S14.E02: It's All In The Cards

[guilfoyleatpp]

My take on the Blake/Swapnil episode: Swapnil didn't get the idiom "set those up for us."  If you think about it, the words "set those up" together don't have much literal meaning. Set is a past tense (of some sort) form of "sit" or a place where a theatrical scene takes place. Set those up? Huh? Up where?

 

And then Blake had to go blurt something he heard on TV...it must have been funny back in the 90's on Mama's Family when Naomi said it, but it now falls flat.  Not adorable. Also it's not adorable to say "I'm adorable!" all the time. 

 

Merline's dress (manatee penis) was a GD disaster. How she escaped the bottom two is completely beyond my understanding.

 

ETA: Amanda (not Ashley's) skirt.  Good lord.  So, for 8th grade promotion we tried to make a tissue paper cloud by stuffing blue tissue paper into chicken wire. About 2/3 of the way through we ran out and substituted a completely different shade for the oddly shaped middle bit.  That's what Ashley's skirt reminded me of.  She kept running out of the cards she was using and just switched to the next group...different lengths, no real sense in the pattern or blending from one card to another. It was perplexing.

Edited August 16, 2015 by guilfoyleatpp

[backgroundnoise]

Hi folks...haven't seen anyone comment on styling in general for this episode.

For all the touting of all the different hair salon products used, most of the models hair looked exactly the same, and most looked terrible, IMO.

[atir]

I'm confused. Ashley didn't make a skirt this go around.

[Muffyn]

Oh, and a final thought:  why, oh why, is no one hating Hanmaio's "letter" stunt?  She deserves a slap on the wrist, at least, for insisting her model do that.

It made me laugh.  The letter stunt turned the outfit into the world's weirdest party dress.  Oh, I have my invitation right here.  I'll pull it out of my boob envelope. 

[CloverTracey]

Hee! Boob envelope!

[Tony]

Horrid all around. I seriously couldn't pick a winner out of all those trainwrecks. The worst definitely has to be the shapeless smock with the words on them. There's nothing edgy about it. The win was also blah. His bottom was just paper petals. I'm assuming the white paper was provided to them, so Edmund also skirted the rules, but instead of muslin, he used the paper.

 

As for Ashley, she made a Flintstone dress without armholes and just cutouts at her waist to stick the hands through? What the actual fuck? Usually the winner of the first challenge gets the judges' goodwill and skates through the rest of the season. However, by vomiting up with this shitfest, Ashley basically stuck a bulls-eye to her forehead and the judges will auf her at the first available opportunity. Mark my words...

 

Tim has become a major problem on this show. My issues with him during this episode is him dismissing David's original work with the actual cards as constipated (which prompted him to restart again in an all muslin piece) and blatantly lying that Blake used fabrics he got from the cards (what fucking greeting cards contains enough fabric that you can line an entire skirt with?). He seriously needs to go, and take Nina with him.

Edited August 16, 2015 by Tony

[guilfoyleatpp]

Dang it, I meant Amanda.

[mansonlamps]

If I never have to hear the words penis or vagina in relation to any of the designs on this show again, it will be too soon. It's about as adorable as Blake.

Also, it just occurred to me that I don't even have any idea what designer's or department store's wall we are using thoughtfully this season to style the models. Anyone?

[millennium]

You know he's watching the show with a group of friends and they're all saying "You go, Blake! You're my hero!" He's probably not a hard-core racist, but he's got that smiling insolence that's meant to denigrate.

 

 

That's a mighty charitable assumption -- you know, that Blake has friends ...

[Pepper Mostly]

I liked that Hanmiao addressed a lot of her envelopes by hand.  That was a cute touch.  

 

 

Oh, and a final thought:  why, oh why, is no one hating Hanmaio's "letter" stunt?  She deserves a slap on the wrist, at least, for insisting her model do that.

I thought that was really cute! Her whole concept was the moment you open a card--that's what sending and getting a card is all about. I loved the hand addressed envelopes, and I was annoyed with her model because she didn't sell the "taking the card out of the envelope" moment. She looked bored, which missed the point. 

 

And not to beat a dead horse, but clearly Swapnil speaks and understands English. to me he was expressing disbelief that Blake was asking him to set the machines up for the rest of them. Blake repels me and I cannot in any life figure out why he thinks being spiteful and ignorant is adorable. 

[ThatsDarling]

I think this came up once or twice in judging, notably with the girl in the bottom 2. I don't think that's a super fair criticism in week 2. 

