Project Runway All Stars: "Making A Splash"
January 9, 2015 9:06 AM - Season 4, Episode 8 - Subscribe

oh god is this show still on? Designers assemble at a rooftop pool for a resort wear challenge.

Pool boys are tasked with diving for ugly lycra bathing suit prints at the bidding of the contestants. Then a trip to Mood to buy fabric for an elegant cover-up and some critical (according to Michelle) foldover elastic.

After the barest minimum of workroom drama and an even briefer runway, the judges criticize either the bathing suit or the outer garment for every designer except Justin who wins the challenge. Samantha's excellent jumpsuit can't save her horrendously ugly bathing suit and she goes home.

All the looks assembled here
posted by TWinbrook8 (11 comments total)
 
Randomly assigned a new model? There was absolutely no reason for this, particularly with the added difficulty of making a swimsuit. Oh, and pool boys diving for fabric? What!? Who comes up with this stuff?

Favorite clothes: Fabio's white top and wide black leg. I really loved this! It's too bad the top of his bathing suit was so bulky.

Favorite swimsuits: Dmitry's asymmetrical camouflage number, and his dress was pretty great considering he had to start over (didn't love the gold trim though). Michelle's swimsuit was really cool, but her dress was plain and ugly.

Justin's dress was pretty but nothing special. The front of his swimsuit was not flattering. I think Dmitry deserved the win for being more creative and interesting.

I really dislike the part of the judging where they make Alyssa give design "advice" to the designers. It sounds so patronizing. ("Dmitry, you just need to find that extra something to score the win," or, ""Jay, you need to learn that less is sometimes more.") She is not a designer, for one thing. I imagine that must be just a bit irritating.

Oh my gosh, I re-watched the judging and Georgina's earrings are HUGE. OUCH. omg. Crazy! (No seriously, go look again if you haven't.)

Helen in a shark tank. And a nasty-looking runway preview. Next week should be lively!
posted by Glinn at 6:52 AM on January 10, 2015


This was a tough challenge to judge, because sometimes someone would make an AMAZING suit but boring resort look (Michelle) or vice versa. Great to see Justin win a challenge after almost going home last week, and on the first suit he ever made, to boot.
posted by mathowie at 7:17 AM on January 10, 2015


I hated Fabio's swimsuit -- I thought it was absolutely the worst one. I am surprised that didn't put him in the bottom.

Is there something I am missing with Dmitry's swimsuit? I have seen that shape a number of times before on swimsuits, and the camo print looked so 90s to me.
posted by likeatoaster at 4:16 PM on January 10, 2015


I agree with the comments above, a lot of combinations of good outer garments and bad swimwear or vice versa. I'm guessing they really liked Fabio's outer garments, and that averaged out that landed him in the middle.

I don't think Dmitry's swimsuit was particularly innovative, but it looked nice and was well made. I was more surprised by Isaac's comment that Justin's use of black in a swimsuit was somehow special. Isn't black the most standard of colors when it comes to swimwear?

Maybe it's just me, but do high cut swimsuits ever look good?
posted by bjrn at 9:54 AM on January 11, 2015


Maybe it's just me, but do high cut swimsuits ever look good?

Oh sure, on approx. .00004 percent of the population.
posted by Glinn at 11:55 AM on January 11, 2015


high cut swimsuits are designed for lounging on a deck chair, not so much walking and swimming.

This episode - like the last one - was a steaming pile of Meh, even with the calculated pandering of the hot guys diving around and being wet and muscular on camera.

Justin's combo was nice, but it was also classic in an old-school glamor kind of way. It was smart strategy - it beat people whose outfits veered into tawdry, or shapeless, or "ohhhhhkay" (I'm looking at you lace pants).

I loathed Michelle's bag masqerading as a dress.
posted by julen at 12:04 PM on January 11, 2015


I liked Michelle during her season and was glad when Tim saved her. But in All Stars she's an arrogant asshole. Her swimsuit was okay but her dress was awful. And when Dmitry was asking her to show him how the elastic she bought worked, she took it as him asking her for some. I know at one point he'd said "will you have any left over" but when she made it clear she had none to spare, he just asked her to show him the technique for future reference and she was a bitch about it.

I'm glad Justin won, I liked both his swimsuit and the dress. I loved Dmitry's swimsuit but didn't like the dress so much. But he's my favourite, I loved him in his season and it was sweet when he said he was panicking but couldn't let it show on his face. I really like him and hope he wins. If not him, then Fabio, Justin or Jay. Definitely not Michelle.
posted by essexjan at 12:19 PM on January 11, 2015


This episode - like the last one - was a steaming pile of Meh, even with the calculated pandering of the hot guys diving around and being wet and muscular on came

I could use a little more of this...if Project Runway could bring its own Pit Crew like RuPaul's Drag Race, it would raise the bar considerably.

I did not understand the attention that Sonjia's swimsuit got...the top was hideous. Who wants a bandeau top that looks like a Charlie Brown stripe?
posted by xingcat at 2:14 PM on January 11, 2015


UHG! I just want project runway to be good again! It's like there wasn't enough time or thought for this challenge to make a good resort outfit AND a good bathing suit. Most of the bathing suites are just "let's sew something together!" I mean, I guess at least there weren't too many horrible fit issues, but there was quite a bit of butt hanging out on the runway. Also, what's up with all that ugly swimwear prints? I'm sure I saw things that were better than what they chose. I have no idea why Jay took that weird reptile print. It's nothing like anything he designs (plus the fact that the top did not support that model's chest well at all!)

Ooof, there's not even much good I can say about this one. Oh yeah and don't get me started on those crazy earrings. They looked like a form of torture. Ouch.
posted by Crystalinne at 4:14 PM on January 11, 2015


I liked Justin's outfit - not really Dimitri's so much. Samantha's . . . I didn't like it from square 1. Hated the swimsuit pattern. Hated the cut; too much booty. And I HATE HATE HATED the jumpsuit. That was an ugly color and it made the model's boobs look like . . . rectangles almost? Whatever was going on with the bottom part of the top of it was unfortunate.
posted by chainsofreedom at 5:27 AM on January 15, 2015


lol, can we talk about Michelle's resort wear look? It looked like it was sewn by Shangela. Like, season 2 Shangela.
posted by en forme de poire at 11:45 PM on January 16, 2015


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