Monday, December 17, 2007 by
Author
"I was thinking we could make it a little...FAH!"
"A little--?"
"- and then on top we could make it go SWISH!"
"Swi--?"
"-and then when you walk, you'll go FAHSWISH FAHSWISH FAHSWISH! You'll probably have to talk real loud so people can hear you over the clothes, though. That's okay. TALKING! LOUD! IS! FUN!"
"..."
"I'm going to be right back, mkay? Just have to talk to one of the producers for a sec."
Aw, we kid because we love. She's been cast in the "wacky" role and we admit, it's not totally undeserved, but all Elisa's really shown herself to be is a sweet, unconventional, talented person.
That unconventional sweetness is a real advantage to her because so far, it's allowed her to sail blissfully through the competition without the slightest bit of stress or drama being exhibited.
Which isn't to say that she's always producing top notch work. This is wrong, wrong wrong.
First off, that jacket's poorly made. Secondly, it's just a bad design for that woman.
Too youthful, too many layers, and the Duchess was right; it divides her up and it makes her look stumpy. And not only does the hem on that jacket practically draw arrows pointing to her hips...
It also reminds you that she has ass cheeks as well.
These were all good reasons to put Elisa in the bottom this week, but in the end, the judges chose the bullshittiest reason to condemn her, as if they were longtime friends of the client.
"How do you feel in it, Tracy? To me, it just doesn't look like you"
"I agree with all of them here. It's all very you but it's not very Tracy."
"What the fuck, bitches. We've exchanged like, 10 words total since we met yesterday and you dropped me in the lap of Tinkerbell over here."
"Hmph! She's funny!"
[Photo: Barbara Nitke/Bravotv.com - Screencaps: Project RunGay]
Post a Comment
83 comments:
At first I HATED Elisa - but she's been growing on me. Spit marks, however, are STILL gross!
I still hate Elisa (well not her personally, but her work) and this post was hilarious! You guys kill me. It was spot on.
Is she still hand sewing everything? I don't know how she does it.
That outfit was horrid! How could she put that on the lady? Duchess was so correct. It made her look like a stump. Thanks for getting back on track with the show.
Thank you for pointing out that the judges seemed to feel like they raised Tracy themselves. That irked me the most.
Actually when I first saw Elisa's piece I screamed "ITS ROBERTS LOSING TANK DRESS" Luckily pictures after have proven it to be a lot more tailored.
A lot of people seem to think she should've gone but I guess it was bad but not nearly as bad as Jillian not following the instructions or poor ol' squinty's nun get up.
Elisa totally grosses me out, ever since the spit thing. I wonder what she does when her "Aunt Flo" is in town? Surely she doesn't "imbibe" (her word)material with a bit of the red?
I have never cared for Elisa, she is too batty for me and her work has not been impressive. I didn't even like the one that was a hit with SJP.
She deserved the bottom 3 with this. It was shiteous. But she didn't deserve to go home. Stephen deserved that.
I think Elisa listened to her client too well. The client wanted to be a rocker chick, but Elisa didn't have the guts to tell her that wouldn't work on her. She just did it. Almost to her demise.
Elisa has grown on me too, but this dress did nothing for her client, who is an attractive woman. As La Nina would say "it has something to be desired in the execution..."
Oh good grief, people, get over the "spit thing" already. It's not like she coughed up phlegm onto the fabric, she touched it with her tongue. Imagine some of the places YOUR tongue has been, and maybe you'll lighten up a bit.
That being said, I am so glad that you agree that the stated reason for her being in the bottom three is b.s. Yes, the garment was unflattering to her body shape, but to assume that they knew the client's aesthetic was utterly presumptuous.
I completely forgot about the back of the jacket. Gives a new meaning to "It looks like ass".
Does the dressing room or work room HAVE mirrors. If they do, I don't think her client would have been soooo happy to have worn this get-up.
Terrible, horrible and yes, it looked like ass.
"I wonder what she does when her "Aunt Flo" is in town?"
How old are you? That's just juvenile.