It's early in the process, but Candice, Hanmiao, and Merline have each produced two declarative looks. The others should follow suit, lest their televised showcase end before they give any indication of what they're about as designers. 

[slothgirl]

It's early in the process, but Candice, Hanmiao, and Merline have each produced two declarative looks. The others should follow suit, lest their televised showcase end before they give any indication of what they're about as designers. 

I'm not sure what Meline's dress this week was supposed to be declaring other than "I have ADD", cause to me it was just a hot mess of random pieces of paper stuck together as though the glue leaked on her supplies sitting on a workbench.

 

Now if she'd fashioned some of the paper into the shape of an origami squirrel, THAT would have been "declarative"!

[slothgirl]

And not to beat a dead horse, but clearly Swapnil speaks and understands English. to me he was expressing disbelief that Blake was asking him to set the machines up for the rest of them. Blake repels me and I cannot in any life figure out why he thinks being spiteful and ignorant is adorable. 

I can't believe I'm defending Blake but...

 

He clearly said "DID you set that up for us?" not "Would you...?". If Swapnil assumed he was being asked to do something that he had just announced was already done, then he wasn't listening very carefully.

 

I have to admit that when Swapnil came in and announced that the back 3 machines were now set up for heavy duty materials, my first thought was "Did HE do that? That was nice, but why would he take the time?"

 

I think the reason I assumed he might have done it was because it didn't make sense that everyone wouldn't already know if production had done it. Wouldn't Tim or someone TELL them? Wouldn't they set up MORE than 3 machines that way given that EVERYONE was going to need to work with non-fabric materials? Having Swapnil be the local news network made no sense, so I assumed he was INVOLVED in the news somehow, not just "reporting" it.

 

Blake did try to ask his question nicely several times and got stymied by the fact that Swapnil just wasn't understanding. Of course, it went downhill from there, but I doubt that at his age, I would have known how many languages/dialects might be spoken in India or what they might be called. (However I use as my excuse that I grew up in an era when we got taught very little about the world beyond the USA and western Europe)

 

I got nothing malicious from Blake's intent initially. He seems to want to play at being "childlike", which doesn't work for anyone at his age except someone who isn't "playing" at it, but comes by it naturally. My guess is that he probably gets flustered quickly and easily in social interactions and both the arrogance and the "I'm an adorable little boy" schtick are his his defense mechanisms. His twitter response to the backlash is nothing more than "Well double doodie on YOU!"

 

He's really operating on the level of a 5 year old.

Edited August 16, 2015 by slothgirl

[English Teacher]

I agree that Blake was not treating Swapnil like a subservient, expecting him to set up the machines because he was from another country. I don't fault him for that. I do fault him for such an immature, impatient reaction to someone not understanding an idiom. Don't say it louder, say it differently. And his choice of phrase reveals him to be an a******. He could have just said, "I don't know how to say it differently". When he is doing his talking heads, I find myself channeling Kids in the Hall: "I'm squishing your head!"

[ThatsDarling]

I'm not sure what Meline's dress this week was supposed to be declaring other than "I have ADD", cause to me it was just a hot mess of random pieces of paper stuck together as though the glue leaked on her supplies sitting on a workbench.

 

Now if she'd fashioned some of the paper into the shape of an origami squirrel, THAT would have been "declarative"

Had Merline been evaluated individually and described her look as a reflection on ADD, there's a good chance the judges would have praised it for being personal and "telling a story." ;)

[aradia22]

 

It's early in the process, but Candice, Hanmiao, and Merline have each produced two declarative looks. The others should follow suit, lest their televised showcase end before they give any indication of what they're about as designers.

My recollection is hazy because I can't pay attention when there are this many of them. Last week Candice made a basic black and white striped cocktail dress and this week she made a futuristic silver cocktail dress with weird mismatched boobs that looked like someone else's (possibly her own outfit last week). Last week Hanmiao made a really unflattering 60's maternity dress and housecoat and this week she made an oversized patchwork dress. The only similarity there is that I don't know if she knows how to fit clothes. Last week Merline somehow managed to put together a relatively interesting architectural but relaxed/casual suit. This week I think we can just be glad that it didn't start falling apart on the runway, leaving her model naked. 

Edited August 16, 2015 by aradia22

[kelslamu]

As for Blake, if you have to tell people you are adorable chances are that you aren't.

[millennium]

I thought that was really cute! Her whole concept was the moment you open a card--that's what sending and getting a card is all about.

