Althea

Oh, right. THIS one.

So Lo says to T this morning, "T," he says, "We still have another dress to do!"
"Are you sure, Lo?" says T. "I can't even remember. Who's left?"
"Althea!" said Lo in his excitable Lo way. "We forgot to do ALTHEA!!!"
"Oh," said T. "THAT one."
Look, nothing against the girl. She's done her share of solid work all season and she certainly got the judges' attention. We're not arguing that she doesn't deserve to be in Bryant Park. We're still stinging over the bizarre judging that rewarded a dress the judges called a "mess fest" and sent home the designer the judges said made a "beautiful" dress.

Which, if we can take a second to return to Gordana, seems to have been misunderstood by some of our readers when they saw our ranting on her "Auf Wiedersehen" post. It's not that WE think Gordana should have gone to Bryant Park; it's that THE JUDGES completely overruled their own assessments to justify not sending her. It's not about whether WE thought her dress was beautiful; it's about the fact that THEY did. And the flipside of that, what made it doubly frustrating, was that the judges clearly hated Althea's look.

Anyway, architectural inspiration, blah, blah, blah. Not a bad idea, but hard to pull off the technical details.

Model: Tanisha Harper

Like the judges, we'll give her a lot of credit for the effort. Unlike the judges, we didn't let that blind us to the obvious problems.

The actual design of the skirt is great. The choice to use that particular fabric? Not great. The fact that the design of the skirt was so obviously time consuming that it left her just barely enough time to stamp out a formless tank top with no design interest to it at all? HUGE mistake.

And the fact that the skirt itself isn't even completed to what Nina would normally consider her satisfaction? FATAL mistake.

Or it would have been if the judging didn't have the sweet smell of crack hanging all over it.

That is an unfinished mess topped of by a tank top so barely made it's practically imaginary. She should have changed course early on when it became obvious she wasn't going to do the design justice in the time allotted. That's what other designers have done when the chips were down.

But for whatever reason, all of this was overlooked. Actually, that's not true. It was all addressed and critiqued by the judges, who then promptly forgot about it when it came time to send people home. We still don't get it.

Extended Judging:


Tim Gunn's Workroom Critique:




[Photos: Mike Yarish/myLifetime.com - Videos: myLifetime.com - Screencaps: Projectrungay.blogspot.com]



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Congratulations!

WTF?!?!?

Let's do a quick rundown of things to run down, okay? Okay!

Kind of an okay challenge, right? Almost but sort of!

Heidi! Wearing the crazy-and-also-ugly!

Uncle Nick!

Entirely too self-important guest judge who keeps interrupting Nina and should probably be shot for that!

Elly Mae! Winner!

Wait. Winner?

Well, let's face it. The pickings were mighty slim last night. It would have been more interesting if they had to make a companion piece for a losing look rather than a winning one. As it was, the challenge was basically "Remember that time you won? Do that!"

At least we got some fun drama as the girls unsheathed their claws last night and in the end wound up turning on each other on the runway. Elly Mae, don't pair up with a girl like Irina because in the end she's going to turn on you too. Didn't you know that Irina invented sweaters? Come on now.

Model: Tanisha Harper

We thought the judging last night was total crack-is-whack, but in the light of day, we have to say that this probably was the right choice for the win. Maybe.

Almost all of the looks fell into two categories: butt fucking ugly or kinda nice, but a little plain. This was at least a little stylish and based on previous work of hers, it was very much Althea's personal aesthetic at play.

The main problem here is the same problem Althea always has: execution. We realize that this isn't a sewing competition but it kind of grates on our nerves that the judges NEVER mention it. And Heidi's always the judge that points out boob issues with the designs and yet she never seems to notice when Tanisha's are bouncing all over the runway.

But enough of that. Let's talk pants. Tom is finding it quite hard to get on board with those pants, but Lorenzo really likes them.

We're both in agreement that they are pretty on trend right now and that's why the judges love them. You're seeing a lot of that sort of thing on the runways at the moment.

