PR 17 Ep 13: Silver Threads and Golden Needles ... Through Your Finger

I was all excited for a Final Four until I learned that one of these designtestants would be going home.

I mean, to be fair, I was thinking a Hester-less finale would be good, so I wasn’t all that broken up about it, but … after visits from Christian in their homes, the Final Four designtestants return to La Pomme Grand and find that they must create an eleventh look—quelle surprise—based on orders from Nina Garcia, and then show a mini-collection after which only three will continue on in the hopes of becoming America’s Next Top Model.

Oops, I mean, win the Runway. Let’s rip …

Hester

Christian shows up to Hester’s home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and it’s exactly what you’d expect: she lives in a cartoon. Cartoon colors, cartoon tchotchkes, cartoon wife … okay, a real wife.

Hester shows Christian her collection, which she is calling Y2K-coco; AKA digital coding and rococo patterns. Come on, you knew that already! Christian is impressed by how much work she’s gotten done and notes that she has taken Elaine’s advice about finishing each piece, but he’s worried that it’s all pattern and no solid color, no moment to rest before your heart explodes from it all.

She smiles that Cartoon Cheshire Cat smile and says she’ll take his advice, but this is Hester, and Wilma Flintstone is a client so maybe she won’t? Or maybe she will; she arrives in New York with lots of prints, but has also added some solid colored pieces, and hidden some prints as linings in coats and such. I was surprised, pleasantly, that she listened.

Nina says Hester’s collection is very “editorial” but it’s a lot and maybe it needs a “breather” from the prints. So, cue the hounds, Nina wants a completely non-print look. Hester asks, what about a “large-scale angel print.”

“No.”

“What about color-blocking?”

“No.Prints.Ever!”

Hester goes white; not just in the face at the idea of no prints, but in fabrics for her look which will be a sheer white … something. But then The Bad happens, which may be is actually The Good: Hester runs a sewing needle through her finger. The screaming! The moaning! The weeping! Carlos came out and asked what happened to me, and then I quieted down.

As for Hester, she’s gotten blood on her dress, and when Christian suggests moving a bow to cover the bloodstain—oh, how many times have I tried to do this after accidentally killing someone … cover the blood with a bow—she opts to change the looks entirely to a crop top and outer bra over a furry red skirt.

Hester shows off a printed babydoll dress and knee socks which is giving me Bette Davis remake of Whatever Happened To Baby Jane, followed by a patterned mini-skirt paired with a gray coat and red fur trim, and finally her new look, which really is my favorite.

Nina tells the judges how much Hester resisted “No prints” and then tells Hester how much she loves it. Elaine loves the idea of a fur skirt, while Steven Kolb says the fur and the outer bra sort of create a kind of print.

Sebastian

Christian visits Sebastian at his home in Ft Lauderdale, which Christian calls a “gay island” except it’s not … an island. I mean, it’s way gay, but it’s no island. He meets Sebastian and his husband Matthew, who has allowed their apartment to be turned into design studio, sewing room, fashion house.

Sebastian’s collection is based on the handmade baskets of his native country, so there’s leathers and weaving and, for Sebastian, some bright colors, like oranges; still, it’s is rather sedate, though beautiful, Sebastian’s father is a leather worker and he’s made some gorgeous architectural belts for some of the looks. I like what I see; and I like Sebastian, too. One quibble from Christian is that through-line, the story of the collection and hat woman Sebastian is designing for.

In New York, at Nina’s office in the gorgeous Hearst building, she looks over Sebastian’s collection. She likes it but feels it’s a bit “strict” and she commands Sebastian to create an eleventh look, an evening gown that is softer.

Sebastian creates a gorgeous flowing white sheer dress, helped along by one of his belts, but opts to create a pant to wear underneath. Christian tsk-tsks that idea, reminding him that Nina specifically said “gown” and before I could say, “Marry ne, Sebastian” the pants are gone and it’s just a gown.

Sebastian's mini-collection includes a semi-sheer white striped belted dress. The new look: a flowing chiffon dress with a fabulous belt; and a burnt orange dress with multi-lapels with a woven leather back and sleeves, over a woven leather skirt.

Guest judge Steven Kolb, president and CEO of the CFDA, loves the geometry to the collection. Nina says Sebastian’s clothes are  “always a pull between the strict and the soft” to which Sebastian says is because of his background as a ballet dancer …

Wait. What? He was a dancer, too, and then became a designer? I task the interweb monkeys with finding me a picture of Sebastian in a dancer’s belt. Fly! Fly!

