Thursday, February 09, 2006

Transcript of Tim's Podcast - #10 "Makeover"

Thanks Bettie Bloodshed! I don't see any errors : )

Hi you guys. I'm sorry if this has a few more errors in it, but it did a number on me. Tim had a lot more run on sentences here...he even rambled a couple times. Clearly he was a bit rattled by this episode as well.


Tim’s Podcast: Episode 10

Hi I’m Tim Gunn and this is my podcast for the Loreal Makeover. Coming out of last week’s challenge, Andre is out, Daniel wins. It is his 4th win, which is wonderful. Moving into this challenge, Heidi announces that the designers will be for a very important client—another designer among them! In order to decide which designer was designing for whom, Heidi is using our magical velvet bag with the buttons in it. Each designer’s name is on a button. We get into a very prolonged period of hilarity because Heidi in doing this, and no fault of hers, it’s simply the law of averages that happened to be against us, ends up with one designer left. The last button ends up to be that designer (lets say its Chloe). Well Chloe can’t design for Chloe. So all the buttons go back in the bag and we start over again. Then she does it and the last remaining designer is Daniel, and the last button is –Daniel. So they all go back in again. We did this, I don’t know, 5, 6, 7 times until we got it right. It was funny, I have to say. It got to the point where we were ready to say, just chose someone! It was good.

This challenge determines who will be in the final four. Daniel has immunity that he received by winning the Garden Party challenge. So we know Daniel is in the final four. When you take the five remaining designers and subtract him, we are down to one of those four remaining individuals. So to summarize who is designing for whom, Kara is designing for Santino, Santino for Kara, Nick is designing Daniel, Daniel is designing Chloe, and Chloe for Nick.

So in the workroom the designers are all caucusing with one another, consulting, and offering advice for to designer. The designers are probing their designers, asking what do you want? What would you like to evolve to? Because it is a make over. We don’t want to see the same old Daniel or Chloe or Kara. We want to see evolved people and designs.

Nick declares to Chloe that he’d like to be a little Euro-Trash. Good old Nick! Chloe says she wants to be a party girl. Santino asserts to Kara that he wants her to be less crunch-granola-earthy—he wants her to be more sophisticated. Kara says to Santino, “I would like you to be preppier”. Preppier? What is preppy about Santino?! I just didn’t understand that comment at all. Now I will say that she achieved preppy-ness, but it’s a preppy Santino we’ve never seen. Nick asserted to Daniel that he wanted him, Daniel, to be Euro-80s. Is that distinguishable from Euro trash? I don’t know.

CONTINUED IN THE COMMENTS SECTION - IT WILL BE THE FIRST COMMENT

10 comments:

LauraK said...

CONTINUED.....

So we go off to Mood with $200 and, of course, this is where we establish our ingredients. I’m worried about some of them already. Daniel has selected a cherry-red fabric for Chloe, and he is pairing it with a tan leather. This is very subjective, it’s me, but I really queried him and Chloe about whether if this was really, really, really what they wanted to leave the store with. They both seemed very confident. Okay! Fine! Nick chose a fabric that, for me…well, Nick said it was gray, I thought it looked lavender. And lavender and menswear is not a good fit. Furthermore, it had a sheen to it, and given that Nick had said he was doing a jacket (this is serious construction), I knew, given our time constraints, that this was going to be an issue. And I was worried about it. Santino and Kara seemed to have a great deal of fun choosing fabrics for, who else, Santino. Santino’s choices for Kara, and she did participate in it, were…well I loved the palate. It was extremely sophisticated and I thought, well, okay, this could really be good. Santino had designed a sort of Emma-Peel cat suit for Kara. And I thought, all right, let’s see where this can go.

On the way back to Parson’s from Mood, I believe Kara initiated this, she said something about, “well, we are getting a makeover, and wouldn’t it be nice if we could manicures and pedicures. We haven’t had time…none of us have had.” And I’m thinking, “Get real Kara, we don’t have time for that, unless we bring someone in while you are working – and I knew that wasn’t going to happen.” There was a ripple effect—they were all enthusiastic about going off to get manicures and pedicures. Really?! So, when I realize that this is a keen desire, and the producers will support this desire, I had a little talk with them in the workroom. I made them aware of the fact you are taking time away from this challenge, and if you really want to do this, we’ll let you do it. But when you are screaming for more time at the end of the challenge and we are heading to the runway for the judging, I’ll remind you of this moment. And, later, I needed to.

