Under The Gunn S1 E12: "Superhero Fashion"

OK fellow readers, here we are! We're almost done with this season's set of episodes. We're down to four, and after tonight, we'll be down to three. Hopefully, Asha will be gone, but it could be Sam. I remember that all three were in the finale clip we saw at the beginning of the season, so those are the only two possible outcomes, right? Right?

It's been a long season. The premiere was in 2 separate 90-minute blocks. There was an episode where we didn't have an elimination. We started off episode 3 with 12 designers, have knocked off 8 of them, and here we are.  *sigh*

I'm gonna be blunt. I'm finding it hard to get behind most of the designers this week. I know you are too. I'm rallying against Asha, but even that just seems unworthy of my energy. Maybe I'm having a Project Runway meltdown.

Speaking of meltdown, today we go to Meltdown Comics where the Marvel juggernaut can get in some free advertising for whatever superhero movie is coming out this week, as well as their comic books. And, it's also advertising for a Tim Gunn edition of Iron Man. But, really, it's all about Marvel because god forbid anybody read or learn about any of the independent geeky comic labels that exist, like Fantagraphics (Seattle!), Dark Horse, or Image. 

Anyways, we're introduced to the VP of Animation, Cort Lane...which...um...hot! Well, except for his hair. Cort, you're really hot, but you're soooo fucking WeHo. Does he bleach his hair? It looks like it in other photos. He's a hot cub, I just want hot cubs to not have be so affected by the shallow WeHo standards, which are so plastic and unsexy it's not even funny. Still, I'd not kick him out of bed. Maybe he could replace Mondo for a week so I can gaze at he all episode.

The goal this week is to pick one of four superheroes and to make a female outfit inspired by these superheroes, without going to costume. Oscar chooses Gamora, the most dangerous woman in the universe. Asha chooses Falcon, the first African-American superhero. Sam chooses Hawkeye, a rebel. And, Shan chooses Captain Marvel, formerly Ms Marvel, a strong woman or something. Why, yes, Marvel does have a couple of female superheroes...apparently. Just because Gamora is a side or group character in most of her comics, doesn't mean she doesn't count! Shut up!

The main thrust of this week's drama is Sam and Shan centric. Sam gets stuck in a gloomy depressed place because he's been all alone and under pressure for a month, and now that he's in the final four, he knows that it's time to let his drama fly so he can be in the final three! First he chooses Hawkeye because he's a rebel. Then, he starts reading the Hawkeye comic book and sulking in the green room so everybody can see him sulking in the background. Then he opens up about being teased on the bus as a kid...which was so done last season. "Just like what every gay kid has to go through." And, then, at the end of the episode, he talks about his suicide attempts! WAY TO GO SAM! 

Sorry if I sound a bit cynical, but, throughout the episode, he hit a lot of different buttons. Not that it's not a typical story of gay people around the world, but it seemed rather calculated compared to other reveals. Especially given what he eventually ends up with.  But, we'll get to that when the time is right...

Shan is also feeling lonely, but he constantly reminds us that YES, Shan is straight, and YES, Shan is married with three kids. Stop thinking he's gay! He's very married, thank you. Oscar also wants some drama time, but his attempts at creating drama is so half-assed compared to bullying and suicide. Oscar only has semi-low confidence due to a bad critique last week. I have to say, I respect his trying not to fabricate drama to save his ass. Asha saved her ass by throwing Natalia under the bus a couple weeks ago, so she doesn't need to be the star of this week. And, yes, I'm still bitter about that.

Sam's design has been waylaid by his day-long depression, so he only has a variety of fabrics to show with an explanation of what he's doing. He has a LOT of fabrics. A LOT. Purple, and polka-dot, and another patterns, and another color and things are color blocked and...it's all confused. But, because we have to walk on eggshells with Mondo and his positivity, Tim tells him that this is SMASHING, and that's in a good way. By the time we get to the model fitting, his whole top is completely confused. There's purple underneath a black and white hash pattern with a thick black shoulder strap. It's like the 80s got drunk and vomited all over the 90s. And, to add to it, he gives his model an afro, adding in the 1970s. 

We finally boogie down to the runway. This week's special guest judge is Jaime Alexander, a co-star of Thor 2. See! There are females in Marvel movies!!

