They really weren't kidding; the first thing Dean saw when he opened his eyes to shut off his alarm was the lens of a camera.
He let out a string of curses that would definitely be censored if it made it to the air, tempted to shove the camera away, but he managed to restrain himself and smacked the alarm instead. The red numbers read 5:00am, and he groaned and dropped his head back on the pillow.
"Oh my god, is it really five in the morning?" he heard Kevin grumble from the other bed, and Dean didn't bother to answer. He didn't answer questions at five in the morning.
He eventually managed to drag himself out of bed, then grabbed some random clothes from the drawer and went into the bathroom and kicked the door shut behind him. This was the only place the cameras couldn't follow them; not that they wouldn't. He was sure they would be in here right now if they were allowed.
He was pretty much a zombie as he pulled his clothes on and made sure his hair wasn't doing anything absolutely crazy. This early he wasn't aiming for perfect, just 'good enough', and once he finished he relinquished the bathroom to an equally zombie-fied Kevin.
Somehow, inexplicably, Castiel was already up and fully dressed in dark grey pants and a matching vest over a white button-up, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows as he sipped at a cup of coffee. Dean sort of grunted a greeting, and Castiel replied by tipping his cup toward the coffee machine, where there was still plenty of hot coffee waiting.
"Thanks," Dean managed as he grabbed a cup and poured some for himself. He didn't even wait on it to cool before he took a swallow and sighed. Yesterday he felt like he needed to fill all the silences when the camera was pointed at him, but right now he really could not have cared less.
"There was a note," Castiel said, holding up a blue card with the All Star Designer logo on one side. "We're to meet in the lobby at six."
"Joy."
Castiel nearly laughed, more of an amused snort, and Dean wondered what it would take to get the guy to actually laugh. Or actually smile, for that matter, because he knew when someone was faking a smile, and that was all he'd seen Castiel do since he'd met the guy.
When Kevin joined them they finally got some semblance of motivation, which ended in bowls of cereal for all three of them. None of them felt the need to try and have a conversation, which suited Dean just fine, and at fifteen till six they headed down to the lobby of the building.
The only other people there were the other three guys in the equally split competition, and introductions were done all around- evidently 'old and creepy' from yesterday was Zachariah, the guy who only owned ridiculously deep cut V-necks was Balthazar, and the guy with the beard was Benny. Dean immediately knew he would like Benny best; the guy was pleasant and laid back, with a thick Louisiana accent that he didn't even try to cover up.
"I mainly do my work in Europe. More avant-garde," Balthazar was saying to Kevin, practically reeking of smarmy British arrogance. Of course, Zachariah wasn't much better.
"I own a store down in Philadelphia," the older man said, and then he proceeded to study Dean from head to toe with disdain. "Dare I ask what you specialize in?"
"Oh, I deal mostly in the classics. I'm handy on a V8 327 4 barrel engine," he replied with a smirk, just to see the look on the guy's face. It didn't disappoint, and he heard Kevin trying not to laugh, too.
"I didn't realize this was 'All Star Mechanic'."
"Yeah, they're just letting anyone in these days," Dean said, and Zachariah scoffed and turned away to greet Charlie and her roommates as they arrived.
Dean didn't need to explain himself to any of these people, or defend himself from their underestimations of him when they hadn't even seen his work yet. As far as he was concerned, no one had gotten through that audition by being a shitty designer. Hell, he was pretty convinced that Kevin was probably some kind of prodigy and going to kick all their asses on the runway.
"Good morning!" Jo said as she threw an arm around Dean's shoulders with a bright smile. "You guys look so happy today," she joked, and Dean rolled his eyes.
"How are you even smiling this early? Go away," he muttered, and she laughed and poked his nose.
"Cheer up. Our first challenge is today, gotta be awake for that."
"Says who?"
"Says me," Tim said from the glass doors, about the same time as the last three contestants stepped out of the elevator. Aside from Jo, everyone looked about as equally thrilled to be up at six in the morning. Tim was his usual self, clothes impeccable and not looking at all like he'd just gotten out of bed.
"Good morning designers!" he said, and he received some muttered greetings in return. He laughed. "Try to wake up. We're going to take a field trip to get to your first challenge."
Tim turned and led the way outside, where two white vans waited at the curb. The cameramen immediately went for the front passenger seats, so Dean followed Kevin and Benny to the back of one of the vans, climbing inside and into the backseat with them. Castiel, Jo, and Jody got into the other seat, and the van was moving even before they pulled the door all the way shut.
"Watch, they're going to take us to a lumber yard. We'll be making cocktail dresses out of two by fours," Jo said with a laugh, and Dean saw Castiel wince just at the thought.
"Not unless the models have signed waivers on splinters," Dean pointed out, watching out the window as they drove farther into the city center. Even this early the streets were busy and the sidewalks full of people; it probably looked like this 24-7. He was so used to Kansas, where the only people up before sunrise were the people milking cows.
