...But it is never far enough.

 

Last night, the intrepid Top 8 were given the license to thrill, thanks to the presence of Bob Mackie, legendary feather and sequin man, as guest inspiration and judge.  Nicolas in particular nearly fainted at the idea...which makes sense, him being the "Feather Prince of New York." For, if he is the Prince, surely Mackie is the KING. 

 

To make matters even more thrrrriling, with 4 'r's, the Bob Mackie-inspired gown should be for singer Christina Aguilera. That was a bit of a needle-scratch-record moment for me (side note: when will we have to stop using that reference?) since I stopped following Aguilera right around her dirrrrty (read: skanky) phase, when sequins and feathers would have been sorely out of character. In fact, most of the time if someone mentions Aguilera (which doesn't happen often in my world, but still) I actually picture Sarah Michelle Gellar (yay, Buffy!) on Saturday Night Live as Aguilera in a particularly dirrrrty phase.

 

Still, I understand she's done more upscale stuff since her dirrrrrrrrty days, and apparently the designers are well aware of this too.

 

They are given 30 minutes to sketch, $300 to spend at ErsatzMood, and two days this time...which the designers appreciate very very much.

 

So, what did we learn in this episode?

 

-That Irina just continues to be the queen of talking smack. She's got the talent to back it up, but for once I was agreeing with Nicolas's whiny ramblings

-That Nicolas has a lot of nerve rambling whinily about how much he wishes Irina would be nicer to people, considering his own prodigious smack output in previous episodes

-That Carol Hannah is hot for Logan, and Logan thinks of her like his little sister

-That Gordana is not above taking advantage of immunity to totally give up for one week

-That Shirin can't always pull it out last minute as she did last week

-Finally, that Lifetime probably edited out a confrontation over fur between laconic cutie Logan and friend of animals (and BlogHers) Tim Gunn. Evidence: Check this comment on last week's recap where Haley, aka CheatyMonkey, talks about talking to Tim Gunn about a confrontation he had on the show re: one of the designers using fur. And I quote: "But, Tim told me that there's an episode where one of the designers attempts to use fur, and Tim goes bolistic [sic] on him.her. He told me for sure they edited most of it out because it was tres intense."  Then note that Logan was indeed using fur (which Irina theoretically shot him a dirty look for). Then, note the go-to-commercial clip of Tim saying "What is that?" with a look of horror. BUt did that clip ever come to fruition when they came back from that (or any other ) commercial? No, it did not. So, I believe the fur flying over fur was left 100% on the cutting room floor! Boo, Lifetime!

 

Oh, the non-drama! And between us...isn't this season so lacking in drama that it could have used a good Tim bitch-slapping over fur?

 

Anyway, on to the show, where the judges are Bob Mackie, Xtina herself, and yes! ninagarcia is back, and she's better than ever!

 

As always, click on the link with each designer's name to see their creation.

 

1. Althea created a silver sequin halter dress that was patterned by alternating the use of the front and the back of the sequin strips. The gown on its own was quite nice (although not mind-blowingly original, IMHO) but the feather bolero jacket was just kind of big and fluffy and messy. Would have been better off without it.

 

2. Logan, despite is terrible fur caveman stole, actually made a relatively fun silver tiger-striped sequin mini dress with one shoulder and a chain spaghetti strap on the other side. The sides were actually fastened by a series of hook-and-eyes all the way from hem to hem. Looks fabulous in still life, but not so good in motion. Not sure I thought this was Bottom 3-worthy.

 

3. Shirin exhibited apparently unforgivable bad taste with this dress, which featured the recurrent "pooping fabric" theme that Heidi loves so much (even if she didn't say it...I said it for her!) I black strapless and drop waist tight-fitting bodice was paired with a black skirt featuring lots of random and sloppy-looking panels of other fabrics and colors. It was bad. I agree. but still...

 

4. Christopher created a black jacket with a corset top and bloomer bottom that was removed to reveal a tinier black corset and silver sequined boy shorts underneath.I actually didn't think this was that bad. At least it was different than everyone else's fancy dresses. And is everyone just forgetting that Xtina hasn't always been tackling cover songs with David Foster? Sure, it was a little slutty...so is she, what's the big whup? Still, Three weeks in the bottom 2 should have bought him a ticket home vs. the eventual loser.

 

5. Sure, Nicolas sent a hot little strapless white mini with a feather skirt down the runway. Cute, no doubt about it. but it was just a mini version of his winning design from a few weeks ago. I did think it was better than the winning design, though, I admit.

 

6. Gordana, let's be honest, was only saved by her immunity. Heidi said as much, and I believe her. She sent this ivory strapless gown down the runway with an ill-fitting bodice, an unflattering sequin belly/butt panel and a boring chiffonskirt. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz And did I mention the ill-fitting unflatteringness?

 

7. Irina sent a nightie down the runway. Granted it was a pretty midnight blue one with a matching velvet shorty robe over it. Nice color, basically very well-made. But a nightie and robe nonetheless.

 

8. Carol Hannah created a strapless black sequined gown that also incorporated matte fabric and feather overlays. Personally, I thought it was a bit dull and a bit been-there, seen-that. I mean, what was special about it? Moreover, the back side wasn't that well-crafted at all, so I thought the judges gave her a bit too much credit.

 

Bottom line:

 

The judges went for:

Carol Hannah

Althea

Nicolas

 

With Carol Hannah the surprise winner for a basic black evening dress.

 

The judges couldn't go for:

Logan

Christopher

Shirin

 

Now, I thought for sure Christopher would get the boot. This was his third time in a row in the bottom, and he seems to have lost something that led him to win Week 1 and for me to feel like wuz robbed or near robbed when it was the Top 12 and the Top 11. Meanwhile Shirin wuz robbed Week 1, won Week 2, was in the Top 2 two weeks ago and last week and was never in the bottom until this week.

 

I don't get it. Unfair and a mistake :(

 

But what did you think?