• Oscar (Team Nick): It's a borderline costume. I mean it's a badass outfit that totally captures powerful aspects while also emphasizing the model as a female. The cloak is kind of cool. but, its the giant panels of fabric that extend from the shoulders that take it into costume land for me. They're unnecessary but would look cool in slow-mo.  It's rather Gamora, but not literal.
• Asha (Team Mondo): A Grecian goddess meets a warrior. It's not bad. It's just not that superhero to me. It's a little too soft to be warrior. And, more than that, I don't see any connection from the hard-edged urban Falcon to the Grecian goddess. Maybe I'm missing it though.
• Sam (Team Mondo): Wut?! You're kidding, right? I'm sorry you guys, but...this is a clown outfit. Those pants are amazing pajama clown pants. The top is an amazing bib that doesn't match the pants. The back of the top is long and deep (because superheroes don't wear bras) with all sorts of manner of straps hanging down in weird directions. Then there's the bit that's stained. It's a fucking mess. It's not boring, but it's not good.
• Shan (Team Anya): LOVE. LOVE LOVE LOVE. Hard-edged bad ass dress with leather straps. I mean, we've seen bits and pieces of it before. But, put together it is a great and amazing outfit that is all strength and fierceness. Amazing. 

The judging makes good observations. You guys, I haven't mentioned the judging much, but I think the judges on this show are actually really good. There isn't much egregious terrifying lapses in judgement, and they say things that I think we're all thinking. The only time things go haywire is supposedly after Sam breaks down on the runway. He doesn't bring up his suicide attempts on the runway literally, saving that for the asides. Or, at least that's the way it's edited. Anyways, after the suicide attempt reveals, suddenly everybody starts revealing their private parts of their lives and say that Sam's outfit is interesting. For some reason. And, nobody wins. Nobody loses.

What a gyp. Finale is a one-parter next week with special guests Heidi Klum and Neil Patrick Harris! If there's one way to get me to be excited for next week, it's fucking Neil Patrick Harris. OMG, that guy is awesome.

Stray Observations:

• Cort Lane is really hot, but he has nothing on Handlebar Moustache Guy. *swoon* Maybe they could get their own reality show together? I know, I've been swooning over HMG for years now, but...he's so fucking hot.
• Asha was hilarious. "Sam isn't being himself. He's not even talking to me!!!" It's so Asha centric, I couldn't even deal.
• Oscar is totally channelling Bruce Willis with his hat choice.
• No, Mondo, Asha did not expose such a private part of her soul. That was just an outfit. And kind of a storebought one compared to previous works.
• The Trevor Project is totally worthwhile. I highly recommend passing their glory around. The more people who know about The Trevor Project, the better. Because the more people who know, the more people who will use them, and the more lives that may be saved. Which is a good thing. Just keep the trauma off the runway.

Under The Gunn S1 E6: Pompeii Team Challenge

Last week on Under the Gunn, Nick ran over Isabelle with the bus in front of his designers. And, by running her over, I mean, she was already knocked out by the judges, but he still felt like it was OK to tie her ass up and lay her in the middle of the lane, then get in the bus and drive over her.

But, Tim Gunn, let's be fair. You changed the whole format of the show in order to let Nick run over Isabelle. That was episode 5, and in the previous 4 episodes, at no point did the mentors get to come to the defense or criticize their designers. Instead, in that judging session, you allowed Nick to completely influence the judges. In essence, you handed Nick the keys to the bus and said, "run that bitch into the ground!"

And, Nick, your apology this week was less than genuine. "Isabelle, I'm sorry I ran you over and got you kicked off the show. I'm not that type of person. But, you're still gone, and that's a good thing. Please, I'm not letting you back on the show. Buh bye."

Meanwhile, his designers are all, "Well, if he threw one girl under the bus, why wouldn't he throw any of us under the bus?" Not that there wasn't going to be somebody from Nick's team that was going home this week. Because we had a team challenge that was coming up, and of course the producers were chomping at the bit to send somebody from Nick's team home. But, because he got the largely weaker team, and they were already eyeballing Isabelle from day 1, they waited until E5 in order to have balanced teams for this week.

