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Task #6
Sand In Every Hole & Crack
Nothing I love more than dating my long-terms with topical tasks. This next task wasn't planned at all, but since we're on Week 6 and still have ten people, I chose to dip into current pop culture trends for this impromptu task.
For this week, we will be designing heavily layered Avant Garde outfits inspired by Adam J. Middleton's rejected concept art from Dune (2021)!
These regal yet foreboding costumes created by Middleton were unfortunately turned down by the production of Villeneuve's first Dune installment. They may have been too intimidating for a general filmgoing audience, but they're perfect for Snawlterm! For this task you must design an outfit inspired by the concept art above. You do not need to have seen any Dune film or read the book(s), your inspiration is this concept art only. Your outfit can be as aesthetically close to the art as you'd like, just remember to build upon the art, not plagiarize it. You can also take creative liberties to distance your outfit from this art, so long as you don't deviate too far; your final outfit should be clearly inspired by the art. You can show skin, do a wildly different colour palette, or negate a head accessory entirely. However, you still must abide by the key concepts of Avant Garde and heavy layers to succeed in this task.
Your due date for this task is Sunday, March 17th at 8:00pm EST (1am GMT).
Good luck, final ten!
Panel #6
For a task that was honestly made up on the fly, I must say I am thoroughly impressed with the results it yielded. These ensuing ten outfits are as diverse as they can be, each offering a unique spin on this task as well as a small window into the creative psyche of their respective designer. Critiquing a week as talented and interesting as this - as a host - is nothing short of an absolute treat. I hope this week is a sign of things to come going forward.
Because this was a impromptu task, I didn't have a guest judge scheduled, and so for the sake of saving time I will be judging this week solo.
As you guys know, we are still currently overbooked with the number of remaining contestants. Because of this, I have decided to make this week a double elimination.
chris (doglover)
Snawl: You submitted this outfit less than 18 hours after the task went live, and yet it's as fresh in my mind as the moment you turned it in. The staying power of this magnificent, intimidating, somewhat dreary art piece is massive, and it's genuinely not something I expected from you. You set the bar extremely high immediately out of the gate, and my guest judge chat has been stirring about it since. The samurai-like helmet has such a useful gold pattern on the backside, and you're using it to its maximum effect by sitting it atop the Indian villain cape. The use of hair also helps reinforce what looks like some sort of fantasy world humanoid creature concealing their true appearance. The striped shoes calling back to the headpiece is such a great idea, too. The smooth, linear outline you've codified for yourself with the villain cape is helping the inner underlayers stand out to the best of their abilities. Normally I can't imagine finding the flower top and suspenders particularly interesting, but the cape is forcing my eye to concentrate on them and appreciate their subtle contribution. Not only in this your strongest design so far, I think this may in fact be the strongest outfit of the whole competition! Truly phenomenal work on this task, Chris! I hope you are as proud of yourself for this outfit as we are of you.
Snawl: Deep down, I knew you were going to blow the lid off this task... and I was right! This outfit succeeds in conveying your iconic over-the-top style as loyally as possible while also keeping things fresh and unpredictable. My favourite designers are always the ones whose work is familiar, but can never be pigeon-holed. The loudest, most impactful element of this outfit is undoubtedly the headpiece. Its inspiration appears to be some sort of Mongolian Gobi Desert wanderer, or maybe Sino-Tibetan culture adjacent ceremonial garb - I don't know I'm not an anthropologist. The rest of the outfit is devoted to the headpiece in both colour and texture. The sort of suppressed nature you're using the poncho by glitching out its trademark sides is really nice and it breathes life and new discovery into an otherwise very familiar item. The large scarf was sort of a no-brainer for this task, but I can't say this usage is derivative or uninspired at all. It serves its purpose succinctly. The bulbus gown and the burgundy reinforcement underneath is also really stunning and once again helps the upper poncho region stand strong, which in turn platforms the headpiece even stronger. I can't even make my typical "I wish you added more colour!" critique because the reoccuring colour palette is genuinely this outfit's strongest creative decision which is allowing the fabrics & accessories stand on their own. Brilliant work yet again!
jared (fierce.needles)
Snawl: I'll be honest with you Jared, I feel mildly disrespected by you this week, whether that was your true intention or not. Last week, I criticized you for submitting too many "cutesy, predominately blue" outfits - and this week you give me this. Sure I guess this can be considered violet, but it's still in the same vein of what I asked you to not do. Headpiece aside, the rest of the outfit appears to be only two pieces, one of which just came out and is completely novel.
