Project Runway All Stars: Let It Flow

February 19, 2016 2:39 AM - Season 5, Episode 2

Designers use the Alvin Ailey Dance Company as inspiration to create "dramatic elegant wear that showcases the movement of fabric." Includes a wind machine on the runway.

Pounds of chiffon are purchased at Mood. Mitchell's feelings are hurt. Daniel really doesn't like Valerie's "tasteless" "prom" dress. Alexander's has a 100 foot long cape. Mitchell designs a car wash skirt which, gotta hand it to him, it's on trend right now at NYFW. Alyssa Milano wears another unflattering outfit.

Referring to her fringed black leather cape, Stella looks Zanna right in the eye and says, "It's elegant, Zanna."

Stella again: My dress is really cool. It's what the cool broads are wearing. It's got metal. It's got leather. It's got cotton gauze [?]..."

Top three: Kini, Valerie, Sam (winner)
Bottom three: Fade, Alexander, Emily (out)

Holy shit, I was typing this as I watched and I already had Emily pegged as a loser (the gym shorts! the visible nude bra! the ugly braids of fabric) but it's Fade who was out.

Bottom three: Alexander, Emily, Fade (out)

smh

EW recap

posted by TWinbrook8 (8 comments total)

I thought it was swell of Beyonce to lend them her wind machine.

Everything was pretty much as expected - long loose flowy chiffony things. It was not inspiring at all to me, or even fashionable. A meh episode. I think Vanessa Hudgeons would look great in that winning design though.
posted by the webmistress at 7:16 AM on February 19, 2016

They had one day. If they'd had a little more time.....

ideas more risky/time consuming than "flowy cape" and "flowy skirt":

flowy sleeves

flowy neck scarves

tiny flowy parts on non-flowy pants & shirt

flowy pants

flowy hair ribbons

different kind of flowy sleeves

flowy belt decoration

Is there some way we can crowd-fund this show?

Also, I liked the one about accessories. Can we (someone) crowd-fund that?

Could it possibly be held somewhere less expensive than New York?

Could it possibly be form-follows-function based?
posted by amtho at 9:23 AM on February 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

Fade! Noooo! I quite liked Fade's dress, but then I'm an 'older lady' and know nothing about fashion. But out of all of them, that's the one I'd have worn. It was so much better than Emily's.

Sam's dress was clever and he'd matched the fabric beautifully. But, damn, he's so irritating. I'm glad Alexander was safe, I enjoyed his bitchiness in his previous season and I'm wondering if there'll be another feud with Ken or somebody else.

I thought Stella's dress was fabulous. She'd thought about something other than chiffon or silk, and it worked really well, despite my hatred of fringe that began with the Queen of Fringe, Amanda Valentine. Although Valerie's dress was well-made, I thought it looked very safe.

Ken's was hideous, I don't know how that wasn't on the bottom. Mitchell's raggy, stripey horror too. I think they could have had a bottom 5 this week, even leaving Fade out.

I don't like the early episodes when there are too many designers, because we didn't see half the garments or designers until the runway, and the brief glimpse we're given isn't enough to judge them properly at home.
posted by essexjan at 12:59 PM on February 19, 2016

I liked Fade's dress, too, if only because not all of it was flowy - it set off the flowy parts beautifully while still being wearable. I really wanted someone to do a fitted front with a dramatic flow from the back only - a controlled flare and drama. I also liked Valerie's (for moving without the benefit of a wind machine), Kiki's dye job (but not the lace), Stella for going for fringe, and anyone who didn't make a cape.

So many generic capes, so much "hey, why stop at 5 yards when we can use 8?", so much blergh. There was so little innovative thinking on display that I really wanted Zanna to just start kicking people.

Zanna is smoother this year, but seems rather rehearsed, even in ad hoc situations.
posted by julen at 4:43 PM on February 19, 2016

I also liked Fade's dress, the material was gorgeous. I liked that the flowy bit was across the front of the bodice and then behind, not a cape. The still photo looked terrible but it was all right on the runway, was well sewn, and looked expensive, should have been safe. I think it was the hair styling that sunk him.

I don't know how Valerie's dress made it to Top 2, it's been done a million times. There was *nothing* original about it. The neckline of Dom's dress was a hot mess. Kini's had a weird growth hanging down the back. Layana's bright blue was a striking color but the bodice was torturous.

I actually liked Daniel's which reminded me of YSL's sack dress and a cool fabric but, no flow.

I am okay with Sam winning but I didn't think any of them were outstanding.

I would've put Mitchell in the bottom because that outfit was ugly and the chiffon panels looked dirty compared with the dress color.

Fade. He's clearly talented. His work is always interesting, he's got a definite style. But he's not into drama and he's not interested in making pretty dresses. He was the only one I wanted to follow this season. Listening to the judges drooling over Valerie's dress, I was like, wut? Usually that happens later in the season. This is only Episode 2.

Here are the final looks for all of them.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 1:23 AM on February 20, 2016

Yes, I'm really disapointed that Fade's out. He was the most interesting one to me, too.
posted by amtho at 4:17 PM on February 20, 2016

#justiceforfade
posted by en forme de poire at 2:23 AM on February 21, 2016 [1 favorite]

What does Mitchell have on the producers of this show? His designs are terrible. His execution is terrible. His personal style is terrible. His personality is terrible. I have to imagine that the only reason he's even ON the show at all is because of some really good blackmail.
posted by MsVader at 3:12 PM on February 28, 2016 [1 favorite]