S16.E13: Finale, Part 1

[Sprockets]

35 minutes ago, carrps said:

I thank my lucky stars all the time that her life's ambition was to get out of Ohio.

I agree.  I ended up here by choice, after travelling around the world.  

[LennieBriscoe]

I'm sorry, but I'm still perturbed that, in describing regular, normal, age-old common female attire such as turtleneck sweaters; long-sleeved blouses; pants that are full-length and not crop, Capri, Bermuda, or Daisy Dukes; etc.;  people in the Fashion World are trying to categorize and, yes, marginalize such attire with the NEWLY ADDED descriptor "modest."

Now that the temperature is in the 30s where I live,  I suppose I'll don my "modest" winter jacket and my "modest" winter gloves.

I despair that our New Normal is Kardashian. 

[Sprockets]

49 minutes ago, LennieBriscoe said:

people in the Fashion World are trying to categorize and, yes, marginalize such attire with the NEWLY ADDED descriptor "modest."

I don't see that happening.  I think the designation of "modest" implies intent in fashion choice.  I will end up in the same place all winter by wearing layers of sweats, but modesty is not my intent.  

Edited November 12, 2017 by Sprockets
typo

[bitchin camaro]

How many times have we heard Heidi complain that there's not enough skin showing? Not that anyone needs a reason to not be flashing cleavage and legs up to there, but I don't think there was a way around that without Ayana making it clear that that's part of her aesthetic.

[ThinkerBell]

On 09/11/2017 at 10:46 PM, Ms Blue Jay said:

Kentaro is one of the most special contestants the show's had in a while.  Wonderful casting with Kentaro.  Just absolutely appreciate him as a designer and as a personality on the show.

Agreed. I find him absolutely delightful. Some of his Fashion Week pieces are beautiful (not the white dress), and inspired.

Edited November 12, 2017 by ThinkerBell
Because it's late and my sleepy mind tried to convince me that Kentaro was cut along with Kenya.

[bitchin camaro]

Where did he go?

[ThinkerBell]

2 minutes ago, bitchin camaro said:

Where did he go?

Oops, no where. I got so emotionally involved in the deceased cat story, and Kenya's farewell, that I lost track -- thankfully, sweet Kentaro is back next week. The cat, sadly, is not.

[Eulipian 5k]

On 11/10/2017 at 2:31 PM, millennium said:

Rabies is passed on by blood and saliva.   If the dead cat bit you, you might have a problem.

Notional Enquirer headline “Designer bitten by zombie cat. Feels compelled to write morose music “

[anonymiss]

I adore Kentaro's personality and fashion. He is the one who has made garments I covet and see as memorable, beautifully designed fashion. I hate how he is misunderstood because of the cultural and language barrier. He clearly doesn't know how or is not comfortable doing the American custom of making a big speech of how much you want something or putting on a "faking it till you make it" act like what this demands. He doesn't have the arrogance and what would be seen as bad manners to call out his "brother" Judas AKA Brandon for jacking HIS style and not the other way around. I have not been wowed by Brandon's aesthetic because, as others have pointed out, he has jacked Japanese street style but understands how to sell it to American audiences like the judges.

Also agree w/ those few who didn't dislike Kentaro's white outfit also. I think a model like Meisha (who I wish Kentaro could have worked with for this) would have showcased it and suited the high fashion/high concept hair and makeup better, which reminded me of Japanese theatre makeup.

Edited November 12, 2017 by anonymiss

[Wings]

I googled Japanese street style and it is nothing anywhere near what Btandon does! 

Edited November 12, 2017 by wings707

[Desert Rat]

On 11/10/2017 at 7:42 PM, TwirlyGirly said:

 

Kentaro said he was inspired by the sounds he heard after he buried the cat. So, are we really sure it was dead when he buried it?

Kentaro's song sounded like a dying cat, or one that could kill a cat.  Poor Tim, he looked like his ears were bleeding from the awfulness of it all. 

Who brings home a dead, feral cat for burial, anyway? And then admits it in on national tv?  Very bizarre behavior.  Maybe that's okay in Japan or San Francisco, but where I live you have to call animal control to properly dispose of, feral cats. Backyard burial can cause heath risks because other animals could dig up the corpus, etc.

Edited November 12, 2017 by Desert Rat
Animal control, not poison control..

[Guest]

I didn't picture him as bringing it home but burying it in place.   

I called Animal Control once to ask them to pick up a dead cat in the street in front of my house.   They said, "We're busy and it's a Friday afternoon before a three day weekend.  Can you just throw it in your trash?"   I said I was more concerned with an owner wanting record of it found dead.  She said "they'll figure it out".   So I shoveled it into a trash bag and tossed it out before all the neighborhood kids had to see it.  Blech.  