 

The kid in me wanted to see a long jacket outfit where, when you open it in the front, money falls out.

Edited August 16, 2015 by millennium

[aradia22]

 

Hanmiao has said she doesn't like tight fitting clothes so she purposefully makes items looser.  I don't mind that myself.....I'm tired of everything fitting like a second skin.  I dress for comfort myself (sorry, no amount of stretching material over me like plastic wrap is going to fool anyone into thinking I'm a Heidi lookalike).

Oh, I'm not criticizing her for not making tight cocktail dresses. I'm just saying I don't see a real POV yet. Though I will say that there's a way to make loose, comfortable clothing that's still flattering. Her designs seem kind of stiff now. That's fine for walking down a runway but sit down and you're suddenly a rumpled mess. I do think those big coats and capes in those cone shapes can look nice so I'll be interested to see if she goes in that direction, showing off greater construction skills.

[slensam]

If I never have to hear the words penis or vagina in relation to any of the designs on this show again, it will be too soon. It's about as adorable as Blake.

Also, it just occurred to me that I don't even have any idea what designer's or department store's wall we are using thoughtfully this season to style the models. Anyone?

Yeah, hasn't the statute of limitations run out yet on that being funny. They're like Beavis and Butthead when it comes to penis and vagina.

[Bebecat]

If that moron Blake is emotionally stunted, he should not be with grown-ups. He is an idiot. Probably has some deep-seated issues involving low self-esteem, etc...but acting like a clueless, classless jackass is not really the way to go. Then callng himself "adorable". He has serious problems.

[slensam]

The thing that I noticed during this episode is that the big eyeglass trend must have hit over the past year or so. I don't ever remember so many designers with the big eyeglasses. The night before the show I watched "Big Eyes". Funny to me, at least.

[Diane Mars]

Regarding what Ashley did, am I the only one having thought "Wow ! Give his outfit back to Fred Flintstone " !?!?

Edited August 21, 2015 by Diane Mars

[Wootini]

For all the touting of all the different hair salon products used, most of the models hair looked exactly the same, and most looked terrible, IMO.

 

Yeah. The lead hairstylist is really really cute, so I get distracted when he's describing what they're going to do, but whenever they cut to the photo of the finished hairstyle, I'm like, "Yikes. Good thing you're cute."

 

Also, with regards to the Blake muslin dress issue. I couldn't believe he was in the top because 2/3 of his dress was visibly painted muslin. I naturally assumed that they'd structured it to be 4 on the top and 2 on the bottom because when the judges had their closer look at the dresses, they'd bump Blake to the bottom when they saw how much muslin was visible. But they didn't. They still loved it. *eye roll*

[Qoass]

 

Usually the winner of the first challenge gets the judges' goodwill and skates through the rest of the season. However, by vomiting up with this shitfest, Ashley basically stuck a bulls-eye to her forehead and the judges will auf her at the first available opportunity. Mark my words...

 

I hope not.  Remember Bert?  He made an adorable dress for the first episode, got immunity for unconventional challenges and gleefully sent a piece of crap down the runway.  He lasted much longer than I would have expected.

[Julia]

I hope not.  Remember Bert?  He made an adorable dress for the first episode, got immunity for unconventional challenges and gleefully sent a piece of crap down the runway.  He lasted much longer than I would have expected.

I loved Daniel Esquivel to pieces, and he made some lovely things, but his esthetic was definitely small town Junior League Mother's Day Dinner, and that showed in a lot of the pieces he made after the sculptural suit he won the first challenge with. He was one of the last to go.

[Jextella]

As for Blake, if you have to tell people you are adorable chances are that you aren't.

 

Hysterical and spot on.  I doubt the judges will have patience for it.  They want results. 

[njbchlover]

 

Also, with regards to the Blake muslin dress issue. I couldn't believe he was in the top because 2/3 of his dress was visibly painted muslin. I naturally assumed that they'd structured it to be 4 on the top and 2 on the bottom because when the judges had their closer look at the dresses, they'd bump Blake to the bottom when they saw how much muslin was visible. But they didn't. They still loved it. *eye roll*

 

I haven't watched the episode yet (was away last week), but have looked at the photos of the dresses, and I have a question for all the sewing experts here - is it possible to attach a long zipper to the cardstock, etc., they used for the challenge?  It appears from the photos that Blake's dress has a zipper up the back.