With this submission, it's pretty clear you don't wish to partake in S9 any more. That's fine, I won't force you to keep playing. However I wish you actually said something because I could have spared Ashlyn, who had an actual shot at winning the competition. I don't know what I said/did for you to lose interest in partaking, and it's a shame because you're a tremendously talented designer who is overdue for an LT win. I have no interest in playing the passive aggressive Olympics with anyone, so when you're ready to talk, I'll be here. Till then, farewell & take care of yourself.
Sarah (sparkle)
Snawl: The sci-fi technology approach is really interesting and I wish more people experimented with it this week. I love how you reinforced the black edges of the knight's armour with additional black on the flared blouse. The bulky scarf looks nice too and is an appropriate callback to Adam J. Middleton's original inspiring work. Positives aside, this outfit falls flat when compared to everyone else's submissions this week. What you did design, is designed really well. Unfortunately for you, everyone else just went bigger. Bigger risks, bigger ideas, bigger everything. This outfit, while quirky and pleasing to look at, doesn't strike me as Avant Garde all that much, which was supposed to be an important integral to this task. A couple weeks ago at panel I said, being good isn't good enough when everyone else is great, and that seems to ring truer and truer as this competition advances forward, the numbers dwindle down and people are fighting tooth & nail for a spot in the finale. You're skilled enough to where you certainly belong in this competition, but you're running out of time because I can't wait for you forever. I'm worried for you.
Nicole (nicrobbo95)
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Snawl: Before I judge your outfit, I need to stress the importance of proper photography. This outfit appears to have been photographed in :zoom 1 instead of the LT standard :zoom 2, hence why it looks fuzzier than everyone else's submissions this week. Going forward, you need to make sure your outfit is photographed in :zoom 2 (should you continue to use retros.) Remember, you can always ask me to photograph you too. I promise the outfit's resolution will have no impact on your score this week, but if it happens again, I'll have no choice but to deduct points.
As for the outfit, it has elements I really love. The black lines slicing their way through various regions of the outfit in different directions is awesome. I love how they widen out with the gown as they travel lower. I also love the checkered undergarment and its neutral colour. My biggest criticism of this outfit is the head accessories, which I find to be very bland and uninspired compared to everyone else's. When you coloured the hijab blue, you essentially highlight it and draw the viewer's eye in. But then you did nothing else with it besides cover one eye and slap a bow behind it. Had the hijab been coloured black or brown and blended in with the bow, it would look like a more natural, seamless headpiece instead of two separate pieces that don't quite match. Everything else about this outfit is really good.
chan (chan.)
Snawl: Mmmmm, I love the head accessories, they're very quirky and sci-fi without being too goofy. I also like how this outfit's demeanor is both saggy, yet restrictive; your arms look like they're being concealed down by the straps. This is a very interesting and wholly original take on the task. Sadly, it is being brought down by your use of some rather common and expected items. I have admonished a few people in this season already for using the tartan sash in a backwards angle because it genuinely doesn't interest me at all any more, it's been done to death since the item's inception. That strap from the fanny/chest pack is also pretty overdone, although it's not as jarring as the tartan sash. Had you experimented in the wardrobe with some oddball combinations, I think you could have uncovered a truly magical item combination that would elevate this otherwise much deserving outfit into that higher echelon. You did good this week, but a fundamental flaw is dragging you down. Sorry, Chan.
elysse (lc22)
Snawl: This outfit is juicy; I feel like I'm slicing into a tangerine every time I look at this. I just love how your many layers share very similar perimeters and appear to be hugging each other closely. The hair, cape, overcoat, and sleeves are bundled together like cabbage leafs, sharing an adherence to each contour and groove. The drama coming from the large dress is fun, and it catches the bottom of the coat and prevents it from looking out of place or messy. I don't exactly know how you're achieving the marigold colour near the ears, it's definitely not an earring so I can only assume it's an item I'm not familiar with yet. Either way it looks great and it works well with the splotch pattern top (a very underrated item that I am happy to see getting some LT love.) Your decision to expose the model's face is brave and it didn't quite sit well with me at first, but I've come around to appreciate the decision. This is a very overbearing, yet strangely accessible outfit from a task that didn't quite evoke it, but I'm thankful you brought the concept to life. Excellent work.
