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This was my first time ever at the Getty Villa and I was enchanted by the surroundings, and trying to take pictures while we had a break from filming:















And now, onto my "Nick's Take"/Inside Dish of the Episode:




















Naturally, Oscar was already done with his stunning "Gladiator Princess" look very early on, and so he began helping Natalia, making sure the team was on track to being a success.



Runway Time:








Oscar Garcia-Lopez: Simply stunning and oh-so-chic. This was a perfect modern interpretation of an upper class aristocratic, fashion-savvy woman living in Pompeii. I especially loved the back cape that hinted at the Gladiator's capes of the time. Oscar doubled the ENTIRE ensemble, which was a creme colored crepe, and finished it to perfection.










Natalia Fedner: Originally, Natalia wanted to hand-weave some silk chiffon and create some sort of a mini dress. I didn't agree with her weaving since it came out of nowhere and looked a bit wonky and unfinished. It took some time to convince her to "save her weaving technique for another day and challenge" but she did. I commend her for being a team player and I think the end product was a stunner! This floaty and ethereal dress was gorgeous.




Stephanie Ohnmacht: Originally Stephanie wanted to do big, wide palazzo pants in that printed chiffon. But after everyone decided that Natalia's design would be long and floaty, we all figured that having too long floaty styles would be repetitive so that's how the romper came to fruition. Here's another "Inside Dish": Stephanie wanted to sew that back "mini cape" onto the waist of the shorts; in other words, this wasn't going to be a cape at all, just an over piece in the back. I suggested that in order to give a "hint" of Oscar's Gladiator Princess cape in his final look, she should leave it out, loose. I'm glad she did.





Nick's Team!



OMG!!! Look at our reactions--I think our screams of joy almost gave Tim Gunn--and the judges--a heart attack! And I felt as if I just gave birth to a baby after 24 hours of labor!

Congratulations to my designers, well done! After so many weeks of feeling like the "Bad News Bears", this was a welcomed nice feeling.




And...Congratulations to Oscar who was the challenge winner for that gorgeous creme caped pant ensemble. Felicitaciones!

Hello again "Under The Gunn" fans and faithful readers of my "Inside Dish" here on my blog---This week was the 4th episode of Lifetime Network's "Under the Gunn" entitled "Unconventional Vampire". The challenge was to create a look inspired by the new film "Vampire Academy" and use a mix of both "regular" fabric as well as unconventional.





I loved the whole spooky imagery created by the lights and scenic production team of "Under The Gunn". The entire "set" was AMAZING! It was all done at Grand Hope Park right outside of the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising/FIDM campus, yet these professionals "turned it out"; making everything look like a scary movie, of sorts. There was SO much dry ice "fog" air that, several times, we could barely see Tim introducing the challenge--or "Vampire Academy" actress Sarah Highland--and therefore filming had to be stopped, and re-shot.



So let's get to my "Inside Dish" and yes, Miss Isabelle...




The Tim Nudge: When Tim Gunn and I went into the workroom to visit my designers--and specifically Isabelle, she was ALL OVER THE PLACE. When she was trying to explain to both of us what she was doing, it was evident that she needed to focus. When Tim Gunn nudged me as she was talking, it was as if he was saying to me "That Isabelle is CRAY CRAY...and Good Luck!".




Inside Beauty Dish: Something you guys didn't see on the episode was the fact that during the hair-and-makeup time, and after Benefit Cosmetics and Blow Pro finished their job of making her model look fab, Isabelle was NOT HAPPY (she looked perfectly fine, BTW!). She decided to take her model, sit her in a Benefit "Pretty Room" chair and re-do her model's hair.







She was OBSESSED with this and shaking at the thought of her model going out during the runway with what the actual professionals had done. I tried to tell her that the Blow Pro stylists had done a great job on her model's hair but she was totally against it so she went "Hair Rogue". In the end, her model's hair was OK and not an issue but I, personally, thought it was rather disrespectful to do this.












