See, we're down to the wire hangers, and it's BFFs Mondo and Michael against BFFs Kenley and Austin, whom I've come to think of as Karen and Jack, circa Will & Grace. Bitchy New Yorker, and flighty queen.
But.I.Digress.
Of particular note, is that each of these teams has one member who left the show before the episode the tents, Michael and Austin, and one member who made it to the tents but did not win, Mondo and Kenley. Could this have been a season long plot of the producers? Seems all a bit like a plan to me, but who knows.
At any rate, the designtestants are tasked this week with creating a ready-to-wear look made to fit a certain budget, and the winning look will be sold in Nanette Lepore stores around the globe. Or New York. I dunno.
Let's rip.......
Kenley is very confident in this challenge because this is what she does.
Cue ominous drumming.
At the Nanette Lepore studio, her design is another Kenley; fun, flirty, feminine, retro.......did i fall asleep? But, for some extra fun she added a keyhole detail to the from that Nanette loved, and felt set Kenely's design apart from the others and made it extremely marketable.
Ominous drumming grows louder.
At the mentor meeting, Joanna Coles brings along Nanette Lepore, who isn't happy when Kenley says she won't be doing any effing keyholes. And Nanette thinks the dress was more body conscious--and therefore more saleable--in the sketch. So, naturally Kenely puts the keyhole back in and then makes the dress tighter, right?
No. Kenley doesn't take criticism. The keyhole is out! The dress will be loose!
My head begins to hurt from the ominous drumming.
Her dress is Kenely, only more, as Issac put it. 'Frumpy.' And, to paraphrase the long-gone Jerell, 'Frumpy don't make it to the tents.'
The other judges don't like that Kenely takes no criticisms or suggestions.
So they suggest she just go. Now.
Kenley won't be in the tents.
Michael is making Michael. Loose, flowy, long, low-cut in the front and back, and see more than one on the catwalk this season. He does pick a beautiful print with which to work, but I can't help but think he's a little one-note; like Kenley, only not frumpy.
Mentor Joanna is once more worried that you can’t wear a bra with Michael’s dress, and he promises to put hook-and-eyes into it, so it does get the Evil Eye and the Hook on the runway. He does, however add that string along the back to keep the dress from sliding off the bony shoulders of his two-pound model, and Isaac doesn't like that.,
Angela and Georgina worry that it's too long, and trip inducing; and not the kind of trip they'd like to see, but the kind of trip Elizabeth Taylor took, back in the day when she was self-medicating, and, oddly enough, wearing a lot of caftans.
But, his chic aesthetic gets the nod from the judges and also gets him the third spot in the Finale. If he promises to be a little different.
Austin also loves this challenge, though i don't know why. He calls himself the Mad Couturier, so why is he all Lady Gaga over ready-to-wear. And why does he bash Michael's look as not being something for the everyday woman when he makes a coat that I guarantee no woman in one of the square states in the middle would ever wear.
And why does he pick that sad color? And why does he pick a fabric that looks all wrinkled?
Even Nanette is sure about the coat, and how it will sell. Not promising.
The judges seemed ambivalent about it until they learned it was a coat and not a dress. I guess an oddly-colored-wrinkled-coat designed by Mad Jack Couturier is better than an oddly-colored-wrinkled-dress.
I found it kind of too frou-frou, with the rippled color and the giant swinginess of it. I don't see it as marketable or saleable, except to a very limited audience.
But, Austin gets the second slot at the tents.
Mondo is nervous at the Lepore studios. He don't do no stinking sketches, so the idea he presents looks, to Nanette Lepore, like a tin-can with a string on it.
Telephone?
I have often wondered why he doesn't sketch, but I think it's because he works from a more organic place than that. Kenely, on the other hand, thinks he should sketch, and thinks Michale should give him lessons. Mondo hears this and goers all, 'Bitch! Shut yo mouth' on Kenley. I thought it was gonna be scratching and hair-pulling, but Kenely apologized and that was that.
In the workroom, Mondo keeps holding pieces of fabric to his head, hoping for inspiration. He's going all print-mixing again, but can't seem to get it going. They play this like it's Mondo's turn to pack his scissors and leave the island, but, well, we know that just means Mondo will pull it out at the last second and show everyone else that he's it.
And he does. His dress, while kind of square--I would have walked it belted, and then had the model remove the belt halfway to show the diversity--but it was fun and flirty and young and hip and urban.
Also, I guess for Nanette it was marketable and saleable.
See, Mondo won, again, and will be showing at the tents.
What did you think?
Did the right one win?
Did the right one leave?
Kenley stated that the keyhole would 'save fabric' - oh, give me a break!
ReplyDeleteForget the bra! What about undies? Any guy could sidle right on over and peer down the back. Oolala.
The previews (which you have to sit thru the after show - which was another Mondo Kenley smackdown) show Mondo moaning and preparing to die and it is GETTING OLD, Mondo!
The designs the past two weeks were unimpressive. I have no idea who would spend $50 at Goodwill for that sad jacket Austin made.
ReplyDelete