S07.E03: Buckle Up!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

Season winners face the dreaded unconventional challenge on board an airplane; Tamron Hall and Martha Hunt guest judge.

Original air date: 1/16/19

Edited January 10, 2019 by ElectricBoogaloo

[Nidratime]

I thought the Australian woman's look was so uninspiring, so uninteresting, I was shocked she was kept and Seth Aaron was booted. She's never going to get interesting, while Seth Aaron has potential to dazzle and his look definitely had more potential than that boring blue and white outfit.

As for the winners, I would've chosen Michelle's over Irina's. The former looked more like an actual outfit someone could wear. The latter was a little short and stiff. (Ahem.)

[Wandering Snark]

24 minutes ago, Nidratime said:

As for the winners, I would've chosen Michelle's over Irina's.

Well since they were supposed "travel" outfits I feel that, again, neither hit the challenge (I again yelled 'That is NOT a Dress!!' upon reviewing last weeks 'winner') as neither could possibly sit down in their respective looks. But oh well. I'd have given it to Jasper, eventhough admittedly you could sit down in it but then not get up again. Hmm.

Fairly ho-hum runway imo but maybe it's another signal of a show grown past it's freshness date when the 'unconventional challenge' brings no new ideas and fails to deliver anything inspiring.

And as it turns out, randomly gluing sunglass lenses to a basic shell will not even put you in the bottom so I'm out of sync with the judging overall. At least they didn't give Seth-Aaron a 'pass' just because he's a double winner and could design circles around most out there... it was a bit refreshing to see an international designer survive a cut.

Edited January 17, 2019 by Wandering Snark

[Straycat80]

I’m always amazed how these people can take a bunch of crap and make something beautiful. But, like they keep saying, they are all-stars.

none of the designs were travel wear. I guess it was fair to send Seth Aaron home, his designs looked thrown together, and not too well. I didn’t like the Australian designers look either but it at least some shape to it.

I like the top three designs but I thought Jasper’s should have won, I thought it was more classy looking. 

I thought Alyssa looked very nice nice again. Two weeks in a row! 

[LennieBriscoe]

Count me in the "Jasper Wuz Robbed" brigade. The beautiful ombre effect, his thoughtfulness about his artistic inspirations, and that the finished outfit looked nothing like the original objects are my reasons. 

Seth Aaron should have known better than to keep the seatbelts as seatbelts. 

As for the "prom dress" designer's transforming a blue safety vest into a....blue vest? Soon to follow Seth Aaron, I'm betting.

Edited January 17, 2019 by LennieBriscoe

[lyric]

I thought Seth Aaron's look was shockingly bad. Even worse, he thought it was good.

[GaT]

I feel like I'm living in a bizarro universe, third episode in & Alyssa still looks good!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I love the unconventional material challenges because I always think someone is going to make something like we saw in the earlier seasons (I still remember Chloe's leaf dress).

It annoys me that the show goes back and forth between "don't be lazy and use materials that are similar to fabric" and "feel free to use materials that are similar to fabric." I also don't love when the designers don't transform the materials and we end up with a bunch of crap glues to muslin.

When I saw the two guys in air traffic outfits flanking the stage, all I could think about was how past designers have said that they film the runway show at least twice. I wonder how long those two guys had to just stand there in those outfits.

Ha, I had to laugh when I saw Anya's dress because this is right up her alley - a dress you don't have to sew! While I appreciate how colorful her dress was and how she used the paper ticket holders to create different patterns, I hated the shape of the top. Her model looked like a fucking linebacker. Where are Michael Kors and Nina Garcia when you need them to remind the designers that people don't want clothes that make them look twice as big as they actually are?

Cynthia's blue and green luggage strap dress was so pretty. The colors were vibrant and I loved the way she used the colors together to make a pattern. I liked that her dress didn't look like it was made from unconventional materials. It looked like a regular dress you could find at a store. Even though it wasn't super tight, it didn't look stiff or unnatural.

Django's black and white dress turned out much better than I thought it would. He was complaining so much in the workroom that I thought he was going to end up stapling some bags to muslin and call it a day. I liked the ruffles he made out of the air sickness bags and the black was a nice contrast. The only thing I didn't like was the green strap.

