There's a Pattern Here

Darlings, what an episode. Very touching, and not in a lame my-boyfriend-beats-me-but-I-can't-leave-him Lifetime movie kind of way. As you know, I've always loved Mondo and after this episode it's clear that he is a role model in addition to being a unique designer. We will get to Mondo's story in a bit. Let's visit our blubbering baby designers, shall we?

The designers are happy to hear that they will be designing their own prints using HP computers, natch. The print is supposed to be inspired by something from their past. Mondo comes up with many designs, but ultimately knows he wants the print to represent his HIV positive status. He doesn't feel comfortable telling the others just yet. This is a real family centric episode. They come into the workroom after visiting Mood for supplemental fabric that their baby pictures are up. Reminiscing over the innocent days before the holy trinity of judges crushed their egos, they find out that their moms are visiting them. Except for Christopher who got his boyfriend, and Michael who got his son in addition to his mom. The designers all blubber like little babies. We realize that although we may think some of the designers are super annoying personalities edited by the manipulative Lifetime, they are all mama's boys and girls and love their families. The nice thing is, that Tim comes in to tell them they get to spend the day with their loved ones and get some much needed venting time.

Interesting that the designers are all so close to their mothers. Well, we don't really know about Christopher, maybe his mom was busy? Mondo has kept a huge secret from his family. He has known he was HIV positive for 10 years and hasn't had the heart to tell even his mother. He almost tells her this visit, but didn't want to "ruin" her New York vacation. Just terribly heart breaking. Andy's mom raised him and his 4 siblings on her own and for some reason Andy can't get back into designing after seeing his mom. Snap out of it Andy!

Tim comes around and warns Valerie that her look is very 80's and she doesn't need to throw a bunch of design elements into a look. If only she would listen to Tim!! Tim is also not into Gretchen's yoke(?) or whatever Andy seems to be doing. Overall, the designers are playing nice with each other, even accepting Michael into their club.

Enough crying, let's get to the Runway....



Christopher
Yawn, once again. Christopher is a nice guy, he makes nice clothes. He's not going to win the competition doing nice safe clothes. His print is boring and this outfit is not inspired whatsoever. The judges thankfully told him all this. Nina wants fashion, she wants to be wowed. Heidi wrote "Nice, Safe, Boring". Luckily for him Valerie disappointed the judges more. However, they did realize that he has had made absolutely no memorable outfits. Christopher will have to do something amazing next challenge is he wants to stay.



Gretchen
Gretchen made her design based on her mom's southwestern influence. Unfortunately she didn't make the print quite right and Michael Kors thought it looked like "fried egg on the boob". Oops. Rachel Roy had the best viewpoint, and called it "Almost". I do like the pants, minus the yoke. Heidi liked the yoke, so one point for Gretchen. I thought this was a cute outfit (nice April style bun there), but it was indeed safe and didn't feel like a Gretchen outfit, which is probably good.



I thought the yoke looked like a butt flap personally.

April
Her print was based on her parent's divorce. The side of the sleeve looked like a tree, but also like hearts. Kind of dark but romantic, which was what she was going for. This was Rachel and Heidi's favorite print. I love this dress. The judges did not like the poofiness. I was not so into the styling. I thought the hair should have been either sleeker or maybe punkier and it would be nice if she would pop some color into her looks if she's always going to use black. I love the sleeve and definitely think this was a strong second place.



Mondo
What I love about Mondo's designs is that he puts colors and prints together that I would never think of but it ends up looking amazing. Nina thought this was super editorial and made some sort of moan when Mondo had the design on the runway for judging and took off the jacket at Michael's request. Michael Kors thought this had sharpness and joy. The judges were dying to hear the story behind the print, because it was so bold and happy looking. Which was the exact opposite of what the print was inspired by. I do agree that the pants are too high, they're almost clown like. However the jacket is so sharp that it is gasp worthy when it comes off and you see how utterly sexy the top is.

Finally Mondo breaks down and tells his story after it's already obvious that he's the winner.
Darlings, I've watched this episode 3 times and I cried a little each time. Yes, it was getting a little over the top with the cheesy Lifetime music, but how brave was he to share his story. It didn't feel like he used it to win.
Congrats on your Project Runway hat trick Mondo.


