On last week’s The Fashion Show, the final four designers finally finished their final collections – how many times did I say “final” there? – and showed it to an audience of fashion luminaries, and us folks at home. We were supposed to vote among four of them, but in a surprise twist, they decided to eliminate someone right after the fashion show, and Reco got the boot because, well, the reasons turn out to be more complicated than that.
Now, with the votes in, which of the final three – Anna, Daniella and James-Paul – did America vote for? It’s $125,000 from TRESemme, after all. It’s the reunion show, so we get a chance to see all the other designers before we can find out who the winner is. Filler? Perhaps, but we’ll get through it.
This is taped? Quite an odd decision. Isaac begins by introducing Kelly and Fern to the other designers like they haven’t met before. Which is also odd.
Angel’s wearing the shirt dress she did earlier in the season. That one with the problematic buttons, remember? She redid it, and it looks quite better now. Andrew says the show’s helped him with his projects. Isaac says they booted him out because they didn’t like his dress as much as the others – but they liked it anyway.
The three finalists finally come in: Daniella’s first, Anna’s second, James-Paul’s third. You can see it in the photo. Is it just me, or just four minutes through the finale, I’m already bored? The studio feels empty. Very empty.
Reco’s turn on the hot seat. He looks achingly stern, like he still isn’t happy with the elimination. Those ego moments, his flub with the fashion icon challenge, and his elimination. Isaac addressed all that backlash after Reco got tossed, and he reads out a question asking the judges whether they were high when they kept James-Paul. It slowly becomes an argument on whether the decision was right or wrong. Feels like they’ll start fighting at the end. Not really. Reco thinks he’ll be doing quite nicely because American saw what he did already. But not after implying that he’s a victim of reality television. Yeah, perhaps.
More filler: what did the designers wear? I can see this on Bravo’s website. But there’s this funny bit when Johnny and Lidia matched hairstyles. And, of course, Merlin. The tiara. The hats. The red stuff. Marcus’ “man-berries”. And then, another highlight reel on Daniella.
I, am, bored. It’s too quiet. But I snap out of it when they show footage of Daniella crying at the workroom. And then I’m bored again. By the way, isn’t Daniella dancing to her final collection cute?
Three of the designers think Daniella will win. Johnny raised “half a hand”.
Merlin and Johnny also exhibited collections during the final collections. Decoy, obviously, but I figured it out anyway, oddly. Merlin’s wearing shades and his hair looks like devil horns! His looks are very, very, very bright. Big collars, outrageous motifs, perfect for a costume party. “Surreal,” Fern thought. Exactly the word I was looking for. She thought it wasn’t a good fit for hangers, but Merlin defends that he’s just showing who he is. Keith comes to his aid. Oh-kaaay.
Johnny’s collection is inspired by some ’90s stuff, and it’s quite sleek and simple, only it doesn’t scream Johnny like it should. Oh no, they’re talking about the Lanvin issue again. This is playing at its finest. Is Johnny willing to admit he ripped it off? It wasn’t his original point, he says. He ended up doing it. And then he finally says it. “It’s a damn knock-off.”
Cue Anna’s highlight reel. Here’s a reminder, methinks, of all that I missed when I was too busy looking at the other designers. She’s the dark horse, yeah. “I don’t have the TV personality,” Anna thought, and then we remember she always cries. Refute. Merlin, keeping with the “knock-off” theme, says Anna “knocked off herself.” Seven of the eliminateds think Anna will win – but Kristen also voted for Daniella’s, too. Odd.
Isaac finally asks Kristen why she chose to quit. No regrets, she says. Well, maybe she should’ve stayed and showed more of herself off. Yeah, she’s cute, but I don’t remember her. And her pink streak’s gone! Wah! Another highlight reel, with the designers commenting about other designers, and the obligatory sinister music. “Mess” plays a lot here.
I’m looking at Angel’s tweets throughout the show. “I am sooooo bored right now,” she says. Glad I’m not alone. James-Paul’s highlight reel, next. He admits that there were S&M gear on his designs. I didn’t notice it, but that’s because I don’t know that anyway. Four think James-Paul will win, with Reco voted twice, and Angel admitting that she cried while watching his show.
Merlin’s “blow your brain” line transitions into the Isaac-can’t-understand-Merlin story. Yay, I’m not bored! Momentarily, at least. We still have twenty minutes to go?
Harper’s Bazaar‘s Glenda Bailey returns to the show, and well, I don’t really miss her much – she’s been here for the past three weeks! She offers her help on all the designers, which is really nice of her. Cue judging moment montage. “Can you breathe?” Win. And then, another look at all the winning designs throughout the season, which is, of course, sold on Bravo’s website. James-Paul’s outfit – the first week, I think? – apparently sold out completely.
Judges’ vote time. Remember, one of the three designers win $10,000 for being the most sophisticated collection. It’s Daniella who wins it.
Finally, the winner. The actual winner!
In third place, James-Paul, with 19% of the vote. So it all boils down to Anna and Daniella. Obviously, suspense. We get to watch more ads, which is oddly less boring that most of this finale.
So I’m wondering when voting ended for this. Angel tweeted that they taped the finale over the weekend in Los Angeles. That was just a day of voting, right? I’m typing because Isaac and Kelly are still talking rather than cutting to the chase.
And the winner is…
Anna, with 56% of the vote. We get a teary-eyed winner, and that is it. Buh-bye, darlings. Of course, you can buy pieces from Anna’s collection on BravoTV.com. And that wraps up The Fashion Show for this season. Whether there’ll be a second, I can’t tell. And my apologies if this recap sounds boring – couldn’t help it. But it’s done. So there.
– Henrik Batallones, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
(Image courtesy of Bravo)
Staff Writer, BuddyTV