Evan's skirt made of peanut bags looked fine from a distance, but I was sure that the judges would criticize him for just gluing bags to a very simple short skirt. The black top made of seatbelts was really great though.

Michelle's red reflector dress was way too basic. She smashed plastic and glued it to muslin. The fact that she said someone else's design was too simple made me roll my eyes. Your dress is like the definition of basic, you delusional hypocrite!

Seth Aaron's seatbelt dress was terrible. You can't just take the raw materials, drape them on your model, and be done with it. Did he ever say what the red material underneath the seatbelts was?

I liked Julie's dress. The white ruffled airsick bag skirt was cute and I liked the top she made out of the royal blue safety vest. It definitely didn't look like it was made out of unconventional materials. As for the silhouette not being innovative, I don't think it's fair to single her out for that (MICHELLE) since most of the other pieces were basic shapes too. At least she managed to make something that looked like clothes.

Christina's billboard dress and jacket was another good use of materials. It looked like regular streetwear, not something from an unconventional material challenge. I know we always end up with something woven in these challenges, but I liked the blue pop of color.

Jasper's paper cup and airsick bag dress was great. He really transformed his materials. To me, that is the point of the unconventional materials challenge - to make people do a double take because they couldn't tell that it wasn't just made of regular fabric. From a distance, it looked like a very chic dress. Up close, it was more obvious that it wasn't all soft material, but I'm okay with that. I did feel bad for his model when he was micromanaging her walk. And when he told her to put her knees together like a lady, I was like oh no he didn't!

When Sean said he was going to use the lenses from the sunglasses like paillettes, I thought he was going to layer a bunch of them which would have been a really cool effect. But no. Just like last week with his stupid tassels, he decided to just space a few out. His dress was terrible. Whoever said it looked like a sunglass rack was correct. It reminded me of those cheap shoe racks with clear plastic pockets that you hang on your closet door.

Dmitry's black dress made of sleep masks was fine. I didn't love it and I didn't hate it. I liked the layered look he used on the front.

Irina's shiny red paper cup dress was way too stiff. I didn't understand why the judges loved it so much.

Anthony Ryan's blue billboard jumpsuit looked like exactly what it was from the front. He should have put those peanut bags on the front for more color. Putting them on the back was a waste to me.

I was really surprised that the judges eliminated Seth Aaron. I thought he'd be around until the end. I'm fine with it though because his design was really terrible. I just could not with his "I'm honoring the original materials" crap.

[NowVoyager]

The first rule of Fight Club the Unconventional Materials Challenge is to transform the material into a new textile. 

Seth Aaron gave the judges a pat excuse for eliminating him & he knew better. 

Jasper's outfit was the clear winner for me. That Jackson Pollock shirt was gorgeous. I'll have to go back & see how he managed to use 70 airsick bags. His model was a champ with his instructions & everything. She's one of my favorites from this & previous seasons. I also like Meisha (?) & that icy, Hitchcock blonde.

[FormerMod-a1]

Sean's reminded me of a barrel with straps on someone, like you see in the cartoons.

[Surrealist]

3 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Irina's shiny red paper cup dress was way too stiff. I didn't understand why the judges loved it so much.

I didn't care for her dress either. I didn't understand the judges' love for it. 

Jasper should have won the challenge. 

Also, once he said he had never done an unconventional materials challenge, I knew he would wind up in the top three. 

I like Seth Aaron, but hated his dress and believe he was the right choice to go home. 

Although I think I would have preferred a double elimination because Sean's was crap. I've hated his aesthetic since he won his season. 

[Maya]

I can’t believe the little jacket that zipped up and had a hood wasn’t in top! 

[rlc]

Jasper was robbed.

Does anyone think there’s any chance they will allow anyone who wasn’t on the American franchise of this show to ultimately win this thing?

[BlackberryJam]

I like Seth Aaron, but on the runway, I kept expecting him to invite me to board his yacht. What was with that neckerchief?

His dress was truly terrible. He needed to sew those seat belts together, take off the clasps and re-position them, transform them into something else. Instead, we got seat belt car wash. He knows better. I almost felt like he was tanking it.

