Longtime PR watchers know that the unconventional materials challenges are often the most entertaining, giving the designers the opportunity to shine bright or bomb big. Heidi gives the group a clue, saying that this week they will "unleash their creativity." Joshua McKinley's word association immediately has him musing about the possibility of this challenge revolving around S&M. Yep, you guessed it, Josh M. -- Tim Gunn is going to take you to a fetish boutique this week.
Of course the "unleash" reference is a clue to where the designers will find their source materials this week: Petland Discounts. Tim unleashes the designers in the pet outlet, giving them a budget of $300 each and a warning that the judges do not like it when designers rely on fabrics for the unconventional design challenges.
Fallene thinks she has an advantage in this challenge, saying, "I love playful, whimsical, humorous; I don't take fashion too seriously." Bert hates this challenge immediately and lets us know that he considers his immunity carte blanche to phone this one in.
The general consensus as the designers head to the workroom: No one is excited to design, but they are excited to see what everyone else designs. Let the pet puns and design fun begin!
The unconventional challenge makes it more difficult to judge what exactly is happening in the workroom. Everything looks pretty arts-and-crafts, because it is. Several designers are dyeing pee-pee pads (Bryce, Viktor) in hopes of manipulating them into fabric, while others are trying to wrestle dog food bags (Julie) into submission. Laura Kathleen -- who I always call "Minnesota Barbie" in my notes--is making a skirt out of a cone-shaped dog collar. Anthony Ryan has a cool thing going on with birdseed, but I have doubts about his using grass for a skirt.
Olivier says he is "the opposite of craft things" as he uses dog bedding and hamster shavings to create a top and a skirt with an ombré effect. I'm curious about Olivier's accent: He is 22, and he left Ohio at 16 to explore the world, going to school in London and Milan. That leaves 6 years to end up with his British/Italian/something unidentifiable hybrid accent. I want to know more about him in general.
Everyone looks like they are making a school project, but the best so far are Anthony Ryan and Olivier, mostly because theirs are the only ones that look like clothes.
Minnesota Barbie scraps her dog collar skirt after noticing serious amounts of model ass-cheek hanging out. She starts sewing together corrugated cardboard strips at the last hour. Anthony Ryan scraps the grass skirt but continues making his birdseed dress, eventually making the inevitable "this is for the birds" joke.