Natalia Fedner: Natalia's wine-red silk dress was a good one. Behind the scenes, she struggled a bit with this but in the end, she pulled it out.

Inside Dish: The black netting midriff was the issue, but like I said., it all worked out.




Stephanie Ohnmacht: I LOVED Stephanie's ivory fitted "Vampira Chic" dress. I have to say that it was one of my faves and not just because she was one of my designers. Her design was sleek and reminded me of a Stephane Rolland or Rolland Mouret dress. This look, however, was not problem-free.




Inside Dish: Stephanie used this black netting "unconventional" material which she incorporated in the neckline. The netting was very harsh and itchy and eventually made her model cry as it rubbed up against her skin. Her whole neck was red from the irritation. I reached out to the production people to get some medical tape that possibly could be put against her skin to lessen her pain. To make a long story short, we got it done. But her model gets TEN RUNWAY POINTS for not CRYING through the whole runway experience.




Oscar Lopez: This was my favorite look of the night and I was surprised it did not win. Oscar hit the whole "Vampire Academy Chic" look on the nose!

Inside Dish: Oscar used red "unconventional" material and black jersey. He completely doubled this jumpsuit in the jersey fabrication. Completely. During the fitting with his model, however, we hit a problem: it was too short in the torso. He miscalculated the model's torso length. I came in and suggested to Oscar that he add a 2-2 1/2" waistband in the black jersey and sew it to the waist to "extend" the torso. Not only did Oscar do that but he also (wisely) added it to the red front panel. No one would ever notice the "mistake". I was in awe of his quick sewing "fixing" ability.








Isabelle Donola: Oh Miss Isabelle. Let me just say that when Tim and I went into the workroom, I quickly got the sense that she A) did not want to be mentored (at least by me); and B) she wasn't going to listen to my suggestions. I liked her idea but asked her to edit and think about having her look be less kooky and more fashion-friendly. I also asked Isabelle to do an "Option 2" in terms of a wrap-around red accent. Only because I thought her first idea would be considered too "avant garde" and would not be flattering for her wearer.




Oh Dear Isabelle: The following day, I found out that she had not done as I suggested and half-made the inner-dress. I almost choked when judge Zanna Roberts Rassi said that the aforementioned inner dress was so well-done (if Zanna only knew that it was half sewn!). But in "Project Runway"-style, Isabelle made it work. But trust me kids, this experience with Isabelle made me think twice about choosing her as one of my group's designers. It was beginning to be obvious that she did not like me, respect me or wanted  my advice.

I was really excited about this challenge, as a mentor. And after coming off the "designer picking process" and feeling a bit rejected, I was excited because I thought "this was right up my alley". In retrospect, my "Hands On" approach was probably me over-compensating and trying to prove to my designers (and myself) that I was a worthy mentor. And, I also should have known, that the minute I said that "I have this 'in the bag'" on camera is the minute I was going to be in trouble!







Let's get to my inside dish "Nick's Take" on the Episode...

As I said before, this was THE FIRST "actual"
challenge-- not only for the designers but for us the Mentors. This
was going to be a test of sorts on how I should mentor for the first
time. Since I had no other guide on what I should do--mentoring-wise--I
went to my "Instructor Nick" mode when I taught at FIDM in my draping,
sewing, sketching and pattern classes. This began right away during the
bus ride when the designers were given their "sketching time".







HANDS OFF, NICK!: Instead of letting them just sketch alone on
their own, I sat by them and began giving them suggestions and in fact
sketching for them. Now, some of the designers did ask me for
suggestions, since they knew I had knowledge in this "department" of red
carpet dressing. In hindsight, now I realize I should have just let
them figure it out on their own and I shouldn't have been so hand's on.
Then, after the sketching and designers went fabric shopping, I
made my visit to the workroom--along with Tim--and my "hand's on/Instructor Nick"
approach unfortunately continued. This was primarily focused on two of
my designers--Natalia and Stephanie. They were the only ones asking me
questions, asking for my help, etc., and I LOVED giving them my help
(Oscar and Isabelle were on  their own and self-sufficient, for the most part).








