I couldn’t help but laugh when I heard about this week’s challenge for a couple of reasons:
A. It brought back memories from my senior prom (wearing stilettos for the first time, having overly coiffed hair and way too much make-up on) and
B. the Catholic school, St. John Vianney, where they found this week’s models, is located in the small, fairly affluent, central Jersey town that I grew up in (luckily, I went to public school).
As the girls asked for plunging necklines, short hemlines and below-the-waist backs, I grimaced and thought that Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton had successfully made their mark on young, impressionable, teenage girls everywhere.
It was absolutely hilarious to see Christian, an overly confident egomaniac, crumble into pieces because of a 17 year old girl – who was the closest thing to being his female equivalent in terms of loud and dominating personality. Luckily, Tim Gunn came to the rescue and rallied Christian with a pep talk that made him realize that a teenage Jersey girl was not going to control him.
Unfortunately, his last minute surge did not save him from being in the bottom two. The judges (and mother’s everywhere) thought that it was poor form for Christian to place blame on his adolescent client for the poor design and construction of the dress. To be honest, I didn’t think it was such a horrid thing…maybe a bit brash, but a difficult teenage girl needs to be put in her place once in a while.
Victorya , who won the challenge , created a blue, T-strap, bubble dress that was fun, flirty, and absolutely perfect for a young girl. Not the most creative design perhaps, but a very fitting one given the premise of the challenge. I don’t think Victorya will win the grand prize, because she tends to play it safe, but she’ll probably stick around for a while as long as she continues to be smart and put out well-constructed and appropriate garments.
All of the other designers created dresses that were cute and H.S. friendly with the exception of Rami’s Grecian dress – that would have been perfect for a 20 or 30 something, but was too mature and sophisticated for a prom, and Kevin’s red Marilyn Monroe frock , that was not youthful or flattering given his clientele.
In the end, Kevin was asked to leave the show…a little ironic given that the only designer who had lived through a Jersey prom (and who had the pictures to prove it) turned out to be the one who got it wrong.
Picks to make it to fashion week:
Rami, Kit, Christian
Next to be cut:
Chris