Michelle's dress was pretty...but basic. So basic. The Australian designer's was just as basic but less pretty. Irina's looked like a mess to me.

[BusyOctober]

As much as I dislike Michelle, I'll give her props for an amazing, pretty dress.  The "silhouette" wasn't anything new, but it just looked high-end, complete and fashionable.  I also think (aside from Seth Aaron), this group really did a great job of transforming the materials.  I wasn't paying close attention to what materials they each grabbed in the first half, so when the finished designs "walked", I had no idea what the original materials were for some of the designs.  And everyone (aside from Seth Aaron and Julie a little bit) did transform what they had.

Since I wasn't paying attention...did Anya actually sew hers or was it all just glued together?

[Shenanigan]

28 minutes ago, BlackberryJam said:

I like Seth Aaron, but on the runway, I kept expecting him to invite me to board his yacht. What was with that neckerchief?

Ha! Good one.

Am I crazy, though...I could swear in one of those montages of upcoming scenes throughout the season I saw Seth Aaron having some sort of tiff with Michelle. And that hasn't happened yet. So I was really suprised he was the elimated one. Maybe it was just editing shenanigans and they never bothered airing that argument, I guess.

I wanted Jasper to win because I'm already tired of the super-short skirts/dresses that a person can't even begin to sit down in. His at least was a decent length. Michelle's was pretty and not *too* short, but it would have been hell on the ass to sit on all that broken plastic, I imagine.

Edited January 17, 2019 by Shenanigan

[SHD]

23 minutes ago, Shenanigan said:

Am I crazy, though...I could swear in one of those montages of upcoming scenes throughout the season I saw Seth Aaron having some sort of tiff with Michelle. And that hasn't happened yet. So I was really suprised he was the elimated one. Maybe it was just editing shenanigans and they never bothered airing that argument, I guess.

 

Well, if you saw that (I don't watch the season previews, so don't know if that happened), then one of three things (that I can think of) happened. 

1) That bit didn't make the final cut of the show, as you said

2) Michelle makes it to the end and has Seth Aaron as the returning helper for the finale, who she then argues with

3) There's some kind of twist where a booted designer gets to come back, and Seth Aaron wins it

[Calamity Jane]

3 hours ago, aquarian1 said:

Sean's reminded me of a barrel with straps on someone, like you see in the cartoons.

 

Thank you! I knew it reminded me of something but couldn't come up with it.  That's it, exactly!  

[Aulty]

That challenge should forever be sponsored by a glue gun company.

7 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Michelle's red reflector dress was way too basic. She smashed plastic and glued it to muslin. The fact that she said someone else's design was too simple made me roll my eyes. Your dress is like the definition of basic, you delusional hypocrite!

Yeah, I thought the exact same thing. It was the same as AR's bird feed dress in S9 - basic shape, stick a lot of stuff on it so you can't see the muslin. bob's your uncle.

I am, on principle, routing for all the internationals, but Australian lady's dress was fug. She should've gone home, and I have to agree with @Nidratime that Seth Aaron probably has more interesting looks left in him for this competition.

I'm ok with Irina winning, her bag was great - as was Cynthia's with the big fringe.

[Jextella]

Voice of 1, but I liked Seth Aaron's dress and I like that he used seatbelts.

The women with the sick bag dress should have gone.  All she showed was the ability to use the material. The dress was boring and flat.

I feel Seth Aaron's dress was a new way of looking at clothing and should have even won - or come close.

[Surrealist]

32 minutes ago, Jextella said:

Voice of 1, but I liked Seth Aaron's dress and I like that he used seatbelts.

The women with the sick bag dress should have gone.  All she showed was the ability to use the material. The dress was boring and flat.

I feel Seth Aaron's dress was a new way of looking at clothing and should have even won - or come close.

I usually like Seth Aaron's aesthetic, but I just didn't care for this dress. Also, I felt like, ultimately, he didn't care. Maybe he was like, screw this shit and put what he did together.

[meep.meep]

All I could think about Seth Aaron's dress was how painful it must be for the model to walk along with the seatbelt clasps banging against her knees and legs.  How ugly!  If they had aufed the Australian over that, I was going to quit the show.  It was his time.

