By Jeff Long
First of all, I noticed that the lipstick game happening in the girl apartment is on point. Then, Heidi and Christopher have a Top 10 adorable moment where they pull their faces back all plastic surgery-like. The designers go to the flagship Lord & Taylor, which is not as exciting as it sounds. The challenge is to create a cocktail dress in honor of the tenth season of the show. As templates, the designers have dresses created by the seasons of designers, which are also going to be produced for Lord & Taylor. They all look like mother-of-the-groom for a night wedding. Everyone but Sonjia seems pretty confident and excited about the challenge. They don't go to Mood, as all of the fabrics and notions are provided by the people that manufacture the dresses.
Elena also seems to have problems. Her aesthetic doesn't seem to jibe with Lord & Taylor's. Also, she's feeling like the judges don't get her, since she has never been in top. Melissa chooses fabric based on what other people didn't choose. It's weird, the girls get, I don't know, almost a little pejorative with their Silk Chifonies thing, not that it was meant as a compliment before. But Sonjia finally says something about how the guys were more feminine than the girls and it's true in a way, but I don't know. It felt weird. Of course, Ven's right there on the flipside saying that men generally make better designers than women. Elena freaks out when Tim consults because she says she's not a mass-market designer. Her pain is pretty palpable. Gunnar really reaches out and tries to offer her some encouragement: Stage Two of the Gunnar's Nice arc. Tim tells Melissa to go back to the drawing board in regards to her fabric. She decides to fit her model and then decide what to do.
Melissa's model liked the fabric, so she decided to go with it. In fact, the models and their opinions were a major focus of the first fitting. Melissa doesn't like the fit of her dress, so she decides to recut the entire thing. Elena points out that all of the girls are struggling. Later that night, the girls discuss it further. Melissa is really behind.
For the final fitting, Sonjia is not done and she melts down. Melissa isn't finished either and it's so sad. Tim has to talk Sonjia off of a ledge and he tells her to "channel [her] inner winner" which I find kind of profound. A lot of the dresses look so cute. Christopher's color palette is so Lord & Taylor. Dmitry's dress is gorgeous.
After the show, Ven, Dmitry and Sonjia are safe. Seriously, Sonjia looked like she was about to shit. Fabio, MELISSA and ELENA (I need a caps caps lock for that) have the high scores. Gunnar and Alicia are in the bottom, though I don't really think it's fair that Gunnar is there. He is a good sport about it though. Christopher is just sort of in the middle top? No. He is the winner! Fabio is in. So are Elena and Melissa. Alicia is...in. Gunnar is out! For a dress that is really not bad at all. That's sad. Wait!!!!!!!!! Gunnar is in too. Wow. Everyone seems really excited for him too. That was scary.