We’re nearing the end and last week we said goodbye to Kyle, and it’s now the semi-finals with two episodes remaining. The guest judge helping with critiques this week is Tiffany Benedetto from Queen of Raw. As the queen of raw her mission is solving the world’s water crisis, focusing on textiles and the importance of unused and upcycled textiles and their impact on the environment. Textiles is the number two polluter in the world of clean water with a massive 288 billion worth of unused fabric in warehouses sent to landfill or to be burnt.
Through her special causes, creating a marketplace for designs, students can buy and sell unused fabric. Due to her work not only has she turned pollution into profit but saved over a billion gallons of water to create clean water for future generations. Altheticims is the theme of the week a word I do not associate myself with at all – the competitors are to think outerwear, sporty and active.
Benjamin begins his talk with Barbuda and Lucinda by stating he’s not sports orientated at all and didn’t grow up in sports. I think most can relate to this, without generalizing most creatives do not tend to care for sports. Personally, I hated it at school, I would just be in the art room with my art teacher working on our latest project! Gymnastics and Ice skating are probably the only sport worthy of watching – the outfits, the sparkle, and the artistry is a sports in itself.
Gidget is on the other end of the spectrum and loves athletics being involved during high school and enjoyed being part of a team. Dianna is enthusiastic about this challenge, and makes a valid point of people either love or hate sports there is no in-between. Reflecting on taking a chance and going outside her comfort zone, and that it’s a topic uncomfortable for all of them. However, this is a fun chance for us to see them all take a risk and embrace an challenge they without doubt know they’ll all smash!
The makeover team is here to delve into the concepts and see what they can do to bring the outfits to life. Neon seems to be a strong theme for quite a few contestants, Missy explaining wanting fun and crazy yet weird and filthy – that should be her tagline.
With the photoshoots beginning Gidget once again gets his prize of an accompanied photographer for his shoot. For the critiques, Benjamin shows his fashion-forward fencing garment, and it’s well constructed. It’s also clean, and concise and you understand the sport and concept straight away. Missy brings us a roller derby dream, it’s colorful, fun, and stands out for all the right reasons. What I love is it’s so colorful and pact with a pattern, yet still sticks to Missy’s aesthetics and her vision. Dianna left her comfort zone to create a zany dodge ball inspired garment. I loved the use of color to make it pop with an interactive aspect, having the queen become part of the dodgeball game. Encouraging the judges to chuck balls at the target on their backs. It’s fun it’s out of the box and something we haven’t seen from Dianna.
Reflecting on all four pieces, the judges must come to a conclusion on who comes out on top. Again a hard decision all four have gone into great detail, making sports fun and interesting. With that said choices have been made and the winner this week is Dianne, proof stepping out of your comfort zone is always worth aiming for.
Apologizing for crying on TV, and saying she’s making a fool of herself is so endearing. Everyone watching/reading dont be afraid to cry and be proud of your achievements. Benjamin is announced as the next person through to the finale, leaving just one more palace in the finale. Going through to the final is Missy, meaning we say goodbye to Gidget. A shame as he has such a warm charm about him, yet this competition is down to the sequin.
We have our top three and it’s an incredibly varied mix of creatives with different visions and concepts. Should be an interesting final, so who do you want to win? Tune into Sew Fierce every Wednesday on OUTtv.
