Previously: we may have gotten rid of the last crazy person of the season. Let's find out!
The episode starts with Alexander saying he feels "stifled" by all the drama. I think it's just the stress of the show getting to him. Everybody sits in their hotel rooms and talks about how there are only seven of them left. Kate thinks the top three are herself, Helen, and Bradon. Don't sleep on Justin. That dude's good.
The designers wait in the break room as Tim brings in a "special" guest. It's somebody from the marketing department of Hewlett-Packard, because this is the textile-design challenge. Bradon has been looking forward to this, as has Dom, because she loves giant prints. This week's inspiration will be "a group of -generation innovators." And then the designers have to sit there and pretend to look interested while they're told how great HP is. Tim shows pictures of seven -generation innovators and says the designers will be selecting their muses. This person is not the model or client; they're just serving as inspiration. Somehow.
First up is Nigel Sylvester, a professional BMX rider. Ilana Greenberg is the creative director at a magazine you've never heard of. Thiago Silva is a pastry chef. Maria Gonzalez is seventeen, and she started a club at her high school called "Girls Who Code." Nana Meriwether is Miss USA 2012, and she started a nonprofit that feeds people in Africa. Premal Shah runs a microlending site that I've actually heard of. And Ryan Keeley is an artist. My apologies to last week's superfans for giving the innovators the full-name treatment, but they had cool introductory videos. And also their names were all spelled out for me, which helps a lot.
Helen won last week, so she gets to pick first, and she goes with Ryan, possibly on the theory that somebody who paints should be easy to work into a make-your-own-textile challenge. Everyone else goes randomly: Kate picks Maria, Justin picks Nana, Bradon picks Nigel, Alexander picks Thiago, Alexandria picks Ilana, and that leaves Dom with Premal. Everyone's going to go spend an hour getting to know their muse. The winner is going to get something called a "technology suite," which means a big pile of HP products. And so will the winner's muse, which is pretty cool.
Meetings! Nana started her nonprofit in South Africa, because that's where her mother is from. She does good things for children. Justin is impressed with her passion. Maria gives teenage girls the tools to program and create apps, which helps narrow the gender gap. Kate says she wants to "play with the binary code," which might not mean anything. Nigel has been riding bikes since he was twelve, and he expresses himself by riding all over things. Bradon is thinking of doing some sort of cityscape. Nigel counters with sort of an overhead shot of a city with one continuous line showing a theoretical bike-rider's path. Ilana is working in a restaurant that was devastated by Hurricane Sandy, and Alexandria digs the bare brick walls. Premal explains microlending with some pictures of some clothing designs made in Guatemala. Dom loves them, although I feel like it would be kind of lame to have your textile inspiration be an actual textile.
Ryan has a bunch of large paintings that are actually "a combination of photography and abstract expressionism," which basically means giant photos that he drew on. Don't get me wrong; they look cool. He starts by taking a photo of Helen, and then they spray paint on a canvas. So the paint comes first, and then the photo gets added after that, which is the opposite of what I expected. Then he adds more paint. Helen thinks it's neat, because her parents are both painters. But she never works with prints, so she's still nervous. Thiago is in charge of desserts and specialty cakes at this restaurant, and Alexander is concerned about combining cakes with clothing. He has a costume background, and he doesn't want to accidentally make a parade float or something. Thiago makes him decorate a cake, and he has trouble with the airbrush. He sniffs, "That's not my style, is to do cake-like things."
Okay, enough of that. Back to the workroom. Alexander has his cake. And everyone gets what Dom infuriatingly refers to as "fancy new 'puters." Ugh. Please don't. I understand the need for HP product placement, but I will not stand for calling them "puters." Tim comes in, acts surprised at the souvenirs, and explains the whole challenge again. And then it's time to start designing prints! Dom loves the whole experience. Alexander decides he kind of likes his chocolate ribbons. Kate is having trouble making a floral print out of tiny little dots, and she uses the phrase "binary code" so many times that I'm pretty sure she doesn't know what it means. Justin starts with a design that represents the sign language for "I love you" because Nana was so loving. And it's abstract enough that people won't recognize it right away, which is something he does all the time anyway. Alexandria has a lot of rectangles because of how bricks are shaped. Bradon is doing a bunch of horizontal and vertical lines, which he claims represent Nigel's "energy through the city." Kind of a stretch. And then Tim comes in to drag them to Mood.
Mood! Suggested budget is one hundred dollars. Go! It's a little frantic. Kate's splurging so she can make a big fancy dress. Tim tells Bradon it's okay to spend six dollars on a zipper: "Spend it. Spend. Money." I want that as a ringtone. Tim recommends to Justin that he use a fabric from the lighter end of his pattern. Justin is making a gown so he can demonstrate gown-making ability. Bradon is getting a stretchy tube fabric for no better reason than that he thinks it's neat. I think that's fine, right? Kate is spending $258, well above the suggested budget. If she's got it, I like the idea of just having a more expensive garment than everyone else. Tim sends them all back to the hotel, where I think they get to spend a relaxing afternoon and evening off from the show.
