Episode Report Card Potes: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Smooth as Silkworms
By Potes | Season 18 | Episode 9 | Aired on 05.02.2012
When we return, it's panel time! There are prizes, there are judges. Barney Cheng is the guest judge. And miraculously, Cutrone is kind of smiley. Maybe jetlag agrees with her. Laura is up first for critique, and her photo is really great. The face is good, the body is good, and the black hair really agrees with her. Nigel of course loves it, probably because of the orgasm connection. Tyra thinks it looks like Laura was doing a dance and caught in a moment, which is much better than looking like you're posing. Cutrone raves, and agrees with me that Tyra gave Laura the total wrong makeover. Barney says that Laura has brought a fragility to the photo, and a tension between the hard and the soft, that is very Chinese. He loves it.
Eboni is next, and Cutrone tells her that she's gotten her best fashion shot so far. Nigel loves the body language, but doesn't get much emotion from it. Tyra has a few criticisms of the shot: a) Eboni has no neck; b) she has a lumpy waist. Both of those things are pretty bad. Catherine is next, and I call bullshit on the idea that this is her best shot. She might not have had the best shoot, but in this one she looks like she's carrying a giant phantom tray at Friday's. Barney says that he was surprised, because Catherine totally froze on set. Furthermore, when Jay asked Catherine to emote, she started bawling. Catherine explains that she was thinking about someone dying, and Cutrone asks why someone dying would make her carry a phantom Olive Garden tray. (Note: phantom Red Lobster tray happened before the weeping.) Cutrone says that Catherine looks like a tea salesman, whatever that is. Nigel tells her that heartbreak-sad always trumps death-sad, especially when you're trying to sell a dress. It is, after all, a lesson we all must learn.
Alisha is next, and the entire panel thinks she looks like a singing telegram lady, due to a rather silly little UK flourish on top of the already silly UK t-shirt that she is forced to wear every week. Barney likes the top half of Alisha's photo, but says that if she was trying to sell the dress, she failed. It doesn't look good. Tyra says that models always think it's all about them, but in fact they are there to sell a product. Annaliese is next, and looks absolutely gorgeous. Nigel thinks the whole thing is stunning, and all Barney can say is, "Love love love love love." Tyra commends Annaliese for taking a more high fashion turn, but of course Cutrone wants to nitpick about why Annaliese has her hand on her head. Annaliese explains that she was envisioning walking in on her man with another woman, and Nigel sees some defiance in her pose rather than sadness. Finally, there's Sophie. Nigel doesn't care for the photo, and says that the look in Sophie's eyes is too extreme. The dress does look amazing, but Tyra says that has nothing to do with how Sophie is posing. She's not giving something interesting, odd, or quirky enough.