Previously on “Project Runway All-Stars”: menswear red carpet challenge. Make some flashy clothes. I do like this challenge which is fun but has a good twist. Rami won for making a tuxedo, but with diagonal seams and loose pants. It was a sci-fi costume in the best way. Prajje did paint on some silk, but the judges used the shitty runway lighting to complain the colors weren't good and he was sent home. (click for more)
Everyone celebrates final four. Bishme says this is where he went out last time. Christian texts them and then declares a field trip. Meet him at “Summit”, whatever that is. This turns out to be some kind of art instillation with mirrors in the elevator and a big empty room that's all glass and mirrors. When you look down it's mirrors, so you see the ceiling. Rami is literally kneeling as close to the window as he can get. He's freaking out about the heights, so maybe kneeling helps? You feel like you won't fall as easily. Christian appears from somewhere, but no one knows where because of all the mirrors. He talks about the skyline and how each spot has a new perspective. The final challenge is to be inspired by this room and create an avant-garde look “worthy of the finale”. This is where Brittany went home, on the avant-garde challenge. It's so subjective, which translates to “the judges do whatever they want”. Laurence says she wanted to be an architect before she became a designer.
40 minutes to sketch now. Pretty sure he said it was a two day challenge? The designers go to get their sketch pads and this room is full of silver balloons. Bishme is sketching a huge hat and a dress with some kind of giant collar like a mirror maybe. Brittany is inspired by perspective, something with proportions that go from big to small. Laurence is feeling the pressure to make up for last week's shitty outfit, and she is looking at a building that is all rectangular with one curved corner, like a scoop is cut out of it. Something sculptural with a tiny waist. Rami wants to redefine the shape of the body.
$700 at Mood. Christian is wandering around with a royal blue feather boa saying this is his avant-garde look. Lots of vinyl. Thick vinyl. Bishme says it's fine because he wants the structure. Christian wants someone to do something insane. Same. Brittany has bought eight yards of fabric for a big puffer jacket with sleeves to the floor, and Christian doesn't know if it's enough.
Is Christian going to do home visits? I think he should. I think this is technically a two day challenge but they only have four hours today. Laurence has to make her best piece yet. Rami says everyone here is worthy of the finale. Bishme was inspired by the balloons, and he wants the model to not have to hold up the dress. Rami interviews about facing his fear of heights and facing his fear of this challenge. I wonder if I could stand in there. I don't have a fear of heights, but I do have a fear of falling. Up in a regular building, or a plane, I have zero problems looking down. But getting on a two-step stepladder to change a light bulb is terrifying. It's a building but if everything is clear I wonder if I would be affected. Bishme has started his big collar, and for reference there is a foam mannequin head on top of his dress form, a la Ornacia. Laurence has a bunch of foam stuffing for shaping. Bishme covers some shoes in the vinyl he has.
The final four go to the “lounge” and drink. Bishme asks a “random” question about if anyone practiced making avant-garde. Brittany admits she doesn't often think in an artistic way, but in a commercial way. Laurence and Rami talk and Laurence speaks in French for a minute and everyone laughs about it. I don't know, they're drinking.
Day Two they have 12 hours to work. Christian shows up for judgment. It's the last walkthrough! Kind of sad. Bishme is trying to reference the balloons at night. He's going to put a wire in the back part so it's a perfect circle. He tells Christian the baseball cap is kind of his signature at this point. Maybe the brim could like, cover the model's face? That's cool. He's into the rest of it too. Brittany tells Christian this is their 24th walkthrough together. She has the giant coat, but maybe showcase the waist? Contrast the giant sleeves? She has to push it. Laurence has a sketch, but Christian thinks she can push it a little more. More collar? Something surprising. Maybe Christian just likes huge collars. Rami seems to know exactly what he wants the dress to look like, even though he only has a bodice right now. For no reason, Christian doesn't like it. It's not really Rami? He shouldn't make something that confuses the judges and makes them say “I don't see you in this design”?
Christian leaves them to work. Bishme is going to put his hat backwards but cover one eye? He says he used to live in places where how you wore your baseball cap said you were with a group or not. Model fitting. Brittany's giant sleeves have little handles like, halfway down to control them. Right now under this is a bodysuit but it's boring. It needs to be more exciting. Laurence also needs to be more drama, although she does have Mimi which is a bonus all the time. Bishme and Christian continue to bicker/flirt. Rami is putting muslin on his model because the skirt isn't done yet. The final push is just everyone focused and working hard. Rami thinks he can edit without sacrificing his vision.
Runway Day. As they have breakfast, Brittany says she apologizes to everyone in advance because she's going to be stressed today. Laurence says this changed all her shit, but it is amazing how many people she inspired. Rami had some kid who had cancer who just wanted to talk to him, like a Make-a-Wish thing I guess. Bishme admits he kind of didn't want to come back to All-Stars because he wasn't sure how it would go. Christian shows up and asks to try on Brittany's coat. He bitches it's too heavy, but then the next instant says it's fabulous. Heh. Rami put some wire in his outfit so it will stand up how he wants. Christian asks Brittany if she is sure her model won't flash anyone, and it's honestly just a little bit of underboob. She says it's fine, and then makes some comment about how she knows Christian doesn't care, which prompts him to loudly insist “I like boobs!” Brittany mentions her fabric is iridescent, which I only note because of how shitty the runway lighting is, and how we might not see it.
