S17.E07: Elegance Is the New Black

[Ms Blue Jay]

But wasn't he in the top so he didn't need to give excuses?

[mightysparrow]

Nadine is being vindicated every single week.  One of the main reasons she was eliminated was because they didn't like the way she spoke about her model, Kate.  Now we're seeing that Kate is even worse than Nadine said.  NOBODY wants to work with her with good reason.  It's not her size, it's that everything about her is so HEAVY.  Her walk, her attitude.  I noticed that she had no problem throwing Nadine under the bus, whereas Hester's model was much more diplomatic when she expressed discomfort with the pasties.  Hester's model probably knows that you don't piss the designer off, if you want to keep working. 

I wonder just how long Kate has been modeling.  From the way she handles herself, I think PR must have sent scouts out to a mall to look for a 'big girl'.  It's hard to understand how they ended up with someone so bad, because there are lots of plus-sized models out there, especially in the Black and Latina community.  Maybe they were looking for a big White girl.

9 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

But wasn't he in the top so he didn't need to give excuses?

Brandon mentioned that the top was tacked together.  Vinnie could have put it on Mood, but he didn't.

[mightysparrow]

16 minutes ago, threebluestars said:

I thought Hester's dress would've been better without the pasties - just send the sheer top down the runway.

Hester doesn't have the guts to do something like that.  She's the poser, not the real thing.

One of the things that angers me the most about Hester is that there's been absolutely no evidence that she knows how to put a garment together.  Her sewing and construction skills are basic at best.  She dodged a bullet with this one but I'd love for a future challenge to be to put together a simple pant suit or an sheath dress and see how this 'rebel' does.  Way back when Alexander McQueen was creating his 'bumster' jeans, critics who hated his clothes couldn't deny his workmanship and impeccable tailoring.

[Emkat]

Kate is a terrible model. Watching her clomp down the runway is painful. 

Also...what the hell substance is Hester on??

Edited April 26, 2019 by Emkat

[Archery]

14 hours ago, mightysparrow said:

The fix is in for Hester.  They knew she wouldn't be able to pull off 'elegant' so they give her the win the week before so she has immunity.  

That's some conspiracy theory right there.  

6 hours ago, Ellaria Sand said:

Frankly, no one should have been eliminated. Hester's look was ridiculous and an obvious ploy for attention. Tell her that she was lucky to have immunity or otherwise she would been gone...and do not send anyone else home.

I totally thought that was where Karli was going when she said they were deadlocked and the bottom two were separated by 1/2 a point.  It would have been a reasonable solution to eliminate 2 next week instead, since the agreed worst look had immunity.  It was the classic judging dilemma between the design that tries and fails, versus the one that doesn't try anything innovative. 

Jamall needs to send Christian flowers for suggesting that he scrap the muslin pattern and just drape.  

What happened to Tessa's cinch-waist reveal, after all of the talking heads about not just making a boxy jacket?  (And, BTW, what's with Brandon's dislike of reveals?  A couple episodes, he's muttering, "Ugh, another reveal. . .")

Spit-take when Christian sniffed that there was no helping each other in his season.  I love his humour.  

[Delete]

Sebastian had the top design. His look was sensational, and elegance personified. I can't believe he was overlooked for the plaid bed sheet gown that Jamall created. IMO, Nina needs to retire from PR. I question her taste and can't stand her snooty attitude. She may be the OG of PR, but her judging always seems off to me. 

I continue to be baffled by the Hester love. Even though she had a low critique I felt that they are still loving her 'boldness'. There was nothing elegant about what she did, and she should have been raked over the coals for exploiting her model with such a tacky look .  Also,  did she move her entire wardrobe down from NM? 

Next to Hester, I CANNOT stand Tessa. I'm glad Christian called her out for being nosey for listening in on him speaking with another designer. Also,  I had issue about  her comment about designing for a curvy model because of the way she said it. It was all the delivery--the tone, and attitude behind the comment. Does she not realize that 98% of women out there buying clothes are on the curvy, plus size spectrum?  A designer is allowed to express concerns about being intimidated about designing for a certain body type, but instead of complaining about it should take it as a challenge to make the best effin' garment ever. Garo certainly did that and I applaud him for making Kate feel awesome in the dress he designed for the challenge. 

