Project Runway All Stars S5 E04: "Fashion 911"

Oooh, we are going to get to design for hot firemen this week!

(Sad trombone) Much to the disappointment of all of us, especially Ken, This week's episode teases us by leading the designers to a firehouse, but a gorgeous old decommissioned firehouse, now owned by Downtown Community Television Center a free art training school for New York City's at-risk youth. 

Alvin Ailey Dance Company two weeks ago and now DCTV? Either this group of Producers are really feeling the love for New York City, or they had to make quite a promotional deal with the Office of Tourism to get their filming permits for the season. Either way, always up for fun Alyssa uses this opportunity to rock up in an ambulance, with three grim/terrified/exhausted, ok, let's say shy, first responders. So they are the clients?

Nope, this is the much beloved...

Unconventional Challenge

The remaining 11 have five minutes to run inside and scramble for fire, emergency and medical supplies. No handcuffs that I saw, just lots of hoses, gauze, breathing tubes, and gowns. There was a lot to choose from, but five minutes to think ahead? Who will be the shining star of maybe the most popular challenge of the year? As Least Popular on the Playground Sam will tell us again and again here, "Stubborn people do not do well in unconventional challenges."  Who will crash and burn? Still-furious Kini? Quietly avantgarde Emily? Buster Bluth-alike Mitchell? Adorable Dom? Sam himself?

Stubborn Stella

First sign of trouble - no leather. Second seign, Stella only grabs one ingredient to her unconventional supper: blue plastic tubing. She's imagining a Judy Jetson-style coat, or somethin'. I'll let her sketch clear it up for you: 

ahh, I see it now. It's a coat.

and when Zanna comes in for mentoring, Stella, who does not tolerate fools lightly, is not prepared for Zanna's complete bewilderment. She consults with Emily and after some thought and griping, throws together a second look, from borrowed materials.

Dom sets herself a huge task to slice up xrays and make them into an unrecognizable zebra pattern. Not sure about her red gauze and gown coat over it, but her look is solid.

Angry Ken, who has not been so angry this year, yay, has lots of hose that he didn't get to use on the hunky firecrew, so he plays with it (I'll stop now) and discover the inside is coated in a rubbery black something, that resembles leather. He goes to town making a fullskirted halter dress in stitched together 3 inch black on black stripes. It's gorgeous.

Valerie's, with a swab peplum

Asha's PeptoBismol, with added pills

Asha is having some problems. She is using pink gauze, but not as well as Layana. 

Plus her colors and style are the same as Valerie's. She makes some last minute changes, glues on some pills, a bit of shredded X-ray and ends up making a borderline hideous dress that pales in comparison to Val's very Valerie outfit.

skirt or shorts, either way, leggy

Layana is advised by Ms Marie Claire to avoid Smurfiness with her bright blue romper (?) made of textured bandages that Layana is hoping will resemble suede. the nde gauzy middle cutouts don't look as good in real life, but this looked really comfortable on the runway; the bandages had a lot of give.

Zanna advises Kini to pull it back from costume town. He is doing a flemenco skirted gown with tiers of "ruffles" made from various colored rubber gloves. Layana thinks it looks like a pinata, and she has a point, but damn, it's creative.

There is a lot of unconventional snarkiness going on as well. Okay, conventional for this show. Yes, as noted above, the designers had the option of grabbing pills from the firehouse, and too bad some of them weren't chill pills because Kini is still annoyed with Sam for not acknowledging his help last week, and Alexander is firmly team Kini. Mitchell is still feuding with him as well, so while Sam glides about, happy as a clam, the other boys turn their noses up at him and his firehose straitjacket.

Runway Time

Our guest judge is Johnny Wujek, celebrity stylist best known for making Katy Perry look like she lives in Willie Wonka's factory, and, we must remember, survivor of America's Next Top Model. He is thrilled to be there, and boy is Sam thrilled to see Johnny. Hes' drooling.

Kini, Dom, Emily, Layana, and Mitchell are safe. Mitchell should not be - he made a raggedy-ass flapper dress with sheriff's badges pinned on it willy nilly. Valerie, Ken and Sam are up top, Stella, Alexander and Asha are on the bottom.

Winner:

Sam, in a tight showdown with Ken. His almost avant-garde hose coat was a love it or hate it piece, and the judges all loved it. At the last minute Sam knocked up a nude turtlenecked tube dress to go under it, and that might have been the clincher for Isaac. Johnny Wujeck loved it as well, and Sam tossed him some charm, leading the rest of the judges to shout, "get a room, you two!" It was a bit sweet but a bit disgusting. I just don't know if I like Sam. He makes some good points, makes some good clothes, but, ultimately a spoiled pretty boy, right?

