning team, I think.  If they want anonymous, have them backstage watching on a monitor.  They can still have reactions to splice in with the show. 

 

Final thought: is there an episode where they don't take up 1/4 of the screen with stupid polls?  The last one about agreeing with Heidi covered up the outfits, and it seemed to last forever (it felt like they were waiting for the poll to swing back in Heidi's favor).  

 

It's bad enough to have a constant logo, like I'll forget which channel I'm watching (or like I really care- I'm not going to randomly tune into Lifetime because I like Project Runway).  And they have the advertisements in the bottom corner.  Now there's an interactive game?  The hell- why can I not just watch a tv show and talk about it online after, like I'm supposed to?  How many people even vote in those things, anyway?

[LotusFlower]

Does anyone know why Michael Kors left the show? I like Zac, but I liked Michael, too, and thought his critiques were hilarious, and I never heard why he left. Thanks if anyone knows.

[bref]

 

Listening to the winning team describe their creations, it became apparent that duct tape was a primary component of their outfits.   I don't go to the movies much these days (because there's nothing on the screen anymore to justify the astronomical ticket prices), but no matter how hard I wrack my brain I can't remember any occasion when duct tape was part of the movie-going experience.

 

Or heavy-duty chain link (also among the materials available to the designers).

 

 

As much as I liked the two looks that featured the CDs, I didn't see how they fit into the "things found in a movie theater" category either. But I thought perhaps I had missed some explanation?

[GaT]

I'm calling BS on the Sandhya "bullying" scene with Tim, I think the show put that in there so we would go "oh, Tim really is against bullying, all that stuff with Natalia must be a lie!"

 

I'm glad they called Angela out on her dress, I don't see her lasting much longer.

[Fostersmom]

I think the CDs were either a nod to the music or were actually DVDs. 

 

 

My favorite was Mitchell's dress which came across as purple on my tv, but I know the judges would never reward something pretty.

 

I could have seen that being the winner if his group was stronger. The ticket dress was awesome, but the other one (was it Kini's?) made his model look like a shapeless lump. But since Kini wasn't going to burst into tears and Angela was, only she got a callout for dragging the team score down. 

[Gumby]

 

Because there's absolutely no chance we could lose one of the very best designers, in Episode TWO, due to his/her inability to hot glue Twizzlers.

ITA. I hope that that a lesson was learned here by production. A team challenge aufings are never fair and to have one so soon just infuriates me. I'd be sooooo pissed if I were in Blue-haired Russians boots or on the team whose deserved glory slipped from their hands because of a teammates immunity. It is not really a fair representation of what one might face at an actual job in fashion.

 

Having to sort of guess which point of the challenge the judges will focus on while maintaing one's vision is a crapshoot. I think of the judge in the New yorker cartoon saying, "Let's see ... should I give you the minimum or the maximum. I think that given the circumstances, Nina's and especially Zac's comments were unnessessarily ... well just mean.

 

I have a galcrush on the Piper Perabo-ish one. I guess it's not true love if I didn't bother to catch her name.

Edited August 1, 2014 by Gumby

[millennium]

Whenever I see Kini, I think of a troll doll.

 

(I'm a terrible person, I know, lol)

[Lnmop]

It seemed to me in seasons past, Heidi and Nina used to be horrified by dresses that made the models' hips appear larger, but this week there were three!

To the loser, (whose name I will never have to learn), I say you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here.

Amanda strikes me as someone who loves to hear herself talk. She bugs me.

Amanda drives me nuts. She has this whole 'elder mother of the tribe' thing going on in her head and she is constantly dropping her pearls of experienced wisdom everywhere she goes to the point that I want to smack her. Shut up, Amanda. You are not that special. I also thought her dress kind of sucked. I liked the neck and the flow, but it was just loose strands over muslin. Hardly a complete dress.

Yeah, Maroon 5 sister makes me cringe. "I'm the only one who's ever done an unconventional materials challenge." I propose a new drinking game: drink every time she says the word "vibe". She and her lipstick can Just.Go.Home. Edited August 1, 2014 by Lnmop

[candall]

Woe be unto Sandhya if she'd stuck with a design that didn't look exactly like the other two and then her team had ended up in the bottom.  Those two would have hooked her between horses and ripped her in half.

 

(Side snicker: "I feel that everyone is picking on me and I came to you, Tim.  You're so experienced, have much expertise.")

 

My favorite was Sean's thing made of straws.  The softness with the little black touches reminded me of ermine.  It was pretty funny, though, when he squee'd about taking every single straw in the place and then congratulated himself at runway time because no one else had anything like it. 

 

I think it's unconscionable to designate a team challenge, then single out one person from the 15 who are standing there, to say, "Hey, just so you know, yours was awful.  Bad luck for your teammates, eh?"   That's nothing more than nicking someone's vein in the piranha pool.  

Edited August 1, 2014 by candall

[mwell345]

 

Heidi calls out Angela.  Yet Heidi has no idea how the dynamics of the team worked up to this point *wink* *wink*.  So she doesn't know if Angela might have caved to demands.  Plus this call out takes place in a way that gives no insight as to why the dress was ranked so low.  So calling her out is meaningless.

