Design Star– Recap & Review – Fashion Week

photo: hgtv

Design Star
Fashion Week

Original Air Date: Jun 20, 2010

Patricia Morris Buckley —Staff Writer
pmb@thetwocentscorp.com

How sweet is revenge? That’s how Courtland must have felt this week when he went from being in the Bottom 6 last week because of Nina’s fierce competitiveness to rising above them all. Good for him.

And Nina — I don’t know if it’s how the show is edited or if she really is as conceited and obnoxious as she sounds — but I sure do love hating her! Every show needs a good villain and Nina is fitting into the role perfectly. Think about it — here we are in the second episode and how many of the designers do you know by name so far? Probably three or four and I’m betting the first name off your lips is Nina.

But first — the challenge, a new one for Design Star. Each designer has to pick a designer outfit. Nina gets to go first because she won the first challenge and she picks a swanky, glittery dress. The range is from causal chic to a frilly wedding dress. Then the twist — the judges announce they’ll be designing an apartment inspired by their fashion choices in two teams. It’s men against the women (who are down a member after Julie got the axe last week).

The winners get their design featured in Redbook Magazine. Not a bad prize.

The real trick was to make all these different fashions feel cohesive in the apartment design. Not easy.

Courtland really came to the rescue with the men and painted a wall in stripes with every color of their palette, which brought the whole thing together. The other men did fairly well, but Michael really went after trucker hat Trent, second-guessing his every accessory choice (which were questionable), but in a haughty manner.

Alex really showed again how outclassed he is. I think he has the design talent, but really, really lacks in execution and will not be on the show much longer. The other guys had to come to the rescue because his project was beyond his building abilities — and didn’t even have the impact he hoped for in the end.

However, the apartment looked polished and the design really fit the assignment. So the guys won the challenge.

The ladies, on the other hand, were a red, hot mess. Seriously. The camera focused a lot on Nina and her big mouth, constantly claiming how professional, talented and amazing she is. And she took over, not letting anyone else contribute. Which would be something if her claims and abilities lived up to her boasts. But they didn’t.

Stacey responded by shutting down and focusing on one piece. Tera tried to throw Stacey under the bus for this, but Vern liked the piece, so she was safe. Still, as a team player she failed miserably. Emily tried to stand up for herself more and I think it saved her. Casey kind of disappeared on this challenge.

That left Tera, who went with a strange choice of incorporating only the colors from her outfit — even though the other women hated the idea of yellow walls (and they did look bad). In the end, the judges said they wouldn’t consider any of the personal stuff in their choices, but then they put Tera and Nina in the Bottom 2.

This year, the Bottom 2 get to show their hosting abilities as a way for the judges to decide which should go. Tera had a very easy manner on camera, but she never explained her design choices — the whole reason for a design show host. Nina wasn’t as smooth, but she was more informative. (BTW, Nina verbally attacked Tera as they waited for the results, spreading even more good will around!)

Taking Tera’s easy choices in mind, the judges sent her packing. So we’ll have Nina around longer to spice up the show. It’s interesting to note that the judges didn’t like anything the women did and I agreed with them. I wouldn’t live in that apartment.

Do you think the right person went home? Do you have a favorite designer yet? What did you think of the challenge? Give us your TwoCents…

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