Loser:
Stella. Awww.

This is very un-her, but I could see a girl in the 80s, when Stella was 21, probably, wearing this. She used Dom's leftover Xrays to made a NYC skyline, which was cool, but the entire look  screamed "last minute" and was given the stink of "that's so Forever 21" by the judges. So goodbye grumpy Stella, back to your boyfriend Ratt (if my memory serves, that is her biker boyfriend's name). 

Biggest surprise of this entertaining episode? The huge group hug that encircled our Rock Chick as she made her way out of the show.

Lou Reed is now playing in my head...

Under the Gunn S1 E8: "It's an Unconventional Beach Party!"

Today's episode opens with everybody lamenting the loss of Nicholas, and Anya's undermining of Nicholas' confidence. You know, without acknowledging that Nicholas was an accomplished menswear designer, but an amateur (at best) woman's designer. It's all really unfair to Nicholas, especially when Anya is all "I spent 15 hours sitting next to him" without adding "crossing my arms, breathing through my nose, and ordering him around through clenched teeth."

For the previous 4 episodes, the editors of Under the Gunn have been choosing to focus on either Anya or Nick as the subjects of the episodes. Mainly because the winners and losers have come from either camp, especially in the past couple weeks. Unfortunately, that means that we've also been getting a dearth of Mondo.

Luckily, today's episode fixes that, and also shows why we've been having a dearth of Mondo. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. First, we have to figure out what this week's challenge is. It's the full-on unconventional challenge, using beach detritus. It's all things like beach balls, chairs, umbrellas, leis, fans, etc. For an unconventional materials challenge, there are a lot of conventional materials. 

During the design process, everybody starts out on wildly different techniques. Natalia starts knitting. Sam is using a bamboo mat to make a jacket. Michelle is using rubber material from beach balls. Stephanie is using flower leis but hasn't figure out what to do with them. There is a wildly different array of techniques, which is a surprising variety even compared to previous unconventional material challenges.

This week, as mentioned earlier, focuses on Mondo and how he leads and encourages, but also critiques. His general attitude is to point out flaws in approaches, but also to push for better choices and to support his designers in their abilities. But, like all of the other mentors, he also focuses on those who need his help most. Later in the episode, Michelle laments that Mondo isn't paying as much attention to her as he is to the other designers, and doesn't know if that's because he trusts her or if he doesn't believe in her. To the viewer, she's also one of the designers who has mildly regressed throughout the season.

In part, as the story goes, Mondo sees potential in both Asha and Sam that was unfulfilled in their portfolios, and so dedicates more time to them to develop their eye. Michelle, on the other hand, had a developed eye in the first place, and so he mainly just bops around because she might not need as much help.

Contrast Mondo to Nick, who was at first completely hands on, and is now trying the Mondo technique of editing where needed (Oscar) but being otherwise encouraging and trusting of his designers (Stephanie). Oscar basically needs to be edited, because, as mentioned in the premiere, he suffers from the Spanish cliche of over-the-top throw-in-everything-and-the-kitchen-sink type of design. Oscar's first two designs totally filled that role until Nick came around and told him to change his direction.

The editors of Under the Gunn are also doing a great job by setting up parallels between Mondo's team and Nick's team. Sam and Oscar both have to make U-turns to great effect. Sam and Stephanie are both suffering from confidence issues. Asha and Natalia are both using unusual techniques with layers and woven type materials to create looks. Stephanie and Michelle are both using rubber materials, and also both getting the least amount of help from their mentors. 

Meanwhile, Anya is widely ignored...because she's terrible. They keep giving her asides, and way more lines than they seemed to give Mondo in the previous episodes. I don't really know why. It's not like she's all that insightful. Maybe it's because she's photogenic?

Anyways, we eventually stumble our way to the runway. Georgina Chapman is back. 

Team Nick:

• Natalia: Maybe I'm not as critical, but I kind of loved this piece. I liked how it wasn't quite finished and the patterns she made with the knitting, especially up the sides. The back needed a little bit of work. But, what frustrates me is that the dress underneath was made from a beach umbrella, which wasn't that unconventional. 
• Oscar: Beach mats become a scalloped dress. It's totally super modern and chic. It isn't California beach culture, being more based in the south of France or Italy, but it is fresh. 
• Stephanie: Ugh. Sad. This is arts and crafts, with her melting plastic flowers to create a kind of young and junior outfit. But, it isn't finished, you can see the white material she used as a base, and it looks almost a bit cheap. Still, I can't deny that it would be an awesome thing for a stage show.

