Fashion Tribe: Project Runway: Ivy out in Episode 9

Lifetime photos

Ivy Higa defends her creations on the runway.

Tracking the progress of Hawaii’s Ivy Higa and Andy South:

Episode 9’s challenge was the sort designers dream about, letting their imaginations run wild to create a high-fashion look suitable for a Paris runway, to be used in a L’Oreal advertorial in Marie Claire magazine. The only control factor was that the head-to-toe look take their inspiration from L’Oreal’s Studio Secret eyeshadow duos and their various finishes: bright, metallic, matte and crystal.

A win would also lead to a prize of $20,000, a fair cost of labor for a national or perhaps international ad campaign, not to mention all the press associated with the competition.

Naturally, the designers were excited, and Tim Gunn said, “Ivy, you look stricken.”

She said she wanted to cry because it’s been a struggle to simply live and work in New York, forgoing guaranteed income to fulfill her dream.

Of course I worried over her camera time, which I’ve said before, is not always a good thing.

She chose to go with the L’Oreal bright eyeshadows, the same as Mondo Guerra, who nearly always chooses to work with bright colors. Ivy has tended to work with pastels in the competition, so she thought choosing brights would show another aspect to her work. The electric blues she chose to work with were inspired by Hawaii’s ocean waves, reflected in strips of fabric. In his early critique, Tim worried she was working too literally.

The designers felt this would be a defining competition, that would reveal the breadth and limitations of their capabilities once and for all, and color the judges perceptions of them to the finish. The episode’s title is “Race to the Finish.”

Andy fits his model for a warrior’s helmet.

Of course there’s always a secondary aspect to these competitions, and a lot of the designers had been lulled into complacency after having been given two days for the initial challenge. Only Michael Costello seemed to anticipate a second challenge, so he created his couture gown as quickly as possible, which left him prepared to easily complete the second ready-to-wear look as a mainstream garment inspsired by their couture creations.

For Andy, who was at the bottom last week, and whose work had been deemed a “trainwreck,” the competition was about redemption and he chose L’Oreal’s metallic finish eyeshadows for the inspiration behind his woman warrior ensemble, with pleated fabric that looked like armore. I thought he should have won. … Except, while all the other judges praised his work, Heidi Klum provided a dissenting voice, and as we’ve seen time and again on the show, what Heidi wants, Heidi gets.

While Andy ended up on the top, Ivy ended up in the bottom with Valerie Mayen, who could not complete her original design, and whose ready-to-wear dress had no design. It didn’t help that the second model assigned to Ivy was bigger than her alleged measurements (I’ve come across those on assignments, size 6s who claim they’re 2s or 4s!), so she had to let out the dress and on the runway it still looked too small.

I thought Ivy might pull through because she at least had a clear concept. But the question the judges considered was whether simpler is mo’ betta than overworking, overthinking a piece, and simple won. The funny thing is I’ve been trashing Valerie nearly every week, but she had a great showing (who knew?) during New York Fashion Week and for all I know, won the competition! Go figure! LOL!

As for the competition’s winner, it was Mondo the second week in a row, this time for his kaleidoscope inspired gown, which revealed another judging inconsistency. While they always attack dresses “pooping fabric,” Mondo got away with it on this one. His creation was colorful, but it seemed stiff and didn’t think it fit well in the bodice. I think what clinched his win was his ready-to-wear dress, which was simple in its silhouette but was detailed and eye-catching in its slimming chevron design.