It was Sonia's time to go home. Time was always an issue for her on each challenge. I did like her, and her design wasn't awful, but it needed to be elevated, and she unfortunately didn't have time left to do that. 

Edited April 27, 2019 by Barbara Please

[Gummo]

I kind of get where Hester was coming from this week - she had immunity, she had a longstanding idea she's wanted to try -- an evening gown featuring pasties -- that gibed with the theme of this challenge so she took advantage of her immunity to try to make it work. Even she admitted it was an epic fail of both conception and execution, but isn't that what the judges are always asking of designers with immunity? "You have immunity, try something new, take a chance, blahblahblah"? I mean, it was horrible from head to toe, but from the beginning it sounded like she knew it might not -- probably would not -- work, but that this was the time to try.

In other news....

Glad Jamal won, his design was simple yet clever, different but relatable, and attractive. I doubt he has the experience and maturity to go all the way, but at 23 he's damn impressive. Hope he doesn't fall back into making safe clothes.

Garo should have been in the top 3 just for showing all the other designers that they were full of shit for blaming Kate for their fashion fails. She looked stunning in his gown, even if it was nothing groundbreaking. And I agree with others who say she's probably primarily a print model, since her walk is very heavy and she doesn't look especially comfortable on the runway but oh my, her photo!

What was "elegant" about Renee's outfit? It looked well-made but it looked pretty casual to me.

I don't get the exaggerated hips thing either. What woman wants to go out to an elegant event looking like a wide-ass?

Tessa should have been eliminated, IMHO. What's elegant about a big shapeless coat? Liked her clothes in the beginning, but I'm over her & her aesthetic.

Sonia's past clothes that they showed in a quick flashback were so much better than the work she's done on the show, it's a damn shame she couldn't figure out how to translate what she does to the quick-and-dirty game show mode. Elegance, it appears, is her middle name yet she went home on the elegance challenge. Sad.

I love the moment of Brandon looking over at Nina's notes and going, "WHAAAT?" and her telling him to mind his own business! Also love that they've continued having the judges do close-up examinations of the clothes. This is when so much of the real judging is done. And it's the only chance for the judges -- and us -- to get a really good take on construction.

[BabyVegas]

15 hours ago, Straycat80 said:

I didn’t think Tessa should have been punished for making the comment about the curvy models either. If the other designers who were nodding their heads to Brandon’s statement liked the curvy models so much why didn’t they choose them? They didn’t. I wonder if Brandon uses curvy models in his runway shows? 

He dresses women who are not model-thin, so I think he does at least have some moral high ground on the issue, but I personally thought it was completely disingenuous of him to pretend like Tessa was saying something unusual when the fashion world has been a bastion of size-ism and body image issues for a good long time. And I don't even like Tessa! As a plus size person who sews for herself, Tessa wasn't wrong when she talked about the different considerations in designing for plus size. I'm not impressed when designers shy away from working with the bigger models because it comes across as laziness or a dearth of skill, but in a competition when ever minute counts and the judges seem to be responding better to the looks on skinny models? Hell yeah I'd be worried about getting one of the two plus size models. I'm glad they're not just using stick-thin models and I think designers should be able to work with plus-size models, but it's not as simple a conversation as this show occasionally likes to imply.

Hester, of course, can GTFO of my screen at any time. She is so aggravating. And Venny was starting to get on my nerves with his talking in the third person. What is that? Is it just a way to get his name out there more? I always think it makes people sound crazy.

[caitmcg]

2 hours ago, mightysparrow said:

Brandon mentioned that the top was tacked together.  Vinnie could have put it on Mood, but he didn't.

That comment came when the judges were making their close-up observations, so Venny wasn't even around to hear (or defend) it.

The problem with flash-sale challenges and with the kinds of of commercial challenges they did in previous seasons is that something that is technically complex and has a lot of detail is never going to be the winner because it isn't easy enough to manufacture quickly and at the price they're targeting, even if it is objectively the best. Rewind all the way to Season 1. and you see this is why they selected Wendy's plain navy blue dress over Jay's stunning homage to the Chrysler building for Banana Republic. So they elevate Venny's well-fitted but boring dress over Sebastian's impeccably made, beautiful but much more involved orchid dress. They still should have put Sebastian in the top, just to give him credit even if he was never going to win.

