Under The Gunn Ep 6: Out Of The Ashes

Once again we have a product placement challenge for another movie, this time it's Pompeii. 

The designtestants meet up at the Getty Villa and watch a clip from the film, then meet its costume designer, Wendy Partridge, and seen some of her work.

The challenge, though, is a team challenge: create a three-piece cohesive collection inspired by either Pompeii or the Getty Villa and do it in one day with $500.

Sounds easy, no? Let's rip...

THE SAFES: TEAM MONDO — left to right

They wanted to do a play on hard and soft — using leather and hand-dyed silk. It sounded good, but their first attempt at dyeing was called "arts and crafts" by Mondo and that's never good.

So there was re-dyeing and that was worse: it looked a little "sheet covering a bloody body" to me ... I was sure they'd go into the bottom.

ASHA — I liked this look. But it was just hard without the soft.

MICHELLE — While the new print was awful, this look used the best of the print, and I loved the braided leather mid-section.

SAM — Just bad. The top didn't seem to fit very well, and the way the print played out on half the skirt looked sloppy.

TEAM ANYA

Anya is better this week at mentoring, giving her team some advice on 'complimenting' one another's looks.

Advice they very clearly did not take, but, hey, she tried …

BLAKE

I think he gets it into his mind what to do and then there’s no changing for him. He immediately thought all black and just went with it, even though his team was thinking black and white.

And red! There was some red fabric they had and a discussion of red, and then there was no red.

WHAT HE SAID

I have created something really strong and I’m really excited to show this to the judges.

WHAT I SAID

It’s not cohesive with the other looks; there’s a sequined belt and a hood which no one else has. It looks more like a hoodie beach cover-up than anything else.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Wendy Partridge liked the hood — go figure — but hated the belt, while Jen Rade said every outfit had to have ‘something’ and this outfit had the belt; meaning she liked it. Zanna called it The Dark Side Of The Toga and cool and sexy.

NICHOLAS

People keep raving about Nicholas’ aesthetic but every week it’s some kind of simple tunic; and then there’s the whole issue of him barely being able to finish one thing.

And the whole issue of the little crush he and Blake have on one another. At the Getty they were finishing one another’s sentences and completely leaving Shan out of the conversation.

Cohesion? No. Hook-up? Maybe.

WHAT HE SAID

Overall I like what I made. It’s not necessarily the first thing I drew.

WHAT I SAID

Seen it before, though the addition of the badly cut “wannabe triangles” is new. It really is a sloppy piece of crap work.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Wendy Partridge thought there were interesting elements but none of it really worked. Jen Rade said it reminded her of what a five-year-old might cut up with safety scissors. The triangles don’t match and have no symmetry. Rachel Roy thought it was a great idea and liked the skirt but … Zanna called it modern and relevant and badly constructed.

SHAN

He was the odd man out in the Blake-Nicholas love-fest and seemed to struggle and question himself all night. Even when Anya said she liked the skirt he said she was just saying that to be nice.

Shan obviously doesn’t work well with others, in the sense that he doesn’t speak up.

WHAT HE SAID

I don’t feel like this look represents me completely. I wish I had more time.

WHAT I SAID

It’s boring. And tattered. I don’t get the shredded edges especially when Shan said he was inspired by weathered pottery. I think he was inspired by a Brendan Fraser movie … ?

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Zanna hated the top, the “extra embellishment” of the shredded fabric, while Wendy Partridge liked it; she also liked the architectural references, but wasn’t keen on the winged bodice and the unfinished edges. Jen Rade called it; mummy, and bandages.

TEAM NICK

What a clusterf**k of a team. They don’t listen to one another and after Nick tossed Isabelle under the bus last week they don’t want to listen to him.

But Nick seems to think they need Hands On Nick when they need Mentor Nick, but then he plays Silent Nick, Not Helping Nick.

And it’s then, when he goes away, that the team really pulls together.

Says volumes about Nick

NATALIA

She was going to knit a dress. In one day. Knit. One day. Knit. And she wonders why Nick might not have her back?  Natalia has one mind set, one idea, and wants to run with it, right into the ground until, when Nick walks away, she and Stephanie and Oscar decide they have to work together. And so they do.

WHAT SHE SAID

I think it looks great. I’m really happy with the way my look flows.

WHAT I SAID

Her look? This was all Oscar’s doing. He told her how to make the top, how to layer the skirt, and then he cut the skirt for her. I think Oscar should get credit for making two dresses.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Jen Rade loved the color and the layered skirt, while Zanna called the look romantic, though verging on costume. Wendy Partridge loved the cohesive detail of the bolts on Natalia’s dress and Stephanie’s collar.

STEPHANIE

She has no backbone; she’s muttering and complaining but never really asking and talking. But, she did stop to listen to Oscar and changed her dress from a flowing, watery resort gown, to a cute little jumper.

WHAT SHE SAID

I think my look definitely has the resort luxurious feel with warrior aspects.

WHAT I SAID

It’s cute. That’s all. Though I didn’t quite get the mini-cape on the back. While it matched Oscar’s cape, and Natalia’s sleeves, it just seemed cartoony cheap superhero.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Jen loved the romper, calling it cute and on trend; she also loved the print.

OSCAR

What a switcheroo, eh? Oscar went from doing his own thing at Mood, to not listening in the workroom, to telling Nick and Tim that his team sucks, to becoming the champion and the captain of Team Nick and giving them the win.

Plus, no one makes a complete and completed garment faster than Oscar, who then helps Natalia design and sew her look, and helps Stephanie sew hers.

WHAT HE SAID

I show the judges that I can also do clean and chic, elegant, but still powerful.

WHAT I SAID

On his look I ‘get’ the cape. I love the simplicity of the look and how well-made it is, and how he can go from Liza On ice last week to this.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Rachel Roy loved it and Zanna applauded his construction. I will also give Natalia props for calling him out as their team leader and saying how much he helped.

WHAT HAPPENED

With Mondo’s team safe, he has no shot at another win, and with Anya’s Team all Bottoms—which might make a Blake-Nicholas Hook-up irrelevant and clumsy—it becomes clear that Oscar should get the win.

As for the losers, Shan gets saved, and then, in what I call a cop-out move, the judges say they can’t decide who to send home between Blake and Nicholas so they’re both safe.

Um, what about when Anya saved Nicholas from going home a couple of weeks ago? Shouldn’t that have made the choice easier? Send Nicholas packing.

MY TAKE

Nick is the worst mentor. He has no idea what that word means, and tries to railroad his team into doing what he wants because he seems to know better. I also loathe the way he doesn’t listen when Tim tries to talk with him; he just says, Right. Right. And then goes about his way.

I did love how Natalia said Nick wouldn’t save her because he doesn’t like it. I actually pulled out my tiny violin and played a sad song for her. If she goes home it won’t be because Nick threw her under the bus, but because she’s bad. Bad. Once again: she wanted to knit a dress in one day. ‘Nuff said.

Shan needs to grow a pair of balls and speak up.

Nicholas needs to go home. If I see another flowy tunic I swear I’ll shoot my TV and make him pay for a new one.

Oscar. He’s wack sometimes, in his designs, but he’s always done. And this week he really brought the eleganza to the catwalk.

What did YOU think?