Lifetime photos
Andy awaits judging of his winning sportswear collection.
Tracking the progress of Hawaii’s Andy South:
Producers seemed bent on shaking things up in the workroom this week, Episode 11. All the warm, fuzzy feelings of last week’s episode were thoroughly thrown out, starting with a change of models the designers have been using all season.
Then came the challenge from hell, designing a head-to-toe sportswear look for Heidi Klum’s line for New Balance. It was pretty clear how much the designers liked that idea when Heidi came into the workroom for an early critique, with Mondo Guerra rolling his eyes at her comments, and Gretchen Jones throwing a fit and a batch of fabric. The difference when Tim Gunn does a critique is that his comments come from a position of caring, instead of a stiletto to the heart.
The designs in Heidi’s collection were simple hoodies and tops, and she didn’t want to stray very far from what has been done, down to using the same bolts of fabric awaiting the winning design. It’s hard to get designers excited about sportswear, and it seemed that only Andy embraced the challenge, understanding the need for comfortable chic, second nature in Hawaii where comfort is the No. 1 criterion for surviving summer.
Heidi tries on one of Mondo’s pieces and tries to make sense of another, while Andy works in the background.
Before leaving the workroom, Heidi announced that the designers would have to come up with two additional head-to-toe looks, and said she’d send in help, which turned out to be the recently eliminated designers, including Ivy Higa. Christopher Collins was third to choose, and picked Ivy. With his name drawn last, Andy got Michael Drummond, a good designer not known for his technical abilities, so Andy said he would have to simplify some steps.
It didn’t take Ivy long to stir up drama. At first, she was talking to Michael C. while working, so I thought they had patched up their differences, but a beat later, she accused him of cheating on the Jackie O. challenge and that roiled the workroom to the point Tim had to step up to address the charge.
Peach Carr watches as Andy tries on his design.
The specific complaint was that several designers saw double sided tape in the dressing room, said to have been used by Michael C’s model to hold up the dress. But none had called producers’ attention to it at the time, so as far as Tim was concerned, it was too late to register the complaint at this point and time to move forward.
On the runway, it was clear that some of the designers just regurgitated designs already in Heidi’s collection, which was not a bad idea because Gretchen went the other route, trying to offer pieces absent from her collection, and ended up on the bottom.
Andy’s collection had some very cool, graphic lines, and judges noticed the pattern comprised a mix of chiffon and jersey fabric, not easy to combine because of the different weights. They praised his designs for style and transparency that made the garments appear light and luxurious. I especially liked his dress.
With comments like that, of course he came out the winner, and although Heidi had only intended on adding one outfit to her collection, she decided to put all three of his looks into production, available now on Amazon.com. Maybe that’s why he flew out yesterday for a meeting with Heidi in New York!
Andy’s designs on Amazon.com. The dress is $168. The link to the hoodie wasn’t working, but the T-insert top below is $118, and the pant is $98.
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