Project Runway All Stars 1/10/13--"Couture de France" summary

Previously on Project Runway: the remaining designers had to design “makeover” outfits for female veterans. It was a good challenge. Josh did very well and won, even though I think he had some extra challenges (his veteran lost a leg). Anthony Ryan’s veteran was a self-proclaimed “boob hider”, and his dress actually drew attention to them. Yes, I know she was larger than a model would have been, but there had to have been a million ways he could have made a more flattering dress. It has nothing to do with her chest size. But, the minute he’s in danger, magically no one is eliminated and all four designers are moving on to this week. Whatever. (click for more)

Carolyn claims one of the remaining designers will DEFINITELY be eliminated before the finale. They must make couture. “Expensive fabric, attention to detail, and custom tailoring”. Things which they do not do on this show. They do not give people enough time or money to do that. But I guess we can see what passes for couture on this show. Carolyn reveals they’ll be shopping in Paris so everyone freaks out. Also Valentino has invited them to tour their fashion house. That’s pretty sweet.

Everyone runs around packing as if they had to do it last minute. They might have, I just don’t trust the editing on this show. When they arrive, they ooh and ahh over the House of Valentino which is swank. Joanna is here! When the designers go to greet her, you can see that Josh is wearing a blazer, capri pants, and flip flips. Jesus Christ, Josh, put on some damn pants. Or at least real shoes. At least it’s all in black. They meet the head designers from Valentino and go upstairs to the showroom. The clothes are gorgeous, of course. There is a fleet of women hand sewing everything. They all get invites to the show, which I would freak out about too, let’s be honest. Josh says he’s like a straight guy at a baseball game. Not…so much, but points for trying. They have dinner on a boat on the river and gush about how great it is and how they should enjoy the moment and things I guess you feel when you’re having dinner on a boat in Paris the night before Valentino’s couture show.

Ugh, it’s actually CALLED “Project Runway: Teams”?? Christ on a cracker.

Everyone sketches outside near the Eiffel Tower, in a really pretty park. Everyone seems to be doing gowns, or at least long dresses. They’re probably all gowns. Shopping time! They have 3000 euros to shop at a store with all the couture fabric they could want. Google says currently that is nearly $4000, so maybe they’ll have enough money to do something. Anthony Ryan says he’s using black. Emilio has red, and Josh has…what looks like some horrible floral couch print. Maybe it’s just too far away from the camera.

For the couture show, everyone dresses up and the show is fab, as you would expect. Then they have to go back to New York. So I guess they couldn’t do any actual work in Paris.

The chyron says when they get to Parsons they have 10 hours remaining on day 3. Please tell me they have more than 10 hours to make a couture look. Sigh. Everyone has a ton of work but is also jetlagged. Anthony Ryan says his dress isn’t working so he throws his dress on the floor? I don’t know.

Joanna time! Emilio’s fabric is red with a little bit of black here and there, and a ribbed kind of texture that looks pretty cool close up. He’s adding some black appliques. Joanna says to make sure the appliques don’t overwhelm anything. Uli has some copper alligator fabric which looks cool. Joanna says “Gladiator alligator meets Sicilian widow” which makes no sense and yet is awesome. She also expresses some concern at Josh’s design and fabric choices. It’s looking like some of Kenley’s prints, when she was making those weird dresses with the high necks and the weird diagonal hip patches of different material. Anthony Ryan admits he is changing his design, which almost all of the time is a bad idea and a bad sign. But it’s Anthony Ryan, so you know he’ll be praised to high heaven and everyone will love it.

Model fitting. Uli’s dress is too big. Emilio doesn’t want to show any skin. Joshua. OK, Josh has put a black lace bodice and a multicolored floral print skirt on his model. What in the actual fuck. Anthony Ryan thinks he will have enough fabric so at least his model won’t be naked. He says he’s starting to freak out.

So they did only get 10 hours to work. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised, should we? Day of the show. Uli doesn’t really like the lining of her gown, but without it the gown is sheer. Hot makeup guy Scott. Magically Anthony Ryan has a dress. Josh trash talks that Emilio relied on his fabric for his look, while Josh himself is cutting out tiny flowers or something and is loving the “clash” of his fabrics. You probably should have thought a little more about your fabric, dear.

