Episode Report Card Jeff Long: C | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Teaching With Hate
By Jeff Long | Season 8 | Episode 8 | Aired on 09.16.2010
Before they head to the runway, Valerie says that more guys need to be eliminated. On the runway, Heidi tells the designers that this challenge will involve looking back in time. Tim will give them the details. Gretchen interviews that the hint could have meant anything and you never what will happen on this show. I love it when a designer does that. Instead of pulling some random guess out of their ass, when clearly prompted to hypothesize about the hint (and that will probably be actually answered in like minutes), they're just like, "Well, I don't know what she meant." That said, Gretchen adds, with that precious mouth thing that she does (and maybe she just has a mild speech impediment and I shouldn't be picking on her) that she doesn't want to be forced to make a corset. OK.
The designers go to some place, Capsule Studios, where Tim greets them. He shows them photos of Jacqueline Kennedy and explains that she has been a fashion icon since becoming First Lady in 1961. The challenge is to create a look of classic American sportswear, with Jackie as an inspiration. Sketching begins. Christopher interviews that classic American sportswear is his milieu. He decides that he will make a dress.
Andy says that, when he first heard the challenge specifics, he was worried because look required was so American and his aesthetic is primarily Asian-influenced. The idea of having Jackie O as a muse inspires him though, because she was a fashion risk taker without knowing it. Now, I understand that he means that as a compliment, but the dude clearly doesn't know anything about Jackie. Fine, she took some risks. That lady was SO aware of everything she was doing though. She wasn't just wandering around falling into risky clothing. It involved a lot of thought. He says his look will be a "statement piece," which I just find pretentious. Andy, who seemed so unassuming in the beginning, is revealing himself to be a bit of a pill, no? Could it be the Gretchen Effect? Or the Gretchen Affect?
Valerie says that she's thinking of making separates for this challenge, because she started the competition with more dresses than she had intended to make. Sketching is done and it's time to hit Mood. Before they start shopping, Tim tells them to remember taste, style, sophistication, elegance, expensive, etc. Mondo reminds us that the fabrics talk to him. They tell him to pick them up and he says that he usually does. If I were a fabric, I'd tell him to do something really weird-looking, like pick his nose or grind on the stair rail. Then, everyone who didn't hear me would be like, "Mondo's such a weirdo and he's wasting his shopping time by doing those weird things." That would be so funny. I certainly think that would alleviate the boredom that must come with being a sentient fabric. At least for a moment.