Edited April 26, 2019 by caitmcg

[akr]

2 hours ago, estellasmum said:

IMHO Sebastian got robbed, and so did Tessa, because her mother of the bride outfit should have put her in the bottom 

That would be a drab wedding - maybe, mother of the bank teller, since her "inspiration" was money? 

[heyjupiter]

Also, Hester isn't groundbreaking. The high fashion pastie has been done before. Tom Ford did it recently. 

[HurricaneVal]

6 hours ago, mwell345 said:

I did like that Christian told the eliminated designer how many of the stars he designs for would be happy to wear her dress.

That was kind, and probably quite true. 

I agree with what someone said upthread that nobody should have been eliminated last night, with the announcement that the person selected for elimination had immunity, so therefore no eliminations were going to happen for that episode.  I think it is OK to use immunity as an opportunity to really stretch as a designer and do a really wild creation.  Sometimes that even wins, and it always makes Nina happy.  But what Hester did last night was a giant "fuck you, AND the horse you rode in on" to the judges and production for no real good reason.  She has no reason to be resentful, and has every reason to be grateful to them for overpraising her weirdness and designs.  I heard an unsubstantiated rumor that one of her uncles is in production.  I don't know if that is true, or if it was wild speculation that someone made up to explain why she is getting all the kissy-love from the judges and editors.

I wish that for these "the winning garment will be made up and sold through <wherever>" competitions they had split judging, since the criteria that determines the win is not the criteria that determines the design that most beautifully or creatively fulfills the challenge brief.  So there should be a winning design for the challenge brief, and a winning design for manufacturability price point, and extra rewards if the same designer wins both parts.

[Pallida]

5 hours ago, SailorGirl said:

RE: Kate -- I paid a lot of attention this week to her, because I thought it was just sour grapes by the designer that they got stuck with a curvy model. But knowing that Garo's designs for women of different sizes and knew what had to be done to make her look good, I paid more attention. And yeah, she can't walk to save her life. BUT, I did notice that the flash sale picture he took -- she photographed beautifully. And that was just with camera phones -- imagine what she'd look like in full studio with professional photography equipment! 

I think she's a model that just needs to stick to print work and stay off the runway. 

I noticed the exact same thing in the half second that they showed the flash sale picture. I was trying to find them online and felt old when I couldn't find the flash sale pictures. 

[lovinbob]

16 hours ago, SemiCharmedLife said:

Karlie says, regarding Bishme's design: "This was supposed to be a simple, well crafted idea,"  and then sends Sonia home for doing just that!  

I was rooting for Sonia but I thought "boring" was the perfect word to describe her dress.

The title of this episode was DUMB. Elegance is the new black--what? That is not a play on words that worked, IMO. 

I just can't with Hester. I am a very conventional person, but I try to be very conscious of appreciating people who are more daring and flamboyant. So when I see someone like Esther, I often channel my distaste and ask myself, What is that person expressing about themselves? (Kim-Joy from GBBO comes to mind. Her look was very particular and unique, and at first I was like, What?? And then learning more about her I came to appreciate her look as an expression of a very creative, fragile, and resilient person.) 

I don't know enough about Hester, but just from an aesthetic perspective, she just feels like so much work, so high maintenance. I feel like each look is so carefully constructed yet still somehow chaotic, and it's just exhausting. The way her hats are perched, just so, on her head, and the 17,000 types of glasses she seems to have at her disposal. In this episode she was giving me Wendy Pepper meets Cruella deVille vibes. And also her posture sucks.

Why didn't Sebastian get a top spot??? It was so beautiful! Venny's dress was a basic, less sophisticated version of it and did not deserve a top spot IMO.

I didn't care for Garo's look at all. I hated the color--it matched her skin and did not read well on the runway. The length did nothing to flatter her.

I definitely need to know what Brandon and Nina had to say about Renee. I really like her style, but her look had nothing to do with lemons and limes. 

[carrps]

17 hours ago, milner said:

Hester seems to look older every week. This week in her “new” look she looked hunched over like she had a dowagers hump.  Renee has as many changes of headwear as Hester has glasses. 

There was a shot where she was talking to Sebastian, IIRC, and she was all bent over like some old crone. Her posture is really bad.

And her dress was like hooker-stripper on top and grandma's over-the-top ruched brocade curtains on the bottom. And a big old toddler bow on the butt??? Nothing fresh or elegant about that mess.

