Project Runway All-Stars: What the........actually, fair enough

Now this is very strange. I'm over here in the UK, so I'll probably get the episode online late this afternoon, so for now I have the shots on Mylifetime and the very base information of who had high and low scores (I could get the rest from blogs but this is meant to be my opinion so....) and really very little of it makes sense to me. I'm gonna say "I like him/her" a lot, because for the most part I do. This season has the highest talent level ever and a lot of them have quite distinct aesthetics that appeal to me personally, as opposed to the norm, where I can appreciate the talent and like the clothes for a certain woman, but they're not to my taste. In fact, Uli and Emilio from All Stars 2 are both prime examples of this. Having said very little of it makes sense, you're probably expecting solid rage, but the decisions that actually matter were mostly the correct ones. I (more or less) agreed with 3 of the 6 placings in the top/bottom, and I'll start with them, especially because it does include both the winner and the unfortunate mess that led to Ari's elimination.

OK, first thing to say about Ari is, before we get to the outfit, I had to do some research. I saw her name as Ari on Wikipedia (I know what you're thinking, but the Project Runway pages are mostly solid) and I was genuinely concerned that Ari Fish from Season 6, who may or may not be talented but definitely wasn't cut out for Project Runway, was back to quilt more shiny, shiny fabric (shudders.) Except that all of the other information corresponded to Season 8 designer Andy South. The picture was of a woman, but a woman who looked like Andy. It was only then that I realised she was transgender. I liked Andy as a guy, and he didn't seem insecure on his series, but if she wants to be Ari, good for her.

Shoulda stayed a guy. No, I don't mean it quite that way. Andy wasn't one of the designers who didn't put a foot wrong first time around. Not at all. He was very young but very talented. It wasn't quite the wild veering from gorgeous to catastrophic that we see with some designers, but he had some amazing looks (like the ribbon party-store dress) and some that just weren't good (like the print outfit with the sad droopy bubble-print top.) So it's not like when Ari was Andy she was always perfect or even particularly solid, but this is, hands down, the worst thing Ari has ever made within either gender. Again, there are some good ideas, like the short-suit, which coulda worked, but keep the two darker fabrics, replace the taupe-y colour with the grey from the rest of the jacket, lose the weird green thing completely,  and add something recognisably punk ( a studded belt woulda worked) and you've got at least an outfit that would have kept her in as far as I can see. But as is, I don't understand any of it. The styling doesn't "go there" and, perhaps understandably in a punk challenge, it seems to have mattered a lot to the judges, with the best styled looks often being the ones on top. I'm really sad to ask this about Ari, but, with the title of the episode being "You Got Punked," is this a joke? Go home and remember how good Andy's clothes were, Ari. Good luck.

And so to the underdog, one of only two not to have competed at fashion week the first time around, along with Daniel, who at least did make his collection in the competition. Elena must at least have been a little intimidated, because the first two All-Stars series had 9 and 8 designers respectively who weren't finalists. But she made a decoy collection, and it was among the best in her season, so she might just be able to beat the two from her season, Melissa and Christopher, who did make it to fashion week. If she keeps the bubbling crazy locked up inside her that is.

Well whaddya know, Underbitch nailed it. It's a really cool outfit, and it looks very Elena. Is it punk enough for the challenge? I'm not sure, but if the judges think so, then it's definitely a winner. The colour blocking, mixing of colours (which is so tricky to get right with these colours but done beautifully here) the almost-print in green and black (which looks a bit sloppy but that's the only execution issue I can see), use of leather and the short tight skirt, which is just the right length to be young but not slutty, are all excellent. And she piled on all these design elements but kept the look just on the right side of overdone, because it kinda looks like she just tossed it on to go out. Ah, now, having seen it from the back, it's a jacket and a dress. I don't really love the back of the jacket, but I'm still very impressed with the whole look and the technical skill that went into it. Here we see the styling done very well. The makeup is simple, which keeps it modern, but the hair is pure punk and the little socks with sandals are just a really nice finishing touch. Good job. Don't ruin it on a team challenge now.

And the other woman from that season, Melissa, was in the bottom, which I'm sorry to say is the other decision I agree with. Actually, looking down the list of designers, not that sorry. With Elena having done really pretty well, there aren't all that many designers I don't like left, and Melissa comes somewhere towards the bottom. Still don't dislike her, like her aesthetic a lot, but I would have been a lot less sad with her leaving than Viktor, or Ari actually. Anyway, the outfit......

Well Elena's really puts it to shame. This is a very typically Melissa look, showing very little growth. Apparently her work since her series has been custom leather jackets. That's good, it's what she's best at, but I'm not so sure that's a great thing for All-Stars, where she can only make so many leather jackets before she gets called out on it. Especially ones like this. It's just not very well-made. The hem is uneven, especially in the back, and I can't tell if it's deliberate or not, so I'm always thinking it's not. The back (sorry, I don't have pictures) is a very nice idea but executed horribly. And I may be spoiled by the gorgeous jacket/dress combos created in the season 12 finale, I hate that the asymmetry of the back of the dress combines with the cut-out of the jacket to create a small bare area, and the black pieces in the cut-out tend to work against the line in the back of the dress. I like the dress, love the print and the small piece of solid blue, but it's so typically Melissa that I can't get excited. An interesting idea, showing very little creativity or innovation from her, not very well constructed, but at least showing some punk elements, just barely good enough to survive in my book, and apparently also the judges'. As an all-star, she's in so much trouble. She'd be my pick to go next, which is kinda a good thing because Golden Goth just isn't that great a nickname, and it's all I have so far.

The rest of the top and bottom to come later, people. I don't agree with any of them. Tune in to see me get annoyed. ;)