Under The Gunn Ep 13: Finally The Finale

So, after last week when it was decide it wouldn’t be Three Finalists — as they’ve been saying all season — but Four Finalists, Tim stays with Sam, Asha, Shan and Oscar on the runway to lay out the Big Finale.

Three days! Five looks! $2500.00! And they will create this mini-collection to showcase their point-of-view. Naturally, since 5 looks in 3 days is hard, Tim will bring back former designtestants to help the finalists. Sam gets teamed with Blake — Go Gays! Oscar is paired with Natalia — he’s gonna school her! Asha gets Michelle — still smarting from her elimination. And Shan gets Stephanie — and it took me more than a minute to remember Stephanie.

As for the mentors, they each have their own strategies: Anya will let Shan be Shan, while Mondo feels it’s time to let his kids fly, and Nick, well, Nick says, ‘I have Oscar’ which doesn’t sound much like a strategy so Tim, once again, tells Nick how to mentor.

And then he brings out Product Placement™, in this case one Brian Bolain, the corporate marketing manager for Lexus™ to tell the designtestants that they get to go to Mood in a new Lexus™ and will win a new Lexus™ at the Lexus™ sponsored runway show. Lexus™.

I think I’ve fulfilled my responsibility to, wait for it, Lexus™.

So, let’s rip….

TEAM MONDO

SAM

He decides that since his armor shattered last week he will do an armor-themed runway in which the first look is armor and then the armor fades away. Armor.

At Mood, he finds the bolt of shiny, grey nubby jacquard that he used on his first winning challenge and so naturally that means he should use it again rather than go with something new and fresh. At the critique, Mondo is less than thrilled, calling the looks The Legend of Zelda — which I had to Google so I could find out that it’s some kind of video game. Leave it to Mondo — who attended the finale in a Spy v. Spy costume — to create a most obscure reference.

Tim, on the other hand, loves Sam’s collection, and tells him to sell it to Mondo, which I hoped didn’t mean some sort of awkward strip-tease and a come on. But Sam says his looks are for all those teachers who told him he’s only end up designing for a department store, and Tim said it was a big F-U to those bastards!

HIS COLLECTION

Look # 1 is the hideous fabric as pants — sorry but the fabric looks too stiff and cheap and shiny to me, plus it’s kind of a sad gray, no? But I loved the jacket, which is edgy and cool.

Look #2 is a simple dress with the only interesting part being the neon stripe down the side and everyone knows that neon is — or should be — over.

Look # 3 is finally something sexy and cool, though the skirt seemed a bit lopsided and I don’t know it that was intentional.

Look # 4 is a sexy slouchy, kinda see-thru top over hand-painted shorts. I worried about Sam hand-painting fabric again since the last couple of times it looked a little bloody, but this time it was an interesting pattern in a better choice of colors.

Look # 5 is a nice dress, but, correct me if I’m wrong, isn’t it nearly identical to a dress Oscar made earlier in the season that Sam called too simple? Pot.Kettle.Maxidress.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Sam tells the judges — including the adorable Neil Patrick Harris [NPH] and Heidi Klum in Thigh High Red I’m The Boss Of This Bitch boots — that he designs ready-to-wear because he hates couture which is old and outdated; Heidi instantly leaps from her chair and stilettos him. But Sam says his style is more “Hipster Nonsense” which will be old and outdated by the time I finish this sentanc —

Heidi, seriously now, says she likes his collection; she calls it cool, cohesive and young. NPH loves the idea and the cohesiveness, but wonders if it isn’t a bit safe, and wonders what Sam would have done if he’d tried something a little more couture. Jen Rade loves the pants and the sexy long dress, and says there’s a market for Sam’s aesthetic, while Rachel Roy’s favorite look is the draped skirt. Zanna Roberts Rassi thinks the shift dress is a bit pedestrian save the neon stripe, and then calls the collection “wearable” which has never sounded like high praise to me.

ASHA

She’s going to do what she’s calling her family style, AKA Nefertiti in Harlem which sounds like the 1971 blaxploitation flick a la Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold which sounds a little like a female Indianan Jones film, eh?