Granted, I am dogmatic about my enthusiasm for Elisa JImenez, but I still think this did not deserve to be in the bottom because it was still kind of interesting and plausible under certain perspectives. Tracy was the one who actually wanted a wacky, rockstar outfit - and I think this definetly fit the bill. It looks like something one of those eccentric Guggenheim-patrons would wear. It was kind of purposefully ugly-edgy but had a point of view, unlike say the simply wacky yet unfocused stuff Vincent, Kayne or Angela would make on a bad day.
Also I'm not exactly sure why everyone is grossed-out by spit marks! it's spit - we hopefully exchange it with someone else on a daily basis!
I like the jacket. It would be more flattering if the sleeves were long and the waist was a little more fitted in the back.
Bracelet length sleeves look better with lots of bracelets.
The skirt should have been longer or worn with opaque black stockings. Even just eliminating the boots, so her ankle silhoutte shows would improve it a lot.
I don't think she should have been in the bottom 3, certainly not the bottom 2.
Fah Swish !!
I almosted peed my pants laughing.
I really think Victorya's disaster should have been in the bottom over this. Judging by Tim's Take, he seems to agree. (And what a relief it is when he said he didn't understand Victorya being in the top in episode one.)
I really, really want to make an Elisa soundboard. She's begging for one to be made.
I completely agree that the judges were annoying in presuming to know what her style was. Didn't she say she liked it? Hey, as a 45 year old mom I don't always want to dress like an uptight suburban woman. Sometimes people like an outfit to take them out of their box! You guys kill me!
Spot on! The judges just seemed SO condescending, not just to Tracy, but to all the models. Sheesh!
Love Elisa, even if this outfit was a big Glamour Don't
Aw. I love Elisa.
The jacket looks cute on Tracy!
Elisa could've made this work with Tracy's boots & stockings if the skirt had been longer (say, hit just below top of boots? but, then it would be dreaded maxi skirt? Maybe just long enough to top knee? But Tracy's knees aren't really her best asset.) and tighter.
Those boots really were a problem.
-- desertwind
Ugh- those damn boots did NOT help at all. They made her legs even shorter. Great post guys.
I also didn't get why the judges criticized this garment for making the model look 'stumpy' when there were several designers, including ones at the top, who had the women in cropped pants, which do exactly the same thing.
This garmet actually reminded me of the kind of clothes you find at Eileen Fisher: Kind of matronly and formless.
But I'm liking Elisa more each week.
--GothamTomato
Anonymous said:
Thank you for pointing out that the judges seemed to feel like they raised Tracy themselves. That irked me the most.
I thought that NinaGarcia was a tad presumptuous about what would suit Tracy.
Elisa's design definitely had problems and the outfit did make her client look stumpy. That said, why does Elisa get raked over the coals when Jillian used almost nothing from her client's outfit, and gets praised?
PS -- This jacket is NOT too youthful for a 45 year old. Is it? Come on girls, help me out here!
-- d'wind
I liked the jacket, too, although more from the front than the back. (and I'm 45+!!) When they were criticizing Elisa for the outfit not looking like "Tracy", one judge commented they expected something more classic for her. To me, that's just double speak for OLD! How insulting. I certainly wouldn't want my everyday look to be "classic". Just because you're over 30 doesn't mean you can't try to look kind of cool.
PS -- This jacket is NOT too youthful for a 45 year old. Is it? Come on girls, help me out here!
-- d'wind
Desertwind,
I don't think it's too youthful for her, but *I* wear a double breasted pink leopard skin coat. What do I know of "appropriate"? Nothing.
Also, maybe Elisa's point in emphasizing her butt cheeks was emphasizing her butt cheeks? Despite her anxieties with the male model, she seems to design clothes that freely, some would say shamelessly, celebrate sensuality for all body types.
Ea I like her but her work isnt really all that great. its differnt and odd but not really good. it wouldnt work in the market so I really dont think she will make it to even the final 5
carmelita said...
.. I certainly wouldn't want my everyday look to be "classic". Just because you're over 30 doesn't mean you can't try to look kind of cool.
I would die a little if I had to wear classics.
