Reprinted with permission from www.hautetalk.com

Heidi gives the designers the morning off and sends them to a Southern-style brunch. Croissants, coffee, French toast…so what’s the catch? It’s a challenge to design for the modern Southern woman. Tim says that the modern Southern woman dresses vibrantly and expressively, with feminine details, and is always fashionably put together. You know. For your average tea party.

Sketches, colors, prints, day dresses, tailored jackets, and it’s off to Mood. Somehow, twenty-six designers selected the same plaid fabric because when I think of plaid, I think of the Southern part of the Northeast.

“What are you making?” “A straightjacket, for myself.” “Make two of them.”

As Ken observes, this challenge is looking very Little House on the Prairie, which, yeah. The Great Plains. Tim checks in with Alexander (Plaid #1) and can’t figure out if his dress is for day or evening. Bradon (Plaid #2) is making a dress that looks a little too 1950s. Justin is using a color combination appropriate for Halloween. Tim encourages him to stick to the coral and drop the black, but he doesn’t have much coral fabric to work with. Kate is making a pretty orange and magenta dress, but it’s a bit too HELLO POLKA DOTS DID YOU NOTICE MY POLKA DOTS? Ken is designing an evening dress that is almost elegant and sophisticated, if your evening is spent at a junior prom. Jeremy is tailoring a jacket to go over a dress of some sort and it’s looking kind of frumpy dumpy. According to Ken, “Helen’s gown is like the sixties threw up.” Dom is piecing together a plain Jane maxi dress. Alexandria (Plaid #3) has a flowy gown that makes Tim think bohemian instead of Beauregard. “It’s hideous. I’m sorry, it’s hideous.” Wow. Tough talk from Grandpa Gunn! Oh, and Ken says that Bradon’s dress, “looks like the dress that Harriet Tubman wore after she received her freedom.”

With two hours left, the models descend upon the workroom. There’s a lot of “do declaring” during makeup and hair, zippers are stitched, strings are snipped, and hems are hemmed. And then…to the runway!

The judges are Zac Posen, Nina Garcia, Heidi Klum, Stacy Keibler, and John Thomas, the executive something-or-other for Belk.

Ken’s dress is a pretty flowing deep magenta, but the bodice is a poor fit.

Helen’s lace-flowers-over-sunshine-yellow is something I think maybe I saw in the junior’s department in the late eighties.

Justin’s coral dress is so forgettable that I forgot what I was writing.

Alexander’s plaid strapless sundress is cute-ish.

Alexandria’s plaid dress is the worst dress ever.

Bradon’s plaid dress is…it doesn’t know what it wants to do. Is it edgy? Is it conservative? Who knows!

Dom’s blue flowfest is not at all Southern, except that the ruffles on the armhole are frumpy.

Jeremy’s shift dress and bright red jacket are perfect for a potluck dinner after a long day of secretarying.

Kate’s dress makes the model look chunky, and the proportions are off.

Helen, Alexandria, and Justin are safe. Helen is pissed because she thinks that she deserves to win everything, all of the time. Bradon’s day dress has “a little bit of history, and a little bit of edge.”  The judges like it because he made something unexpected from an expected fabric. Jeremy’s look gives Zac Posen Bad Smell With Attitude face. Nina can’t get past the hideous print. Ken’s purple “kind of looks like a beautifully cut purple nightgown,” and the judges’ comments make Ken want to stab them in the eye sockets. Heidi doesn’t like Kate’s dress because the model looks pregnant, but the other judges like it because it’s sellable. Dom’s dress is called ordinary and “not fashion forward,” and Nina calls the color “hospital scrubs.” Alexander’s plaid dress is beautifully made, and Heidi thinks the model looks sexy and sophisticated.

The “clear winner” of the challenge is Bradon’s plaid shirt dress. Alexander and Kate are also in, which leaves Dom, Ken, and Jeremy on the runway. The judges think they didn’t fully understand the challenge, so Heidi sends them back to the workroom for one hour. They can choose one fellow designer to help, and they have access to whatever is leftover in the workroom to create a new look. This is weird, right?

Dom chooses Helen, Jeremy chooses Alexander, and Ken selects Kate. Ken decides to mostly stick to his dress, Dom chops hers up to show more skin, and Jeremy needs a whole new look.

Ken manages to turn his boring dress into a hottie’s night out…with an extra sleeve hanging off of the side.

Dom makes an all new dress that’s fluttery and fresh.

Jeremy tosses together a kerchief-type asymmetric strappy thing. Well, they’re all more contemporary, so that’s already a good start. The judges much prefer Jeremy’s new dress, even if it’s a little boring. Heidi loves Dom’s dress and wants to buy it in the store. Zac thinks it’s one of her best pieces, and Nina calls it “fabulous.” Nina thinks Ken’s dress is an impressive transformation, but Heidi finds it to be a tad too short.

So with such good second chance work, who goes home? First of all, Belk wants to produce Dom’s dress and put it in the store, which, what? I guess she’s the winner of the mini-challenge? Then we’re left with Jeremy and Ken, and the judges send Jeremy home.

Next week, eight super fans become part of the show and Ken yells at even more people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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