We suspect that these next two are the ones everyone wants to talk about, so hit it, designers:
Remember what we said in our earlier post about how these prejudging scenes are going to be used to form a narrative? The judges made such a big deal out of her sewing skills – going so far as to suggest she was lying about who did the work on her portfolio – that it was clear from the start that she had to demonstrate some skill level or the judges were going to crucify her.
But we smell … something. Without making any firm accusations, it struck us as mighty odd that she would keep harping on her supposed lack of skills to anyone who would listen; decide against all reason to make pants, and, even though she supposedly never worked with silk or made pants, turned out a silk top and pants combo that looked like this:
Whatever issues one might have with this look, considering it was made out of bedsheets and pajamas by a person who claims she has virtually no sewing skills, it was a damn fine effort.
Not perfect, mind you; and certainly not something that merits such high praise from the judges, but when you tell them at the beginning that you have almost no sewing experience and then attempt something difficult, with results that aren’t quite disastrous, then the judges are going to grade you on a curve.
We don’t know if she’s gaming the system, but if she is, she’s doing it somewhat brilliantly.
Anyway: assessments. She lucked out because she happened to be wearing a really fabulous fabric. It almost doesn’t seem fair when other people had ugly flannel pajama bottoms or boxer shorts to work with, but let that be a lesson to all future contestants: never wear something that you can’t turn into something fabulous. Love the racer back and the way she pleated and shaped the front, although the straps look pretty sloppy.
But there’s only one real story here:
The judges, perhaps because of hysterical blindness or drunkenness, somehow looked at these shitastic pants and praised her for her execution. This isn’t the Special Olympics of sewing, judges. There’s grading on a curve, and then there’s praising someone just for getting the project done. These pants are TERRIBLE. Had they been perfectly executed, we might be talking about a praise-worthy look, but come ON. Eight seasons of Grumpy Nina telling people that execution matters and then the judges all decide it doesn’t if we’re talking about someone with less training? Please.
We think a big part of the judges’ overreaction – aside from their very low expectations of her – was that she’s beautiful and has a unique personal style. A model, designer, and fashion editor are naturally going to respond well to her.
We don’t mean to take anything away from what she did here; it’s a chic design and the sewing was better than anyone expected, but we’re not sure Top 3 was warranted.
Until Mr. Mormon Clean here informs the world that his comment about waiting for the right girl was a joke, we are forced to give him the side-eye. No judgments! But come ON. Was there anyone watching who didn’t say “What? Are you kidding me?” to that little aside? He seems like a very sweet guy, though.
But a bit overwhelmed by the pressure already. He had a fairly decent amount of material to work with; enough to make three pieces, in fact. The problem is…
These are the three pieces he chose.
Oh, honey. Putting the insert smack in the middle of the shirt? With shitty reversed seams?
Pleated white mom shorts from 1994?
Maybe he really IS just waiting for the right girl.
The look wasn’t totally awful. The back of the shirt has a little bit of interest to it.
And while the hoodie shrug was particularly half-assed in the execution; design-wise, it was kind of interesting.
Like we said, he seems sweet. It’s kind of hard to tell from this look if he’s got the chops or not. It never bodes well for contestants who get overwhelmed right out of the starting gate, but we want him to stay for two reasons:
1) We want to see the reactions of some of the queens on the show when he pulls out that “waiting for the right girl” line in front of them; and
2)When he tries to defend his garment on the runway with half-assed excuses about how no one told him what to do, Nina looks like this:
[Photo Credit: Barbara Nitke/Lifetime Television – Screencaps: tomandlorenzo.com]
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