It all came to a crescendo when...Natalia had run out into the workroom hallway/lounge area asking me for help with her gown pattern and I found myself ON THE FLOOR truing her pattern/fixing a seam line. Tim, then ran to us and began (correctly so) yelling at me wondering WHAT THE HECK I was doing??!! It was not until then that a BIG ROCK hit me: What the heck was I doing??!! I completely lost myself in going back to being "Instructor Nick" and forgotten that these designers were NOT my students and realized that none of the other mentors were sketching and/or making patterns/draping for their designers and more importantly Tim would NEVER do any of those things either (Stupid me!). It was too late for me to realize that this manner of "mentoring" was not the right way and if it wasn't for Tim, I might have just kept on doing it (Thank You Tim). Again, I really thought I was helping my designers, but I wasn't.



Watch Tim tell me "HANDS OFF!" HERE...



The Runway:



















Isabelle Donola: Isabelle created a very fitted dress from a golden hued silk shantung. The dress featured a draped cowl front and mesh-like back.

Inside Dish--Isabelle had originally made the dress to be LONG but it ended up being TOO SHORT, she then added a piece at the bottom hem (to make it floor length). When I saw what she had done, I told her that the judges might see that and notice it as a mistake. I suggested that she should do away with that piece and just make the dress "tea-length"--below-the-knee cocktail. And she did, and I think the look was quite chic.




Natalia Fedner: Natalia's gown was of silk charmeuse--a fabric Natalia said she loved using in her own line and that it's one of her "signatures". The gown was one shoulder with gold straps.

Inside Dish: This is the dress that I was ON THE FLOOR trying to help Natalia with. Originally, however, this gown was going to have those gold straps and a gold piece in the front but both Tim and I suggested that under the time constraints, this might be too much work for her. She therefore kept it simple and made it a clean one shoulder plain front with asymmetrical side pleating.




Oscar Garcia-Lopez: I loved Oscar's hunter green gown. This was perfectly made and VERY red carpet. I thought that he would be on top.

Inside Dish: Oscar was done waaaaay before any of the other designers. In fact he had so much time, he began cleaning and sweeping the workroom as a result (bless his heart!). Also, this gown was going to have a keyhole front opening AND he wanted to add a BIG BOW at the back--right on her bootie, as well as give her a TURBAN and long gloves. Not kidding. I suggested that it might be "too mucheey" and to keep it simple. He did and it looked gorgeous.




Stephanie Ohnmacht: Stephanie created a strapless dress with this green taffeta.

Inside Dish: Two things happened to Stephanie that weren't good: her fabric choice and the fact that I tried to help. The concept of the design and dress was sweet--she was going for a dress for the young "Hollywood" girl but it ended up looking prom-a-licious. She wanted to do some interesting diagonal draping and make the dress not have side seams yet still achieve a fuller shape. And even with my "Too Hands-On" help (which didn't really help) the dress looked tortured. Seeing the dress on the runway really also brought it home to me to try and stay HANDS OFF. I was sure that my Stephanie would be going home. But she didn't! (thank goodness).




Out: Who did go home was Camilla Castillo. I actually LIKED this dress; it was simple, modern and a little bit "Raf Simons for Dior". I even liked the origami-like folding in the back. The dress, however, was a little too see-through in the front and the fabric was wrinkled. Camilla also made lots of excuses on the runway/judging which I think the judges did not like. She went home.




The Best: (left to right) Designers Blake Smith (Anya's designer) and Sam Donovan (Mondo's) were the two best looks and rightly so. I loved these two designs and for being such polar opposites of what could be deemed as a "red carpet" look. One was a beautifully constructed va-va-voom of a gown (Blake's) and Sam's was a young, directional-looking jumpsuit for an up-and-coming Hollywood ingenue "It" girl. Sam won and Congrats to him!



Click HERE to watch Tim's take on the Episode and talk about my TOO HANDS ON approach (Oyyy Vey!)