There were a lot of great looks - I think Irina really won for the bag.  And did it ever get made and sold?

[SuprSuprElevated]

13 hours ago, lyric said:

I thought Seth Aaron's look was shockingly bad. Even worse, he thought it was good.

Exactly.  His face read "you must be joking", upon hearing that he'd been aufed.  Unrelated...this is the first episode of season 7 that I have watched in entirety, and I will chime in with the Dimitri botched his face crowd.  Why in hell?  

[Sew Sumi]

1 hour ago, meep.meep said:

All I could think about Seth Aaron's dress was how painful it must be for the model to walk along with the seatbelt clasps banging against her knees and legs.  How ugly!  If they had aufed the Australian over that, I was going to quit the show.  It was his time.

There were a lot of great looks - I think Irina really won for the bag.  And did it ever get made and sold?

Nothing was ever made/sold by JCP. 

[meep.meep]

These were supposed to be sold, for charity, by Southwest Airlines.

[sara416]

My thoughts on why an American won this one instead of the clearly better Jasper: Southwest airlines doesn't fly internationally, other than to a few countries in the Caribbean. So Jasper, if he is still living in his home country (is it England? I can't remember), it would not be good PR for Southwest and the flights would be less likely to get used. Much like they sometimes will have someone win because their outfit is easier to produce when the prize is that it will go into production, I think this winner was determined by the prize instead of by the actual best look. 

[Cyranetta]

I'm already tired of Michelle's being the designated shade-thrower. Particularly with this kind of challenge I wish they would give the time over to how various contestants are solving their materials problems instead of TH's of contestants critiquing each other. I don't care what any of them think about their competitors' work.

[joanne3482]

It looks like this one really did happen. How had I already forgotten Irena won? 

[tinapova]

Well how 'bout that you can actually buy a version of Irina's purse:  https://www.rethreaded.com/pages/rethreadedxsouthwest     

I was surprised that Seth Aaron was auffed (not that I thought he should stay).  They have a history of keeping "creative" over boring and I had just been thinking if the bottom two is one person they know from the US show and another they're not familiar with of course they're going to keep the US participant.  Color me surprised.  

I was disappointed the outfit with the hoodie jacket wasn't top 3.  That was probably my favorite.  You know if that was Anthony Ryan's it would have won! :-)

[Wandering Snark]

6 hours ago, Shenanigan said:

Michelle's was pretty and not *too* short, but it would have been hell on the ass to sit on all that broken plastic, I imagine.

I'm going to use the phrase "hell on the ass" for all ill-fitting crazy designs from now on! Love it.

4 hours ago, meep.meep said:

All I could think about Seth Aaron's dress was how painful it must be for the model to walk along with the seatbelt clasps banging against her knees and legs.

I thought that row of clasps was about he only creative part of the whole thing. If he'd done those that lined up maybe diagonally across the chest? They'd have been raving about it I'd guess. But he really just did just throw it together and think it was good enough to be a double winner to get him by with near-zero effort. He was wrong.

12 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Ha, I had to laugh when I saw Anya's dress because this is right up her alley - a dress you don't have to sew!

I thought that exact thing, another free pass week for her. If only she could staple glue and drape everything she'd be fine.

12 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I did feel bad for his [Jasper's] model when he was micromanaging her walk. And when he told her to put her knees together like a lady, I was like oh no he didn't!

Yeah that was bad. That's a situation of you design/create let the model do her job which is to model. I mean "Okay I want fierce and futuristic with an attitude!" or the approximate is fine but the micromanaging and the 'like a lady' was not cool. He still should have won though.

[TallulahBelle]

Biased Australian Opinion but I can't believe that Christina's gorgeous little jacket combo wasn't in the top and didn't win - it was perfect travel wear, it was cute as hell and you could sell it so easily.   Irina's dress was much better than last week's awful piece but for the second week in a row I do not understand the judges choices.

[Sew Sumi]

3 hours ago, meep.meep said:

These were supposed to be sold, for charity, by Southwest Airlines.

I'd forgotten that bit, thanks. Has anyone tweeted Southwest,  as was done with JCP, to get a response?

