Episode Report Card Al Lowe: C- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Black is the New Black
By Al Lowe | Season 6 | Episode 14 | Aired on 11.19.2009
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Poor Carol Hannah is still sick, and overwhelmed. She must, however, soldier on and keep working on her collection. All three designers are feeling enormous pressure, as one might expect. Finally, though, CH has a tiny breakdown, crying on Christopher's shoulder. He is extremely kind to her, as are all their helpers.
During the hair and makeup trials, Irina and Althea of course have similar ideas. Naturally, Irina cracks that Althea is copying her, and I consider going back in time to stab her. Tim looks over their last-minute 13th looks, advising and comforting when emotional fragility emerges.
On the final day in the workroom, everyone must work very fast. They must pause, however, to have a final fitting with their muse models. Much rushing goes on, with each designer racing through the workroom, stressing out themselves and their assistants.
The day of the show, the alarm sounds at 3:15 AM. Insaaane. Emotions are running high, so high they can hardly get out the door. They make it to the tent at Bryant Park and backstage is wack. Tim Gunn actually Officially Loses It when no one is ready for the show in time, or even close.
Heidi emerges onto the runway to introduce the judges. Tim Gunn revealed in a recent LA Times article that they had to shoot some of the speeches before the crowd came in and then edit it to look like the crowd was there… and it could not be more obvious. The applause sounds so canned it's like a bad sitcom.
Athea's collection, inspired by scifi movies from the '50s and '60s, is first. It features a lot of tight pants and is edgy and pretty. Tanisha comes down the runway like she's going to rule us all. Carol Hannah's feminine, whimsical collection is quite pretty. Nothing is blowing my mind, but it's all nice. A lot of satin, though. A LOT. Lisa is gorgeous, natch. Irina brings up the rear with her New York-inspired collection. Her models are wearing equestrian-like hats, and so many of the clothes re black it's all sort of looking the same, but everything looks pretty good. Some of these models are kind of terrible.
The judges -- Kors, Nina and the truly wild Suzy Menkes -- are impressed with all the hard work that was done on the collections and consider all three to be strong. They like that Carol Hannah "played with color;" that Althea can "translate what's going on in the streets;" and that Irina had the "best sense of showmanship." It's all sort of anti-climactic, really, which makes it seem more like actual reality, rather than television reality. Finally, after raising my blood pressure to the max by cutting sweet Carol Hannah first, and leaving the Copycat Twins left on the runway, Irina is named the winner.
Discuss this episode in our forums, then see which were the Best and Worst Looks of Season 6.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Before I begin, I have to state for the record that my general reaction to the finale was as follows: Zzzzz. I mean, I stayed awake for the clothes, and at that point I believe I said something like: "Zzzz... mmph? Tim's mad. All black? Eh. Hm. Zzzz." And then we got to the end, and it went something like, "Huh? WHATEVER," and I forcefully pushed the power button on my remote, to which only so much force can really be applied, but look, I meant it to sting.
So, you know, pweviously on Pwojek Wunway, Althea, Carol Hannah and Irina were chosen as the final three. They went off, worked on their designs, were visited by the ghost of Christmas Fabulous, Tim Gunn, and showed back up in New York for the final few days of preparations. Irina plagiarized some stuff. They had to make a surprise 13th look; Logan, Christopher and Gordana came in to help; Carol Hannah barfed everywhere.
With two days to go until the runway show, Carol Hannah is still feeling sick to her stomach. "This is a really critical point, and there's a lot of work ahead," she interviews, "and if I'm lying with my head in the toilet, that's not really helpful." Well, it's not helpful to you, but it would be helpful to your competition. Speak of the devil: "I kind of really do feel for her," Irina says. "But there's really nothing I could do to help her." The operative words there? "Kind of." CH continues in her interview to say that the nausea is overwhelming and if she continues to feel like this, it's not going to be a good day. Come on, girl! Time to rally.
In the workroom, everyone looks beat. Carol Hannah is already crying as they walk in. Logan comes over, very sweetly I think, to give her a hug. Everybody is hanging by a thread (har har), even the ever-confident Irina. Gordana says in an interview that "she's not hundred percent cool" as she usually is. I love Gordana, and no doubt Irina does, as well. "I won't queet on you, I promize," Gordana tells her as she tailors one of Irina's designs. "Thank you, Gordana," Irina says, her voice obviously betraying her fatigue. "I'm counting on you." No question, the luckiest break Irina received was when Althea chose Logan as her assistant, opening the door for her to be able to pick Gordana. She can take the pressure, and she can sew better than anyone in the room.
As Althea discusses with Logan about which seams she'd like to leave exposed, Carol Hannah breaks down again across the room. She is sick, y'all. Christopher comes around the table to comfort her as everyone else looks on with pity. "I'm happy that I'm there," Christopher interviews. "I can be there to sort of comfort her for a moment, but then get back to being her tailor and finisher and get this stuff done." CH cries a little that this sickness thing is not how all of this is supposed to go, but she seems to pull herself together quickly. How bad would it suck to be sick on like, the biggest day of your life so far? She groggily thanks Christopher for continuing to plug away while she heads out with the other ladies for model makeup trials and fittings.