And at Mood, Asha goes for every different kind of print and velvet and leather and shiny and bling and trim and maybe a cappuccino that $2500 can buy.

It’s hard work, you know, and as Mondo said when he saw the looks, Gurl, please. Actually he said the collection bordered on costume and Tim said she was trying too hard. Asha wondered why Mondo encouraged her to get all the different kinds of fabrics but never realized he didn’t tell her to use every single fabric in every single look.

HER COLLECTION

Look # 1 — or as I called it The Jumpsuit Cher Wore When Chaz Was A Six-Year-Old Girl — is so dated and so old and, for the love of Norma Desmond, she’s slapped a turban on the girl’s head!

Look # 2 looks like a circus tent as skirt; albeit a wonky looking stiff skirt. I’ll give her props on the top though because that was cool.

Look # 3 is made from another shiny, hard, plastic looking fabric. I like the silhouette, which is sexy, but the fabric looks like the kind of fabric people with cats use to cover their sofas so if the cats pee on it, the urine beads up and can be wiped away.

Look # 4 is a much better use of the circus tent fabric. That jacket is very cool, but, I may be wrong, I’ve been wrong before, I think, but the leggings seem like a riff on something Shan showed — and his show came before Asha’s. Last week she co-opted his Steampunk look, and now she’s mimicking his leggings, though I will say hers turned out better.

Look # 5 is pretty and velvet and purple, but when the model has to carry the dress out to the side while she walks so she won’t trip and fall, that is not a good look. Plus, another mother%$&@ing turban!

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Asha tells them she designs for ‘kick-ass’ women who want to be Nefertiti in Harlem. We get it!!! Zanna Roberts Rassi calls her designs next level which may or may not mean they can be find on a high sales rack at goodwill; I’m not sure. And both she and Jen Rade call that the jumpsuit “Bianca Jagger at Studio 54.” Rachel Roy says creativity trumps all else, but creativity that is unwearable and looks like Nefertiti at The Circus is just weird. Heidi calls the whole collection angry and confusing and too busy. NPH agrees, saying the whole shebang looked like A Fortune-Telling-Snake-Charmer-At-A-1920s-Circus-Carnival.

TEAM NICK

OSCAR

Nick suggests Oscar go to his roots in Cuba — obviously Nick is once again mentoring by telling the designer what do do — but Oscar wants to reboot some of the looks he’s already shown, including one from last week!

Oscar wants to go with fresh and glamorous, but fresh is not two looks you’ve already shown and glamorous is not another thigh-high split number. At the critique, Tim raises the question again about reusing, reshowing, remaking looks that have already been shown and Nick the Mentor just kinda stammers and mutters and, well, mentors.

HIS COLLECTION

Look # 1 is that slit to the highest part of the thighs dress, though it is stretched so tight, it reminds me of the Carol Burnett character, Mrs. Wiggins. Not good; the cape was nice, you know, because Oscar knows his way around a cape.

Look # 2 was Best In Show of all the designs shown last night. Elegant and chic and sexy. Had his collection been more inspired by this look and less inspired by retreads it would have been knock-out after knock-out.

Look # 3 was deceptively simple, with the top being kind of a wrap-around tablecloth, but the pants saving the day.

Look # 4 is That Coat that I thought was silly when he made it last week and still find it silly. The outfit beneath, though, is better than last week’s so … yeah.

Look #5 came very close to showing the “fine china” but I loved the color and the drama and the ease of it all.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Oscar told them he likes to “protect” women because they conceive life, which I cannot figure out what that has to do with fashion or even his collection.

Jen Rade loved sexy Look # 2, but did call Oscar out for ‘replicating’ other looks that she’d seen just about three days earlier; she also thought the originals, done with less money and time, were better. Heidi wasn’t keen on Look # 1 but she wanted to rip Look # 2 off the model and wear it to dinner with her new younger boyfriend du jour. Zanna Roberts Rassi said his collection made her feel underdressed. NPH didn’t mind that Oscar repeated the looks because maybe he didn’t have to sit through them twice?

