Episode Report Card Jeff Long: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Even Designers Get The Blues
By Jeff Long | Season 4 | Episode 9 | Aired on 01.22.2008
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Are you kidding me? If I could write a recaplet of silence in protest of this episode's outcome, well...
For this challenge, the designers are taken on a "field trip" to a Brooklyn warehouse, where they are introduced to a bunch of blue jeans hanging from clotheslines. The challenge is to create an iconic look with the jeans, while stick true to the spirit of 501 Levi's. Everyone has a short time to collect as many jeans as they want for use in his or her design.
At the workroom, things get interesting. Christian appears to have gotten on the nerves of every one of the other designers. They all think he's talented -- and immature. Chris in particular seems like he's had enough of Sister Christian, but is far too polite a guy to really let him have it. Or so it seems. Jillian gets herself in over her head by designing a super-complicated coat. Victorya kind of rips off Jillian's coat from last week, which seriously annoys Jillian. Chris rejects Tim's advice and Sweet P embraces it, with predictable results.
Things get a little testy in the sewing room. Jillian keeps stabbing herself and Chris tells her that she is not learning anything.
On the runway, Chris, Jillian, and Victorya end up at the bottom. The judges, including a VP at Levi's, like the work of Rami, Christian, Sweet P, and...Ricky. They love Ricky's dress and, to be perfectly fair, it's very good. But, when they compliment him, he starts blubbering. ON THE RUNWAY. I'm sorry, I've got feelings too, but that's just fucking pathetic. Have some dignity! Nina Garcia has the perfect "this is why I'm a journalist" look on her face when it's happening. In the end, Victorya is sent home. It seems pretty rare that a person who has won two challenges would be sent home this early in the competition. But really, she was kind of grating, so no big whoop.
The winner? Is RICKY. Why are they doing this to us? I say Sweet P shoulda won, but I don't get no vote. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Previously, the designers worked in the avant-garde. Christian won the challenge, while Kit was eliminated. Even though Ricky deserved to get his ass handed to him.
It's morning and Victorya calls Sweet P "Kit." Twice. This makes Sweet P sad. In the boys' apartment, they discuss that none of them have been sent home yet. At least not permanently.
On the runway, Heidi brings out the models of the winning and losing designers. Christian stays with Lisa, so Marie goes home. He blows kisses to Marie and says, "Thank you more than life." That's right up there with ReesEE's as one of those things that's just like nails on a chalkboard. It looks like a tiny part of him (though what part of Christian isn't tiny?) caught himself just as he was saying it.
Heidi sends the designers to the workroom to get their challenge from Tim, who tells them they're going on another one of those infernal field trips. Rami says that "field trip" could mean working with garbage or going to Paris. They have some pretty fancy garbage in Paris-- you might be doing both!! Can you imagine? You'd hate Europe forever.
So Tim takes them on this road trip. Christian asks if they are going to meet someone "fabulous," and Tim says they are fabulous and don't need to meet anyone! They go to a dock in Brooklyn, and Chris thinks they are going to be working on a boat or designing "cement galoshes." They end up at a warehouse on a pier. Tim introduces the designers to Caroline Calvin, Senior VP of Design at Levi's. Hmm, I wonder if this is going to be a plastics challenge! Or flowers?
The raw materials for the challenge are inside the warehouse, says Tim, and when the designers raise the door, there are tons of jeans hanging on clotheslines and one-yard bolts of white cotton. All of the jeans are 501 Levi's. The challenge is to create an iconic look of denim that captures the spirit of originality and creativity that is lived in the heart of the Levi's brand. I clearly don't know much about Levi's, because I didn't know all that stuff was living in them.
The designers will have three minutes to grab all of the materials that they will use for the challenge. The warehouse is really big, though, and the materials are set really deep into it. When Tim says "go," everybody runs. Sweet P loses a shoe, and and has to run barefoot through the filthy warehouse. In her interview, she shows the bottom of her foot, and I swear I saw some tetanus. Rami grabs all of the dark jeans that he can get. Jillian grabs light colored jeans and jean jackets. Christian went for dark colored jackets -- then just grabbed everything. Victorya was totally mercenary about the shit she was grabbing and claimed everything that was on the floor.