Under The Gunn, Ep 8: Design’s A Beach

It’s a field trip! To a sunny Southern California beach filled with everything imaginable for a fun day. But, as with all things PR, there is no fun. This is an Unconventional Challenge, and the designtestants have 15 minutes to grab as much as they can from beach balls to volleyball nets, to blow-up chairs and grass skirts and hats, to make something fabulous.

Oh, and they get one day and no shopping at Mood.

It’s on, beaches, let’s rip …

THE SAFES

TEAM ANYA

Anya regained some of her oomph this week by being less pissy and more helpful. Though she just helped her tam to the safe zone, but I guess that’s better than having two designers in the bottom. Again!

SHAN — His look was kind of safe, though I loved the string detail on the back; but it really was a one-note look.

BLAKE — His was also a one-note, and the one-note was flattened straw hats on the hem.

TEAM MONDO

I really like Mondo’s style of mentoring because he questions his team, makes simple suggestions, and points out flaws. He never designs for them, but juts urges them to push forward.

His own style sense, though, makes me giggle. I mean, that one shirt looked like he’d gotten ink all over his hands and then wiped them on his clothes.

SAM

Sam’s a pissy little bitch. I said it. Pissy little bitch. He complains about being safe the last few weeks because he thinks he should win every challenge. And when Mondo questions his boxy beach mat jacket — which Sam was sure would be a show-stopper — he gets silent and pissy. Pissy.

But he scraps the coat and starts over, using the beach mat to create a pleated skirt. Only, when Tim mentions to Mondo that it looks sloppy, and Mondo tells Sam what Tim said, Sam gets all — you guess it — pissy and whines about it to Asha who basically looks the other way, sighing, Ain’t nobody got time for dat..

WHAT HE SAID

The skirt is just sooo voluminous and fun and nostalgic. It’s awesome.

WHAT I SAID

It’s cute, but those stripes on the skirt remind be of blue painter’s tape. Seriously, if you watch HGTV and see someone install a hardwood floor, they sometimes use blue painter’s tape at random intervals to keep the floor in-line.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Jen Rade called it a wow, and loved the way the mat was pleated but still fit the model’s waist. Well-made, and flattering. Rachel Roy thought it a perfect look for women of all sizes — better rethink that, I say — and called it nostalgic. The Beautiful Georgina Chapman™ loved how balanced it looked, and loved the proportions. She called it sexy and fun.

ASHA

I agree with Mondo that Asha has really grown since the show started. Her portfolio was a lot of girly dresses, girl prom dresses, and she’s really stepped it up.

This week, though, she struggled with the beach mats until Mondo suggested she place some of the lei flowers behind the mat to create a print. It worked.

WHAT SHE SAID

I am absolutely proud of myself. It looks amazing.

WHAT I SAID

Note to Blake: if you want to use hats as a hem detail this is how you do it. The bottom detail was fun and flirty, though I felt the stiffness of the mats on the top made the model seem bulky and kind of masculine.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Rachel Roy loved the great clean lines, and called it modern, strong and sophisticated. The Beautiful Georgina Chapman™ loved the spirit of the look and the great textile Asha created. Jen Rade was impressed at all she’d done in one day.

MICHELLE

Michelle got the bitchy edit as she questioned Stephanie’s taste level and declared that Natalia needed to go home.

And then she sewed a beach chair into a dress. M’kay? And Mondo questioned her use of all plastic, until she laid the piece over one another and created new colors, and color-blocking.

But then Michelle went bitchy again and whines most of the episode about how Mondo really helps Asha and Sam but doesn’t help her so much. She decides he doesn’t offer much advice because she’s so good. Uh huh.

WHAT SHE SAID

I definitely risked a lot on this look, but I’m still happy and I’m going to stand behind it.

WHAT I SAID

It looks cheap and cheesy and the addition of what looked like fish fins on the hips was wrong … all kinds of wrong. I got plastic stewardess from this.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Jen Rade declared that she’d have liked the look better if she had taken Ecstasy. She then called it Austin Powers Meets Judy Jetson and bemoaned the fact that there really wasn’t a lot of unconventional materials used. The Beautiful Georgina Chapman™ said the ‘fabric’ looked tacky, and since the skirt was neither long nor short, the look missed the mark and showed a lack of taste. Rachel Roy liked the construction, but thought the look was too cocktail waitress … on a Lego Titanic?

TEAM NICK

Nick. He has too many teeth in his head and when he really smiles, I get a crazy scary reminder of Pennywise the clown from Stephen King’s “It.”  

And he seems to help too much, then help not at all. I think Nick feels Oscar is his best chance at the finale so he kind of let’s Natalia and Stephanie slide.

I mean, how else do we explain their two looks?