 

I thought that was just mean on Heidi's part.  It's clear Angela is nervous, and she ended up in tears.   Why call her out like that?  But Heidi has gotten mean the last few seasons so it didn't surprise me all that much.

 

I skipped the first 1/2 hour last night - I think the show is too long. 

 

Winning team - not so impressed.  Losing team - they could have picked either of them to go and I would have been fine with it.

[BusyOctober]

Count me in as baffled by the "winning" team.  I don't think they were the best team, but certainly not the worst.  I don't understand how Amanda's dress o'muslin- which did not come from the theater and made up 90% of the garment-was the best.  I also thought Korina's dress was the worst of the 3.  It looked very amateurish and home made like what a Brownie troop might make for a fashion badge.  The duct tape strip pattern were very uneven and messy looking.  I don't like her personality much either.  Very smug and smirky.

 

I applaud PR for gathering together people from diverse backgrounds and cultures, but why do we need to hear "I'm Mexican!" "I'm Native American!"  "I'm a poor immigrant from FillInTheBlank!" in every talking head?  Be proud of where you came from.  Admire your family's struggles to give you a better life. Celebrate your culture in your work if that's your aesthetic, but I don't need to hear the same one-note autobiographical by line every time you are on screen.  Why pigeon-hole yourself with such a narrow definition? It only gives Heidi & Co. something to hand out biased snark or praise IMO.

 

I think Angela had better get her shit together ASAP.  The other contestants will eat her alive.  Even the sympathetic ones will turn on her if the tears and self-doubt continue.  For what it's worth, I liked her design this week (and her look book stuff from auditions).  It may not have matched up to her teammates' outfits, but I hardly think she should have been singled out like that. 

 

Nina needs to lighten the fuck up.  She gets more crotchety every year.  Is she auditioning to be the new Anna Wintour?

[ElectricBoogaloo]

This is the kind of episode that frustrates me both as a viewer and on behalf of the designers. I actually love the unconventional material challenge as a viewer, and I know the designers must expect this to happen at some point during the season so I don't have an issue with that. But what on earth would they make it a one day challenge? It's a difficult enough challenge trying to sew and glue weird shit, so they should have two days for a challenge like this. And on top of that, having to work in teams? Team challenges are THE WORST. I seriously can barely watch them because they annoy me so much. But to have to take a pile of crap and make it into an outfit that is somehow cohesive with two other people's piles of crap? That is just fucked up and unnecessary. Angela is already on the verge of having a nervous breakdown but apparently the producers are trying to push her into one sooner rather than later.

 

I was kind of cracking up when Amanda thought she was such an expert because she is the only person in the workroom who has done an unconventional challenge and "explaining" that the judges don't want them to use something that's too similar to material. Uh, I've never done an unconventional materials challenge but even I know that the judges don't want the designers to use tableclothes or anything too similar to regular fabric.

 

I know that some of the designers made a comment about Angela not being very flexible because she wanted to use the flower texture she has used before. But it sounded like Sean decided he wanted to do that Cruella de Ville straw design and that's why he suggested the villain theme, so he is just as inflexible as Angela. He decided what he wanted to do and then couched the team theme in a way that would allow him to do the design that he had already planned to do.

 

When Heidi first walked out on the runway and I could only see her from the back, i thought whaaaaaat? Heidi is wearing pants AND long sleeves? Why is she covered up and so conservative? Then they showed her from the front and I saw her bra and sheer top.

 

I didn't like any of the dresses that Korinna, Amanda, and Kristine made. While I like the bold graphic contrast of the black and green, I didn't like the actual dresses. Amanda's wasn't even a dress. It was a bunch of crap strung over a dress. It reminded me of the washer bikini of yore. I think that if it hadn't been seen with the other two dresses, it wouldn't have been as impressive. I totally disagreed with the guest judge with how versatile Amanda's dress was. I can't imagine anyone wearing that with a pair of the jeans out on the street. In the past, Korinna would have been criticized for making her dress out of tape because it's too similar to fabric.

 

I loved Samantha's CD top and although I didn't love her skirt, I thought it was shiny and caught the light. Even though Emily created a similar skirt, it looked much messier. I liked the idea of Alexander's dress but I didn't like how stiff the top was.

 

I actually ended up really liking Angela's dress. It looked very delicate, as she said. I liked the airiness of it but I was sure that the judges wouldn't see much of the detail because the white cutouts were on top of white fabric. I liked Fade's skirt and the straw corset but the top was a bit too structured for my taste. Sean's idea was interesting in theory but it ended up looking so heavy to me.

 

Mitchell's pinkish purplish CD dress was so shiny that I knew it would be right up Heidi's alley. She's like a magpie. I liked Char's ticket dress in theory but I disagreed with her about the fit being great. I thought it was too straight up and down. I know it must be difficult to tailor tickets, but she's the one who brought it up, damn it! Kini's dress was too, I don't know - fluffy? Voluminous? But in a hard stiff way.

 

Man, Nina really hated the film group. I don't think that the film idea was the worst, but the mistake was using that film material for all three of the dresses.

 

When the judges asked Amanda who from her team should win, I laughed at how obvious she was in her answer.

