“Project Runway All Stars” Season 5
Episode 11 recap: “State of the Art”
The five remaining designers were tasked with creating an avant-garde look inspired by contemporary art at the Agora Gallery in New York.
With a $400 supply budget and two days of work time, expectations were high.
Hawaii designer Kini Zamora chose a Bradley Theodore painting that depicted the silhouette of a queen, and he went to work on a black bodysuit that covered his model head-to-toe to give her a “mannequin wearing a piece of art” effect. Over the bodysuit he created a dress with a huge bow constructed from pink and black brocade and a pink ruffled skirt. The fabric and color choice left judges Isaac Mizrahi and Georgina Chapman questioning his taste level.
Mentor Zanna Roberts Rassi told him the dress felt “not as modern as the mask,” and that the look wasn’t cohesive. The sentiment was echoed by fellow designer and show adversary Sam Donovan who said, “Kini is using this weird bodysuit as a crutch. You take the bodysuit off and you’ve got, like, a pageant dress.”
On the runway, guest judge Boy George and Mizrahi criticized Zamora for having a look too pretty to be avant-garde, though judge Alyssa Milano loved it. Chapman applauded the use of the bodysuit, which prevented the design from belonging “on some ’80s show like ‘Dynasty’ or ‘Dallas.’”
Donovan took inspiration from a piece dubbed “digital taxidermy” that depicted a glowing owl under glass. He interpreted this as capturing a joyful moment in time, which he paralleled to the legalization of gay marriage. He ended up draping his model in a hastily constructed hand-painted rainbow flag shrouded in translucent purple, which drew criticism from fellow designers and the judges, except for Mizrahi who declared him the best of the night.
While the judges debated the contestants’ outcome, things turned ugly backstage as designer Ken Laurence confronted Donovan in a heavily censored rant about his shoddy construction skills and undeserved standing, and Zamora found an ally against the “Project Runway: Under the Gunn” runner-up.
In the end Zamora, Dom Streater and Laurence landed in the top three and Laurence was declared the winner for his black leather ruffled dress that revealed only a sliver of his model’s face. Donovan was in the bottom two, but it was Emily Payne who went home for her braided cable sweater dress, which the judges deemed not extreme enough for the challenge.
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New episodes of “Project Runway All Stars” air at 7 p.m. Thursdays on Lifetime.