I agree about wanting to know more about Renee's. It didn't look like much (that I could see) with a blanket thrown over her shoulders? Didn't look elegant -- just messy.

Karli looked really dumb, exactly like Sue Ellen Mischke with the obviously not to be seen bra on show. I didn't like her much at the beginning of the show, and she's not grown on me. I'm starting to actively dislike her.

Edited April 26, 2019 by carrps
Leaving out words leaves out the meaning.

[millennium]

18 hours ago, chitowngirl said:

Yes, Hester sent a disaster down the runway, but she did it because she knew she couldn’t be eliminated. It was done knowing it was going to be in the bottom and talked about. It was an attention seeking ploy.

I can't believe I am going to say this, because I don't think I would get along very well with Hester, but her ability to enslave the camera and siphon attention from her competitors is the mark of a pro in reality TV.   Not sure the real fashion world would give her the time of day, but in this artificial arena and among this group of low-key challengers she is the undisputed current champion.    I don't think she went into this hoping to be admired by the viewers.   She has watched Project Runway and knows it is often more rewarding to be hated than loved.   In that respect, she's crushing it.

[becauseIsaidso]

Sweet holy hell can anyone say 'contrived'?

How transparent was it to have pestyhester do the (OMG, clutch pearls, IT CANNOT BE) thing that (supposedly) would have gotten her 'auffed' coincidentally with her just happening to have immunity!

OH, be still my heart!

Bullshit.

Nothing more than a VERY thinly veiled assurance to the viewing public (idiots that they think we are) that things are all fair and upstanding and above board in ProjectRunwayLand.

Barf

AND a very convenient way to get rid of older woman gray-haired lady who doesn't fit the profile of designers they plan to keep on the show.

The 'new' PR SUCKS RAW EGGS.

From this point on, I will read these boards (where intelligent people reside) and not bother my blood pressure with actual viewing.

I WANT MY TIM GUNN BACK!!!!!

Whatsherface is NO Heidi Klum & seriously DOES NOT have Heidi's silly charm.

And I didn't even like the show he did where Natalie got so horribly robbed!

Oh yah...it was called Under The Gunn.....funny how I forgot that,.

[mightysparrow]

30 minutes ago, millennium said:

I can't believe I am going to say this, because I don't think I would get along very well with Hester, but her ability to enslave the camera and siphon attention from her competitors is the mark of a pro in reality TV.   Not sure the real fashion world would give her the time of day, but in this artificial arena and among this group of low-key challengers she is the undisputed current champion.    I don't think she went into this hoping to be admired by the viewers.   She has watched Project Runway and knows it is often more rewarding to be hated than loved.   In that respect, she's crushing it.

I have a feeling that Hester isn't in this to become a working designer.  She doesn't have the imagination or the chops.  Now that I've seen Tom Ford sent models in pasties down the catwalk, my spidey sense is on red alert. 

I think that Hester is in this to become a 'personality' either on television or social media.  She's looking for a career in being 'kooky' and different. 

Hester's problem is that her idea of what's 'different' is suburban.  There's nothing new about her look; it's come and gone several time in the last few decades.  All those hats and outfits reminds me of the late 70s and early 80s.  Toni Basil, Cindy Lauper, it's all been done before! 

The idea of Hester having the discipline and the ability to put together a line for fashion week makes me laugh.  When would she have time to work on a line when she spends so much time putting together her own outfits every day?

[Ms Blue Jay]

3 hours ago, Archery said:

Spit-take when Christian sniffed that there was no helping each other in his season.  I love his humour.  

I mean that can't POSSIBLY be true.  Fact check anyone???  Although the only thing I remember is Chris March finishing quickly and then sleeping.

[jackjill89]

I don't quite get how Jamall's dress made the judges drool quite like they did and how they completely understood his gender bending aesthetic from that dress. How? Because he used plaid? It was a nice dress. It was great to see him actually design something decent, but I didn't find it groundbreaking or anything. I also think this will be a flash in the pan for him. I don't think he'll produce anything else worth seeing after this. 

[jacksgirl]

2 hours ago, lovinbob said:

Why didn't Sebastian get a top spot??? It was so beautiful! 

Since they were selling the winning design, no way they could mass produce that gorgeous outfit. 