Team Anya

• Shen: He used a beach umbrella and an inflatable raft. The materials he chose were rather conventional, and the look he ended up with was boringly conventional as well. But, the back rope work is beautiful. That's about all I have to say about that.
• Blake: It's a vest which looks like it belongs in a minorly stylish version of Swiss Family Robinson, and a skirt that belongs on a not stylish version of Swiss Family Robinson. Snoooooooze.

Team Mondo

• Sam: He made a skirt from a bamboo beach mat and a bikini top from a beach chair. It's really fresh, alive, and totally California Beach Culture. That being said, the top should get points deducted for being an actual material. Though those points get put back on for the model-suggested pineapple purse.
• Asha: This feels the modern fresh version of Blake's outfit. It has clean modern lines, a fresh textile stile, and the skirt bounces and is alive. They have the same types of direction, but Asha's just feels alive compared to Blake's dead costumes.
• Michelle: Futuristic rubber robot hooker. It's the colder, trampier, and more costumey version of Stephanie's outfit. If she had cut off the side wings from the skirt, it would be a clean design and it is finished.

The judges this week can't decide on who wins, but their top 2 are both in Mondo's camp. Mondo has to decide between Sam and Asha, and picks Sam as the winner as a bit of a pick-me-up. I preferred Asha's look myself due to it being more innovative, but I can see Sam as well. And, because the look was unfinished and ugly, Stephanie goes home.

I kind of liked that the judges left the hard decisions up to the mentor if the mentor had to decide, kind of like a team captain. But, making the mentor choose the winner is more like choosing favorites, which is like of lame. The judges needs to make a decision sometimes!!!

Random Observations:

- Yes, Blake, we know you're pale. Say it with me...Sunlight.

- Oscar likes showing off his ripped pants...while he's wearing them. HAH!

- Anya, your critiquing designers that aren't under your mentorship shows just how terrible a mentor you are.

- Blake winning a bonus prize for incorporating a design detail suggested by his model is kind of cool. I hope that he shares part of that prize money with her.

- Can we talk about the non-runway fashion choices? Sam in a long-sleeve shirt with a giant sad hound dog printed on his chest. Oscar is in a rejected outfit from a Sylvester Stallone version of Scarface that makes me shout "It's Lacroix, darling". Mondo in a suit made of a cloudy blue sky. Mondo's confessional shirt that looks like he got a haircut while wearing it. There was a lot of ugly not on the runway today.

- Ugh to the title this week, Can you get any longer and more unwieldy?

Under the Gunn S1 E3: "Red Carpet Showdown"

Welcome to the regular season!

After our 2-episode 3-hour-total premiere, we're now down to one-hour competitions, only in a new format. But, the big question before even watching the episode is "what the hell is the new format going to be? And, is it going to be as crazy as the first 2 episodes?"

I'm excited to say that the new format is just a tweaked version of our traditional Project Runway. There is a competition that comes with a silly time crunch. There are 12 designers who have to do a design is inspired by this week's sponsor, and they get to be mentored during the show. There are still cutaway confessionals. The tweak comes with having 3 mentors instead of just one. Since each mentor is dedicated to only 4 designers, the mentors have the option to spend more time with their designers. This also allows Project Runway to add in cutaways of Tim or the mentors bitching about the other mentors. It folds in somewhat seamlessly.

This week, Project Runway is having the designers make a red carpet look inspired by Hollywood, with the sponsor being one of the double decker bus tours that you see tooling around LA all the time. Some designers are all "OMG, Red Carpet?!" Camila is inspired by art deco. Michelle is inspired by jewels. But, the interesting part is that the mentors are around for the sketching period. In all other iterations of Project Runway, the sketching was done solely by the designers. The one exception used to be if the designers had a commercial project where they had to fit within some manufacturer's price point.

In Under the Gunn, suddenly the designers are given advice by the mentors beginning with the sketch period. So, if the designers can be all panicky, the mentors can try to shake them out of their dead spaces. Later in the show, this may be something like the designer falls into a black hole and the mentor shakes them out of it. Both Anya and Mondo give generic advice like "it isn't necessarily a ball gown." But, Nick V, being a professional educator, gets hands on in an effort to show what he thinks works best. Including sketching, on the bus.

This overprotective behavior extends throughout the episode. He starts out by telling them what he wants to see in his dresses, techniques that work, flourishes that have been used in the past, and an overall sense of following the rules. Later, Nick moves on to resketching for his designers, laying out educational pattern making, tracing and cutting material, draping material, and all but doing the foundations for his designer's dresses. To be fair, for the most part, Nick did get some of the weaker designers, with Isabelle and Natalia being the ones of the premiere episode that I wanted to see more of, but they had construction issues.

