Episode 10 starts with a field trip to the Guggenheim Museum. I had a few seconds of intense confusion - isn't that in Washington, DC, not New York? Didn't I visit it when we traveled to DC when I was a teenager? But no, I was thinking of the Hirshhorn, a different round art museum. They actually get to tromp around the Guggenheim all by themselves, no other visitors. Sweet deal! Anyhow, they can pick their inspiration from anything in the museum.
They are rearranged into pairs. Stanley and Michelle are happy, and Richard is very optimistic being paired with the artsy Patricia, leaving Daniel and Layana as the last two. This is the "make your own fabric" challenge, and this time each pair will be making just one fabric design, instead of each designer making their own. Using said fabric, each pair needs to produce one look that's wearable art, and a second that's a commercial companion piece.
Right away, Patricia and Richard are having issues, as Richard seems to think that Patricia, as the "artsy" one, will completely drive this challenge, so he'll let her decide everything and then just come up with his commercial look based on what she does. So she's not getting any sort of suggestions or feedback from him.
Once back in the workroom, they have an hour to work together to design their fabric. An hour! I know that's what they always have, but I'm still incredulous. No wonder their designs are almost always pretty unappealing. Layana and Richard start making a red, white & blue design, but end up making overlapping yellow and gray rectangles. Michelle draws a screaming face that she at least rotates in repeat to make it into a four-way design. Patricia makes a really huge print of earth-toned triangles.
Once the work starts, things get even worse on the Patricia-Richard front. He's still totally lost and doesn't "get" what Patricia is doing, so he spends ages creating and fussing over a bracelet instead of starting on anything of his own. Patricia is getting more and more frustrated but gamely soldiers on. Daniel and Layana don't have as much of their print as they want - Layana gets almost all of it, and Daniel has to make do with a little scrap.
At Tim's visit, he gets "chills" at the long train Michelle is creating for the art piece. He calls out Richard for not doing anything, and actually accuses him of "gaming" - that is, failing on purpose in hopes of getting Patricia eliminated. He denies this, but doesn't seem particularly outraged at the suggestion. Layana has by now fallen into a hole of self doubt and feels like she's out of her comfort zone.
Stanley quips that an art piece shouldn't fit into a cab - and by that standard his team is in pretty good shape. All the designers make quips about Richard trying to put in a zipper - he's stretching himself by not working in jersey for once (get it? stretching? ha ha!) but is struggling. Can he even do it? And, the best part, he doesn't even end up using that bracelet in the final look.
Layana's art piece is a poofy mermaid-shape gown with a sundress-like neckline, all in their rectangle print, with a black tulle overlay. Daniel's commercial look is a black jacket (which nearly goes without saying for him at this point) with a tulip skirt, also in their print with a tulle overlay.
Patricia's is definitely the most arty of the museum pieces, with her very patient model covered in a veil and with her arms bound to her sides, like she's been mugged by Christo. Richard's blah companion is a tank in their print and a terrible pleated hobble miniskirt.
Michelle's art piece has her usual urban warrior feel, with a high neck, a swirly hat, and a painted bubblewrap skirt. She had an even more outrageous hat, but was eventually convinced it was a hair too far, so she wore it herself to the judging. Stanley has made a calf-length babydoll with nice volume and movement.
Michelle and Stanley are clearly in the top - the judges love their pieces, and it's obvious that they worked well together, especially when Stanley thanks the judges for pairing him with Michelle. They are not fond of Richard's look, and are mixed on Patricia's - though Heidi is quite fond of it. It is readily apparent, however, that things are not so peachy on the teamwork front for those two.
For Layana and Daniel, the judges don't really like their print, and feel the art piece is too costumey and Eliza Dolittle-ish. Heidi likes the commercial look though, and points out that Daniel's lack of fabric forced him to make a shorter skirt than he otherwise would, thereby skewing his look younger. However, Daniel makes it sound like their work breakdown was much more separated than it really was, and doesn't make clear how much Layana contributed to that look, causing her to break down in tears backstage from feelings of betrayal.
Stanley is named the winner! Richard and Patricia are the bottom two, and poor Patricia starts sobbing just before Heidi announces who is out, forcing Heidi to pause and therefore stretch out the moment even longer than they normally do. But fortunately for Patricia, Richard is the one eliminated.
Next episode, there are only five designers left - so how much further can they keep going with the team concept?
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