Bishme

B’more! Christian heads to Baltimore to meet Bishme in his studio. His collection is Baltimore-inspired, but by abandoned building Baltimore. He doesn’t have a lot to show—just a couple of pieces—but one piece has stitching that is reminiscent of the bricks of an old building, though not as literal; it was quite beautiful.

Christian likes what he sees, but there isn’t a lot of it; he’s worried Bishme is halfway through the five-month design time and still has eight looks to go! Luckily, when it gets closer to the runway, and Bishme shows up in New York, he has eight pieces done; eight of ten.

As Nina looks at his collection, she also likes what she sees, but there are a lot of standout looks, and she wants something more accessible, more street, more urban. For some reason, Bishme thinks about recreating the bomber jacket from the Dapper Dan challenge, but he only has one day and he has a lot going on … two looks to finish; he’s had a death in his family; his sister is undergoing chemo for colon cancer; it’s a lot. Christian tries to get Bishme to not get stuck in bomber jacket, and to make something that will take less time …a hoodie dress, Bishme wonders. But that turns out to be a mishmash of all of his fabrics with a tulle hem that appears and disappears, and seams that are in the wrong spots and, really, just not good.

Then, on the runway, right before the show, Bishme begins to cry—it’s all too much. He asks to be excused and goes to sit outside and cry which makes him more bothered. But he pulls it together and is back inside to start the show.

Bishme's collection starts with that eleventh look, a hodgepodge sack of pink and orange metallic fringe sack dress with a hood. But then comes a black leather strappy bodice and pants number that is hot and sexy and Baltimore. Lastly, he shows a leather skirt and a much better patchwork pink and orange halter top.

Nina is disappointed. She loves the skirt and the top and says Bishme could make that all black look for her any time. Steven Kolb asks how the look would be different if he had more time and Bishme tells him about a moto jacket; when Steven asks if he could make that in time for the final runway, Bishme says yes. Elaine calls his new look a huge misstep since all of his other looks were polished and pulled together.

Garo

Christian Siriano in the wilderness? What the what? Like Christian, I assumed, Garo would be working in a nightclub in the meatpacking district, but instead he’s in a cabin in Deliverance-ville. But he and his husband and their cute dog, show Christian the collection and, well, it’s a lot; it’s kind of Barbarella-esque, though Garo says it’s more of a collection that showcases styles from many different eras.

A lot. And that lack of cohesiveness and an excess of costume worries Christian. And a lot; in fact, Garo comes back to NYC not with ten looks, but with fourteen! And when he meets with Nina she is overcome by the glitter and embellishment, that she tasks him with making a more tailored piece, a suit …a tuxedo even.

Garo sets out to make a tuxedo suit, and the sketch is all Garo; modern edgy. But then he chooses what I would call ‘I Drank Too Many Purple Hooters and Puked In The Bathroom Bowl”—and I can say that because it actually happened to me—color and it’s downhill from there. It doesn’t fit the first model, and doesn’t fit the second; and it’s got wonky seams and looks askew. It’s a mess.

Garo's collection starts with a turquoise cocktail dress with a silver organza overlay that comes almost off—Brandon loves a reveal—followed by a silver sequin mini-dress, and that suit.

Nina thinks the suit fabric is a good choice but wonders if the jacket is on right; Garo tugs at it, twist it, mutters something about darts—was he gonna use it as a practice board—as Nina again questions his taste. Brandon rightly calls the suit “Melanie Griffith in Working Girl. Steven Kolb worries that since Garo is known for his impeccable tailoring, to create that suit was a big mistake, huge. Elaine isn’t sure if there’s a market for Garo’s clothes; his costumes? Yes. Clothes? Meh.

Well, it’s clear that Hester and Sebastian are going to The Tents, but then it comes down to Bishme and Garo.

The judges weigh in: Nina questions Garo’s taste, while saying Bishme’s looks have it; but she wonders if he’s ready for it. Elaine thinks that with all he’s going through he’s given up on himself. But all the judges agree that Garo’s last look, and his aesthetic are offkilter, so who goes through?

Bishme is out. And, true to form, because he’s a sweetheart, Bishme says he cannot wait to see the others show their stuff on the catwalk.

Next week: Finally! The Finale! Blood on Sebastian’s dress! Rips in Garo’s! Hester!

What did YOU think, and who should win?