Michael
The judges were split on this one. Heidi like the dress, but hated the yellow pumps with it "too matchy matchy". I thought he was following the rule where you take the smallest color of your print and accessorize with it to make it pop. Oh well! The thing about Michael Costello, is he does the looks half right, so just enough to stay on the show, but nothing so great that they like it. That's how he's still around. Kors thought the top part looked like an old-fashioned tie that was belted and cut off (great, now that's all I see). I agree that this look is kind of dowdy but definitely less boring than some of the others.



Andy
Andy's print was supposed to be bubbles of memories. Ok. Luckily the judges liked his print, it's probably what saved him from the auf.
I do not understand how he came up with this outfit. Originally it was going to be pants, but Andy changed it at the last moment to shorts. I'm not sure if it helped or hurt his look, because all I see is that terrible top. I hate hate hate under seaming on the bust line. It never works, even here where this was designed specifically to fit this model. The weird half vest is confusing and the boots just make the whole look strange. It's like matronly on top and hooker on the bottom. Channeling Casanova perhaps?
Rachel Roy found this "odd and confusing and upsetting". Michael Kors saw a sad face in her boobs. Yikes, do not say boobs are sad around frau Heidi! Andy could skate to the finals if he would just reign his designs in, don't lose it at the end buddy!



Valerie
Poor Valerie. Really Andy and Christopher's looks were such lame attempts, they could have been aufed, but Valerie has not been doing well for a few challenges, so she really needed to shine this week in order to stay, and it just didn't happen here. The whole dress looks like some party dress I would have loved to wear in 1988, and that's not a good thing here.
Her print was based on a her dad's blueprints, but ended up looking 80's computer for some reason. The design reminded the judges of her party store dress made out of napkins. Michael wrote "napkin apron" and just hated what she did to the bottom. Rachel Roy thought that the top was ill-fitting. And everyone hated the blue layers peeking out the bottom. I really thought Valerie had such joy and fun in her garments in the beginning, but she really couldn't handle the stress of competition. Auf Wiedersehen Valerie!




So we say goodbye to our adorable little Anime girl Valerie. I'm sad to see her go. It was very cute how she had a Dorothy moment at the end and went around the room saying nice things about everybody, so sweet and from the heart.

The real story here was Mondo, telling his secret to the world. Mondo said he felt like someone was guiding him to tell his story at this moment. He couldn't have known that this episode would air after 3 gay youths committed suicide related to bullying. And that as I'm writing this blog 4 more possible gay bullying related suicides have occurred to make 7 total suicides. I hope that by Mondo sharing his story and showing his bravery, he helped at least one person to feel like they are not alone. It breaks my heart that in 2010 we are still dealing with something like that. For gay youths to feel so alone and so hurt and scared that they feel like suicide is the best answer, it hurts all of us. The world needs all kinds of people to work, we need everyone's diversities and strengths. Shame on us for being a nation where Mondo has fear and guilt to tell his own family that he is gay and living with a disease that any one of could get regardless of our sexual orientation. Shame on us for raising children that bully other children for being different from our own. I hope that my daughter's children don't have to live in a world where that happens.

Race to the Finish

The designers are up for a huge challenge this week as they are designing an avant garde look based(?), inspired by(?) a L’Oreal Paris eye shadow style to be in an ad campaign. The stakes are high, with the $20,000 pay off to the winner!! The designers drool over this challenge, as they also get $300 to spend at Mood and “two days” to work on their look. The designers must have been blinded by $$$ because only April seems to know that this is way too good to be true and there is going to be some tomfoolery up ahead involving the velvet bag of doom or another look.

We’ve officially started the downward spiral of the designers. It’s getting close to the end, they’re running on no sleep and the judges have called all of them out at least once, and sometimes beratingly so.

