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Alrighty here we go! Gonna get this out of the way before the new episode tonight. Remember, this episode was the surfwear/avant-garde challenge. If you need your memory refreshed, go here for the pics.
Firstly, I lol at the combination of surfwear and avant-garde. Secondly, I lol at the designers' interpretations of surfwear. Thirdly, I lol at their interpretations of avant-garde. Fourthly, I lol some more at their interpretations of surfwear, because, um, what? Have you ever even SEEN a surfer? Did you listen at ALL to the surfer girls you met at the beginning of the episode? What is going on?
Okay, now on to the clothes.
Shirin and Carol Hannah: Team Adorable! Their surf look was one of my favorites. Nice print, cute shape, cute bathing suit, and I love the way the bathing suit top forms the top of the dress. When you just see the dress it totally goes together and you have no idea it's anything other than just a dress and then BAM! Hey, the top of that dress was a bathing suit! And it sort of resembles surfwear, so woohoo. Avant-garde look...sort of missed the mark. I really like their idea of playing with the imagery of ocean waves, but I don't think the dress really evokes waves. The color isn't very oceany and the shape is just too overworked or something - it's not freeflowing enough. Nice touch with the braiding to tie it into the surf look though.
Althea and Louise: Team...um...something. Surf look was cute but pretty boring. The bathing suit top looked really good so it's too bad you can't SEE IT AT ALL, and the bodice of the dress has these bizarrely tiny cups that somehow keep happening this season. Again - I'D be falling out of this! The black and white stripes go really well with the color of the dress, though. The avant-garde look was actually pretty cool. I don't know if I'd call it avant-garde, but I really like the looks of it just as some sort of costume or something. The bodice is really nice. I didn't realize until like today that those were zippers, which kinda makes me blahhh because it's been done, but whatever, it still looks cool.
Logan and Christopher: Team Be Still My Heart! The surf look is pretty good, I think. It's not my style, but at least it's like VAGUELY REMINISCENT OF SURFWEAR which is more than I can say for most of this stuff. The pants look really well-done. And damn, Logan, you made a hat? You are awesome. And their avant-garde look was probably my favorite in that category. You can see both of them represented in it, it looks really well done, and the skirt is so interesting. And there's enough contrast between the top and the bottom that the contrast creates a point of interest, but not so much that it looks weird and you don't understand how the two halves go together. Well done, hot boys.
Epperson and Qristyl: Team...um...Black People? Surf look is....um...not horrible. I like the fabric and it could have been a cute dress, but the ballooning skirt is weird and not flattering. And the bust is suffering from the same too-small-cups disease that's affecting so many dresses this season. So weird. And at it's best it would just be a sundress, not really surfwear. Avant-garde look is just laughable. The bathing suit thing is boring and unflattering, I don't know what the green fabric is supposed to be, and I really don't understand why anybody would think bathing suit + random piece of fabric = avant-garde.
Nicolas and Gordana: Team Russians! The surf look is pretty good. Again, it actually has SOME vague connection to surfing, so that's awesome. I really like the macrame bathing suit idea, and the fabric it was creating looks awesome, but WHYYYY would you think it's a good idea to put a triangular cutout (or any cutout really) on her tummy? That would make an Olsen twin look flabby. The wrap pants are nice, I'm not crazy about the shape created on top by the wrap but apart from that they're good. The avant-garde look...um...DEAR GOD WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? That is all I can say about that.
Ra'mon and Mitchell: Team Uh-oh! The surf look is decent. Although I'm not sure "dead seaweed" is really the color story you want to go with (did I just say "color story?" Ugh, I hate when people say that). But at least it's evocative of the ocean, even if it's laughably far from surfwear. As for the avant-garde look: LMAO LMAO LMAO OMG. That is seriously one of the ugliest things that has ever appeared on PR and I would like to know what the hell kind of crack the judges were smoking. Also, I haven't really been saying anything about anything but the clothes, but I need to right now: what the hell, Mitchell? I've never been so baffled by a designer's behavior. Did you honestly just say you wanted a partner who would CARRY YOU? Did you honestly just sit there and do nothing? Did you honestly just admit freely, even eagerly, to the judges that you did next to nothing? WHAT IS GOING ON.
Irina and Johnny: Team Unexpected Pairing! The surf look? GORGEOUS. Ah, someone should have won for that, probably. The bit of the macrame bathing suit you can see looks soooo cute, the slouchy sheer t-shirt is possibly the closest anything on that runway got to surfwear, the skirt is cute and simple, and the whole thing just comes together really well and looks very cute, relaxed, and stylish. Great colors, too. But the avant-garde look? Oh, right, I remember why they didn't win. Awful. The color is horrible, it's all frumpy and weird, the woven fabric bodice should have been nice and just ended up looking messy, and the shoulder-piece thing has just become completely boring now so that gives you no points towards it being avant-garde.
Alright, done! That was pretty painless! Team challenges are so much easier to review, haha. I'm so looking forward to tonight's episode, this should be good! I love when they design stuff for actual people, even if it is just the models. It's a little weird since the models sort of have a stake in it, I'm wondering if they would actually come out and say they hated something when it was going to increase their changes of getting eliminated. But this should definitely be a good episode.