Which brings us to this week's challenge: it's a team challenge, brought to you by Voltantor. Volcano/Titanic/Gladiator.  Now you don't have to sit through 7 hours of movie to get that combination, it comes in at a smooth 100 minutes! Set in Roman era, the goal of this week is to create three fashionable looks inspired by Roman times, but not costumes, making something fashion forward, and inspired by The Getty Villa, actually a Greco-Roman museum in LA (I'll plug the cool things that deserve plugging).

Since we're doing a team mini-collection, we can look closely at the three mentor's collection of their designers with a smaller scope.

Mondo chose a team that was relatively forward in their thinking, almost to the point of being future forward thinking. His team is quite progressive in their points of view, even if they come at the same challenge from completely different angles. He is seen saying that materials and flairs will keep his team cohesive, but otherwise he is mainly encouraging the team members to express themselves and help each other out.

Anya has a motley group, especially since she kicked out Brady to keep Nicholas, for some reason. So, she has the can't-design-for-women Nicholas (who chose her so she would help him design for women but she's taking a hands off approach), the completely fashion forward but in his own idiom Shan, and the overly-serious but may skew younger Blake (who created the tampon look last week). Anya is, of course, taking a hands-off approach because, what? Is she going to teach them how to cut and sew and do finishing??  HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!  Damn, that was funny.

Nick has an even more motley group, of which only Oscar seems to have a singular point of view, and Natalia runs a close second. Having learned his lessons of being too hands-on in Episodes 1, 2, 3, and 4, Nick boldly and proudly asserts at the beginning that his team would benefit from having HANDS-ON NICK. This would benefit the whole team, he states. And, he dominates the sketch time. Because, of course he does.

At Mood, the teams all start to expose their strengths and weaknesses. Team Anya and Team Mondo are all about matching their fabrics before cutting, and working together. But, Team Nick is disoriented and Oscar is being completely independent and uncommunicative toward the other team members. Because he has a strong sense of view, but can't figure out how to work with anybody else without being the explicit leader.

The mentors, this week, actually take a huge step back from the show. Nick gets told by Tim Gunn that he has to step back and actually let the team figure out their own problems. Part of that was because he was so late in coming to them for the initial mentoring, but his team was melting down at that point because they wanted Nick to tell them what the fuck to do, since he had taken such a heavy-handed approach in 4 episodes, and at the beginning of this episode. Part of the problem of having a heavy-handed bitchy approach to your designers is that they eventually come to depend on your approval for their sense of self-worth as opposed to being strong in their own designs.

Mondo's team works well together, and Mondo tells them that they need to refine their dyed print. Then, he otherwise disappears for the episode, only making an appearance to say "I love you guys." NOOOOO!!!

Anya's team is all about compromising instead of critiquing. She tells them they need to not compromise their individual visions, then worries about Shen's compromised vision. She makes a second appearance to try to help Shen work out his vision. But, her worries amount to "I hope you figure it out."

Nick's team has a lot of their design elements developed, but couldn't figure out how to work together. They're looking to Nick for leadership, but Tim, who gave Nick the keys to the bus last week, tells Nick to let them drown if they can't figure out how to work together. He disappears from the episode, probably to get drunk. I think I saw him in the background during the model fittings.

Mind you, we're still focusing on 13 different people. Tim Gunn, the 3 mentors, and their 9 designers. So, there is little breathing room for the designers to assert their individual personality. The main characteristics we get in the first half are Shen compromises in a team, and Team Nick's designers are now paranoid.

In the morning, Oscar has already finished his look, and takes leadership to tell Natalia and Stephanie what the hell to do. Nick makes a cursory appearance, but he's been negated as a leader. Fuck off Nick. You're almost as shitty as Anya. Anya makes a cursory attempt to help with finishing, but it is totally cursory based on what comes out on the runway.

And then, it's runway time. Jen Rade, Zanna, and Rachel Roy are back. Our guest judge this week is Wendy Partridge, who worked on Voltantor.

Team Anya: I think, largely, her team was secretly taken over by children who can't sew. It's an incoherent collection of ugly pieces, that I think the judges were far too nice about.

