| Season AS3 | Episode 5 | Aired on 11.21.2013
The designers are sitting at the runway, waiting for Alyssa to tell them this week's challenge, which has something to do with "Glamour and Romance of the Thirties." Two of the stars of the upcoming "Bonnie and Clyde" are here to tell them about it. I happen to know a lot about the historical Bonnie and Clyde and I can assure you that their lives were pretty far from glamorous. For people who are interested, the stars that are speaking to us are Holliday Grainger (from The Borgias) and Sarah Hyland (from Modern Family). The specific challenge is to find a partner (because Bonnie and Clyde were two people that worked together) and make a look inspired by both Bonnie and Clyde, as well as the glamorous fashions of the 1930s. I recommend sticking to the glamorous part, because Bonnie and Clyde were a couple of dummies that stuck up gas stations and slept in ditches a lot of the time.
Seth Aaron claims that he's really into movies set in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. That's kind of a wide range, there. Alyssa explains that in each pair of designers, one designer will create a male look and one will create a female look. It's pretty clear that the only reason there wasn't an elimination last week is so that they could have an even number of designers this time. That's still no excuse for not sending Jeffrey home. Each look will be critiqued on its own, but cohesion is important.
Christopher picks Viktor as his partner, and Viktor waves his fan around because that's the only reason he brought it. He should learn more moves with it. Viktor gets to decide who's to pick a partner. He chooses Seth Aaron, which Elena somehow takes as an insult, and Seth Aaron chooses Jeffrey as his partner. His logic is that Jeffrey has designed men's clothes for Marilyn Manson and Elton John. Those might not be the most straightforward men's fashions you've ever seen. Jeffrey has Irina select , and she goes with Mychael, leaving Korto and Elena as partners. Elena thinks everyone's assuming she'll be as crazy as she was in her season. No, I think they're assuming she'll be as crazy as she's been in every challenge this season. She puts out good work but goes on such an emotional journey each time that it would be exhausting to work with her. Besides, each of the three partners that were chosen (Viktor, Jeffrey, and Mychael) were explicitly because they had experience with menswear.
The day, it's time to get to work in the workroom. Jeffrey, Viktor, and Mychael are all doing the menswear. Mychael claims that what he's going for is "Cary Grant meets James Dean." Well, The Cary Grant part is okay, although in my opinion he didn't really hit the height of his elegance until the 1940s. James Dean, however, was nine years old when the 1930s ended, so he might not be the Thirties Glamour Icon that Mychael is imagining. Korto takes the menswear side because she won a menswear challenge in her season. Elena is doing a leather jacket with some kind of 1930s flair.
| Season AS3 | Episode 5 | Aired on 11.21.2013
Mood! Everyone runs around and the camera crew seems to have trouble keeping up. Mychael and Irina are using black and gold. Jeffrey and Seth Aaron are using wool that they claim will be cohesive. Although I'm not sure that purple goes with herringbone.
Back to the workroom! Everyone's calm at first. Jeffrey's doing a military topcoat with no buttons because he's using magnets. Well, I guess they had magnets in the 1930s. Korto seems disappointed that he's not generating as much drama as he used to. Viktor's a little concerned about the fringe that will be covering the back of his blazer. Me too, but not for the same reason. Christopher is having trouble with a seam because he didn't take the different fabric weights into consideration. That's a really interesting technical detail, but we don't get any further information about what exactly the problem is.
Viktor thinks Christopher's problem is that he cut his fabric on the bias. I guess it could be. Mychael is putting a lot of quilting and pockets on his garment because he thinks it makes it more motorcycle-y. Elena and Korto are bonding over their shared mockery of Seth Aaron's dress, which they think looks like a church dress from the 1960s. Aw, see? Mockery helps bring people together! While that was happening, Christopher has followed Viktor's advice and recut his cloth along the grain. And now his seam is working, which makes Viktor very smug. And justifiably so!
Zanna's here. She tells Jeffrey, "Every week, I'm so surprised to see you." Seriously. Christopher thinks his military topcoat is less "glamour" than "evil villain." Hey, it could be both. Zanna's worried that the coat will open up, probably because Jeffrey has shown a disinclination to care about showing off his models' naughty bits. She has nothing to say to Seth Aaron about his dress, because it's more interesting to talk about how Jeffrey should have gone home weeks ago. Elena's jacket strikes Zanna as "a bit Victorian," and Korto gives herself credit for keeping Elena from freaking out at any point. We're just rushing through these, and I can only assume it's because Zanna never says anything interesting. If I'm wrong, the show has the power to change my mind. She tells Viktor that in her mind, the challenge is to make "a cool and modern version of Bonnie and Clyde." That's not really what the designers were told. She loves his fringed back, although Elena snarks that it's "totally uncalled-for." Zanna's final word to the room is that a thirties look can be dated (obviously) and that partners should be questioning each other more.
| Season AS3 | Episode 5 | Aired on 11.21.2013
Seth Aaron doesn't want to help Jeffrey until he's done with his own look, since everyone's being judged separately. That's fair, and Jeffrey accepts it. Jeffrey's coat is a little tighter than he'd hoped, so he and Seth Aaron gang up on the model, complaining that he must have been working out because he doesn't match his measurements. Jeffrey is shown having a bit of a tantrum, but it might be editing because all he really does is stomp around and slam a door.