Maybe it's just me, but I think the judges are being judged here too, and what we're seeing is an old generation of fashion becoming too old and out of touch to know what's good or bad anymore. I think there are fifty kids walking the streets of my provincial city who have better taste and and a better eye than Nina Garcia or Persimmon Face or The Body.
As for Elisa, I don't dislike this that much. It's got some seam problems, and the mystery tuck in the back is a bad idea, but it looks OK on her. Not a winner, but nowhere near the bottom, either.
I don't think it's too youthful. The only thing about it youthful is the length. Otherwise I think it's kind of matronly (the dress, at least).
The jacket shape is nice though, in the front - but not the length of it.
--GothamTomato
I didn't like the length of the dress on Tracy, but for godssake, Tracy brought her OWN BOOTS AND STOCKINGS to wear with this outfit. She wanted the boots. Elisa tried to work with them and just isn't mean enough to say, "Your boots are butt."
Different accessories could have helped this outfit, but I was thinking it might have looked better if she'd reversed the colors -- black jacket and red dress.
I see what she was trying to do but wish she'd done some editing during the fitting stage. The skirt hit Tracy in such a bizarre spot (and her knees are not a body part she ought to emphasize) that I think it detracted from the overall creativity.
The FAH was funny. REALLY funny.
We've seen that same dress from her already. I was horrified to see how short it was on Tracy-that's a little vavoom for every day.
There ought to be a ban on red jacket/black dress combos-that's what got our good friend Robert booted last year.
TLo, you guys missed the boat! Aren't you aware of the scope of your influence?
Elisa's red jacket design was another Musical Mondays Tribute Outfit.
In no way am I defending the judges -- because I think they were disingenuous in their critique. Rather than saying that the outfit
"didn't look like Tracy," they should have come out and said that the design made Tracy look heavy again. As I read between the lines of their passive-aggressive comments, that's what I hear them really saying.
I totally agree that the judge's criticisms were off base. It was particularly absurd that even the *guest* judge from the Gap criticized the dress on the basis that it looked more like Elisa's style than the client's style -- what does he know about the client?? It would have been more constructive to Elisa if they had just pointed out the ways in which her dress was unflattering, as you two pointed out.
But it's not like the judges were shy about hurting anybody's feelings on the runway - if they thought that Tracy still looked heavy, wouldn't they have just said that? I don't think you could really get any cattier than, "It's a little Shirley MacLaine 'hooker with a heart of gold'" or "she looks like a french maid going to a funeral."
Me-OW that Michael Kors is a bitch!
I did think that the skirt hit her just somewhere so wrong. I was watching it go down the runway thinking, "I'm going to be looking at a screencap of those knees by tomorrow morning."
Maybe Elisa was just too "nice" but really, there has to be something between Jeffrey Sebelia's "Just get away from me, I'm designing what I'm designing, let me put some more puffies on the dress form" and Robert Best's, "Yeah, this sucks, but I want you to be happy happy happy so I'll roll over and play dead" thing.
I know some of you guys sew for a living, can you NEVER say to a client, "I see that you have some ideas about what will and won't work on your body, but it would be much more flattering if we did it this way..."
BTW, did anybody see the TGGTS meltdown show? I haven't yet and I want to know what happened when the woman started crying.
Anne
I wonder what she does when her "Aunt Flo" is in town? Surely she doesn't "imbibe" (her word)material with a bit of the red?
Oh my God, get out of fifth grade.
Anne
Well, after watching that whole episode I feel like I've known Tracy my entire life and I can say with conviction that that outfit is not very Tracy.
Long time reader, first time poster.
I just had to comment bc I was shocked by all the anti-Elisa comments. This chick is great! She is talented and sweet, and best of all, has a sense of humor. I just love the comment she made in the episode where she partnered with Sweet P. Something like "I am coming to your planet and I'm bringing gifts." ha ha! She knows that everyone thinks she's kooky and she doesn't care. At first I thought she was just going to be the "wacky one" for humor, but now we see she is "one to watch."
All that aside, this outfit was icky blech. I am hoping she steps it up next week so she doesn't get auf'd. It took me a while to get into this season, and I'd be really sad to see her go.
