Project Runway All Stars: "Up Your Aerosol"

With an episode title like "Up Your Aerosol," you gotta expect some drama. The drama was pretty much about how rich Lauren is and how no one else wants to hear about it. And I don't care one whit.

The actual challenge had the designers creating their own graffiti-inspired (or "aerosol art"?) fabric using spray paint. The idea was that their garments would be "wearable works of art." The designers' success in this challenge was incredibly mixed with most designers falling into an unmemorable middle.

Before I move on, I have to talk about the guest judges, Jeffrey Castillo and Robert Tagliapietra. I mean, did you see them in all their casual Santa, hipster lumberjack-i-ness. They looked both imposing and adorable. Plus their critiques were insightful and interesting.

I can't say I agreed with the judges' tom and bottom three, but I knew as soon as I saw Suede's dress in the workroom that he would likely go home. His dress was a mess. It looked swampy and not unlike a witch costume. I don't know why he had to emphasize the polka dots on the skirt with cutout polka dots. The bottom line is that his taste level always falls short, so he went home. Check another off my list of who will go home first.

Now, I'm not saying that Kayne's dress was good, in fact it was pretty bad, but it was much better than I anticipated when I saw it in the workroom. So I probably would have put Andrae's (bottom left) raffia bow-inspired dress or Casanova's (bottom right) odd patchwork dress in the bottom three instead. They both were poorly constructed with not-quite-right proportions.

Laura's dress was just okay. The judges had it right when they said that the top of the dress had potential silhouette-wise, but the skirt looked like a different dress. I really didn't like her fabric; the colors were muddy and the pattern was messy. A graffiti-inspired design should in the very least be crisply graphic and should probably include bold colors too.

I was shocked that the judges put Ivy in the top three; it was awful. Her fabric was lackluster and too literal to say the least, and her silhouette was boring and similar to her leather and lace design. And I don't even want to talk about that ridiculous chiffon lower skirt. The judges keep saying that she's an impeccable tailor, but her jackets are shapeless. To be clear, her construction skills are just fine, but tailoring is not the same as sewing well.

I would have put Joshua in the top three instead. Even though his fabric design was a literal city landscape, it didn't read too literally in the garment (excepting the road lines at the waist). But the interesting thing for me was the his silhouette and structure themselves somehow evoked a city landscape.

Emilio and Anthony Ryan duked it out for the win. Anthony Ryan tends toward clean, graphic looks anyway, so it was no surprise that he did well in this challenge. The lines of this dress were crisp and clean, which is a breath of fresh air among this group of designers. My only complaint: because the waistline was slightly raised, I would have liked the skirt a titch longer to avoid a 90s babydoll silhouette completely.

Emilio snaked the win in the end, and I think he deserved it. The colors were perfect. And while his oversized jacket is not part of my aesthetic, the overall silhouette was well-proportioned and more or less well-made. I would have liked it better if the sleeves were slightly narrower with a more fitted cuff, and the decorative zippers on the sleeve and skirt front should be nixed completely. They weren't needed in his already visually interesting garment.

Project Runway All Stars: "Put on Your Dancing Shoes"

I was confused by this week's challenge. The designers had to make "party wear" drawing inspiration for from disco and 70s-inspired shoes. When did that 70s come back? I mean, geez, the 70s are so 90s.

As seems to be the case recently on PR, the judges didn't actually judge based on all the parameters of the challenge; there was no mention of party wear in the judging as far as I could tell. Believe me you, I'm no party wear expert, but I didn't think many of the designs were party wear.

I cannot believe that Andrae didn't go home with another fussy chiffon jacket. It was so boring, it didn't evoke disco, and it didn't have anything to do with party wear. But I wouldn't mind owning that skirt. Also Andrae's weird affectations on the runway during critiques are off-putting.

It was a surprise that Kayne (left) was in the bottom instead of Suede (right). Kanye's was nothing special, except his exceptional work in matching the chevron stripes, but Suede's was a tortured, grecian mess where dreams go to die.