TEAM ANYA

SHAN

Shan wants to do Leather and Lace, which I think means he’ll be designing for a Stevie Nicks and Don Henley video, because that’s the first thought that came into my head when I heard leather and lace; and I’m still humming it now and twirling my Inner Stevie.

He has decided that, at the finale, at his last show, he’s going to give the judges something completely new and different, so I guess his POV is ever-changing? I’m worried.

And Anya is worried too, because when she stops by to chat she calls the whole shebang kinda crafty, and not in that It’s A Good Thing Martha Stewart way. She reminds him to keep things eleganza; wait, that might have been RuPaul; it’s been a long TV week.

HIS COLLECTION

Look # 1 I liked at first, though I was confused if that was a skirt, o shorts or a long jacket. I liked the lace leggings; I didn’t like the leathery striped bandages on her legs.

Look # 2 is the cool and edgy ad sexy hard and sift look I think Shan was going for and had this been his jump-off point, he might have :::SPOILER ALERT:::  had a shot.

Look # 3 made my eyes hurt after two sort of dark and muted looks, be brings out the Red!! It was cool and sexy, and I loved the lace back, but the red was jarring.

Look # 4 was a great paring with Look # 2, though when separated by the Red Sea I’d almost forgotten Look # 2.  

Look # 5 had a bit more red, though not as shocking, and I liked it; it was kinda retro, kinda modern, and kinda sexy.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Jen Rade liked Look # 4, saying it best exemplified his Hard and Soft collection, but she wondered what happened to the Shan that used bold prints all season long; like I said, the Switcheroo POV at the last minute is never a good idea. Rachel Roy says Shan went overboard, with too much of a not-so-good thing; he needs to learn to edit and not throw lace and leather and leggings and bandages on everything.  Zanna Roberts Rassi also agrees that there is a lot going on and called the show discombobulated and too much. Heidi also called it too many fabrics and too many ideas, while NPH said the jarringly red jumpsuit shot the cohesiveness straight to hell.

WHAT HAPPENED

The judges deliberate. Some say Asha should win because she’s shown the most growth; some say Sam should win because of his youthful POV; some say Oscar because he’s a master with scissors and sewing.

No one is saying Shan so, yeah, I got that one figured out.

Finally the designtestants return to the stage and Shan is instantly sent backstage. I’m thinking they’re going to go Asha and Oscar, but Nefertiti doesn’t make it to Final Two.

We’re down to Oscar and Sam. Oscar creates fabulous beautiful clothes; that’s his POV. Sam creates young modern clothes; that his POV.

The judges go for the glamour and Oscar wins the first season of Under the Gunn.

MY TAKE

I hate the family visits; quit trying to tug on my heartstrings. There is no surprise in these visits and I keep waiting for the one family visit where a family member tells the designtestant, I always thought you’d end up in jail, not on TV because you normally suck at stuff instead of all that Oh, we knew he was special from the start bull shiz.

That said, how adorable were Shan’s kids? OMG! In those furry hats! And falling asleep at Daddy’s show? Yeah, that one, not so much I think.

I also think Oscar deserved to win because he’s been strong and completely finished every single time all season long. Oscar never sent down some glued and stapled and sewn onto the model looking crap, so he got big points for that.

His looks might have skewed older, and yes, the rebooting of past designs was wrong, but, as Zanna said, he’s a master.

Asha shouldn’t have been in the finale at all after a season of so-so designs — only the Zendaya look was good — and weeks of bad construction.

Sam got a bit pissy thinking about teachers who told him he could only design for department stores, but I think that’s kind of an apt description. His clothes were interesting and cool, but very young, and very taste specific.

Shan made beautiful clothes all season long and then decided at the last minute to do the change-up. Not smart at all, which is why he went home before Asha.

I was tired of Nick and his rainbow  array of dinner jackets and awful mentoring style and thought Mondo was the better mentor because he let his designers design, though he nudged them at the right times.

Anya seemed more cheerleader to me, but that was better than designing for the designers, eh Nick? And she missed the mark when saying she would let Shan be Shan and then let him change his whole POV at the last show.

