Episode Report Card Jeff Long: A+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Season 4 Finale, Part II
By Jeff Long | Season 4 | Episode 14 | Aired on 03.04.2008
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Bravo to Bravo for making this show suspenseful when the winner of the show has been a logical conclusion since, like, Week 4.
The show begins with just a few days until the fashion show. Jillian and Christian bicker a little bit, but nothing major (remember that word). The designers have a joint model casting session and Jillian chooses models of different sizes and looks. She didn't really do that on purpose, though, and tries to recast her models the day before the show. No dice.
Then it's on to Bryant Park. Before the show, Tim tells the designers how excellent their work has been and that they are an inspiration to him. At the show, we see that Victoria Beckham is the guest judge! Jillian shows first. It's terrific. Her inspiration was the painting that she used for the last challenge, and it's stunning. Lots of feminine, modern, urbane clothes. She also added knits to her arsenal, and they were really nice, though Tim warned her about one of the sweaters not fitting into a look.
Rami showed next. There was a lot of draping, like we've come to expect from him, but there were also woven pieces and pieces with nice tailoring. Some of the colors were a little wonky though, or "Brady Brunch colors" as Michael Kors called them.
Christian showed last and he seemed very nervous when he introduced his collection. He needn't have been because the whole collection was very accomplished. Sophisticated, daring silhouettes and a couple of truly breathtaking dresses.
The judges seemed to like all three collections, though they had some problems with Rami's colors, Jillian's focus, and Christian's feathers. Posh was all over Christian, though, and said she loved everything he did. Jillian is out first. And our winner is Christian!! He totally ugly cries before he wins. He reminds us that we should have known all along that he would win. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Previously: The race for the title "America's Next Big Fashion Designer" was narrowed to Christian, Jillian, and...Rami. Apparently, we are going to have to wait a while to build that personal wardrobe of pieces made with human hair. DON'T LIMIT ME, FASHION WORLD. Since last week, I've spent some time wondering what exactly the hell Chris was thinking when he showed that stuff. I think everyone might need a refresher course on the true meaning of "Stay True To Yourself," because Chris seems to have fallen victim to a misinterpretation of it. Yes, Chris, you are the only designer here who would think to use human hair. Yes, Chris, this works splendidly in the sphere of costumes-- I'm sure you'd win a prize or something. But for Fashion Week? The manufacturing of more than, I don't know, ONE of his hair designs would probably pose a problem. It would at least make them near prohibitively expensive. Cause people like their hair. And, as Tim Gunn said in an interview recently, there was a lot of lovely tailoring and detailing on his designs that you missed because all that you could see was hair. He could have been true to his imagination without creating something essentially grotesque. They were pretty in theory, but...I can't really go for the hair. It's just too much.
With three days remaining until their fashion show, Christian and Rami are sitting in their hotel suite. Christian says that he really wants the fashion show to happen and he's very anxious. He seems really jumpy and frazzled and Rami just stares at him. Christian interviews that he can't even describe how much he wants to win because it makes him sick. One of the mannequins says, "Hey! PA! Make yourself useful and grab some sawdust."
Jillian comes out and asks if everyone approves of her hair. They do. Rami interviews that he is very happy that he is in the final three. And he'd like to win.
At the workroom, Christian stakes his claim to a little swath of floor space. As we see him staring nervously at Rami's collection. Rami interviews that Christian was impressed by his collection and looked concerned. Christian interviews (and we don't see his face so someone may have been holding a gun to his head) that he knows everyone's collections will be amazing. AND, it's really important to him what Jillian and Rami think of him. He wants them to think that they are competing with a strong competitor (we see his face when he says that. No gun. Maybe someone was holding his bare feet to a litter of licking puppies).