For no reason, they brought a whole bunch of the silver balloons to put on the floor by the runway. The guest judges are Steven Kolb, CEO of the CFDA (the Council who is providing the mentorship part of their prize), and stylist Law Roach. Bishme: a dark purple dress in shiny vinyl. The skirt hits just above the knee, and it looks like a pencil skirt with a separate piece around her hips for some volume and a kind of pointy triangular shape. The bodice is strapless, and it is a horizontal piece around her torso, with two circles attached over her breasts. So there is a gap between. Behind all this is a big circle of the vinyl, with some pieces on the back that kind of look like a bow. I wanted this circle to come up over her head, but it's lower than that, so maybe about her ears? She has a matching vinyl baseball cap on, worn backwards, with a piece attached that comes down over one eye and ends at her cheekbone like a superhero mask. There's a cutout so she can see out of that eye. I think there are platform shoes, but it's hard to see because Bishme covered them in the vinyl so they're just giant hooves almost.
Rami: a long skirt and bandeau top. I don't think it's one piece? It's draped as Rami does, with one hip sticking out, like the fabric just bunches over that hip. There is some midriff exposed, and then the top is sleeveless and comes up to a big cowl collar that covers her whole neck and sticks up behind her head. Like a stiff tube that is shorter in front so you can see her face. In this light it looks like a dull vaguely flesh toned color, but I think it's supposed to be gray. The skirt has a mermaid kind of shape that flares out at the knee. There is one sheer panel in the skirt, which is on one side so it looks like the skirt is hanging off her hips and drooping. The collar has wire in it so it's stiff. I think there are two fabrics, so some of it is the different panels making shapes. I love Rami but it kind of just looks lumpy in spots.
Brittany: so her model comes out in a skirt and the jacket, both in the same dark gray puffer material. The skirt is a basic miniskirt shape, but it looks like there are some strips that hang down to look like garters, and she has over-the-knee black leather boots, so I guess garters and stockings? The coat is cropped, but there is a giant hood that sticks out at least six inches in front of her face like blinders, and when she comes out the sleeves are bunched up so it almost looks like giant boxing gloves. When she gets halfway down, she drops the sleeves and now they drag on the ground. It is not iridescent. I think the “garter” strips actually have plastic clips and straps, not just fabric strips she cut out.
Laurence: a short dress in black vinyl. All the panels in the skirt are horizontal, narrow at the knee and then wider at the hip. Maybe it's all one panel? But there is a taper for sure. There is the widest panel, and then from her hip to waist it's tight again, so there's almost a shelf effect. The top is sleeveless with a high boatneck, and then over this is a piece with big square shoulders and a collar that stands up. The shoulder piece and the bodice have different fabrics, which you can tell by how shiny they are. There is a column of snaps down the front next to the zipper, and a horizontal zipper at the waist.
Elaine kisses up to everyone. They all did such a good job! They did, actually, but does Elaine believe that? Who knows. Rami is up first. He talks about contrasting colors and lines, which is why he has two fabrics that contrast. Nina got his reference. The hood has some tulle to reference the clouds. Some of the details are not perfect, but Nina is impressed overall. The mesh matches her skin pretty well, but you can see a lot of the seams look pretty bad. Law says he couldn't use it because everyone would zoom in and critique the seaming. It's a little raw and they hate the fabric choice but they get where he was going with it. Rami promises he'd get better fabrics if he made the finale. Brandon mentions that they did ask him to push himself and he wants to acknowledge that Rami pushed himself.
Bishme talks about reflections and the balloons. The circle in the back isn't sewn to the dress, it's a belt. He talks about the backwards hat. Law is obsessed with the hat because he understands what Bishme is talking about with how you wear your hat. But outside of that it's not that new? It's too referential. Nina loves the color and she can see how editorial this is. Steven likes the shoe covers. Brandon does complain about how referential it is, but the hat saves it.
Brittany wanted to use a reflective fabric, and she swears in the workroom it's a rainbow and very reflective. But also playing with volume. This is her avant-garde way to do what she does well. It's commercial but in a good way. Law could put a rapper in it, but it's streetwear and not avant-garde. It's not that architectural. Elaine says it's “avant-garde meets activewear” and then she has to do her bullshit “I'm not fatphobic I think thick girls can be hot” comment where she says it's very flattering to the model and she looks hot. Shut up Elaine. Nina couldn't tell what she was inspired by, and she's disappointed. Oof. If she moves forward she can't fall back on her love of current fashion.
Laurence used both vinyl and leather, which makes Brandon shocked. The CFDA guy says “avant-garde biker jacket” which is not a terrible description. She leveled up. Elaine says she's never seen Laurence smile so much. You can take the big shoulder part off, but you can see some of the shoulder padding. They still like it. She's good at tailoring.
Elaine thinks Bishme's look plus his body of work should put him in the finale. He got the challenge and it was polished. Plus it's a difficult fabric to work with. He always tries to address the challenge, which excites Brandon and Nina both. Nina thinks he is commercial and original. Laurence is also a technician, even though tonight it was a tiny bit costumey. She had such great shapes. Nina wishes she would have a little more fun, but Brandon says her clothes do the talking.
Brittany made a finished look that was successful, but in the last few challenges Nina thinks she's been too referential. Rami had major construction issues, and he kept talking about the seams but those were the worst part. But this was out of his comfort zone and it was not referential. It comes down to Brittany doing what she's good at and doing it well (and maybe being too similar to someone else) and Rami pushing himself but failing (but being original).
Nina believes in all of them. But only three can move on. Bishme is the winner! He's always thinking of new things. “What Christian did, I'm gonna do like, times ten.” Brandon praises him for always fitting the challenge. Laurence is in. She's happy of course. Brittany is in. Aww. I do like Rami but those seams weren't great. Brittany of course is immediately sobbing. I know he can do beautiful work and it's the type of work that women will demand because it's so beautiful. He says that even in his lowest points he's challenged himself. Christian is upset and you can tell. Rami says it's been an honor.
Next week: the finale! I think they were actually at Fashion Week! And I think that was Billy Porter, and it's about time.
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