Project Runway All Stars 3/1/18--"Mizrahi Madness" summary

Previously on “Project Runway All Stars”: the designers were told to make avant garde looks inspired by a planetarium show. They actually got two days for it too! Stanley won with a simple but striking dress and a cage over his model's face. I thought Anthony's pants were awesome, but that's fine. Josh got all salty about how he was in the bottom this week, because I guess he forgot he won last week, but of course he was not sent home. Kimberly was sent home for making a capelet and a sheer skirt that didn't go together. (click for more)

Another field trip, this time to the Jewish Museum. Inside is Alyssa in a pastel plaid coat that I like but I think is cut poorly for her figure. Anyway, Isaac is also here. He has an exhibition here full of clothes and sketches and stuff. It looks fun. Everyone has to work in color this week. Isaac has a stack of color samples. It looks like each one has different shades of a color. So for example, Ken gets a piece with four reds, and Isaac tells him to show a red he hasn't done. Oh, Isaac is assigning everything, so we're not even pretending this is random. Fabio gets green (which he whines about because he's Brazilian and no one designs in green because you match the flag...?), Stanley has pink, Merline gets blue, Helen gets purple, Edmond has orange, Anthony gets yellow (somehow perfect), and Josh gets teal. Hilariously Isaac has fake reasons for giving people whatever color. Usually it's “well I just thought of you!” Josh gets “Teal can be bad so you have to walk a delicate line and I know you can” which is not true of Josh but whatever. Other people with challenging colors also got their asses kissed by Isaac but they didn't have tantrums last week. Alyssa tells everyone they'll have to pick a complimentary color also. This will be a party look for spring. Also some time to sketch and look around at the exhibit. Isaac has a “special prize” for the winner but we won't find out what it is until the runway.

The exhibit looks really cool. I don't feel like recapping everyone talking about how wonderful Isaac is and asking him advice. Josh manages to get Isaac alone to ask him how to take criticism. Oh please. Do you really think we're going to believe Josh decided on his own to go talk to Isaac and show some self-awareness and remorse for being so salty to everyone? Come on. Also, don't think I didn't see your Instagram post this week, JOSH, talking about how terrible Alyssa's clothes are and how Isaac is ugly. Now you're in confessional calling him a genius and pretending you want to grow as a person. And “crying” because you realized Isaac judges you because he cares. I don't buy one minute of it.

Anyway, sketching is sketching. Helen claims to have never worked with purple before. Anthony finds a yellow and gets a lavender to go with it. Merline picks up a royal blue and a light yellow. Helen says some nonsense about how Isaac gave her purple because he knows she has a certain taste level, and she was going to pick out a shade that represented her as a designer.

Ken pretends Isaac thought about the color assignments a lot. He usually goes for dramatic looks, so he wants to do something with details. Then he tells Anthony he thinks yellow suits his personality, and Anthony says he takes back all the mean things he was wishing for Ken! Heh. Merline is doing shapes again, which she was specifically told to stop doing last week. It looks like she folded some origami to do a 3-D thing. Like, origami flowers all attached. Anthony and Ken mutter about it, but neglect to shut up when Merline comes back in. Oops.

Anne shows up. She's just so boring. I know, she's the mentor and doesn't need to be exciting, but come on. Helen has a deep purple and a blue. Anne is bored. Edmond picked out a dark raspberry to go with orange. Don't make it too short. Merline is still folding things, and Anne wonders how it will be different from last week. Merline does not understand this criticism. I think Josh wants to put a tiara on his look. Fabio is too '50s. Ken is elegant but hasn't “put his money on the table”, says Anne. Whatever that means. Stanley appears to be making a lampshade. It's basically a very short peplum to produce volume. You know how else you could do that is cast some models that aren't as skinny as these ones seem to be. He seems to have a minty green and hot pink. Anthony is kind of peeved because his gown is too fancy for a party?

Merline is starting over, but it looks like instead of small 3-D objects tacked to her bodice, she's now doing big folds. Which she claims she's never done before. Sure. Anthony breaks an iron, but immediately tells everyone and encourages them to get over it. Model fitting. Helen is pleased with her look. Ken doesn't have time for the detail he wanted to add, so now he has to put some design back into his dress. Otherwise it'll just be a plain strapless dress. Anthony isn't done with his top, and he's blaming Anne for telling him it's not red carpet and putting him off his game. Ken is exhausted, and he's going to take a break for the last hour because he's tired. I know they force them to take breaks, but I think this is an extra one. He is wasting time, but he's also at a point where he's stuck so he might as well take a break.

Runway Day. I feel like this week everyone has let Anne get into their heads. There are a lot of people saying Anne has messed with them. Ken only has red in his dress right now, not his complimentary color. Josh has nothing done. Edmond's dress looks like one of Uli's. Or Anya's. Hot makeup guy Scott. Ken is still wishing for a nap. Anthony is yelling at him and cursing. He hasn't put the complimentary color on and he's just kind of sitting there. OMG, I just thought “Don't give up so you go home instead of Josh.” I never would have thought I would be excited for Ken. You know? He's not as much of a jerk as the first time he was on, by any stretch. And compared to Josh he's perfectly fine.

