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.