They didn't drive very long. The vans pulled over and everyone piled out, and the production assistants driving the vans told them where to stand and what direction to face; because everything had to be just so, evidently. It was these kind of things you missed just from watching the show as a viewer.
He didn't see anything that looked like a challenge, though. There were a bunch of random stores, and Tim was right here, but they were clueless. Tim clapped his hands together and waited until the cameras got in position to start speaking.
"Alright, designers," he started, eyes moving across the group and making eye contact with just about everyone. His presence was warm from the start, the kind of person who you knew from the first moment would be a friend. "One of the most important qualities of a designer is innovation. An all star designer must be able to use novel techniques, and lead the way. The best designers are risk takers. So, your first challenge will be all about risk taking and innovation. That said, this store right here is where you will find the materials for your garment."
Tim gestured behind him, and Dean frowned, because the only thing behind him was a big convenience store. And that couldn't be…
Oh. It totally was.
They were making clothes from stuff out of a convenience store.
"You've got to be joking," he heard Balthazar say, and he wasn't alone- there were matching cries of disbelief from about half the group, while the other half was silently panicking. Like Dean. Hell, the only thing he ever got from convenience stores was awful beer and toilet paper. Neither of those could make a decent looking garment. Except for the football day beer can helmet Garth had once thrown together, and that was a travesty.
Then again, that was Garth. Maybe…
"You will have fifty dollars to spend, and 20 minutes to shop. And I must warn you, the judges are not fond of outfits that contain a lot of fabric-like material. So if you're going to use garbage bags or tablecloths, the onus is on you to blow their socks off," Tim explained.
"This is a joke," Zachariah muttered as Tim handed out the envelopes containing their money. Dean was busy trying to remember everything that was in a normal convenience store that he could use to his advantage, but he didn't get much time to think; the show evidently didn't like to leave them much planning time on the unconventional materials challenge.
"Your 20 minutes starts…now," Tim said, and Dean nearly got knocked over by one of the girls as she ran past him and into the store. He followed her in, and watched as she and Zachariah went straight for the garbage bags.
Idiots.
Dean decided he had to take a risk. Sure, he could pick up something easier to work with, but that wouldn't get him any brownie points with the judges; instead, he went straight for the refrigerated cases in the back and started lifting out cases of beer, counting in his head as he stacked them up.
He looked up when he saw someone else at the refrigerated doors; it was Castiel, who looked deep in thought as he began to collect plastic wrapped sets of bottled water. He was tempted to ask Castiel if he was going to send his model down the runway in a see-thru dress, but they didn't have time for quips right now. Instead, he looked at his stack of beer, had a thought, and went to the section of limited hardware items.
He emptied the entire rack of zip ties, though he paused when he heard an argument going on. It wasn't any of the contestants- no, one of the production assistants was standing by the counter, arguing with Tim as Balthazar stood beside them looking quite satisfied with himself.
"We can't air that! He can't buy those!" the production assistant said, her voice shrill as she pointed at the counter. Dean laughed when he realized what it was- Balthazar had dozens of value boxes of condoms stacked up on the counter. The poor clerk had her hands hovering over the register, not sure whether or not to ring him up.
"He's within the rules of the challenge. We made no caveats for behind the counter items and he is within budget," Tim pointed out, and the production assistant fumed before turning her attention to Balthazar.
"You likely won't be eligible to win the challenge if you use those, you know that," she snapped, and Balthazar smirked.
"Yes, but when else will I have the chance to make a dress out of condoms on national TV?"
Okay, maybe Dean liked the guy a little better now.
Dean gathered up the zip ties and cases of beer and lugged everything up to the counter, and Tim raised an eyebrow at him as the clerk rung everything up.
"Are the beverages for you, or for the garment?" he asked, and Dean laughed.
"Probably both, depending on how this goes."
His total came up to just over 48 dollars, and he paid and gathered his things, waiting by the door for the other designers to finish. The nice thing about checking out second was that he got a chance to see what everyone else bought.
Castiel had spent his entire budget on bottled water. In fact, there were so many cases of it that once Benny had checked out with two bags full of newspapers, he helped Castiel move all the bottled water to the door; otherwise it may have taken quite a few trips. Kevin and Jody were right behind them, Kevin with magazines and Jody with toilet paper and saran wrap.
That…was a little scary.
The three girls that Dean hadn't gotten to meet yet were the next in line, and he asked Benny their names as they checked out- Meg, a petite brunette, had boxes and boxes of teabags and coffee, Ruby had garbage bags but actually looked rather confident about it, and Sarah had a ton of plastic bags and miscellaneous crap.
Zachariah was the other person with garbage bags, but he didn't look confident about it- he looked frustrated and angry, most of all. Charlie and Jo got to the counter just before Tim yelled time; Charlie had filled bags and bags with all kinds of candy, mostly Skittles. Jo, meanwhile, had emptied the store of playing cards, which now that Dean thought about it, could look really cool if she constructed it right.