 

I'm not great at using a sewing machine (not bad, but not great), so I would assume that attaching a zipper to card stock/paper would cause the cards to tear or break away.  If that is the case, then it's clear that Blake used mostly muslin for his dress.

[Archery]

As for Ashley, she made a Flintstone dress without armholes and just cutouts at her waist to stick the hands through? What the actual fuck? Usually the winner of the first challenge gets the judges' goodwill and skates through the rest of the season. However, by vomiting up with this shitfest, Ashley basically stuck a bulls-eye to her forehead and the judges will auf her at the first available opportunity. Mark my words...

THIS!  I was trying to figure out what that thing reminded me of!  All it needed was a sad little chest-length necktie. 

Edited August 17, 2015 by Archery

[OakGoblinFly]

Amandas eyebrows bother me. It weirds me out. I am so shallow. I like Joan Cusack a lot, Kelly I think her name is. I don't hate blonde hipster as much as I did last week.

 

 

Is blonde hipster the one who looks like Shelly Long circa Cheers?  Lindsey (I think)?

[roctavia]

I haven't watched the episode yet (was away last week), but have looked at the photos of the dresses, and I have a question for all the sewing experts here - is it possible to attach a long zipper to the cardstock, etc., they used for the challenge?  It appears from the photos that Blake's dress has a zipper up the back.

 

I'm not great at using a sewing machine (not bad, but not great), so I would assume that attaching a zipper to card stock/paper would cause the cards to tear or break away.  If that is the case, then it's clear that Blake used mostly muslin for his dress.

 

 

I feel like in the past, it's never been a problem to use muslin as a base for the unconventional materials- people attaching a million petally things/ feathers to a skirt for example...  though I do think the more creative people get and the less fabric they use, the more I like the looks. But just using some muslin so a zipper can be put in and then covering all of the fabric with unconventional material seems reasonable to me. like in the flower/plant UC material challenge, the moss and flowers needed to be attached to something. I don't think a zipper would sew to well into cards by themselves, but depending on how they were held together- duct tape for example, might go through a machine and hold together...

 

I don't think having a muslin base is inherently breaking the rules... but when your entire look is painted muslin with a few letters/words glued to it, that's not using the UC materials, it's using muslin for your look instead of using it as a support structure... if that makes sense? But we've never been told the official rules, so who knows :P

Wasn't the vagina dress all glued onto muslin?? That dress was so bad, but not because of the color design, but the shape of the dress over all was just so terrible...

[Pepper Mostly]

I agree that Blake was not treating Swapnil like a subservient, expecting him to set up the machines because he was from another country. I don't fault him for that. I do fault him for such an immature, impatient reaction to someone not understanding an idiom. Don't say it louder, say it differently. And his choice of phrase reveals him to be an a******. He could have just said, "I don't know how to say it differently". When he is doing his talking heads, I find myself channeling Kids in the Hall: "I'm squishing your head!"

RIght,thank you, this is more what I was driving at. The first time I watched I thought he said "would you set them up for us?" and not because he thought Swapnil was his inferior or "the help" but because he was being "adorable" and wanted to snap his little fingers and have someone do his bidding. The whole interaction was really uncomfortable, and Blake is the type of insufferable twerp who can never acknowledge that he might have some responsibility for the way others react to him. He's awful and I cannot WAIT to see him go.

[Julia]

RIght,thank you, this is more what I was driving at. The first time I watched I thought he said "would you set them up for us?" and not because he thought Swapnil was his inferior or "the help" but because he was being "adorable" and wanted to snap his little fingers and have someone do his bidding. The whole interaction was really uncomfortable, and Blake is the type of insufferable twerp who can never acknowledge that he might have some responsibility for the way others react to him. He's awful and I cannot WAIT to see him go.

So, if I posit that Blake thinks everyone is there to do his bidding, not just Swapnil - I don't know that it's true, but for the sake of argument - he was being generally rude but not rude specifically because of Swapnil's race. It was, though, clear that Swapnil was offended by it. So, awkward, but when you think you're being darling and it falls flat, you say never mind, or if you're determined to be the alpha bitch of the room, did I stutter? You do not go with You are at fault, foreign person, for you do not understand the language well enough for me to communicate with you.

To use an unrelated example, my office husband is gay, and I'm an aging, broken down female breeder. When the two of us are alone, or in company we're comfortable with, occasionally we make jokes which have one or both of those things as an element, and are, let's say, other than politically correct. We know each other well enough to know what each other are offended by, and we avoid those things, and it works just fine.