• Nicholas - If I take off my glasses, squint my eyes, and pause on a somewhat blurry frame from afar, I can see what he was going for. The tunic is still half finished, but the top has some nice patterns when blurred. Up close, it's all a fucking mess. The hard shorts with the sloppy safety-scissored top makes for a hideous up close experience in the discount junior department at Walmart. Plus the material mix for the pattern is fucking ugly. The one good thing the outfit has going for it is the low-slung back, which couldn't be worn with a bra.
• Blake - Black witch. This is the best look of Anya's group, but it is borderline costume. It flows nicely, though, and the mantle/hoodie into a strong back with a sexy feminine front is gorgeous. The belt pushes it into costume territory, but it's not terrible.
• Shen - What is with the white gauzy looks this season? Seriously, its another tampon look, only the gauze is on top of the applicator. Just stahhhp. The flat bustline is terrible, the gauze on the top is awful and not shorn well. The back is nice, and from the waist down it's a nice look. But the top needs a lot of help.

Team Nick: OMG, are we sure this isn't Team Anya? This is an excellent resort wear collection, with draping of summery prints. I think Anya actually designed 2 of the 3 looks.

• Stephanie - A nice, summery, Roman beachy resort tunic look with a dreamy, watery print. With the hard blue shoulder accents and the white outlines, this look is stunning.
• Natalia - the most costumey of the looks, but it is still a really nice roman column-based design. With a blocky column-esque top and a flowing blue skirt, it's a nice looking outfit, if a bit on the cheaper side compared to her two compatriots.
• Oscar - Who are you and what have you done with Oscar? This is not an overdesigned look at all. It's clean, Roman inspired, strong, and sophisticated. It's open sides make it edgy, and it is pure awesome.

Team Mondo: It's a cohesive, younger look that actually feels most like a strong woman take on the Roman warrior woman.

• Sam - With an oxblood leather/vinyl top and an interesting abstract red/print skirt, it is a bit on the easy breezy costumey side. It's still strong, but it isn't that modern.
• Asha - Girl needs to edit. She used only the oxblood material to create a roman throwback take on her bitchy future-tech warrior girl. It's a blend that isn't harmonious, though I respect the point of view. Mondo put it best when he said "I want to love it, but it's not letting me love it. She needs to learn to edit."
• Michelle - Another costume style outfit, which truly is more in the Roman vein. It feels like it could be in a movie, which is actually different from the challenge.

Team Nick, despite Nick's terrible mentoring, is the winning team. Team Anya, because of the finishing problems, is on the bottom. In the end, Oscar wins, and Nicholas goes home should have gone home, but somehow is saved because...who fucking knows at this point. *throws remote*

Random observations:

• Mondo: "We need to take more risks." No, honey, you don't. Your team was a bit more costumey, and was out designed. But, your designs were good, they just weren't as sophisticated as Oscar's.
• Nick: "I cannot take responsibility for this one. It is all theirs. Bravo." (though, he's secretly taking credit for letting them be their own designers)
• Jen: "She's like a mummy. ... I'm just here to be honest." Jen, there's a line between honesty and brutality. You crossed it, but I like it when you crossed it. Just don't be apologetic.

Project Runway All-Stars S3 E4: "Keepin' It Classy"

I think we all felt this way by the end of the episode.

Every Project Runway All-Stars host starts to reach a sort of middling stride mid-season. Alyssa Milano is starting to really loosen up compared to when she began. It's almost like the producers were watching the dailies and told her to be more natural, and she finally figured out how. While she still doesn't have the dominating presence that we've come to expect from Frau Klum, Alyssa is starting to loosen up in front of the camera and become an interesting figure. Her faux accent is starting to slip a little. And, her teeth are unclenching. And, she's starting to feel fun.

Which is good because we're bringing back one of the most famous challenges ever, you guys!  Maybe some of you don't remember this challenge, but we're bringing back the unconventional challenge!  ZOMG! I remember seeing this like 2 months ago, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it! It was so hard when they had to go to like a wallpaper store and a hardware store. Or, maybe they had to go to Coney Island and cut up animals. Or, maybe...anyways, we haven't seen this challenge in awhile, and it's back! ZOMG. Be still my beating heart!

