Leslie Jones (a comedian and friend of Christian Seriano's) is the guest judge for tonight's episode, and the designers are walking backward in time by working with tie-dye. Do all of you remember tie-dye? Hippies, summer camp, childhood, the '60's, are among the responses when Karlie asks what tie-dye means to the contestants. The challenge is to elevate tie-dye into runway ready fashion. The designers will be taught several techniques for dying by two experts, then meet Christian at Mood for supplementary fabrics and finally they will return to the workroom. It's a sleep-over. They'll stay in the workroom until the Runway the next day. That will allow them time to dry their tie-dyed fabrics without time issues. Cots are set up and onesies have been provided for everyone's use for this 22 hour challenge.
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| Brittany Allen dyed her silk into pastels with accents of blues on a background of pinks and salmons. The sheer sleeves were gathered at the elbow, then puffed again to the wrist. Criss-cross strapping held the bodice together and were also featured on the back of the dress. It was cute, but not exciting. |
Two people wait in the workroom to teach the designers five different methods of tie-dye and how the dyes react to different fabrics - mainly variations of cotton weaves and silks. Silk will accept the dye easier, resulting in a darker, more saturated color. Cotton resists the dyes more, resulting in a lighter tone and more bleeding of the dye on the fabric. There area a large assortments of white cottons and silks for the designers to choose between, and a wall of bottles of dyes for them to use. Everyone chooses silk except Delvin and Victoria. I wonder if they'll regret that later.
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| Delvin McCray played it safe this week. He was unenthusiastic about the challenge, and designed a staid, rather boring look. Although I enjoyed his color choices, some of the judges had problems with both the colors and the design. It might have been well made, but it wasn't one of Delvin's better efforts. |
At Mood, the designers have a budget of $175 and 30 minutes to shop. The supplemental fabrics must allow the tie-dye designs to be the stars of the show. Can the designers manage to do this? I know exactly what I would be doing with my dyed fabrics and my supplemental fabrics if it was my design. Too bad I'm not in Mood, I could happily go crazy there like everyone else.
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| Geoffrey Mac was talked into a more "military" look by Christian. He was frightened that his fabric color choices would be too dark, but I totally fell in love with this gown. I'd love to see it in my closet. |
As the designers return from Mood, there are 17 hours remaining before the Runway and the clock is ticking down. At fourteen hours remaining, Christian comes to the workroom to touch base with the designers. While he visits with each designer, several of them are going crazy about how their dye jobs are turning out - either wonderful or horrible. It's going to be quite the challenge since usually fabrics are ready-to-go, not needing to be made and colored. Fabric color and weight are always important in any design, but designers usually don't have control over the actual color and pattern of the fabric. This challenge gives them a different perspective - they not only choose the design, but also the color and the pattern and where the accents of color should go. Of course, most of these contestants have never tie-dyed before, so that finesse might be seriously lacking.
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| Marquise Foster made a flirty halter-style dress that would be appropriate for a hot day or an ice rink. For me it was a bit too much costume and a bit too little fashion. I liked his tie-dye look, though. He did a good job on the dye and the tiers. |
The models come in at midnight for their fitting, 12 hours before the Runway is scheduled. Although some of the contestants have dyed fabrics drying on the racks, most only have muslins for their models. With less than 12 hours to go, it's going to be a PITA for everyone to finish on time. As the night progresses the designers push themselves through - some with a little sleep but most without any sleep at all. The clock keeps ticking down the hours to the Runway. Soon the sun is rising and the exhausted designers are facing a Runway show in just a few short hours. Are the garments sewn, did the dyeing techniques work out? We'll have to wait and see.
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| Nancy Volpe-Beringer channeled her inner 1960's girl with this outfit, but her tie-dye pattern and colors were impeccable. If you have a chance to watch the unseen judges comments on Bravo TV's website, it's worth the view for the comments on this outfit. |
I love Geoffrey's fabric, Victoria's top looks like a poofy pajama top, Nancy totally reverted back to the '60's with a loose pair of pants, a wrapped top and a tied headband, but her tie-dyed fabric is wonderful. Brittany dyed her silk in bubblegum colors, designing a short play-dress using some of the criss-cross strapping that she used in the Ashley Longshore challenge of several weeks ago. Sergio's ombre tie-dye is so pale it's practically non-existent, although the cocktail dress is really cute, and Delvin,s dress is remarkably forgettable (considering I'm writing this within ten minutes of seeing the fashions walk the Runway and I can't recall his design ... yeah - forgettable). Marquise ended up designing an ice-skating outfit. It's cute, but not really in the upper tier for a Runway.
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| Sergio chose to do an ombre effect on his cocktail dress, with gussets in half of the twelve panels in the skirt. The sewing skills he demonstrated here were outstanding, but his color choices got washed out in the runway lights and it looked almost like a white dress. |
Brittany and Marquise are declared safe, leaving the other five for winner or loser. The judges are in love with Sergio's lemon on white cocktail dress, and I admit on closer look, it is really well designed and sewn. Geoffrey's floor-length sheath in olive green with orange accents takes my breath away and the judges are in love with it as well. Nancy gets pulled back from her 1960's revival by the removal of the "hippie headdress", allowing her flowing pants and wrapped top in an interesting tie-dye technique to show better. Victoria's denim 'diaper' over denim jeans covered with a sheath top and a poofy flounce is a disaster. Delvin - oh yes, he had an orange day dress that was stiff and didn't flow at all. I would have liked it a bit better in a lighter fabric with the waist inserts in a solid accent fabric. It's an old and dated style, though, and also not well made. That's a bit surprising from Delvin who is a tailoring expert and always pulls off a quality, well-sewn design.
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| Victoria Cocieru's design was a disaster from top to bottom. What had originally been conceived as an over-sized peasant blouse gathered at the waist, turned into this shoulder-apron over a poorly dyed shell. The pants featured a denim diaper attached to a long pant, with bleach thrown onto the side and those buttons down the front. I can't say she's not bold, but I can say that she didn't demonstrate a lot of good taste with this outfit. |
So, my choice for winner is Geoffrey. The gown's silhouette and the depth of color in the fabric was wonderful. For the loss, I'm really pushing for Victoria. She's had some serious failures lately and today's design fell flat. Delvin is also really close to being sent home, though. His tailoring skills, something that he's been proud of from Day 1, just didn't come through in this challenge at all. My guesses, Geoffrey for the win and Victoria for the loss. Let's see if I'm right.
SPOILER BELOW AND WE'RE GETTING DOWN TO THE WIRE. DON'T READ ANY FARTHER UNLESS YOU'RE OK WITH KNOWING THE RESULTS. SO ... AM I RIGHT WITH MY GUESSES ABOVE?
No, for the first time in a few weeks I was wrong. Instead of Victoria, Delvin is being sent home because his constructions techniques were totally misrepresented on that fabric and in that design. The winner, however, was indeed Geoffrey with that slinky olive sheath dress. So now we are six, and four go on to create collections for New York Fashion Week. I don't know if all four will actually get to show their collections, often there is one more elimination just before the big reveal, but with only six left now, the apartment is getting empty and each challenge is life-or-death for the designers. Who will be next week's winner?
Have a great day and I'll be back on Monday!
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