Larger Than Life

MAWEE CLAAARE MAGAZINE DAAAHHHLINGS

Pretty big second (first?) challenge for the designers
Design for the Marie Claire reader and have your look put up in Times square on a 40 foot billboard.

$150 and a day to sew and the designers are set loose.

Jason thinks of Infinity and Nicholas thinks of circles. Raise your hand if you think they're f*****. imes.

With the extra 30 minutes, we get to see a little more of the workroom drama and Gunn-isms. For eample we see Casanova asking sailor boy to help him, "just a simple question" and gets shut down as sailor boy just doesn't have time to pattern make for other people.
Jason is doing infinity, like 8 like Season 8 like crop circles. Where did this guy come from? Is he messing with us? Tim gives him some tough love but Jason thinks he's the "straight guy in a gay man's world...don't be so hard on me" Please girlfriend, that doesn't mean you can get away with sloppy looks.

Gretchen thinks Nicholas is ripping him off. Tim tries to talk him out of the Little Red Riding hood cape to no avail. Oh Nicholas! I'd like you to stick around!

Gretchen and Casanova are "hips buddies" since Casanova lets Gretchen know he "doesn't have boobies" to be bosom buddies.

And now, let's all give Mondo a hug. Poor Mondo and his talent, it keeps him from forming friendships. He always has to create, it's such a curse!
Call the whambulance.

The twist this week is the designers get to do a photo shoot for their look, which I think is a great experience for them. Hopefully they will actually get to do fashion shoots in the future. Some do really well, and some, well some have safety pins in their look and get a glare from the fashion shoot director. Just sayin.



To the Runway!

Christopher
Boring without trying to be boring. Eh. I just think he needs to try harder, did he really think this was going to win the billboard challenge?
April
I want to like this look. I think if she had more time this could have been super amazing. However it looks like 2 looks fighting a bit with each other up top and the draping on the boobs is distracting. Maybe because she actually has them and is a model? I dunno.....good choice for safe and on the right track.
Kristin
I had such a bad reaction to this look when it came out I stepped back (well I was on the couch but I flinched for sure!). It is sewn so strangely, there's weird patches of fabric mish-mashed together to make the skirt and the top and that same strange jowl action up top that she did last week with Mondo's kilt. I would have put this in the bottom!!! This screams out for Heidi to call it "home sewn".
Casanova
Casanova went 180 this week and went from "prostitute to a nunnery" according to Tim Gunn. This was a little power bitch, but it totally fit the challenge and I like the overall look. Very sleek and sexy and the yellow shoes throw an unexpected flavor to the look. He was apalled that he chose the "disturbing" color of navy blue. I think Casanova is going to be around a while, he is pure reality show entertainment.
Ivy.
I hate boring colors like this in a look. She lost this as soon as she went to Mood. This fabric isn't going to win anything. Yawn yawn safe look.

Michael
Well hello. The hair is annoying me, but what a fun look! I would so rock this with a suit jacket. Fun styling and a bold look to go. Maybe it was a little too "STS" for the judges (Short Tight Shiny), or maybe too 90's, but it was one that would get noticed for sure. I wonder if this one was in the running at all. Michael D.
Very simple, yet borderline vulgar look. The fabric choice was unexpected, but overall it is a very simple design and the styling was pretty boring. You can get away with these kinds of looks in the beginning, but later on he could get called out for something barely covering the butt cheeks.

Andy
Very officey and safe. The purple stripes up the backside were not placed in an attractive spot on the body. He also did pop over sleeves which was unnecessary for this challenge, since the winner goes on a billboard. I wish more designers had made pants, but the time constraints make that a very risky choice.
A.J.
AJ knew his look wasn't executed quite right. Somehow Sailor boy is going for Gwen Stefani or Blondie as a bee to a rock show. I feel like he was on the right track to something really great here, bright colors, like the shoes with it and something, again, not a pencil skirt. The dark lipstick make it a little bee costume and A.J. admits she looked like a "pregnant alien" from the side. Curious to see what else he'll do!

Sarah
Hmmm. This look is perplexing. It definitely looks like something Sarah would make. I think the waist just comes up way way too high. I like pockets on a dress, which she has and she also did a cute matching clutch (too matchy matchy maybe?). I also like the lime shoes with the contrasting magenta. However the whole thing just looks kind of off. What do you think?
The Bottoms:

Peach.
Peach made 3 looks and this is the one she ended up with. Barbie challenge would have worked ok for this dress. That's it. Someone must love Peach up there in that producers booth, because I would have kicked off Peach instead of Nicholas. This is boring, ugly color, random weirdness in the back and the model looks like a 5 year old. "Amish cocktail" dress indeed.
Jason.
I almost thought they were still going to keep him on for creepy straight guy factor. However, luckily this guy messed up so bad that there was no way they could keep him and keep their integrity in tact. Safety pins! And not in a funky cool way. Safety pins, because he was going for an infinity look and you know-- there's that little thing that he can't sew. Jason wanted the judges to look past the "the little things" for closures, like safety pins. Although according to the backstage chatter he does great menswear. Hmmm if that's true why in the hell didn't you make some wonderful pants for the Marie Clare challenge? Whatever, I'm so glad I don't have to waste any more space on this douchebag. AUF WEIDERSEHEN!
Ok, a little more time. What an asshole to make all kinds of excuses for his look and then not say goodbye or wait for Tim Gunn. What a jerk.


Nicholas.
Last week the judges threatened to kick off my dear sweet Nicholas but his passion for fashion and teary eyes saved him from the axe.
The judges called him out again (although there were worse looks this week!) and said there was too much going on here.
Yes. There is a lot going on here. Granted there are 20 shades of lavender in this look and the skirt IS a weird length and maybe ladies don't wear enough riding hood capes these days. Is that reason enough to kick him off? He needs some editing in his looks but the top looks great on it's own (IGNORE the cut up back) and he's a great sewer and I think they could have kept him around to see what else he could do.
Bastards.
He was so generally upset about kicked off it was heartbreaking.

Oh wow, the lining of the skirt matches the belt. That is a lot going on......how did he have time to make all that???
Mondo
My absolute favorite! The judges called it "whimsy" and when Mondo and the guest judge had their Mary Tyler Moore bonding moment there I thought he had it in the bag. Sigh. It wasn't meant to be. Love this look all together, completely pulled together and fab. The photo shoot was great.
Valerie.
This one almost won. It's a smart clean look with some great detailing that maybe doesn't show through. Very chic, as Michael Kors would say, but perhaps needed something more? A great bag? A cardigan for day? Maybe not, but it feels like it's not a WOW look.

Designers, zeeeee winner for the second week in a row.
Ok, let's chat shall we?
This is a jumpsuit.
A jumpsuit with a "hello boys" zipper down the front. This will only look good on a stick figure model with no soul. No hips or breasts or any curves allowed in this outfit. It is one of the few designs that wasn't a pencil skirt, so I can see why they were drawn to it, and it did photograph well. However.....it's a jumpsuit. A jumpsuit with ties around the ankles. I don't see this as the win at all. I don't see Marie Claire reader in this. Congrats Gretchen, you have the judges wrapped around your finger.

Have to admit, that is a kick ass billboard. And too bad it wasn't a competition also for the models as well, because that was not Gretchen's model. Apparently they don't have high end models on Project Runway. Oops.