 

I give Sandhya credit for deciding not to talk shit about her teammates to the judges.

 

I agree with the judges about Carrie's immature attitude. "I'm supposed to be going to Fashion Week"? STFU. And complaining that Sandhya should have been sent home is useless. That's not how immunity works. This is not the first time that someone with immunity was told by the judges that they were lucky to have immunity or they would have been sent home. That's the whole point of winning immunity the week before.

[Oldernowiser]

The show has to be an hour long just to give Heidi time to explain where the $300k (apparently in 5k bits) is all coming from--half of which makes zero sense. A "year's worth of make-up from Mary Kay?" Is that for models or for the winner, because for most of the guys, that's like one eyebrow pencil.

I so don't get this show. I hated last week's winner and hated this week's. Amanda acting like our tour guide to PR is on my last nerve and I thought Jefferson provided the only eye candy PLUS his outfit was far from the worst so WTF with his auffing.

I haven't really paid much attention since the year of the Winning Muumuu and that pretty girl who couldn't sew, but then every season I try again. And then wander away shaking my head.

ETA: It really clobbers whatever remaining credibility the show has when the judges and most of the designers look like hell. That fashion blogger was wearing what looked like a wrinkled LLBean shirt dress with white heels, Heidi's weird see-through top made it look like she's had her implants removed, and WTF with Amanda's gray onesie with the drop crotch? So, so bad...

Edited August 1, 2014 by Oldernowiser

[Julia]

There were three other teams that did gorgeous treatments and unusual effects, and I just don't get what this show is anymore. Also, Nina Garcia has just turned into a nasty piece of work, and she should really be taken off the show.

Or Heidi (or anyone else) should tell Nina to shut her pie hole.  At which point, I'd stand up and cheer.

 

 

Considering the glum, sour, awful, pointedly un-entertaining person Nina Garcia has become in the last few years, I'm not totally sure if she meant that "you're all so bothersome, why should I care about you" type remark more to the contestants or to the audience.

 

Team purple, with their CDs and tickets, wiped the floor with the winning team. And I don't know what crawled up Zac and died (although he never did like to be challenged), but Nina is just a slightly more extreme version of Nina, and it's tiresome. Somewhere in her twisted little mind she seems to have gotten the idea that she's the voice of the young and forward-thinking, as if she doesn't consistently reward the fashion equivalent of butterscotch scallops or she could find Williamsburg on a freaking map or pick edginess out of a lineup. 

 

I mean, i get that she's bitter about Elle, but her current job is safe as long as she can keep getting her magazine mentioned on the air, so maybe try and LARP the Anna Wintour thing where she dresses grownups and not the arbitrary nastiness, 'k?

 

I didn't feel too bad for Sandhya. She had immunity, and in my opinion, she could have saved herself a lot of grief if she had been more flexible in the beginning. I'm not sure why she expected the rest of her team to respect her vision or whatever, when she herself had nothing to lose. That's all fine and good to take a chance when you are also on the line, but when you aren't, let those who are on the line decide their own fate... For me that is the polite thing to do. For me she should have said "Well, you guys are the ones on the line here, what are you thinking..." and then make the best garment possible based on their vision. If I heard correctly, deciding to go along with your teammates when there are like 4 or 5 hours left is much too late a time to compromise in an unconventional materials challenge. You'll have plenty of time for your vision when only you're own butt is on the line.

 

I'm calling BS on the Sandhya "bullying" scene with Tim, I think the show put that in there so we would go "oh, Tim really is against bullying, all that stuff with Natalia must be a lie!"

 

I'm hypersensitive to bullying in this franchise, and I honestly didn't see Sandhya being bullied. What I saw was Sandhya pulling a Helen, refusing to work or play well with others (and if anyone is forcing the team's direction, it's the woman who has immunity and refuses to cooperate with the team until there's nothing but bad choices left) and then running to Tim to whine about how she's being picked on. I didn't see any of what Tim was describing, and I'm not impressed with Tim's compassion in letting a passive-aggressive contestant use him as a stick to beat people with. Because, Michelle, Helen, and for that matter, Asha. Seen it, and seriously, Tim, you're not helping yourself.

 

Finally, Angela.  At first I felt sorry for her, but I am starting to recognize in her a kind of passive people pleaser that oh so carefully and humbly makes absolutely certain that she gets her own way or else.  I have dealt with people like that before and they are infuriating because they seem so weak and pitiable, when in fact they are controlling everyone around them and trying to get out of their control is like wading through quicksand. And you look like a bully trying to do it in the bargain.  She needs to go home.

 

Are we supposed to feel as if she was being bullied? What I saw was someone who was grimly determined to ignore her team in a team challenge and ended up pinning kindergarten-level paper snowflakes to a muslin shift. So, fine, that's your "voice," you can insist on it, but here's the thing (Sandhya, you listen too) - you thought it was worth it to shut out your team when you thought it was going to serve you. Part of that is accepting the risk that you're going to end up twisting in the wind all by yourself. So, you know, stop whining.