I loved me some Tim Gunn, but man oh man these designtestants put him through the ringer. If you make Tim Gunn snap and shout and curse, then you know you’re outta line.

What did YOU think?

Under The Gunn Ep 12: Marvelous Runway

So, here we are at the last challenge; the one that will decide which three get to show at The Tents. Sidenote: I know I’ve been saying The Tents, but there are no Tents, it’s a theater stage, but I like saying The Tents! So there.

Anyhoo, the show begins and we get Sad Sam, feeling, as he says, a sense of malaise, so Cynical Bob just knows that we are going to get a Sam Story this week, a mini-Lifetime movie, but, hey, it’s TV and that’s what they do. We also get a bit of the Uh oh, Nick and Anya only have one designer each and if Oscar or Shan gets eliminated, Nick and Anya go, too. Which you just know means Oscar and Shan will go 1-2 this week.

Still, the designtestants and Tim meet up at meltdown Comics to speak with Cort Lane, the Vice president of Animation for Marvel Television. Comic books; this week will be comic books.  Tim tells the designers that they will be designing a superhero inspired look that cannot, should not shall not, must not, be a costume. Y’hear that Oscar? Put down the capes!

The designtestants have to choose from four Marvel comic book heroes, Hawkeye, who has no superpower, but he’s a sarcastic marksman; I immediately identify with Hawkeye. Then we have Captain Marvel, who, apparently, is an alcoholic amnesiac, from what I gathered so, um, yeah … huh? Falcon is the first African-American superhero and he has man-made wings. [Sidenote: he’s played in the movies by the oh-so-cute Anthony Mackie. Sidenote over] And last we have Gamora, though not as Sodom and, but as in assassin.

The designtestants have two days and $250 for this challenge, so let’s all pray Oscar doesn’t do a cape and then let’s rip ….

TEAM NICK

Tim gives Nick props because, now, finally, with just one designer left, Nick has apparently learned how to mentor.

He doesn’t tell Oscar what to do, he simply let’s Oscar be Oscar. Unless there’s a cape coming.

OSCAR—Gamora

He keeps telling us that he won’t be doing a cape or a gown, but will focus on a jacket and pants, something he hasn’t done before. But then he begins to second guess his suit idea, although it has an open back and sleeves, and, quicker than you can say LIZA-A-A-A-A-A-A-A, he’s made a cloak, which is like a cape only it has a different name.

Still, I will Oscar props for this description of the challenge:

This is like pirates fighting with The Hunger Games style with scissors and fabrics. I mean this is Iraq. This is the Chernobyl bomb. This is intense.

No wonder his clothes are so dramatic, it’s in his blood.

WHAT HE SAID

It looks very superhero. I love it!

WHAT I SAID

It’s well-made, as always, and flashy and fun, but it looks too much like a costume, and the flyway sleeves on the jacket are just odd.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Zanna Roberts Rassi said Oscar’s superpower was construction and sewing, but she would have liked it without the cape-cloak because it looked a bit costume-y. Rachel Roy agreed that is was beautifully made but said maybe she missed the memo about the Halloween Costume Party; but then how do we explain that she came to the UTG dressed a s Ali McGraw from Love Story? Jen Rade called it a good combo or superhero meets badass bitch, and Jaime Alexander said it was high fashion and she would love to wear it. Sidenote: Jaime Alexander has been featured on this here bloggy’s WTF feature HERE.

TEAM ANYA

Anya doesn’t so much mentor as she does give subtle clues and praise this week. I get less mentor from her and more Life Coach because she delivers platitudes and sentiments and feelings, and not a great deal of criticism … unless you remember the week she made Blake cry.

SHAN—Captain Marvel

Pants or a dress; dress or pants. Shan is lost; he hasn’t a clue. But he’s learned one thing through this process: buy as much fabric as you can because if you f**k it up, you’ll at least have extra fabrics to try again. And that might come in handy because he has nothing to show Anya or Tim during the critique; no dress, or pants, and not even a sketch. If only he could open up his head and show them what he’s thinking … because all he has is shredded leather pieces and some camouflage knit.

Yes, I said camouflage knit.