So we do go off, and it takes FOREVER. There are only two people at the salon, and it’s a Saturday. Saturdays in New York can be very derailing (Saturdays in the summer, that is). No one is around in the fashion district except us, and, God Bless them, Mood. And it takes forever. They are having a ball, though. They are telling stories and laughing, and Santino is making us sick with his stories. There is a dog in the salon, and they are all loving being with the dog, and it goes on, and on and on. I’m pacing back and forth, back and forth, looking at my watch, over and over, “Guys? Time, time! Let’s hurry up!”

So eventually we are back in the workroom and they dive into their work. Back in the workroom, it is palpable that there is a lot of tension. It seems that Santino is the origin of most of it. There has been a kind of mounting [rambles on about hostility then cuts the tape off, and starts over] impatience and frustration from the other designers towards Santino, which I understand. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be in that workroom with him day in and day out. He’s loud, he has to dominate, he’s bigger than life—and he doesn’t let you forget it. We are leading into the final four, Daniel has immunity, the other 4 designers are incredible tense…they wall want to make it to the final four, then eventually the final three. But let’s get to the next challenge first. So don’t bother me with your noise and all your jabber, just let me work, let me get my work done! That was difficult.

Later that day, we are visited by a wonderful, incredible guy, by the name of Collier Strong, who is with Loreal Paris. Collier is there to give his consultation on each look for each designer. They are going to be each other’s models and walk the runway. So his role in terms of the evolution of their look, is very very important. And I have to add, for each of them, what an incredible opportunity! To have someone who is not yourself, not a friend, and one of the top, top, top, top experts in this field worldwide, give you a very objective evaluation on how you look and how you can improve that look. It was very insightful, and he did wonders with every one of them.

So I’ve gathered the designers and models in the workroom and we head down to the runway for the judging. They are all backstage like the models would be, because, they are again, the models. And, to my incredulity, Santino is gluing Kara into the pantsuit. Not sewing, but gluing!! At this point I just want to walk away. It’s too late now, you’ve made your own bed, and you are going to have to deal with it.

We have the runway judging and Freddie Leiba is our guest judge. Freddie is one of the top stylists in the industry, and his presence is phenomenal and we are all thrilled about it. The designers should all be a wreck about it, for Freddie does not suffer fools gladly.

We have our runway judging and Chloe’s work for Nick is simply stunning. Chloe has never designed menswear, she has never attempted to construct menswear. She is dealing with a pinstripe which serves to complicate the matter. Her work is simply superb. That’s all I can say about it. It was superb, it was artful, it hit him beautifully, and he looked dashing.

On the other hand, Nick’s menswear for Daniel…oh. I just wanted to weep. And Nick had declared that he had designed and made menswear before, and I thought…you should be taking lessons from Chloe! It was not only poorly fitted, but poorly constructed. Given the sheen of the fabric, every single construction sin didn’t just show, it shouted at you. The softness of the jacket, the roundness of the shoulder, the lapel, the lack of pockets on the pants, all of it screamed that Daniel was wearing his mother’s suit! It was just, not good. I felt bad for both of them, but especially for Nick.

Kara did a menswear look for Santino that was beautifully, beautifully done. The madras pants were impeccable, the athletic knit top was beautifully done…she really pulled out all the stops, and my hat’s off to her. Great, great, great work.

Daniel’s work for Chloe…oh boy. What happened? I mean, on the one hand, I could say, well, he was a little sleepy because he had immunity and didn’t really have to worry. But on the other hand, Daniel, didn’t you want to win this challenge too? The dress had a very bad hem…why? It was so simple! It didn’t need to have a bad hem, and he knows what he is doing. I think its really that he put so much time into the leather vest which was poorly proportioned for the look. It cut Chloe in just the wrong place, and the entire look, including hair and makeup…she looked about 20 years older. She’s pretty and cute and adorable…and suddenly, I am looking at her great maiden aunt. It was just very disarming, and I had bit of a shock when she came out of the dressing room onto the runway. I thought, well this certainly isn’t a winner. Daniel, thank god you have immunity, because you could be out with this.