[SuprSuprElevated]

13 minutes ago, Sew Sumi said:

I'd forgotten that bit, thanks. Has anyone tweeted Southwest,  as was done with JCP, to get a response?

^scroll up^

[Ms Blue Jay]

11 hours ago, Maya said:

I can’t believe the little jacket that zipped up and had a hood wasn’t in top! 

That, and the person who used the airsick bags to do the beautiful coat thing -- Those were the looks that really stood out to me - but the fucking jacket with the hood!  Holy mother of god!  It looked like she purchased it.  Are the judges so dumb that they don't realize she actually made that?

Whatever, these contests are soooooooo rigged anyways.  The best design never wins, and the worst design never goes home.

Edited January 18, 2019 by Ms Blue Jay

[Sew Sumi]

33 minutes ago, SuprSuprElevated said:

^scroll up^

So, Irina made a purse for Southwest? I don't see that her dress was auctioned for charity. 

[TiredMe]

I’m disappointed Seth Aaron is gone but dayum that dress was hideous. Count me as one who wanted the jacket hoodie thing in the top. I also though Anthony Ryan’s ugly blue jumper was skimming the bottom.

[SuprSuprElevated]

32 minutes ago, Sew Sumi said:

So, Irina made a purse for Southwest? I don't see that her dress was auctioned for charity. 

As I understood it, the dress was originally going to be used as "inspiration" for a garment to be sold by JCP, and the accessory (in this case purse) was to be sold by Southwest with the proceeds to be used for a charity.  We know the JCP thing didn't happen (perhaps because of the 2-yr gap in airing the show?).

[Sew Sumi]

How did I miss the part about it being the accessory? I guess that goes to show how much attention I actually pay to this iteration of the show. I hope Biddell takes it all. 

[violet and green]

I am not disappointed Seth Aaron went - but I am quite shocked. Not as shocked as he looked. Poor fella went all green around the gills with stress when he landed in the bottom three. Quite yellow of cheek when booted out.

I was certain that they'd auf Julie (cue lots of "you're going to boot her out and keep Seth aren't you, you bastards" at the TV), for her somewhat dull and yet elegant design -  certainly not atrocious as Anya's paper poncho and ugly skirt look, or as dull as Anthony Ryan's banal boilersuit, for that matter - so that was a pleasant surprise.

[Wandering Snark]

3 hours ago, Sew Sumi said:

How did I miss the part about it being the accessory?

Yeah it was laid out for us when they were sitting on the plane to nowhere. Southwest have repurposed the leather from their old seats etc. into leather goods and sell them online, I forget though what the catchword they used was.

Edited January 18, 2019 by Wandering Snark

[bobbyjoe]

Quote

I'm already tired of Michelle's being the designated shade-thrower. Particularly with this kind of challenge I wish they would give the time over to how various contestants are solving their materials problems instead of TH's of contestants critiquing each other. I don't care what any of them think about their competitors' work.

Exactly— last week I wrote that I hoped and prayed the show wouldn’t go back to the way they used Michelle in her season as the endless commentator, cutting to her saying nasty things every time somebody sewed on a button or sneezed.

This week’s episode didn’t give me much hope in that department:  there was already a lot of “so and so just added a zipper, let’s see what Michelle has to say about it” type of stuff going on.  It also doesn’t give me confidence that Michelle’s fine but definitely not top three design got so many oooos and ahhhs from the judges, since that’s the kind of stuff PR starts to do for people they really, really want to keep on because they think they’re good drama.  

I’m not sure which producer or producers once again think Michelle’s tedious and tired mean girl act makes for constantly riveting and fascinating TV, but whoever it is ought to be sentenced for all time to some kind of television jail.

[SnarkyTart]

I loved Jasper's dress. His design was, imo, the best example of the spirit of an unconventional materials challenge...to turn weird things into a semblance of fabric and end up with a fashionable, artistic-looking design that could actually be seen on a runway. He was robbed!

Christina's zip-up hoodie was wonderful, and she should have easily been in the Top 2.  The show spent so little focus on her in the workroom that I don't even know what her unconventional materials were.  But that jacket flat out looked like something found in the athleisure wear section of an upscale dept store. It was the only piece on the runway that looked like actual travel wear.

