While the tenacious ten sat with bated breath, Heidi Klum divulged the next challenge: creating a day-to-evening ensemble for Banana Republic’s spring collection. As instructed by Deborah Lloyd, the brand’s head of design, the contestants could express their individualism but needed to create for the Banana Republic customer (simple, modern, wearable). Just as the designers began to enthuse over the assignment, Tim Gunn threw them a sartorial surprise: They had 60 seconds to pair up—an awkward process that yielded five teams: Daniel V./Andrae, Chloe/Emmett, Kara/Zulema, Nick/Santino, and Diana/Marla. The winning pair’s garments would be sold both in Banana Republic stores and online, while the losing team’s members would both be eliminated.

Although Daniel V./Andrae and Chloe/Emmett worked superbly together, others grappled with the collaborative process. After deciding to change course in the final hour (and wisely so), Zulema cracked the whip while Kara weeped; Diana and Marla seemed rudderless in tandem; and Nick had the not-so-enviable task of tempering an overconfident Santino’s penchant for embellishment (a charge Nick referred to as “taming the beast”). Once they’d finished constructing their ensembles, the teams learned they had 60 minutes to create a window display conveying the day-to-evening theme. Banana Republic customers voted on their favorite windows, and the results were factored into the judges’ final decisions.

On the runway, Daniel V./Andrae’s elegant silk charmeuse dress with cropped jacket (shown) bested the field, as the most versatile, accessible, and Banana Republic–friendly ensemble of the bunch. Although arguably a bit urbane for the brand, Chloe/Emmett’s chic halter top and formfitting skirt with reversible jacket also made a strong showing. Surprisingly, Zulema’s bossiness and Kara’s breakdown spawned a dazzling black-and-white dress—an ultrafeminine frock that would’ve looked perfect had it not been paired with a sleeveless biker-bitch jacket. Nick/Santino’s creation was more problematic: Convinced he knew the direction the brand was going in (perhaps he’d previewed Banana Republic’s Memoirs of a Geisha fall line?), Santino insisted on pairing a strappy halter top and skirt with a silk kimono jacket—a mismatched ensemble he claimed would be ideal for a gallery owner. When Michael Kors asserted that none of his gallerist clients would wear the outfit, Santino replied that most women were familiar with Banana Republic but not with Michael Kors (the look on Kors’s face: priceless). Ultimately though, Diana/Marla’s ensemble was deemed even more underwhelming. The puckered skirt and jacket with bland silver shell didn’t look appealing for day or evening, but rather well-suited for a good ironing. The team’s window display featuring crumpled paper balls was meant to portray an office, but instead came off as unconsidered and unkempt—reflecting the creation of the ousted duo. —Jennifer Ciotta