Edited April 26, 2019 by jacksgirl

[QuantumMechanic]

Something that occurred to me today.  They were given $400 to spend.

All the designers totally blew it.  Nothing that anyone made took advantage of the money they had to spend.

[carrps]

7 minutes ago, QuantumMechanic said:

Something that occurred to me today.  They were given $400 to spend.

All the designers totally blew it.  Nothing that anyone made took advantage of the money they had to spend.

None of these designers has any taste in fabric at all.

[millennium]

1 hour ago, mightysparrow said:

I have a feeling that Hester isn't in this to become a working designer.  She doesn't have the imagination or the chops.  Now that I've seen Tom Ford sent models in pasties down the catwalk, my spidey sense is on red alert. 

I think that Hester is in this to become a 'personality' either on television or social media.  She's looking for a career in being 'kooky' and different. 

Hester's problem is that her idea of what's 'different' is suburban.  There's nothing new about her look; it's come and gone several time in the last few decades.  All those hats and outfits reminds me of the late 70s and early 80s.  Toni Basil, Cindy Lauper, it's all been done before! 

The idea of Hester having the discipline and the ability to put together a line for fashion week makes me laugh.  When would she have time to work on a line when she spends so much time putting together her own outfits every day?

Maybe she's auditioning for a social media gig as World's Oldest Influencer.  She appears to have made forays into youtube culture a couple years ago without great success.   

[carrps]

7 minutes ago, millennium said:

Maybe she's auditioning for a social media gig as World's Oldest Influencer.  She appears to have made forays into youtube culture a couple years ago without great success.   

Or she's auditioning for Wendy Pepper Mark II.

[millennium]

15 minutes ago, carrps said:

Or she's auditioning for Wendy Pepper Mark II.

I missed the first few seasons so I don't know much about Wendy Pepper except that, according to Wikipedia, she subsequently appeared on many reality-type shows and is dead.

[Samwise979]

I think Christian's best advice so far this competition was telling Jamal to get that whole muslin thing out of his head and just use his fabric. 

Loved him telling off Tessa for listening to his critique with Hester. What are you doing standing there? Don't you have any work to do?

What is worse for the bottom designers, having one of the three have immunity and therefore your chances of going home is now 50% or, having the 4th worse designer in bottom 3 instead of the immunity designer so that any of the 3 could go home but one of the three really should have been safe.  

[morakot]

9 hours ago, Impromptu said:

Shoving a curvy girl into a corset (which she won't even be able to get into or out of herself!)

A well-designed corset can be unhooked from the front. (And having a zipper at the back can make it hard to get into and out of on your own as well.)

And, I actually quite like Tessa -- she's pretty innocuous and I like many of the pieces she's made.

[Kdel1079]

I’m so glad Hester was finally taken down a few pegs because she was really getting too arrogant with all the love from the judges. She needs to stop trying to hog the spotlight and shut up.

i also don’t blame Tessa for being concerned about working with a curvy model (maybe she shouldn’t have voiced it) because as someone already mentioned, the judges seem to favor the designs on the thinner models so far, and a curvy model hasn’t won a challenge yet, so she may feel like a thin model would work more in her favor in that sense as well.

[Fellaway]

12 hours ago, Beden said:

Yes, but the K girls would have eliminated the pasties if they were wearing that thing.

Just a slight correction that the person you quoted in your post was not me but Antann,  ☺️

12 hours ago, Plums said:

I think Sebastian should have traded places with Lela in the top. I also think he should have been in the top during the video game challenge (traded places with Hester, as a matter of fact). I don't know why they're deemphasizing how much better he is. His designs aren't getting the attention and commentary they deserve. 

He's like Dmitry in his first season.  Week after week, I thought he should be in the top, but the judges gave him short shrift.  Maybe it bodes well for Sebastian, since Dmitry won his season.

7 hours ago, joanne3482 said:

I don't think I understand how the models are getting eliminated.  According to Wikipedia, in Episode 3 Nadine was out and Kate was her model. But Kate is still around and (again according to Wikipedia) Bishme's model Lauren was out in episode 3.  I can't imagine that any of the designers are picking Kate voluntarily. 

A mix of production decisions and tomfoolery.  They're obviously not eliminating the model used by the losing designer, so someone's deciding based on model performance and/or what potential drama they can bring to the show.

