Finally got around to rewatching last week's ANTM. The Friday rerun is supposed to have extra footage, which turned out to be a few minutes at the end of Miss J. showing Tocarra how to walk so that her hips sway but her bosom doesn't bounce. I've got to say, he's good.
Regarding the argument between Tocarra and the wardrobe woman at the photo shoot. I felt like Tocarra did behave unprofessionally, but I can understand why she lost her cool. She's gone on and on (and on, and on) about wanting to be the first black plus sized supermodel. That episode may have been the first time she had a taste of how difficult that will be. None of the designers at the go-sees had clothes to fit her, which is exactly how it's going to be in the real world. I subscribed to Mode, the "fat fashion" magazine, during its brief run. They had some stories to tell about photographers showing up for a shoot, taking one look at the models and walking out. That's just the photographers! How much harder will it be for a young woman like Tocarra, no matter how beautiful she is, to convince mainstream designers she can represent them?
Diane von Furstenburg's remark, "Tocarra would be a good model for people who would want that kind of a girl," was cold but alas, true. Tocarra will be a great model, for designers who are willing to overlook their prejudices and give her a chance. I'm not saying she shouldn't try. I still think that of everyone there, she has the best potential at a career in modeling. But she's got a rough road ahead of her. Maybe she acted out last week because that's starting to sink in.
Having to wear a Home Depot uniform (actually I think it was a blouse from Lane Bryant) while the other models wore glamorous gowns must have been demoralizing. But the wardrobe woman at the photo shoot was trying to tell Tocarra that her job as a model is to wear whatever they give her and make it beautiful. (If you've seen any runway shows recently, you know how right she is that looking good while wearing crap is a big part of the job.) Last season in the final photo shoot, Yoanna wore a motorcycle helmet and looked prettier than Shandi did with flowers woven into her hair. It's too bad that Tocarra was too rattled to do the same. I really hope she bounces back this week. I know she has it in her. And I was impressed that she recognized her own responsibility to rise above it, rather than blaming the people around her.
The next big topic is Cassie. Alas, our optimism about the show trying to help her with her eating disorder was misplaced. That thing with Mark Bouwer measuring her hips and telling her they were too wide was awful. I mean, I'm sure stuff like that happens all the time, and worse. (was it Nicole Miller or Nanette Lepore who said Eva had a piggie nose?) But the producers knew she had serious body image problems. And they knew it had gotten to her because she mentioned it to the wardrobe mistress later on. They should have responded in some way besides just kicking her off the show and sending her back to pole dancing. I wish I had been able to go to her live chat and ask her if they did more to help her than we saw. Unfortunately I was busy that day and they haven't posted the transcript yet.
Final brief comments: I love Nanette Lepore, she's one of my favorite designers, and when she took a dislike to Amanda that only made me love her more. It was hilarious that Amanda took responsibility for making everyone late just to score brownie points, then complained that taking the blame made Lepore blame her. Ha! I wonder why they didn't make more of that at the judging? In season 1 when they did the same challenge, they came down really hard on Kesse for missing a go-see because she was shopping. I think they eliminated her for that.
Diane von Furstenburg's comment "they can't walk ... even the real models can't walk" was definitely the quote of the episode. Yaya came off as a bit of a snot in this episode but I still love her. And I don't blame her for wanting Lepore to know she was on time. It's a competition, not a schoolyard, and sharing the blame when she did nothing wrong isn't going to get her anywhere. At least Yaya wasn't going around saying "Respeito!" in everyone's faces this week. Norelle is gorgeous, if she had a more fierce attitude and a less clunky walk, I think she could win.
4 Comments
Norelle walks like a newborn colt in high heels. Your comments are all right on :-) I still felt for Toccara - she is *so* gorgeous, and yet far bigger than any regular fashion designer can deal with.
ooh, i love your ANTM posts! :-)
i had no idea that the friday episode was better than the wednesday episode. do they cut anything from wednesday's so that they can squeeze more stuff in on friday??
as for toccara losing her cool, here's the thing: if i recall correctly, she was frustrated --but not pissy-- when the clothes didn't fit her at the go-sees. when she really lost it was at ANTM's own fashion-shoot **where they already know toccara is plus-sized**. they've had clothes that fit her in the past... why not this episode?
i fear conspiracy from the producers. i think that's probably the genesis of the remark about cassie's hips, too. (i can see the suits in the conference room... "let's crank up the drama!!")
i feel like norelle could win, too. she's got a very "in" look... and it's a young look that could take her places (even though she's apparently "old" by modelling standards). i fear that amanda is going to get pretty far just by virtue of her spooky eyes. i would hope that yaya is in the top 3, too, though they keep picking on her for her skin.
nicole (is that her name? the red-head?) seems to look most like last-year's winner, though. i wonder if that's an asset or a liability?
shutting up now...
