The Big Finish!

The remaining designers are given five days and $2,500 to put together their five piece collections. Only five pieces. I found that a bit limiting, it's not much room to show a convincing scope of ideation and execution. I can't help but wonder if a three designer finale would have featured one or two more pieces per designer.

Anyway let's see what our boys and girl managed to squeeze out in just 5 days.

ASHA

I was a bit surprised by Asha's output. I was expecting a more ambitious runway here. Her fabric choices were quite interesting but overall the textures and colours conspired to make some of the looks feel a bit too heavy, with the exception of the first look which was too safe and the second which was a bit over-designed. Of course she took a chance to play with unusual shapes in a few of the pieces but I'm not a fan of the pointy hemline.

Her collection was fairly cohesive but largely due to the fabric choices in the first four looks. It seems like she designed for two different girls: #1, #5 and #4's top vs #2, #3 and #4's pants. Perhaps if this was a larger collection she could have bridged the gap more effectively. Overall Asha had good pieces but this was not a winning collection.

SAM

Here comes the slouchy city girl, low rent Olsen twin couture, if you will. I was also surprised by Sam's runway. He turned the dial up a bit on the chic meter and delivered a very cohesive collection. We get it, Sam, not everyone is into haute couture but this is a competition and you are meant to WOW the judges. Too many of these pieces were pedestrian. If not for the eye-catching fabrics, the only piece worthy of a finale show would be the first jacket. Perhaps if this were a larger collection you could have added more prints and gotten through on that like Anya.

Perfectly cohesive, very wearable and saleable, super cute collection with personality but not a winning collection. I suppose if you were up against Gretchen you could have had a chance.

SHAN

My boy!. I was really feeling his collection as it came down the runway. I love the idea of mixing the lace with other fabrics. My favourite looks were the first and last. Of course he turned out a spectacular jacket and of course that was my favourite piece. The red dress was the best usage of the layering effect and I thought the lace/leather leggings were a fresh and imaginative direction.

Looking at the images all together though I can see why some of the judges didn't find his collection cohesive. Again, a larger collection would have allowed smoother transitions back and forth among the three colours he used. Perhaps he could have tried black lace over white instead of adding red to the mix. His girl is consistent though: she's high fashion edgy, she's hardcore but doesn't think that means eschewing all signs of softness. I love this girl. I would have been satisfied if they gave you the win, Shan so I was flabbergasted that you were not even in the running.

OSCAR

I've had the idea in the past what the final runway would look like if it were a showing of the designer's work over the season, I guess Oscar and I had the same idea. He rehashed a few of his looks from the season and I'm not sure how I feel about that. Would it have been better to show all new ideas? Was it a good idea to work in your best ideas which you've used before? Either way his collection looked great with the exception of the third piece. It seems a little less luxe than all the other looks and doesn't fit in with the colour story. I'd have rendered the top in the purple from the gown and the pants in the silver from look 4 overlaid in a black lace to tie in the first two looks. Am I being too literal?

There was never any question Oscar's collection would be flawlessly constructed and with his choice of fabrics he delivered a level of sophistication the judges always respond well to. If we ignore the animal print pants, the collection is very cohesive. I'm glad he managed to channel his natural showman into a more mature and much classier vein of drama than his first look led me to expect. Oscar has flair like Asha, commercial appeal like Sam and beautiful finishing like Shan, and he's the most improved designer in the finale. It's no wonder he won. Congrats, Oscar. This was a well deserved win.

So that's it for season one of Under the Gunn! What did you think of the finale and how do you feel about the winner?