Project Runway All Stars 11/13/14--"Something Wicked This Way Comes" summary

Previously on Project Runway All-Stars: the standard unconventional materials challenge. This time with construction materials. Woo. The usual people not knowing what to do and not making things feminine enough which is a dumb requirement anyway. Justin won with a dress made out of zip ties tied onto mesh like fringe. Alexandria was out because her dress wasn’t “feminine” enough and also it was a tarp with a two foot wide circle of mesh for a hem. (click for more)

Everyone goes to a theater where they are showing “Wicked”. Alyssa rides in on the bubble that Glinda rides in on. The person who dresses her for the runway is on double duty this week because she is wearing a tent and looks huge. They bring out the current Elphaba and Glinda, and Gunnar freaks because of course he does. Justin says the dress Elphaba is wearing is what inspired him to go into fashion. Anyway, today’s challenge is to go head-to-head. The theme is “Good or Wicked” so each person will pick from a hat. They are not clear on how the matchups happen. Like, there are six “good” cards, but who says who gets paired up with who? Anyway, Fabio vs. Justin, Sonjia vs. Kate, Helen vs. Ben, Michelle vs. Chris, Jay vs. Samantha, and Gunnar vs. Dmitry. The first person of each pair is “Good”. See they said they’d draw for good or wicked but they didn’t say how they decided which wicked was with which good. Whatever, these are some good matchups. Create a “couture-inspired” gown that “conveys feelings” of wicked or good. Kate claims to have a naughty side. Only two days, of course. I’m looking forward to Fabio and Justin’s battle. Also Michelle and Chris. You’re lucky you got two days. Also any challenge more than one day means the twist alert is on.

$250 each. They sketch in the theater, and everyone has grandiose ideas. I know I should talk about the visions and sketches and whatever but so often the dresses don’t have anything to do with where they started. They also complain about the stingy budget but no one ever actually does couture on this show anyway so I don’t see why we’re still complaining about it after all this time. Gunnar lends Michelle a dollar or something.

Someone moved all the tables around so everyone has to create next to their rival. Michelle wants to win but she’s annoyed that in order to do that she’ll have to beat Chris. I’m pretty sure it’s the standard “winners can win, losers can go home” set-up. Justin and Fabio seem to be intimidated by each other. That’s why I’m looking forward to this match. Fabio is not going traditional. Gunnar says he can go home next week as long as he beats Dmitry this week.

Day two. Ben is looking at all of Helen’s technique and he’s getting a little worried. She’s spending a lot of time talking about it, and everyone is impressed, but I’m not seeing a lot of her working on it. Kate is not making a white dress! I know! But she is supposed to be wicked.

Zanna comes in. She tells everyone that if they win, their design will be displayed in the theater. Nice. He has a huge petticoat, but it cannot look crafty. Michelle has to be perfect. Dmitry has no “wow”? I guess? There’s some feathers, or at least I think they’re feathers. Gunnar has to push it. Fabio has pants. Zanna’s eyes are about to pop out of her head. He has too many ideas. Zanna is really amused that Kate has to do wicked. Helen made so many ruffles she has braces on her wrists because her hands went numb. Zanna tells Jay maybe he should do wide legged pants. Zanna reminds everyone not to be crafty and then she leaves.

Sam is starting over. Again. Just like last week. Fabio is making another dress? To have options? Model fittings. Fabio loves his pants look, but Michelle says it looks like an apron. But Chris says he would wear it if he was a woman. Dmitry doesn’t get why they are wasting time talking about someone else’s dress, but whatever. A lot of people are really behind, as usual.

Runway day, which means no twist! Yay! Apparently Dmitry’s model is flashing people. Hot makeup guy Scott. As much as everyone was worried about their competition when they were assigned pairs, now they’re all trash talking as usual. Everyone finishes so there’s that.

Georgina isn’t here, but Betsey Johnson is. Guest judge is Ariel Winter. Helen: cream colored long dress, or maybe blush. The dress itself is not exciting, but over the skirt is all the ruffles. Sadly though it looks like a plush bathmat. It’s not really “ruffles” so much as it is “fluffy”. The dress has a brocade pattern, with a boatneck and a straight skirt, and then the ruffles are over one hip but wound around like she draped fabric around herself. There is a big flap that sticks out over her hip. Ben: long gown in thin black and white stripes. It’s strapless, with fins over her boobs, and a long skirt with a high slit. That’s it. The top looks loose, like she might fall out if she jumps up and down, and then it’s sexy but I’m not seeing how you couldn’t make this in one day. At least Helen has the ruffles.

Gunnar: long white skirt that ends an inch or two above the ground, and a bodice with chevrons in black. The shoulders have feathers like caps, and there’s an open keyhole in the back. The chevrons go down each side over her boobs, so there are two. The skirt has exposed seams, or very thin strips of gray. Is it “good”? Not sure. Nice though. Dmitry: long black gown with a high slit, in chiffon. The top is sparkly and has feathers, and is sheer over her stomach. There’s a pattern like coral or squiggly lines, and there is clearly illusion netting, but it’s dramatic. Plus the slit is really high, like dangerously high.