The top is just basic with some minor interest in the straps. We question why anyone would wear a skimpy tank top under a gigantic sweater, but it's fashion, darlings.

Attention must be paid to Tanisha, who has distinguished herself as the fiercest walker of the season. She can sell the hell out of clown pants.

Attention must also be paid to the fact that she was one of the few designers who really did fulfill the dictates of the challenge. Like it or not, these do look like companion pieces from the same collection.

And we have to admit, that's a pretty fabulous sweater.

Hey, guess what? In writing this post we totally convinced ourselves that this was TOTALLY the right choice for the win! So, congrats Elly Mae!

Extended Judging:


Tim Gunn's Workroom Critique:



[Photos: Mike Yarish/myLifetime.com - Videos: myLifetime.com - Screencaps: Projectrungay.blogspot.com]


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Girls on Top. Again.

Sparkle!

Dr. Whitfield seems to have settled into her role as "strong contender." She's only got one win under her belt, but it seems like it energized her a bit, mainly into talking about what a bitch Irina is.

As for her look...

Model: Tanisha Harper

Well, it's Uli 2.0. We don't like to make those types of comparisons ("She's totally ripping off Leanne!!!") because let's face it, fashion is about a limited number of elements that get reused time and again in various combinations. It's all variations on a theme and looks that remind us of other, earlier looks are an inevitability.

But seriously, this looks EXACTLY like an Uli dress.

Except Uli would have picked a better print. The judges all moistened themselves over this print and sure, we can see how they might like it, but it's only just alright to our eyes. To be honest, we thought it looked a little bedsheet-y.

She really bumped it up with that braiding detail. Nina really loved it and we have to say we agree. We normally find braided fabric to be clumsy and uncomfortable looking but she managed to give it a delicate nature it rarely has.

Even in the back. Braided straps often look a little like a yoke, but not here.

So, good job, CH. It's a bit of a cliche from an inspiration point of view, but it's extremely well made with some interesting details, which automatically sets it far ahead of the rest of the pack.

And Blue Hands comes roaring back strong with an "In your FACE, BITCH!" to Heidi.

Just when you think the little slav who could is down and out, she finds something inside her and pulls out a great, eye-popping design with which no (leggy, German, bitchy) detractor could find fault.

Model: Katie Sticksel

This is, in some respects, similar to CH's in that it comes right up to the border of cliche.

But, similar to CH, she did such a good job in the detailing and the execution, that the superiority of the look simply can't be denied.

Long story short: she nailed the look on very little money and with very little in the way of embellishment. She kept it simple and between the near-flawless execution and the shiny details, it gave the outfit a classy, understated, expensive look.

To be honest, we were not sold on the necklace until it showed up on the runway. It was looking a little "crafty" to us when she was working on it. But paired with the dress, it really works. We know she made it removable for use with other outfits but to our eyes, it's meant to be paired only with this dress.

There was a lot of pulling and puckering in the dress, but that all appeared to depend on how Katie was standing. For the most part, it's beautifully fitted and technically well done. We especially like the lines running through the dress, which lift it up from being boring.

So good job, Gordana! Show that leggy German how you don't take shit from no leggy Germans! It was practically killing her to admit it, no?

" I think it's a really sexy. sophisticated, sleek dress..."

"You want me to say what? No."

"It's urban...it's all of the things that really are very Park Avenue."

"I don't WANT to. She looks at me funny. And her hands are blue. And she cries all the time. Oh, fine."

"The little voice in my earpiece told me to say 'Good job."

"Oh. Uh, well thank them for me."

"Of course, the dog collar is not something I would wear. In fact - what? I'm just saying! I can't even say that I hate the collar?"

"Fine. Whatever. Good job. Get off my - I mean, you may leave the runway."





Don't miss this week's T Lo Awards, bitches!

[Photos: Mike Yarish/myLifetime.com - Videos: myLifetime.com - Screencaps: Projectrungay.blogspot.com]


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