 

So draping chains and streamers over a muslin dress is a winning design now? Seriously, this is so against what the unusual materials challenges are about that it's ridculous, and I don't blame the two losing designers for trying to find out what exactly the judges were looking for. And to say that they "just" put film over the muslin is weird, since the winning team didn't even do that...

What does Char have to do to win a challenge? Last week, her outfit was stunning. This week the gorgeous, innovative, CREATIVE ticket dress doesn't even get a second look?

Yeah, Maroon 5 sister makes me cringe. "I'm the only one who's ever done an unconventional materials challenge." I propose a new drinking game: drink every time she says the word "vibe". She and her lipstick can Just.Go.Home.

 

She annoyed me in her own season, so I'm not surprised she annoys me here. She's also seriously the last designer who can afford to be condescending about anyone else making Barbie clothes. I genuinely disliked her team's collection far more than any of the others, and I don't think she deserved the win. It's kind of embarrassing that she got so little done, and so badly, in the same amount of time that, say, Char had to create the ticket dress. Also, she needs to wash her face and spend some quality time with the Mary Kay team. Badly.

 

I was kind of cracking up when Amanda thought she was such an expert because she is the only person in the workroom who has done an unconventional challenge and "explaining" that the judges don't want them to use something that's too similar to material. Uh, I've never done an unconventional materials challenge but even I know that the judges don't want the designers to use tableclothes or anything too similar to regular fabric.

And then she sent a muslin down the runway.

Edited August 1, 2014 by Julia

[hoodooznoodooz]

millenium:    Listening to the winning team describe their creations, it became apparent that duct tape was a primary component of their outfits.   I don't go to the movies much these days (because there's nothing on the screen anymore to justify the astronomical ticket prices), but no matter how hard I wrack my brain I can't remember any occasion when duct tape was part of the movie-going experience.
Or heavy-duty chain link (also among the materials available to the designers).

I am pretty sure the lighting crew and whatnot use the duct tape.  sometimes they even use duct tape to adjust the wardrobe which might be too loose.  They might use chains at a soundstage, to stabilize the set. 

[walnutqueen]

Mitchel's dress made me smile - I don't know if I was responding more to the colors or the style, but it just worked for me.

 

Angela acts like she's a hormonal tween.  Sandhya and her "I'm feeing bullied" bit with Tim made me cringe a little.  Amanda just bugs me. 

[terrymct]

I was disappointed in the better outfits this time.  In most non-conventional challenges, there's an outfit that makes you go "Wow!" such as Mondo's ombre dress made of hamster bedding cedar shavings.  Mitchell's came closest to a jaw dropper, mainly due to the iridescence of the CDs.   Amanda's dress was the best of her group's (but it was mostly friggin muslin, which she herself claimed as a big no-no), by a long shot, but that's not saying much and I don't think the three of them together were the best team.  They would't or shouldn't have even been in the top if this was a singles competition.  They benefited because each of the other teams had at least one person bringing them down.   Even with Angela's sad entry (basically a simple short dress with a minor amount of paper tatters glued one, she missed the whole idea of the competition this week), Fade and Sean should have carried that team to a victory.   Angela has a bigger problem than her lack of self confidence and whining.  She's really rigid in her thinking and was unable to come up with something new.  She wanted to design a paper version of her wedding dress.  Thank god she was talked out of those paper flowers.  Angela was 100% unable to look at the materials at hand and free think.  That's a profound flaw.  I wonder if in future episodes if she'll basically be making versions of things she'd made in the past.

 

Both Carrie and Hernan deserved to go home, Hernan in particular should have left.   He grabbed the reins of the team and drove them straight into a ditch with a solid assist from Carrie.  Sandhya's skirt would have wowed the judges.  Instead of seeing something interesting there, Carrie and Hernan kept saying that they don't get it.   Their response should have been "We don't get it, but she won last week for an outfit we didn't get so lets see if we can bring elements of this into our own designs."   No, they badger and berate Sandhya until she comes down to their level.  Both Carrie and Hernan showed themselves to be entirely without class.  They'd have thrown EVERYONE under the bus to save themselves, not just Sandhya.  Neither of them really listened to the critique, they just heard a snippet that seemed to fit their ego driven world view and they ran with it.  Shame on them both.

 

Among the safe folks:

Emily put eyes on her model's breasts and massive hips.  Jeeze louise was that hideous.  I thought Samantha's was cute, however.  Not massively groundbreaking, but cute and an interesting use of the CDs.

 

Char did a cute dress again this week.  She didn't really transform the tickets into something new, but the outfit was cute.  She's going to be a star of this series.  Kini, once again, has some damn questionable taste.   WTF was that stiff looking puff ball of a dress that he put on his model?  Mitchell was the star of that group.  The dress was really basic, but the shine and glimmer of the CD's were beautiful.  If this had been a single event rather than teams, he'd have been in the top with Fade and Sean.  

Edited August 1, 2014 by terrymct

[Beden]

 

I am pretty sure the lighting crew and whatnot use the duct tape.  sometimes they even use duct tape to adjust the wardrobe which might be too loose.  They might use chains at a soundstage, to stabilize the set.