filip (lidl-wayne)
Snawl: There is an ominous beauty to this outfit. The endless gown, the void-like black, the seemingly random blue rectangle, the black bowl cut that makes me think of the Alejandro music video. Everything is so seamless and well composited that it only could have been made by a real life artist such as yourself whose heart is in this field. The chest region of this outfit is especially breathtaking because of how well the handkerchief's fabric pattern matches the gown's pattern, and how it is abruptly spliced into the bare blackness. The idea to leave the rest of the gown uninterrupted is a very brilliant and unconventional way of conveying Avant Garde; it contradicts basic artistic impulses which tell designers to break it up with a belt, or to pick an obnoxiously large shoe to jut out from underneath. It's minimal, it's striking, it makes me want to commission you for a 5-piece collection building off this one design alone. Superb work this week!
joey (jozinga)
Snawl: Sailor Moon converts to Islam, and we're here for it. Despite being a fairly uniform outfit with only three colours, this piece actually has a lot of depth to get lost in. The orange hijab, hair, scarf, and trim are all great and they capture the viewer's eye and lock it in place, but it's the deepness of the luscious reds in the middle that really excite me. I love how you're using quaint, vintage, almost frontier era clothing to make something that looks so futuristic and otherworldly. The amount of texture you settled on is great, but part of me thinks you likely could have gotten away with a bit more detail, especially around the waist/lower torso region. I'm just now noticing the two brown pixels at the bottom of the gown which are your shoes; I wish you hid them better because the way my mind is wired, I just imagine your model is a little person standing on a cardboard box. That's just me, though. Regardless, this is a solid submission. Nice work, Joey.
mickey (player)
Snawl: I greatly appreciate that this task's sci-fi nature wasn't lost on you. Looking at this outfit, I am mesmerized by how successfully you split everything into three distinct regions by colour. The pet holder contraption thingamajig on your side instantly reminds me of Death Stranding - a dystopian sci-fi video game with a protagonist who has to carry a tiny biosphere with a baby living inside of it. The unnatural invasion of the green U-shaped tube stretching across the body is so comically impractical, and yet I don't hate it at all. Normally I dislike trinkety head accessories like such because their detached nature can look like cheap plastic, but here I find they blend perfectly well with the bronze mechanical elements underneath. The raised hand could very well be a natural part of the costume, almost looks like a really dramatic popped collar, or some sort of inverted jabot pointing up. This is a wacky, yet very thought-provoking (albeit nonsensical) outfit that achieves groundbreaking visuals from a task that allows for such an avenue to be taken. Great stuff.
Conclusion
Such a crazy week filled with very interesting outfits. Thanks to all of you for bringing your A-game! Judging these tasks can feel like a treat or a chore, and when the outfits are this unique, it definitely helps it feel like such a treat.
The winner of this task is somebody who rose far above & beyond what I thought was achievable by them. Their outfit was the perfect blend of source inspiration, and originality. Congratulations, Chris (doglover)! Rounding out the Top 3 are Zechariah (HerbyMainsted) & Filip (Lidl-Wayne) in 2nd & 3rd place, respectively.
double elimination
Even though this week's outfits were wildly amazing, I regretfully have to hit you guys with a double elimination. Going into Week 7 with nine people just isn't something I'm equipped to do.
If you've read every critique, then it should come as no surprise that the first person eliminated this week is Jared (Fierce.Needles) who has been dismissed mid-panel. We thank you Jared for everything you've given us in Season 9, and wish you nothing but the best. The other two designers finding themselves in the bottom this week are:
Sarah (Sparkle) - Your outfit this week is solid, one of your stronger submissions in fact. However, this week really put your position into perspective for me. It seems you're just not ready to be taking the creative risks the rest of your castmates are willing to take.
Chan (Chan.) - Your outfit was a refreshing take on this task and you did several elements extremely well. Sadly, you diverted to certain techniques that I've grown tired of seeing. You didn't put your strongest foot forward it seems.
The person ELIMINATED is . . . . .
(Highlight text to reveal)
Sarah (Sparkle), I am sorry. You are a tremendous designer and a jovial person who I hope continues to stick around - and I cannot understate how absolutely impressive it is for someone with such little experience to come into this game and do as well as you did; you outlasted several legends in the process. You haven't even played a single short-term yet, have you? And you're this good already!? It's so unfair LMAO. We love you to pieces, stay awesome, and thank you for everything you've given us in Snawlterm Season 9.
Just like that, 20% of the cast was cut. Congratulations to the eight of you who've survived. Your 7th task is uploaded and ready to go.