WHAT HE SAID

I love the way the fringes are flowing on the skirt. I love the way you see the camouflage detail underneath. I’m feeling pretty good at this point.

WHAT I SAID

This is my favorite because it reads superhero, but also fashion; it’s edgy and cool and tough.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Jen Rade called it modern gladiator, while Rachel Roy loved the structure and the good print, while she adjusted her head scarf that Ali McGraw wore in Love Story. Zanna Roberts Rassi called it sexy, cool, edgy and editorial, while Jaime Alexander liked the versatility of it — apparently the bottom skirt comes off or something?

TEAM MONDO

I kinda like Mondo’s style of mentoring because he lets his team work through their own process of coming up with the design, but then really nails them when they begin to mess up, a la Asha’s construction issues — which still makes me giggle when I remember how much she dogged Natalia over the same thing.

ASHA—Falcon

She decides that, since this is the last challenge before The Tents, she’ll try something she’s never done before: pants and chiffon. She’ll make utilitarian pants and a gown-esque chiffon top to play up the hard and soft aspect of the superhero. Bold move, especially since she isn’t good at building the look as much as she is creating the image of the look.

As the runway approaches Asha is a twittering twitching hot mess, and running wild in the workroom. So much so that Mondo keeps telling her to calm down before she ruins her look. That almost happens because one of her zippers breaks and, last seconds she sews her model into the pants, hoping they’ll stay on, on the runway,

WHAT SHE SAID

When my look comes down the runway it is absolutely gorgeous and it is beautifully executed.

WHAT I SAID

I laughed at “beautifully executed” and thought of the zipper issues, but I loved the flowing top, even the mullet back because they looked like wings. I did not like — and wished she’d been called out for it — the idea that she co-opted Shan’s pants from the Steampunk challenge into this look.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Zanna Roberts Rassi loved the drama of the mullet-gown-top-cape piece and the hardness of the leather pants but wished there was more. Rachel Roy called it timeless luxury, akin to coming to the show dressed as Ali McGraw from Love Story. Jen Rade noted that the construction as much better this week, and Jaime Alexander liked the idea, the grace of the idea, and the flow, but missed the powerful edge — this is where I thought that, had Asha made a leather top and a chiffon bottom, it might have worked better … but that’s just me.

SAM—Hawkeye

As I said, this week we have Sad Sam; Sam who picked Hawkeye because of his snark and sarcasm, which I call snarkasm; Sam feels a bit of a kinship with that idea. But then, as other designers work, Sam sits in the lounge, a la Isabelle with her Starbucks, and reads the comic book, and thinks and speaks.

Sam was bullied as a child, and perhaps identifies with the idea of a superhero protector — though he says he wasn’t as interested in being a superhero as he was in being Britney Spears — who might have been able to withstand the taunts and jabs of mean kids.

But, as happens with bullying victims, Sam also attempted suicide twice, the last time feeling saved only because he heard his mother calling his name. That’s got to be a moment that plays out in your head all the time, the What if … But, this is Under the Gunn, not my soapbox for stronger anti-bullying measures, so I’ll return to regular scheduled snarking.

He has chosen nearly every kind of print imaginable, which some might think crazy, but I really like; and Tim, upon seeing, and hearing, Sam’s ideas is quite impressed, even if it is risky. Plus, we get shots of Sam painting his fabrics again, but no real clue as to what or why.

WHAT HE SAID

I love my look. I put what I was feeling into this garment. I think it’s got the rebellious side where the darkness comes from.

WHAT I SAID

I liked the mix of fabrics — though I was confused by the straps — and I didn’t get the painted splotch on the back of the top, until Sam explained that it’s kind of the darkness we all carry, that we sometimes try to hide.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Rachel Roy called it mundane; this from a woman who came to the show dressed as Ali McGraw from Love Story?  Zanna Roberts Rassi said it was so close, but turned out to be nothing, and this is where Sam explains his ideas and the look, and the dark spot. Jen Rade, tough as nails, bitchy and sarcastic Jen Rade, tears up and understands Sam now, and is glad he always stuck to his aesthetic no matter the challenge. Jaime Alexander called it fun and vibrant and loved the black splotch, saying it was like wearing your heart on your sleeve.

