The Fashion Show 6/18 Recap: Folie à Deux

[PhoneGrrrl]

Greetings, darlings. It is time once again for The Fashion Show. Who will Reco piss off this week? Will Daniella have a break-down? Will Anna get any screen time? Will the editors learn not to telegraph the end within the first ten minutes? Let’s just get this recap started and find out.

Conversion from club-goer to cube-dweller.

As Johnny ruminates about how catty everyone has been getting, Merlin’s cell phone rings. It’s Kelly calling, directing the designers to meet her at 36th and 10th and to get there as fast as they can. And off these beetches go.

They meet Kelly and Laura Brown in a large workroom adjacent to a cube farm. Kelly has the designers draw spools of thread and let the matching colors pair them off for this challenge. The pairs shake out like this: James-Paul and Lidia, Johnny and Merlin, Anna and Haven, and—gasp—Daniella and Reco. I would not be shocked if this were re-shot six times to get these pairings. No reality show is that lucky.

The challenge is to change four magazine interns from their night on the town looks into something appropriate for office attire. The interns are wearing: (1) a short blue tank dress with a wide black belt and fishnet stockings; (2) a short red dress, purple-ish sweater, and black tights; (3) a strapless black dress with a red belt and a printed wrap of some kind; and (4) tight black pants, a yellow shirt, and short black jacket. They can use what the interns are wearing and whatever is in the lost and found boxes produced. Laura brings out Becki Newton, who apparently is on “Ugly Betty” as some walk of shame queen. She’ll help judge challenge, and the winners will get something “gooood” as Kelly breathlessly says in the saddest attempt at a sexy voice I’ve ever heard. She needs to listen to some Eartha Kitt and practice.

The teams are paired off with their interns and the half hour of work starts. There’s mad grabbing in the lost and found boxes. Reco and Daniella already aren’t getting along, but everyone else seems to get the job done in the time allowed. There must have been a lot of scarves in the boxes, because pretty much everyone uses them. Time to judge the looks: Johnny and Merlin got the intern in the black dress. They wrapped a scarf into a draped grey top, used the belt buckle as a brooch on a jacket, and somehow came up with a different skirt. Becki would wear it. Haven and Anna had the intern in the blue dress. They lost the tights, left the dress, and added a green cardigan and a big scarf around the neck. They didn’t change that much, but Laura likes that the intern is more covered up. Lidia and James-Paul had the intern in the pants. They added a found longer jacket and skirt, which they put on over the pants, turning them into leggings. There was also a grey scarf added. Daniella and Reco had the intern with the red dress. They didn’t use anything of the first outfit. They ended up draping the large purple scarf into a dress, which Laura seems to like but Daniella hates. After a moment’s contemplation, Becki announces Merlin and Johnny win the challenge.

Let’s ponder this: is Isaac just an egomaniac, or would no other designer show up?

Kelly tells the designers that they will be working for one of the biggest name designers in the industry. Then out pops Isaac, from behind a large white curtain. They will be designing a look to go in his upcoming collection. Isaac rubs his hands together with glee and starts to lecture on how to design a collection. He puts together a mood board of scraps of fabric, pictures, earrings, and whatnot. The designers have to stay in their pairs and only have 8 hours to complete their looks. Johnny and Merlin get a 5 minute consultation with Isaac in his studio as their prize, which Johnny may think is something else because he terms it “five minutes of heaven with Isaac.” Off they go, while the others take a look at the mood board.

James-Paul is enchanted with the fish shape on the board. Daniella loves the 20’s shapes and African fabrics. During their five minutes of heaven, Merlin and Johnny learn Isaac designs for a generic 35 year old woman, is into layers of day clothes, uses some sheer fabric, and has lots of bright colors in his collection. They do not ask, as I would have, whether he uses Elmer’s school glue to make his hair look the way it does. Maybe they just ran out of time.