NATALIA

Once again, as in last week’s Steampunk challenge, this is right up Natalia’s alley. And since she grabbed a boat-load of grass skirts and hats she’s going to knit a dress. In.One.Day.

Knit. In one day. Of course, she can’t, so the knitting becomes an overlay for another fabric, and yet she’s still scrambling to finish at the last minute. Which I find funny, because she’s well aware that she has time management issues but then she decides to knit a dress.

In.One.Day.

WHAT SHE SAID

I still love all the love I put in it and I’m just praying the judges will look past the horrible construction and see all the art.

WHAT I SAID

Are those scorpions scaling the model’s breast? I mean, it looks like she went swimming in a cute blue dress, got mired in the seaweed, fell asleep onshore and then woke with a dried seaweed-covered outfit.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Rachel Roy loved the weaving technique, but felt there was a lack of focus and some really bad construction issues; she also called it sexy, but the wrong side of sexy. Jen Rade just said that the whole look felt incomplete, while The Beautiful Georgina Chapman™ said it wasn’t the most successful look, but that she was happy Natalia shared her POV.

OSCAR

With a beach filled with everything imaginable to use in making a dress, Oscar comes away with one small bag of stuff. Nick thinks maybe he pushed Oscar into editing his looks so much that Oscar will edit himself out of the show.

When Tim and Nick visit, they call Oscar’s look a little flat, so … Oscar steps aside and shows them a second look he’s made.

Also flat. Oscar scraps things because, as he said, Tim told him in a very nice way that his work was crap. So Oscar uses fans, asks other designers for fans, and begs for fans. And made a fan dress, AKA Look #3.

WHAT HE SAID

Oh my god, my model with the fan dress. She looks so couture.

WHAT I SAID

I liked it, but didn’t love it. I thought it a bit one-note being all fans, and so short I could almost see the “fine china.”

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

The Beautiful Georgina Chapman™ called it couture and youthful and sexy, while Jen Rade once again marveled at how Oscar can make such perfect looking outfits in one day; she also called it clean and modern and strong. Rachel Roy loved the simple elegance of the look, and said it makes her want to see more of Oscar — and I don’t think she means more like Tim saw more when Oscar ripped his pants on the beach. Just sayin’.

STEPHANIE

She’s boring. I always forget she’s even on the show, until the runaway and then as soon as her loom leaves, I forget her again.

But she gets lei’d for her dress, taking the plastic lei flowers and melting them together to create a textile. When Tim and Nick stop by she says she thinks it looks cheap, and Nick says it doesn’t and he urges to make the entire look out of melted leis because it’ll be a Versace moment, or an Armani moment, or some other designer’s name that Nick drops.

WHAT SHE SAID

I’m excited. She looks great in it. The skirt has great movement. I’m proud of it.

WHAT I SAID

It looks like something I made as a kid when I left some crayons on a sheet in the sun one summer. I was grounded for ruining a sheet. Just sayin’.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

The Beautiful Georgina Chapman™ loved the use of color, but hated that it was just one fabric. [Nick?] She didn’t like that Stephanie didn’t use more unconventional pieces. [Nick?] And she called it “project-y.” Rachel Roy also liked the color and the flirty skirt, but complained that it was all one thing. [Nick??] Jen Rade said it didn’t work, had no sophistication — though she liked the skirt — and called it crafty.

WHAT HAPPENED

Anya’s Team is all safe, while Nick has two safes — Oscar and Natalia — and his “helping” of Stephanie lands her in the Bottom, and she goes home.

Mondo gets two designers on Top — Asha and Sam — and one in the Bottom, Michelle. Once again the judges leave it up to the mentor to decide and Mondo gives the win to Sam because Sam was pissy and bitchy and, when pushed, made something nice.

MY TAKE

I loved how Sam can pat himself on the back while saying things like, and I’m paraphrasing, “Mondo sees how great how I am, when even I don’t see it … yet.”

Does anyone else notice how much Nick simply mimics what Tim says? Tim, when speaking about Stephanie’s look, said, “This could be Stephanie’s moment,” and Nick replied, “This could be her moment.” I say Huh? And then Nick would say, Huh.

Nick with a sports metaphor for Oscar: It’s the ninth inning … or whatever they call it … in football and you’re gonna hit a goal! Goooooooal! Oh Nick, stop. Seriously.

I do not like the judges letting the mentors decide. They’re judges for a reason, and it puts the mentors in an awful spot by forcing them to pick one of their own designers over another.

Finally, does anyone else get the feeling that, although the rules say when a mentor loses all their designers they are also off the show, that somehow, miraculously, we’ll get a finale with a designer form each mentor? Rigged much?

I’m seeing Sam, Shan and Oscar, though I’d prefer Asha somewhere in that mix.

What did YOU think?