Even so, neither of us would go into a professional situation and score points by talking to each other in that vein. Not because (or not just because) it would be ignorant and in horrendous taste, but because we'd each be inviting the people around us to pay into whatever prejudices they have and treat the other differently in a work environment. If you do that, the fact that you don't personally operate out of those prejudices means nothing at all. You went there, and you didn't care what damage came out of it.

Blake sure did go there fast, though. I think it takes way more effort to assume that someone who lives in Los Angeles doesn't realize that nativist insults are a sensitive road to go down than it does to assume that it was exactly what it sounded like.

JMO, obviously.

Edited August 17, 2015 by Julia

[Lurifax]

I suspect the Blake - Shapnil thing was a bit on the lines of my husband in Birmingham, when he ordered a gin and tonic in a pub. Husband is Finnish and speaks BBC English. The girl behind the bar said (in his ears) "Oisenlimininda?" They had a conversation that basically consisted of "what???" and her repeating the question, until I translated her question into "Ice and lemon in that?" Neither was trying to be offensive - it was just an impasse. (But then she didn't say "Sorry, I don't speak Russian")

[English Teacher]

so now that there is clear tension between Blake and Swapnil, will the random matching (I'm being sarcastic) join then as a team in a challenge?

[Pepper Mostly]

So, if I posit that Blake thinks everyone is there to do his bidding, not just Swapnil - I don't know that it's true, but for the sake of argument - he was being generally rude but not rude specifically because of Swapnil's race. It was, though, clear that Swapnil was offended by it. So, awkward, but when you think you're being darling and it falls flat, you say never mind, or if you're determined to be the alpha bitch of the room, did I stutter? You do not go with You are at fault, foreign person, for you do not understand the language well enough for me to communicate with you.

 

yes, I agree. I don't think he started out racist, he started out merely obnoxious. I think he would have said something obnoxious to anyone. But he went from zero to full metal racist really quick. so I think he thinks he can get away with saying "shocking" things, owing to his aforementioned adorableness. which only he seems to recognize. I'm sure we'll get to hear his "adorable" "shocking" "Oh Blake you are so bad!" opinion of all his fellow contestants. And it will be equally uncomfortable each and every time. 

[Jobiska]

Also, with both repeats, Swapnil was walking towards Blake from the sewing room through the crowded and presumably noisy main room.  I don't hear well with ambient noise, even if the person speaks almost exactly like me.  It didn't necessarily have to do with Swapnil not understanding Blake's accent, and certainly not with him not understanding English.  He probably would have heard it the third time when they were within a couple of yards of each other!

[Watt]

Is blonde hipster the one who looks like Shelly Long circa Cheers? Lindsey (I think)?

Yes! Now I want to watch troop Beverly hills

[Muffyn]

Regarding what Ashley did, am I the only one having thought "Wow ! Give his outfick back to Fred Flintstone " !?!?

And now I cannot unsee that.  If only she would have found some Flintstones related accessories.  Send the model out barefoot carrying a stuffed dinosaur and wearing a short neck tie.  

[mansonlamps]

And now I cannot unsee that.  If only she would have found some Flintstones related accessories.  Send the model out barefoot carrying a stuffed dinosaur and wearing a short neck tie.

That is hilarious, I can't believe I didn't see it until it was pointed out to me. Don't forget the chunky bracelet!

[TheLukeP]

Thanks for the clarification, Rahul. I was only half paying attention to the episode so I didn't really register that he said "Indian." Still, I think that's more ignorance than racism. I don't choose to be offended when sometimes talks about speaking Chinese even though there are many different dialects. 

 

There are still too many contestants for anyone to get a lot of screen time. I haven't heard him talk that much so I feel like "fairly fluent" is a fair assessment. And aside from a language issue why would he have had an issue understanding Blake? I've met very smart guys who grew up in India and then came here to study engineering or go to Yale. There's been a verbal comprehension issue. It doesn't mean that someone is not intelligent.

The problem being is that Blake was speaking in colloquialism and was too dumb to be able to rephrase it in a manner that a non-twink person who isn't fluent in slang would be able to understand

[Calamity Jane]

Did anyone else notice the hole above the waistband in the front of Swapnil's garment when they zoomed in for the extreme closeup?

I was quite surprised that we didn't see that gap again, and that nothing was said about it at judging, because to me it looked awful.  The rest was adorable, but that gap really bothered me.

[mansonlamps]

My DVR is recording something called Social Thread: It's all in the cards. I wonder what that's all about, it's listed as new.