You’ll notice today there is only one guest judge. Just like how the last episode before the finale in the regular show doesn’t have any guest judges. Cynthia Rowley. That’s so the guest judge(s) can’t overrule the regular judges (producers). Josh: long sleeved bodice with a V-neck, in black lace with what looks like silver trim. Then the skirt is a rainbow floral print, long with a train. That print is terrible. I think the top has cut-out little black flowers all over it. Anthony Ryan: long black dress, with an overlay of black lace. It’s all a column, very sleek, with a high neck and long sleeves. It’s a good dress, I’m just not seeing the “couture” in it, I guess. Uli: long skirt with what looks like black sheer netting over a copper lining, and the copper metallic bodice. The bodice doesn’t have a back, and it’s all gathered and looks cool. There’s a narrow strip down the back, actually. Emilio: long red gown with long sleeves and a high boatneck, in the red with accents of black. I don’t think there are any appliques at all, actually. There’s a slight bustle. Or his model knows how to walk leading with her hips.

Emilio talks about covering up, and how his fabric looks heavy but is light. Everyone runs to touch it. They love it. Isaac asks for the tiniest bit of ankle. Georgina says it’s perfectly done, and Cynthia says it’s all about the fabric, which it is. Anthony Ryan wanted body conscious and some sheer. When they show a close-up of the dress, it looks like the fabric has tiny black strips, with a lining underneath. The judges do say they can’t tell where the lining actually starts. OK, that looks more interesting than what it did on the runway, when it just looked like black lace. Anthony Ryan admits there’s no lining, it’s all carefully constructed. There are two fabrics, I think, the one with tiny stripes, and the lace. So the lace is most of the bodice and a strip down her front. OK. Uli mixed some fabrics to make a dream fabric. They can tell where the lining is here, and they don’t like it. Georgina suggests she could have made some granny panties. The back isn’t even, on purpose, but Carolyn doesn’t really like it. Isaac claims to have seen it everywhere. Josh talks about clashing. Isaac admits couture is experimental, and sometimes experiments fail. They don’t like the floral, and Cynthia says the shoulders don’t fit. The details on the top are fine, but Carolyn doesn’t like the skirt proportions.

They love Emilio’s fabric and his dress and what a big impact it made. Maybe a tiny bit shorter. Anthony Ryan’s dress was a little quiet but it had a lot of detail and they like this one too. They hate on Uli’s lining and they finally show a shot of the back of the dress where you can see clearly that there is illusion netting. They also hate on the exposed zipper, which I must admit, I also hate on. Sigh. Josh’s dress didn’t work but they seem to be praising his idea. I guess the “juxtapose of color and black and white” is a good idea but that print sucks and that’s what they’re saying.

The winner is Anthony Ryan, because OF COURSE. He says he’s excited. Emilio is in. Carolyn says it was difficult to make this decision, and they need to see something more from these two left. NO. So for Uli and Josh, there is one more challenge. Goddammit, show. She talks some more about how very few designers accomplish whatever it is she’s about to talk about, but just get to the point already! Their models come out, and Carolyn tells them they must deconstruct their gown and reinvent it into something completely different. What? It must be a dramatic new look, and they have one hour. Well, that explains why there is so much time left in this episode. Also they will have all the leftover fabric from the challenge.

They’ve brought their stuff and portable tables to the runway, which is kind of funny. I wonder if they told Anthony Ryan and Emilio what was going on. Maybe they’re just sitting in the Scrap Bin wondering what is taking so long. Hee. They don’t show a lot of work, which is too bad because I would like to see.

Josh: he cut off the skirt above the knee, gave it a little more volume, and then cut off the sleeves. The dress is now really high waisted and the V-neck seems much wider. That’s…not “something completely different”. Although it maybe is slightly better. Uli: she took what I guess was the lining of the gown and made a whole knee-length draped dress out of it. The black is now a shrug, and some fabric to make a halter-sort-of neckline. Like a loop of fabric that the lining is looped through to hold it up. It looks nothing like the dress she had before. It’s kind of cute, although a black shrug and a putty dress don’t go that well together.

Josh says he reversed the bodice (so the back is now the front) and he thought of how he would go from couture from ready-to-wear. Georgina thought in an hour they both did a lot. She praises Josh and says it’s light and suddenly they love it. That print is still ugly though. I think so, anyway. Uli’s dress is indeed the lining, with the copper in the jacket in the shoulder. It’s beautiful, says Georgina and she says she’d wear the jacket. Cynthia calls it a hilarious “fuck you” to the judges for slamming her lining before. Ha! Isaac says they both have problems, but they do like them both also.

Carolyn says they’re each going to write down the name of the person going on to the final. Blah blah blah. Back in the Scrap Bin, Anthony Ryan is all, what is taking so long? You guys, that’s mean. Don’t make them sit in there all day. At least give them some drinks. Uli is in. Phew. I would be really sad if Josh made it through with that print. Josh says he’s disappointed, but he is proud of everything he did.

Next week: the final challenge. Four days to make a collection. There will be at least one twist. Someone wins, probably Anthony Ryan. You know the drill.