[Spunkygal]

32 minutes ago, Winston9-DT3 said:

I didn't picture him as bringing it home but burying it in place.   

I called Animal Control once to ask them to pick up a dead cat in the street in front of my house.   They said, "We're busy and it's a Friday afternoon before a three day weekend.  Can you just throw it in your trash?"   I said I was more concerned with an owner wanting record of it found dead.  She said "they'll figure it out".   So I shoveled it into a trash bag and tossed it out before all the neighborhood kids had to see it.  Blech.  

Wow, I think I would have reported that to not only the supervisor but to the health department and to my city council person. You didn't say if the cat had been either hit by a car or attacked by another animal, but if neither of those situations apply, it may have had a disease. And it is the responsibility of animal control to responsibly dispose of dead animals. Finally, I am assuming your tax dollars support animal control....that is the case in my town. What a lazy, irresponsible, cavalier attitude by animal control.

[Sprockets]

1 hour ago, Desert Rat said:

Maybe that's okay in Japan or San Francisco. . .

It's not okay in either of those places, or anywhere.  

[Sprockets]

27 minutes ago, Spunkygal said:

You didn't say if the cat had been either hit by a car or attacked by another animal, but if neither of those situations apply, it may have had a disease. And it is the responsibility of animal control to responsibly dispose of dead animals. Finally, I am assuming your tax dollars support animal control....that is the case in my town. What a lazy, irresponsible, cavalier attitude by animal control.

Um, I live in rural America, where no one one cares.  While the idea of having a little funeral for a stray animal and then writing music about it borders on craycray, out here if something bothers you, you deal with it yourself.  Since moving here ten years ago, we have had to tackle a dead fawn, dead coyote pup, several dead rabbits, a partial rabbit stored by something in our mulch pile, and a raccoon head - just the head - left by a predator in the middle of our driveway.  When I say "we," of course I mean Mr. Sprockets, because I'm not going near that shit.  

Edited November 12, 2017 by Sprockets

[Empress1]

On 11/9/2017 at 10:31 PM, DasFlavorPup said:

There is no damn reason this episode couldn't be 90 minutes.  If I have to watch that Oscar Pistorius movie promo or that stupid "I will survive" parody commercial one more time...

I watched my recording yesterday and got through it in 40 minutes or so because I fast-forwarded through SO MUCH FILLER.

I loved Kentaro's peach/pink outfit. I would prefer it in a bolder color, but I loved the look. Those pants from Margarita ... oy. Never in this world would I wear them.

Was Kenya's model in the black dress going braless? It bothered me for some reason. I felt like it messed with the look of the dress.

[AZChristian]

1 hour ago, Empress1 said:

Was Kenya's model in the black dress going braless? It bothered me for some reason. I felt like it messed with the look of the dress.

It also didn't help that her "fashion walk" could best be described as "schlumping along" with her hands in her pockets.  A very discordant note on the runway.

Honestly, she looked like an attendee at the show who was going back to her seat after a potty break and inadvertently got on the runway as a shortcut.  

Edited November 12, 2017 by AZChristian
Additional thought.

[dleighg]

1 hour ago, Empress1 said:

Was Kenya's model in the black dress going braless? It bothered me for some reason. I felt like it messed with the look of the dress.

yeah, that really damaged the effect IMHO. Her boobs were very droopy.

[leighdear]

15 hours ago, LennieBriscoe said:

I despair that our New Normal is Kardashian. 

Have you seen Ariel Winter, the young lady from "Modern Family" lately?  Christ on a cracker, the term sleazy doesn't even come close. 

Brandon will be forever in my heart for using flamingo fabric.  As a 4th generation Floridian, it was flattering that he saw the beauty in our beloved, spindly bird.   I'm assuming that Liris will be his model for that demo outfit during the fashion week show, and the other model for the shirt dress.  Are they using the same PR episode models for the Fashion Week runway?  I'd think they'd have to, as the fitting on all the different sizes needs to be so custom, especially for the larger models.  Have they addressed that and my brain just blanked it out?

[bitchin camaro]

I found it a bit odd that they kept harping on Margarita for being "too Miami" when the golden child has a whole collection of flamingo print - that's as Miami as it gets. 

[Sprockets]

1 minute ago, bitchin camaro said:

 

I found it a bit odd that they kept harping on Margarita for being "too Miami"

 

By "too Miami" in regard to Margaritas ghastly fantasyfuck nightmare, they meant vile, cheap, disco, bad acid trip.  And no one in Miami has dressed like that since the 70s.  Or maybe ever.  

[bitchin camaro]

2 minutes ago, Sprockets said:

By "too Miami" in regard to Margaritas ghastly fantasyfuck nightmare, they meant vile, cheap, disco, bad acid trip.  And no one in Miami has dressed like that since the 70s.  Or maybe ever.  

