TFS S2E3: House of Emerald

It's time to consider another name change.

"House of Emerald" just isn't working for us. It doesn't really evoke the qualities that define this team. We're thinking "House of Tacky," maybe. Or, "House of Really Shitty Fabrics."

CESAR:

It's weird; Cesar switches teams and suddenly he has no taste or ability to edit himself. He drank the Emerald Kool-Aid apparently. This dress is hideous and if he hadn't shown such talent in his earlier entries, he could have easily been eliminated for this. Technically it's fine; the seaming is interesting and it fits her like a glove. The problem is, she looks like drag queen Spider-Man.

CINDY:

For some odd reason that we can't figure out, the judges raved about this, going so far as to say that she could have won it if the rest of her team didn't suck so bad. Are we missing something here? It's not awful or anything, but it's hardly what we'd call great. Sure, lace is on trend right now, but there's nothing really going on from a design perspective. It's pretty basic. We realize this show isn't likely to put the emphasis on "innovation" that Project Runway does (and in PR's case is almost totally bullshit given how their judging has evolved), but we figured winning garments or potential winning garments would have to be at least a little interesting in some way.

GOLNESSA:

Did this team just dump a box of crayons on the floor to come up with the color story for this collection? Because there isn't one. It's just random bright colors and jewel tones that seem to owe nothing to each other and frankly, bring the sophistication level down a couple notches.

The more we look at this, the more we think this should have been the losing entry. The only design element that has any interest to it basically looks like an exit wound on her back. The rest of it is standard '40s redux with nothing new added.

And can we just say that going '40s-inspired (as most of the team did) for a femme fatale challenge is pretty unoriginal?

JEFFREY:

We hate the color and we hate the lace because whether he looks like Morris Day or not, purple + lace is always going to remind us of Purple Rain.

He had a decent start of an idea because this owes a lot to '40s gowns while being a little modern and updated. Unfortunately, he went updated by putting her in a sports bra.




And the more we look at this the more we think it was to be commended. The pirate pants are awful; let's get that out of the way first. But we really appreciated that she approached the challenge from an unusual place - Mary J. Blige - and we liked that she took her design away from too-literal Mildred Pierce-looking numbers. "Femme Fatale" can mean practically anything in terms of style, so long as it evokes sexiness and danger. We think this outfit manages that and we're especially impressed by the jacket. No, it shouldn't have won. As we said, the bottom half is highly problematic, but she put some thought into it, and more importantly, she put some of herself into it.

[Photo Credit: Heidi Gutman, bravotv.com - Screencaps: www.tomandlorenzo.com]

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Labels: The Fashion Show, The Fashion Show Season 2, The Fashion Show Season 2 Episode 3