Tim made sure everyone was ready to go, and they headed back to the vans, piling the materials in the back- once again, Benny helped Castiel with his materials, and Castiel actually smiled- really smiled- and thanked him. And that smile, okay- it may have made Dean's heart do a little skip.
He couldn't help it. The guy was weird, but he was hot.
Though he wasn't sure what Castiel was going to do with a bunch of clear water bottles. The guy either had a plan, or he was grasping at straws trying to be unique, and it was impossible to tell the difference just by looking at him.
"I hope they've got tough sewing machines, because I've gotta get cardboard through 'em," Jo sad with a laugh, and Dean remember the boxes and boxes of playing cards she'd stacked on the counter.
"I'm gonna laugh if you break a machine on day one," he teased, earning a smack on the shoulder for it.
"Did you guys see Zachariah buying garbage bags? That's not gonna go well," Kevin pointed out with a laugh. Dean glanced at Castiel, but it seemed like he wasn't really listening to the conversation going on; he was staring out the window with his chin propped on his hand, probably thinking about what he was going to do for his garment. Dean probably should have been thinking about it, too, really.
They got to Brighton's School of Design, and Tim led them up to the workroom. Each designer had a workspace with a large table, their sewing kit they brought, and a dress form, and on the table was a card with their model's measurements on it.
"Your models have been assigned randomly," Tim explained. "And I hope you bond well with them, because this season, there will be no changing models."
Dean didn't like the sound of that; he'd rarely had a chance to work with actual, professional models, being stuck in the Midwest, but he'd heard the horror stories. The last thing he wanted was to be stuck with a total diva who he couldn't stand to be around.
"Work quickly, designers. You have until midnight to finish this challenge," Tim said, and there was a rush of disbelief through the room. Dean's jaw dropped- till midnight, for this? Shit. Shit shit shit.
Tim left them to their work, and the PA announced that they were required to take a lunch break and a dinner break, and required to eat something at both breaks. Dean understood the rule; he'd heard about contestants in past seasons who skipped meals and ended up passing out. While that made for great TV drama, it was probably a liability.
He dragged his cases of beer to the sink and pulled up a chair, and moments later he found himself joined by Castiel- they both had to empty out all the containers they'd bought. It was a little easier to watch the water go down the drain than the beer, though.
"Sure you can't save some of that?" Benny asked Dean with a chuckle, and Dean snorted.
"I wish."
Dean watched for a moment as Castiel methodically emptied out the bottled water, set the cap aside in one pile, then peeled the label off and set it in another pile. "You have a plan for all that?" he asked, and Castiel thought for a moment.
"Not yet," he said as he studied one of the caps. "I'll have to experiment a little."
"Better experiment fast. Only have till midnight."
Castiel eyed the beer can in Dean's hand. "Don't work too fast. Cut aluminum is sharp," he pointed out, and Dean grinned.
"I'm not gonna cut it."
Both of them looked up when they heard muttering across the room, where Zachariah was trying to drape a garbage bag on his mannequin- unfortunately, garbage bags weren't exactly built for Grecian draping, so it wasn't going well for him, and he wasn't taking it well, either.
It took way too long to get all the cans drained of beer, and now the whole room smelled like cheap beer- but it also smelled heavily of coffee and tea, with Meg having her entire workstation covered in teabags and coffee bags. All in all, the smells in the room were giving him a headache.
"Here, have some candy," Charlie said from the table behind him as she scooted a bowl toward him. The bowl was full of the candy she'd taken out of the wrappers, and Dean definitely wasn't turning that down, and grabbed a handful of candy.
"Thanks," he said, studying a beer can before setting it upright on the floor. He slammed his boot down on it with a loud crunch, making Ruby jump from across the aisle where she was balling up pieces of garbage bags. She shot him a dirty look, and he just shrugged, not really sorry about it.
The can ended up how he wanted it- a mostly flattened silver circle of aluminum with a hint of color along the outer edge. He set to work doing the same to the rest, smashing them one at a time into the shape that he needed.
It was quiet for a while after that, aside from the rustling and snapping sounds of their work. The cameras moved around the room, focusing on each of them in turn while people snuck over to Charlie's station to steal candy every few minutes. Dean occasionally glanced up to see what the closest people to him were doing, and while Benny looked like he was making progress on his newspaper dress, Castiel's workstation on Dean's left still looked like a mess of plastic and caps. He didn't look worried, though, just concentrating- and now that he was working, he was wearing glasses, which was unfairly attractive.
"I wonder what my model looks like," Charlie said, pinning rows of candy wrappers together.
"Already planning to hit on her?" Dean asked, and Charlie grinned.
"Only if she's really cute. I have a type, thank you very much," she said. "What about you? Have a girl waiting at home? Or a boy?" she asked.
"Nah, just family. Well, except my brother, he's out at Stanford."