The morning, the designers file into the workroom, where the textiles have been delivered. They ooh and ahh about how great everything is. Dom thinks Bradon's looks like plaid, which she finds kind of boring considering he started with a cool BMX rider. Helen likes her star-covered fabric, but she doesn't know what she's going to make with it. Dom wants to do a simple dress, which I think will be difficult with these giant pink and black lines she's made. Helen panics about her clothes, and everybody rolls their eyes about how she always has a crisis of confidence. The consensus is that she should make her own decisions at this point in the competition.
Tim comes in, and he seems unhappy about how quiet the room is. He loves Dom's print. She's making "a really basic body-con dress." Where she says "body-con," everyone else just says "tight." She's disassembling her fabric, so the black-and-white part goes in the center of the dress, and the big pink lines form the sleeves. That's interesting to me, because most people just let the pattern be a pattern, but she's figured out a way for this one fabric to provide two or three different patterns for different parts of the dress. Tim likes the sleeves. Bradon is making a bodice and skirt out of his fabric. And the skirt goes all the way to the floor, which Tim finds perplexing. He's just perplexed by the whole thing, so he walks away. Bradon decides to ditch the skirt. Kate started with a dress that looked like it had a blouse under it, and now she's adding pleats. Tim shrugs and tells her to keep going. Justin demonstrates the "I love you" symbol in his pattern. Tim tells him to cut the straight line. Helen sniffs that Justin's doing another strapless fitted silhouette, although she admits that she doesn't have any plan at all, so she can't really point fingers. Tim comes to her, and she admits that she's lost in a world of prints. She seems to want Tim to tell her what to do. He sternly tells her to make it work. Her only idea is to start cutting and sewing and hope that it results in something cool. Seems risky. But no more risky than just not doing anything.
After the commercial, Helen is still freaking out. Tim brings her over to his side of the table and gives her a basic lesson in prints. She's blocked out a skirt, so she knows where the seams are going to be. Now she has to take her print and figure out what will look good. And maybe relax a little. Kate interviews that she has confidence that Helen will figure it out. Tim gives her a pep talk, and reminds her that she's stuck with this print, so she has to go with it. On to Alexandria: she's making an A-line miniskirt. That can't be right, can it? I swear it's what she said, but miniskirts don't really have enough length to have a particular shape. She's having trouble with the top, although she's considering a leather vest. Justin thinks the skirt looks like she's just wrapped some newspaper around the hips. Tim tells her to focus. Alexander's chocolate latticework has resulted in a pattern that's mostly brown, but with some white lines radiating out. He claims he's going to go for a futuristic silhouette, which I think means it's going to look ridiculous. You can always get away with blaming the future! Tim thinks it looks "clerical," and Alexander is okay with that. He means like in the church (think "D&D cleric"), not secretarial. When Tim leaves, Alexander declares that Tim just doesn't get him, and he's not changing his look. Famous last words. Tim tells the whole room they're overthinking everything, adding that they should go with their viscera.
Bradon takes his stretchy tube and pulls it over the top of his mannequin. It looks great! It's form-fitting and everything, so he jokes that he might be done already. Helen is concerns that what she's doing is dumb-looking, and Kate encourages her. Bradon does not like the way Alexander's dress looks kind of nun-like: "Just because Alexander's last name is Pope doesn't mean he has to make priest costumes. My last name's McDonald and I don't make dresses out of French fries." All right, that's a pretty good burn, Patrice. There appears to be a giant white cross in the middle of Alexander's dress.
Time for the fitting! Bradon's doing a neat thing with his neckline. Helen is vague about what decade she's going to end up in. Kate is obsessing with getting her waistline right. After the models leave, Dom tries on her own dress. It's very Dom. Justin's dress has a lot of overlapping greys, and it's starting to hurt his eyes. Helen continues to panic, and Dom tells her to stop freaking out. Seriously, stop it. In the kitchen, Alexandria and Alexander gossip about how Helen keeps crying. Her inspiration is an actual artist, which should be easy! Alexandria feels that Helen requires too much hand-holding.
The morning! Already! Most of the designers are confident in their goofy dresses. Helen is not. She has, however, finally decided what she's making: a crop-top and "a really cute full-length skirt." She speculates that it might be grunge, but she doesn't like Dom's suggestion of Courtney Love. Tim comes in to talk of hair, make-up, and thoughtful use of accessory walls. The models come in and claim to love everything. Kate's dress looks like a disaster. The fit is all over the place. It's lumpy and weird. Alexander thinks there's way too much. Helen likes her design much more now that it's on the model. Alexandria is concerned with the big white cross in the middle of Alexander's dress. It's very bold. Dom points out that Alexandria's vest looks sloppy. Hey, so did her drop-crotch pants, and she got away with them.
