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The designers went to the Los Angeles Times in this episode. The only clue Heidi gave them: black and white. Tim tells the designers that their challenge is to use pages from the newspaper to create their next looks. Yes, that means to use the newspaper as fabric. After all, fashion is news, and a lot of creations are inspired and derived straight from the headlines.
But it's nothing new, says Tim. In fact, in 1968, the first paper dress was made—and it caused quite a stir. Others followed suit thereafter. Okay, so it's not practical, but it is quite creative.
Carol Hannah starts dying her newspaper pages—she appears to want to do a gown. Irina is planning to mix materials and colors and the idea is to make it look like fabric. She creates a print by painting the newspaper. Shirin, on the other hand, decides to create a paper mache bodice with an origami'd skirt for the bottom. Everyone stares at her as she plays with her creation. Apparently, the other designers think she makes too much noise. The girl is quite a talker. Nicolas describes her as an "11-year-old kid who does not shut up." Stress much? I think they're just jealous of her focus and talent.
Johnny ends up draping his dress and tops it off with an origami on its shoulders. Tim Gunn worries about it—"it looks like a craft project gone awry," he says. Nicolas says it looks like wrinkled up paper with pig's blood all over it. Louise actually uses the headlines on the newspaper as her inspiration and creation—she's the only designer out of the bunch who saw the challenge in that way.
Christopher, on the other hand, dreams big with what he hopes will be a show-stopper. His sketch wowed Tim!
Then, scandal! Johnny makes up a lie because he hates what he did. He told his model and his fellow designers that a steamer ruined his paper dress creation! Then, instead of working hard to create a dress, he starts doing a crossword puzzle. Did he forget what this challenge was all about? I guess some people just handle stress differently than others.
Before the show, Irina notices Althea staring at her creation while talking to another design. "I don't know what that was about," Irina says. "I don't even want to know." Cat fight! Meow! Another cat fight happened during judging—but this time, it was Nicolas (a.k.a. butt-your-nose-in-other-people's-business) vs. Johnny (a.k.a. Mr. Excuses). Nicolas "threw" Johnny under the bus when he told the judges what Tim Gunn thought of Johnny's first dress (the one that was supposedly ruined by steam). It came down to the two to the two of them in the end, and Johnny was booted.
The Most Memorable Looks: Logan's Asian-inspired dress (which was quite lovely), Christopher's avant garde show-stopper of a dress (which looked like a piece of art), Ra'mon's mini (he's still my fave), Irina's Chanel/YSL-esque coat (loved it), Louise's mini mouse number (which was silly, but in a good way), Althea's patterned dress
Who Won: Irina
Who Might Go Next Episode: Gordana (who's kind of a bore)