Those boots were what made the outfit more hideous than it actually was. As did the overdone 50s hair & one of Carmen's borrowed necklaces.
But Duchess was right that it made her look stumpy.
Yes, Tracy wanted to go wilder, but biker chicks don't generally wear skirts!
And this was not an everyday look.
Bigger loon: Elisa or Vincent?
"bill said: Elisa's red jacket design was another Musical Mondays Tribute Outfit."
You crack me up every time!
Now if only Elisa had thought of using red spats and a silver tray for a hat, the look would have been complete.
--GothamTomato
Yeah, about the hair-- I wondered if the mom-ish hair was what made the judges think that they knew what Tracy would want. Really incongruous with the outfit.
Does anyone know if the client or the designer directed the hairdressing and make-up? I know with the regular models the designers do, but I'd think they'd let these women have more say.
LOL! Good one guys. I have to admit I do not care for any of the artsy types I've encountered so far in Santa Fe but I would L-O-V-E to bump into Elisa at the Wild Oats Market!!
The bizarrest thing about this week was that Tracy seemed to think it WAS her - the judges basically seemed to be telling the client that what she thought was her was WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. Bizarre.
I've liked Elisa from the start, but this look really wasn't one of her best. Awful, but not auf'able.
I assume the judges' comments about this dress not looking like Tracy was a direct producers' feed to them. They ask about things they wouldn't otherwise know about so I'm assuming the producers heard chitchat in the workroom (Tim's comments) and other places (like Sweet P's confessional) and told the judges. They'd have no way of knowing otherwise.
And because someone else mentioned it in this thread, I still don't get the judges' French maid's reference for Steve's outfit. Isn't the stereotypical French maid outfit an ooh la la combo of short black dress, white apron, featherduster, stockings and garters? Which, except for the colors, would be the opposite of that Mrs. Danvers look Steve did.
LOL. The post cracked me up. I love LoopyElisa but the outfit made me cringe.
I didn't think the boots were that bad, I think it's because they were paired with the wrong kind of skirt.
Oh, Elisa.
If it was 25 years ago, I would so love to take you to a KANSAS concert in a Trans Am. We could drink pop top cans of cheap beer, smoke a bowl, and talk about the hidden meaning in Molly Hatchett songs.
Ah, who am I kidding? Elisa would be partying with the metal kids behind the high school vocational building, and I'd be all by myself reading SWAMP THING comics while I watch a betamax copy of KRULL.
sigh
I've been a fan of Elisa from the start. I love her wonky approach, I think she's killer talented, and she brings an interesting perspective to it all, that's not totally FIT habits and PARSONS curriculum.
But that outfit was a bust. I think she was trying to do "cool mom", but she left the wrong "mom" parts, and then added the wrong "cool" parts.
I think she's in it for a bit longer, and I bet we see some amazing things out of her. If they do a challenge that plays to her strengths, we're all gonna be dazzled.
And what a smile on her! Gosh... her "positive energy" is infectious. Just look at me! Suddenly I'm using phrases like "positive energy"!
The jacket wasn't too youthful, it was just too fugly.
Ok, first we have the monstrocity from episode 1, now this.
She is sweet and I love how she refused to throw anyone from her team challenge under the bus and how she is not buying into the drama but....
I still don't get why she is such a big deal.
"How do you feel in it, Tracy? To me, it just doesn't look like you"
Exactly!! I was like, you're kidding right? You don't know this woman AND she's saying that she likes it.
LOVE HER. Fugly outfit, i know, but i still love her. i will never forget her line "i'm coming to your planet with gifts." Genius!
I'm not understanding the anti-Elisa sentiment expressed by some of the posters. I find her to be completely charming--I love her use of sound effects to describe her clothes. I hope she sticks around for a while.
I agree with the judges that the outfit was unflattering, but it was definitely not the worst. I do like the design of the jacket--it just needs to be executed better with better proportions (which could have had something to do with the amount of fabric available).
