WOOT! I’ve been waiting for the episode where the designers have to make outfits out of Weird Stuff (especially since they could make anything last week). This year the chosen material was newspaper. Surprisingly, a lot of the designs looked very similar: stiff, abstractly colorful (the designers also could use paint) dresses with a flat ruffle or two.
A few designers stood out with their creativity: Irina Shabayeva resisted the temptation to make a dress, instead crafting a gorgeous trench coat with a big, puffy neckline made from crumpled, softened newspaper bits. Guest judge Eva Longoria of Desperate Housewives especially loved the drama behind Irina’s design.
Carol Hannah Whitfield’s dress was also a highlight, with a long orangey-coral form-fitting bodice that puffed out to flamelike ruffles at the bottom. Christopher Straub was also praised for his long dress, which had a armor-like stiff top and a voluminous bottom that made the newspaper look like feathers.
On the negative side, Nicolas Putvinski aimed for punk but pulled off “insect,” and Johnny Sakalis trashed his first dress after Tim Gunn didn’t like it and made a messy pop-art dress that Heidi could tell was rushed. The big drama: Johnny lied to the judges, claiming that a steamer had sputtered and ruined his first dress. And Nicolas called him out on it, on the runway! I do think it was kind of mean to throw Johnny under the bus, but Johnny was so annoying, and a LIAR. Even Tim Gunn, the Sweetest Man Alive, commented to the designers about Johnny’s appalling “work of fiction.”