WHAT HAPPENED

Well, everyone agrees that Oscar and Shan should move on to the The Tents, so it comes down to the two left on Mondo’s team.

I’m shocked! I’m stunned! I knew it!

Jen wants Sam because he has a strong POV, while Rachel wants Asha because she has good ideas. Zanna said Sam hadn’t been very interesting until this runway, but she wants Asha and Jaime Alexander picks Sam.

What to do, what to do. It’s a tie.

Oscar and Shan and Sam and Asha will all show.

MY TAKE

Cynical Bob notes that we are getting the Bullied As A Child edit for Sam, and while I feel compassion — I was, quelle surprise, bullied as a child, too, for being gay or allegedly being gay or seemingly gay or not being able to climb the rope in gym class or whatever — I get annoyed by these maudlin attempts by the PR, and now the UTG, to make us feel. I watch for the creativity, and the ability to take an idea, a spark, and make something, even something awful, out of it. 

I get that it’s a great spot to talk about bullying—and the Trevor Project link at the end was needed—but sometimes I think these shows try to get us to root for someone simply based on their back-story. I mean, Sam has been given the Pissy Little Bitch edit, too — though maybe that was just me — but that doesn't mean you turn on the Sad Story to get people to root for him.

I like the designers who create cool things on the spur of the moment with little sleep, no cash, and hardly any time.

Speaking of which, Shan got the Stumbling, Can’t Decide, What Do I Do, Let Me Talk To My Wife edit which usually means the person is going home, but, yes, that was another attempt at Emotion Stirring.

I agreed with Shan that the idea was to cut designers and someone should have been cut. And based on the season, and based on the fact that I think Asha stole Shan’s pants, I would have sent her packing and let Oscar and Shan and Sam show.

What did YOU think?

Under The Gunn Ep 11: There's No 'Real' Life!!

We begin with the designtestants back on the runway; special elimination, I thought? Natalia’s final revenge in a Dynasty Moldavian wedding kind of massacre?  No. We get strippers; bumping and grinding on the catwalk; I was as terrified as Sam, which reminds me of a story:

Years back, Carlos and I were in Key West for Pride, and followed the parade down Duval Street to its end at the pool at the now-closed Atlantic Shores. Carlos was playing in the Flamingo Freedom Band — yes, as the name suggests, it was made up of musicians who are gay — and I was standing on the sidelines listening. I noticed that during a time he wasn’t playing, Carlos took out his camera and snapped a picture of me, and then pointed to my right. I turned, and there was a naked woman, head-to-toe naked woman, at my side. And the expression on my face was the same as the one on Sam’s face last night when the stripper tried to ‘boa’ him.

Now, back to the UTG: So this is the Make A Stripper Look Like A Nun challenge? No, silly, it’s the Benefit Cosmetics Real Woman Challenge, and is introduced by Annie Ford Danielson, whose mother and aunt, founded the company and its first clients were strippers in need of nipple make-up. Luckily, they broadened their appeal or else I think they might have gone out of business. As Tim Gunn so elegantly put it, “Tips for tits.”

Anyway, Annie introduced five real women for whom the designers must create a new look.

Caught up? Or are you still imagining my face as I spied the nekkid lesbian by the pool. Uh huh, that’s what I thought, but let’s rip…..

TEAM NICK

Nick is down to one designer and if anyone thinks that means Oscar will be out this week, I have a bridge to sell you.

The good news is that since Oscar has such a definite eye on what he wants to do, and since he works so quickly, there is little mentoring for Nick to do.

OSCAR—Dani

Oscar’s gal is a petite, and by petite, I mean, teeny-tiny gal who buys most of her clothes in the child’s department and wants something a bit more age appropriate than Garanimals. Oh, and she does pageants so she wants a gown.

Oscar? Gowns? The design Gods must have planned this one. And, as happened with Oscar, he works so quickly that the other designers begin asking him if he’ll make gloves, or a hat, or a cape, or do some extra piping in all the time he has left.