Indeed, Tim does come into the workroom on the second day to seriously harsh their mellow. The designers stand with their mouths agape as Tim (almost tearfully) tells them that they must design a second look as a Ready To Wear version of their avant garde look. Now, this is not a new challenge. They did this in Season 4 with amazing results. However, that challenge was teams of 2 people to do the 2 looks. This kind of fuckery is pretty normal in the PR world, but it just seemed mean this time around. Let’s tease you with this money and more than normal amount of time, and now take it away from you!

Also, Valerie has a meltdown, Gretchen bitches for an hour that Michael C. "stole" her fabric color and Ivy makes Tim's face cringe in horror.


The Safe Ones

April
April is one smart cookie. She stuck to what she knew. I just worry about her always doing a black version of the same black dress every week. The avant garde look screams En Vogue from the Free Your Mind video. It's hard with black to see all the details, but she did some fun feathering on the jacket there. I think if this were something new for her or if she was truly pushing herself (or if a hippie look wasn't in the top 3), this would have been top.


Her Ready To Wear look was a little odd. I'm not sure what the gold braid is doing around her neck? Perhaps the RTW look was not great enough for the judges.

Christopher
So apparently avant garde means slutty wedding dress to Christopher. When he was making the look, I thought it was going to be amazing, but when it came down the runway I was confused. It's not the worst and it's certainly not the best. Is he going to make it to the top like this, riding on the tails of people doing worse looks than him? We shall see.
Christopher's RTW look was so boring. Although I know there was not much time to work on his second look, did he mean for the neckline to be crooked?


Tops



Gretchen
Ok, so Gretchen is (an annoying bitch) not my favorite person, but I’ve given her credit where credit is due. As soon as Gretchen's look came out I squealed with delight. Wait for it! I was squealing in excitement for her to be on the chopping block or at least in bottom 3. Was I surprised when the judges put this in the Top 3. Tim was right, these judges are smoking some crackity crack. So what if she hand sewed those feathers on this! Do they not see the hideous modesty panel in the front, or how wide this makes her model look? Not to mention the back was some slutty wizards costume. Wow, at least she didnt' win.
The judges did not call this dowdy, matronly or anything mean. C'mon judges! Snap out of it!


Andy
Just so you know, Andy is Asian, so he can make Asian inspired garments, and don't give him a hard time about it, OK?
At first glance this is very intense, a little scary even. Reeses peanut butter cups on the sleeves perhaps? However, loved the red fabric he had in there, you can tell it’s well-made and it’s something different. I really thought this one was going to win, but I’m thinking he didn’t because of the photo spread, it wouldn’t have been the best look to be standing stagnant. Mondo’s was better in that aspect.

I thought his ready to wear look was the best of the bunch. Very smartly incorporated from the original, love how the shoulders look and the hint of metallic, very chic.
Mondo
Awww my little Mondo won again!!! Squeeeeeeeee!!!! I was so happy when he won the $20k, I really think he deserves it the most. I agree with Michael that the front black satin is too cheap looking, and he must not have bought enough, because it doesn't hit low enough at the hem. The judges fawned over his little hat. Love all the colors with the black.
Ready to wear look is flawless and I feel he knows how to dress a woman's body. He made this so simple and classy, it was a great compliment to his main garment.


Bottoms

Michael C. gets called out to the bottom this week. Seems he gets overlooked when he goes fug, and now I thought this one was boring but safe. I thought it was interesting enough, without going to cray cray (can't get that out of my head since Valerie said it). The judges hated how long the train was (it was super long), hated the color but complimented his construction. A little stab for Ivy, perhaps?
His RTW look was pretty lame and too literal and yeah, a lot '90's. The ironic thing was Heidi was explaining to Michael that you can go short up top OR short on the bottom, but not both. HAHA Heidi, because you would never wear something like this would you? ;)

Valerie
Oh girl. Oh my goodness. This girl started off so amazing, was doing so well and I don’t know what happened to her. She is so lucky she didn’t get the Auf, and she knew it. She had high ambitions this episode and lost her mind when they got the news of the second outfit. I'm not sure how this came out of it, but Tim made her send something down, and this hideous snow queen look is the end result.
I don't even know what to say about this. It's not blue?