6 hours ago, Barbara Please said:

It was Sonia's time to go home. Time was always an issue for her on each challenge. I did like her, and her design wasn't awful, but it needed to be elevated, and she unfortunately didn't have time left to do that. 

Yeah, it's really too bad.  I think she's very talented, but she just wasn't up to the timeframe allowed on this show.  Her dress this week was, nevertheless, still quite lovely.  I'd find it very amusing if the audience voted for the losing design for the viewer voted flash sale design.  Because the judges were full of it.  I agree with those that said that no one should have gone home this week, since the worst design was Hester's (not to mention her FU attitude.)  If it'd been me, I'd have made very clear to Hester that she would've gone home if she hadn't had immunity and that the reason they weren't going to be down a designer was because of her.

Edited April 27, 2019 by Fellaway

[potatoradio]

Dear Tessa -

A woman's body is not a "situation." You are not the Hermione Granger of the class, love. Now please take a seat or two. Or get therapy. Or, as Hester the Jester's hat says, "Plz Die." 

Thank you. 

[millennium]

29 minutes ago, Kdel1079 said:

i also don’t blame Tessa for being concerned about working with a curvy model (maybe she shouldn’t have voiced it) because as someone already mentioned, the judges seem to favor the designs on the thinner models so far, and a curvy model hasn’t won a challenge yet, so she may feel like a thin model would work more in her favor in that sense as well.

Giving the show the benefit of the doubt that perhaps its intentions were good in including plus-size models, it nonetheless seems to have done the average-sized woman (14 and above, 65% of the population) no favors.   The passive-aggressive condescension towards the "curvy" (hate that euphemism) models has done nothing but make plus-size design seem problematic, obligatory and undesirable.  A necessary evil, at best.

Way to go, show.

Edited April 27, 2019 by millennium

[hookedontv]

Hester, Hester the Fabric Molester.

Every garment and accessory she makes looks like junk. And I feel icky after realizing how much camera time she sucks up with her juvenile babbling about this and that. 

Go away Hester, you’re exhausting. 

[Lamb18]

I haven't ready any of your posts yet, but here goes.

The fabric of Elaine's blouse reminded me a lot of the blouse Bishme made.

Garo and Sebastien should have been in the top with Jamal, and either Sebastien or Jamal winning.

I thought Tessa should have been in the bottom with Bishme and Hester instead of Sonia. Her pants was weird as well as her attitude dismal.

I'm a little ticked that Jamal did not give any credit to Christian for suggesting he try draping the fabric around the model. It's possible he did but it didn't get aired.

[Stats Queen]

29 minutes ago, Lamb18 said:

I haven't ready any of your posts yet, but here goes.

The fabric of Elaine's blouse reminded me a lot of the blouse Bishme made.

Garo and Sebastien should have been in the top with Jamal, and either Sebastien or Jamal winning.

I thought Tessa should have been in the bottom with Bishme and Hester instead of Sonia. Her pants was weird as well as her attitude dismal.

I'm a little ticked that Jamal did not give any credit to Christian for suggesting he try draping the fabric around the model. It's possible he did but it didn't get aired.

Agree with everything 100%

[Token]

All this crap about the curvy models being more work for the designer is complete nonsense.  They wear underwear.  Any designer who is any good at what they do will not have an issue designing for a woman with curves.  Any designer complaining about having to design for a curvy woman is not a good designer.  And I am so glad that Brandon called out Tessa on her petulance.  There have been some amazing designs on this show for curvy models and that is the mark of a talented designer.

[millennium]

8 hours ago, carrps said:

There was a shot where she was talking to Sebastian, IIRC, and she was all bent over like some old crone. Her posture is really bad.

Maybe she is self-conscious about her height.   There are shots where she appears to tower above the other women. 

[HappyDancex2]

What bothered me about Hester was that she knew she was going to get one of the bottom 3 spots as her dubious design was coming together even poorer than expected.

So she made the bottom 3 really a bottom 2 and in this episode there were plenty of candidates for a bottom 3.  You shouldn’t skew the odds just because you wanted more airtime.  Oh wait...

