I am intrigued that just like in makeover episode of season two, the loser was sent home wearing the winning design.
On with the show!
There are actually a couple ways where Kenley looks better in this get-up than she does in the "style" she usually wears. I was interested by the difference, I think you could write an entire paper on it. But when it comes down to just the actual look, I don't love it as much as the judges did.
I thought it was simplistic for one thing. It doesn't look that hard to construct at all. My other major problem is the diamond cups on the front. They have no edge! They look unfinished and unpolished, which makes the whole dress look just a touch onto the trashy. If it looked a little more like a very well constructed bra (where's Ricky when you need him?) then maybe I would have gone for it, but instead it just reminds me of some fabric swatches glued on the front to keep her from being indecent.
The little fur shrug was...off. But very pop. This just goes to show how much I dislike pop-tartlet fashion.
For the record, I'm going in alphabetical order by designer, as I always do.
Okay, as much as I don't hate Suede like the rest of the world I've thought it was his time to go several times now. I figured he'd be gone by now, and so going into this episode I thought "Eh, it's probably Suede's last one."
Then THIS happened. There is no call for Kenley to still be in the running after this. Those pants are a travesty against woman and nature. I felt so terrible for Leanne having to pretend that this was acceptable. First of all, it was part of the arbitrary nature of the challenge that you got Leanne, who probably is the second least hip-hop person on the show and that it was being designed by Kenley who was the least hip-hop. Anyone on the show would have been better suited to design that genre, and Leanne at least seemed to have a pretty good grip on what hip-hop wasn't, which Kenley didn't have at all.
I can't believe how she just kept asking the black people "this is hip-hop, right?" and when they very unbelievably said "sure" she just accepted it and went on her oblivious little way. It was obvious they were just saying "whatever" and she didn't care.
And it's not even just that this isn't hip-hop. It's that it's TERRIBLE. Those pants are wrong on so many levels that I can't even begin to talk about why. Everything about them seems designed to make Leanne look oddly shaped, and it makes me wonder if Kenley didn't do it on purpose. She kept saying she didn't want Leanne to look ridiculous but then she put her in those pants.
I'll leave aside Kenley's ridiculous attitude since so many people have touched on it better than I. I'll let her outfit speak for itself, and it says VOLUMES.
Suede should have stayed.
You know, this doesn't actually say "punk" to me, but that's because I grew up in an odd era. It's close to punk, but it's not quite there. It's got too much grunge influence maybe. Anyway, of everybody there she did get the closest to what she was going for.
The other thing is, this calls to mind the things I said during the last challenge when the designers made over each other all those seasons ago. I mentioned that Santino and Nick sold their looks on the runway and really looked confident and great and those were the top looks. But that Daniel V. looked bored, sleepy, and unhappy and so his look was quickly targeted for dismissal. Suede was the only designer who was really into it. It's like he said to himself, "alright, I look frightening but I only get to do this once!" Leanne made some attempts at playing the part, but well, what could she do really?
Really though, in the end this doesn't make that much of an impression on me as an outfit because I saw people wear more interesting things in high school.
First and foremost, could we ditch the little checked scarf?
Second, what's with all the dissing on country? I understand if you don't listen to it, but the blogs and the judges...nobody seems to really like it. It's like everybody's next door neighbor that they pretend not to know if they see them at the mall or something.
I like country music, myself. I like old school country music too. So really, while this doesn't look like the modern "cross-over country" stars it also isn't that far off the deep end. I think if she had picked a better fabric for the top, and not done the gold accents but instead stuck with a color that was a little less contrast then it was a really solid idea. It didn't look like a CMA outfit, no. But it looked like a Grand Ole' Opry dress, didn't it?
And really, nobody wears anything that looks country to the CMAs anymore. Just like country stars are mostly not singing country music anymore either. But that's another rant for another time.
I will have to say again that the model either sells or doesn't sell the look on the runway. While I think Kenley's whining about Leanne was uncalled for (Leanne tried dangit) Suede could have easily made a case that his outfit fell flat partially because Jerrell's lackluster walk. It was terrible! He was modeling in his sleep or something.
I'll give you all the criticisms that the judges had. It does have to pop from the nosebleed seats if you're going with that kind of style. It doesn't look at all different from what Jerrell wears in general. But here's the other thing, the big rock stars right now? They're wearing jeans and t-shirts for the most part. They're not really going out there blinged up or glammed or any of that. I wouldn't know what to do with a "modern" rock star look these days. I guess dress them like Jeffery, but I thought he looked ridiculous.
Anyway, Suede said that he wanted Jerrell to look like Lenny Kravitz and if they had put a wig on him, he could have looked the part. If Jerrell had played the oozing sexiness and the cocky swagger of a rock star, this could have worked at least on some level.
Which is all my way of wandering around and arriving at the fact that Suede did not have the worst outfit that day, by far. He was eliminated based on past designs, not based on this week. Which I guess makes some sense but in the end, still didn't make me feel good.
Bonus: I took a look at Suede's collection for fashion week and while there were a couple really cute and flirty little dresses, for the most part it was pretty...off. So much of it would have looked good with one less ruffle or one less detail. Learn to edit a little Suede, please? You're getting pretty close.