At the critique, nick has no words. I kind of enjoyed that moment. But Sam pipes in with an “aging beauty queen” remark and, well … yeah.

WHAT HE SAID

I love the way she look, because she looks proportional. She looks very tall. She looks fabulous.

WHAT I SAID

She looks old. Now, not so old, but I can see this look on a Kristin Chenoweth, for the petite look, but I can also see it being rocked by Helen Mirren. Not a beauty pageant girl.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Zanna asked how old Dani was—she said twenty-three-and she said this was a dress for a forty-five-year old, though Annie Ford Danielson, at 27, said she’d wear it. Rachel loved the design and the elegance and the youthfulness [?] of it. Jen liked it, but wondered if Oscar could bring something younger out in his designs.

TEAM MONDO

Mondo has what I think of as two bets for The Tents in Sam and Asha, but they are both so different that he really needed to push them a bit this week, but kind of held back.

SAM—Norah

Sam’s client wants a body conscious, colorful dress that can go from day-to-night. Now, I don’t think Sam has done much in the Body Con Realm, so he seems a bit worried., But he does tell her that she’s “gonna get some color.”

At Mood, though, he goes for grays, and by goes, I mean struggles and struggles to pull a bolt of fabric from the shelf until — as he says, “a much stronger” — girl comes to help. Back at the workroom, he attempts another painted fabric technique on a gray textile that Mondo equates to a World War II battlefield nurse’s uniform splattered in blood.

Not a good look, even in WWII.

So, Sam scraps the entire look and goes in another direction, with other fabrics — also gray; I kept wondering if I heard wrong, but I swear both Norah and Sam talked color. Oscar calls it when he says Sam’s look looks "sad."

WHAT HE SAID

I’m ecstatic about my look. It’s absolutely fantastic. Norah looks great in it and she’s working it out.

WHAT I SAID

I am not a fan of the sleeves, which just seem too oddly large, and, again, where’s the color? I think some color might have saved this.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Guest judge, from Benefit Cosmetics, Annie Ford Danielson, doesn’t actually comment on the dress, but makes a Benefit pitch by saying their cosmetics line is about how you feel, and she thinks Norah feels good. [To be fair, Norah did like the look.] Jen Rade liked the nipped in waist, but said it was boardroom to boring. Zanna Roberts Rassi said she would never use that dress in a fashion spread for Marie Claire — which, again to be fair, wasn’t the challenge — and loved the paneling but missed the Wow! She said she’d seen it a hundred times before. Rachel Roy thought it too playful for the boardroom, and not sexy enough for the bar.

ASHA—Erin

Erin has lost fifty pounds and wants a dress to show off her new curves; plus, she has a birthday coming up and wants to celebrate with a new look. Asha says she’ll ‘Beyoncé’ the girl.

At the critique Mondo quashes every idea Asha presents: don’t make it too short or it’ll look cheap … lose the idea of a midriff cutout … less bling … dear god, less bling.

Asha gets lost in it because she cannot think of a way to give the client what she wants without making a look Mondo is sure would be messy.

WHAT SHE SAID

My model is, like, giving everybody life. She looks absolutely beautiful. This is my favorite runway ever.

WHAT I SAID

I don’t like the fabric; I don’t like the way it bunches up; I loathe the color, but Erin really brought the Beyoncé sashay!

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Annie Ford Danielson continued the benefits Cosmetics ad, and didn’t really comment of the clothes. Zanna liked that the client liked the look — which isn’t really a compliment to the designer — and Rachel Roy loved the body hugging look but called out the bad construction. Jen Rade also noted the consistently bad construction from Asha but liked that Asha had some good ideas.

TEAM ANYA

With two designers left, Anya seemed more focused on Shan. As Blake struggled with his look — and his struggles were nothing like what Shan would go through — Anya almost seemed resigned to let him fail.

SHAN—Brittany

Brittany is a single mom and wants a date night kind of look; a crop top look that doesn’t really show the skin. M’kay? So, Shan finds a very cool, kind of 60s mod sequin fabric at Mood and wants to do a crop top over high-waist pants so that Brittany gets her look, but doesn’t show skin. That top was absolutely beautiful. As Kelly Osbourne would say on Fashion Police: “Puh-fection.”