Bur, what is our challenge, outside of an unconventional challenge?  Well, we have to take a trip to find out...in a SCHOOL BUS! Immediately, my gay ass starts worrying that this is going to be an anti-bullying episode, because I spent my time on the school bus blasting KMFDM and Nine Inch Nails at volumes that pierced everybody else's ear drums. Immediately the designers start fucking around on the school bus. And, they're being taken to PS 212, some school in NYC. So, it's not an anti-bullying after school special, but it is a mad dash challenge, in the vein of that time they tore up their apartments in the first episode.  They have 4 minutes to get everything, and...

Oh, fuck...Pansear. Really?  You have to bring the bullying? I know it's uncouth for me to say, because solidarity and I was bullied and blah blah blah but...*sigh*. So, because of the bullying, we know that Pansear is not going home because emotional backstory = stay. But, then we have the fight between Korto and Necktat for who's going home as they're both revealing a bit much in the asides. And, a little bit of Mychael. And, they're all starting to make really REALLY ugly shit. 

I've also really been in love with Korto's revealing.  Every time, she's like "Bitches, I'm here for the money. Why the fuck am I here?" This time, she's revealing its all about her daughter and growing her business to provide for her child. And, Awwww.  But, she still doesn't want to be here. Meanwhile, Pansear is still ranting about bullying. And, he'll not stop until the runway. 

During Zanna's consultations, she's all worried about the outfits that she should be worried about, and enthusiastic about some of the ones she also should be worried for. Korto's look starts out looking like a rejected costume from Hackers, but then we see her start doing shit with rubber bands that starts making it look like a homemade Marching Band outfit. And, Zanna is worried about Mychael's progress because he hasn't done much of anything, and insult's Necktat lego foam dress. And, ooooooof. There's the origins of some serious ugly in the room. And, then there's a twist. Because PS 212 isn't a commercial tie in, this is the Mary Kay tie in episode, where two people consult on makeup whose advice seems to get ignored the next day.

And, soon its time to go to runway, where I fully expect to see Dan "I have 2 shirts" Savage representing It Gets Better because, well, bullying and high school. Instead, we get the fantastic Gabourey Sidibe, from Precious, the New York high school movie about bullying in the inner city. And, also Michael Urie, who was in...um...*checks IMDB* Partners and Ugly Betty. He also directed He's Way More Famous Than You...which, um...  Poor guy. Maybe he was the one who replaced Dan Savage. 

Anyways, Runway.

Irina: I hate to admit it...this was my favorite look on the runway today. It was over the top pink and princessy, which is a total departure for Irina, but its well made and it doesn't entirely look like it was made from other materials. It looks like some weird combination of a little girl's fantasy dress and 80s pop summer gone to France. I just...I hate loving it. But, it's so awesome.

Pansear: He totally trainspotted Mychael's look from last week. It's hard plastic armor which is kind of transformer-y, and armor-y. But, it's border costume for me. 

Korto: What...the...fuck. At least she realizes it isn't good. But, seriously, she started out so modern with bright orange lines and complicated curves, and then she ended up with an elementary thanksgiving pageant apron like thing. It's...it's fucking awful, and an eyesore.

Elena: Made another color blocked android-esque sci-fi look. Remember how I said Pansear's looked border costume?  This is total costume to me. I think this would be in one of those cheap sci-fi pornographic movies where the costumer had like $40 and one day to make an outfit.  ...  Oh.

Necktat: Stripper at a hot dog stand at an Indian Casino.

Viktor: I like this one too, but I have always had an issue with dresses that look like you just glued things to a base fabric. It's almost cheating. Though, it looks like the cooler version of Justin's showstopper last season, outside the plastic chunky pieces.

Mychael: I'm sorry. I can't be mean to this. Poor guy.  Have at it commenters.

Seth Aaron: What?! At least its not boring?

So, the judging this week is whack again. Seth Aaron who has one of the worst looks on the runway is safe, and Irina, who had the best look, is also safe. But, neither Gabby nor Urie have much interesting to say. I love Gabby's way of looking at clothing, but they didn't have much intelligent to say. Michael Urie compares the boobies on Elena's dress to Rosie from The Jetsons, which...no. She was flat, honey. What were you fantasizing about as a pubescent boy?