Ivy
Well you know I haven’t liked Ivy’s stuff since Day 1 when she should have been kicked off. She finally used color and now I know why she doesn’t. When this came down the runway I was so horrified. And what’s with blaming the model for fudging her measurements? Don’t they all?
This looks like she hot glued wet paper streamers to a bridemaid dress and couldn't quite get it all done. Valerie is thanking her lucky stars that Ivy decided to make this POS look.
And the RTW look was just super yawn. I don't know if it was worse than Valerie's RTW look, but at least Valerie could admit that she failed this week. It also didn't help how bitchy Ivy was with the judges each week. Don't think that they don't notice that! Especially this season with Crankypants Michael Kors.
Auf Wiedersehen Ivy! I won't miss you!!!

Jackie O, or Jackie Oh, No!?

In which we finally discover why the preview for this episode showed Tim saying "Jackie O would not have a camel-toe!"

(which then led to an awkward explanation of what a cameltoe is to my mother.....)

Dahlings, let's dish. Tim Gunn posts a vlog the day after most episodes are aired, so he can tell you what happened behind the scenes. Senor Gunn had some choice words to say about the producers and production team of PR. This episode they went back and forth on what the challenge would be, and as a result Tim even had to intervene on the judging because the communication between the producers, Tim, the designers and judges was pretty much FUBAR.

Originally, the producers wanted to have the designers design a look for Katie Holmes to wear, as she is playing Jackie Kennedy in a miniseries. Since that fell through, they had them design American sportswear with Jackie in mind. This even drove Tim crazy, because Jackie wasn't known as an American sportswear icon. It seems there was also talk about doing a complete 180 and having the designers do a look inspired by a style of dance. According to Tim, he was at the dance studio, and no one else was there. To top it off, after going back to the Jacqueline Kennedy challenge, the estate said that Tim couldn't call her Jackie Kennedy Onassis. It's not on Tim's site anymore....so, did Tim pull his vlog for fear of repercussions or did Lifetime or the producers ask him to pull? I'm not sure if all that drama excuses the fug that walked down the runway but between that and the added twist of outerwear at the last moment it certainly didn't help matters!

If you can check it out while it's still posted, please see it here:

http://www.viddler.com/explore/LizLemon/videos/1/

How feisty was Tim??? Super fab, love him even more.



The "Safe ones"

Michael C.
Another thing Tim complained about, was that he told the designers to do a 2 piece look and then they would add the outerwear. The 2 piece explanation didn't make it into the episode. I don't see how this is American sportswear or Jackie Kennedy. It's a simple dress with an ugly jacket on top. I think the judges should have called Michael out on this one, but apparently they think he's thrown under the bus too much and is fragile. Lucky once again.
Gretchen
Gretchen has been safe these last couple of weeks. I don't know if the judges don't want to talk to her since the team challenge, or if the producers want her and Michael awkwardly in the waiting room together. Anyhoo, same color palette she's been using. It's not bad, I would call it safe too.

April
April wasn't going to win with this, and she called it too: "Jackie wouldn't go goth". I like April's work and yes I love wearing black more than the next gal, but she needs to pull out of it a little bit. True, it did work well for Christian and Irina, but they also had amazing showmanship. I do like this, just not sure it fits the challenge well enough.
The Bottoms:

Valerie
I had a problem with the judges hating this so much. True, it's drab and un-sexy. It does show Valerie, and yeah, it was a "jacket over a jacket" but she had already made a jacket before she found out they had to an outerwear look and when she asked Tim if she could make something else for under since she had made a jacket, he told her no. So, they were more tough on her than they had to be, in my opinion. However, I've been a Valerie fan this season, and I wish she would have some more confidence in her work, because the challenges seem to be overpowering her. Snap out of it girlfriend!
Andy
The judges were super cruel to Andy! It was pretty uncomfortable to watch. Yes, it didn't feel like it went with the rest of the challenge. Yes, those pants fit very strange and the top is weak, and omg what are those boots from? Really Piperlime??
Besides all that, this look is Andy, it's sportswear and it has something about it that makes you notice. I know there's a lot wrong with it, but I'm glad they didn't give him the auf (and I wonder who Tim ultimately saved with his "butting in") because there's something I can't put my finger on, but I don't hate this look as much as the judges did. Yes, he did need to get called out, because he was doing more his thing than a Jackie thing, but that was also miscommunicated all around!