I don't think there was anything missing from the regular episode. At the very end I think they showed the extra footage instead of the "coming up next on UPN: an asshole lawyer forced to adopt a baby!" promo.
That's a good point, that Tocarra handled herself well during the go-sees, but really lost it when the clothing issue came up with the show's photo shoot. They know damned well they have to shoot a size 14 woman.
Of course we didn't see the beginning of the argument, so who knows what was said before. Still, if the wardrobe mistress was arguing that Tocarra had to wear an orange potato sack because there are no other clothes to be had in a 14, that's ridiculous.
Do you ever watch the extra footage on the website? It's insanely frustrating because the stream keeps rebuffering, but there's some interesting stuff there. They had a conversation from last week with Tocarra, Tyra, and Kate Dillon about the world of plus sized models. Apparently they want plus models to be smaller than the average woman, but not so much smaller that the model's figure seems unattainable. Dillon said there had been attempts to use larger models, size 18-20, and the clothes didn't sell as well as when the models were size 12-14. Personally I would like to see models who look like me, to get an idea of how the clothes might look on me. But according to them we would rather see a model who looks like we could be, or think we could.
Tyra also said that if she was starting out now she could never get work because she's a size 8, too big for mainstream and too small for plus sized! It's just insane.
It's possible that they asked Marc Bouwer to criticize Cassie's hips, but I'm not so sure. First because I get the impression that designers talk to models like that all the time. They're judged mercilessly based on their bodies. (my favorite mean remark during the go-sees was "Let's try that again without tripping this time, ok?") Anyone who can't handle being treated like a piece of meat should not try to be a model. Second because, I know that reality shows exploit people's weaknesses to create drama, but asking someone to tell a bulemic she has fat hips? That would be beyond the pale.
forgot to add that I heard Tyra really wanted a black woman to win this time. Tyra isn't the only judge, but she does seem to have a lot of clout over the others' opinions.
Much as I love Tocarra, I don't think a plus model will win the contest unless she is miles ahead of all the others. There have been too many merely okay photos (the trampoline, the roller skates and the Home Depot shirt) for Tocarra to be the hands-down leader at this point. Although I still believe she is the best.
Also, the main prize is the Cover Girl contract, which may mean Cover Girl gets some input into the final choice. (They probably want to avoid another Adrianne situation where the client basically reneges on the prize because they don't like the winner.) Cover Girl already has Queen Latifah and I don't see them wanting two black plus sized models. Unfortunately I think this is a big strike against Tocarra.
I also love Yaya, but again, the Cover Girl contract is a problem for her because of her skin. On the other hand they make her skin look great in retouching, so maybe I'm making too much of that. And they do seem to hassle her a lot about being too "dancerish" whatever that means.
Next, Eva. She's good, good enough that only Janice is still bitching about her height. If she keeps taking photos like last week's, she might be the winner.
So who's left besides that? Ann, Amanda, Nicole, Norelle. I was thinking that Ann would be the next to go until she took such a good photo last week. Now, who knows. She does have an amazing body and looks a lot like Gabrielle Reece. She needs to continue to perform like last week, not like the prior 6 weeks.
Amanda: I'm not a good judge because I HATE her. But it seems to me the point of the contest is to help them start a career in modeling. That's impossible for Amanda who's 24 years old and going blind. Besides, I think the only reason she's been taking such good photos is her prior modeling experience. When they get outside her range of experience, like last week, she flops. Or maybe I just hate her.
Nicole: I don't have really strong feelings about her. She's never bad, but never great either. So I guess I agree with Tyra that she's unmemorable. If she shows a lot more personality in the next few episodes she might be a surprise contender.
Norelle: At the beginning I thought she was going to be this season's Shandi: the gawky dork who turns out to be perfect for high fashion. But she's not getting up to speed the way Shandi did. Witness her relief at not falling down at any of the go-sees. I predict her to go home next, unless Ann takes a miserably bad photo or throws up on Marc Jacobs or something.