"Stanford? Serious business," Charlie said, and Dean smiled.
"Yeah, he's too smart for his own good. And they'd better not air that or he'll never let me live it down," he said, looking over at Benny, who had the workstation in front of him. "What about you?"
Benny smiled. "Got a girl at home. Andrea," he said, obviously lost in thought about it. "Love of my life, brother. Doin' this for her."
"That's so sweet," Charlie said with a sigh, and then she grabbed a yardstick and leaned over her table to poke Castiel on the shoulder with it. "Got anybody waitin' for you back home, Cas?" she asked, and Castiel stiffened, not taking his eyes off the plastic pieces in his hands.
"What I have is a lot of work to do, if you don't mind," he said, and Dean blinked in surprise.
"Fine, geez. Work away," Charlie said, going back to the wrappers with a confused look.
Maybe Castiel was just one of those people who couldn't talk and concentrate on work at the same time. Or maybe he was just an asshole.
Dean thought he had enough of the cans squashed down to aluminum circles now; he dumped the zip ties out on the table, grabbed a pair of crappy scissors so he didn't ruin his good ones, and he set to work stabbing holes in the aluminum and threading zip ties through the aluminum discs. By the time Tim came in to meet with them, Dean realized he'd been working for hours stabbing holes in the aluminum and joining the cans together, and finishing seemed impossible.
"I'm going to just visit each of you and see how you're doing," Tim said, going to the nearest table first, which happened to be Benny's. "Benny, how are you?"
"Doing well, brother," Benny said as he held up another piece of his dress to the dress form; the bodice was really beginning to take shape. Tim looked at it for a few long moments before speaking.
"Well, it's a good start. My concern is that it's not enough," he said, and Benny nodded.
"The skirt is all the drama. Not doin' much up top so I don't take away from the skirt," he explained, and that seemed to satisfy Tim.
"Carry on, then," he said, turning to Dean's table and staring at the mess of crushed cans across it. "Dare I ask?"
"Well, I…I wish I had something really solid to show you, but this kind of isn't going to come together till it…comes together," Dean explained with a laugh, and Tim frowned.
"That concerns me. Are you good on time?"
"…maybe?"
That made Tim laugh. "Well, work hard. Stay on it, it looks…interesting," he said, moving over to Castiel's table. "Castiel. I can't make sense of any of this. Care to explain?"
Castiel sighed, setting down the piece he was working on. "It's…hard to explain. It's a bit of a haphazard design. The caps are going to be used as detailing."
"But the bottles are see through," Tim said, and Castiel reached over for the stack of labels.
"The inside of the labels are white. I'm going to use them to create a white mini dress to go under the actual dress, but the structure is fairly thick. It will be appropriate. I promise," he said, and Tim nodded.
"Well, you have a lot to do. I'll leave you to it. Make it work," he said, moving on again.
Dean couldn't lend an ear to all the critiques, but he got the basics- Charlie, Kevin, Balthazar, and Meg were all on track for good designs, and Ruby was walking a thin line on her use of the materials. The only ones who really sounded like they were in trouble were Jody and Zachariah- Jody's first attempt had fallen apart and she was starting from scratch. Meanwhile, Tim basically told Zachariah that his garbage bag gown just looked plain messy, and Zachariah responded by angrily throwing the whole thing aside.
Dean barely remembered to stop for lunch, and even then he ate as quickly as possible, shoveling food into his mouth so he could get back to work. The conversation consisted of him and Charlie wondering what was up with Castiel before they were both headed back into the workroom, even though Dean was aching all over from working all day. Normally he worked on cars half the day and did some sewing later- sewing for an entire day straight wasn't something he was really used to.
It was nearly time for dinner breaks when Tim finally brought their models in for a fitting, and the moment Dean saw his come around to his table, he was ecstatic. She was a curvy blonde with long, curly hair and tanned skin, and she had that 'girl next door' look and a gorgeous smile.
"Hi! I'm Jessica," she said. "You must be Dean, right?"
"Right," Dean said, turning to look at the table. "I, uh…don't have much to try on you right now, but hey, lets give it a try."
"I knew what I was getting into when I signed up. Don't worry," Jessica said with a laugh, already starting to strip down. Dean's friends were constantly asking him how he was around half naked girls all the time and didn't hit on them- and he always gave them two reasons. One, half of his clients back home were teenage girls, and that was just not his thing. Or legal.
As for the professional models, this was their job. Just because their job happen to require less clothing and less modesty didn't mean they weren't deserving of the same respect as any other coworker.
He was a ladies' man, but not a creep, thank you very much.
He took the piece he had ready and wrapped it around her top, using one hand to hold it in place and the other to jot notes down. He'd need another row vertically, and unless he wanted Jessica flashing her thong at the judges, he needed a whole lot more rows along the bottom.
God, he was never going to get done.