Guest judge is model Carmen Dell'Orifice. This woman is 86 and has been modeling for seventy years. She is too good for this show. Ken: strapless gown with a fishtail hem. The fishtail is on an overskirt draped over her right hip, and the other side is a plain pencil skirt which is red to mid-thigh and then light pink to the knee. It moves nicely but it's not that exciting. When she turns around you can see a big white exposed zipper, and from the back it looks less like an overskirt and more like a piece of fabric he just tacked to her hip. Fabio: mint green sleeveless cocktail dress with a deep V. The skirt is bell shaped, so it stands out from her body, and there are two horizontal tiers of navy blue. It's cute, but I feel like I could buy it now? But I would buy it, I guess. The back has an inverted V. Stanley: the top is off the shoulder, with one arm. Kind of like if you had a strapless top, and then wrapped some fabric around one arm and shoulder and attached the ends under the opposite arm. The hot pink skirt looks like a straight pencil skirt that hits mid-calf, but you can see the peplum thing he put underneath it. I can tell where it ends because you can see it through the fabric, there's a line and then the skirt hangs differently below that. I really don't like that line. Also the top is also mint green, and I don't like it with bright hot pink. Anthony: long gown in canary yellow. The fabric drapes over one shoulder, and there's a hem or a seam lined in lavender that runs down that side and then cuts horizontally over her hip. The skirt is slit high on that side, and the lavender runs down that hem. When she turns back around at the end of the runway, it looks like the top was a wrapped bandeau top because there's a small cutout at her waist where the two pieces have left a gap. Look, it's more interesting than Fabio's.

Helen: tube top and leggings in eggplant. Over the leggings is a draped skirt in eggplant and blue, with the end of the skirt pulled up and tucked into her top. Basically the end of the skirt forms a loop that ends at her armpit. The blue is also tacked up in the middle of her back. I don't like the loop aspect of it, if that makes sense. I don't think it sits right, and I wish the end of the skirt was just loose. When the model turns around, you can see that it's not really leggings, so much as it is one leg and under the skirt, that leg is hot pants length. Edmond: long orange gown that is very simple. It looks like an Uli or an Anya look: spaghetti straps, everything very drapy, moves really well but there's not a lot to it. There's some strings hanging off it, I guess. There's a sash in the back that is red, but only in the back and that's all the complementary color I can find. Merline: a top and skirt in dark blue with light yellow accents. Other than that I really can't tell what's going on. There are a lot of folds, but then it looks like she's tacked them all down because the front of the skirt moves like it's all one piece, so it looks like she's got a shield sewn over her crotch. Other than the folds it's a basic sleeveless V-neck and miniskirt. But it looks really heavy and stiff with random cutouts. Josh: long gown in a deep teal with fuchsia accents. I do like the color combination. The dress looks like it has two pieces. The top is a loose camisole with spaghetti straps, and this drapes over the waist of the skirt with a diagonal hem. The skirt is very full and moves nicely. However, when the model gets up close, it's a wrap top, and one side is fine and the other is too big because it drapes weird, kind of off to the side. The fuchsia is a strip at the bottom of the camisole, and a strip down the center of the back of the skirt.

Fabio and Josh are safe. Boo. You know I love Fabio but that was boring. Also I wish Josh would have to explain himself. He celebrates as if he isn't very lucky. Helen immediately kisses Isaac's ass, and then explains her risk with the pants. It's unexpected from her, but they seem to find it boring and somber. I guess it's too dark? The colors aren't the best. Anthony wanted sophisticated. The lavender looks gray, and some of the lines are wonky. But Carmen says it would be easy to go to the bathroom! Heh. Georgina says the proportions are off: the cutout at the waist is too small, and the slit in the skirt is too big. Ken kisses Isaac's ass too. Georgina says she likes it from the front, and I'm thinking she's going to critique the back but they never show her saying anything. The pink should be a little darker. Carmen doesn't like the exposed zipper because it draws the eye too much. See, she is the best. This dress is not the top. Is it?

Edmond says some nonsense about how he wanted to tailor the dress but the fabric wanted to drape or something. They love the color combination but are not nailing him for barely using the red. There is no design in the dress because it's so basic. It's a sexy nightgown. Stanley explains his hidden peplum thing. It's very interesting, and Isaac loves the color story. He also likes the hip thing, because it makes the skirt two colors (because of the angle of the fabric). Carmen does not agree with the hip thing. Georgina says something about how the fabric on the top looks papery compared to the skirt. Merline says something about architecture. The yellow is not the best. She's used the wrong fabric again. Georgina encourages her to find her fabric, because sometimes she's fantastic and sometimes it's terrible. Alyssa tells her to make a collection of origami looks. Is that all you're going to say? She did exactly what you told her not to do last week and all you'll say is “you should find a better fabric”? Come on. She should have more criticism than that. That dress is terrible.

Ken is relieved he listened to Anthony. Helen's pants are nice but just a little quirky for Isaac. However it was well-executed. Ken's look was great from the front but the back was terrible. The draped fabric was just tacked on, and not integrated into the look. Stanley's colors were wonderful, and they liked the top a lot. Anthony's hem was weird, not to the floor, and his dress was overworked. Edmond's dress was boring, even though the color was nice. Alyssa says that at least he didn't force the fabric into something weird, like Merline did. Carmen claims the back told her that Merline has design in her. Georgina argues that at least Merline had a thought, even if it was terrible. Meanwhile Edmond didn't have a thought. OK but this is All-Stars. If you can't figure out how to put your thoughts on the model it's time to go.

Ken is in. Stanley is the winner! He gets to collaborate with Isaac on a capsule collection for Isaac's line at Lord & Taylor. Nice. Helen is in. Edmond is in. Merline needs to learn what fabric to use. Anthony's dress didn't flatter his model. Merline is out. Anthony is in, thank God. It's about time. She's going to miss everyone, and she seems in a pretty good spot.

Next time: Zac Posen, some kind of dumb drama, Josh is apparently in a good mood probably because he is getting praise.