Count me in on the Elisa bandwagon, but however.....The boots were too tall? Maybe ankle boots? Or the skirt needed to be a little longer, below the knee? Something.... most peoples knees/legs don`t look all that great, and for some reason it was glaringly obvious on her client, but I don`t quite know how I would have done it differently. The layers I thought did NOT add bulk, so whatever. And I loved the jacket!
Kzspot
Personally, I think that jacket looks like something Daniel would have created for his collection.
Doesn't Elisa usually work with fabrics that really flow and move? The last couple of challenges she's had the fabric chosen for her, and the results have been less than stellar.
I think the judges might have been singing a different tune if this outfit had been made out of a slinky jersey that just skimmed the model's body here and there...
These boots were made for walkin' ... to ... space, the final frontier.
Jeepers creepers, what's with all the Star Trek outfits this year?
LOVE Elisa.
Alex! you are so cute.
Elisa gets into trouble when she has too much fabric to use. She grew on me, a little off-center and sweet.
I don't HATE Elisa per se but she kinda rubs me up the wrong way. And that's not hot.
Her design this week was total crap. And I was surprised cuz she's done so well before.
Thanks for pointing out the judges weird bond with Tracey. Plus they asked her how she felt and whether she felt the look was "her" but didn't actually let her answer.....
And I agree - spit marks are gross.....I still don't entirely get what purpose they serve.....
sanjay, i think other posters have responded adequately on how moronic your post was.
since i'm a copy editor, i'll stick to correcting other things. she never said "imbibe," which means to drink. she said "imbue," which means to pervade, suffuse, influence.
K.: Damn, you beat me to it! I would also like to add, though, that perhaps Sanjay should not imbibe any spirituous beverages before commenting. Such mistakes might then be avoided. Just a suggestion, Sanjay.
And for the anonymouses: I don't see all that many negative comments about Elisa. It seems to me that the majority of commenters like her, but hate this outfit. I'm not crazy about it either (it *does* make Tracy look heavier than she is, and that kinda works against the whole point of the challenge, no?) but the judges were simply ridiculous with their "it's not Tracy" comments. Was it unflattering? Yeah, pretty much. Was it close to what Tracy wanted? Yes, according to Tracy. I might be going out on a limb here, but I think it's just possible that Tracy knows Tracy better than the judges do.
They may think it wasn't Tracy's style (like they know) but standing right next to her is proof it's completely age appropriate: Elisa is in her 40s.
Honestly, it was far from my favorite garment, but the critiques they gave didn't seem accurate.
think about it - Elisa seems to have a butt love in her designs, it must be the yoga.....
Thing for me was, if Tracy was between 40-50, her damned designer was a contemporary and Nina Garcia is very close in age.
But while Elisa was perfectly content to give her client an artsy-boho style the client obviously wanted (from the choice of boots) Nina is essentially telling Tracy, "no. *I* can have style but... no... *you* can have 'classic'."
What are the chances that Nina will accept that kind of stupid concept when she's a few years older?
And having friends who've lost a lot of weight, the first thing they want when they've bottomed out at a stable size and they start throwing out their 'fat clothes' is to buy stuff and wear stuff younger and more faddish that they've been denied for years - and not always adhering to 'good taste'.
Then again, I never thought Nina had particularly good taste, either. So her statements meant Mudd to me.
IMHO the dress was not that bad. It could have been better with only one layer of skirt and having that one layer be a little longer and even hem.
I like Elisa's personality.
"alex said: Ah, who am I kidding? Elisa would be partying with the metal kids behind the high school vocational building"
I feel confident that Elisa's only interest in metal would be recycling. And if you'd had a Judy Collins concert on Betamax, it would have been a match made in heaven.
--GothamTomato
I love Elisa. She reminds me of Bjork, and she's beautiful. I agree that she was limited by the fabric in this competition.
I loved when Ricky talked about knowing people like Elisa from his dance class days. I was like "Me, too!" I could totally see Elisa teaching modern dance to inner-city kids at the local community center.