"Wow, look at that. Emi's gonna have fun," Jessica said, and Dean looked up and over her shoulder at where Castiel was fitting his model, a Japanese girl who had more of a boyish figure than Jessica- but she definitely had that 'model' look, curves or no curves. The mess of plastic had somehow become a mostly done dress, those pieces of plastic bottles shaped into a bodice and skirt. Castiel was measuring up and over one of his model's shoulders, all business as he adjusted the dress on her.
"Yeah, too bad he's kind of an asshole," Dean muttered, and Jessica laughed.
"Making friends already?"
"Could be worse. I could be roomed with Zach over there," Dean pointed out, nodding his head toward where Zachariah was tugging and jerking at the messy garbage bag dress on his model, obviously not concerned with treating her with any amount of care.
"Ew, yeah. Glad I got you," Jessica said. "And I think Gilda is happy with her designer, too."
Dean looked up to where Jessica was looking, and he wasn't surprised to see Charlie flirting shamelessly with her model. Not that he could blame her; Gilda was adorable, tanned skin and long, curly honey brown hair. And she definitely didn't look like she minded the flirting.
"You expecting some flirting too?" he joked, and Jessica rolled her eyes.
"Some of the magic is gone after you've been strapping beer cans on me while I'm in a thong," she said, and Dean laughed, getting her out of the half-done garment.
"You're free. Don't worry, I'll try to make it so it doesn't fall off you halfway down the runway."
"Yeah, you'd better."
Some of the designers were still fitting their models when Tim returned to collect them, but Dean gave Jessica a half hug and was right back to his work. His fingers were aching and his back hurt, but he couldn't slow down, not when the fitting had brought to light just how much work he had to do.
Everyone seemed to be working themselves up into a frenzy as the end of the day drew closer. Dean missed those days at work where the clock hands barely seemed to move at all, because right now, it seemed like every time he looked at the clock another hour had gone by. It wasn't long before the minute hand was creeping up to midnight.
He didn't want to stop working. He felt like he had so much left to do, like he'd never be ready for a runway tomorrow, but midnight was the deadline. Everyone put down their work and headed for the door, one of the PAs showing them the quickest path to walk back to the Saturn apartments.
It went without saying that all of them were dead tired. Nobody even considered staying up to chat or have a drink; Dean barely made it to his room and stripped down to his boxers before he collapsed into bed.
It felt like five minutes later when the alarm went off, and like yesterday, the camera was right there as he and Kevin woke up. They both half slept through showers and getting ready, though Kevin did put a bit more effort into it today, considering it was a runway day. Dean didn't see the need to dress any fancier; after all, it wasn't like he was the model.
Castiel, as usual, was up before them, but he actually looked tired today. He'd made coffee again, and Dean could have kissed him for it, because he wasn't sure he'd even make it to the elevator without coffee. None of them bothered with breakfast today before heading downstairs.
Everyone met in the lobby and headed back to Brighton's, and while there was little conversation on the way there, everyone kicked into high gear once they entered the workroom. Dean immediately set to work getting the bottom of his dress finished, because if he didn't add more cans, Jessica would be giving the judges a very memorable show.
Jo cursed behind him, a playing card fluttering to the ground every few minutes, and Castiel was still adding to the strap on his gown; it was really taking shape, though, and impressively so. Dean didn't take time to look at anyone else's progress, though, because there was just no time; he was driving it down to the wire making sure the dress was a decent length.
It wasn't long before Tim came in with the models, and Jessica was just as cheerful as she'd been yesterday.
"Alright, I think I can handle finishing this. Let's get you through hair and makeup," Dean said, leading her down to the salon room.
He explained as quick as he could to the stylist there what he wanted- a high ponytail, but not too tight. It wasn't exactly a hard style, so he just stayed while they threw it together, taking her straight on to makeup, where he instructed them to do a clean look and a shiny lip gloss.
Confident that they could handle that, he returned to the workroom and finished the bottom edge of the dress, then tweaked the top a bit to try and make sure it would fit her snug. He found himself with a few minutes to spare, and he used it to grab a couple more cans and bend them carefully, zip-tying them together to make a bracelet.
By the time he was done with that, Jessica was back and Tim was giving them the ten-minute warning. It was chaos in the work room, people running back and forth from the sewing room, cursing and hand sewing last details- as it was, Dean was just finishing getting Jessica into the dress and tightening up the top when Tim returned to bring them to the runway.
There was no more he could do; he told Jessica to be careful while she waited and apologized for the aluminum probably being cold on her bare skin, and then PAs were leading the models away as Tim took the designers down to the runway and sat them down in the chairs.
The wait drove him crazy. They sat in those two rows of chairs by the runway, waiting while the lighting and cameras were all moved and adjusted, and all Dean could think about was the possibility of the dress just falling off Jessica as she walked down the runway. He thought he'd tightened it enough, but it would be just his luck to be the one to have his garment fall off and have his model finish her runway walk in just a thong.
