Styled to Rock #2

I found this week a little uninspiring. I think it might have been something to do with it being Rizzle Kicks (don't get me wrong, I like them, but nothing about their brief particularly excited me), maybe the fact that it was another menswear challenge, or maybe it was to do with the way the designers were behaving.

My first note was "Ugghh... Fuck off Zainab", so you can kind of see what mindset I was in from the start, followed closely by a "Fuck of Jacqueline".
I did feel sorry for Heidi being stuck with Madame J when they went for fabrics. I understand where she's coming from with the whole finding beauty in sorrow thing, but everything about Jacqueline just seems so OTT that I can't help but think it's all a complete affectation. Heidi's lovely though; she seems a bit thick and excitable, bless her, we can keep her.

Chanelle didn't start off particularly well either: Not knowing who was who in the Rizzle Kicks was just ignorant after they'd stood talking to the designers, saying their own names several times throughout the brief. Also, she seems to be fulfilling the archetype I hate most in competitions, that of the contestant with child. I am fully supportive of independent adults who choose to have children, but they shouldn't define who you are and what you do. It actually sickens me that she used them as her defence for why she fucked up. If you cannot cope being away from your children for less than two weeks, and that is affecting your work, you shouldn't be in the competition. If this were a work environment, and she was breaking down and making excuses based on missing her children - something which, I'd assume, she knew would happen - I'd expect questions to be raised as to why she took the position in the first place. There are now nine other designers on that programme, all of whom have some form of friends or family who they may be missing, and Chanelle should not have special permission for her actions because she happens to have children. Let's hope she changes her tune, and dials down the cockiness, before next week.

While we're on the subject of the people up for elimination, I was really surprised by how clueless Brett was acting with the mentors. I was liking her early on in the show, but from the moment I saw her finished look I knew she was doomed. I liked her concept, but it's like she just didn't listen at all to half the brief. Then when it came to defending it she seemed to have no comprehension at all of what was being said to her. It would have been so easy for her to say what the mentors wanted to hear, and she would have had such a better chance of staying in, but unfortunately that didn't happen. I can't quite figure out why they kept Chanelle because they "saw something" in her, when Brett clearly has so much more potential when it comes to the kind of stagewear they're meant to be designing.
It really was the same reasoning for the bottom two as last week: one played it too safe and missed the mark, the other designed more for their own aesthetic than the client, and yet again I disagree with the decision.
I also have issues with Ricky going from almost being sent home to almost winning, but that's more to do with his behaviour. His bashful 7 year old girl impression when they complimented him was sickening. That, combined with his accent, may land him in the camp of people I will never like, with Zainab.

On a lighter note, on to the winners: I like Steve, I don't think he's been given enough screen time, considering his great work both this week and last. I thought the hand painted cable on the T was a really nice detail, and a good way to introduce something a bit interesting, but keep the quite plain aesthetic that the client wanted.
I'm a bit disappointed with him presenting a garment in pieces at the mini challenge, especially considering he could have won it, but I'm not the best with time management, so I can't really judge (not that I'm particularly qualified to judge on any of the stuff I'm judging).

We all know by now that I'm not a fan of Jacqueline, but I did think there were some quite good ideas there. I thought the shirt was a tad Agi and Sam. I really didn't like the waistcoat, but I have something against corals.

Personal Winner: Steve
Who I would have sent home: Chanelle, for making excuses, or Ricky, for being Ricky.

Any Other Business:

• When the voiceover (Reggie Yates?) says "mentors" it sounds like "mentals". Lolz.
• I'm not liking the "Get The Look" feature on the STR pages of Living's website. Like many similar features, it gives you details of alternatives to what the mentors were wearing. If I want to know where I can get the shirt Henry was wearing, I want to know where to get that shirt, not a totally different high street alternative.

That's all for now. I'm considering putting up some stuff from the menswear project prep I'm doing, and I still have that BINTM rant to finish, so you may be seeing a lot more of me in the next couple of weeks.

Oh, and hello America. I've been getting an oddly large proportion of my views from the US this past week.

DSH. x