It’s time for the designers to go a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll.

The Challenge: In teams of two, create a red carpet look and a performance look for country star Miranda Lambert. I know little about the woman herself other than her red carpet style is PAINFULLY dull, so she could use a good makeover. Unfortunately, I’m not quite sure that’s what she got.

Guest Judge: Miranda Lambert herself, who was all kinds of charming and adorable.

AMANDA VALENTINE
Top 4

As far as I was concerned, this was the clear winner on the runway. It was the only garment that was interesting, expensive-looking, and seemed like Miranda could actually wear it and look great in it – and that’s a tall order. Finding something dull enough for Miranda and intriguing enough to actually look stylish is no easy feat, but this fringed number more than met the challenge, and it was styled well. Amanda brought her own Nashville upbringing to the table and made something perfectly chic – I much preferred this over Richard’s look, which was similar in style but much cheaper-looking.

BENJAMIN MACH
Top 4

Surprisingly chic and well-executed, particularly coming from Benjamin, who has some serious time management issues. (By that I mean, he’s spent every episode nagging his teammates about what they’re doing and forgetting to focus on his own work.) This isn’t anything life-changing, and it’s a dress we’ve seen a lot before, but the color is interesting while still being in Miranda’s wheelhouse. I’m not sure her broad shoulders would be particularly flattered by this strapless silhouette, but this was a definite improvement over Benjamin’s prior work.

TU SUTHIWAT NAKCHAT

I think the pockets or whatever the hell he added to the skirt look terribly cheap, but the top of the dress is really nicely done. Virtually nothing about it says Miranda Lambert, though.

KATE PANKOKE

I thought this was on-trend, interesting, and something new and different for Miranda without looking completely out of sync with her personal style. I think the color would be excellent on her, and the silhouette would flatter her brilliantly, particularly the shoulders/back straps.

SAMANTHA BLACK
Bottom 4

This was complete trash. I love Samantha, but she completely phoned it in because of her immunity, and that’s incredibly frustrating to me. Even if you can’t get eliminated, you only have so many times to appear before the judges and all the people watching on TV and impress them. You should at least put some modicum of effort in.

DANIEL ESQUIVEL
Bottom 4

Atrocious. The effect he did to the leather that he thought was so brilliant actually made it look like cheap streamers you could buy at Party Fair. The silhouette is straight-up Kentucky beauty queen in the wrost possible way, the shredding at the bottom of the skirt cheapens the look even more, and everything about the fit and fabrics are just awkward and tacky. I honestly have a hard time believing this was even made by Daniel, that’s how awful it is.

MATTHEW ARTHUR
Eliminated

And of course, we say goodbye to one of the only designers who I didn’t find totally unbearable as a human being. This was not nearly the worst thing on the runway, but it wasn’t Miranda, and Matthew didn’t even try to defend it. That hurt him more than anything else, and since he’s not nearly as desperate for camera time as some of his competitors, he got sent home for it. And that’s a shame, because it was his partner who sent the real hot disaster down the runway…

MICHELLE LESNIAK FRANKLIN
Bottom 4

Hideous, completely unwearable, totally nonsensical, and just generally incomprehensible. Michelle is lucky that she’s physically incapable of shutting her mouth for more than five seconds at a time, because her constant, obsessive need to be talking to the cameras basically ensured that she couldn’t get eliminated for sending down this total piece of crap.

PATRICIA MICHAELS

News flash: no matter how much you like crafting your own weird textiles, that doesn’t work for every single challenge. And when you try to make it work for every challenge anyway, it becomes very clear that you don’t know how to do anything else.

LAYANA AGUILAR

Layana’s got construction skills, but I’m not convinced there’s an original thought in her brain. This, like all her work thusfar, is totally derivative.

RICHARD HALLMARQ
Winner

This was only okay, and I found it incredibly cheap-looking. Still unsure as to how or why this snagged the win.

STANLEY HUDSON
Top 4

That wonky, plunging bustline would look absolutely awful on Miranda’s figure. There was no room for this look in the top four whatsoever, as far as this Diva is concerned.

Judges’ Top 4: Richard, Stanley, Amanda, Benjamin
Diva’s Top 4: Amanda, Kate, Benjamin, Richard
Judges’ Bottom 4: Samantha, Daniel, Michelle, Matthew
Diva’s Bottom 4: Matthew, Samantha, Daniel, Michelle

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© Democracy Diva, 2013.
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