It seemed like hours before the judges finally came in and took their seats, followed by Gabriel coming out onto the runway, in a loud shirt as usual. This one was bright purple and some god-awful print that Dean wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.
"Welcome to the runway, designers!" he announced, and a few of them bothered to return the greeting. Gabriel went right on, stepping aside so the judges could be seen.
"Time to introduce the people who hold your fate in their hands," he said. "First, we have Naomi Prevot, Editor in Chief of Eve Magazine."
"Hello, designers," Naomi said, and Dean practically shivered. That lady gave him the creeps even through the TV, let alone in person.
"Next, we have Fergus Crowley, world renowned designer and CEO of Top Designer Management Agency," Gabriel said, and Crowley smiled that uncomfortable smile he always used.
"I'm expecting big things from all of you," he said, adjusting his suit jacket and sitting back in his seat.
"Of course, there's me. You all know me," Gabriel said, puffing up his chest with the words. "And our guest judge this week is none other than Lenore Benson, actress and eco friendly designer."
"Hi!" Lenore said with a friendly wave, and Dean thought he recognized her- maybe from a TV show? He couldn't remember. And hey, his dress was made of cans. It was practically recycled, she should love it with her eco-stuff.
"And I'm sure you're all dying to know just what you're competing to win this season. And let me tell you, it's the most valuable prize package we've offered since the very first season of this show," Gabriel said, and Dean raised an eyebrow. He'd been so wrapped up in getting here and settling in and just working that he'd almost forgotten the end game here.
"First, you will receive $100,000 to start your own line, plus a year of representation through Top Designer Management Agency," Gabriel said, and Dean let out a low whistle, because that was more money than he ever thought he'd have a chance of having in his bank account. Gabriel grinned and continued. "You will also receive a feature spread in Eve Magazine, and a sewing and design technology suite from Allen Sewing worth $50,000. And this year, we're throwing in one extra perk."
Jesus. As if that wasn't enough.
"This year the winner will also receive a two week trip for two to explore Paris and attend the world famous Paris Fashion Week," Gabriel finished, and Dean could practically feel the excitement among the designers at that one. Hell, Dean had never attended a fashion show outside of the Midwest; he couldn't imagine what they were like in Paris.
"With all that said, let's start the show!" Gabriel said, and he walked up the runway and took the steps down to the judges' seats.
The lights brightened on the runway, the music started (much softer than it sounded on TV), and the first model appeared behind the white screen and struck a pose.
As soon as she came around the corner, Dean knew it was Benny's outfit. She was a distinctive looking girl, pixie cut hair and all sharp angles, and the newspaper dress took advantage of her ridiculously tiny waist. There was a wide, dark newspaper belt around her waist, a strapless bodice, and somehow, Benny had gotten the newspaper skirt to hold an amazing circle-skirt structure. He'd have to ask him later how he did it, because that was impressive.
The next outfit wasn't so impressive. Dean actually winced as Zachariah's model turned the corner; it wasn't worse than the crazy gown he'd started on then threw away, but it wasn't any better, for sure. It looked like a garbage bag- the only signs of actual design were the shoulders, where a little shaping had been done. Bottom three, for sure.
She was followed by Balthazar's model, and really, Dean was kind of sad the guy was told he couldn't win. That man really did some amazing things with a bunch of condoms, flattened circles of condoms making up the bulk of the dress from neck to thigh, and then a fringe of condoms around the bottom. It was a little revolting, and a lot fascinating.
And the look on Naomi's face was the best thing Dean had seen in weeks.
Sarah's dress was a ridiculous mess. It looked like she'd tried to be voluminous and artful with the plastic bags, but it just ended up looking like an explosion of plastic. Jody's was on the opposite extreme- her toilet paper dress had left the workroom looking sleek and structured, but it seemed like every step the model took did more and more damage to the dress. It was sad looking now, and it was probably a miracle it stayed on entirely.
Dean straightened up a little when his turned the corner. Thank god Jessica had a decent sized rack unlike some of the other models, because otherwise it would have surely fallen down by now; as it was, it seemed to have held up really well. She was a natural on the runway, and the aluminum shone under the lights, just hints of color around the edge of each crushed can.
The judges gave nothing away as they watched, but Dean was happy all the same. He let out a sigh of relief as Jessica left the runway. No major disasters on his first runway; he was thankful for that, more than he could say.
Meg's model had to be uncomfortable. He'd heard her talking about how heavy and stifling hot the dress was, but it had good movement, considering how many small parts it was made of. Ruby's dress followed, and at least she'd done something interesting with the trash bags, other than hanging it on the model and calling it a day; she'd crushed up pieces of bags to make a fluffy-like skirt, and used smooth pieces to form a bodice.
Castiel's dress, well…he didn't know if it was luck or genius, but that thing blew everyone else's work out of the water, in Dean's opinion, anyway. The pieces of plastic bottles were shaped into a wide skirt, the ribbed part of the bottles shaped to form a corset-like bodice, and the strap was a mix of plastic and bottle caps; and with the inside-out labels underneath, it was runway appropriate, too. Dean heard Benny tell Castiel it looked amazing, and he had to agree.