Of course, there’s fabric shopping (on a budget of $350) and planning to be done. James-Paul is taking the fish shape and going to make an intricate jacket using it, and Lidia struggles to fit her vision into his. Reco thinks Isaac likes drama so he suggests making a ball gown skirt but Daniella wants to do pants. Johnny and Merlin agree on some of the colors and textures of the fabric, but Johnny also wants to do a black jacket out of felt and Merlin isn’t happy about it. Merlin eventually goes along with it, saying that it’s Johnny’s outfit and he’s going to show him how to properly make garments. Haven and Anna collaborate really well, and have no drama so they’re only shown for about 2 seconds.

With five hours remaining in day one, everyone is back in the workroom and Reco and Daniella start arguing. He says it’s her design but she says it is their design. It is very tense—Reco wants to do a basket weave and agrees to the pants, but plans on throwing her “under the bus” if they don’t do well. Please, someone put a moratorium on that phrase. I thought Obama was going to bring change!

Johnny muses about hooking up with Isaac, though it may be weird like kissing his grandmother. Anna and Haven continue to work well together to do a three piece outfit that incorporates Isaac’s mood board colors. Haven makes some black and white print shorts, as she usually does, while Anna works on a structured coat. Lidia works on her dress, but it is nowhere close to being finished and it could be, as Haven says in a familiar phrase, a hot mess.

The models arrive for their fitting, but nothing much goes on with that. Johnny and Merlin are working surprisingly well together, despite Merlin’s dislike for Johnny. Merlin has taken over all the sewing, because he actually can sew, and Johnny is okay with that. Merlin admits he does not like Johnny, but he’s competitive and will suck it up and deal so they can win. Finally, it takes this little weird imp of a guy to get the whole idea of paired challenges. Meanwhile, Lidia has a time crunch situation because she hardly has any of the dress done with only two hours remaining on the day. This makes James-Paul very nervous.

The next morning, the designers return to the studio after prepping their hair at their digs for what seemed to be a long time. Reco and Daniella work quietly together, with Reco deciding it’s better to keep his enemies closer and Daniella deciding to play things safe rather than tacky. Soon enough the mighty MizRo arrives to check out what’s going on. Isaac jokes with Haven about doing shorts again, but she corrects him and says they’re culottes this time. She says her inspiration was the textures and Anna’s inspiration was the draping of his collection. Visiting with Reco and Daniella, MizRo learns they were inspired by the colors of the mood board. They’re surprised Reco is still working at this point, as he’s usually finished early, but he says they really wanted to put a lot of details in the garments. Then Reco lies his ass off and says they are working well as a team and they’ve compromised during the process. Merlin and Johnny tell MizRo they’ve been working well together and Merlin has taught Johnny a lot about sewing. Isaac is a bit taken aback by the use of felt on Johnny’s jacket. Merlin is worried about the cheap fabric over the other beautiful pieces and Johnny is resigned to the jacket because there’s nothing he can do about it now. Finally, visiting James-Paul and Lidia, MizRo learns they were inspired by the fish form and transformed it into a jacket. Once outside, the only thing Isaac says is that even though the designers are working in teams, the judges are going to have to figure out how to judge them individually. He then adds, “That’s going to get dramatic.” A word to the wise: saying it will get dramatic does not make it dramatic.

The question remains: will the winning look actually be in Isaac’s collection?

It’s time to pack up the garments and head to the show. With quick cuts of the streets of New York, the venue, the Triangle of Doom, a Tresemme bag, and a sign bearing the name of the show, the editors have once again done a bang-up job of showing time passing. Not. Hair, makeup, and the dressing of the models commences, as does last-minute fitting. Johnny is having second thoughts about the jacket, but seems okay with even the neon belt. James-Paul is nervous because he never saw Lidia’s dress with his jacket because she took so long making it.

