Project Runway All Stars 2/9/12--"Fashion Face Off" summary

Previously on Project Runway: everyone had to steal clothes from random people and make outfits. It was mostly fun. Kenley sort of was annoying but nowhere near where she used to be. Mondo wins, because he has a good style. Jerell makes some crazy tacky outfit, but he manages to stick around over Anthony, who failed to follow the challenge guidelines. Now the workroom will be that much quieter. (click for more)

Mondo makes fun of Kenley by telling her he has a secret crush on her. Hee. He says while she is obnoxious and annoying he loves to push her buttons.

Angela has a double armful of bags. She labels them “weekend getaway bags”, which is kind of inaccurate because those bags are not terribly big. Michael thinks they are going out of town. No. Everyone gets a bag. Mondo actually takes a big orange bag which is very cool but not a print. Inside each bag is a luggage tag with a season on it. Austin and Kara both have spring, Michael and Jerell have winter, Mondo and Kenley get summer, and Mila and Rami end up with autumn. They are creating sportswear for a weekend getaway, based on whatever season they ended up with. And since two designers have each season, it’s…a Fashion Face-Off!! Not a team challenge! That makes me happy. There were so many team challenges last season, and this season on every other show I watch, and I am so tired of them. One member of each pair will be in the top, one in the bottom. You can tell people were expecting to work together, and now they are not so confident. $200 and one day. They splice in Angela saying they should remember who their girl is and what she’s doing and where she’s going. Also they don’t have to use the bag, which is stupid because you know everyone picked out their bag thinking they’d have to build the outfit around it. They should all use them anyway. Some of those bags are fantastic. Is this just so you don’t have to use the velvet bag and the giant buttons? Because I like them.

Everyone makes up stories about their girl and what she’s doing. Austin tries to mess with Kara’s head and insult her sketch. Actually what he does is he tries to be Kurt Hummel but he doesn’t quite get there. Kara tells him to do a full pleated pant with a baggy top and a knee-length sweater. Hee. Shopping is uninteresting as always.

Jerell starts right away on his coat. Mila has a cape. And skinny jeans. Mondo is not super confident about his pants, although I think he is not particularly worried about Kenley. Michael says his girl is going to fuck up Austin’s girl and cut all the flowers in his garden. Ha! They’re not even competing, but Austin did say his “girl” was going out to the country to check on her garden. Michael’s made a strange high-backed vest that didn’t turn out so well. He and Jerell are constantly giving each other the side-eye, trying to spy on what the other one is doing. Mondo says he doesn’t want to lose to Kenley. He thinks that last week’s outfit would be great for this week too. He thinks miniskirt, but Mila gives him a weird look and he curses. Rami has suede. Jerell tries his coat on Kenley to check the sleeve length, and he says he looked over and Michael has the same jacket. I remember everyone hating him when he was on his season, but it was all because of sewing, right? Not plagiarism? Now I don’t remember. Jerell basically calls him out and Michael denies it. They continue making passive-aggressive comments. Mila interviews that sometimes these things happen.

Joanna time! Kara and her lovely accent tell Joanna about going on “holiday” in high waisted pants, which are fashion forward and excellent, except for those of us who can’t wear them because we look stupid. Joanna yells “Aus-TIN!” to get his attention. He is talking origami and things of that nature. Mondo says his “girl” is really him going to his mom’s birthday, which is today. Kenley also has polka dots, and Mondo names her the Polka Dot Queen, while he is the Polka Dot Princess. Kenley does have blue and white polka dot shorts, but they seem kind of unflattering. Joanna labels Mila’s pants “Mila pants” because she makes the same pants all the time. Rami has a chartreuse and a royal blue. They just don’t really go together. Michael shows Joanna his coat, and she asks to see a sketch and he claims to have it “here somewhere” but never produces it. Oh, come on. We all saw you make it up. Why are you afraid to say “I don’t have a sketch because I made this up an hour ago”? Jerell is hanging on every word because he thinks Michael will incriminate himself. Michael says he played with some muslin and it “kind of came together itself”. Jerell is also doing a big coat. With leather detail. Joanna notices this, and Jerell tells her that the similarities bother him. Joanna says “gather gather gather” for a team chat and then she asks everyone else what they think about the two coats. Wow, Tim would never have done that. I don’t know if I like it. Everyone basically says they saw Jerell with the coat first, and then Michael had one. Joanna asks them if it’s wrong in a competition if you see someone with a great idea, and then you use it. Meanwhile in the background Michael still working on his outfit, while everyone else has stopped working to have this meeting. Mila says what I think is the best answer, which is that if you see someone doing something great, that should make you push yourself harder in YOUR direction. Then Joanna tells them to do their best and she leaves, having stirred up the pot.