Duct tape has tons of uses on a set--holding up wobbly sets, securing anything which might be falling or loose and needs to be ok RIGHT NOW. It can hold up a falling hem, fix a rip in a curtain and on and on. The old cliche is that duct tape and black paint build every set. Chains are often used threaded through the hems to weigh down stage curtains so they don't move/drift/blow in breezes. The hardware has obvious uses in sets and for lighting. Cording as well. The stuff they were using were legit theater/film stuff.

 

edited for my crappy typing

Edited August 1, 2014 by Beden

[Day2Day]

Sorry Tim, but after reading the majority of posts here, the viewers are the ones who are reeling in horrified disbelief !! What an awful season this has started out as.  How do these "designers" get such inflated egos and become so delusional? Have they never watched previous seasons? The thinned skinned vs. the bully, Heidi vs. Nina & Zach.  Everything about this year seems "AUFF"  Amanda's win..... beyond comprehension! The timid being intimidated not fun to watch. Don't know how much more I can tolerate. As stated by a couple of previous posters, I, too, am zero for two with the judge's selected winners.

[terrymct]

Amanda drives me nuts. She has this whole 'elder mother of the tribe' thing going on in her head and she is constantly dropping her pearls of experienced wisdom everywhere she goes to the point that I want to smack her.  Shut up, Amanda. You are not that special.  I also thought her dress kind of sucked.  I liked the neck and the flow, but it was just loose strands over muslin. Hardly a complete dress. 

 

This, a thousand times, this.  When Amanda won, my first thought was "Oh, no, she's going to be even MORE insufferable."   She doesn't have half the talent required to back up her ego and attitude.

[Oldernowiser]

While I'm being all Mean Girl...Amanda, please get that thing on your face removed. You're a beautiful woman, you have money...you don't have to live with it, right?

[Rancide]

I hated the editing of this episode.  I thought Sandhya was being whiny and immature because I saw no indication that the other two were bullying, but then her teammates spent the rest of the episode being about as heinous as I've ever seen anyone be on this show, so I'm going to give Sandhya--who could have thrown them under the bus but did not--the benefit of the doubt and assume that the worst incidents of bullying (pre-Tim convo) were not shown.  God, who goes into the holding room AFTER elimination and starts whining about how the judges hated someone else more but couldn't pick that person so you got screwed?  It's over.  Accept defeat graciously and move on. 

 

I hated the winning design.  I feel like I've seen that dress at least twice before, by designers who were either eliminated or almost eliminated for it.  I'm remembering a very early season candy challenge with string (?) and lifesavers (?).  And maybe a hardware challenge with twine (?) and washers (?).  Why is it so great this time?  I don't mind muslin in the unconventional materials challenge to give support and structure, but the model would have been nude without the muslin here.  It was a muslin dress with some string over it.  WTF?

[Day2Day]

Oldernowiser, I'm right there with you! Maybe Amanda fancies herself not only a "designer" but also a "model", and thinks that GROWTH resembles Cindy Crawford's mole.  *** NOT***

[Lamb18]

I do my own rankings as I watched the runway and I had the green group at the bottom, with the Sandiyha, Carrie and Hernan team second from the bottom.  I just thought the green outfits looked tacky compared to some of the other designers' work.  I also thought of Emile Sosa when seeing Amanda's design. I actually had the Sean-Fade-Angela team on top.  I didn't think Sandiyha was really bullied, so I thought her meeting with Tim was kind of lame.  On the other hand, Hernan and Carrie were shutting her out.  The thing is, there were two teams that each had a designer who wanted to go her own way and not work with the team.  Sean and Fade tried working with Angela, but just gave up and focused on their own work.  They were big boys about it, kind of resigned and good-natured.  Sean even offered to help Angela!  On the other hand, Sandiyha wanted to go her own way and Carrie and Hernan were unpleasant to her.  Since she had immunity, they should have just focused on their own designs and make them cohesive.  Who knows?  Maybe Sandiyha's original design would have brought them up.

 

I'm glad Carrie went.  Now we are spared future vindictiveness from her.  Did anyone notice her last name on her mannequin form was spelled wrong?  It was "Slutskaya" instead of "Sleutskaya."  That's a low blow mistake.  Another reason I'm glad Carrie's gone is because her face reminded me of Loreal from Food Network Star.  So far Korina reminds me of Cindy Crawford from around 30 years ago.  I can see the Anne Hathaway resemblence, too.

I hated the winning design.  I feel like I've seen that dress at least twice before, by designers who were either eliminated or almost eliminated for it.  I'm remembering a very early season candy challenge with string (?) and lifesavers (?).  And maybe a hardware challenge with twine (?) and washers (?).  Why is it so great this time? 

 

You are thinking of Wendy Pepper from Season 1 - the Gristedes grocery store challenge.

[leighdear]

Looking at Amanda's dress on "Rate the Runway", I really don't think she used muslin as the under layer, but a white plastic trash bag.  I'm at work & I have a HUGE monitor, so every Friday morning I get as up close & personal with the designs as possible...*LOL*   When I magnify the areas where the white is, it looks shiny & crinkly.  NOT that I think trash bags are an awesome fabric alternative, but better than muslin. 