Oh, I know what they meant. It sounded really condescending to me (not a Miamian.) 

[dleighg]

1 minute ago, bitchin camaro said:

Oh, I know what they meant. It sounded really condescending to me (not a Miamian.) 

yeah, it's like, "please try and be more classy, like all of us stylish people who live in NYC and know what tastefulness is all about". From the woman who wore a life sized astronaut on her dress a few weeks ago. 

[Brookside]

[leighdear]

Wow, Heidi is looking rough.  That outfit looks like a morning after walk-of-shame in progress.  All she needs is a purse with a pair of wadded up panties in it.  Those visible clavicles and bony arms are doing her no favors.  I think she would look so much younger if she actually put a few pounds ON.  And that too-long hairstyle isn't cutting it anymore.  She can't go back to 28, no matter how hard she tries. 

[DragonFlyzz]

On 11/10/2017 at 8:08 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I hated Brandon's flamingo print. I also hated the top he put on Liris. It was SO unflattering on her, especially when paired with those pants. The top looked poorly constructed, like something a kid who just learned how to sew would make. The skirt on his other model looked like a shapeless bib. All the things he said he wanted his collection to be (fun, flirty, sexy, and cute), I didn't see. It looked like Maria from the Sound of Music repurposed tacky curtains from a cheap motel in Florida for the Von Trapp kids and she added a bunch of dangly straps in case she needed to tie them to trees to keep them from running off.

 

Hahaha.  That's snort worthy. 

[pinguina]

52 minutes ago, Brookside said:

Isn't this "too matchy, matchy" said in HEIDI KLUM voice?

Gold color from top to bottom - They ream designers who do this to their models.

[Kristimar]

4 hours ago, wings707 said:

I googled Japanese street style and it is nothing anywhere near what Btandon does! 

I agree.  I even checked the 2016 Japanese street style.  I took another look at Brandon's 2016 AAU collection and saw several photos of dangling laces, so it appears to me this aesthetic has been with him for a while. 

Here is a link to a GQ article re: the 2017 fall-winter collection focusing on 'hanging straps':

https://www.gq.com/story/straps-fashion-week-trend

[TwirlyGirly]

17 minutes ago, Kristimar said:

I agree.  I even checked the 2016 Japanese street style.  I took another look at Brandon's 2016 AAU collection and saw several photos of dangling laces, so it appears to me this aesthetic has been with him for a while. 

Here is a link to a GQ article re: the 2017 fall-winter collection focusing on 'hanging straps':

https://www.gq.com/story/straps-fashion-week-trend

I use a manual wheelchair for mobility full time. I can just see any dangling straps on my garment getting hopelessly wrapped around the axels of my back wheels, making me literally "confined to a wheelchair*."

*A commonly-used - but wholly inaccurate - phrase which irritates the hell out of me, BTW, because I cannot walk and thus would be "confined" without my wheelchair!

[carrps]

43 minutes ago, pinguina said:

Isn't this "too matchy, matchy" said in HEIDI KLUM voice?

Gold color from top to bottom - They ream designers who do this to their models.

EXACTLY what I said! Did Brandon design this for her???

[Desert Rat]

4 hours ago, Empress1 said:

 

Was Kenya's model in the black dress going braless? It bothered me for some reason. I felt like it messed with the look of the dress.

Exactly, girls over an A cup need a bra, otherwise they look sloppy and droopy and are probably uncomfortable.  

[rhys]

I used to watch "say yes to the dress" & Brandon's waistlines remind me of what they called crumb catchers on that show.

[Sprockets]

3 hours ago, bitchin camaro said:

It sounded really condescending to me (not a Miamian.) 

It did, but Heidi couldn't say "fantasyfuck nightmare."

2 hours ago, leighdear said:

Those visible clavicles. . .

That's an entire rib cage.  She had better stay away from barbecue parties.  

[anonymiss]

7 hours ago, wings707 said:

I googled Japanese street style and it is nothing anywhere near what Btandon does! 

As an Asian person, I've seen his aesthetic all my life. It's the layering and the mixed proportions and how he puts them together. Maybe his Asian girlfriend contributes to that influence, also.

[Sprockets]

58 minutes ago, anonymiss said:

I've seen his aesthetic all my life.

As have I.  Who has not?  

[Desert Rat]

4 hours ago, leighdear said:

Wow, Heidi is looking rough.  That outfit looks like a morning after walk-of-shame in progress.  All she needs is a purse with a pair of wadded up panties in it.  Those visible clavicles and bony arms are doing her no favors.  I think she would look so much younger if she actually put a few pounds ON.  And that too-long hairstyle isn't cutting it anymore.  She can't go back to 28, no matter how hard she tries. 

I agree with all that, BUT her legs look fantastic. 