But, the most entertaining part of this episode besides Korto's "I don't need to be here" moments, is Necktat's volcano of bullshit. "I never got from this that we were supposed to do something that was wearable. I heard something to the effect of 'flex your creative muscle.' And, this to me was an anime girl, in a sundress, mid-twirl."  AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.  Elena's impression of McKayla Maroney was fucking priceless. I think she did it better than McKayla (sorry!). 

Necktat's volcano of bullshit is only matched by the finale where nobody loses.  WHAT?!  I know people struggled, but there was some serious ugly on this runway, and not even all of the bad looks were out there.  Seth Aaron's look is atrocious. And, just...omg, you guys...what?  *drink*  And, of course, the bullying outfit wins. Heartstrings pulled.

Stray Observations:

- Viktor (I think): "I refuse to do children."

- Viktor's Non-Zinger Zing of the week: "We don't need no twist, thankyouverymuch!...zan-na." *gestures with finger*

- No, Elena, Lady Gaga wasn't around 10 years ago, and no you didn't design for her 10 years ago.

- Zanna (to Irina) "It's definitely the pretty corner over here." Irina: "............" (translated: Don't make me cut you.)

- What the hell does Alyssa Milano have on during the runway?  PLEATS?!!?  I'm about to go on a fashion rage.

- Isaac: "I felt a little manipulated by Pansear's bullying story." Me: "Just like I was manipulated by your martini story."  No, Isaac, you're not gonna live that down until you do some good judging this season.

Project Runway S12 E 12: "Butterfly Effect"

Just shut up and do your damn work!

Zzzzzzzzzz

ZZZZZZZZZZZZ

*huh* Wuh. Wut.

Oh yeah, Project Runway.

You guys, this is was the most unnecessary episode of Project Runway I think we've experienced.  It's the final episode before we send people home to design for Fashion Week.  We still have five designers, but anybody who has watched Project Runway for any length of time knows that we have to pretend like there is something of suspense in this episode.  Like the stakes are really high, when the overall stakes of the next two episodes are "Whose outfits will we get to see on TV?"

To Project Runway's credit, they played down that tension.  They know that we know that everybody at this point goes to Fashion Week.  It worked like the first two seasons, but when one of the biggest fan sites has pictures of everybody's runway already up for a month, then you might as well give up the fakery.

So, what are the producers to do?  Well, they saved the avant garde episode for last.  Normally, the avant garde episode isn't the FINAL episode since many of the best avant garde challenges have been from team challenges (still fondly remembering Chris March and Christian Siriano's Season 3 look), but its a 2-day challenge this year, so yay for that.

We haven't had the L'oreal makeup challenge yet.  So, that gets tossed into the mix.

And, the last bit of challenge (at this point) is that they're inspired by...butterflies.  I guess this is because of some sort of butterfly mascara.  Billy B is L'oreal's rep.  His words of wisdom?  "Be inspired."  Thanks, Billy.  Alexandria is attracted to a dark butterfly.  Justin is attracted to an "outsider" butterfly that kind of looks like a moth.  Dom expresses enthusiasm for being able to go wild with color and inspiration.  Helen is going to be "Lux as Hell."

Once we get out of Mood, however, we get the best 5 minutes that I think Project Runway has ever had.  Now that's we're down to 5 designers, we get to spend time with the designers learning their process.  Justin goes into detail on his piping and sewing to make this incredibly intricate look of ropes. He explains how he has to make each and every pipe and sew it into a pattern.  And, then Bradon, who spent his time watching butterflies, is inspired to make noodles, but he doesn't know why.  He's being driven by divinity.

L'oreal comes in and does makeup consulting with Billy B.  I miss Handlebar Moustache Guy in this sequence.  HMG, you're amazing.  There is also a special focus on nails.  No, Nomi Malone, not your murder nails.  No, Nomi...that's a bad Nomi!!! Shouldn't you be on Dancing with the Stars?  Maybe you can do mine sometime?   /sorry

Tim comes in and does his critiques.  This episode really shows Tim's strength as a consultant.  I really couldn't see much of the final dresses in any of the forms at this point.  The only thing that I could see was that Cryface is making a cheap Halloween costume, and Tim calls her out for it.  Cryface breaks down again.  Bradon echoes the audience, "drama drama drama."  Tim is like, "stop crying every episode."  Dom is like "stop crying!!!"  Cryface's model is like "stop fucking crying, or I'm not getting my goddamn spread!!"  Oh, and Alexandria's look is another dark goth cyberpunk deconstructed dress.  Zzzzzz.

