Jay sells the shit out of his idea. He sounds totally in charge and says that the "multi-media" skirt on his design will be removable like a seatbelt. Sarah's drooling. Jay says in an interview that an assignment like this is totally in his comfort zone. Then, he adds that Sarah Hudson "totally wants to fuck [him]." That's a beautiful moment, people. Jay has this thing...I can't easily describe it. It's a quality that only the greatest reality-show denizens seem to share. It's sort of part provincial, part Dorothy Parker. The closest example I can think of right now is Julie from the first season of The Real World. (That's not the best example, but it'll do for now.)

Vanessa's idea is a merger of an old-school pin-up girl and Marilyn Manson. That sounds like the potential offspring of Manson and Rose McGowan, had those crazy kids been able to make it work. It's just too sad.

Nora's idea is simple, yet evocative: "A girl ran through a chandelier." Sounds good, but why stop at a chandelier? Nothing's too good for our Miss Hudson -- I say make it a sliding glass door.

Kara Saun has a wealth of research with her. I'm talking a lot of sketches and found pictures. Her idea is "debutante gone bad," which Sarah Hudson thinks is perfect. Or, so she says.

After some deliberation time (as well as a quick edit reminding us that we are in the Parsons School of Design), Tim Gunn lines up the designers. This is the first time I notice that Vanessa is sporting a hedgehog hairstyle. It's like Princess Leia do, but really messy. Somebody got in a fight in the L'Oreal lab. Tim explains that Sarah has chosen three designers. The three chosen designers will each choose a team from the remaining designers. The teams will work on creating the design conceived by the chosen designer, and the finished designs will be judged. Sarah chooses Jay, Austin, and Kevin. They each give Sarah a hug, and Kevin says "I thought I was too soft-spoken" so softly that it has to be subtitled. Kara Saun says in an interview that she thought Sarah liked her design, but from experience, she has noticed that female artists often choose male stylists. Hmmm. You know, I think she has a pretty good point. Both Kara Saun and Nora had fleshed-out, exciting ideas. Jay and Austin both really sold their ideas, so they aren't an issue, but Kevin? Maybe Sarah took his whispery baby talk as quiet confidence. If he had been a woman, though, I think that he would have been perceived as lacking in confidence. Also, I'm noticing that Kevin is a mouth breather.