Making the Cut E4 Recap: Welcome to The Night Circus

Let’s start with a Corrections Corner. In my Making the Cut E3 recap, I announced Troy was safe. But since each show runs into the next with auto-play, I spaced, and Troy wasn’t actually saved until E4. Sorry, but streaming platforms should stop this “to be continued” business. Anyhoo…

After all those sad collabs, Tim and Heidi are sick of it! The designers are snoozy. They don’t want to work with Amazon bad enough. Every kid that goes to Parsons should be praying to Jeff Bezos at night.

They want the designers to show fire in the belly to cut through the noise! (This is how I describe my farts.)

So remember when Tim said this isn’t a sewing competition? Psych! I am now channeling Kandi Burruss and screaming, “The lies. The LIES!” at my TV.

Making the Cut is now a sewing competition. The designers have seven hours to complete a look, without the help of an overnight seamstress. The designers have to sew to demonstrate they can fight and lead a global brand. It makes me think fondly on that one MBA class: Principals of Brother Sewing Machines.

It is odd that some of these folks can’t even thread a sewing machine and have built successful clothing brands. I mean, Nicole Richie has a brand, but still.

Designers have to use the fabric left over from their last challenge or whatever is laying about the workroom. The designers go back to the hotel to think about what they’ve done. Some sit alone in their rooms and sketch. Some sit in the courtyard smoking and drinking wine. I know which House I would join in the quarantine. House #2, Yes Way, Rosé.

The designers continue to be kind and gracious and not give us a lot of inter-personal drama. They encourage each other and nervously chatter. And then Ji Won runs over Rinat’s toe, can you believe what happens next?! Ji Won says she is sorry, and Rinat laughs it off. What a bunch of bitches sweeties!

On to the looks…

Megan

Megan describes her brand as “if JLo and the coolness Bianca Jagger were to have a baby,” and this outfit nails it. The pop of yellow and the flash of skin is young and yet accessible for anyone. Hoop earrings know no age limits, people.

The only noted flaw is the elastic waistband on pants that otherwise look expensive. I think this is the highest compliment for design and decor. It looks expensive. Take note, Drake.

Rinat

Rinat’s grandfather father was the village tailor and was murdered in Auschwitzh. With her work, she is carrying on his legacy. That’s a heavy and wonderful tribute. It breaks my heart because I wonder what Rinat was thinking when Naomi said that in a war the tailor survives. Her grandfather, the tailor, did not.

After learning that, I am rooting for her and want to love her creation. And yet…

Her outfit can’t decide what it wants to be, and I think that is because the fabric choice is wrong for this design. The top and skirt look like what an “officeworker” wears to the downtown bar to pick up Goldman Sachs VPs, drug them, take them to the strip club, and then max out their credit cards. Slutty while knowing how to work an Excel pivot table.

Ji Won

Ji Won is a fortune teller! This is a jumpsuit-cum-pajamas-cum-your-Dad’s-robe. I love everything about it.

The judges aren’t super jazzed, but how could they have known the lock-down hellscape in which we we would currently find ourselves. This look is NOW. And when Biden becomes president, I hope he reinstates the NSC pandemic unit and puts Ji Won on the team. She has the sight.

Sabato

I had a fear of not knowing how to sew. But fear is very necessary to grow. I want to learn this because it’s a limitation. And I’m a fighter. I’m a warrior. I just have to do it.

It’s a testament to Sabato’s sweet personality that everyone wants to help him figure out how to use the sewing machine. Sander gives him the best advice: Look how the thread goes in the other machines, and then you can copy it. Everything is copy, Sabato. Even education.

For not being able to sew, Sabato comes up with a pretty, kick-ass dress. Thor’s step-mom, Frigga, bought one and wears it around Asgard while yelling, “It’s wine time!”

Sander

Sander uses a mix of organza, linen, and Sherwin Williams to pull off this structured, abstract look. It’s visually interesting and looks like sculpture, but this dress would not be kind to a woman who experiences tummy bloat, i.e. every woman on the planet.

Will

I’m viscerally mad at it. The shiny top does no favors to a busty woman. Give her some support! And a cropped sequin pant to wear to the club? I would litter the dance floor with paillettes as my thighs rubbed together. These culottes would not hold up to a single Usher song.

Esther

Whatever woman Esther imagined when she designed this dress, I want to be her. The neck. The power shoulder. The cinched corset waist that still looks comfortable. The silk that is not too shiny. It’s perfect. I would wear this dress to meetings and get whatever I wanted.

Jonny

Jonny, who works in tough-guy leather, gave us this week’s winning look. I think his collaborating with Megan — who had the other top look of the week — pushed Jonny forward in his design. Megan kept Jonny alive.

Jonny says his look is for “the daughter of Beetlejuice,” but for me, this dress evokes The Night Circus. It’s dreamy yet confident. It has a feeling of danger, and yet, I am compelled to look at it. Imagine the worlds Celia Bowen could build while wearing this dress. Magical and menacing. I want that written on my tombstone.

Troy

Some people don’t work well under negative pressure, and Troy could not pull it off after almost being sent home last week.

He was praised for being a tailor, and yet Sabato — who can’t sew — could have done a better job with that jacket. The dress underneath is an unfinished black caftan. Mrs. Roper would never!

The jacket is ill-fitting, and reminds me of the Casual Corner suits I used to borrow in my early 20s to go on job interviews. A jacket that is too big depletes your confidence because it makes you feel like you don’t belong. The worst thing you can do to a woman is give her clothes that make her doubt herself. And that is what Troy did this week.

What was Naomi Campbell up to this week?

Rocking a high pony, Naomi fought hard for Troy and he let her down.

She does not mince word with her critique. “Troy…. It all sounds lovely but your words were now to us you ‘attempted.’ You liked the ‘concept.’ These words is not sounding sure of what you are doing. And this is how your clothes look — unsure!”

She blasts the jacket, correctly saying it’s too hard to put a long, flowing sleeve into a jacket. That’s why cold weather Halloweens suck! Trying to cram your Elvira costume into a North Face is a nightmare.

And then she goes in for the kill. “As a model, that would be my worst nightmare to have to model that outfit.” Ice cold, Naomi. Ice. Cold.

Catch up with our Making the Cut coverage. New episodes drop every Friday on Amazon Prime.