Michael D.
This week Michael gets the AUF. Oh Michael, he was one I enjoyed watching, and I still think about that fab look he did for team Military and Lace. sigh.
This, as Tim mentioned, was unfortunate. The skirt trick, he's pulled something similar, but this one came out weird. Why did it hit her hips in the low spot? That's NOT where a woman wants a skirt to hit, and a loose one at that. The jacket is ok, but then the top was two layers and they didn't fit very well either. Oh Michael, I can see why the judges chose you. Sorry you had to go out like that, but Tim did warn you that skirt was bad.

The Tops



Christopher
This is the second time Christopher has been in the "top", meaning he's in the top 3 with a "but....". So they loved this dress, but.....
I thought it was Desperate Housewives look. That shrug was strange and kind of gross. I think this made the "top" because so many designers made looks that were not fitted, sophisticated, expensive looks. So, this was closest to that. Even if you're designing "your point of view" for Jackie, what comes to mind is fitted and chic, and many designers missed the mark on that.


Ivy
Which brings us to Ivy's look. Overall this was fitted and chic. No, not my favorite, but out of what we had to choose from I would give this the second place. It's not a "who's the nicest designer" competition remember. So as much as I hate Ivy, I love that she did pants, and they look great. It was a risk to do a sheer coat and the judges went for it. Kudos Ivy.


Mondo
Of course, this was clearly the win. I saw a lot of haters on the blogosphere world on this look. As Tim said, his textiles for this challenge were on point. I also think Mondo reigned himself in here. He could have gone way Mondo-crazy and instead he channeled that cray cray into his own runway outfit. I think the houndstooth was a smart idea, and the purple made it fun and modern. The stripes with the print could have gone too much, but everything is fitted and expensive looking, so it works. Love that he made the smart jacket and tied it together with the purple lining. J'adore!! Still love Mondo, and this makes up for last week's scary design.
Congratulations!

What's Mine is Yours

This episode was pretty yawn-tastic, so I have put it off for too long. This became a team challenge which can bring the claws out, but it was pretty tame in the end.

Call the wah-mbulance because Michael C. still isn't getting respect from the others. April gets an over-enthusiastic reception to her new home.

This week they go on a little field trip and we get to see Tim look super uncomfortable on a boat.

The designers are given their challenge by Michael Kors who tells them they need to make a resort wear look. Some of the designers cry because their idea of resort wear is wearing their chonies in their apartment.

30 minutes and $150 at Mood for their designs, they start their looks until Tim comes in and tells them that they are to be partnered up and will execute their partner's design. Interesting side note: originally the producers wanted them to work on their looks for 2 hours, then switch, repeat. Thankfully Tim told them that was preposterous and would be super confusing to judge. Our Tim, the voice of reason.

The pairings are supposed to produce ultimate drama, but they don't for the most part. I mean, anyone paired with Ivy is going to have a hard time, she thinks she's on "The Ivy Show" (her words). Michael C. is supposed to be the Boy Who Can't Sew so of course there's going to be drama, even from my Mondo with the cute hair. However, even they kiss and make up so the show goes on. Listen, I'm not into super awkward drama just for the sake of drama, but also team challenges are uncomfortable in general. I did like this challenge because it is true to life, the designers will eventually have someone else execute their work if they make it into the "real world" of fashion.

Michael Kors accompanies Tim Gunn to the workroom to critique the looks. That's going to be interesting for the runway, since he'll still be judging.

Other side note: Was Tim's chastising to Gretchen the kick in the pants she needed? She is definitely less bitchy lately.


On to the runway....


Gretchen designed a high waisted jumpsuit in browns. It's a Gretchen look. She really is into browns and grays. Casanova executed it, and it turned out fine. I'm not so into the look, but it's safe.

Michael C designed a disco resort look. Another jumpsuit which is a big snooze, even with that loud fabric. I think the legs are too long and wide to look very good, but it's another safe look.

