Previously: My beloved Chris March returned with disco ball boobs to announce a drag queen challenge. Befuddled straight dude Joe walked away with the win for “hiding the candy” the best. Meanwhile, Daniel’s impeccable taste, judgment and character weren’t enough to save his sherbet monstrosity from getting him auf’d.
After the model swap, Heidi sends the designers to a roof on 31st st. Korto thinks they might be going to Mariah’s house, but it turns out they’re actually going to the roof of a parking garage—a parking garage roof full of product-placed Saturns!
I’m seriously getting ready to vomit when we hear the challenge: to create an outfit out of recycled car parts. Okay, I’ll admit: I’m intrigued. After all, there’s the potential for a “freak” “accident” involving blowtorches and Blayne, so that’s something that I’ll always be on board for. The designers have four minutes to fill up rolling carts with car parts. Tim urges them to not suck like they did on the first challenge and sets them loose.
I may not be very confident in her as a designer, but I’m kind of loving old Leathuh Face. Stella has something that very few PR designers have, and that’s a modicum of self-awareness. While they’re in the design room trying to figure out what the hell they’re going to make with their car parts, Stella interviews that she’s not going to make a leathuh dress, because it’s not that innovative.
She also goes on to say that there hasn’t been a challenge in which she hasn’t hammered and grommeted something. So she knows she’s kind of a one-trick pony, which I find refreshing—especially compared to Keith, who would shriek at you if you so much as suggested that maybe he relies on strips of fabric a wee bit much. Stella is even trying to step out of her box and “make something pretty.” I’m rooting for her.
We’re getting to that beautiful point of every season where the designers realize that they hate each other. Terri is literally rolling on the floor laughing at Korto’s design, to which Jerell interviews that she has “two faces and four patterns: don’t trust the bitch.” I have no idea what that even means, but it sounds amazing. Keith is freaking out on everybody about sewing machines and you can tell that in general, there are a lot of bloody fantasies involving pinking shears going on in this room.
Stella has a boyfriend named Ratbone. And a tattoo of a dollar sign on her thumb. I love her—but not the fact that all of the attention that is being paid to her this episode probably means she’s going to get kicked off.
Runway:
So we have two guest judges this week. Laura Bennett from Season 3 is filling in for Nina, while the actual guest judge is ol’ Rasin Face herself, Rachel Zoe.
Jerell used leather accented with black vinyl to make a structured cocktail dress. It’s very futuristic and interesting, although I’m worried that the plastic car parts aren’t enough of an innovation for the judges.
Keith used leather and cushion innards to make a skirt and halter top. It’s nice, but oh my God, it’s so boring. I can’t imagine anyone being impressed with this.
Terri also doesn’t show much imagination with her shirt/pant combo made out of leather, cargo nets and seat cushions. Seriously. It’s the tablecloths from the first challenge all over again.
Kenley made her top out of patent leather, but it’s not as egregious as the previous designers’ use. She’s really saved by her skirt made of air filters. It’s not the prettiest thing in the world, but at least she didn’t use car fabric to construct her entire outfit.
Leanne made a great design; it’s an extremely well-constructed and visually interesting structured mini dress, but again, she used the leather and seatbelts as her fabric. However, she managed to make the seatbelts, which she uses as her trim, look like feathers. It’s pretty cool.
Suede may annoy the crap out of me, but he is one of the few designers who actually listens to the challenges and consistently completes them successfully. His one-shouldered black and silver dress isn’t the prettiest thing on the runway, but he used floor mats, cargo netting and sun visors to accomplish it.
Korto made a very intricate seatbelt dress. It’s amazingly well-done, but I’ve seen purses that look exactly like it. I’m bored.
Blayne also made a seatbelt dress, but while Korto’s is more of a coat, Blayne’s is more of an evening gown. I enjoy the broken glass accents on the front, but using the seatbelts made a stiff garment that just looks big on his model.
Joe has made my favorite design. He made a motorcross-looking dress out of seat covers, seatbelts and the car logo. It’s innovative and he made a good use out of the materials.
Stella definitely went in a different direction and made a downright demure skirt and vest. The skirt is made out of seatbelts and is reminiscent of all of those bandage dresses that have been on the red carpet lately. However, the seatbelts don’t stay smooth in the back, so it looks sloppy. The vest also makes her model look a little boxy.
Judging:
Heidi tells the following designers to step forward: Terri, Disco Suede, Joe and Kenley. They are safe. That leaves Jerell, Blayne, Leanne, Keith and Stella with the highest and lowest scores.
Rachel Zoe calls Jerell’s dress “quite amazing” and praises the intricacy of his dress. Heidi thinks it’s exciting. Laura likes the idea of Blayne’s dress, but doesn’t like the fit up top, while Michael thinks it looks like a car wash. Laura really likes the shape and volume of Korto’s dress. Rachel says she would walk out the door in it. Michael loves the silhouette and proportion of Leanne’s dress. Rachel is blown away and thinks she could go “straight to Paris” in that dress. Laura doesn’t think that Stella’s vest and skirt go together, and Michael calls it “a little random.” Laura doesn’t think that Keith’s design has a concept, to which he replies, “you should see my other stuff,” and complains about how the judges didn’t appreciate him when he took things to the extreme. Heidi does not look happy with this at all. He then continues to whine about Michael’s comments from last week, and Michael basically tells him to suck it up. They’re really not going to let this guy stay, are they?
Heidi brings the designers back out and tells Jerell that he’s in. That means that Leanne’s futuristic Judy Jetson dress is the winner. She wins immunity, and Korto, is of course safe. Blayne is also in, which predictably puts Stella and Keith in the bottom two. Heidi tells Keith that instead of being innovative, he showed them a “boring, poorly-crafted design.” Heidi tells Stella that her look was “expected, disconnected, and ultimately too simple.” Thankfully, Stella is in and the terrible, annoying Keith is out. Then he cries and makes me hate him even more on his way out. Good riddance.
So I really liked Joe’s outfit this week, but I can understand why the judges just made him safe, since he had immunity, instead of leaving him up on stage. I enjoyed Leanne’s outfit as well. Like I said, it was impressively constructed and the design itself was innovative. What really confused me about this episode was how the judges didn’t neg the designers for using too many predictable materials. We really should have seen more sun visors like Disco Suede used, or plastic like Jerell did. I really thought the designers missed the mark yet again, but apparently I’m alone in that thought.
Next Week: They’re designing for Diane Von Furstenberg and someone makes a crotch that’s every woman’s nightmare.
