Now for the “home visit” segments. These are the segments I anticipate each season with the most curiosity. What are the designers’ home studios like? Their environment? Their families or friends? Tim approaches Korto’s door first. They hug. Tim inquires about Korto’s workspace. Korto rents a workspace in some type of city-owned preserve called “Park on the River.” There are woods all around. She will later tell Tim her collection was inspired by the colors of the forest. Many of her dresses are “vivid green,” some are shades of yellow. One of her fabrics is snakeskin since a lot of serpents roam the woods. Continuing from phallic symbols to, well, their opposite, we’re shown a closeup of an elliptical shape sewn on the crotch area of a gown. “This gets a little sexual... I don’t want a snapshot,” Tim contends. Let’s hope not! I wonder if Korto will adjust that part of the gown by showtime. It does seem a bit crude and literal.
Korto shows Tim the assigned wedding dress. Tim’s basic response is that it isn’t wedding-y enough. It looks like a pale gold evening gown. Fashion feedback over, Tim and Korto return to Korto’s home to meet her family. They enter a small white house. Korto’s husband and daughter greet Tim at the door. Korto’s daughter is adorable, and four. Her name is Elyse. “You look like a princess!” Tim tells her. Tim meets an array of Korto’s family and friends, and is treated to a feast. An assortment of hors d’oeuvres are laid out on a groaning table. Korto also plans to entertain Tim; she kicks off her shoes, and joins a second person to play a traditional African drum song. As this song plays, we at home see photos of Korto’s early years and hear about her family’s exodus from Liberia. If they had not fled, her father faced execution. They arrived in America with nothing. Korto’s voice wells with emotion as she says she wants her daughter to know anything is possible, and that her own parents are proud of her whether she wins the final prize or not. “Just going to Fashion Week” is already quite an achievement. “They’re happy that I never gave up,” Korto concludes.
Next, Tim visits Leanne in Portland, Oregon. From Korto’s big circle of family and friends and awesome hospitality, we’re shown a quiet apartment with just Leanne and her boyfriend Nathan. We aren’t shown any food being offered, or any music. Leanne shows Tim her collection. In keeping with Leanne’s quick work pace during the show, the Leannimal’s collection looks finished. She has constructed an array of dresses and skirts in white and turquoise. Each piece features some sort of pleating. The pleating reminds me of one of those tissue paper centerpieces that is constructed of circular folds. One unfolds those into a three dimensional circular shape. As that happens, one sees the construction of the pleating. Leanne’s construction makes the pleats fall or lie flat based upon their movement. Tim finds the work “beautiful.” It is unusual. Leanne tells Tim she was inspired by “waves.”
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