The blue and green diagonal patterened dress (can't remember the designer's name) should have joined Jasper and Christina in the Top 3.

Oh, Seth Aaron, you are so much better than this, darling.  The only explanation that satisfies me is that you wanted to go home, so you made it impossible for the judges not to send you there.

This was, for me, a good episode with horrible judging.

[izabella]

1 hour ago, Wandering Snark said:

Yeah it was laid out for us when they were sitting on the plane to nowhere. Southwest have repurposed the leather from their old seats etc. into leather goods and sell them online, I forget though what the catchword they used was.

I think they called it upcycling.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

54 minutes ago, SnarkyTart said:

Christina's zip-up hoodie was wonderful, and she should have easily been in the Top 2.  The show spent so little focus on her in the workroom that I don't even know what her unconventional materials were. 

It was made of a billboard. I only found that out when her model was walking down the runway and they included that information in the chyron because I'm 99% sure that we didn't hear that information during the workroom segments with Christina. We barely saw her (presumably because she was working and not being a drama queen).

[SuprSuprElevated]

6 hours ago, Wandering Snark said:

Yeah it was laid out for us when they were sitting on the plane to nowhere. Southwest have repurposed the leather from their old seats etc. into leather goods and sell them online, I forget though what the catchword they used was.

"Upcycled".  <eyeroll>

[Maya]

7 hours ago, SnarkyTart said:

Oh, Seth Aaron, you are so much better than this, darling.  The only explanation that satisfies me is that you wanted to go home, so you made it impossible for the judges not to send you there.

I am such a skeptic that I wonder if he only had a three-episode contract or something. I just can’t believe they’d send their golden boy home so soon. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

9 hours ago, Wandering Snark said:

Yeah it was laid out for us when they were sitting on the plane to nowhere.

 

By the way, that was REALLY mean to the designers.  hahahahahahhahahahahhahahaa.

8 hours ago, SnarkyTart said:

This was, for me, a good episode with horrible judging.

Hey I agree!  I thought the fashion was AMAZING.  Thank god they had 2 days to work it.

My ONLY complaint (The judging goes without saying, and I think Isaac is a useless moron) is that the runway was actually way too fast!  The outfits were so complicated I really wanted more slow motion walking and major closeups of details.  I think that would have really improved this episode.  What a waste!  

Edited January 18, 2019 by Ms Blue Jay

[TexasGal]

Add me to the shocked but not sad list that Seth Aaron was cut.  I was worried when it seemed unanimous among the designers that his dress was awful that he would actually win.  And it was SO BAD.

If the version of Irina's bag were closer to what she made I'd actually consider buying one.

Edited January 18, 2019 by TexasGal

[Pepper Mostly]

This episode had me shaking my head. Everything I liked was "safe". Except Jasper's which I loved. I thought Irina and MIchelle's dresses were ugly, and didn't fulfill the brief. At all. Who wears a spangly cocktail dress to travel? I loved the little hoodie, too. I like Evan and I'm hoping he's not getting much screen time because he's going far.

I agree that no international winner has a prayer of winning this, so why did they even bother?

Done with Michelle's snark, which isn't witty and its not on point. She throws shade at something and it winds up in the top. Throw shade, but be entertaining. She's just negative and unpleasant.

And Anthony Ryan is now Mr. Clever Drawers now, I guess? He seems to think he is just a hilarious little elf. I am not charmed. I wish he'd gone. I will never understand the judges' blind adoration of him.

[sempervivum]

10 hours ago, SnarkyTart said:

Christina's zip-up hoodie was wonderful, and she should have easily been in the Top 2.  The show spent so little focus on her in the workroom that I don't even know what her unconventional materials were.  But that jacket flat out looked like something found in the athleisure wear section of an upscale dept store. It was the only piece on the runway that looked like actual travel wear.

Yes. Neither Irina's, Michele's nor Jasper's dresses made any sense at all as travel wear, even if they had been actual fabric and not paper, etc.

I also liked the blue and green mod-looking shift dress made out of strips of webbing (forget who made it).

It took me most of this episode before I realized the rather attractive woman snarking on everybody else was Michele. God, could she have made herself look more hideous (2 years ago)? But memorable, I guess.