Valerie designed a short with this long top that opened at the belly, just where you want to expose yourself...not. I don't get the color of the top nor the pattern on the shorts that seem to be pointing to the "good china" to quote our dear Peach. Not sure what she was thinking on this one. The back wasn't executed to her liking, but the fact is, the designers got their own fabrics before they knew someone else was executing.
Christopher designs another safe look that anyone could buy at the store for their vacation. It's put together well, but for a design challenge, it doesn't turn any heads. Christopher needs to step it up if he's going to impress the judges.


The bottoms:

Ivy designed another full, muted color look. She dumbed it down, because she didn't trust her partner Michael D. to execute the look she originally designed. Michael and Tim also warned her not to use the original print she had for the top, which was "careerist". Ivy blamed her dull look on Michael D., which could be partially true, but based on her previous designs, her original look couldn't have been that much better.
p.s. if you want a good drinking game, do a shot every time a judge says "throw him/her under the bus" in any variation.

Mondo's look is way scary. The challenge was vague, it was just to design "resort wear" but they didn't specify what age group.... This is resort wear, but maybe not the idea of resort that the judges had in mind. Mondo comes very close to getting the auf, but they keep him around for another week.

Casanova is still desinging for old ladies. I am wondering why the designers chose mostly muted colors for their looks. Alas, this off the shoulder top with detail around the waist did not make the cut. The top was even randomly knotted in the back. I'm very shocked Casanova designed this look for this challenge, he could have made a sexy look inspired by his Puerto Rican heritage. This look was called "unfortunate" and "mumsy". Ay dios mio, Casanova gets the auf. He was so fabulously entertaining it will be sad with him not around.

Nooooooooooooo they took away Casanova!!! Well the producers were probably crying a damn river after he was aufed. In fact they put together a cute little montage in his honor.


I thought this design by Michael D. looked kind of sloppy. I also don't find it flattering. Perhaps if it was a vibrant color in jersey fabric it would look more youthful and fun. This looks kind of drab. However, the judges liked it.

Andy's design really wowed the judges. The top easily untied to reveal a sexy swimsuit. Very dramatic and sexy on the runway. Perhaps it was too literal for the judges, as they didn't give this fun design the win.

April got a win! She desined what she called a black risque look of someone on a vacation to an asylum. How creepy! There wasn't many good looks this week, so this was the most unique design for a resort wear challenge. The top part in intriguing, but as we go lower it gets more strange. The boy shorts seem quite large on the model and the sheer black looks like straight up lingerie. I think this would be a good look to wear to an evening event at the resort for cocktails by the pool. However, Michael Kors told her to go that route, so she was very smart to listen and she ended up with her first win. Congrats April!

You Can Totally Wear That Again

This week on the drama of sewing clothes for 3 crazy judges and 1 random guest judge in one day and some sort of twist.....

The judges still love Michael C. but the other designers hate him. Gretchen calls her mom. Tim and Gretchen had a bit of a spat at Red Lobster, but they made up and are carrying on.

This week the challenge is to take a Bridesmaid dress and create a fashionable look. Yeah. This would be harder than making a bridesmaid dress.

At Mood, they have $50 to spend on supplemental fabric.

This week's twist is they will show at a designer showcase with the guests voting for their favorite look. This will be "taken into consideration" at judging, but not give them the automatic win. A rumor starts that Michael C. has been sabotaging the other designers aka Ivy and Valerie, who are friends. Hmmmm I would hope the camera peeps would get a shot of that if it were true.

I want to call this episode bandana episode....Andy, Valerie and Michael D are all rocking one this episode. Plus, how cute was Mondo's hair this week???

Just in general, it's been great to see more of Tim in the workroom. He's not only a mentor, but a girlfriend to the designers. We used to get just little snippets from him, but he's definitely been more prominent on the show since we've had the added time. I really like that about the extended format.

Onto the Runway!


Safety Net:

Gretchen
Yeah.
Gretchen needs to learn a new trick. Loose top, tight leggings or skirt and large boots are so last 4 weeks for her. I don't find this flattering. She had a really hideous dress so she had a big challenge this week, but I just don't find this look all together flattering. All I see are the boots, way too distracting.
p.s. Glad she fixed the side boob action for the runway.