[thosme]

Weren't all or most of the designs preferred by the judges on the thinner model of each designer?  It might just mean they are easier to fit or that they preferred the thinner model?

[Oldernowiser]

Every time I see Brandon’s strap thingies flailing around I think of Isadora Duncan...that did NOT go well for her.

[Wings]

1 hour ago, bencr said:

I wonder if the J.C Penney design wall has a basket of fruit with a chin strap.

Nope, Ashley cleaned out JC Penny's supply a couple of years ago. 

[hoodooznoodooz]

Tim looked enraged that Kenya was leaving. I think he wanted the judges to send Kentaro home.  

[hoodooznoodooz]

I loved the white dress Heidi was wearing when she explained the $10K budget, etc., to the designers. Was that a Chanel from a decade ago? The most tasteful thing she has ever worn. 

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Oldernowiser said:

Every time I see Brandon’s strap thingies flailing around I think of 

I think of a straightjacket.  

[Ms Blue Jay]

7 hours ago, Desert Rat said:

I agree with all that, BUT her legs look fantastic. 

She looks incredible.  If I looked like that I'd dress like that regardless of age.

[Miss Ruth]

6 hours ago, Winston9-DT3 said:

I think of a straightjacket.  

 

Edited November 13, 2017 by Miss Ruth

[hoodooznoodooz]

It saddens me that Kentaro did not introduce Tim to a best friend or someone important in his life. 

Way too much flamingo print, Brandon. 

The dresses that Ayana considered presenting look so heavy-- I kept thinking, "There's just soooo much fabric."

[dleighg]

2 hours ago, hoodooznoodooz said:

The dresses that Ayana considered presenting look so heavy-- I kept thinking, "There's just soooo much fabric."

I was surprised that the models (apparently) were terribly disappointed not to get to wear those things. I thought they looked like the prairie dresses (amped up) that were popular when I was a teenager in the 70s.

[Lady Iris]

I've been quibbling with a coworker about Brandon's work. I keep saying if you like crop tops and straps galore he's your guy. I don't get his bland color aesthetic. My favorite thing from him was the unconventional challenge with the safety stuff and he made that really cool colorful outfit.

I loved some of Kentaro's earlier work but he's gotten lost along the way for me. At this point I'm rooting for Ayana.

[PamelaMaeSnap]

On November 12, 2017 at 11:15 AM, AZChristian said:

It also didn't help that her "fashion walk" could best be described as "schlumping along" with her hands in her pockets.  A very discordant note on the runway

EXACTLY!!!!! I think I even thought the word "schlumping" while I was watching it! I don't know if that hurt Kenya at all but it really jumped out at me how much her model just kinda blew chunks there. It looked like she'd rather be anywhere else in the world rather than trying to rock it.

[phantom]

I was really sad Kentaro had no one with him for the "home" visit. I can only hope it was his choice not to have a friend there or his family via video. Made for an odd and somber visit, even without the cat story (either he and Tim had a good laugh off-camera about it or it was some metaphor I wasn't familiar with) and the music he composed. 

My theory is that Brandon picked that print as a deliberate provocation to see if there was any possible way for the judges to dislike what he makes. 

During the first episode of each season my husband and I pick a designer to root for. I picked Margarita, mostly because I knew she would not design endless black outfits. I haven't liked everything she has made (or everything she has said) but appreciate that she made it to fashion week. Why "too Miami" has been used as a derogatory comment over and over about her looks makes no sense to me. Give me some joyful clothes any day of the week. I do agree that she is not particularly "innovative" or "fresh," at least in the way PR uses these terms.

The debate over the "modest" label here has been interesting. I tend to think that Ayana uses it both as a way to reinforce her distinct point of view (something the judges always want) and to set the stage for her future business and marketing efforts. I don't see this as endorsement of an oppressive dress code demanded by men - she is a divorced woman appearing on a reality competition show with hopes of starting/running her own business, for crying out loud. I'm not sure she has been shown referencing anything overtly religious beyond identifying as a Muslim. She is smart to set herself up as a one-stop shop for those to whom her aesthetic appeals for whatever reason. Having her and Brandon on the show in the same season has been a breath of fresh air in an increasingly tired program.

[ichbin]

1 hour ago, PamelaMaeSnap said:

EXACTLY!!!!! I think I even thought the word "schlumping" while I was watching it! I don't know if that hurt Kenya at all but it really jumped out at me how much her model just kinda blew chunks there. It looked like she'd rather be anywhere else in the world rather than trying to rock it.

There is a video in the FW thread showing her walking, and "schlumping" it is.  It does look, however, like some kind of shoe issue could have been responsible, almost like she was afaid of a heel snapping off if she weren't careful.  When a model walks with their hands in their pockets, isn't it usually at the direction of the designer?