I’m embarrassed to admit that one of the places that I shop has sold tons of fancy pasties and sheer tops etc.  At first I was shocked but now I don’t notice them.  The models are young and thin....I’m just there for the funky shoes.  But point is that pasty-wear is a dime a dozen.  Elegant pasty dress wear in the form of festival attire....which is a whole other topic but when did everyone start going to festivals such that they developed an entire clothing season for it?  It used to be called “spring.”

Samwise979 - jinx I didn’t see your post!

Edited April 27, 2019 by HappyDancex2
Hester math can never be repeated enough LOL

[HurricaneVal]

OK.  Something has been niggling at my hindbrain ever since Hester first talked about what her design was going to be, and that thought finally percolated to the top. 

Aren't pasties supposed to be worn on the skin--adhering to the nipples and areoles?  I believe they started out as "paste ons" which devolved to "pasties."  So, those quilted tittie cup coolie hat things on the outside of the bodice were not really pasties.  They were attention grabbing "lookie, lookie, look at meeeeee!!!" focus pulling gimmicks designed to cause a stir and build Hester's future brand as a reality star/social media influencer.

[Tabbygirl521]

I’m just trying to figure out how Jamal’s dress could be mass-produced 

[Ms.C.]

17 hours ago, meep.meep said:

No, I think the closest they've gotten is on a team challenge in season 6 where one member of the team won, and they eliminated the other team member.

I agree with everyone about the horror that was Hester's look.  And the judges must realize that if they send her to make a collection to show at Fashion Week (they are doing that, aren't they?) that Hester is going to repeat this.  So showing a look with "elegant" pasties at Fashion Week is going to be on the three of them.

For the record, I am fat, not curvy.  While I think fashion designers should make things that look good on me, I recognize that it is much easier for these folks to work with the same model over and over again, just because they know their measurements.   Tessa could have been more diplomatic about it.  Garo dissed his, but in a TH, not to everyone.  And he was right - she's been the kiss of death and she can't walk. 

Rotating models levels platform. The dressers mannequin controls sizing pretty well.  Nice to dress same person every week, but a designers life isn’t that.  

[Ms.C.]

4 hours ago, HappyDancex2 said:

What bothered me about Hester was that she knew she was going to get one of the bottom 3 spots as her dubious design was coming together even poorer than expected.

Really, the judges should have placed her in the bottom three and then told her since she had immunity, she was safe.  But her look was bottom three.  

[ElectricBoogaloo]

On 4/26/2019 at 12:08 AM, Lemons said:

Brandon Maxwell is a hypocrite trying to be politically correct.  The models he uses on the runway and in print are classically tall and thin. 

Coincidentally, this interview with Jean-Paul Gaultier popped up in my feed today. They briefly discuss two points of diversity in his models. When he was working at Jean Patou in the 70s, there was a Black model he wanted to use but he was told they couldn't do it (they blamed it on American buyers which JPG says is total crap). Beth Ditto, who closed his show at Paris fashion week in 2011, said that he has liked using fat models (for the record, she used the word "fat" so I didn't want to change it to the PR euphemism "curvy").

The interviewer also brings up JPG by Gaultier which began in 1994 and was his collection of unisex clothes. I feel like a lot of PR designers really don't get the concept of unisex so the unisex challenges often have some ugly ass clothes.

[Beden]

18 hours ago, mightysparrow said:

19 hours ago, Gloriosa said:

Just what kind of shit zippers are they selling at Mood?

THANK YOU!  I couldn't believe that Vinny might have been sent home because of poor quality control at Mood.  I thought it was pure class of him NOT to give that as an excuse.

Yes, could have just been a shit zipper Or was stretched beyond it's limits--wasn't really watching so can't say I remember. But it's also possible that the designer purchased a length of zipper which can be cut to fit whatever you're using it in, in which case, yes, if you're not careful, the slide can slip off. Not to get boringly technical, it's also possible that, if that's what it was, it may have simply been set in incorrectly.

Or it could have just been a crap zipper. I also recall a few seasons ago when some designer had a zipper break as they were headed out the door to runway and was allowed to take a couple of minutes to replace it with TPTB simply saying that these things happen. They do sometimes.

[dleighg]

9 minutes ago, Beden said:

Yes, could have just been a shit zipper Or was stretched beyond it's limits--wasn't really watching so can't say I remember.

