Now ... on to the Runway!
As you read in yesterday's post, the designers had separated to their homes with a budget of $10,000 and a mandate to create ten outfits to show on the Runway in hopes of gaining one of three guaranteed spots for New York Fashion Week. After returning to New York and gathering back in the workshop, the five designers began tweaking their two choices for their fashion preview runway that would determine who moved on. Their future depended on choosing the correct clothing - two items that would show their strengths as designers and capture the votes of the judges. Here's what they chose in alphabetical order of the designer.
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| I really loved this outfit by Ayana. Even though it had dropped crotch pants, the artificially distressed pants coupled with the high necked shirt and easy overshirt is something I'd love to wear. |
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| I wasn't quite as happy with this outfit, although the top was quite fun. I loved the netting at the neckline, along the hem, and at the bottoms of the sleeves. |
Ayana kept to her focus of making modest clothing fashionable and attractive. I liked her choices of fabric as well as her designs and her styling of her models was perfect for a casual look that allowed the models to look feminine but still allowed the clothes to be the stars of the show.
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| Brandon's design for Liris left me unimpressed. I was fine with the skirt, but didn't like his choice of top. She's a stunning woman, but he didn't make her shine at all. |
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| His choices for his second model were much better. I liked her styling and I loved the solid colored top over the crazy, multi-layered apron shorts. Here, the model and the clothing were both allowed to shine. |
Brandon's choices were both positive and negative. I actually really enjoyed that crazy flamingo fabric, and the solids that he chose to accompany the print were perfectly complimentary. The judges still liked his clothing, but he will have to choose the components with greater care. If he chooses well, it's his competition to lose. If not, Ayana may end up with the win; she's come up stronger every week since the competition began.
Now - let's look at the next tier of quality - the other three designers.
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| OMG, Kentaro! What was up with this white dress and side pom-pom? The clothing was a disaster and the styling??? The models are beautiful women and he made them into androgynous humans that looked more male than female. |
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| The disaster of the white garment was offset by this salmon leather top with pleated long skirt ensemble. This, I loved. Nina specifically commented on the origami styling of the leather top. I still want better styling for the models, but this outfit was a good choice for Kentaro. |
Kentaro may have been better off listening to the dead cat and Tim Gunn's comments with more attention (see yesterday's post for the dead cat reference). These two outfits were all over the place and it's indicative of his entire 10-outfit group. His body of work has been sporadic, high-highs and low-lows. That carried through to his preview choices. When the judges talk to him, he nods, but doesn't seem to understand the concepts they are discussing. Maybe it's the language difference, but I feel that Kentaro doesn't understand what the judges are trying to teach him.
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| Kenya wanted her looks to be reminiscent of the shore - sand, water and vegetation. Tim Gunn said that her palette was a "snooze-fest" and recommended that she add a darker color for accent. She chose black. I think she would have done better to choose a deep wine or burgundy. |
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| There were some fit problems with the black dress, it didn't fit the model as well as it should have. Based on a recommendation from Tim Gunn, she added the pearl-studded mesh coat, hiding the clean lines of her design. |
Kenya had two fails for her preview choices. She only had one clothing item appropriately sized for her larger model - the black dress, and not enough time to make anything new from scratch. Both of her outfits used overcoats, and the judges pointed out that her clean lines and strong designs were obscured by the coats. It was one time when Tim Gunn's recommendations worked against a designer, since she was following his recommendations.
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| Margarita designed her fabric, based on a couch her parents had in the 1980's. These pants with extreme flare below the knees, were fun. The navy top was minimal, allowing the pants to be the star. |
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| The "onesie" underneath the shirred-waistband shorts, was colorful and fun. Margarita killed the design by pairing it with the bomber jacket (which was a to-die-for jacket, BTW), and those rather horrid shorts did nothing for her model. |
Margarita also paid attention to Tim Gunn, and it bit her. He recommended that she make a pant for the second outfit. Maybe a long pant might have been a better choice, but the shorts were a poor design decision. The beading on the clothing and the design of her custom fabric were well received by the judges, although she was warned to pull the resort out of her collection and put in some of New York.
So ... who got a spot in New York Fashion Week? The judges revealed that instead of three moving on, four would be walking the Runway for Fashion Week. Who did they choose?
Brandon and Ayana were shoo-ins. There was no question that these two would be walking their collections down the longer runway. Who would be the third person? Did you guess Margarita? Yes - Margarita, the designer who was saved by the 'Tim Gunn Save' several weeks ago, was the third designer chosen.
Then it was down to Kentaro and Kenya. I wouldn't have minded if the choices stopped there - although I loved what Kenya put onto the models this season, her preview choices weren't as strong as she thought. As for Kentaro - he's either freaky good or scary bad. There's not a lot of in-between with Kentaro.
Who would be joining Brandon, Ayana and Margarita for Fashion Week? After a lot of discussion, Kentaro got the nod. I feel totally confident that Kenya will be producing some really wonderful work in the future, and hope that she already has received job offers from several design firms. I loved her as a contestant and hope that all goes well for her in the future.
As for Brandon, Ayana, Margarita and Kentaro - I wish all of them the best and I can hardly wait for next week. The finale should be kick-ass! Have an excellent Veteran's Day Saturday. I'm bundling up today - turtleneck and overshirt along with a heavy skirt. We've been in a cold snap and I'm really feeling it, plus I'll have to shovel before leaving for the gym. Thank goodness I'll be able to sleep in tomorrow. I'm desperate for some serious sleep!
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