 

 

Angela was 100% unable to look at the materials at hand and free think.  That's a profound flaw.  I wonder if in future episodes if she'll basically be making versions of things she'd made in the past.

Like Ven & his perpetual origami rose design.  

 

I will give Angela props for actually inserting a full-length zipper in the side of her dress.  

Edited August 1, 2014 by leighdear

[pally]

2 of the winning team's dresses were made out of duct tape.  You can go on You Tube and see thousands of examples of duct tape garments.  How was that being "fashion forward"  They made dresses that high school girls have already made. 
 

I don't think Sandhya would have sent that dress down the runway if she didn't have immunity.  She would have fought harder for her own viewpoint if she was at risk.  She didn't explain herself well but it was obvious she ultimately just went along with the others.  It will be interesting to see how she does in the future.

 

[Julia]

Like Ven & his perpetual origami rose design.  

 

Thank you. I was absolutely flashing on Ven.

[Primetimer]

An unconventional-materials challenge leads to some unconventional (read: "bad") judging, and one film fatale goes home.

Read the story

[Wootini]

Well, judging from the first two winning outfits this season, I fear that now all the designers are going to go "Okay, so they want BSC and super ugly! Got it!"

 

Amanda's was clearly supposed to be more than it was, but she ran out of time and had to put whatever that "fabric" was underneath so she wasn't sending a nude model with tassels down the runway. I know a lot of you complained it was muslin, but it clearly wasn't. Like leighdear, I also saw that it was some kind of shiny material. I think there was some cellophane or something other people were using, or it was a trash bag or something. But it definitely wasn't muslin. If it was, I would hope that the judges would tear her apart because they'd have to notice it when they did the up-close looks.

 

It's always rough to put the unconventional materials challenge so early in the season, but the producers know how popular it is with viewers, so they seem to move it up more and more each time. But to make it a team challenge? Someone during this episode mentioned how hard it is to show who you are as a designer in this kind of situation, and I couldn't agree more. They're always after them to show them who they are as designers, but how are they supposed to do that with a team challenge coming second? At least it's not as bad as the season of all team challenges which will always be my least favorite one of all time.

 

And while it's often a good idea to listen to Tim's critiques, you probably shouldn't go so far over to the other side looking for cohesion that you literally make the same dress in slight variations three times. Idiots.

[Qoass]

IIRC, previous seasons' unconventional challenge episodes listed the materials used on the screen as each look went down the runway.  I suspect they didn't do so this time because they knew they were hedging their bets by offering both movie theatre materials and movie set materials.  Most of the items used (duct tape, ticket rolls, candy wrappers) had already been used in previous seasons and better.

[vibeology]

Last week I could see what the judges were thinking with their winning choice, but this week the only way the win made sense was as a conclusion to Amanda's "dang teams" storyline carrying over from her last season. Honestly, I think it was a producers choice and no matter what Amanda made, she was winning.

 

Which is good for her, because it was the ugliest thing on the runway to my eyes. I agree with others who said that it wasn't muslin underneath, but it was a plastic bag/sheet slip with a fringe thing sewn (or possibly duct taped) around it. Amanda had a whole day! What the hell did she do with all that time. If the losing team had time to make ugly outfits, scrap them and then make a whole other set of ugly outfits, how was that all she did? That looks like something kids throw together when they're playing dress-up. I've worn summer camp play costumes that look more put together. The other two looks were duct tape dresses and not great ones at that. The letter dress was very junior and obvious. Also, the fit on the bust was so off. Why does stuff like that not matter? I didn't hate Korina's but felt at best it was safe.

 

For me, the winning team was clearly Mitchell, Char and Kini. Mitchell's was my favourite of those three and my choice for the overall win, but all three were fab in a Katy Perry crazy music video sort of way. Costume-y in a fun, bright, womanly and high-end manner. Nina always bitches about a lack of colour and this team brought it. Mitchell's dress was strong, feminine, bright, sexy and he clearly made great use of his time. I haven't looked at stills of it yet, but it seems that he laid out every CD piece on the front of that dress and there is a symmetrical pattern there. Char's ticket dress was a little stiff, because its paper but the fit was fairly strong and most importantly those embellishments (the shoulder, the hem, the shiny CD pieces) were all exactly right proportionally and perfectly placed. And Kini's had so much texture and technique. Again with his it would have been easy for the embellishments to be too much, but his restraint was the strength of the garment. As a team, this was the strongest collection and I can't believe it didn't win. 

 

Sean was robbed of a place in the top. Angela's was super dull and had she gone home I wouldn't have complained. Like Amanda, I can't figure out what she did with her time, I do think her white shift was muslin so its a muslin shift with some paper snowflakes stitched on it. She had a whole day! What did she do with her time? Fade's was a strong piece and I don't mind the stiffness of the top because he balanced it with the movement on the bottom and it does look like a villain's dress. Sean, though, that straw dress coat was amazing. I get why the team wasn't in the top, but this is why I hate team challenges. I don't mind forcing designers to collaborate but its a shame when one person in an average group loses out on a win or one shitty designer drags down an otherwise strong collection. I just wish the'd be more flexible in terms of winning/losing designers, though I imagine if you weren't tied to your team in results everyone would just do their own thing.