Jo's came after, and it seemed she'd pulled it off without any more loss of cards. Using the front and back of the cards in different ways, it actually turned out a cute cocktail dress.
Kevin's dress was similar to Benny's in shape, but while Benny's dress was more of a monotone, Kevin's was an explosion of color. He'd seemed to pick out all of the most colorful ads from the magazine to use, and it was definitely eye catching. Continuing the color motif, Charlie's model was in a short dress made entirely of Skittles wrappers- it was Charlie, definitely. And her model seemed proud to be wearing it, too.
The music cut off and the lights dimmed, and for a few minutes all that was heard was the scratch of the judges' pens on their scorecards. Jo started to say something, but a production assistant hissed the word "Ice!" at her, which they'd learned from their rulebook was code for 'shut up, no talking'.
(And if you heard them say 'hard ice', well, they were really pissed at you.)
They were left to squirm in silence as the judges murmured among themselves, so by the time they were called onto the runway, all of them were on edge.
"Alright, designers. If I call your name, step forward," Gabriel said, glancing down at his card again. "Dean, Sarah, Jody, Castiel, Zachariah, and Charlie."
The six of them stepped forward, and Gabriel grinned. "If I have not called your name…congrats, you're safe. You can go back to your seats," he said, and there was a collective sigh of relief behind Dean as the six of them left the stage to sit back down in the designer seats. Those left on stage waited for their models to be sent out, and Dean gave Jessica a smile.
"Good job," he said to her softly as the other models stepped into place. She returned the smile with a supportive squeeze of his arm.
"Let's start with Charlie," Gabriel said, focusing on the redhead. "I want to applaud you on the use of color. I appreciate a good, vibrant color."
"Yes, the color is wonderful, and good job on the construction," Crowley agreed, and Charlie thanked them, practically glowing at the praise. Naomi narrowed her eyes at the dress.
"Yes, it's a good choice of material, but I feel like it could be less…messy, on the bottom half. It feels like there's a bit of a disconnect between the top and bottom of the garment," she said, and Lenore shook her head.
"I actually like that, the structure turning into a sort of chaotic look. And I have to know, did you eat the candy?" she asked, and Charlie laughed.
"I wasn't the only one. There was a lot of it, my table was popular," she said, and the judges took a few moments to write on their cards before moving on.
"Sarah, tell us what inspired you to use this material," Gabriel said, and Sarah tried to smile, but it definitely came out forced.
"Well, I liked the volume of the material. I thought I could do something a little more dramatic, more avant-garde…"
Crowley snorted. "Darling, I've seen a lot of avant-garde in my career, and none of it looks like a checkout counter exploded."
"It's just unfortunate. She looks as if she got battered by plastic bags in a windstorm," Naomi said, and Dean winced. Ouch.
Lenore smiled gently. "I can see where you were going with it, I think you just got a little lost along the way. I see the concept," she said, and though Sarah looked a little crushed, she thanked her.
"Bit of a hot mess there, Sarah," Gabriel said before flipping to the next card. "Castiel! I'm dying to know what made you go for water bottles."
"The texture was interesting," Castiel said, gesturing to the bodice of the dress, "The flat, smooth portions compared with the ribbing on the middle, plus the caps, it just seemed like it would be fun to deconstruct and see what I could do with the shapes."
"I love this dress," Lenore said. "The strap across the shoulder is so interesting. I could look at this for hours."
Castiel smiled shyly. "Thank you."
"I completely agree," Naomi said. "In any other material or color, the shapes of this might have been over the top. But the clear and white makes it more…ethereal, than overwhelming. Good job."
"I'm not sure how you got it all done in such a short time," Crowley pointed out, and Castiel shrugged.
"Honestly, I'm not sure either," he said, earning a laugh before they moved to the next designer. Dean was counting; two they liked, one they hadn't. And who knew, his might be one of the ones they didn't like. He never could tell, with these judges.
"Zachariah, I am…honestly speechless," Naomi said, her eyes narrowing. "This is a tragedy."
"I'm not sure if you half assed it on purpose just trying to be safe, or if you're actually incompetent," Crowley said, and Zachariah bristled.
"I am not incompetent. I am a designer, a real designer. And perhaps I'm not enough of an alcoholic to make art out of beer cans, but I do not make art with crap," he said, and Dean was about to tell the guy off, but Gabriel beat him to it.
"Maybe you should become an alcoholic. Then you might actually find some inspiration in your work," he said, rolling his eyes. "This is honestly pathetic."
"You can't pick and choose which challenges are worth your time," Naomi said. "You're here to do your absolute best, and this is not your best."
Zachariah looked like he wanted to say something else, but he tightened his fists and clenched his jaw, letting the judges move on. Gabriel focusing in on Dean, and Dean lifted his chin.
