‘Project Runway All Stars’ Season 5
Episode 2 recap: Let It Flow
The second episode of “Project Runway All Stars,” which aired Thursday, opened with the designers heading to the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater studio, where the dancers perform for them. The designers are instructed to keep their eyes on the movement of the fabric because the forecast for the runway is “blustery wind.” Host Alyssa Milano explains that a wind machine will be used to enhance the billowy, ethereal quality of their designs.
Hawaii designer Kini Zamora selects bright yellow fabric and shows a sketch in vivid yellow and orange, giving a shout-out to Hawaii and the colors associated with the islands.
Mentor Zanna Roberts Rassi, senior fashion editor for Marie Claire magazine, comes in and, during her critique of the designers’ creations, tells Zamora she sees the “start of something glamorous” in his work. Meanwhile, Alexander Pope looks at Zamora’s gown and says, “It looks like a yellow blob.”
Rassi’s last remark to the designers is that they’re playing it too safe and that their garments look like normal apparel in the wind, instead of having been created for the wind.
When Zamora finishes his gown, it looks beautiful, but then he announces that he’s going to dip-dye it. All the other designers are afraid for him because the garment is complete and there is no recovery from error. The dye job could go awry, and he knows it, too. He says that if he gets one spot of the orange dye on the field of yellow, “It’s bye-bye Kini.”
Luckily, it turns out well, and Stella Zotis chalks up the final result to Zamora’s Hawaii roots and being inspired by tequila sunrises.
In the design room and on the runway, the designers ooh and ahh over Pope’s cape, but it’s paired with a tacky sheer dress with blue floral overlay. I have issues with the idea of a cape attached to a collar and random dress. Of course a chiffon cape is going to move in the breeze. Such a basic idea requires zero thought.
On the runway, Zamora is named as one of the top three designers, along with Sam Donovan and Layana Aguilar. Judge Georgina Chapman praises the color of Zamora’s gown and said the ombre dye elevates the gown. Guest judge Vanessa Hudgens says he gave her a “total birds of paradise” moment. Judge Isaac Mizrahi doesn’t like the gown’s lace bodice, and Milano questions the black belt that cuts the gown in half.
I love the bold stripe pattern of Donovan’s dress, with movement built into a handkerchief hem so that it doesn’t require a wind machine to flow. He is named the winner.
On the bottom are Pope, Fade Zu Grau and Emily Payne. I think Alexander should go home, but sadly, it is Fade who leaves. I think he’s a talented designer, but flow is not his strong suit.
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Recaps of the “Project Runway All Stars” episodes will appear on Nadine Kam’s Fashion Tribe blog following the Thursday episode’s screenings. Visit fashiontribe.staradvertiserblogs.com.