 

I'm baffled by the results and pissed with Nina. If you ask someone a question, you can't get pissed off that they dare to answer it. I really do think the producers saw this as a chance to wrap up Amanda's previous story and she was getting that win even if she'd sent the ticky-tacky down the runway without the white slip underneath.

[stafford]

Like many others I thought the group that won would be at the bottom.

I hate that Sandhya pulled out the bullying card. Look there are serious problems with bullying in our country but a heated disagreement with your teammates over design choices isn't necessarily bullying especially when one refuses to be a team player. I stop listening when these so called victims start to yammer about not getting "respect" which seems to be the popular choice of gangs and thugs to justify their crappy behavior. If anything I thought Sandhya was intractable and just plain mean to her teammates and they could have just as easily gone running to Tim to cry "bullying" on her part.

I also wasn't a fan if the straw coat (attached to muslin I suspect too). He declared they all should design around villains but I didn't see much in the way of villains in his coat (nothing else to reference Cruella). Angela is a passive aggressive and immature and her dress sucked. I can't believe it took her one day to make that--most kindergarteners could have knocked that out in ten minutes . She seemed totally flummoxed when the models skull would shrink to pull the dress over her head. I wasn't sorry that the judges called her out for dragging her team down. She, like Sandhya are not team players.

And finally for my unpopular opinion. I like Zach. I'm glad he's brutally honest. Most of these designers think they are unique little snowflakes and they should win a trophy for just showing up. Nina's comments seem a bit scripted to me but I don't mind that she gets nasty too.

[Oldernowiser]

I'm still a bit baffled as to how the DVDs fit into the theme...or the VHS cassettes. Is that theoretically because you'd watch movies at home that way?

Pretty farfetched...although I guess they could claim they could be a prop in a movie. But then...what couldn't be?

[phoenix780]

The show has to be an hour long just to give Heidi time to explain where the $300k (apparently in 5k bits) is all coming from--half of which makes zero sense. A "year's worth of make-up from Mary Kay?" Is that for models or for the winner, because for most of the guys, that's like one eyebrow pencil.

 

Speaking of prizes- there's a Best Western "stay at fashion capitals" prize.  Does that mean there's some kind of trip that they're going on, and Best Western is covering airfare and whatnot?  To me it seemed like they were saying if you happen to go to a fashion capital, you'd get to stay at Best Western for free.  Which isn't all that impressive.  Although I have to admit, I appreciate how generic game show some of the prizes seem.  It's funny.

[needschocolate]

I couldn't help but think that the blue/purple haired woman that went home was probably wishing she had some make-up remover so she could re-draw her eyebrows to ones that matched her emotions. 

Edited August 1, 2014 by needschocolate

[leighdear]

 

For me, the winning team was clearly Mitchell, Char and Kini. Mitchell's was my favourite of those three and my choice for the overall win, but all three were fab in a Katy Perry crazy music video sort of way. Costume-y in a fun, bright, womanly and high-end manner.

Nailed it!  Any of those looks would be perfect for Katy.   The back of Mitchell's dress was as gorgeous as the front.  At the center top of the neckline where it fastened, he connected the pieces together with tiny, gold chain links.  The way he cut a lot of the discs in the curves made a lot of "wing" effects that just delighted me.

 

I actually like Zac too.  As the only one on the panel that's an ACTUAL designer, I pay closer attention to his opinions.  Heidi's a knowledgeable coat hanger and Nina is a watcher.  She's been trying WAY too hard to fill the snarky/amusing/perceptive/clever shoes of Michael Kors.  Nina just can't pull it off.

 

If they ditched the "teams" and just went strictly with pairs for collaborative challenges, there would never be a question of 1 person endangering the other 2.  If 1 was bad and 1 was good, the decision is made.   If the number of contestants is uneven, then just don't DO a collaboration challenge.  Easy. 

[Wootini]

No, Angela's wasn't muslin either. I'm pretty sure it was muslin underneath, but she covered it with the script paper. I can't imagine it was all paper because it seemed heavier and sturdier than that. But yeah, there was a lot of muslin underneath those looks. Some, like the CDs/DVDs, obviously would need it, but others felt like cheating.

[teebax]

I didn't really hate any of the outfits.  The judging right now is clearly storyline-driven, imho, right down to poking the unstable Angela and stirring up more drama around hyper-sensitive (imho) Sandhya.  I'm not sure how much I care about that, though, because it's too early for me to think that people are being robbed if they get sent home for storyline purposes.

 

The team on the bottom...I watched "Under the Gunn" and didn't take issue with Tim, but I hated his comments about Hernan tonight.  Hernan didn't come off like a bully to me.  He came off like a legitimately frustrated and desperate person who finally decided to just push everyone through.  And, similarly desperate, they choose to follow his lead.  Also, I didn't think he or Carrie were being rude to Sandhya on the runway, because I thought they were referring to Angela as the designer who should have gone home.  Even if they were suggesting it be Sandhya, Heidi stirred that shit up.  I couldn't blame them for following through.  

 

I guess what I'm saying is- I saw no victim there, and I didn't appreciate the characterization of Hernan.  I am however thrilled we got that little clip from the season previews dealt with.