Hair! It doesn't matter! Make-up! It also doesn't matter! No one has ever won or gone home because of the hair or make-up. Tim comes in and says everyone has ten minutes. The designers do last-minute planning about when the models should do their shocking mid-runway reveals. Alexandria's model and Alexandria decide that Kate's model looks like "a giant tampon." Oh dear. Tim comes in and says the muses will be sitting with the designers at the runway. Makes sense, right? Okay, no more waiting. It's time!
Heidi comes out and reminds everyone about being in one day and out the . She also recaps the entire show to this point. The judges are Zac, Nina (back from her one-episode hiatus), and Peter Som. Let's go!
Bradon's look is fine. His pattern looks great as a jacket, and the stretchy tube made a nice skirt. Justin's dress does have the same silhouette as the other one he did, but his pattern is pretty. Kate's dress is a horrorshow. She's got a shapeless top attached to a skirt that would be boring if it didn't have four wings attached to it. So instead it looks ridiculous. And not "fashion-ridiculous." Alexander's dress has this big cross in the middle, pulling focus from the pattern. It looks like it was done with white duct tape. It looks cool from the back, because when you have an attractive model, you can't go wrong with going backless. Dom's dress looks great. It's not hiding from its print the way some of the other dresses are. Alexandria's garment is terrible. The skirt still looks like it was thrown together in thirty seconds. The vest looks like a scrap of leather safety-pinned around the model's bust. The edges are not finished. Alexandria claims that it's cool and well-made. It is neither of those things. Heidi looks like it has broken her brain. Helen's dress looks fine. She needs to calm down.
Heidi tells Alexandria she's safe. She shouldn't be. Everyone else is in the top and bottom. Heidi warns that "one...or more of you will be out." She starts with Dom, who demonstrates that she remembers what her inspiration does (he's the microlending guy). Zac thinks the dress is "runway-ready" and praises specific details. Nina points out that Dom loves color and prints, and she did great. Heidi thinks it's vibrant, which is what you say about something with pink and black. Peter thinks there's "a global aspect," but doesn't find it costume-y. Justin talks about love and points out the hidden symbol. Heidi thinks everything but the corset is bad. The skirt part is poorly attached. She thinks it looks "old fart-y." Nina wishes the dress would have been shorter. Peter says the bottom half is depressed and needs therapy. Zac also hated it, and says so at great length. Bradon claims his perpendicular lines are a birds-eye-view of the city. Heidi wants the bomber jacket removed so they can see the sexy dress. Everyone loves the dress. Nina says that if the print were music, it would be jazz. She means it in a good way. Helen is quietly counting the top and bottom looks to see where she lands.
Alexander says he's never decorated cakes and claims that the religious overtones were on purpose. Heidi thinks his brown print isn't cake-like. Zac thinks there's nothing sweet and sexy about the dress. Heidi thinks the stripes look like he left the masking tape on. Peter finds the fabric very stiff, and he doesn't think the elements work together. Nina likes the print, and she thinks that it could have worked. But not here, oh dear, no. Helen's up , and she won't commit to whether she thinks she did well or poorly. Heidi likes the print and the midriff. The dress is awfully tight, but not dangerously so. Zac likes that she decided to make two pieces. Nina liked the ecru, which goes well with white. Peter kind of reluctantly says, "It's pretty cool." He's not in love with it, but he doesn't hate it. Kate's last, and she's in trouble. Nina just says, "Oh god." There's not enough of the print. And the five pleats are terrible. There's also a belt, which no one understands. Peter didn't even see the print because of all the pleats. And the bust is awful. Heidi just calls it ugly. Zac has the model turn around, and there are a lot of problems around the butt.
Heidi shoos them all to the back room. There's a lot of worry about the possibility of a double elimination. Alexander thinks there are too many of them to go to Fashion Week. Kate is in tears about getting this close. Yeah, her second chance is going really well. Helen admits that she wouldn't have gotten this far without Kate.
Time for the close-ups! Heidi thinks Bradon's look is "how a girl should look right now." Zac loves the stretchy tube dress. Everyone loves how well that came out. They also love Dom's dress. And they love Dom herself; Zac is pleased with how enthusiastic she is. Their favorite thing about Helen's dress is the combination of ivory and white. Their second-favorite is having it be in two pieces. Zac also enthuses about her seam work. Kate's dress is even worse close up. They don't like how the print got cut up, but Tim says it looked even worse as unaltered yardage. Heidi points out that the pleats aren't even all at the same height. Zac agrees with Peter that Justin's dress looks very pageant. Tim says that Alexander understands what his dress looks like, and he's proud of it. I agree with Heidi: it's just white tape! Zac says, "Let's just say this didn't become a holy experience." That's not all that funny, but Tim cracks up, and Zac looks so proud of himself. He practically wriggles with glee.