Anya loves the top, loves the idea of the whole look, think Shan will win this one but … when the client comes in to try it on, she gets overheated and needs to crouch down. I was waiting for the mad camera dash for the fallen client, but the next time we see Brittany she’s smiling and leaving the room until … she calls later to say she had an allergic reaction to the sequins — and I immediately fear she’ll never play Vegas — and cannot wear that gorgeous top.

Shan starts over. A black top, a plain black top, over black pants. But Anya points out a polka dot fabric that Tim Gunn just loathed, and suggests maybe a dress and suddenly, in the last hour or so, Shan is on to Look Three.

WHAT HE SAID

I can’t believe that Brittany actually has on a garment that I constructed in two hours! She actually likes it.

WHAT I SAID

I like it, too, though I did like the kind of tuxedo tails look it had in the workroom, before Shan sewed the two pieces together; plus, it’s a bit sheer.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Zanna called it sexy and fun and modern, if a bit too flimsy; but it did Wow! her and she loved the styling. Jen Rade wished it had been cut lower on the top and that the belt was gone, and felt it wasn’t that flattering. Rachel Roy called it modern, fresh and strong — all go-to words for Roy. Annie Ford Danielson called it unflattering.

BLAKE—Ruzena

Ruzena looks like Blake’s sister, and has the boyish figure to match. She isn’t curvy, and so she wants to look a bit more girly and flirty and fun.

But Blake picks a print and is instantly having trouble cutting it; Tim suggests it’s because he’s making the print do something it doesn’t want to do. Blake keeps twisting and turning it, and struggling with it, and finally creates a handkerchief hemmed dress that looks okay. But then for some reason he decides to fray the edges; I didn’t get it because the print — originally — was gorgeous, and the fraying just made it seem cheap. At the last fitting, he showed the client in the dress with a leather belt around her waist and I thought for a moment he might pull this one off.

WHAT HE SAID

I think she is just this beautiful creature. I am just in love with her. She looks so smoking hot in that dress.

WHAT I SAID

It looks like a mudslide down the front, and the loss of the leather belt — and adding a fabric band — makes her waist look larger, boyish, and not at all feminine and flirty.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Jen Rade liked the print, but thought it was pieced together and placed wrong on the dress. Annie Ford Danielson hated the print, but liked the femininity of the look, while Rachel Roy said if you go playful, you need to balance it with sophistication and this look was unbalanced.

WHAT HAPPENED

Obviously, Nick’s Oscar was safe; I knew it, even though his dress was fabulously crafted, yet too old.

The Top Two are Asha and Shan and I was ready to hurl a shoe at the TV if they gave it to Asha for that saggy baggy bulging mess. But they gave it to Shan for his third look of the week; it might have been very simple, but it did look fresh and modern.

Sam and Blake are in the Bottom, and, well, I was gonna hurl that other shoe is Blake wasn’t sent packing. While I wasn’t a big fan of Sam’s dress, I thought Blake’s was just a hot mess … and not in a good way.

Blake’s out.

MY TAKE

At the start of the season Blake was wound so tight. His hair slicked back and tighter than a drum, and he was very very serious. But this week, his hair is looser and he seemed a bit more relaxed. Too bad he couldn’t have shown that side to the camera because he certainly seemed a lot less uptight.

I liked this exchange:

Oscar: “My client almost cried.”

Shan: “My client almost fainted.”

So, Asha who continually called out Natalia for bad construction, and how the judges must like that, actually got the exact same feedback this week. Karma is a bitch called Natalia, Asha.

So, Oscar is still there, for Team nick, and Shan is still there for Team Anya. I think next week the Bottom Two will be Sam and Asha so that the finale will present one designer from each mentor. It’s just a guess but, I got that feeling the day the show first aired.

I’m seeing Oscar and Shan at The Tents and, after last week and this week’s messy dresses, I’m thinking Asha might find her way home and Sam will show.

What did YOU think?