Episode Report Card Jeff Long: A | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT For The People
By Jeff Long | Season AS1 | Episode 10 | Aired on 03.08.2012
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.The designers are required to create a ready-to-wear look within a budget for Nanette Lapore. Everybody does a pretty good job staying within their budget. Mondo is in the shiz this week. He’s super worried about failing and not having control. Michael is a little turned off by Mondo’s negative attitude. Austin and Michael are talking a lot of shiz about each other’s work in interviews. Nanette comes into the workroom for consultation and she seems really demure. She has a problem with Kenley, because her dress is looking different from her sketch.
Tensions are up all over the place. Everyone is nervous and talking smack about the others. Except, oddly, for the increasingly Zen Kenley. She’s a freaking basket of kittens this season and, frankly, it makes me nervous. Tug boat justice includes revenge served cold. This could all be a ruse. That said, everyone but her seems to be really worried about their work. Well, maybe Michael’s not that worried, but he should be if you ask me. Mondo seems to hate Austin. Right? That’s bull shiz.
With the exception of Michael, who has made this very dress before and everyone says so, the other dresses are pretty cute. Austin makes an adorable a-line raincoat with a sassy belt. The judges all have nice and not-so nice things to say about each design. Kenley and Michael are essentially the bottom two and the judges all agree that this is the hardest choice that they have had to make. They nail Kenley for not taking advice and...she’s out. Which means that Michael is one of the top three all-stars. That seems like total bullshit to me. She’s a super good sport about it.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Previously: The designers created looks that employed LIGHTS. Mondo was hating on Austin most of the time. Austin won the challenge, while Jerell got sent home.
It's morning at the Flatotel. As they're eating breakfast, Kenley wonders aloud what they'll be doing that day. Mondo cracks that they'll probably be designing something. Now, I love a good dry poke. Wait, that's not what I meant. I mean, I really enjoy a laying it down with no emotion. Why isn't this working? My point is, I wonder if they think that Mondo is joking or being mean. I've been watching a little bit of this After The Runway stuff and he seems SO unfriendly. But, no one seems to really dislike him so I wonder if maybe it's just not reading correctly on the tube. I don't know. Austin says that he's so happy to have Kenley there with him.
At the runway, Angela greets them and reminds them that they're competing to be part of the finale. She says that this week's client is a maker of affordable upscale fashion for women across the country. It's Nanette Lepore. Austin says that her work is very approachable -- bohemian chic. Nanette's office is in the Garment District in New York, which is in danger of going out of business because of rising costs in doing business. The challenge is to create a dress at a certain manufacturing cost point that will then be sold in Nanette's stores.
They go to meet Nanette in her showroom. She says that she wants them to make something timeless and feminine, but at a certain cost point. The winner will be manufactured locally and sold in her stores and the profits will go to an organization to save the Garment District. Kenley feels that this challenge is up her alley. Michael is making a "day dress/caftan/something." Austin is creating a dress that could be worn over jeans. Mondo doesn't sketch, so he's just sitting around while everyone is working. He's doodling. Nanette brings in this girl Kelly who is a fashion coster. Man, it would be great to have costers for lots of different situations. Like a soul coster -- what is a certain action going to cost your soul. Or a skin elasticity coster -- I think that explains itself. I'd probably get a lot more sleep if I had a skin elasticity coster. Oh well. This part is really interesting. They start with Michael. The arm holes of his dress are "fabric eaters" and the lack of seams reduces yield. His design leaves him with a fabric budget of $48. I guess that's how much you can spend when you need to make a certain amount of profit? Michael thinks this challenge will make him step out of his comfort zone. Reality television, let's have a talk. It seems that you've kinda cooled it with the constant talk of throwing people under the bus and stepping up to the plate. We're gonna need to add any talk of comfort zones to the ix-nay list. I'm done with comfort zones. Kenley describes a dress with a keyhole -- that would reduce fabric. Nanette seems totally into it. She has $41 for fabric and it's apparently the labor costs that determine that fabric budget. Austin describes a swing raincoat, which will require a more expensive fabric (and a lot of it) in order to stand out. His fabric budget is $65, but he thinks he can do it. Mondo's all like here's the thing. He tells them that he doesn't sketch and attempts to tell them about the dress he's planning. He has like $32 to work with and he's all sad mouth about it.