 

I love you for this.  Tonight I tried to imagine that maybe the judges are so into the runway show that they don't see the contestants, and I noticed that people were chatting when it wasn't their looks so maybe that would throw the judges off,  And then there was a high five...by the winning team, I think.  If they want anonymous, have them backstage watching on a monitor.  They can still have reactions to splice in with the show. 

 

Final thought: is there an episode where they don't take up 1/4 of the screen with stupid polls?  The last one about agreeing with Heidi covered up the outfits, and it seemed to last forever (it felt like they were waiting for the poll to swing back in Heidi's favor).  

 

It's bad enough to have a constant logo, like I'll forget which channel I'm watching (or like I really care- I'm not going to randomly tune into Lifetime because I like Project Runway).  And they have the advertisements in the bottom corner.  Now there's an interactive game?  The hell- why can I not just watch a tv show and talk about it online after, like I'm supposed to?  How many people even vote in those things, anyway?

Thank you for saying this. I missed the last 3 seasons of PR. Well, I didn't really miss them, I'd just gotten tired of the show and needed a break. So I wondered when they started doing this ridiculous polling that blocks at least 1/4 of my screen. I have a 100-inch screen, so it was really pronounced and distracting. As if there isn't already too much crap on the screen. I know what channel I'm watching, and I know what show I'm watching. Stop telling me. The only thing that's worse, for me, is when they have promos in which people walk across the bottom of the screen. I cannot stand that.

 

I, too, do not understand either of the winning looks so far this season. I'm not fashion expert by any stretch but I know what I think looks good and what I think looks like crap. Both looks that have won were in my mental bottom 3. 

[LuciaMia]

Is it just me or was Nina really on a bitch-roll last night?

*********

And got real tired of Purple-haired girl's complaining about the 'unfairness' of someone having immunity.  You have watched the show before, haven't you, dear?

[cam3150]

I am soooo glad to see I am not alone in being totally baffled by the judges so far this season. Normally, even if I don't agree with who they pick as a winner or loser, I can at least see what they are talking about and I chalk it up to the fact that I do most of my apparel shopping with 30% off coupons from Old Navy.

 

But that awful "dress" made of nothing but a bunch of strings, straws and other nameless crap thrown together WON???? WHAT????   I honestly thought that whole team would be in the bottom and that her dress would be the losing dress, It was, by far, the least wearable thing up there.  I'm still stunned at how crazy they all went over it.

 

I actually liked the losing teams dresses. I can see that they were too similar but, given that they were working with film stirp, I thought they were very well done and pretty in a certain way.  Also, they seemed set on letting Hernon go because he supposedly bullied everyone else in to folloiwng his "vision" and then they let Blue Hair go?  Not that I mind because I wanted to smack her last  night but it still seems odd.

 

Also, it was totally strange that Heidi literally threw the poor mousy girl under the bus and backed over her again. Why pick on her like that? She was not the only one whose dress brought the team down.  I am not sure how she even survied the rest of the show without running screaming from the building after that.  As an aside, while her dress wasn't the best, it was at least creative with a bit of their belioved avant garde thrown in.  That poor girl is not going to make it on this show. I am not sure how she's even gotten tihs far in life.

 

My favorite collection was the "Barbie" collection (somebody on the show referred to it that way and it fits). How fun and creative!! I LOVED the ticket dress and the CD dress too. The other one (made out of popcorn containers, right?) was also really cool. I can't believe that collection was not even mentioned.  That's one of my least favorite things about this early part of the season -- no time for individual commentary on each outfit. I'd gladly sacrafice some workroom time to get more of the runway/judges. 

[txbowler]

As to the question on judges knowing which designer did which design by their reaction and such, there are multiple runway runs.  

 

They film the designers reactions on a run-through of the runway when the judges are not present.

 

When the judges are present, the designers actually sit quietly and say nothing.  Most are watching the judges for their reactions to give them an idea of how the judges feel about their design.

 

The editing makes it look like both are happening at the same time.

[Nutjob]

Ugh, this show.

 

First, I'll restate the popular opinion that I think the judges are smoking some bad crack. I didn't think the winning team's was the worst, but I also didn't think it was the best. (Although Amanda doesn't bug me... and I'm just thankful she isn't Ken or Alexander.) But the remark from Heidi to Angela about her dress? Whoever said upthread that it had Jonathan Murray written all over it was dead on. This show has been like a soap opera ever since Bunim/Murray took over, and they've just about ruined it at this point.

 

And let me say a word about Sandhya--she seems nice. Pleasant. But she also immediately started designing without checking with her teammates, when she had immunity and they were on the line. I don't think she did it maliciously, but there is a level of self-awareness that she most definitely lacks. When she started talking about respect and acting like a victim, I thought my eyes would roll out of my head.

 

That said, what Carrie and Hernan did on the runway was inexcusible. Blaming Tim? Nope. Doesn't wash. Throwing Sandhya under the bus? Sorry, but also... no. She had immunity. I don't know if they thought the judges would suddenly change the rules for them, but again--self awareness, they lack it.

 

Also: Shut UP, Nina.