Then Jeffrey is shown walking back in and apologizing for yelling. So I guess it wasn't editing! But it's also not High Drama because everyone's over it. Jeffrey's back at the sewing machine, worrying that he won't have time to make his shirt.
The morning contains the usual frenzy of detail work and ironing. Jeffrey is still working on his coat to make it come a little closer to fitting. The back of Christopher's dress is a wrinkly disaster, so he takes out the zipper and sews his model into it. There's some hair and makeup, which is as uninteresting as usual. Seth Aaron sniffs that Christopher's look is nice, but in a way that would take two hours. Christopher, meanwhile, is concerned that Viktor has constructed some crazy lapels that he hopes Viktor can sell to the judges as being futuristic or something. Jeffrey likes his model's build now that the coat fits him; he describes his model as "a pretty brute." Mychael brags about how great his look is, and that's followed by Viktor criticizing the cut, the fit, the sleeves, and the color. Jeffrey thinks Irina's jacket is "very Dracula-looking," and I would direct him to IMDB to learn what decade the Bela Lugosi Dracula was made.
It's time for the runway. Alyssa comes out in a jacket with weird shoulder details that look like someone had just watched The Jetsons. The winning designer will get to be a fashion designer on "a Lifetime original movie event." The judges are Austin Scarlett (instead of Georgina Chapman), Isaac Mizrahi, Bar Refaeli (a supermodel who is apparently philanthropic), and Elie Tahari.
Seth Aaron has a purple dress with silly leather patches on the shoulders. Jeffrey has a very boring and shapeless herringbone coat that doesn't go with the dress at all. I like Seth Aaron's dress a lot, though. Jeffrey's pockets are weirdly to far back. Irina has a dress with an over-the-top jacket with a big fur collar. I think it's very appropriate to have a woman wearing clothes inspired by men if we're talking Bonnie and Clyde. And the colors pair it well with Mychael's weird off-center copper vest. No, wait; it's not a vest; it's a whole jacket. But it's a jacket with sleeves that don't match the torso. It's weird. Elena's look is a leather jacket with weird draping. Korto gave her man a weird jacket, too. So they go together, at least. Christopher made a regular dress. He claims, "She is a female, but she is also... an assassin!" Nothing that interesting is happening with the dress, I'm afraid. And it does not go with Viktor's suit, which has a crazy lapel plan for no apparent reason.
| Season AS3 | Episode 5 | Aired on 11.21.2013
Alyssa announces that Elena and Korto are safe. They scamper off. Seth Aaron explains his look as a classic silhouette with modern details, and Alyssa loves it. Elie thinks it's a little overdone. It certainly is! Austin is not going to complain about something like that, and he is pleased about these two zippers in the back. Bar says she's not dangerous enough, because she's not Bonnie. Whatever, lady. Jeffrey draws attention to the pants he made, which are allegedly modern because of the hand-tacked cuffs. Isaac thinks the pants are chic and the coat is great. Austin isn't into the coat, because it's more twenties than thirties. Bar claims that Bonnie and Clyde are "the elegant couple that...you don't know that they're crooks." Lady, no one who talked to Clyde Barrow for more than five seconds had any doubt that they were talking to a killer. On to Irina: Isaac is amazed at the dress under the jacket, and Austin complains about the jacket itself. Mychael describes Bonnie and Clyde as "nouveau riche" because he is under the impression that they got rich. They did not. There are complaints about the fit of his jacket.
Christopher claims that their couple was going to a gala, and Isaac loves everything about his dress. Alyssa enthuses about the belt but is worried about the model being cut off horizontally. Viktor describes his suit as something he'd wear. That's a dangerous sign. Isaac notes that the shirt's neckline is wonky and that the bowtie is a little "clowny." But he loves the trousers. Austin doesn't like the fringe on the back, and Alyssa says that it's more "Roaring Twenties" than Thirties.
Everyone goes to the back and Christopher needles Viktor for being worried. It doesn't go that well. The judges' deliberation is basically them saying the same things they already said. They liked Christopher's dress, didn't like Irina's jacket, liked Jeffrey's cuffs. Isaac thinks Seth Aaron's model looked like a librarian, but Elie thinks she was a dominatrix. While I agree that those two things can sometimes overlap, the judges still seem pretty far apart in their interpretation of this dress. Elie particularly objects to Mychael mixing gold and leather, because that made it too costumey. Alyssa claims to have been upset by the fringe on Viktor's jacket, and Elie makes sure that he's correct in thinking that Bonnie and Clyde were not cowboys.
The designers come back out. Irina is safe. The winner is either Jeffrey or Christopher. It's Jeffrey! Well, good for him, I guess. Now hold it together for the challenge. Christopher's also safe, obviously. The bottom three are Viktor, Mychael, and Seth Aaron. Seth Aaron's safe, as he should be. I liked his dress a lot! Mychael is going home, which I kind of guessed when Alyssa told him his look was less "thirties-inspired modern fashion" and more "ill-fitting eighties costume." Mychael thanks the judges, especially Isaac, for the weeks of criticism and encouragement. Gracefully done, sir!
| Season AS3 | Episode 5 | Aired on 11.21.2013
week: nothing! It's Thanksgiving! And then...something about The Simpsons?
Follow Monty on Twitter at @monty_ashley and read his blog, Mysterious Exhortations.