Down to the (High) Wire

It's been a while, chickens, so let's recap what would have been recapped had I been recapping: Anthony was out, then Maya left on her own, so Anthony came back and then Anthony won. And so did Emilio. (Emilio designed a dress for Heidi and guest judge Jessica Alba wants to wear Anthony's gown). Oh, and Jonathan with his TinTin hair is out.

There are 5 designers left and this is the final challenge. Tonight we will know who is showing at Fashion Week. Heidi is sending the designers to a tent "and not a Bryant Park tent". As this can only mean one thing, MAB and I react badly. She hates circuses because of what they do to the animals and I'm a'feared of clowns.

Sure enough, they go to the Ringling Brothers circus for a private show. Ringmaster Tim Gunn tells them they are to make a runway look inspired by the circus, but cautions, "Not a costume....think fashion". Then they get a private circus show. Tim tells them they will have 30 minutes to sketch and 2 days to work. ("Two days means 2 looks," says MAB).

A lot of black and white stripped fabric is purchased at Mood. That seems weird.

Tim's Walkaround

"I'm here to walk around and engage with you," says The Gunn. He's delightful.

Seth Aaron says he was inspired by the ringmaster and jugglers. He describes his vision and ends with a gleeful "I'm makin' a top hat!" Tim scrunches his face and asks, "How do you see styling this for the runway?" "No costume," he warns.

Emilio says he's making a "basically black and white look". Says The Gunn, "You went to the circus...where's the color?" Then Emilio proceeds to argue with The Gunn. We hate that. ("Is he lisping more as each week goes by?" asks MAB).

Anthony is feeling left out because he's the only designers working with color. Tim tells him that is great but in the face of Anthony's uncertainty The Gunn tells him, "Let your viscera rule...if you feel like you're forcing things then they are probably contrivances and it's not right". Anthony says he needs a dictionary. MAB wants one, too.

The sketch for Mila's design was lovely but she is struggling a bit. Tim rejects one fabric decision and guides her in a better direction. She is grateful.

Jay is doing exaggerated pants (uh oh, here we go again with the whole making-women-wider-in-places-where-they-don't-need-width thing). MAB notes that the jacket he's making looks like something Michael Jackson would wear.

Anthony says he is a prisoner in his own mind. That would be a scary place to be.

It's day 2 and we know there's going to be a second look. The Neighbor says, in a dead on Tim Gunn voice, "You must construct the same garment exactly 1/10th the size".

But, it turns out, we were wrong. There are no surprises.

Anthony says that words can not express what his dress means to him. Looks like he needs a dictionary AND a thesaurus.

The other designers call the MJ thing on Jay's jacket, which he then modifies. Seth Aaron is nervous for the first time in the competition and Emilio, well, Emilio continues to be full of himself and his "whimsy and sexiness" and declares that he wants the judges to say his dress is the best design of the season. Puke.

The Runway
Judges are Kors (MAB chimes in unison with him when he says, "Hi guys"), Nina and Cynthia Rawley (who is wearing a really dreadful shiny pink eeewww of a dress).

All three of us are in despair over the runway show:

Jay's look is awful, even with the barely toned down MJ jacket.
Mila's is an OMG and not in a good way....looks like a witch costume.
Anthony's dress is boring. The Neighbor says she likes it but MAB says it looks cheap.
Emilio's gown has too much going on in it and Seth Aaron has created a walking caution sign.

But once again, there's a reason we aren't sitting in the judges chairs.

Heidi likes Seth Aaron's look and Nina likes the "sense of drama and fantasy" although she does find it a tad costume-y. Cynthia thinks it is "interesting" and while Kors says the pants have "crazy crotch" he deems the jacket "strong".

Nina tells Anthony that from the waist down his gown is "a snooze". Cynthia lectures him about "knowing your fabric" (which is kinda rich given what she's wearing) and Kors actually goes up and feels the fabric and recoils with an "eeewww...it's polyester". Then he disses the whole thing with a "it looks like a big, blue condom".

Heidi asks Jay to remove the jacket from his ensemble and says that the top and pants are "nice pieces". Nina is more enthusiastic, calling the pants "fantastic".

Nina says she is "not crazy" about Mila's look and Cynthia suggests that the collar could have been toned down and perhaps something on the gown could have been not shiny.

Then it is Emilio's turn and I struggle to keep down my dinner. "Stunning", "genius", "favorite garment of the season", "appealing". Oh my giddy aunt.

Because it is the last challenge, each designer must say why he or she deserves to go to Fashion Week AND who they think should go with them. Seth Aaron picks Emilio and Jay, Jay picks Seth Aaron and then gets all emotional and says the other person he really wants to "share the experience with" is Anthony. Oh, reeeeallly? Mila picks Seth Aaron and Emilio, Emilio picks Seth Aaron and Mila and then Anthony choses Emilio and uses the tearful "share the experience" line relative to Jay. Lovers!

MAB picks Emilio and Seth Aaron, hesitates and says that her gut tells her to pick Jay. The Neighb and I are both in agreement about Emilio and SA and we also pick Mila for the third.

The judges tell Emilio that his look was the unanimous favorite and he's going to the Park. He says he is humbled and then treats us to a deluge of reasons why he rocks. I think he needs to borrow Anthony's dictionary.

Seth Aaron is praised for having "tailoring that is consistently fantastic" so he too is goin' to the Park. Then he and Emilio wrestle with joy.

Anthony is told that he has grown as a designer but still needs to mature. He'sauf.

Mila is praised for having pushed herself throughout the competitions but told that she fell short on this challenge and Jay is poo pooed for having played it safe. The dum dum music starts and then, lo and behold, they are both in. It's a design off between the two people who hate each other! They will both be designing a collection but only one will show at Fashion Week.

Backstage Tim tells Anthony he can't feel sorry for him: "cover of Maria Claire, Jessica Alba..." He had some definite high points throughout (plus, he found Jay). With a little joke about having "done this before" he sends Anthony to the work room. The previews for next week show lots of Tim critiquing looks and the stricken faces of designers. Except for Emilio. Who argues with Tim.