Of course Wendy went home. Her design was completely atrocious. Those gloves alone deserved the boot, but the whole outfit was a weird mix of 90s reference to the 70s and Russian prostitute. Yes, that's mean, and yes, it's true.

Even though I oddly didn't hate Casanova's design, I'm not quite sure how he made it into the top three. Sometimes a surprising color choice can go a long way, I suppose.

I liked Ivy's dress in theory, but not in production. The green and gold combo was lovely, but the green fabric was overworked and poorly finished. And the overall proportions were off, but the idea of a boy short under a sheer skirt is kind of fun...for someone to wear who isn't me.

Uli was certainly best of the top three. The dress had so much movement, which was fun and a bit exciting--perfect for party wear. And since no one else really wowed me, which happens when I'm overly tired, I was certainly okay with Uli's win.

Despite their design flaws, I will give honorable mention to Anthony Ryan (top) for his monochromatic graphics, Althea (left) for the interesting texture on the front of her dress, and Emilio (right) for his use of movement and volume.

 

Project Runway All Stars: "Redemption on the Runway"

Yes, this episode aired over a week ago, and yes, I'm going to post about it anyway. However:

I hereby pledge to post Project Runway rundowns in a timely manner. Please feel free to call me out if I do not.

Again we have our old friends Isaac Mizrahi, Georgina Chapman, and the refreshingly blunt Joanna Coles. But there is a new model-cum-host, Caroline Murphy. And she is even worst than the last All Star host. I understand why they pick models to host, after all Heidi Klum is a model and she does a great job, but Heidi Klum has a sassy, strong personality, and that cannot be said of Caroline Murphy. So incredibly bland.

They've also upped the prizes a little bit this time around, which is kind of bananas as it all adds up to a value of about $750,000. Prizes include, but are not limited to, a spread in Marie Claire and a one year gig as a contributing editor of the same, trips to all of next year's fashion weeks around the world, one year of paid office space, a studio of Brother equipment, and $150,000 cash. Rather gluttonous, no?

The first challenge was a team challenge, horror of horrors. Each team had to design around a single "attitude," and each designer was responsible for one whole look. You can see both collections here.

Team Bold included Joshua, Emilio, Suede, Laura, Peach, and Andrae.
Team Confident included Althea, Anthony Ryan (love), Ivy, Casanova, Kayne, Wendy, and Uli.

I didn't love either collection, but team Confident, despite their tired theme of leather and lace, won the challenge, which means the top three came from this group.

Ivy's jacket and short were a mystery to me. I thought it looked a little dated, a little 80s. The placement of the lace was interesting and flattering, but the silhouette did not wow me in the least.

I was also nonplused with Casanova's dress (left). The lace placement and finishing felt sloppy and awkward, if that's possible. Again, it was nothing special and it wasn't very flattering. Althea's very similar dress was more interesting to me. It was more flattering, and the high contrast felt more exciting.

My sweet, Southern cherub, Anthony Ryan, was the first winner! Yay! I loved him in his regular season, and I hope he's grown enough as a designer to win this competition. His design was graphic in the front, and soft and surprising in the back. Simple and lovely in great proportions.

Out of team Bold, the bottom three were Peach, Andrae, and Suede. No surprises there. I probably could've picked the bottom three before seeing their designs. I thought Andrae's was the worst, it was fussy, overworked, and a little 90s.

Suede's handkerchief student work was pretty bad too, but at least his craftsmanship was on par.

Peach's dress wasn't too far behind with her boring, sloppy, under-designed, phone-in of a design. She went home, but it really could've been any of the bottom three.

Laura from team Bold deserves a mention here, her silhouette was gorgeous, easy, and flattering.

I'm going out on a limb here to make predictions about the designers likely to go home first and the designers likely to make it to the end.

First go-homers:
Wendy, Suede, Kayne (he just can't stop making pageant looks!), Andrae, and maybe Casanova.

Make-it-to-the-enders:
Emilio, Anthony Ryan, Uli.

Joshua, Althea, Laura, and Ivy could go either way for me at this point.