Santino…well, Kara was a statesman to not expose him. She could have simply moved her hair and shown that the shoulder was completely coming apart, she could have bent over and revealed that the entire backside of her was going to simply blow out of the suit because it was so poorly made, and again, put together with glue! Not all of it, but enough of it to be a concern. I don’t know what he was thinking…I haven’t a clue. And, once again, he’s on the precipice…he could go right over, but some magical angels save him, and he remains in.

Nick is out, and it’s devastating to everybody. Given the feelings towards Santino,
I think he is the only one among the remaining designers whose departure would not have caused people to weep. But, Nick, he was a sweetheart, a dear, everybody loves him. The judgement involved in what he designed for Daniel, going right back to the inception at the workroom at Parsons, and later at Mood with the fabric, he was simply stuck with that. And he couldn’t make it to work. I’ll use our Olympics analogy that someone had to lose, but this was not by a nano second—it was several minutes. But Santino was a nano second away from Nick.

Chloe wins the challenge, and deservedly so. I think she even surprised herself that she did such a great job with this. Applause, applause. Chloe, congratulations.

Our next challenge determines the final three for the Olympus fashion week runway show. The designers will be designing evening gowns.

Jan the Dan Fan said...

So let's hope nobody chips a nail and needs another manicure before the next challenge!

eric3000 said...

That is so funny that they all wanted manicures! Why didn't even a moment of that make it into the broadcast? It might have improved the episode for people who found it too depressing.

Anonymous said...

This made me feel even worse about Santino.

I knew the outfit Kara was wearing was not put together well, but I didn't know that if she bent over, her ass would come blasting out.

...sounds like it would have been the "baboon's ass exploding" quote Santino had predicted...except replace baboon with Kara.

(btw, I like Kara..I'm not slamming her..she isn't a baboon! haha)

Anonymous said...

I just watched the video where the other deisgner's pick apart Santino's outfit on Kara backstage.

It is funny and it is VERY sad to see how much the outfit is falling apart.


...but I feel that it was just torturous to Kara. She looks like she just wants to die, and them laughing makes her feel worse. Clearly she doesn't know what to do...

gah.

This episode. *pout*

Colin and/or Michele said...

Who else thought it was facsinating that both women took their "client" seriously and designed outfits that spoke to their models' personalities and existing style sense, while at the same time added touches of their own to new looks that really sat well on both, while all three men produced these really strange outfits that had little "relevance" to / resonance with the person they were designed expressly for (in other words, any ol' person could've worn those designs, rather than the designs appearing to be "perfect" for the person for whom they were designed).

Anonymous said...

If anyone sees the bonus videos.. its crazy how much of a joke Santino's outfit is.. but where is he when they are laughing? is he there?

I kinda feel bad for him.

oh.. and lots of Daniel Vs pants that show everything.. a little bit of an exhibitionist..

(using a friend computer)
Asiangirl

Curly Glamour Girlie said...

Magical angels = Producers???


I would have loved to see some of the nail salon trip - definitely would have added some much needed levity.

Kara is just a sweetheart to try to help Santino. Would he have done the same to help one of the others???

Anonymous said...

I'm so sick of Santino! He needs to go. He has no talent and I think the producers just keep him there for the 'controversy'. He's making a joke out of this competition.

Anonymous said...

I think it's incredibly and sadly obvious that Santino should NOT have been picked to stay in this challenge. He's been given his chance over and over again to prove himself, and this time he not only failed, he failed MISERABLY and he LIED on the runway. I'm so upset because I'm not a reality show watcher. I watch this show because it's about talent, but the producers are obviously choosing people to stay based on ratings/drama/hype whatever. This show is losing its luster for me after the last episode. If it turns into a show about drama instead of fashion, I'm done watching. At least Nick's garment was finished ~ not to mention he's fabulous, mature, and talented. Santino is insane, immature and talented - but not enough to stick around after that hideous jumpsuit.