PR 11 Ep 4: Petal To The Metal

This week opens with the news that Daniel wears a caftan to bed. I've tried scrubbing the image from my mind, but I may need hypno-therapy to completely rid myself of it.

No place to go but down, after that, I thought …. Then we entered the workroom and found dozens and dozens and of Glade 2-in-1 scented candles burning. I could swear I smelled the combination of Hawaiian Breeze and :::gag::: Vanilla Passion fruit in my living room, and had it not been about 30 degrees outside I would have opened all the windows.

So, I’m guessing that this is the 2-in-1 Challenge: make an outfit that can turn into a …. Cars? Table? Or, make an outfit that conjures up two different things, like, say Gin and Regret …. Sweat and Fresh Parmesan. 

No, this will be a 2-in-1-Unconventional Challenge where the designtestants will make outfits out of items from the flower shop and the hardware store. The designs don’t need to have both flowers and nails, but flowers and nails need to be used throughout the collection which must be ::::dreaded word alert:::: cohesive.

First, the business: since the, ahem, Dream Team has been less than, they get to steal two designers from Team Keeping It Real. They choose Stanley because Benjamin said so—and because they say he’s fast and a good leader. Then they choose Daniel because he wins every week. No? Not Daniel? Layana because, what, she’s a girl? M’kay.

Then, Tim tells Keeping It Real they can steal one designer from the Dream Team—but NOT one of the designers they just lost. Michelle hides behind Tu whispering, ‘Not me not me, I hate Patricia I hate Patricia,’ so, of course, Michelle gets picked and then gets a series of hugs from Patricia. Talk about uncomfortable. 

Let’s rip ….

Dream Team – Winners …. Finally!

Benjamin, Layana, Matthew, Tu, Stanley

I think they got lucky in choosing Stanley because he stepped right up with a cohesive design plan. He says they should go 1950s Dior, a kind of Retro Vintage Collection, and everyone jumps on board and suddenly the Dream Team looks like they have a purpose other than being Auf’d one-by-one.

Still, there are concerns: Benjamin, with severe Time Management Issues,. Added to his I’m Really Good Issues, decides to build a loom—suddenly he’s Amish?—and create his own textile. The entire team starts the downward spiral. Then Samantha has big and bold ideas and starts running out of time; it gets so scary in there that Layana has a nightmare about Samantha’s dress in which she tells Samantha to scrap it. Samantha wants to put Layana to sleep for good, and carries on with her vision. Which turned out to be a good thing.

Samantha: In

The Dream Team really came through this week. Their looks were very cohesive. Tuʼs ‘sleeveless jacket’ AKA a vest, seemed like a perfect counterpart to Matthew’s chic dress of mops and moss. Stanley’s leafy design was the perfect Tea party gown, and both Samantha and Layana played with see-thorough shapes, though Layana’s seemed a bit stiff. Samantha’s look, made of cut-out contact paper lattice, and leaves and wire mesh was amazing. The way she lay the mesh over the leaves, making it appear see-though was very cool, very modern.

Heidi called their collection fantastic and magical, while The Adorable Zac Posen™ loved it for being fun and  ::::dreaded word alert:::: cohesive.  He also loved Layana’s dreamy nest/cage dress, and Benjamin’s comeback from last week’s horror. Bette Midler, yes, The Divine Miss M was a guest judge, dubbed the entire collection amusing and whimsical and exciting.  Fellow Guest Judge, fashion blogger, Leandra Medina loved the artistry of Tu’s not-jacket. Nina Garcia praised Samantha’s ability to create a sort of transparent fabric from the mesh.

It comes down to Samantha and Layana, whose looks were similar in their use of transparent textiles, but, in the end, the dress that Layana thought was a nightmare gets the win.

Congratulations Samantha.

Team Keeping It Real – Almost A Winner.

Amanda, Daniel, Kate, Michelle and Richard, Patricia

They seemed to be a mess from the beginning. Since there are seven of them, Michelle and Richard, who apparently share a brain as well as a love for high collars, decide to pair up. But then Richard says the collection should be ‘RuPaul Meets Gilligan’s Island’ and Michelle wants to jump ship. At the hardware store, Richard wants to buy a stuffed turtle and some water-pumps and, well, it might have happened off-screen, but I think Michelle pummeled him.

Amanda, who’s never seen the PR apparently, and if she had, doesn’t remember Andrae’s disastrous moss dress from his season, goes all moss and nails on her model. And the moss, as Daniel says, has alopecia, with pieces falling off, and then chunks falling off, and then not enough flowers to make it long enough or attractive enough. Luckily, Crazy Joe, of Cat Sweater fame, offers up a solution that works, and Amanda will have a finished dress.

What they don’t have is ::::dreaded word alert:::: cohesion. They hadn’t bothered to think of that before designing, so they make up a story during Tim’s visit that their dresses are from each decade. I figured this would go up in a big ball of flamers, but on the runway, when they described their dresses and their decades, it seemed like it works. Shouldn’t have, but did.

Keeping it Real had the edgier collection, and Heidi  liked that they played with volume, though the volume on Joe’s sweater dress that might have been a jacket, but was still a sweater dress, was too much.

As for me, I thought the proportions on Daniel’s dress were just scary; the model looked like a giant oval, and yet the thickness in the middle seemed to disappear when she turned around. Amanda’s dress, kind of 60s inspired, seemed Mad Moss, and  Joes, while sort of interesting, was just shapeless. Kate’s dress, filled with chicken wire was as pretty as a torture device could be. Michelle and Richard had the best look, kind of Floral S&M, while Patricia’s looked like a Rose Parade Float caught in a hurricane.

Joe: Out

Heidi liked Patricia’s look, though she called it messy, while The Adorable Zac  Posen™ named it Pow Wow Chic. Heidi also loved the Madonna-esque, S&M-ish look Michelle and Richard sent down, but they all came down hard on Joe's oversized sweater mess. Bette Midler didn’t like the blotchiness of the color, and the way the mesh had horizontal stripes, while The Adorable Zac  Posen™ thought that if it was going to go big, it should have gone big.

Nina didn’t ‘get’ the Dresses of Decades Last Minute Cohesion, but, while all the designers stood as one and shoved Amanda under the bus, she came out in support of the Moss and Nail outfit; she did, however, wish Amanda didn’t seem so defeated and had stood up for her look. But then, with every single member of your team saying you should go home, it’s hard not to feel defeated. Bette also hated the Gang Banging Finger Pointing.

So, in the end, Amanda got a pass, while Joe, who made a giant sweater dress jacket from the future was sent packing.

MY TAKE

I didn’t like the Smackdown of Amanda; I felt bad for her since no one really said anything to her, and her issues in the workroom were no different than anyone else. But, as Kate said, having won once, Amanda was the only designer not to win or be in the top so, say G’night Amanda. Yeah, that was logical thinking.

I’m glad they switched up the teams because I was going to feel really bad if the Dream Team got down to one designer and they had to create an eight piece collection single-handedly.

Now, for the WTF moment: at the end of the episode, Tim announces to the teams that "it’s not over" and Heidi had some news … and then we don’t get it. We just get a ‘To Be Continued’ and scenes from next week when the designers create a look for country crooner Miranda Lambert.

Will the looks be made of flowers and screws again? Will the team business finally be over? Will Patricia hug Michelle till her head explodes? Will Benjamin build a sewing machine from scratch?

I dunno …. What do YOU think?