Oh, and what you said, Anon 11:59. Right on. Nina's attitude was like, "Okay, Tracy, you've lost enough weight to get a new outfit, but you're here to be a challenging, plus-size, frumpy model. You have to starve yourself for a lot longer before you're allowed to have *style.*"
I love when you guys do screencaps--more, please!
The problem with the outfit wasn't that it was "too young" for the client--it just didn't flatter her, that's all.
Sewing Siren, regarding bracelet-length sleeves & bracelets: if you haven't ever seen the Preston Sturges movie, "The Palm Beach Story," you absolutely must!!
Not sure if I'd wear her designs but It's nice to see someone offering a different perspective of fashion on the show. Welcome to my boring planet, darling!
I have never cared for Elisa. I am sure she is a nice person, but new-age-y type people get on my nerves. She is too out there. When I was 10 my cousin and I would make sound effects while playing Star Wars. That is what she reminds me of. She is very immature intellectually.
The outfit was horrid and made that lady look fat again. She appeared to by trying to please the client, but she should know better and vocalize that to her client.
"Sage said... She is very immature intellectually."
I respectfully disagree. She may sometimes be ditsy and absent minded but she is extremely intelligent, articulate and well read (haiku?).
What I don't understand is how people can be "ok" with the spit mark. Why wouldn't you make a big deal out of it? If someone came down the street and spit on you, you would be mortified. Yet this gal spits on clothing she is making, and people say it's no big deal. Well I wouldn't want anything that has been pre-spit upon.
She did say imbibe and not imbue. TLO actually commented on it too. I have it on Tivo and checked to make sure.
Heidi and her hair remind me of Muppets (Janice from The Band, anyone?)
I love Elisa, I've liked most of her clothes and she seems like a genuinely sweet person.
She's wacky but I'd take her any day over the wackies of the past coughvincentcough
This outfit wasn't as horrendous as the judges made it out to be. Certainly, the green velvet outfit was not improved by Victorya. Also, Jillian just plain didn't follow the assignment.
Elisa is a sweet woman. I'm amazed at all the people who don't seem to be open minded about different ways of doing things.
Just realized! This skirt/boot look a lot like R Crumb's women and, especially, Aline Kaminsky-Crumb. Don't you think so, Comix Alex?
Link to Aline's comics
http://rcrumb.com/artgallery/pages/familygallery/SlideShow_assets/SlideShow.html?lang=en
That was desertwind.
PS - She's not hockin' a loogie on the fabric, ferchrissakes.
-- d'wind
Andrea said...
Sewing Siren, regarding bracelet-length sleeves & bracelets: if you haven't ever seen the Preston Sturges movie, "The Palm Beach Story," you absolutely must!!
No, I haven't seen it. If it is out on dvd I'll rent it. Thanks for the tip.
This skirt/boot look a lot like R Crumb's women and, especially, Aline Kaminsky-Crumb. Don't you think so, Comix Alex?
That's not a bad point, actually.
I think it probably comes from the fact that they are all dipping from the same pool of inspiration... namely, the post-flower child, berkeley expansion, commune-to-culturati vibe.
Loose, layered clothes that still show some skin, sexy boots that harken back to the pre-drop-out Go-Go dancin' scene...
I think you're on to something. (But if Elisa dresses someone like Mister Natural or the Snoid, we may be in trouple....)
i think i now have to love elisa because of that spread-eagle pose. she sews from the vag, and i have to respect that.
Oh, sweet jeebus. I'm killing myself trying to stifule my laughter. (It's almost 5:30 a.m., so the "normal" people are arriving in the building.)
Agreed, the dress is dreadful. But I'm liking Elisa more and more as the show goes on. And your screencaps and comments are beyond priceless. Your blogs are my best Christmas gift, guaranteed. Perfect color and fit, no exchange needed!
Elisa is really sweet. I thought I'd hate her when she first started rubbing her materials on grass and spitting on them, but she's nothing like Angela. I can even understand her reluctance to rub up against a male model. After all, she'd normally design for women and didn't expect to find herself upfront and personal with, er, bits.
But I'm fairly sure she's gonna bite the dust before we're down to the final 6. Her taste is, shall we say, unique, and she comes under fire too often to last.
Post a Comment