Austin freaks out at the time left. He says American sportswear is immaculate and neat. Mondo encourages Michael to come eat dinner with him, and Michael complains that he feels accused of copying, which he was. He then says that when you’re doing well, people just want to hate on you, and that is bullshit. People are not accusing you of copying Jerell because you’re doing well, they’re accusing you of copying because they think you copied Jerell. And may I remind you that last challenge you were in the bottom two. No one ever accused Mondo of doing shit when he was doing well on his season. Mondo agrees with Michael. Jerell comes to eat, I’m sure because a producer told him to go eat right then. Mondo jokes that it’s just like dinner at his family’s house: awkward. Jerell says he doesn’t want any tension, just for Michael to put himself in Jerell’s shoes. Oh, that’s not going to happen. Jerell, you should just stop right now. Michael actually starts to demonstrate how he folded the fabric (which footage is suspiciously absent from this episode, don’t think we didn‘t notice, producers) and Jerell is like, I know how to make it, because I made it first. Michael seems to view this whole thing as insulting and a waste of time, and then Joanna had to get involved (like that’s Jerell’s fault, which it is not) and OK. Michael, you obviously came up with the coat after Jerell, it looks like Jerell’s coat, so don’t act like it’s impossible and you can’t imagine where everyone got this idea. Jerell, just drop it, because you’ll never be able to prove he copied you, and the more obnoxious you are, it just makes him look like a victim.

Mila is still working on the cape, putting leather on the seams and hems. It’s the morning of the show. Jerell bitches about Mondo helping Michael, and then Michael rolls his eyes and calls him a bitch AS IF HE DIDN’T DO THE EXACT SAME THING LAST WEEK. You saw Kenley helping Kara and you ran right to Mila to gossip about it. Don’t pretend you’re better than him. Mila is still cutting fabric and sewing a top when her model gets there. I don’t see hot makeup guy anywhere.

Guest judge this week is Cynthia Rowley. Interesting. For each season, both designs come out together. Austin: beige high-waisted pants, a pastel print top and a pink cardigan. Are those pants pleated? They’re pleated. It’s weirdly full around her hips. I don’t think it’s terribly “fashion”, but it’s cute, I guess. The cardigan has a strip of matching print along the opening, and the pants are about two inches above her ankles. Kara: wide-legged white pants, a raspberry V-neck top, and a gray cardigan. I like this one better. These pants hit the floor, and the cardigan is past her hips instead of hitting at her waist.

Kenley: a polka dotted jumper. It’s a pair of shorts, and a top with puffy sleeves like she used to always do, but they’re both in the same print so I’m not sure if they’re attached or not. The print is light blue with white polka dots. The top has a high neck with a Peter Pan collar. It looks very young, and the model has a ponytail which doesn’t help. Mondo: black and white shorts and a loose top in black and white polka dots. His girl looks much better. The shorts have a print too, kind of a stripe or a dot or something. The top looks like one piece of fabric draped over her front.

Rami: gray pants, and a royal blue coat/top. The blue has a cowl neckline, or at least there is a ton of extra fabric draped over her chest. It‘s belted, but that is still a lot of volume. Under the blue is a chartreuse top that has like, a rouched turtleneck. Mila: skinny jeans, or at least skinny Mila pants, and a red long-sleeved top. Over that is a beige cape with black leather strips along the edges. There are slits in the cape for her arms.

Jesus. When you put Michael and Jerell’s looks right next to each other, they look like they came from the same collection. I wonder if that’s why we had the change to the usual runway setup. Some producer wanted to make sure everyone saw it. Jerell: it looks like his girl has a skirt, made of gray striped wool or something, but I think that is just how long the coat is. The bottom is striped, and then it’s gray herringbone, with a big flat collar with checks. Underneath I can’t really see what is going on, because it’s all black and I have a crappy TV, but I think it’s a cardigan that laces like a corset and leggings. Michael: pants, or maybe a black skirt, and his coat is at least belted. Actually, I’m not sure he made a coat, or if that’s a big top he put a belt on. If there are two pieces, they’re made of the same fabric, so it just looks like she has a turtleneck and a matching scarf. I don’t know. There are skinny black pants, I guess. And the model’s arms seem to be solid black? So did he make a coat with arms in a different fabric? Or is this a big sleeveless vest with a big collar? Seriously, why is the top belted but not the collar?