ZZZZZZZZZZ

Oh, wait...there's another challenge?  What?  Producers, were you bored?  Did you actually have scheduling conflicts with the judges?  Regardless of the reasons, we get a day 3, and a second challenge. Anyways...Because butterflies are transformative, then the designers have to transform their ex-fellow designers' losing looks into a new look.  You know, its not bad enough for the losers to have lost...they have to see what other designers will do with their losing look.  Now, turn the knife to the right.

Justin chooses his own dress.  I have to wonder if Justin was told to choose his look.  Sort of like, "dude.  You've not impressed us since your save.  How about impressing us by revamping your losing look?"  Nothing else of note was chosen.

At some point, mid-afternoon, Alexandria calls home to some camp.  You can tell it's mid-afternoon by how bright the window is.  But, the storyline chooses to push this to end of the night when Alexandria is having a breakdown.  zzzzzzzzzz.

Makeup, nails and hair time.  Random dreams about fashion week blahblahblah...and then its runway show!  Guest judge is Emmy Rossum.

Runway:

Avant Garde
Dom: It's like the Paris version of "I threw a jacket over my PJs." I really love the jacket, and it feels very edgy and sweet.  The sweatpants jumpsuit look...its OK.  It's better on its own.  But, the jacket is to die for.

Alexandria: Goth, deconstructed cyberpunk complete with silver hair on a black woman.  Jesus. It's like Halle Berry from Swordfish stole out of Catwoman's closet to go to a blood rave in Blade.

Cryface: OK, I know that Tim Gunn said he liked carrots at the beginning of the episode, but you didn't need to make a carrot.  OK, that was a bit of a potshot.  The dress is like a fall fashion look.  I think it was unfair for the judges to compain about the orange, because I quite like the orange and think it went well on the model.  It was a nice dress, but I dunno if it was avant garde.

Justin: A total Monet. The rope effect is nice from far away, but up close it's a big ole mess.  From afar it has great lines. From up close, its like a mop.  And the jacket was good, but over that dress it made the model look pregnant.

Braden: Stellar.  As soon as I saw what he did, I thought it looked amazing. Like Zac, I've never seen anything like it. It's brave, bold, experimental, and not ugly.  It's not costume, but it toes the line between costume and art.

Transformation
Dom: Transforming London's look which was based on him dressing Peach Carr (it seemed), from some sort of mom real estate agent into a youthful modern wintery look.  I kind of love.

Alexandria: Transforming Portlandia's losing look based on her dressing some form of lame Amy Winehouse, Alexandira tok it, and deconstructed it a little bit, make it a bit more pomo richy punk.  You guys, she just really hammered home my judgement of lame cyberpunk.  With a shitty fake mohawk and pigtails.

Cryface: Transforming Kate's What-the-hell-I-don't-even look, she made it look like a chic secretary. Meh.  It's a damn sight better, but its still meh.

Justin: Transforming his own foamy vagina look, he made a perfectly acceptable blak dress with a little touch of fabric.  I'm nonplussed as its a totally different dress with a helluva lot of new material.

Bradon: Transforming Sue's look of junky placemats, he makes a fetishistic rubber maid outfit?  I dunno.  The judges loved it, but I kept wanting to heat up the rubber to make it mold to the skin.  And the half panel of placemat in the front.  Not a fan.

Anyways, the judges are indecisive.  They know they want Bradon and Dom in the competition (as all of us do by this point), and can't decide who is worse between Alexandria, Cryface and Justin.  Our commenters also feel this pain.  So, nobody goes home, but because we have to have a competition in Episode 13, Alexandria, Cryface and Justin are all on the chopping block.  So, no real winner. No real loser. The show goes on.

Non-episode.

zzzzzzzzz

Stray observations:

- Heidi really likes sausages

- Heidi also sees the stupid cyberpunk aesthetic in Alexandria, and may be the only reason she didn't go home.

- I used to love Doggy Chow.