April
Cute look. She had one of the least worst looks to begin with. April smartly made what she wanted to make instead of trying to please all of her client's crazy demands. It's maybe a little secretary-ish, but still youthful.

Ivy
Hmmm did Ivy listen to me and use color this week? Gasp! She had an ivory dress which she made into pants. I think the pants were not made perfectly....pretty darn tight all over. However, this is the first look she's made that I actually liked!

Casanova
Casanova had immunity this week. I like the top, but the pants are way too Heidi-esque for me. (Short tight and shiny). You made it to another round Casanova!

Andy
I liked this one. The top fits her like a dream. I'm not so crazy about the shorts, but I do like how it all came together. (Until she turned around and there were zippers from top to bottom UGH)


The Tops


Christopher
I'm confused....did they like this look or not? It seemed like he was top 3, but then they were criticizing it. I really like it. It helped that his model is gorgeous! He originally had a shiny blue number on a bigger model, but she got scared and dropped out. I'm not crazy about the peek-a-boob, but it does add something to what could have been a boring dress.

Mondo
Mondo won the most votes at the showcase, but alas, was a bridesmaid himself this round. Poor guy. I think the judges refused to give Mondo a win with the "Jersey hair" and hoop earrings. So close Mondo! It's a very ey-catching well made dress. He actually turned the dress inside out, so that it wasn't so freakin' shiny gross bridesmaid satin polyester. Next time buddy!

Michael C.
Here's my observations on my notecard when this walked out:
"Debutante slut and why the obvious zippers?"
Sadly, Gretchen had the best reasoning on this one in the waiting room when she called out that it was short, had lace, shiny and zippers all at once. I felt there was way too much going on with this dress. I understand why the judges liked it (there wasn't much else to pick from), it has a very interesting shape to it. It's something pretty different. It wasn't made well though, and eek just the lace with the satin material together with the shortness is just too freakin' much normally!
Were the judges giving him a sympathy win after last week's slaying on the runway by his team? Well they say they don't put past work into consideration.
Suspicious.
Still, congrats to Michael C.! As Casanova reminded Gretchen, the both of you have 2 wins.


The Bottoms

Valerie
I actually thought this was a fun look when it came down the runway. The model looked genuinely happy when she walked it, and it was bright. However, when you look closer it is pretty odd. Why do the black pieces not go all the way up? Did she run out of black fabric? Why in the hell did she decide to use strings like that to tie it all slutty in the back?
Oh dear and yeah it's just not flattering from all angles. It was styled well overall and I think the judges really want to see more from her. I know I do!! Kill 'em in the next round bebe!!


Michael D.
Michael had a hard time with this challenge. You know, the designers were overall very lucky this week. Although they had to design for "real people" their models were all pretty darn skinny. Valerie and Michael had the bigger gals, and they ended up in the bottom. It could be that any of the other designers would have quite possibly been in the same situation had they had different models.
Michael was smart to make a little jacket for his model. However, why he went with this ugly black netting to go on top of the dress is beyond anyone. He really should have done a fitted skirt for her. The judges were right, she looked better in her original bridesmaid dress. It's a very simple rule here, you want fitted here and she will actually look skinnier than putting her in a flowy dress. I wondered if the judges cut him a little slack because he had to design for a bigger gal than the others?

Peach went into a "Peach Panic" this episode and was afraid her model was going to show the "good china". Oh Peach..what happened here? I don't know what's sadder, the fact that this look was so hideous or the fact that her model looked genuinely happy with her garment. It really is ugly and I'm not surprised she was given the AUF this week. She makes a very similar look each week. She's been so much fun on the show, she looked like she had a blast and she's very talented at sewing and tailoring, it's just too bad that she just didn't have much of a range. Tim warned her about adding the bed skirt around the waist and she didn't listen!!
Auf Weidersehen Peach, we will miss you all the same!

Peach reads the same blog I do, and just as religiously. They are so hilarious! Check them out! They even interviewed Peach after her auf and she's such a sweetie! She even used their saying on the show which I also steal for my blog "short tight and shiny"
http://projectrungay.blogspot.com/