I thought he said the little tab pulled off. But I couldn't figure out why that was such a big deal. FTR I have sweatshirts with the tab pulled off that I keep using, just grabbing the flat part and pulling it. 'Cause I'm cheap. But that wouldn't explain why Brandon said it was "tacked together." Maybe he took it out? None of it makes sense.

6 hours ago, HurricaneVal said:

Aren't pasties supposed to be worn on the skin--adhering to the nipples and areoles? 

And what Hester did can *only* work on an essentially flat-chested model with a skin tight shirt. I shudder to think how that would have worked (or NOT) on a woman with actual breasts, not to mention a "curvy" woman, with "larger" breasts. Flash sale indeed.

[dleighg]

19 minutes ago, dleighg said:

I thought he said the little tab pulled off. But I couldn't figure out why that was such a big deal.

quoting myself:

[Empress1]

19 hours ago, mightysparrow said:

One of the things that angers me the most about Hester is that there's been absolutely no evidence that she knows how to put a garment together.  Her sewing and construction skills are basic at best. 

Didn't she even allude to that, saying in an interview that when she was in school her instructors noticed how much extra help she needed or something like that?

I'd have put Tessa (who I cannot stand) in the bottom over Bishme. I was watching Bishme's model carefully because her measurements are similar to mine. There are a few differences (my cup size is bigger, she's a little taller, and her feet are a size smaller) but the measurements are very close to mine. I actually paused the show on each model so I could see the stats, because that's information the viewers don't usually get.

9 hours ago, Token said:

All this crap about the curvy models being more work for the designer is complete nonsense.  They wear underwear.  Any designer who is any good at what they do will not have an issue designing for a woman with curves.  Any designer complaining about having to design for a curvy woman is not a good designer.  And I am so glad that Brandon called out Tessa on her petulance.  There have been some amazing designs on this show for curvy models and that is the mark of a talented designer.

I liked when Garo was like "What's the big fucking deal? Just make some shit!" EVERY time they (general "PR contestant they") have to design clothes for women who aren't size 0, somebody has a fit about it. It's beyond annoying by now.

One thing I can't stand, and I see I'm not alone, is the euphemism "curvy" for plus-sized. Just say plus-sized!

I think Lela seems like a genuinely nice person. When they went to see Dapper Dan, there was a little moment when she pointed to Venny and said "He called it!" in a way that struck me as really kind. But I agreed with Nina that up close, her look looked cheaper than some of the others - and with a $400 budget, that's not great.

Edited April 27, 2019 by Empress1

[Corgi-ears]

17 hours ago, lovinbob said:

The title of this episode was DUMB. Elegance is the new black--what? That is not a play on words that worked, IMO. 

No kidding. The phrase "X is the new black" usually suggests that X used to not be popular, trendy, timeless, ELEGANT, and fashionable the way black perpetually is, but now X will be so. I must have missed the moment when "elegance" was out. But hey, now elegance is elegant again!

Edited April 27, 2019 by Corgi-ears

[ElectricBoogaloo]

57 minutes ago, dleighg said:

I thought he said the little tab pulled off. But I couldn't figure out why that was such a big deal. FTR I have sweatshirts with the tab pulled off that I keep using, just grabbing the flat part and pulling it. 'Cause I'm cheap. But that wouldn't explain why Brandon said it was "tacked together." Maybe he took it out? None of it makes sense.

If I recall correctly, Brandon was referring to the long straps in the back being tacked on (meaning he hand sewed a few stitches to get the straps to stay where they were as opposed to the straps being securely sewn). I remember Venny saying he would have to hand sew some stuff while his model was wearing the dress, so Brandon's comment made sense to me (although I might be remembering it all incorrectly).

Because the zipper pull came off, Venny didn't have the model take the dress off so that he could finish sewing the straps on with the sewing machine. I was surprised that he didn't just put a safety pin through the little metal hole on the zipper and use that as a temporary zipper pull to get the dress on and off his model.

[dleighg]

24 minutes ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

If I recall correctly, Brandon was referring to the long straps in the back being tacked on (meaning he hand sewed a few stitches to get the straps to stay where they were as opposed to the straps being securely sewn).

you're right-- that's what was tacked. And it did look sloppy. And I still don't understand why he couldn't get her out of the dress. We've all (I think) had a zipper tab fall off. We figure out how to get out of the clothing 🙂

Edited April 27, 2019 by dleighg