"I have to ask, Dean, did you drink the contents before you used those cans?" he asked, and Dean laughed.
"By midnight I wished that I had," he said, and that much was true. By midnight all the designers probably wished they were drunk.
"I appreciate you taking on a material that no one else tried to work with," Lenore said. "This is really interesting."
"Are those zip ties?" Crowley asked, leaning forward to get a better look, and Dean nodded.
"Yeah, it's all cans and zip ties."
"It could be a little longer. It's too short for my taste," Naomi pointed out. "But other than that, you did an excellent job."
"Thank you," Dean said, restraining the excitement that was flooding through him. They liked it- it was his first challenge, his first garment, and they liked it. It was beyond what he'd expected.
Of course, that left poor Jody in the bottom three; all of the judges saw what she's been going for, but a garment that falls apart on the runway wouldn't go over well, no matter how well intentioned.
"Alright. We have some deliberating to do; you can all leave the runway," Gabriel finally said, and all the designers headed backstage to the staging room. Evidently the producers knew it would be a long wait, because lunch was waiting for them there, and all of them were ready to dig in after such a crazy morning.
"This is such a joke," Zachariah complained with a bitter laugh. "I don't work with garbage. There is no part of being a designer that requires debasing yourself to that."
"Dude, did you even watch the show before you signed up?" Dean asked, because really anyone who watched the show knew that there was always at least one challenge using ridiculous materials. Zachariah snorted.
"Of course I did. But we're talking about a convenience store. It's nearly barbaric."
"Come on, it's over now. No point in complaining," Ruby pointed out, twirling her fork around in her salad.
"At least you guys didn't nearly bleed to death making your garments," Kevin said, and Meg rolled her eyes.
"You got a few paper cuts."
"Yeah, and they hurt!"
"I'd rather have paper cuts than be in the bottom three," Jody said with a sigh. "Don't know what I was thinking."
"You did really good," Castiel said to Dean, quiet enough to not interrupt the others. Dean blinked in surprise at the compliment and shrugged.
"Good enough, anyway. You did better."
"Got lucky this time, I think."
"Bullshit."
From there they got on the subject of models, and some people had been luckier than others in the model department- it seemed Dean was one of the lucky ones. Poor Kevin was dealing with a girl who thought she was already supermodel material.
It was two hours before they were called back onto the stage. The safe designers returned to the chairs, and Dean took his place under one of the hot spotlights on the runway, practically shaking with nervous energy even though he knew he was safe. Gabriel studied them for a moment, then smiled.
"We've scored all your creations, designers. One of you will be the winner…and one of you will be out," he said, and then he looked right at Dean.
"Dean…you're in."
Dean sighed with relief. He was safe. Not just safe, but in the top three; not bad for the first challenge.
"And now, for the winner of this challenge," Gabriel said. "The winner is…Castiel!"
Castiel smiled and got a half-hug from his model, along with applause from the other designers (though Dean was sure some of them were just doing so to be polite).
"This means you have immunity for the next challenge and can't be eliminated," Gabriel said, and then he turned to Charlie. "Good job, Charlie. You're in."
Now for the moment of truth; seeing who would go home first, and Dean had a pretty good idea that he knew who it would be.
"Jody…you're in," Gabriel said, and Jody's shoulders sagged with relief. Now there were just two left standing; Sarah and Zachariah.
"Sarah…you had big ideas, but you couldn't follow through, and it turned into a hot mess," Gabriel said, and then he turned his attention to Zachariah. "Zachariah, you really disappointed on this challenge. It's like you didn't even try, buddy."
Zachariah tensed, but Gabriel ignored him and continued on.
"Sarah…you're in. And that means Zachariah, you're out."
"Fine," Zachariah snapped, and everyone was shocked when he just turned and walked out- Dean's eyebrows shot up as the man turned the corner behind the screen. No final goodbyes, no waiting for them to be dismissed, he just…turned around and walked out.
"Well…that was new," Gabriel said with a laugh, unfazed by the abrupt departure. "Designers, the rest of you may leave the runway and return to your apartments. I will see you bright and early."
They once again filed backstage into the staging room, and congratulations were shared all around, though Jody and Sarah were understandably quiet. They all thought they were going to get a break, but no- the production assistants told them to stay put in the staging room and keep quiet, and one at a time they were taken to the confessional room to record interview segments.
It was the most awkward thing Dean had ever done; he had to recall everything about his process, his thoughts, and the challenge, had to answer the questions from the producer in present tense so they could insert the clips later, and he had to do it looking right at the camera. He knew why it had to be that way, but it was still incredibly strange.
By the time all eleven of them finished with confessionals, all of them were completely exhausted. The PAs didn't have to say ice, because they were all too tired to converse anyway.
Needless to say, that evening was the earliest Dean had fallen asleep in a long time, too tired to even stress about tomorrow's challenge.
