With no designers being eliminated last week, and 2 new designers coming on board, this week was sure to be an interesting challenge! Georgina joined Alyssa on the runway to lay out the challenge details.

Georgina first introduced a charity she works for in India, Magic Bus. Also joining these 2 lovely ladies on stage was a student of the Magic Bus program, Parvati Pujari. Parvati was the first person in her family to graduate high school, and she is now close to being finished with her Masters. This led to the theme of the week — GRADUATION!

Each designer would create a sophisticated party look that could be worn for a graduation celebration. It could be spring or summer. The winning look would be up for auction on eBay, with the proceeds going to Magic Bus. Since Dmitry won last week, he was able to choose his colors first and he assigned colors for everyone else.

Since this all was laid out right after last week’s runway, this challenge began on the next day, with the sketch session at Mood. This would be a 1-day challenge, with a budget of $150. As work began, we saw some instant complaints about color palettes for some, while others were quickly working away with their more appealing color combos.

Anne soon came in for her check-ins, with positives for some, but for others, she had more of a harsh take. She pointed out some tacky looks and to not fall into the skating costume realm. Probably her most choice words were to remind the designers that last week nobody went home, but that this week, someone was absolutely being eliminated.

Evan finished up his day with an early nap since his look was completed. But many designers still had lots to do and that spilled over into the next morning. It was nice to see some camaraderie amongst the designers in the workroom. The runway came quickly, and guest judges this week were actress Sofia Carson, and model/activist Kiera Chaplin.

I understood the judges’ assessment of the top and the bottom. I hated seeing Irina in the bottom just because I do love her as a designer, and her work. But I think a few others lucked out that Sunny didn’t adhere to the challenge guidelines. A few of the safe looks read matronly to me, so hopefully we don’t continue to see that trend. I still don’t think Anya did a huge step up from her work last week, and she would have been in the bottom on my list. I love Jasper, especially with his model ways in the workroom, but I haven’t yet connected with his work. And I ‘ve heard lots of impressive comments on Juli, but her work this week did not match those positive statements.

But enough on the negative, let’s transition to the top 3 and the positive work for the week. This was absolutely the top 3. My winner would have been Sean, I think had this work been a shorter length, maybe Isaac would have jumped on board. From what I heard, it seemed as if Isaac kept this from being the winning look. But Sean’s work was AMAZING in this purple & white color combo!!

I do agree that Anthony Ryan was leaps and bounds better than his work last week. I almost felt that might have been why they gave him the win, but nonetheless, kudos on making those 2 colors (blue & orange) work, and creating a youthful, celebratory look.

Seth Aaron rounded out the top 3. I liked his look, not loved though. I wish I had seen more of the red wine color he was given. All of the white, in the lace overlay format he used, kind of read doily to me?? The look didn’t knock my socks off and I think the judges felt the same. It was in the top though because it was a good look, just not a winning look.

As for the bottom 3, let’s start with Christina. I was surprised given how much I loved her work last week. She has lots of great ideas and that was her downfall here. She had too much going on in this red & navy look. The work she was doing didn’t connect and the look read way too mature for a graduation theme.

The bottom 2 consisted of Irina and Sunny. I was so happy Irina stayed. It would be a shame to lose her so early on! I understood what the judges said for her. I think had she done this look in a one-length dress or not had the front part so short, she would have been safe.

It is a shame to see such a beautiful look be in the bottom and to send a designer home, but each week there is a challenge, and the designers must follow the guidelines. I would understand a bit more had Sunny at least understood what he did wrong, but I don’t think he did. Even while waiting for the judges to deliberate, he discussed about the guidelines mentioning nothing of equal proportions. He clearly didn’t listen to the judges because they said nothing about the color combos being equal in usage, just that you had to use both colors. If he had maybe, deep in the skirt or bodice, used one blue overlay, he would have been fine. I actually don’t think using a little blue would have made the look horrible at all. It’s just a shame he didn’t even try!