Everyone gets to get a critique today. Spring and Summer are up first. Austin’s cardigan and pants are “almost so dorky they’re cool”, says Cynthia. They love the pants. I still think her hips look big, though. Isaac is bored and doesn’t want to hang out with this girl, and he actually says “she looks like a bore” but they’ve been using that sound bite in promos and that’s not what I thought he said. Everyone is bored. Kara’s outfit is good, but Cynthia doesn’t see anything original. Kara says when she’s packing for a getaway she’s not looking to be avant garde. Isaac tries to say the color combination is terrible, but Georgina shuts him down and says that she wouldn’t mind wearing that outfit. Kara had the higher score. Good. Kenley has paired her blue and white polka dots with orange high-heeled gladiator sandals. Sigh. Everyone likes them, and the only think anyone says is that she should have lined up the polka dots at the seams. Cynthia takes Mondo’s outfit piece by piece and says it goes in too many direction. Isaac says the “textiles” make it “junior”. But a polka dot jumper with a Peter Pan collar is not junior? WTF? The print he used this week is not as flattering. Kenley wins. Stupid.

Back in the Scrap Bin Mondo is really upset, because he designed that outfit while thinking of his mom, and the judges told him it sucked. Oh, honey, it didn’t suck. Kenley tries to make him feel better by making fun of Austin. Rami opens up the blue top, so you can see the chartreuse is cut on the diagonal. I don’t really object to his pieces, just not that color combination together. The top has suede shoulders. Isaac doesn’t like the color either, and the rouched turtleneck. Cynthia thinks the diagonal seam looks lopsided. Mila’s outfit is very Mila, and they like the cape. Mila obviously wins that one. Right away Georgina tells Jerell and Michael their looks are very similar. As Jerell talks about how he came up with his idea, Michael smirks. Jerell is like, I guess we got struck by the same inspiration! Dude, just say you made your coat and then Michael made the same coat. Don’t do that stupid “guess we’re just psychic, ha ha” bullshit. Accuse him and own up to it or shut up about it. Michael claims he didn’t see what Jerell was doing, at all, until after he was finished. Georgina likes Jerell’s “tribal” aspect, and Isaac loves the coat but hates the buttons. What I thought was lacing on the cardigan is actually big buttons. They do like most of it. Isaac tells Michael that leggings with black patent leather platform stiletto pumps are nasty. He should have used boots. Cynthia thinks Michael’s girl is older looking. Jerell wins. Too bad for Michael.

Everyone likes Kenley’s look, and of COURSE she would turn your head, Angela, because I would also stare at a grown woman in a jumper and orange sandals. Kenley always does the same thing, the judges say. Mila’s look was chic but the fabric didn’t look expensive enough. Jerell’s coat was great but Isaac still hates the buttons. It works for his mood, though. Kara’s look is perfectly OK, but they seem to think she won by default because Austin’s look was too weird. Isaac thinks his pants were the best today, but the top part was terrible. They hate on Mondo’s outfit, except Georgina at least says it’s good, just not as good as last week. Rami’s blue and green were terrible together. And the diagonal seam in the top was not attractive. Angela tells the other judges there was drama about Michael and Jerell. Isaac pipes in that Michael’s design is not his strong point, it’s his execution. It looks good, but they think he’s far less confident than Jerell, and they don’t have any sense of his point of view.

Mila and Kara are in. Jerell is the winner! He wishes Michael good luck as he leaves. He can’t resist a jab at Michael in confessional though. Kenley is in. Michael and Mondo are in. Rami is out. Oo. And I wanted him to flirt with hot makeup guy! Now how is that going to happen? Angela thanks him for being part of All-Stars, which is weird. But apparently those “gladiators” in Madonna’s half-time show? He designed that. So he’s not doing poorly. He seems totally OK with it. He says he got the exposure he needed (bicep exposure?) and he’s ready for the next thing.

Next week: Broadway! Kenley dances around. I couldn’t what was going on, but I looked it up on my DVR guide. They are going to be designing a costume for “Godspell”. Design for a show that can be set in any time and in any setting? Awesome.