Mondo and Anya, however, don't have that educator background. They take more of the Tim Gunn approach, telling their designers something is not working, sloppy, trashy, or otherwise needs to be edited or rethought. Mondo has more of an eye towards sewing perfection, while Anya has more of an eye towards taste level. Their designers, in turn, flourish under the hands-offy advice which allows the designers to speak through their clothing.

The interesting dynamic that happens through the different structure of Under the Gunn is that the designers are actually relatively nice to each other, and they spend their time helping within their smaller group. Even though Under the Gunn is ultimately judged in the same manner as Project Runway (non-teams editions), with every designer being judged on their own, the tying into groups by way of mentor creates tighter bonds between the designers. They aren't enemies to the other groups, but they do help each other in the groups.

Soon enough, it is time for the runway. Under the Gunn has a constant award to the winners of the runway, where each week the winner receives a flat $5000, plus whatever extra rewards may be involved in the sponsorship. The extra reward this week is a promise that the winning design will be in Marie Claire and worn by a as-yet-to-be-named celebrity.

This week's judges are: Zanna Roberts Rossi, Jen Rade (a celebrity stylist), and semi-staple Rachel Roy. I don't know if all three judges are temporary, or if any are permanent. I suspect that there are no permanent judges since we're in L.A.

Runway:

Team Anya:

• Brady - NOT RED CARPET. Sorry, but as much as I like this crazy-ass high fashion look, it is capri pants with a tank and a bare midriff. While I support the idea of comfortable clothing (or at least comfortable looking clothing) at an event like this, I think that this would be better as a sort of beach wear. I guess. Maybe to a cool Miami bar in the middle of summer? I like it, but its not appropriate. Anya says the major problem is finishing.
• Blake - A gorgeous watercolor hard pastel print dress that makes me think the model just took a painting and ripped out the canvas to make a dress. It even has the rough finishes at the sides and the neck to make it look like a found dress. My only dislike are the two seams on the dress that carry the intentional sloppiness down the dress, but also breakup the smoothness of the print. Anya likes.
• Nicholas - a little black dress with fringe. It's cute and edgy, and would fit in a red carpet. It is a bit safe since it is just a simple dress with a bunch of extra long fringe, but it is a fun dress.
• Shan - POWER SUIT. Zomg. If I were a hot skinny woman, I'd want this outfit. Powerful print, great lapel, black panels down the side of the legs. It kind of falls apart in the back when Shen has the jacket split open from the neck down held together by a strap. This may have been a way to accommodate for the model's bigger-than-expected chest, but it looks finished and almost intentional. 

Team Mondo:

• Sassy Sam - A glitter jumpsuit that's like intentionally punky trashy. It might be great on a stage, or at Burning Man, or a high-end street art gallery opening. I'm not a big fan of it on the red carpet though.
• Asha - A great space-age design that is in the most brittle awful fabric ever. The lines are sleek and asymmetrical, but the fabric ruins the whole look by being a huge crinkled mess.
• Michelle - Harlequin. Or, should I say Harley Quinn. Sure the look isn't red and black, but the over use of diamonds and facets with the different materials makes it look like a circus outfit. And then there's the diamond over her hoo-haa. Needed severe editing, and a bit more skill refinement.
• Camila - Two looks sandwiched together. From the front, it's 1960s Italian easy, and from the back it is poorly-constructed hard-edged nightclub. Literally its day outfit from the front, and evening from the back. It's a huge Frankendress, and needed more editing.

Team Nick

• Isabelle - Rough choice of materials to create a strange but already common chest area that hides the woman's boobs. It's like somebody took a punky look and tried to make it red carpet. Stylistically, its a Frankendress.
• Natalia - Yawn. Too simple. Been done. It's not bad. But, it's just so...common.
• Stephanie - It's a head of lettuce. The green fabric is tortured as hell. Folded in all the wrong spots. Tortured. Wrinkled. Tortured. Bad finishing. Tortured. ZOMG. It's terrible. Bad Nick.
• Oscar - Simple Asian inspired green dress that's totally expected.

In the end, the lowest dresses are Stephanie, Michelle and Camila. The highest dresses are Shen, Sassy Sam, and Blake. Weirdly, Sassy Sam's jumpsuit wins, even though it seems the least red carpet of the three top dresses. Also, strangely, Camila is the one who goes home, despite being up against 2 tortured dresses. 

Random Observations

• The lighting on the runway still sucks. It's shadowed in weird places, and the dresses aren't featured like they should. Somebody needs to fix this shit.
• The emotional goodbyes are handled by the mentors. Tim Gunn is actually less gentile than Heidi is. It's strange to see Tim so reserved.
• Is this a sign that the judging is going to be strange? The judges were actually on point with their critiques, but the results seemed totally bonkers.
• Did anybody else think Camila went home because she was all drama at Mood?
• Oscar is cute, but he's no Swatch.