Sonjia: short dress in a print that is white with gray splatters. It is classier than it sounds. The top has a high mock turtleneck, and the armholes are not cut smoothly but with a more jagged pattern. There is a strip open in the back, like she has a crop top, but there is no matching skin in the front. Over the short skirt is an overskirt in a light gray that has a lot of volume. Kate: long skirt in a cream, maybe, with black tulle over it. Lots of tulle. Plus there are the same sparkly black squiggly lines that Dmitry had. The bodice is a plain leather vest with a V-neck and more puffs of tulle on the shoulders. Maybe it’s pleather. It looks cheap.

Michelle: long white dress that the model is walking very carefully in. It’s…a long dress. There’s some seaming but I can’t really see it very well. Just a long seam down the front? On the back is a short cape attached to her shoulders. Chris: long tight dress in dark gray. There is one shoulder, that is shredded and has a bell sleeve. Like he made the sleeve and then cut horizontally into the fabric. There is the same technique down the front of the dress, and then an asymmetric mermaid hem with a TON of petticoats. All in grays and pinks. Not sure how pink is wicked but OK.

Fabio: so slim black and white pants, in a floral kind of pattern, and then a white drape over it. It’s basically an apron, but cut and seamed in such a way that from the front it looks like a dress. It’s long enough to cover the pants anyway. Justin: black gown with a sparkly bodice and a high slit. The bodice looks like a plain bodice with some beading and embroidery over her chest. It’s nice but Fabio’s is so creative.

Jay: wide legged pants, and a top that is a bunch of ruffles. Like he took handkerchiefs and sewed them to her chest so her upper body is a square of ruffles. I don’t like the shape, or lack thereof. Also there’s a sheer cape and a collar. Everything is in white. Like her chest exploded and it was full of chiffon. Samantha: long black dress with sequins along most of the bodice. Her skirt is long but the model is holding up two ends, like the corners of the slit, so it looks odd. The top of the bodice has some black sheer material, and it looks lopsided. I think it may be dark blue sequins and a black skirt.

Michelle, Justin, Samantha, Sonjia, Ben, and Dmitry are the winners, and Sonjia, Samantha, and Dmitry have the highest scores. Samantha had a high score? Whatever. Also Fabio should have won but whatever. Chris, Fabio, and Helen had low scores. Fabio had a low score. You guys suck.

Dmitry took apart some trim to make the weird squiggly lines and stuff. Isaac likes it but it lacks drama. He wants more skin. Betsey babbles about floating or something. Seriously I don’t know what she’s talking about. STILL A BETTER JUDGE THAN SNOOKI AND JWWOW. They love the back. Helen talks about her organza, and Betsey says she loves it because she would have a side table wherever she went. Ha! No, she actually loves the weird side flap. They know the bathmat thing took a long time, even though it is terrible. Sonjia has leaf-shaped trim along the armholes and the hem of the miniskirt. They love the overskirt a lot. Chris has no idea what he made that horizontal shredded stuff out of, he just liked the color. But it looks like a novelty T-shirt that someone cut up on purpose. Betsey likes how it’s a costume. Dude, Chris should go work for Betsey. They would get along really well. Samantha’s bodice looks lumpy and that sheer still looks lopsided. Like the two sides are not symmetrical. Somehow the blue and black together makes Isaac love it. The back looks lopsided too. Why does everyone love it? Is it lopsided because they think wicked = lopsided? Whatever. The judges do say “apron” to Fabio. Oops. Isaac tries to claim that everyone else did a gown but Fabio but that is TOTAL BULLSHIT because Jay had pants too. So don’t go there.

The judges talk about how Dmitry’s dress was elegant, and Sonjia had a beautiful back, and Samantha had blue and black and apparently the shitty construction is “raw”. Helen made a terrible dress and wasted time with the ruffles. Either all ruffles or all print. Everyone thought Chris would win but his dress was a mess. Isaac says he just doesn’t like Fabio’s look. Shut up Isaac. They are mad he didn’t make a gown, but neither did Jay. Jay also made pants, and his top was terrible. If you think Fabio’s top looks like an apron then fine but don’t feed me this bullshit about how he’s the only one who didn’t follow the challenge.

Dmitry is in. Sonjia wins! Cool, I did like her dress. She’s so giddy. Samantha is in. Fabio is in. Chris made a mistake, while Helen put a lot of effort in and didn’t edit. Chris is out. Dammit. Helen is in. Boo, now who am I going to root for? I knew this would happen. I hope Betsey offers him a job. Everyone gives him a group hug and he’s like “people are touching me!” Hee. He’s thrown by being in the bottom but I think he’ll be fine.

Next week: Nina is here! Make a party dress that “includes your own journey of love”. WTF does that mean? Then she argues with Isaac so that should be fun.