After annoying stage manager dude shuffles everyone into the lineup, the clothes come out. Daniella and Reco show a red, short cape like jacket over a draped blue top and a pair of pants that are oddly loose and pleated at the waist made in the allegedly African floral print Daniella loves. Lidia and James-Paul show a very oddly draped long purple gown with a lot of gold scales down the front of the dress. James-Paul’s structured coat in a darker purple is lined with a plaid material. Haven and Anna show Haven’s well-constructed high-waist black and white shorts with Anna’s elbow-length sleeved black coat that falls a little lower than the length of the shorts. Oh, I mean culottes. The top under the jacket is sleeveless and made of a bright, jewel-toned striped material. Finally, Merlin and Johnny show Johnny’s felt coat atop a black burnt velvet tank, a neon yellow green wide belt, and an almost wrap-like skirt made up of a muted mix of blues and oranges. That sounds ugly, but it’s very cute.

The designers face Isaac, Kelly, Fern and guest judge Veronica Webb after the quick show. Isaac thinks that they all did a good job reflecting his mood board. The top two designs arrive; Johnny and Merlin’s and Haven and Anna’s models come out. The other four designers take their seats and the compliments begin. Haven and Anna’s outfit is sophisticated, the audience says. They say that they collaborated and no one was the team leader. Isaac thinks these are the best shorts that Haven has made, and she makes them all the time. Veronica spots three typical Isaac elements in the outfit: the paper bag waist, kente fabric, and rainbow. Also the constructed blanket style of the coat is very Mizrahi. Moving on to Merlin and Johnny, Merlin says that Johnny came up with the design and he made the patterns and constructed the clothes. Fern is impressed with his pattern making ability. Isaac, still astounded by the coat being made of felt, finds the material perfect for the style of the coat. Fern likes the use of color, and finds the bright belt a definite Mizrahi touch. Veronica is totally impressed and would walk it down the runway. After some poorly read “dramatic” lines, Kelly announces that Haven and Anna are the winners.

The bottom two pairs then face the judges. James-Paul and Lidia defend their look first. The audience thought it looked sloppy and like a cheap mermaid costume. James-Paul explains that he made the jacket, and shows the details of the jacket, including the shape of the fish and the tartan. The problem with the coat is the tartan as it is too Burberry. Isaac likes the coat by itself but not with the dress. The judges say that if Lidia’s dress was full-length and some the gold scales fewer, it would have been better. Veronica wants to know what body type the dress is for, as it would be flattering on no one. Fern doesn’t think that they worked as a team to make a cohesive look. Turning to Daniella and Reco, with their audience-described granny pajama pants outfit, Isaac thinks they missed the mark on the color combination, and not unexpected enough. Veronica doesn’t think the styling is modern. Without the jacket, they like the top, and it’s the best part of the outfit. Fern says it should be about compromise, but Isaac says it should be more collaboration. Daniella jumps in and says she agrees, but any time Reco disagreed with her, he gave up on her. He says that didn’t happen, but he just got kicked down by her repeatedly. Kelly finally demands to know who was ultimately responsible for the look, and Daniella steps up.

During deliberation, Isaac says all four on the chopping block are really good designers, so it is a difficult choice. Lidia and James-Paul’s design was terrible and they didn’t connect on their design. The dress was the downfall, and the jacket didn’t match it at all. The worst thing on the runway was Daniella’s pants that made the model look fat. The judges think Reco and Daniella failed in a mediocre way.

As the judges have made their decision, it’s time to find out who is going home. James-Paul is safe, as is Reco. Isaac tells Lidia that she should know how important fit is and she failed. He tells Daniella that they appreciate her taking responsibility for the design, but it was awful and old-fashioned. Kelly tells Daniella that she’s safe, and Isaac says Lidia is out. Lidia hugs everyone good-bye.

Lidia thinks that her design was too complicated for the time, and is upset to be cut. She knows she’s has the talent to be a great designer. Awww, Lidia, we’ll miss your little pigeon cooing ways.

[Google]

 

[raisinthesun]

Let’s ponder this: is Isaac just an egomaniac, or would no other designer show up?

Ha! Both!

Yea sad to see Lidia go but you could kinda tell that it was gonna be her and when the little segment came on and everyone started picking on her about her pigeon complaining she does i just knew it would be her.

[Snowbird]

Oh, do I miss cable tv. Thanks for the recap and making feel like I'm right there.